"There's no place we won't go! ... except
Offbrandia, nothing but pirates there."
Whether it's a trip to the Serengeti, jaunt through time or pulp/steampunk adventures, these are the outfits you want to wear! Worn by the
Adventurer Archaeologist,
Lady of Adventure,
Great White Hunter,
Egomaniac Hunter and
Gentleman Adventurer, as well as the
Ace Pilot, and, sometimes, the
Bold Explorer.
There's three stock ensembles that make up this trope, though it's sometimes mix-and-matched with other
Stock Costume Traits:
Safari Outfit: Beige or tan linens, big brown belt, boots, probably a rifle and binoculars. Also, a safari hat, called a Pith Helmet; (
monocle optional but recommended). Usually the wearer is book smart but ignorant of what they should actually wear for the expedition. Usually accessorized with a rifle or musket.
Counterintuitively most of them needed in more coverage in
Real Life to avoid sunburns and harmful insects.
Airman: Start with a Bomber Jacket (the kind with a large wool collar and lapels), then add a
Scarf of Asskicking, leather gloves and light boots.
note These double as Stylish Protection Gear; aircraft cabins can get pretty cold at altitude. Usually has goggles (which
may or may not be useful) or a flying helmet, or sometimes a peaked cap from whichever Air Force they learned to fly in. When the Airman travels
IN SPACE! they'll probably swap out for a
Latex Space Suit. If armed, it'll be with a pistol.
Archaeologist: Think
Indiana Jones.
Nice Hat, typically a wide brim fedora,
Perma Stubble if male, leather jacket, long sleeved collared shirt, plain pants and sturdy boots, pistol holster/harness, and
Ancient Artifact holding satchel. If the character is a trope for trope
Expy of Indy, they'll also have a
whip. More recently, a vest may substitute the jacket, and the pistol harness might become two for
Dual Wielding guns.
A
Mad Max, post-apocalyptic Wanderer look can be related. A few settings take the Airman outfit, remove the scarf,
adds chains, lots of belts (though a few shy of
Too Many Belts),
much more grime and a rifle. A
trusty dog is optional, but recommended, but a
motorcycle works as well. To add a
Steampunk flavor to either of the above, add clocks, light metal armoring, a tool belt, and
Ray Gun as needed.
Examples:
Advertisement
- Emil Holub is a famous Czech traveller and explorer, and a safari outfit is a staple for his fictional portrayals. A series of adverts for beer company Pilsner Urquell employed the use of Czech patriots and historical figures. Emil Holub's adventure in Africa could not be achieved without this safari outfit and a couple of beers he brought with him. Link to youtube.
Comic Books
- The Time-Traveling parents from Runaways are a good generic explorer example, with all the leather and goggles and such.
- Axel Brass' team◊ from Planetary depicts the Safari, Air Man and Archaeologist outfits as well as few other classic genre outfits.
Film
- Indiana Jones is easily one of the best examples of this trope, if not, the trope codifier. Not to mention his many expies.
- Indiana Jones himself is an Expy of many adventure movie heroes from the early 20th century, though his franchise has swallowed up the genre so effectively that few remember anything about them. .
- The titular Sky Captain in Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow.
- Dark Helmet from Spaceballs has a brief costume switch into a safari outfit during the part of the movie that took place on the Tattooine-spoof planet. Complete with huge pith helmet with peep-holes.
- Charles Muntz from Up, aviator outfit.
- Rick O'Connell in The Mummy Trilogy.
- Van Pelt in Jumanji wears the classic Safari Outfit.
- Dr Emil Holub was a Czech traveller who widely explored Africa in the 19th century. In the film Jara Cimrman, Lying, Sleeping, he's seen sporting the safari/jungle outfit even when he's at home in Prague. See this short clip (with English subtitles).
Literature
- Commander Bradshaw wears a safari outfit in the Thursday Next series. His books were adventure stories that fell out of favour and went out of print after the 1920s, but he had to stay in character in the BookWorld.
- The Comedic Hero of Scoop, the 1938 satire by Evelyn Waugh, is a country wildlife writer who's accidentally sent overseas as a war correspondent. He's sent to the requisite adventure outfitters who, realising his naivete, sell him a vast mountain of clothing and equipment which he lugs to Africa with him.
- Tail's momentary wears the airman costume inSonic The Hedgehog In Robotniks Laboratory before being told to take it off by Sonic.
- Biggles and his colleagues usually wear the Airman variant but on occasion they'll don Safari Outfits for hot climates.
Live-Action TV
- Doctor Who has River Song.
- Also Captain Cook in "The Greatest Show in the Galaxy."
- Travelling Matt from Fraggle Rock, safari outfit.
- Professor Elemental's usual attire.
- Q dresses like this in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation when he steals Picard's adventurer archaeologist love interest.
- Let's not forget the outfit of CAPTAIN PROTON!, which is an Airman outfit plus jetpack in the style of black-and-white sci-fi adventure serials like Commando Cody. So adventurous, it even works in space.
- Warehouse 13- When investigating Warehouse Two, H.G. Wells dresses like a Lara Croft expy.
Manhwa
Music
- In the music video for Aqua's song Doctor Jones, all the band spend most of the video wearing the "Safari Outfit" version, Lene's outfit being used particularly for Fanservice.
Toys
- The G.I. Joe Adventure Team in the 1970s had a few desert-themed sets featuring explorer outfits in differing amounts.
- LEGO's Indiana Jones knockoff LEGO Adventurers featured all their main characters in varations of these.
Video Games
- Captain Ash in the Time Splitters games.
- You can get just such a costume in Fable II.
- Sphinx And The Cursed Mummy has a dog-man dressed like this, including the pith helmet, in Ancient Egypt. It probably doesn't bear thinking about.
- Lara Croft from Tomb Raider puts a "feminine" touch to archaeologist.
- Uncharted has Drake in archaeologist gear.
- Agarest Senki has Noa, an elf eirl who's living her life finding treasures, spots a Safari type with little pants.
- Of all the Castlevania heroes, Julius Belmont looks the closest to an Indiana-adventurer style for the way he dresses - a brown cape and a red scarf. John Morris is fairly close behind him, as well as Wind from Portrait of Ruin
- Red from Solatorobo wears a variant of the Airman outfit, with gloves, a Nice Hat, Goggles That Do Nothing, and a furry shoulder-cape replacing the bomber jacket and scarf.
- Sir Hammerlock of Borderlands 2 wears a rather anachronistic safari outfit, though rather than a monocle he simply has one of the lenses of his glasses cracked.
Western Animation
- Chip on Chip N Dale Rescue Rangers, archaeologist.
- Launchpad McQuack from DuckTales and Darkwing Duck, aviator outfit.
- Jack Yaeger from The Mercury Men wears the standard Raygun Gothic version of this.
- The Super Adventure Club from South Park spoofs this.
- In Tale Spin, Rebecca dresses like this in a few episodes, as does Adventurer Archaeologist Myra from "In Search of Ancient Blunders".
- Baloo's regular outfit is an aviator outfit. Appropiate, considering his line of work.
- The Ventures dress like this in the jungle episode of The Venture Brothers
- Major Minor, nemesis of Snagglepuss on Yogi Bear, safari outfit.
- Likewise Colonel Rimfire, who chased after late sixties Looney Tunes character Cool Cat.
- Nigel Thornberry of The Wild Thornberries wears the safari outfit. Averted by his wife Marianne, whose outfit is the sort of thing that modern wilderness trekkers actually wear.
- Invoked in an episode of The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, in which they're making a movie and Christopher Robin gives Pooh an airman style scarf to show that he's The Hero.
- Adventure archaeologist and Indy expy Daring Do from the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic episode "Read it and Weep" sports a safari shirt and pith helmet.
- The heroes of Filmation's Ghostbusters sported this look. Jake was the safariman; Eddie, the airman (with a Badass Longcoat for good measure); and Tracy, the archaeologist. Old-fashioned adventurers sometimes wore their cameras around their necks, a look which the Ghostbusters mirrored with their neck-worn Comm Links.
