Rarely will anyone ask why it doesn't just fly off without its wearer or, more grimly, how the user's neck doesn’t break from solely supporting the body's weight.
Compare Helicopter Hair and Hair Wings. See also Mercury's Wings (wings on the head or feet), and Propeller Hat of Whimsy (a propeller hat indicating a whimsical wearer that may or may not grant the ability to fly). Subtrope of Hat of Power.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- The Take-copter from Doraemon, which is so iconic that it's one of the few recurring tools even if technically its functionality is covered by other gadgets.
- In To Love Ru, Lala's hat has giant bat wings and allows her to fly. Her entire costume (hat included) is a shapechanging robot named Peke, so the anti-gravity may come from the entire costume, rather than just the hat. Her Magnet-bot technology, which sticks things or people together would also allow the hat to stay on.
Comic Books
- In one strip from the Belgian comic Game Over, the protagonist finds a winged helmet that he assumes to be this... Turns out, it was actually a living creature that promptly bites the top of his head off as soon as he dons it. Another example has him craft one himself in order to escape rising lava... Only for the helmet to fly off without him, leaving him to his fate.
- The Argentinian comic (and a cartoon) Hijitus has the eponymous hero use a magical hat (about as big as himself) to transform into a Flying Brick.
- Wonder Woman (1942): The giant women of Mercury wear winged helmets and sandals in order to fly.
Comic Strips
- In Calvin and Hobbes, Calvin orders a propeller beanie expecting that it will allow him to fly. There is an Imagine Spot of him flying with it. He is quite disappointed when he gets it and finds out it doesn't actually enable flight.
Calvin: Well, how does it look?
Hobbes: Adjectives fail me.
Calvin: I'm turning it on. Ready? Here goes. [beat] I don't seem to be lifting off. This is very peculiar.
Hobbes: That's the word I was looking for.
Literature
- The eponymous beanie in the children's book Isabella Propeller and the Magic Beanie.
Live-Action TV
- Sister Bertrille, of The Flying Nun, is able to fly because of her winged cornette catching the wind and lifting her up.
- In the Sid and Marty Krofft show, Lidsville, the evil magician Hoodoo has a top hat that turns into a flying machine.
- A Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode has Joel coming up with the "Beanie-Chopper" during the invention exchange, but to the Bots' disappointment it doesn't actually allow him to fly.
- Linda finds a magical hat that allows her to fly in the Round the Twist episode "Copycat".
- The Sesame Street animated short "Above It All" features a humanoid alligator girl who flies with a propeller fez.
Myths & Religion
- The Trope Maker is probably Hermes's winged hat from Classical Mythology, called the Petasus,
though it was only "winged" in that it had a wide floppy brim, and his power of flight came from his sandals. Nevertheless, because of Pop-Cultural Osmosis, he is now often portrayed with a flying hat.
Video Games
- The Addams Family gives Gomez a helicopter hat in certain levels.
- Big Fun in Furbyland: The playable Furby in the Mini-Game In the Clouds wears a propeller hat that grants it flight.
- The Grinch (2000): At one point in Who Lake, you have to use the Grinch Copter to chase after a scout who flies away with a hat with a propeller on it.
- Rayman:
- Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc: One of the combat fatigues that Rayman can use is the Throttle Copter, a helmet that allows him to fly higher. This can be found in a yellow can of Laser-Washing Powder. Unfortunately, this power-up is the one with the shortest time limit, lasting only three seconds.
- Rayman Legends: Barbara and her sisters use their winged helmets to hover, due to lacking the titular hero's Helicopter Hair.
- Shantae and the Pirate's Curse: Risky's Hat gives Shantae the ability to glide due to its large size and consequently fly whenever there's an updraft.
- Shovel Knight: Propeller Knight has a very fancy helmet with a propeller that lets him fly, complete with handles.
- Splatoon 2: Chinooks wear apparatus on their heads with propellers to air-drop their fellow Salmonids from the Mothership to the ground.
- Super Mario Bros.:
- Super Mario 64: The Wing Cap looks just like Mario's regular hat, but with wings. It allows him to fly after triple jumping or getting shot out of a cannon.
- New Super Mario Bros. Wii: The Propeller Suit has a helmet with a propeller to use in flight. It also answers the question posed in the description: the Propeller Mushroom that gives you the power does fly away if you don't reach it quickly enough...
- Wario Land had a jet-powered hat as one of the power-ups.
Web Comics
- In Basic Instructions, Rocket Hat's "superpower" is owning a rocket-propelled hat. The question of how it stays on his head is asked and answered — chinstrap. And as a backup, if the chinstrap gets cut, he can hold onto the (very subtle) brim.
- In League of Super Redundant Heroes, the Evil Savant's propeller beanie can fly, although he's only used it once so far.
- The Order of the Stick: A gnome in Tinkertown is seen flying with a propeller beanie.
Western Animation
- Verne is shown with one in the Back to the Future Animated Adaptation.
- Droopy and Spike wore a pair of propeller hats in "Daredevil Droopy". Droopy's successfully launched him in the air, while Spike's burrowed him underground.
- In an intro sequence from Huckleberry Hound, Pixie and Dixie give Mr. Jinks a "copter cap", which sends the cat flying.
- Inspector Gadget has a helicopter hat. Why it doesn't fly away is actually shown, in that it usually has handles that he holds onto while flying, both to steer and prevent it from coming off.
- In one episode, it did. He had to call out, "Go-Go-Gadget Copter Spare!" to get another one.
- The Mask once wore a propeller-beanie which actually worked as a real helicopter when he pulled on the propellers.
- Brought up by Rick in the Rick and Morty episode "Claw and Hoarder: Special Ricktim's Morty"
Rick: Let me give you rocket shoes. Let me give you Wolverine Claws. Let me give you a f*cking rocket hat. Just be sure to use it with the rocket shoes, or it'll rip your head off.
Real Life
- The "propeller beanie" (a beanie or baseball hat with a propeller on it) has become a nerd symbol. For example, Google gives its new employees ("Nooglers") a propeller hat in Google colors during orientation. Unfortunately, it does not really let you fly. No hat allowing flight currently exists sadly.
