History Main / ImprovisedArmour

* In ''VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies'', some of the zombies have obtained armour that makes them more powerful, such as traffic cones, metal buckets, American football gear, screen doors, bobsleds...[[spoiler:a HumongousMecha]].

* The oft-homaged example seen in ''Film/AFistfulOfDollars'' above was apparently TruthInTelevision; if TheSheriff or some other local authority figure got wind that trouble might be breaking out, he'd sometimes don an "iron shirt" as a precaution. A stove door like Marty uses in ''Film/BackToTheFuture 3'' was pretty common, being the most readily available item of approximately the right size and shape.

* An advert for Strongbow cider had a guy giving a Film/{{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.

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

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

* {{Deadpool}} once 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!'''.
* 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 BOX OF SCRAPS!]]

* In TheLittleRascals short "The First Seven Years" two of the rascals have a swordfight and they armor up first. One uses a catcher's mask and the other uses a beekeper's hat-and-veil.

* As depicted above, in Creator/LewisCarroll's ''[[Literature/AliceInWonderland Through the Looking Glass]]'', Tweedledum and Tweedledee get Alice to help them dress in this sort of armor before fighting a not-very-lethal "battle".

* [[{{Emberverse}} Dies the Fire]] features many examples. In later books, most cultures have learned to make proper armor, but occasional savage bands wearing improvised armor still turn up, such as the Bekwa, and their trademark stop-sign (or rather, "Arrêt"-sign) shields.

* Several episodes of ''BrainiacScienceAbuse'' have 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 GreekMythology, Heracles strangled the Nemean 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.

* In ''BreathOfFire2'' the first helmet you can buy is called a SaladBWL. Guess it's better than nothing.

* Various ''DragonQuest'' games have pot lids as the cheapest shield.
* In ''CommandAndConquerGenerals'' the GLA has pickup trucks and tanks which can be upgraded by collecting wreckages of destroyed enemy vehicles, which they use as improvised armor.

* In ''CityOfHeroes'' there's a group of mutant hobos called "The Lost" with EliteMooks who use various types of armor such as a STOP sign for chest protection and a TV set (with a broken screen) as a helmet.

* ''TheSimpsons'': Homer Simpson builds a bear-hunting suit (with [[LiteralAssKicking one notable gap]]) out of stuff he finds in his garage.

** Homaged in ''Film/BackToTheFuture 3'', with an oven door used for the same purpose.

* In ''NationalTreasure'', [[NicolasCage Ben]] uses the Declaration of Independence as a shield when he's being shot at (or rather, the case fitted with bulletproof glass the Declaration was being kept in).

* 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 out of prison, so he still has an inmate's mindset.
* In ''Film/BackToTheFuture 3'', Marty managed to slip the door off a stove under his clothes in preparation for his showdown with Buford. It works like a charm, stopping not only the bullet but also causing Buford's punch to backfire. He also [[ImprovisedWeapon whacks him in the face with it]] before [[CurbStompBattle beating him senseless]].

* J and K in ''Film/MenInBlackIII'' block several spikes being thrown by the villain with a metal door.

*** Up-armouring was not always a good thing, a common modification of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M4_Sherman M4 Sherman]] was a extra plate welded over the ammo bins. This was apparently used as an aiming point by the Germans.

** In a later episode where Michael's in prison, he and another prisoner fashion temporary armor from several library books.

* The infamous [[NamesToRunawayFromReallyFast Killdozer]] is a [[WeaponizedCar literal buldozer]] with more than one foot thick armor slapped around it, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvin_Heemeyer#Bulldozer_modification made of concrete-metal sandwich]]. [[NoSell It's immune to]] [[ImmuneToBullets small arms and explosives]].

* Pick a ScavengerWorld, any scavenger world. One post-apocalyptic ''D20Modern'' setting featured illustrations of thugs using American football shoulder pads for armor and a Stop sign for a shield.
** Done in ''AllFleshMustBeEaten'', similar to the ''D20Modern'' example above.

* 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 turtle-like monsters called Kappa.
* ''{{GURPS}}: High-Tech'' has rules for homemade armor. Buckets can be made into a plastic ''lorica segmentata'' strong enough to provide noticeable protection from a shotgun blast.

* In an episode of ''{{Spellbinder}}'', the protagonist fashions herself a suit out of mirrors when faced with a reactivated laser-armed APC guided by an AI. This comes after hearing a local children's story involving a "looking glass" being used to defeat a monster.

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

[[AC:Myth]]

[[AC:Professional Wrestling]]

* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'': Bill does this when Dale is dressed in armor
* ''Total Drama Island'': During the last episode of the fourth season Lightning creates a suit of armor consisting of sheet metal from a trash can and a smashed in frying pan for a helmet, while Cameron creates a of armor with a laptop he coded to become said armor.

[[AC:WebComics]]

* Mal in Webcomic/CthulhuSlippers use the indestructible necronomicon as body armour in [[http://cthulhuslippers.com/comic/keep-safe/ this strip.]]

* Jimmy DeMarco duct taped a fruit bowl to his head in an effort to protect himself from [=DDTs=] when he met [[Wrestling/JakeRoberts Jake "The Snake" Roberts]] in the International Wrestling Cartel. [[spoiler:It didn't work.]]

* In ''Film/BackToTheFuture 3'', Marty managed to slip the door off a stove under his clothes in preparation for his showdown with Buford. It works like a charm, stopping not only the bullet but also causing Buford's punch to backfire.

* [[{{Emberverse}} Dies the Fire]] features many examples. In later books, most cultures have learned to make proper armor, but occasional savage bands wearing improvised armor still turn up, such as the Bekwa

* Some of the Egyptian protesters against the Mubarak regime were seen sporting helmets made of concrete slabs tied on with rope, and even loaves of bread secured with tape.

* In GreekMythology, 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.

* ''TheWire'', when Omar ends up in prison he [[DuctTapeForEverything duct-tapes]] several thick books to his body before going to shank an enemy as an example to the other inmates.
* Unable to acquire an armored vehicle, Michael Westen of ''Series/BurnNotice'' once filled the insides of an SUV's doors with phone books and put ballistic glass in the windows. This was [[TropesExaminedByTheMythbusters deemed plausible by]] the Series/{{MythBusters}}. It worked quite well, but the windows were noted to be an AchillesHeel, so that ballistic glass was a good investment.

* The 'Za Lord's Guard in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' have this.

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

* Unable to acquire an armored vehicle, Michael Westen of ''Series/BurnNotice'' once filled the insides of an SUV's doors with phone books and put ballistic glass in the windows. This was [[TropesExaminedByTheMythbusters deemed plausible by]] the {{MythBusters}}. It worked quite well, but the windows were noted to be an AchillesHeel, so that ballistic glass was a good investment.