Skeletons in the Coat Closet: Difference between revisions
→Video Games
m (fix hottip markup) |
|||
| (18 intermediate revisions by 6 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{trope}}
[[File:BATTLE-
Line 7:
Alternatively, they could just be [[Cavemen]] or other "uncivilized" people, making the most of the all-natural materials available.
A staple of [[Obviously Evil]] design. Compare [[Spikes of Villainy]] and [[Chained by Fashion]]. See also [[Bad with the Bone]] when bones are used as [[Improvised Weapon
{{examples}}
== [[Card Games]] ==▼
* Two of the [[Magic: The Gathering|Shards of Alara]], feature this trope. The goblins of Jund are eaten by basically everything on the shard, and wield bone weapons and armor, while the entirety of Grixis uses bone gear due to corpses lasting forever there and not much else.▼
** Almost fifteen real life years before those, [http://magiccards.info/fe/en/3.html Armor Thrulls] were specifically ''bred'' for this purpose by the Order of the Ebon Hand (in ''Fallen Empires'' of all sets).▼
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* Mystique from ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'' wears a belt of skulls.
* [[Knight of Cerebus|Deathmonger]] from ''[[
* Taskmaster's costume always incorporates some sort of skull mask, which has ranged over the years from vaguely skull-like to what looks like actual bone to stylized ballistic armour.
* The faceplates worn by the Hunters and [[Giant Mecha|Omega Hunters]] in ''[[Extinctioners]]'' are stylized human skulls despite their targets being [[Petting Zoo People|anthropomorphic animals]] {{spoiler|which is the first hint to the Hunters being human}}.
== [[Film]] ==
* The Kurgan in ''[[Highlander]]'' wears a skull as a helmet at one point.
* General Kael, [[The Dragon]] to Queen Bavmorda in ''[[Willow]]'' wears a helm with a skull mask. An unusually realistic depiction, as while the metal parts were useful and saved him from a blow to the head, the bone shattered when it was hit.
* Mola Ram in ''[[Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom]]'' has a skull as part of his headdress, and various bones as part of his jewelry.
Line 29 ⟶ 26:
* Part of the killer's mask in ''Midnight Movie'' is a skull.
* One of the villains in ''Slashers'' wears a sash covered in small bones.
* Astrid from ''[[How to Train Your Dragon (animation)|How to Train Your Dragon]]'' wears a belt trimmed with small birdlike skulls in her best-known outfit. They also show up on her dragon-scale armor from the third film, and at least one of her gowns features one such skull as a belt buckle.
== [[Literature]] ==
Line 34 ⟶ 32:
** Subverted with another of Drizzt's main enemies, Obould Many-Arrows. He has a helmet crafted to look like a skull, but is in made of glass-steel, a super-hard, transparent material.
* Cohen The Barbarian from ''[[Discworld]]'' has dentures made out of troll teeth. Discworld trolls, [[All Trolls Are Different|being made of metamorphic rock]], have diamond teeth. Also, a troll mobster makes cufflinks out of his enemies' teeth. Other trolls like to wear belts of human and dwarf skulls, but in recent, more politically correct times, sheep skulls have become a substitute (after a short experiment with monkey skulls. Either there was too much similarity in size and approximate shape for most dwarfs to tell the difference or [[Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"|the Librarian]] [[Berserk Button|took issue]]). The ''real'' tough troll criminals don't bother; they just beat you over the head with your own arm until you get the message rather than run the risk of inflaming dwarfs with no grounding in forensic anthropology unnecessarily.
* In the [[Doctor Who Expanded Universe]], [[Faction Paradox]] members wear [[Cool Mask|ceremonial masks]] created from the skulls of creatures "[[Temporal Paradox|that really shouldn't have existed in the first place anyway]]".
** And [[media:armour.jpg|full-body armor]] made from [[Our Vampires Are Different|Yssgaroth]]-tainted [[Time Lord|Homeworld]] agents. It's a Faction Paradox thing - they embrace and celebrate death instead of fearing it.
* Rattleshirt from ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' is the leader of a band of barbarian raiders who wears bones sewn together as armor. (His nickname comes from the way they clack together as he moves, he personally prefers the title "Lord o' the bones"). Although the novel deliberately takes pains to show that the barbarians and raiders are NOT [[
* Averted by Sangamon Taylor, the environmental-crusader from Neal Stephenson's ''Zodiac'', who found a more modern way to dress himself in death: he wraps his feet in protective plastic and dons tennis shoes soaked in ''toxic waste''. Very colorful, keeps the cops at a distance, and it's a hell of a media statement if any [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] he opposes has to call in a Hazmat team to divest him of footwear stained by ''their own companies''' deadly byproducts.
Line 43 ⟶ 41:
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* There is actually a prestige class in the ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' [[Eberron]] setting called the [[media:bone_knight.jpg|Bone Knight]], who gets some bonuses for making and wearing bone armor and weapons.▼
▲=== [[Card Games]] ===
▲* Two of the [[Magic: The Gathering|Shards of Alara]], feature this trope. The goblins of Jund are eaten by basically everything on the shard, and wield bone weapons and armor, while the entirety of Grixis uses bone gear due to corpses lasting forever there and not much else.
▲** Almost fifteen real life years before those, [http://magiccards.info/fe/en/3.html Armor Thrulls] were specifically ''bred'' for this purpose by the Order of the Ebon Hand (in ''Fallen Empires'' of all sets).
* In the ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' game, the Amazoness tribe (many of whom also wear animal pelts as clothing) does this a lot, with [https://yugioh.fandom.com/wiki/Amazoness_Blowpiper Blowpiper] wearing skulls as knee-guards, with her blowpipe tipped by a smaller skull; [https://yugioh.fandom.com/wiki/Amazoness_Spy Spy] wearing skull shoulder-guards; and [https://yugioh.fandom.com/wiki/Amazoness_Empress Empress] wearing a [[Cool Crown]] made from a skull. Even the [https://yugioh.fandom.com/wiki/Amazoness_Princess Princess] (skill a teenager, given her looks) wears a skull on her halter and a necklace made of teeth.
=== Tabletop RPG ===
▲* There is actually a prestige class in the ''[[Dungeons
** The Bonegrim and Skeletal Armors from 4th Edition's ''Adventurer's Vault'' are definitely quite bone-like, and grant necrotic resistance upon their wearers.
* Chaos, Dark Elves/Eldar, and Orc/Orks in ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]'' and ''[[Warhammer
** Skulltaker, one of the Blood God's more dangerous servants, wears a cloak made of the skulls of his fallen opponents. His table top miniature has no less than 137 skulls modeled on it.
** Imperial Fists wear, use as interior decorations and bring to the Pillar of Bone memorial scrimshawed finger bones (which covers both ''Fists'' symbolism and their meticulous attitude) of their fallen battle-brothers. This seems to be inspired by the traditions of Capuchin and Franciscan monks.
* In the [[Rifts]] universe, skulls are a major motif of [[The Empire|Coalition]] forces, to include robotic infantry made to look like walking skeletons.
* ''[[Exalted]]'': This is amongst the Abyssals' macabre choice of grave fashion.
Line 58 ⟶ 64:
* Mr. Grimm of ''[[Twisted Metal]]: Black'' was forced to eat his friend by a sadistic Viet Cong officer, and now wears that friend's skull as a helmet as a memorial to him.
* Sif, the [[Hot Amazon]] of ''[[Romancing SaGa]]: Minstrel Song'' wears a massive horned skull on the back of her head. She's arguably the most [[Badass]] of the eight leads, having grown up in the harsh Shiverlands as the best warrior of her tiny village.
* ''[[Diablo]] 2'' features bone helms, bone shields, and bone wands which all classes can use. There are also the shrunken heads which are unique shields for necromancers.
* In ''[[Terraria]]'', players can craft necro armor using cobwebs and bones. Wearing a full set increases the players speed by about 20% and gives them a visual motion blur to emphasize that there going fast, combining with the anklet of the wind and Hermes boots, you can become a speed demon.
** By the 1.06 update, the necro armors boost is a chance not to use ammo when firing a ranged weapon and increased ranged damage, suffice to say, it may NOT please people
* This theme along with [[Bad with the Bone]] is rampant throughout the ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' expansion "Wrath of the Lich King". The titular King has skulls in just about every location of his armor where they would fit.
{{quote|
** Death Knights also have the ability to summon a protective Bone Shield, though in this case the bones hover around the player instead of being worn as armor.
* In the "[[Kingdom Hearts]]" series the pirate-themed heartless have skull shoulder pads.
* The orcs of the Bonechewer clan in ''[[Warcraft]] II'' were known for their [[I'm a Humanitarian|cannibalistic]] nature, and for ornamenting themselves with the bones ([[Squick|and organs]]) of their enemies.
** Exemplified by their leader, [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Tagar Spinebreaker]], who wore a belt made out of an orc's spine, and bracers made out of ogre vertebra. Tagar later shows up in ''[[World of Warcraft]]'', but due to graphical limitations, this isn't apparent.
* Chaos, the final boss of the original ''[[Final Fantasy I|Final Fantasy]]'', had skulls for kneecaps.
Line 71 ⟶ 77:
* [[Kingdom of Loathing|"This is Zombo's 'comb!]] [[Shout-Out|Welcome to]] [http://zombo.com/ Zombo's 'comb!"]
* [[Mortal Kombat|Shao Kahn's]] skull helmet.
** ''11'', Revenant!Kitana wears a skull-crown, as befits her title of "Empress of the Dead".
* In the ''[[Monster Hunter]]'' series, armour is made of parts of monsters you've killed.
* In ''[[Blood]]'', the Super Armor icon is a skeleton's torso.
* In Monolith's [[Diablo]]-esque early game, ''[[Sanity Aikens Artifact]]'', the [[Big Bad]] is revealed at the end to have de-evolved completely into nothing more than a giant psionic brain. In the final battle, he forms a body in the shape of a giant cow's skeleton from slaughterhouse bodyparts to fight the hero.
* The Orc chief Bloodfang from ''[[Drakensang]]'' wears a massive animal skull as helmet. In the sequel you can find and equip it, but it's not very powerful.
* In the original ''Blod Omen: [[Legacy of Kain]]'', Kain could wear Bone Armor, which would trick less intelligent undead into thinking he was one of them, allowing him to pass by unnoticed.
* In ''[[The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim]]'', it is possible to craft armor out of the bones of dragons, creating one of the best plate armor sets in the game.
* [[Pirate Girl]] Risky Boots from ''[[Shantae]]'' wears a halter top shaped like a skull and a belt shaped like a jawbone; in the third game, it is revealed that both are real, [[Battle Trophy|belonging to her former mentor the Pirate Lord]]. Unfortunately for Risky, when he comes back as a [[Ghost Pirate]], he [[Shameful Strip| naturally wants them back...]]
* In ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild]]'', Link's Barbarian Armor set (which increases his Attack Power) includes a helmet made from a horned skull.
==
* In ''[[Roza]]'', [http://www.junglestudio.com/roza/index.php?date=2007-06-06 the old woman in the prince's village]
* In ''[[Derelict (webcomic)|Derelict]]'', the [[Malevolent Masked Men]] [
* [[Heroic Comedic Sociopath|Belkar]] from ''[[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]]'' once made a hat out of a kobold's skull.
* In ''[[Snow By Night]]'', after developing a vendetta against all birds for stealing his youth, Old Man Winter starts wearing a necklace of their skulls.
Line 98 ⟶ 107:
{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Improvised Index]]
[[Category:Villainous Fashion Sense]]
Line 105 ⟶ 115:
[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]
[[Category:Costume Tropes]]
| |||