'''Basic Trope''': An evil character's outfit (or body itself) is spiked.
* '''Straight''': The villain's armor has spikes on it.
* '''Exaggerated''':
** The villain's entire outfit is hidden under a mass of spikes.
** His spikes have spokes on them.
* '''Downplayed''':
** The villain's outfit has no spikes, but he does have IdiotHair.
** The antagonist is [[TheQuincyPunk a rebellious, antisocial punk]] and has a few small metal spikes on the shoulders of his black leather jacket.
** The Villain has a Targe[[labelnote:note]] A shield with a spike welded to the boss[[/labelnote]] or a spiked section on his armor.
* '''Justified''':
** The spikes serve a function: they are part of the villain's offensive or defensive tactics, are useful for intimidation, or identify him as a member of a certain group.
** That's just added bonus, the spikes are actually how the armor plates are nailed together.
** The character is a monstrous humanoid and the spikes are part of their natural armor (typically a reptile), thus having no drawbacks.
* '''Inverted''':
** The hero wears some spiked armor into battle.
** The villain wears divots.
* '''Subverted''':
** We see a shot of the villain in his "spiky" armor, but then he steps to the side and we realize he was just standing in front of a somewhat spiky, large weapon.
** The guy with all the spikes is a former villain who did a HeelFaceTurn but kept the outfit.
* '''Double Subverted''':
** After sidestepping, the villain is revealed to not have spikes on his armor, it was just something behind him...specifically, TheDragon, all ready for combat in his spiked shoulder guards.
** The former villain with all the spikes becomes fully integrated into the hero's team, at which point he [[GoodCostumeSwitch ditches the spikes]].
* '''Parodied''':
** After donning his spiked armor, the villain stumbles around awkwardly and barely avoids stabbing himself several times before giving up on it.
** After returning from a harsh battle, the villain is received with a hug from [[DaddysLittleVillain his beautiful daughter]]...[[TooDumbToLive who gets impaled]] by the insane amount of spikes.
-->'''Villain''': "OhNoNotAgain"
** Too Much Spikes + DramaticThunder = [[RebusBubble Roasted Overlord to go]].
* '''Zig Zagged''': After sidestepping, the villain is revealed to not have spikes on his armor, but TheDragon is behind him, clad in spikes. However, the Dragon is actually TheMole trying to get close to the villain so he can assassinate him.
* '''Averted''': The armor in the series is spike-free, or there is no correlation between spiked armor and moral character.
* '''Enforced''': The series designer is copying a culture where spikes are a symbol of power, or they plan to sell a line of "Synyster Spykes" armor for the evil villain action figure.
* '''Lampshaded''': "Wow, that's a lot of spikes he's wearing."
* '''Invoked''': The villain glues spikes onto his armor in order to look more impressive and menacing.
* '''Exploited''': The hero expects and somehow uses villain's spiky armor against him, maybe when the villain tries to body slam the hero he's nailed himself into the ground and is essentially stuck.
* '''Defied''': The new EvilOverlord, inheriting the old one's armor, cuts the spikes off because he thinks they look ridiculous.
* '''Discussed''': "No, we can tell he's evil. He has spikes on his armor." "Do they do anything?" "...No."
* '''Conversed''': Alice and Bob visit a museum and see some old sets of armor on display. Alice sees one with some spikes, and jokes that it must have belonged to an old movie villain.
* '''Deconstructed''': The spikes are too long to be functional, and it becomes obvious that no living person could do normal activities in them.
* '''Reconstructed''':
** The spikes are a deliberate self-handicap: upon seeing them, the hero realizes the depths of the villain's poise and control, because anyone else would cut themselves badly trying to walk in that outfit.
** The spikes are [[MacrossMissileMassacre missiles]].
** Though an ordinary person would barely be able to move in the villain's spike-bedecked armor, the villain is freakishly strong and dexterous enough to use the spikes to his advantage.
* '''Played For Laughs''': The spiked suit of armor keeps getting stuck in doors, leading the wearer to awkwardly stagger through them.
* '''Played For Drama''': The Dragon is a giant, and each spike holds a corpse belonging to one of the millions of foolish heroes that dared to challenge him. [[HeroicBSOD Like the hero's father.]]
* '''Played For Horror''': The Villain uses the Spikes to inflict ColdBloodedTorture or [[CruelAndUnusualDeath Cruel and Unusual Deaths]] on his victims.
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%% Optional items, added after Conversed, at your discretion:
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%%* '''Implied''': ???
%%* '''Plotted A Good Waste''': ???