Basic Trope: The Evil Overlord wears concealing plate armor.
- Straight: The Dark Lord Diabolus wears a suit of jet-black armor with a black cape and spiked shoulder pauldrons.
- Exaggerated: The Dark Lord Diabolus also has a face-concealing helmet shaped like a grinning skull, the pauldrons are bigger than the helmet (and are also shaped like skulls), and the entire suit of armor has so many spikes that people wonder how he's able to move around in it.
- Downplayed: The Dark Lord Diabolus goes into battle in realistic plate armor that is painted jet-black and bears morbid heraldry.
- Justified:
- The Dark Lord conceals his face either because The Dark Side has made it monstrously ugly, or because he doesn't want to be recognized, or because he's in fact, a girl.
- The armor is for the protection and intimidation factor.
- Or it's a Powered Armor.
- Or it's empty.
- Or he's a robot.
- Or it's his skin.
- Or he is very paranoid.
- Or it's all that's keeping him alive.
- Or it's a status symbol.
- Inverted:
- The hero is a Black Knight who walks the earth in concealing plate armor to avoid being recognized by the Dark Lord's goons.
- The hero is a Terror Hero who uses the intimidating appearance of his armor to avoid unnecessary fights.
- The villain wears a skimpy loincloth.
- The villain looks like a classic Knight in Shining Armor.
- Subverted:
- The heroes finally bring down the Dark Lord in the black spiky armor... only to discover that it was a body double used to make the populace believe the Dark Lord himself was leading the evil army.
- Dark Lord Diabolus does a Heel–Face Turn, and keeps the spiky intimidating armor.
- Diabolus is actually a misunderstood good guy.
- Double Subverted:
- The real Dark Lord's armor is even more ornate, and decorated with spikes and skulls.
- Except he’s a Fake Defector.
- Until he later does a Face–Heel Turn.
- Parodied: The Dark Lord Diabolus never takes off his helmet or armor, even when he's in the shower.
- Zig Zagged: Diabolus only wears the armor on special occasions.
- Averted: The Dark Lord Diabolus prefers a fashionable Black Cloak to all that bulky armor.
- Enforced:
- The author was a fan of Sauron in The Lord of the Rings movie.
- "Okay, we have to make the bad guy look cool and intimidating while also making sure the audience knows that he’s evil. I know! Give him super-scary armor!"
- Lampshaded: "Diabolus the Dark Lord is wearing a gigantic suit of armor. Gee, no surprises here."
- Invoked: Diabolus dresses as a Tin Tyrant so that his side can recognize him upon the battlefield.
- Exploited: Diabolus wearing a ton or more of armor everywhere has made him extremely fit. While it's on, his only weakness is being incredibly slow. When he ditches it, he's got the benefit of constant exercise from wearing a scrapyard all the time and is no longer weighed down by it.
- Defied: "I'm not wearing that! Don't you realize how hot a suit of black armor gets in the summertime? It's like an oven in there!"
- Discussed: "What is it with overlords and armor fetishes? Are the two related or what?"
- Conversed: "You know, it seems like every Final Fantasy game has to have at least one big scary guy in armor."
- Implied: Though Diabolus is never shown, as he was long since defeated in the backstory, the heroes come across a big and scary suit of armor while exploring the ruins of his lair.
- Deconstructed:
- The Dark Lord Diabolus is really paranoid about someone trying to harm him, so he has heavily fortified armor look fearsome to protect himself while intimidating everyone from attacking him. Alternatively he could be making up for something.
- The Dark Lord Diabolus, while imposing, can barely move, making him easy pickings for anyone who's long ranged.
- Reconstructed:
- The Dark Lord Diabolus wears his deliberately over-spiked, oversized, and under-flexible armor all the time in order to limit his own power. Anyone thinking that the armor-wearing is based around paranoia and weakness is in for a nasty surprise…
- The Dark Lord Diabolus's armor is far lighter then it looks, and he can still fight in it.
- The Dark Lord is a Blue Blood and/or is Active Royalty, and so he is rich and powerful enough to have it built for both the intimidating form and to serve its battlefield function.
- Diabolus doesn't NEED to move to kill you. His primary combat strategy is a leisurely walk towards his goal while his opponents kill themselves on his powers. It doesn't help that his armor is practically impenetrable.
- Diabolus can't move in his armor, but uses magic or technology to make the armor itself capable of moving while he wears it.
- Played For Laughs: Diabolus ends up plummeting through the floor due to the weight of his bulky armor.
- Played For Drama: The Scary Impractical Armour is in fact Scary, and Diabolus is The Dreaded largely due to the armor's fearsome reputation.
Back to Tin Tyrant. Don't forget to dress properly first, though.
