Line #96 Main/CommissarCap


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Caps_7766.jpg]]
2	[-[[caption-width-right:300:Clockwise from top left: UsefulNotes/MuammarGaddafi, [[Film/MoonOverParador Alphonse Simms]], [[Literature/GauntsGhosts Ibram Gaunt]], and [[Franchise/StreetFighter M. Bison]].]]-]
3
4	->''"It isn't the scarlet sash and the fancy hat that makes you a commissar, it's the way you wear them."''
5	-->-- '''Literature/CiaphasCain''' [[note]] HERO OF THE IMPERIUM[[/note]]
6
7	A large, high [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peaked_cap peaked cap]] similar to those worn by BananaRepublic [[GloriousLeader dictators]]. The {{Trope Namer\|s}} is ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'', with [[ThePoliticalOfficer Commissars]] wearing such caps.[[note]]This is itself a nod to the similarly totalitarian [[GloriousMotherRussia Soviet Union]], in which pretty much everyone, even ''primary school children'', was issued a peaked cap at some point, especially the political commissars. In Russia, the peaked cap (kartuz) was actually part of national dress and many civilians wore it prior to the 1930s.[[/note]] This headgear surely makes the wearer look badass in an authoritarian sense of the word. Sometimes decorated with elaborate silver or gold designs on the visor and/or the front of the crown, nicknamed "scrambled eggs" by military folks; the stereotypical BananaRepublic leader's cap has so much of these that you can barely see the color of the actual cap underneath.
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9	Sometimes, especially if the cap in question is black with silver piping, it's PuttingOnTheReich, as SS Nazi officers were also fond of them.
10
11	A SubTrope of DressedToOppress, BlingOfWar, and HatOfAuthority. See also BlingOfWar. Often worn by TheGeneralissimo and sometimes ThePoliticalOfficer. If a woman wears it, chances are she might be TheBaroness, or just a {{dominatrix}} who has it on for show.
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13	----
14	!!Examples:
15	[[foldercontrol]]
16
17	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
18	* ''Manga/AkameGaKill'': General Esdeath wears a cap with her military uniform.
19	* ''Manga/FoodWars'': Asahi Saiba's hench(wo)man Sarge dresses up in military garb, complete with one of these.
20	* These are part of the Amestrian military dress uniform in ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist''.
21	* Russia in ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'' wears one occasionally.
22	* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure'': Jotaro Kujo wears the front half of a cap like this.
23	* Mako's Goku Uniform in ''Anime/KillLaKill'' includes one as a parody of JapaneseDelinquents.
24	* In ''Manga/MyDressUpDarling'', both the Black Lobelia and Black Lily cosplays worn by Marin and Sajuna include these caps as part of the main pieces, as it was apparently part of the uniform for the school both characters attended.
25	* Washizaki from ''Manga/RikiOh'', the inspiration for Vega/M.Bison in ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' in VideoGames.
26	* ''Anime/SaberMarionetteJ'': Tiger, the leader of the Saber Dolls, wears a military cap that was a gift from Faust when he was a child, so she treasures it dearly.
27	* Chiri Kitsu in an episode of Zoku ''Manga/SayonaraZetsubouSensei'', when she subjects the teachers and other students to surprise inspections in order to catch them unprepared.
28	* Chocolat from ''Manga/SorcererHunters'' wears one of these ([[{{Stripperiffic}} and little else]]) when she's in "combat mode".
29	* [[VisionaryVillain Kanako Watanabe]] of ''Anime/StarDriver'' wears one of these as part of her Glittering Crux outfit.
30	[[/folder]]
31
32	[[folder:Comic Books]]
33	* [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder Blackblood]] in ''ComicBook/ABCWarriors'' has a head shaped like one of these.
34	* ''ComicBook/SatansHollow'': One of the main five demons, the Devil's Executioner, is a BigRedDevil with an SS peaked cap, perhaps implying that he is a former Nazi [[DemonOfHumanOrigin who later became a demon]].
35	[[/folder]]
36
37	[[folder:Fan Works]]
38	* In ''Fanfic/ASmallCrime'', the character Kit wears a black peaked cap.
39	* In the ''Mass Effect'' fanfic series ''Fanfic/{{Uplifted}}'', Hanala seems to enjoy stealing Hoch's cap. Rundstedt forces SS officer Joachim Hoch to give his hat to his granddaughter as a form of humiliation, telling him that he is not a real officer. Rommel seems to have a tendency to fiddle with his.
40	[[/folder]]
41
42	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
43	* ''Film/{{Frantic}}''. Michelle wears one when she first meets the protagonist played by Creator/HarrisonFord, along with a black leather jacket.
44	* Arkady Ourumov from ''Film/GoldenEye'', as he is an officer in the Russian military (and later, head of the Russian Space Division), wears one of these as part of his uniform.
45	* In Creator/CharlieChaplin's ''Film/TheGreatDictator'', he lampoons Adolf Hitler and wears a wonderful Commissar Cap with an [[NoSwastikas XX logo in place of the swastika]].
46	* In ''Film/LordOfWar'' many Red Army Ukrainian officers wear them.
47	* One is part of the regalia of Paradorian President-For-Life Alphonse Simms in ''Film/MoonOverParador''. Richard Dreyfuss wears it with a jaunty tilt that makes it much less impressive.
48	* [[BigBad General Magnus Kane]] of ''Film/PrincessProtectionProgram'' wore one. However, despite being a general who overthrew a Central American country, his cap has a double-headed Slavic eagle on the crest.
49	* Seems to be part of the Star Fleet dress uniform in ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness''. Particularly visible in the gathering at the end of the film.
50	* Captain Panaka and the other Naboo guards in ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'' wear a stylized variant that has the band and visor made of brass.
51	* In ''Film/RebelMoon'', Admiral Atticus Noble wears one as part of his uniform..
52	* M. Bison (played by Creator/RaulJulia) wears one in ''Film/StreetFighter'', and turns out to have a private hat rack with several variations on it next to the paintings of himself and such. To further stress the PuttingOnTheReich aspect, the metal Shadaloo symbol on the front looks rather eerily like a mix between the Nazi "Reichsadler" and the SS "Totenkopf" motif.
53	[[/folder]]
54
55	[[folder:Literature]]
56	* Literature/CiaphasCain ([[LargeHam HERO OF THE IMPERIUM!!!]]) wears one, and he does it [[LargeHam with style]], as page the quote states. Though in all honesty, he would ''really'' prefer a helmet.
57	* In Creator/DanAbnett's Literature/GauntsGhosts novel ''His Last Command'', when Ludd is sent to get troops to the battlefield, he loses his cap getting there -- across the battlefield -- and their first question for him when he said he was a commissar was to ask where his hat was. (He gets them to the battlefield anyway.)
58	* In ''Literature/HonorHarrington'', the Grayson Space Navy's uniforms seem to be modeled after the US Air Force, so naturally they have these, complete with gold oak leaves and lightning bolts. It's stated that they seem to weigh at least 3 kilograms and cause the title character to feel like "some comic-opera costumer's idea of a prespace military dictator".
59	** The RMN also used to wear these back in Edward Saganami's time, but dropped them in favour of their current berets over a century ago.
60	* ''Vietnam: An Epic Tragedy'' by Creator/MaxHastings. The author notes that South Vietnamese generals favoured this style of hat, and says that it did not help in the propaganda war.
61	* Every ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' book that contains a commissar will mention the cap from Steve Parker's ''Rebel Winter'' to Andy Hoare's appropriately named book ''Commissar''.
62	[[/folder]]
63
64	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
65	* Illya Kuryakin donned one in an episode of ''Series/TheManFromUncle''; appropriate for a former Soviet officer.
66	* Several Soviet officers, many of them being actual commissars, wear them constantly in ''Series/SovietStormWorldWarIIInTheEast''. In some cases, they also forego wearing helmets and continue wearing their caps into battle.
67	* The original pilot for ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' alluded to this; in Captain Pike's cabin, sitting on top of the captain's television set, is a forage cap. It's never seen in use, and was never seen in the Original Series (aside from a glimpse in the two-parter that made use of footage from the pilot.)
68	[[/folder]]
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70	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
71	* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': Commissars' uniforms include a black peaked cap with a crown that comes to a very tall point in front and is usually decorated with a winged skull, which helps them stand out on a battlefield. This sometimes has a side effect of drawing extra attention from Orks in combat, as to an Ork, any 'umie that makes himself stand out from the others is likely to be higher ranked and thus more likely to give a good fight, and a Commissar's snazzy cap is a great trophy.
72	[[/folder]]
73
74	[[folder:Video Games]]
75	* ''VideoGame/AceCombat'':
76	** Captain Allen Hamilton and Colonel Orson Perrault, of ''VideoGame/AceCombat5TheUnsungWar'', both wear these, styled after the USAF.
77	** Diego Gaspar Navarro from ''VideoGame/AceCombatXSkiesOfDeception''.
78	* Omen Deng in ''VideoGame/AlphaProtocol'' rocks the Commissar look, and combined with his BadassCape, it is ''awesome.''
79	* ''VideoGame/BionicCommando1988'''s main BigBad is [[TheGeneralissimo Generalissmo Killt]], who wears the full dictator getup of peaked cap, greatcoat, and leather gloves (and judging by his sprites, jodhpurs and jackboots). His resemblance to [[ThoseWackyNazis a stereotypical Nazi officer]] is a lot less accidental when you learn that the game was titled "Resurrection of Hitler" in Japan.
80	* ''VideoGame/BugFables'' has General Ultimax, TheDragon to the Wasp King who wears a peaked cap and fancy uniform while commanding various wasp soldiers and driving a tank.
81	* ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes''' Reichsman, the [[AlternateHistoryNaziVictory Axis America]] version of Statesman, tops his PuttingOnTheReich uniform with a black peaked hat.
82	* Naturally, some of the Soviet Officers in the ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlertSeries'' wears these.
83	* ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar'': the commissar's portrait is half hat, half ComicBook/JudgeDredd-esque chin. When Commissar Anton Gebbet is killed by the invading orks in Dark Crusade, Warboss Gorgutz notes that he liked the hat, too bad it was lost along with his head.
84	* Comrade Black, BigBad of the ''VideoGame/DeBlob'' games, has one that's as tall as he is. As do all his statues and his personal mech. He is careful not to lose it, even when he's been stripped of his resources, his military, and finally his clothes.
85	* The end boss of ''VideoGame/FinalFight 3'', Something something Black. Who attacks you with a Riding crop.
86	* ''VideoGame/GalaxyAngel'': Forte is always seen with her peaked cap as part of her Angel Wing uniform.
87	* ''VideoGame/HogsOfWar'': Fully promote a pig to the Hero rank, and they get one of these hats.
88	* ''Franchise/MegaMan'':
89	** Worn by General, Colonel, and other Repliforce soldiers in ''VideoGame/MegaManX4''. Colonel's sister Iris wore a beret. A less blatant one is worn by recurring character [[DaChief Signas]].
90	** ''VideoGame/MegaManXCommandMission''[='=]s Redips wears one similar to Signas. Appropriate, considering his similar post.
91	** Ferham doesn't have one in her original game, but her Christmas alternate skin for ''VideoGame/MegaManXDive'' gives it. Given that said skin is a SexySantaDress, it fits with her role as TheBaroness.
92	* ''VideoGame/MetalMarines'' has Joan Rile, who is arguably the more competent of the two enemy vice-commanders in the game. She sports a comically huge peaked cap as a contrast to her plunging neckline.
93	* Major Rezner of the Eisengrad Army wears one in ''VideoGame/MSSagaANewDawn'', along with a few other officers. It's always fun to have her finish off enemies with a Beam Pistol shot.
94	* One 'mask' in ''VideoGame/Payday2'' is the General Overkill, a hat which happens to bear a great resemblance to M. Bison's hat.
95	* Members of the Terran Republic in ''[[Videogame/PlanetSide PlanetSide 2]]'' can purchase an enormous Commissar cap, complete with [[GogglesDoNothing goggles wrapped around the brim]]. It can be complimented by using the "Commissar" title unlocked at Battle Rank 76. Eventually a much more restrained peaked cap was made available, like those in use by today's armies.
96	* Raidou Kuzunoha of ''VideoGame/RaidouKuzunohaVsTheSoullessArmy'' and ''VideoGame/RaidouKuzunohaVsKingAbaddon'' wears one of these at all times, even when in the bath.
97	* [[DiscOneFinalBoss Victor Sopot]], the dictator of the Commonwealth in ''VideoGame/RedFaction II'' wears one and [[PlayerCharacter Alias]] briefly wears it after finally capturing him.
98	* German and Soviet officers and Squad Leaders wear these kinds of caps to distinguish themselves from regular soldiers in ''VideoGame/RedOrchestra2HeroesOfStalingrad''.
99	* Captain Cuttlefish of ''Franchise/{{Splatoon}}'' wears this to mark his position as the leader of the New Squidbeak Splatoon, which [[VideoGame/Splatoon1 the original game]]'s Agent 3 inherits when they takeover the role in ''VideoGame/Splatoon3''. And if they lose it, they always have a backup in the Cap of Legend they got by reaching Level 50 in ''Splatoon 1''. You can also receive the Cap of Legend as an occasional gear reward in ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'''s Salmon Run mode.
100	* The Battlecruiser's unit portrait in ''VideoGame/StarCraftI'', as well as Admiral [=DuGalle=] and Vice-Admiral Stukov of the fascistic United Earth Directorate.
101	* Stephen Kenny wears one to mark his high-ranking position in ''VideoGame/StarOceanTheLastHope''.
102	* M. Bison from ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' is never seen without his hat, except in one DLC costume. To further stress the PuttingOnTheReich aspect, the metal Shadaloo symbol on the front looks rather earily like a mix between the Nazi "Reichsadler" and the SS "Totenkopf" motif. And now Cammy has one, as of her second DLC costume.
103	* One of the many hats in ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' is the Team Captain, which is [[CaptainErsatz nearly identical]] to M. Bison's hat. The in-game description even lampshades this with a [[MemeticMutation reference]] to the ''WesternAnimation/StreetFighter'' cartoon.
104	-->''Our lawyers said "YES! YES!"''
105	* ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'': The OvertOperative Tseng, of Tseng's Herbal Remedies in the Los Angeles Chinatown, wears a commissar cap, an EyepatchOfPower, and an army uniform. He still insists that he's not a soldier.
106	* The Commissar's Helm in ''VideoGame/WarhammerOnline'' can only be accessed by entering a code found in copies of ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3'', making them RevenueEnhancingDevices.
107	* The Chapeau of High Inquisitor Sally Whitemane in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft''. [[RandomlyDrops With a little luck, it can be yours.]]
108	[[/folder]]
109
110	[[folder:Visual Novels]]
111	* In spite of a lot of the villain cast wearing SS uniforms, this trope is [[DownplayedTrope surprisingly rare]] in ''VisualNovel/DiesIrae''. The only character that is shown wearing this kind of hat regularly is Machina who is far from the authoritarian kind. Though it does help him give the kind of air that he is a man you do not mess with. The only other character ever shown with such an hat was the BigBad Reinhard before he awoke to his true nature after which he ditched it and went bare headed instead. Other than that it only ever really shows up in supplementary materials, most notably on the main characters love interests out of all places.
112	[[/folder]]
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114	[[folder:Webcomics]]
115	%%* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'': Bangladesh Dupree.
116	* In ''Webcomic/{{Narbonic}}'', Mell acquires one for a while when she takes over Madblood's moonbase.
117	* ''Webcomic/RomanticallyApocalyptic'': Zee Captain boasts such a hat.
118	* ''Webcomic/{{SSDD}}'': CORE officers are often shown wearing blue and red pointed caps (including Tessa in her first appearance). Anarchist "leaders" tend to prefer [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shako Shakos]].
119	* ''Webcomic/StandStillStaySilent'': A Danish admiral and the personel on an Icelandic merchant ship, including its captain are seen wearing such caps.
120	[[/folder]]
121
122	[[folder:Web Original]]
123	* [[DependingOnTheArtist Depending on the drawfag]] the AnthropomorphicPersonification of Website/FourChan's /tg/ ([[TabletopGames traditional games]]) board will wear an exaggerated commissar hat like the ones in ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' due to his (and by extension the board's) love of the series.
124	* WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic wears one as part of his fancy uniform in the ''WebVideo/{{Kickassia}}'' anniversary special. [[spoiler:and at the end, when N. Bison is removed from power, WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick, Linkara, and Cinema Snob all fight over who gets the hat... and hence control of Kickassia]]. [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg And 8-Bit Mickey!]]
125	[[/folder]]
126
127	[[folder:Western Animation]]
128	* The "Banana Republic" in ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'' and Thembria in ''WesternAnimation/TaleSpin'' have people wearing these hats. Baloo wears one as well, albeit a less decorated one.
129	* ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle'':
130	** Rocky the Flying Squirrel would occasionally wear one while announcing a commercial break.
131	** It was certainly a must for Fearless Leader.
132	[[/folder]]
133
134	[[folder:Real Life]]
135	* Played straight in Real Life in the 1990s with UsefulNotes/RussiansWithRustingRockets and Russian cops. Unlike UsefulNotes/RedsWithRockets, they had these as part of uniform, though they were abolished in TheNewTens, being replaced with smaller ones in the older Soviet style. Soviet officers did often have this kinds of caps as part of the dress uniform (hence the trope name), though Soviet caps were not quite as large as modern ones — it actually started in TheEighties (duh!) as [[CustomUniform some sort of military chic]], and the style eventually got popular with the brass in UsefulNotes/TheNewRussia, thus entering the regulations.
136	** An overview of Soviet uniform caps may be found [[http://www.undertheredstar.com/ here]], showing civilian and military caps from various decades, with different designs--the collector's photos are widely copied for other websites.
137	** The '90s huge peaked caps were disliked among the Russian military, derisively known as [[BananaRepublic "Pinochet caps"]]. They were also a case of SukhomlinovEffect, becoming larger and more fanciful as the Russian army weakened and grew underequipped and undertrained.
138	** As of TheNewTens, Russian military funding has risen again, and coincidentally, they have adopted smaller caps lacking the double-headed eagle of the Russian federation and looking similar to Soviet caps. The new Minister of Defence, Sergei Shoigu, brought his old EMERCOM hat, quite compact and soft, into Russian military fashion. However, nowadays peaked caps are actually only worn with dress and semi-dress uniforms in Russia. In the field, or even in garrison while in undress uniform, everyone wears either a patrol cap almost identical to the US version, or a beret (the color of which depends on the branch).
139	* Across the world, this is a common feature of the uniform of high-ranking officers in the military and many civilian law-enforcement agencies in many Western nations have something like this as part of the uniform (or at least the dress uniform). In most of these cases, however, they tend to be smaller and a bit more modest than the stereotypical authoritarian model.
140	** On the other hand, during the Cold War, the US Armed Forces had larger-crowned caps than their Soviet counterparts, for reasons similar to above: American caps have a large insignia on the ''crown'', almost always some variation of the Great Seal of the United States (the familiar eagle badge), whereas Soviet caps almost always had a small, less obtrusive Soviet insignia on the ''band'' (American caps also typically have narrower bands). The American caps were almost certainly a major influence on the Russian Federation's placement of their ''own'' eagle on the crown of their new caps, and when the Russian military moved away from the American style, their caps shrunk accordingly.
141	** The hat worn by Royal Air Force officers is nearly a subversion of the trope. Small and with horribly bent edges that sag downwards, it harks back to the time that all RAF officers were pilots and their hats were much abused, normally stuffed away in some pocket and thus scuffed and worn. In all other words, a mess, and in contrast to the hats worn by other ranks which are rather smart.
142	*** The RAF were not the only ones to do this, either; the so-called "crush cap" was historically worn by various air forces in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, and persists in some places to the present day. The look is achieved by taking the stiffening ring out of a regular officer's cap, which originally had the practical purpose of allowing it to fit comfortably under a pair of headphones.
143	* [[http://i1.wp.com/inews.gtimg.com/newsapp_match/0/2639300694/0 North Korea loves this trope to the bone]].
144	* Muammar Gaddafi had [[https://www.visir.is/i/F874F04453114DE8D74D05D6580D1D0658DFEE8694F40123BC6EAEB0525FAE67_713x0.jpg some]] [[http://www.merkur-online.de/bilder/2011/03/21/1169499/1120990437-gaddafi.9.jpg of]] [[https://www.albawaba.com/sites/default/files/im/misc/hat-compound-gaddafi.jpg?width=1200&enable=upscale the]] [[https://img.thedailybeast.com/image/upload/c_crop,d_placeholder_euli9k,h_1440,w_2560,x_0,y_0/dpr_2.0/c_limit,w_740/fl_lossy,q_auto/v1518023440/gaddafi-lead_f4zxuv fanciest]].
145	[[/folder]]
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Context Main / CommissarCap