History Main / SkeletonMotif

->''"Hans, have you noticed that our caps actually have little pictures of skulls on them? [...] What do skulls make you think of? Death, cannibals, beheading ... ehm ... pirates..."''

* The Nazi SS had tiny skulls on their uniform insignia. This is based off an older Prussian tradition of using headwear with skull symbols in the Hussar regiments.

* The Death Hussars, an important branch of Chilean liberation soldiers during the independence wars used skulls as motif. They acted more radical and aggressive toward the Spanish empire and used this trope to showcase that they would liberate Chile by all means necessary.

* The Nazi SS had tiny skulls on their uniform insignia.

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40K'' is full of skeletal imagery. Particularly with the Imperium of Man and even more so with worshippers of [[BloodKnight Khorne]].

* Long before the ''ComicBook/{{Punisher}}'', a [[TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] superhero called ''ComicBook/BlackTerror'' wore a black costume with a skull and crossbones insignia. He also had a sidekick who wore a similar costume; together they were known as "Terror Twins". During TheEighties Golden Age revival, the character was several time reimagined as a grim and gritty AntiHero under different aliases like "Terror", "Holy Terror" and even "Terrorist". He also appeared in Creator/AlanMoore's ''ComicBook/TomStrong''. He sometimes appears in more recent comics as well: e.g. in one comic series he was given a RaceLift and called himself "[[CaptainEthnic Blackest Terror]]".

* The ''Franchise/{{Halo}}''

* The ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' series has about three variations of the skull and crossbones theme for the highest Legendary difficulty:
** The classic variation from the original trilogy and ''VideoGame/HaloReach'' is an Elite skull crossed with two swords behind a shield with the ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'' symbol.
** ''VideoGame/Halo3ODST'' uses a human skull and suppressed [=SMGs=] behind the same shield.
** ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}'' and ''VideoGame/Halo5Guardians'' use a Promethean skull crossed by Energy Swords and a different shield.

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* Poisonous chemical substances are often noted with a skull (crossbones optional) to denote its danger.

* ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad'': [[BigBad Immortan Joe's]] [[MartyrdomCulture empire is resembled by a flaming skull emblem. Joe's pale hue and breathing apparatus also personally makes him resemble a skeleton.

* ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad'': Immortan Joe's empire is resembled by a flaming skull emblem. Joe's pale hue and breathing apparatus also personally makes him resemble a skeleton.

* ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'': Members of the [[InternalAffairs Special Judicial Squad]] wear helmets with skulls on them to strike fear in the hearts of corrupt Judges.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': Hollowfication is generally viewed as undesirable, with Hollows being human souls that have been consumed by dark, negative instincts to hunt down and destroy other souls to empower themselves. Humans that have been born to survivors of Hollow attacks possess unique powers called "Fullbring", but live with the alien essence of the Hollow from whose power their Fullbring descend. In the "Lost Agent Arc", Ichigo is taught by Ginjo to activate his Fullbring, which covers his entire body in a skeleton-themed armour. [[spoiler:Ginjo's plan is to helpfully nurture Ichigo's Fullbring so that he can steal the power for his own villainous ends. Like Ichigo, he is a substitute Soul Reaper with an inner Hollow, but when he manifests Ichigo's Fullbring, the skeletal armour becomes a better fit for him than it ever was for Ichigo. The manga's author has stated this is deliberate, as Ichigo's Fullbring was created with Ginjo's villainous appearance in mind.]]

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}''
** Ichigo has always been a prime example of DarkIsNotEvil, as black clothes and flames have always been associated with his character. However, during the "Lost Substitute Shinigami" arc, Ichigo gains a new ability known as a "Fullbring", whose ultimate form is to cover his body in a skeleton-themed armor.
** In the "Lost Substitute Shinigami" arc, [[spoiler:Ginjou does a FaceHeelTurn and steals Ichigo's Fullbring powers, and he REALLY gets good use out of the imagery.]]

* Poisonous chemical substances are often noted with a skull (crossbones optional) to denote its danger.

'''Note:''' please put examples that fit one of the tropes above on the appropriate page rather than here.

* From ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'', the Skull Knight is a very good AntiHero example.
* In ''Manga/SkullMan'', the title character is a masked [[SlidingScaleOfAntiHeroes Type V]] AntiHero.

** The Coalition States uses skull motifs for their body armour helmets, and some vehicles.[[note]]Because of this, Coalition soldiers are commonly referred to as "Dead Boys." Their giant robots also carry this motif frequently, and the newer powered armours can carry a lot more of the skeleton in their design; as do the newer model body armours. And of course they have Skele-bots.

** The Coalition States uses skull motifs for their body armour helmets, and some vehicles. Their giant robots also carry this motif frequently, and the newer powered armours can carry a lot more of the skeleton in their design; as do the newer model body armours. And of course they have Skele-bots.

!!{{Subtropes}} and closely related tropes:

** Scorpion is [[TheUndead a spectre]]. As such, he has a {{Skull for a Head}} ''underneath'' his mask. [[YourMileageMayVary Depending on your views]], he's either a [[SlidingScaleOfAntiheroes Type IV/Type V]] {{Antihero}} or a [[SlidingScaleOfAntivillains Type I]] {{Antivillain}}.

''DAN004 wuz ere takin over ur druft''

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