History Main / RingAroundTheCollar

This is an animation-related trope where a collar (or similar article of clothing) or a neck seam is used as an animation short cut. Simply wearing a collar with no shirt does ''not'' count as this trope, so '''Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease'''. Also not be confused with RingOnANecklace.

* In ''WesternAnimation/DragonTales'', all of the dragon characters (of both genders) wear a ribbon with a pendant around their neck, known as a dragon badge. This is less of a cost-cutting thing and more a plot device, as their dragon badges glow after they overcome a difficult obstacle (physical or otherwise), though throughout the series' run, only the main four dragons ever had their badges shine. This glowing was front-and-center in a second season episode in which Zack and Wheezie had to track down their badges that they had left on the back of a tortoise (ironically named Speedy).

* All the chickens in ''WesternAnimation/ChickenRun'' have some kind of neckwear, usually necklaces or scarfs. Most of them are otherwise completely naked barring maybe headwear.

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. The AccessoryWearingCartoonAnimal often wears a neck article and perhaps a hat as their only clothing, and gendered neckwear gives such cartoon animals more TertiarySexualCharacteristics to identify them to the audience.

This is an animation-related trope where a collar (or similar article of clothing) or a neck seam is used as an animation short cut. Simply wearing a collar with no shirt does ''not'' count as this trope, so '''Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease'''

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' family are all designed like this. ''Pearls on a little girl?'' [[https://frinkiac.com/img/S08E01/209708.jpg 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]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Marge and Lisa both wear necklaces, while Homer has a prominent collar. This is likely a relic of the family's more LimitedAnimation days on ''Series/TheTraceyUllmanShow''.

This is an animation-related trope where a collar (or similar article of clothing) or a neck seam is used as an animation short cut. Simply wearing a collar with no shirt does ''not'' count as this trope, so '''Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease'''.

This is an animation-related trope where a collar (or similar article of clothing) or a neck seam is used as an animation short cut. Simply wearing a collar with no shirt does ''not'' count as this trope, so '''No Real Life Examples, Please'''.

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

* In the 1970's Hanna-Barbera adaptation of ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'', Jerry was fitted with a bow-tie.

* All ''Franchise/MassEffect'' characters adhere to this, as the head is a different asset from the body and the seam needs to be hidden somehow. This is how Shepard is able to have their head customized, and how many background NPCs can be made from a limited wardrobe and many heads. Similar to the ''LA Noire'' example above, low-cut female characters have this the most: both of female Shepard's dresses have some sort of jewlery to cover the neck seam (one is more successful than the other), and Jack's chest strap conveniently loops around her neck. Minor female NPCs almost never have low-cut necks, as the gulf in texture quality between the head and the body would be far too obvious.

* ''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.

%%[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
%%* Models constructed for stop-motion animation (example: ''WesternAnimation/ChickenRun'') often have this or some other similar method used to disguise where the head was joined to the body.
%%[[/folder]]


[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
* A non-animation example: several characters on ''Series/TheMuppetShow'' have this as well since many of the Muppet characters do not have heads directly attached to the body in order to allow for a wider range of head movements. So things like Fozzie's necktie, Miss Piggy's pearl necklace, or that [[BuffySpeak green spiky thing]] around Kermit's neck are an attempt to mask the seams.

This is an animation-related trope where use of a collar (or similar article of clothing) or a neck seam is used as an animation short cut. Simply wearing a collar with no shirt does ''not'' count as this trope, so '''No Real Life Examples, Please'''.

This is an animation-related trope where use of a collar or similar article of clothing is used as an animation short cut. Simply wearing a collar with no shirt does ''not'' count as this trope, so '''No Real Life Examples, Please'''.

This is an animation-related trope where use of a collar or similar article of clothing is used as an animation short cut. Simply wearing a collar with no shirt does not count as this trope, so No Real Life Examples, Please.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* Models constructed for stop-motion animation (example: ''WesternAnimation/ChickenRun'') often have this or some other similar method used to disguise where the head was joined to the body.

[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
* A non-animation example: several characters on ''Series/TheMuppetShow'' have this as well since many of the Muppet characters do not have heads directly attached to the body in order to allow for a wider range of head movements. So things like Fozzie's necktie, Miss Piggy's pearl necklace, or that [[BuffySpeak green spiky thing]] around Kermit's neck are an attempt to mask the seams.
[[/folder]]

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

[[folder:Real Life]]
* The PlayboyBunny costume has a collar like this with a bowtie rather than a necktie.
* Similarly, the Chippendales costume has a collar like this with a bowtie (and cuffs).
[[/folder]]

* ''TheSimpsons'' family are all designed like this. ''Pearls on a little girl?'' [[https://frinkiac.com/img/S08E01/209708.jpg 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]].

This trope owes its existence to a LimitedAnimation trick from traditional (i.e. hand-drawn) animation. At any time when a character is standing still and talking instead of moving 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 for a helpful dividing line that the animators can use and helps keep the head and body together. 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.

* The PlayboyBunny 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 shorts, wore a necktie, which was bound to make people mistake him for a Creator/HannaBarbera character.

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. The collar accessory also finds use in stop-motion animation when the character puppet has a neck seam.

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

[[folder: Puppet Shows]]
* A non-animation example: several characters on ''Series/TheMuppetShow'' have this as well since many of the Muppet characters do not have heads directly attached to the body in order to allow for a wider range of head movements. So things like Fozzie's necktie, Miss Piggy's pearl necklace, or that [[BuffySpeak green spiky thing]] around Kermit's neck are an attempt to mask the seams.

* ''VideoGame/{{Klonoa}}'''s original design had him wearing one in the place of a shirt, big enough to fit around his ''shoulders''.
** He gets a more reasonably sized one in the webcomic.

[[folder:Webcomics]]

** All the men in ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' wear collars. The women tend to wear necklaces.
*** Also, for formal occasions, the men wear cuffs despite their clothing being sleeveless.
* Models constructed for stop-motion animation (example: ''WesternAnimation/ChickenRun'') often have this or some other similar method used to disguise where the head was joined to the body.

* 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 Creator/HannaBarbera character.
** Speaking of ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'', this is averted with Daffy Duck, whose distinctive white collar is based on the ring stripe found on many actual ducks (though given the white ring on black feathers, it ''does'' resemble the collar found on most clergymen, particularly deacons and reverends).

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

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.

* A non-animation example, several characters on ''Series/TheMuppetShow'' have this as well since many of the Muppet characters do not have heads directly attached to the body in order to allow for a wider range of head movements. So things like Fozzie's necktie, or Miss Piggy's pearl necklace are an attempt to mask the seams.

* Webcomic/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.]]

* 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.]]