We Will Wear Armor in the Future: Difference between revisions

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{{examples}}
 
== Film: ==
* ''[[Star Wars]]'' - The infamous stormtroopers and their predecessors the clone troopers. As well as the Mandalorians.
** Stormtrooper armor blocks radiation, chemical and biological weapons, stun bolts, and most (non-energy) melee attacks, as well as providing general life support and environmental protection. [[Armor Is Useless|Too bad (for the stormtroopers) that the rebels just use simple blasters.]] But, [[All There in the Manual|other sources]] say that while it might be penetrated by a direct blaster bolt, it would at least significantly reduce damage from the absorbed bolt, [[Fan Wank|so the]] [[Short-Range Long-Range Weapon|constantly close-ranges of combat]] [[Fan Wank|in the movies is why the armour seems useless]].
** Blaster hits also tend to turn fist-sized chunks of a wall into shrapnel, so without armor near misses can wound or kill too. This is illustrated in the first battle scene in the entire series. Armored stormtroopers vs.- unarmored rebel bodyguards--if a blaster bolt hits anywhere near one of the rebelsunarmored rebel bodyguards, they go down, while only direct hits to armored storm troopers do any damage. Also, you see some stormtroopers helping up their wounded after -- while ''none'' of the rebel troops seem to be even moving.
** Stormtrooper armor, as everything else, is designed for a specific purpose. Being a product of the same "[[Zerg Rush|drown them in attackers]]" doctrine as TIE fighter, it's made to protect ''units'' rather than ''individuals''. That is, optimized to stop anything (short of very heavy weapons) that could inflict mass casualties. While ''direct hits'' of blasters stronger than handguns can knock down or wound, melee weapons and ''sometimes'' a lucky shrapnel may kill through the weak neck joint, hits in a small area at just right angle are a rare misfortune, and stormtroopers can shoot more than they are shot at. A large unit of stormtroopers cannot be stopped by toxic and corrosive gases, depressurizing, shrapnel and shockwaves of blaster near misses and grenades. They most often can win simply because of the greater numbers, as long as they are disciplined and competent enough - and stormtroopers usually are. The helm's communication and optics lock down so it's mostly useless for an enemy who picked it up, especially for [[False-Flag Operation]].
* ''[[Starship Troopers]]'' - Making the fact that they left out the book's power armor even more obvious.
** If you look for tough "space marine" grade stuff, it's [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Katarn-class_commando_armor Katarn-class commando armor] of clone commandos. It's made of material resistant even to lightsabers, with shields on top of this, and even a retractable [[Vibroweapon|vibroblade]] on the glove. Later versions included cool extras like EMP-hardening. Of course, it's also inconvenient when the wearer tries to sit and costs (on black market) like ''five'' of Gian landspeeders<ref>low-profile "boats" in which Naboo Royal Security Forces buzzed by and one-shot assault hovertanks</ref> in mint condition, or ten used.
** The armor props were sold to a ''lot'' of other productions, like ''[[Power Rangers Lost Galaxy]]'' and ''[[Firefly (TV)|Firefly]]''.
* ''[[Starship Troopers (film)|Starship Troopers]]'' - Making the fact that they left out the book's power armor even more obvious.
* The colonial marines in ''[[Alien (Film)|Aliens]]'', though apparently it doesn't provide much protection from acid blood.
** The armor props were sold to a ''lot'' of other productions, like ''[[Power Rangers Lost Galaxy]]'' and ''[[Firefly (TV)|Firefly]]''.
** Debatable. Hicks DID survive the acid burning. Without the armor he could have potentially been burned much worse.
* The colonial marines in ''[[Alien (Filmfranchise)|Aliens]]'', though apparently it doesn't provide much protection from acid blood.
*** Given the damage his breastplate sustained, he'd have died in pretty short order if he were unprotected.
** Debatable.Even then, Hicks DID survive the acid burning. Without the armor he could have potentiallywould beenbe burneddead muchor worsedying.
* ''[[The Fifth Element]]'': The cops wear so much armor that they look like mobile metal bon-bons with the word "Police" stenciled on them.
** Ditto for the Mondoshawan, assuming the mechanical-looking structures that covered them actually ''were'' armor and not their actual bodies.
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== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* ''[[Babylon 5]]'': Earth security forces wear armor designed to deflect energy and plasma-based weapons. There are a few variants of this, including a vest and full jacket style.
* ''[[Farscape (TV)|Farscape]]'': The Peacekeepers use an also-space-suit variant.
* ''[[Star Trek: theThe Next Generation]]'', in the first episode when Picard is put on trial by Q for the crimes of humanity there were some [http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Unnamed_Humans_(21st_century)#Soldiers 21st century soldiers in body armor.]
** Given that World War III was generally acknowledged to be partly nuclear in nature, these may be radiation suits of sorts.
* Not an actual example, but probably why the guys in [[The Big Bang Theory]] wear an excessive amount of plastic while playing paintball. That and getting hit with a paintball ''hurts''.
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== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* Most of the ''[[Warhammer 4000040,000]]'' armies give their troops some sort of armor, though the [[Redshirt Army|Imperial Guard's]] flak armor is commonly nicknamed [[Fan Nickname|"cardboard vests" or "t-shirts"]] due to its [[Armor Is Useless|ineffectiveness]].
** The Imperial Guard's uniforms make seem they're just wearing armour over top clothing like normal modern soldiers, but actually, their entire uniforms are flak armour as well.
*** Or in the case of the Catachan Jungle Fighters, just t-shirts over massive muscles. [[Gameplay and Story Segregation|Which function just as well as the armour worn by other guard troops]].
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* In [[GURPS]] the trend away from armor that started in [[Technology Levels|TL 4]] (1450 to 1730) starts to reverse in TL 7 (1940 to 1980) with the discovery of lightweight, bullet-resistant synthetics such as kevlar. In some TL 10+ (2075 and beyond) campaigns armor is vital, while in others weapons are so devastating that dodging or shooting first is far more important.
** For example, disintegrator technology makes armor irrelevant because they do enormous damage and bypass most armor completely while FTL laser technology makes it so that soldiers always need to be in armor because shots can hit with deadly accuracy from tremendous range.
* DueIn ''[[Traveller]]'', due to the general lethality of combat in [[Traveller]] armour is all but required to survive more than a couple shots. Besides [[Powered Armor|Battle Dress]] available armours range from practically useless leather to Combat armour that requires a laser or gauss rifle to really penetrate, there's also reflec that only defends against lasers and can be added to other types of armour. However most armour tend to be a higher [[Technology Levels|tech level]] and much more expensive than the weapons that can pierce it.
* ''[[Fading Suns]]'', with its deliberate [[Anachronism Stew]], has anything from studded leather to stiffsynth (polymer cloth that bends easily, but hardens for sharp impacts) to ceramsteel [[Power Armor]]. There are personal [[Deflector Shields]], but [[Dune|slow cuts]] and blaster fire alike can leak through them.
 
== Video Games ==
* Starting with ''Tiberian Sun'' soldiers in [[Command and& Conquer]], particularly GDI, have worn plating and helmets, culminating in GDI's infantry all wearing powered armor by ''Tiberium Twilight''.
** Given that they're living in an increasingly-[[Crapsack World]] that is getting more and more toxic to humans, the armor is justified, given that it also contains life support systems.
* The UNSC marines in the ''[[Halo]]'' series tend to wear more plating than their modern counterparts, especially the ODSTs. But it is not powered like the Spartan's MJOLNIR armor. The trope has gotten more pronounced as the series has progressed: in the first game, quite a few marines are wearing simple fatigues, and even the armored ones wear a relatively modest set of helmet, breastplate, and greaves. The armor set gets noticeably bulkier in ''Halo 3'' and ''Halo Reach'', where it's become more like standard Sci-Fi plate armor.
* Lots of armor in ''[[Mass Effect]]'', which also functions as a spacesuit when necessary. This is probably because mass accelerator technology has made small arms even more lethal without armour.
** Not so much in ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'', however, where most of your teammates do not, in fact, wear armour. Interestingly, several of the villains do.
* In the ''[[Fallout]]'' series, being set in a [[Schizo-Tech]] [[Alternate Universe]], armour was very popular both before and after the war, amongst individuals, companies, armies and police forces alike. Its effectiveness greatly depends on how improvised it is -- you may not even feel a difference shooting the fellow in the boiled leather and shooting his unarmored buddy, but a good suit of power armor (which only the best equipped factions have access to) can make one near immune or at least highly resistant to most every day wasteland threats, including radiation.
* ''[[Gears of War|]]'' - The Gears]] wear armour so ridiculously bulky it's a wonder they can move their arms, but they're still just too badass to wear helmets. [[Redshirt Army|Well, the protagonists don't.]] [[And Zoidberg|And the Carmines]].
** It is revealed in the third game that most of that bulk wasn't armor, they are just that large and muscular (Marcus's biceps are two third's the width of Anya's torso).
* The armor worn by Terran Marines in ''[[StarcraftStarCraft]]'' is likewise bulky, but does come with a helmet.
** Hilariously, the armor provides no in-game benefit as Marines have no armor value until you research upgrades.
*** [[Fridge Brilliance|However, the armor does give marines 55 health compared to the 10 health of an unarmored human.]]
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== Web Comics ==
* In ''[[SSDD]]'' it's stated that buckminster fullerene armor made conventional firearms obsolete. However, the various weapons designed to counter it all have their own disadvantages ([http://www.poisonedminds.com/d/20070709.html slow firing], [http://www.poisonedminds.com/d/20070710.html cumbersome], [http://www.poisonedminds.com/d/20070712.html expensive], [http://www.poisonedminds.com/d/20070714.html tends to explode], etc).
* In ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'' there is a lot of both light and heavy body armor variants.
* In ''[[Schlock Mercenary (Webcomic)|Schlock Mercenary]]'' the Toughs begin using armor fairly early on. The low-profile powered suits they eventually settle on look a lot like cloth uniforms, but definitely function as armor. And [[Armor Is Useless]] is usually averted (when it's not, bloody dismemberment usually ensues.)
** The low-profile powered suits look a lot like cloth uniforms, but definitely function as armor. "Carbonan [[Latex Space Suit|crotch-huggers]]", as Karl Tagon calls them, seem to be standard issue in at least some human armies, and they stop a lot of things, from bullets to flame to anti-personnel [[nanobots]], can sustain the wearer in space for short time periods ([[Collapsible Helmet]] is deployed on mental command or bad atmosphere), and include inertiics that both protect from collisions and provide limited flight. [[Armor Is Useless]] usually when armor-piercing ammo or overkill with heavy weapons are involved. Which is to say, almost as often as not.
** ToToughs elaborate they first realize they needadopt armor after facing a squad of commandos wearing armor good against small arms, so they buy bulky powered armor that is destroyed a couple missions later. Since that armor restricted movement so much (their martial arts instructor said he'd rather fight naked) they exchanged it for low-profile suits that look exactly like regular uniforms (and are used as such), but are still powered and can stop a tank round. Now they also have heavier suits for use in boarding actions.
** The low profile armor, along with the obvious benefits of protection, also have neat features like being able to sustain the wearer in space for short time periods, and inertic flight.
** Exosuits used by security teams on Haven Hive were capable of keeping wearers uninjured even after a plasma cannon hit (the same glancing sweep ''cut a wide gap through ship bulkhead and deck''), though the suit itself ends up utterly destroyed in process.
 
== [[Western Animation]] ==
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]
[[Category:We Will Not Use anAn Index In The Future]]
[[Category:We Will Wear Armor In The Future{{PAGENAME}}]]