History Main / RingAroundTheCollar

* ''Franchise/MassEffect'' characters, for the most part, have a neck cover to hide the fact that the background NPC's are just head-swaps with an occasional change in skin color. The characters that avert this are rare but when it does happen there's a noticeable change in texture quality where their neck meets the torso.

* As many modders can attest, the heads and the bodies for ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'' characters are animated separatedly, so in order to make the separation between the neck and the torso smooth for armor that doesn't end at the neck, all the official textures have some kind of neckwear. Some modders have created custom skins and models without them, to various degrees of success.
* ''VideoGame/MountAndBlade'' tends to take advantage of this; several forms of armor have neck cover of some kind, in theory because it's a good idea to protect a location as vulnerable as the throat, but mostly because everyone in the game is a HeadSwap or PaletteSwap of each other and this additional detail hides the swap. It's especially noticeable in the practice arena MiniGame, where you are unarmored and functionally naked--heads and bodies are clearly two separate models, rendered simultaneously to give the impression of a whole person. This fact is why the fan-made [[OffWithHisHead decapitation mod]] even works at all.

* Used in ''VideoGame/LANoire'' as part of the motion-capture technology. The heads of the actors were filmed with thirty high-resolution cameras to produce the detailed animated models used in the game, but these had to be matched to the computer-rendered character bodies (which were themselves often animated using motion-capture suits). Note how the women with low-cut blouses and dressed all wear necklaces, and particularly how an otherwise naked girl in [[spoiler: Benson's apartment]] is wearing a necktie.

** All the men in ''TheFlintstones'' wear collars. The women tend to wear necklaces.

Low-budget cartoon characters always wear neckties (if male) or necklaces (if female). Or collars, even if they don't have shirts (see illustration). Or have some outlandish costume that obscures part of their neck.

This trope owes its existence to a LimitedAnimation trick from traditional (i.e. hand-drawn) animation. If a character is standing and talking instead of doing something with their whole body, it's cheaper to animate just the head with a sequence of drawings while using only one drawing for the body. A collar makes a nice dividing line to let animators do this while making it easy to keep the body parts together.

Often serves as TertiarySexualCharacteristics. Overlaps with AccessoryWearingCartoonAnimal if the character is otherwise naked.

Creator/HannaBarbera famously used this shortcut to help keep their TV cartoons under budget and on schedule, while {{Anime}} employed it with devices like the AllEncompassingMantle.

This is because if a character's standing and talking, it's cheaper to just animate the head while using only one drawing for the body. A collar makes a nice dividing line to let animators do this while making it easy to keep the body parts together.

Creator/HannaBarbera TV cartoons [[LimitedAnimation abused this most]] {{egregious}}ly while {{Anime}} employed it with devices like the AllEncompassingMantle.

The advent of digital animation has rendered this a largely DiscreditedTrope, used mostly as a tribute to the classics - although, the equivalent is still utilised in 3D animation for digital games - characters are built out of multiple, non-connected models, with things like collars, watches, and the like, being used to hide the seams, akin to traditional 2D.

* In ''WesternAnimation/DragonTales'', all of the dragon characters (of both genders) wear a ribbon with a pendant around their neck.

* In DragonTales, all of the dragon characters (of both genders) wear a ribbon with a pendant around their neck.

* ''TheSimpsons'' family are all designed like this. ''Pearls on a little girl?'' That's why. In an episode where Lisa loses them, she breaks down in tears and admits that without them she's nothing but [[OnlySixFaces a big Maggie]].

* Due to ''[[WesternAnimation/BuddyThunderstruck]'' being a stop motion cartoon featuring felt puppets, nearly every character has some part of their wardrobe (generally turtleneck sweaters) or appearance hide the seam on the puppet's neck that allows for their head articulation, which is sometimes still visible anyway in certain shots.

* Due to ''{{WesternAnimation/BuddyThunderstruck}}'' being a stop motion cartoon featuring felt puppets, nearly every character has some part of their wardrobe (generally turtleneck sweaters) or appearance hide the seam on the puppet's neck that allows for their head articulation.

* They don't hide the entire neck, but this is apparently the reason for most or all of the female characters in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' having some kind of neckwear. Almost all of the female leather armors go with dog collars for some reason. Men too, will always have necklaces even when otherwise naked. In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', the majority of party members wear some sort of high collar or fancy scarf around their necks for the same reasons.

* The strange outfit Creator/BritneySpears wears in her video for [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clwLKJ294u4 "Me Against the Music."]]

[[caption-width-right:175:He's [[HalfDressedCartoonAnimal not wearing pants]], either.]]

* Webcomics/QuestionableContent Marten gets [[http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1528 shanghaied]] into cosplaying a [[YaoiGenre yaoi]] character wearing [[http://qcjeph.livejournal.com/107252.html#cutid1 collar, tie, cuffs and no shirt]].

* The Playboy Bunny costume ''(when they're actually wearing something, that is))'' has a collar like this with a bowtie rather than a necktie.

* Cool Cat, the last new starring character of the original ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' shorts, wore a necktie, which was bound to make people mistake him for a HannaBarbera character.

{{Hanna-Barbera}} TV cartoons [[LimitedAnimation abused this most]] {{egregious}}ly while {{Anime}} employed it with devices like the AllEncompassingMantle.

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* They don't hide the entire neck, but this is apparently the reason for most or all of the female characters in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' having some kind of neckwear. Almost all of the female leather armors go with dog collars for some reason.
** Men too, will always have necklaces even when otherwise naked.

* Most of Ed Bennedict's character designs for early Hanna-Barbera's shows.

* ''MassEffect'' characters, for the most part, have a neck cover to hide the fact that the background NPC's are just head-swaps with an occasional change in skin color. The characters that avert this are rare but when it does happen there's a noticeable change in texture quality where their neck meets the torso.

* The modern interpretation of ''Franchise/DonkeyKong'' has the big ape wearing only a red tie [[BroughtToYouByTheLetterS with his initials on it]].