History Main / ImprovisedArmour

* In ''FridayAfterNext'', Damon has the protagonists wrap him in phone books when going to a party, due to a NoodleIncident where he was stabbed. Notably, Damon has recently got of out prison, so he still has an inmate's mindset.

* In ''Film/IronMan'', he has to improvise his first suit of armor [[LockingMacgyverInTheStoreCupboard out of missile parts]], '''[[MemeticMutation IN A CAVE! WITH A]]'''--oh wait, we did that joke already. Then again, this being a life-supporting suit of PoweredArmor with fully operational flamethrower and mostly-operational rocket-pack, [[GadgeteerGenius "improvised" is a bit of a stretch]].

* Unable to acquire an armored vehicle, Michael Westen of ''Series/BurnNotice'' once filled the insides of an SUV's doors with phone books.
** This was deemed plausible by the MythBusters. It worked quite well, but you'd need so many phone books to cover the windows it's [[AwesomeButImpractical impractical for]] RealLife.
** Which was explained in Westen's voice-over: "You don't want to skimp on ballistic glass."

* Convicted NZ murderer [[http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/3351986/No-penalty-for-attack-by-Burton Graeme Burton]] packed newspapers and magazines under his prison uniform when he stabbed another inmate, quite possibly inspiring the example from ''TheWire'', above.

* ''AFistfulOfDollars'', with the steel chest-piece.

* Unable to acquire an armored vehicle, Michael Westen of ''BurnNotice'' once filled the insides of an SUV's doors with phone books.

* In ''{{Disgaea}}'', one of the lower rank armour items is actually a pot lid.

* ''KingOfTheHill'': Bill does this when Dale is dressed in armor

Expect to see a lot of this in a ScavengerWorld or as part of a ScavengedPunk. May be donned as part of a LockAndLoadMontage.

Expect to see a lot of this on a ScavengerWorld. May be donned as part of a LockAndLoadMontage.

* In ''The Good, the Bad, the Weird'', Tae-goo survives a particularly crazy shootout by putting on a huge, metal diver's helmet.

* In ''The Gauntlet,'' Eastwood makes an APC out of a bus, by welding steel plates to the exterior.

* In Greek Mythology, Heracles strangled a lion that was terrorizing the countryside, [[NemeanSkinning skinned it]] ([[TakesOneToKillOne with its own fangs]]), then took its [[ImmuneToBullets impenetrable skin]] for armor. The lion skin became his IconicItem.

** Done in ''All Flesh Must Be Eaten'', similar to the ''D20Modern'' example above.

* In Command and Conquer Generals the GLA has pickup trucks and tanks which can be upgraded by collecting wreckages of destroyed enemy vehicles, which they use as improvised armor.

[[AC:Literature]]

* ''{{Warhammer 40000}}'' has 'Ard Boyz, relatively bright Orks who realize that by slapping together plates of scrap metal into a crude set of armor, they have a better chance of surviving the charge across the battlefield into melee. Of course, ''all'' Orks' armor counts as improvised, as do their weapons, vehicles, architecture, medicine...

* There are many examples in the {{Fallout}} 'verse, but the most obvious are the Raider armours from Fallout 3. Highlights include using sieves as a bikini, a cow skull as a shoulder pad and an empty shell of a spherical hovering robot as a helmet. In ''{{Fallout}} 3'', Super Mutants wear bits of tire as shoulder guards, while their Behemoths wield car doors as bucklers.

*** Used again in FalloutNewVegas, where Caesar's Legion makes ersatz Roman armor out of football pads, baseball catcher's pads, and the occasional tin dinner plate.

* In ''TotalRecall,'' Quaid (Arnold) uses a dead innocent bystander as a human shield to stop enemy bullets by holding up the dead body from falling.

* An advert for Strongbow cider had a guy giving a {{Braveheart}}-esque RousingSpeech to massed ranks of tradesmen with suitably working class {{Improvised Weapon}}ry and armour - the shield wall is made up of satellite dishes and dustbin lids, various "soldiers" are armed with spirit levels, paint rollers and garden tools, and most of them are wearing hard hats.

* The [[ChainmailBikini surprisingly protective]] card "[[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=41163 Improvised Armor]]" in ''{{Magic The Gathering}}''.

* An issue of ''ThePunisher'' (one of the Summer Specials back from the late 80's - early 90's) had the titular character fighting an evil school principal with a penchant for handing out guns to his students (don't ask). This (like many fights in schools) gets dragged to the library, where the Punisher decided that to survive the situation, he needed protection. A little duct tape and some textbooks later, we have the glorious invention of '''book armor!'''.

* Unable to acquire an armored vehicle, Michael Westen of ''BurnNotice'' once filled the insides of an SUV's doors with phone books.

* Pick a ScavengerWorld, any scavenger world. One post-apocalyptic ''{{D20 Modern}}'' setting featured illustrations of thugs using American football shoulder pads for armor and a Stop sign for a shield.
** Done in ''All Flesh Must Be Eaten'', similar to the ''{{D20 Modern}}'' example above.

* ''{{King of the Hill}}'': Bill does this when Dale is dressed in armor

* Convicted NZ murderer [[http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/3351986/No-penalty-for-attack-by-Burton Graeme Burton]] packed newspapers and magazines under his prison uniform when he stabbed another inmate, quite possibly inspiring the example from ''TheWire'', above.

* The [[{{Stripperiffic}} surprisingly protective]] card "[[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=41163 Improvised Armor]]" in ''{{Magic The Gathering}}''.

* When {{Deadpool}} wore a bunch of frozen meat to beat Bullseye. In his own words. "I am the meat."
* An issue of ''ThePunisher'' (One of the Summer Specials back from the late 80's - Early 90's) had the titular character fighting an evil school principal with a penchant for handing out guns to his students (don't ask). This (like many fights in schools) gets dragged to the library, where the Punisher decided that to survive the situation, he needed protection. A little duct tape and some textbooks later, we have the glorious invention of '''book armor!'''.

* In ''Film/IronMan'', he has to improvise his first suit of armor [[LockingMacgyverInTheStoreCupboard out of missile parts]], '''[[MemeticMutation IN A CAVE! WITH A]]'''--oh wait, we did that joke already. Then again, this being a life-supporting suit of PoweredArmor with fully operational flamethrower and mostly-operational rocket-pack, "improvised" is a bit of a stretch.

** In the longer alternate ending we learn he survived the three way shootout by also having an oven door hidden under his jacket in another shout out to A Fistful Of Dollars.

* In ''TheLostRoom'', the protagonist uses the Coat as body armor, as Objects are indestructible. He is still hurt (unlike actualy body armor, the Coat does nothing to spread the impact of a bullet).

* In Greek Mythology, Heracles strangled a lion that was terrorizing the countryside, [[NemeanSkinning skinned it]], then took its skin for armor, which would make sense because none of his weapons could penetrate its hide.
** He had to skin it ''with its own fangs''. The lion skin became his IconicItem.

* In CityOfHeroes theres a group of Mutant Hobos called "The Lost" who have EliteMooks which use various types of armor such as a STOP sign for chest protection and a ''TV SET WITH A BROKEN SCREEN'' as a helmet, these are things the playerbase ''wants''

* ''TheSimpsons'': Homer Simpson building a bear-hunting suit with [[LiteralAssKicking one notable gap]].

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ned_Kelly Ned Kelly]]. His homemade armour stopped at least twenty direct hits during his infamous shootout against Australian law enforcement. Unfortunately for Ned, the armour was heavy and didn't protect him all over. A shot to his ankle brought him down.

* During the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_hollywood_shootout North Hollywood shootout]], one of the bank robbers wore a full suit of patchwork body armor, including bullet-proof vests wrapped around his legs. The other robber simply wore a BulletproofVest with a metal trauma chestplate. Soon, however, the SWAT team arrived, in addition to a number of the regular officers acquiring assault rifles from a nearby gunstore, and both robbers soon learned the hard way that their body armor was only effective against the considerably less powerful handgun ammunition that the beat cops carried. Rifle rounds travel much faster and tend to go throgh kevlar quite easily, which is why soldiers wear ceramic armor plates inside their vests.
* possibly the most hilarious version as to date, are the Egyptian Protesters. Some of which sport helmets made of concrete slabs tied on with rope, and even loaves of bread secured with tape.

* Very popular amongst the SCA heavy weapons fighters. At least until they purchase real armour or learn armoursmithing themselves.

* During the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_hollywood_shootout North Hollywood shootout]], both of the bank robbers wore full suits of patchwork body armor, including bullet-proof vests wrapped around their legs.

* In ''{{Holyland}}'' when Masaki fights Taka the former uses a knuckleduster as an impromptu mini-shield.

[[quoteright:330:[[AliceInWonderland http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/improvarmor01_6002.png]]]]

* As depicted above, in LewisCarroll's ''ThroughTheLookingGlass'', Tweedledum and Tweedledee get Alice to help them dress in this sort of armor before fighting a not-very-lethal "battle".
* The 'Za Lord's Guard in the DresdenFiles have this.

* Several episodes of ''BrainiacScienceAbuse'' has mannequins dress up in improvised armour based on the setting, and fired at with a slingshot, longbow and crossbow. For example, if war broke out in a home, a mannequin in the kitchen might use a wok as a chestplate.

* Several episodes of {{Braniac}} has mannequins dress up in improvised armour based on the setting, and fired at with a slingshot, longbow and crossbow. For example, if war broke out in a home, a mannequin in the kitchen might use a wok as a chestplate.

* In the ''Oriental Adventures'' sourcebook for DungeonsAndDragons, Nezumi are fond of making makeshift armor out of whatever they can cobble together, like tower shields made of the shells of [[TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles turtle-like monsters called Kappa]].

* ''King of the Hill'': Bill does this when Dale is dressed in armor

* In ''{{Batman}},'' Bruce Wayne hides a small silver tea-tray inside his jacket, as body-armor against the Joker's gun.

* This is essentially IronMan's origin, although where he gets the material varies from retelling to retelling. Most famously, he used parts of his own stolen missiles to build his armor [[MemeticMutation IN A CAVE! WITH A]]--well, you know the rest.

* In ''Film/IronMan'', he has to improvise his first suit of armor [[LockingMacgyverInTheStoreCupboard out of missile parts]],'''[[MemeticMutation IN A CAVE! WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS!]]'''. Then again, this being a life-supporting suit of PoweredArmor with fully operational flamethrower and mostly-operational rocket-pack, "improvised" is a bit of a stretch.