What's Up With Your SHOES? Another Armour Tier List

[@JillBearup]

Hope you enjoyed the video!

[@raziyatheseeker]

I am pleasantly surprised you know some good D&D spells for the VPN allegory! I wasn't sure if you knew that stuff or not. To add my own: Mirror Image, or maybe Displacement. I now wonder if that's how one actually pronounces Simulacrum, as well. Apparently Geas is actually a Gaelic word, less of a "ghee-us" and more of a "gesh". No wonder Druids can use it in 5e.

[@borttorbbq2556]

Side note I mean considering what was considered you know protective armor for horses I would presume for a bear it would you know check a lot of the same marks and yeah looks good enough to me. Plus that looks like a polar bear and yeah Bears have very thick or spur and their skin is super tough they don't need like a duplet or anything like that it's probably a cyst with avoiding you know pinching and pulling on hairs which I imagine is pretty uncomfortable I mean I don't like to have to imagine it I'm pretty fuzzy myself. So like you know bare skin isn't very sensitive so I wouldn't be too surprised if it wasn't actually a problem and but considering how bears are actually built that armor is perfect you really couldn't put arm in leg armor on a bear and have it stay very well I mean you could but yeah it covers the vitals which is important and like realistically for all the way would not be able to get a good enough stab into the shoulder too hit its heart or something so the bear could definitely get itself hurt but probably not bad enough to kill it very easily at least. Bears are just giant puppies with anger issues

[@borttorbbq2556]

Stormtrooper armor Works in three ways first way it works is by reducing the heat and energy impact by being basically the black part of the armor will help reduce thermal damage and can administer emergency medicine or can directly knock the occupant out along with I believe it has reactive functions that can basically cause it to make a trooper stiff so they can be easily moved. Furthermore if they take too much damage if the armor takes too much damage or if the occupant happens to genuinely take lethal damage or you know potentially it will knock its occupant out in the hopes of preserving their life sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't if you take it just kind of depends on what you get hit by your regular Blaster probably well anti armor weapons definitely will at the very if it doesn't blow the trooper apart the trooper will be rendered unconscious by the armor no matter what occurs and the armor will stiff into allow for easy moving basically the armor becomes a stretcher and life support the armor has a lot of different little functions that makes it really cool and even though there is better armor in Universe most of those better armors don't have the full Suite of additional factors I believe

[@borttorbbq2556]

Oh one more thing you cannot use the armor if you do not have the correct ID chip you can fool the system so you can use it or you can disable that feature but no you cannot just strip a dead clone troopers armor or steal a Troopers armor out of the Armory because every suit is designated to a specific Stormtrooper this is also true for clone troopers I do not know if it's the case for the first order troopers

[@KellyDVance]

The D&D references and armour actually made me sit through the ad. Well done.

[@chengkuoklee5734]

I imagine Edna Mode says:"No high heels."

[@ruthmariesaunders4805]

Well, both Violet and Mrs. Incredible have high heels in their supersuits. So maybe not.

[@sarahscott5305]

Heels? Fine. * Edna voice* "NO wedges!"

[@harbingerofsarcasm2510]

​@ruthmariesaunders4805 tbf you can't be sure that that's not just more of Elastagirl's heel

[@hj8416]

Edna Mode is only against to capes. 😆 capes are only good to heroes who fly, but heroes who doesn't fly at all? Nah 🤷

[@terralunaforge7095]

😂

[@Hannah_G]

Fun fact Cullen’s helmet only exists in one game trailer because the developers couldn’t get the face model to mouth words properly at the time so they just put a helmet on him

[@sarahnelson8836]

Hahaha to be fair though they do actually have helmets in game you can choose in settings if you see them or not

[@kambor1578]

@@sarahnelson8836 Only the player character and companions, like Cassandra

[@aradiamegido0u0]

I know I'm late but. If you take the path with the soldiers in the intro you can see him with the helmet on fighting the demons.

[@philopharynx7910]

"I am not a giant sapient bear, but if I were, I'd wear it." I hope I'm not alone in wanting to see Jill Bear-Up.

[@kacheek9101]

I'm a simple woman. I see Jill Bearup Armor Tier List, I click In other news, I just started a new video game the other day, and during character creation I got a good look at the female armor and thought, 'Jill would be so disappointed by this'

[@Marlyjade]

Me with monster hunter rise. Unless it is not armor it looks horrible lol

[@billybobbaldrick]

Just imagining her doing tier lists of the video game armours that your character actually wears Would be amazing

[@jenniferhanses7064]

In regards to the armpit, I studied unarmed martial arts, and as women have more strength in their legs, I got lots of practice at kicking armpits. There's definitely some crucial nerves there. And if you kick hard enough into the armpit, you can completely disable the arm on a temporary basis. It becomes all floppy and drops the weapon or whatever else the opponent was holding on that side. This is great when fighting men, as they're more likely to go for a punch (stronger upper body), so you block and grab the arm, using their own momentum to help propel your kick dead on into the pit. Your leg strength plus their arm strength, plus you having more reach with a leg, will almost always disable, plus put you in a great position to grab any item they were holding in their hand (sword, knife, McGuffin that the party needs), and then either follow up with a kick to the balls or belly with your other foot while you're completely in control of their arm, or book it the opposite direction.

[@Amy_the_Lizard]

I don't know how she did it, but my friend managed to do the floppy arm thing to me because she randomly took a jab at me while I was raising my hand (no clue why she was doing that in the first place,) but yeah. That made for a great day in class... (Note: it actually wore off pretty quickly, but since she did to my dominant arm I couldn't take notes for a while...)

[@jenniferhanses7064]

@@Amy_the_Lizard LOL. And yeah, it doesn't last forever or anything. But that's what makes it so good if you're not trying to permanently maim or kill someone.

[@SamCoulson]

The Avatar: Last Airbender animated series has this as a female character's primary fighting style, called "chi blocking." See Ty Lee. Nice to hear of someone who practices it in real life!

[@jenniferhanses7064]

@@SamCoulson I'm familiar with Ty Lee. I can't remember if she ever hit the armpit hard enough or not, though I do remember some noodly arms. In this case, it's not really a style so much as target selection. A martial arts instructor will teach you moves. A good martial arts instructor will teach you where to hit.

[@dominicstarr3065]

*Is logging this away for future use *

[@blackvial]

Well Cassandra's base armor doesn't come with a helmet you can give her one in game.

[@ana_d_73]

Yes, some of the upgradable armor is quite nice too

[@peterbrazukas7771]

and Cassandra would never bend the knee anyway ;)

[@rd6203]

Also, on her feet: looks like they're supposed to be external metatarsal guards and yes, they inhibit movement, but less than you might expect, as there is padding between it and the foot which allows your foot some bend. They're shaped so as to deflect falling objects and they do a lovely job at keeping one's feet unbroken... but it does kind of look like the animators started with the shape of a foot in a high-heeled shoe before putting her in sensible flats, because they are supposed to stop at the top of your foot so that your ankle can bend

[@Elvalley]

@@rd6203 oh, so I'm not the only one who thought those guards looked suspiciously like they went back on high heels!

[@isakle8474]

Cassandra is THE most protected, she won't even get to the battlefield

[@JoriamRamos]

I am very much in the "finding immense delight in showing Jill strange animal bodies that don't actually need armour using armour" team - I'm here for the bear meteorite review.

[@hippo5231]

Thing about the bear armor is, sure bears naturally are tough bastards, but with good spears and a few good men could take them down. But armor, and a bear that knows how to utilize it, would be a bitch of a fight, even outnumbered and surrounded.

[@Jabrwock]

I like your explanation of why Luke can't see. It helps explain why later on, while wearing the helmet, he's now able to precisely shoot alarms, cameras, and guards. He managed to figure out the helmet HUD settings. ;)

[@reachandler3655]

Or he used the force 😉

[@knightofarnor2552]

@@reachandler3655 that would take away from his big success in the climax though

[@barbaros99]

The Death Star's pretty big, so he probably ran the tutorial while riding in elevators.

[@Crazael]

I always just figured he was exaggerating for effect when he complained about not being able to see anything.

[@piogal34]

I loved seeing Pike from Critical Role on your list! The in-game joke is that Pike is that you can always hear her coming because of the disadvantage on stealth checks her full plate gives her. I imagine the animated version of her mainly had this armor because it was easier to draw and made more sense for day to day. Either way, another fun video. Thanks, Jill!

[@elsalaiho1699]

You can actually even in the animated series hear a faint sound of armor pieces clanking together in some scenes where Pike is there and is moving around!

[@Adurnis]

It was a good point that the armor looks like it could be worn day-to-day given all the travel Vox Machina (pronounced MOCK-inn-uh, Jill!) gets up to.

[@mysterypost5575]

Kinda spoil alert but Pike also gets a more full plate armor look later in the 1st season as well. Though that's during some Astral projection hijinks so maybe doesn't fully count. 🤔

[@AdamMclardy]

First thing I did with my real world plate armor is line the places where it clangs the most with velvet to add stealth

[@simongeard4824]

There's a reason those armored types are often addressed as "Sir Clanksalot".

[@nekograce7914]

The line “I can’t see a thing with this on” was an accident. Mark Hamill didn’t know they were filming and was complaining to Ford and the timing was so perfect the kept it in. I love that you talked about Storm Troopers. My niece and I were just speaking about their ability to both miss the shot and yet get hit by a shot. I wanted to give you a film suggestion. I know you probably won’t see this but I watched this Korean film called No Mercy about a month ago. The fight scenes are so well choreographed, it’s just amazing. And the lead actress’s character uses whatever is on hand as a weapon and sometimes it’s her shoes. She did a lot of her own fight stunts. As I was watching it I kept thinking “Jill Bearup would love this”. Absolutely 10/0. Well….9/10.

[@SaraAson]

I agree that visual fiction gets a pass on the no helmet part. Character faces are very important for expressions and easily recognizability if they wear a helmet that's either part off their body in the same another characters hair and sometimes whole face (Alphonse Elric) is or it has so little coverage that it's more a hat than a helmet. I kinda rank that in the same group as video games letting you have an "invisible helmet" by just letting you hide the graphic for it so you can see your characters face for cutscenes and split second screenshots off cool things happening. Like we all know they realistcally do wear a helmet but by the law off intresting entertainment we don't see it.

[@cruachan1191]

Depends on the character though, Judge Dredd probably being the best example. Big Hollywood production with Stallone as the lead means no way are they covering his face, but the (immeasurably superior) 2012 version starring Karl Urban stuck rigidly to the helmet being on, as the facelessness of justice is such a key aspect of the character. They also made the armour more practical for actual use by removing the oversized shoulder pads that would hinder movement from the comic design, faithfully recreated in the Stallone version.

The solution that people in the past used to be able to be identified when wearing helmet were helmet decorations, shield decorations, etc.

[@sealpiercing8476]

Open face helmet is a good compromise though, and one that is actually used in serious fights across the ages including today

[@eggsinthewind]

@ You’re correct that armor decorations help characters be identified but in visual media it’s quite important to be able to see the face because it’s the easiest way to express emotion when drawing. Body language also helps but the face is usually what visual media focuses on to convey emotion.

[@simongeard4824]

I believe it was the Exalted RPG that said something to the effect of "a helmet is a substitute for a striking hairdo". The purpose isn't to be realistic combat attire - it's to be recognisable.

[@vysharra]

Clone Trooper and Storm Trooper are distinct versions. The clones aged quickly, so after the destruction of Kamino (their birth place) after the fall of the Republic, they were phased out as they became too old (and were considered old technology). There are two versions of the clone armor, which is most easily distinguished by the different helmets (you can see this in the The Clone War cartoon), the second of which is variable by the needs of the Troopers (like different camo for different planets) and often customized by different Troopers for cosmetic reasons (Best Boy Rex combined his Ver. 1 helmet with Ver. 2 to mix the better armor with the old Mandolorian-inspired faceplate and was, as far as we know, completely unique for it)

[@carloshenriquezimmer7543]

You can see the diference in the armor sets also between "Attack of the Clones" and "The Revenge of the Sith". The troopers that are with Yoda and the wookies are using a transitional design between the 1st gen clones "discount mandalorian" stile and the "original movies armor set".

[@nikmenn2751]

Kamino was never destroyed. Yes, there were two uprisings, but Emperor didn't invoke Base-Delta-Zero order and there was no Death Star to lay down Exterminatus upon these heretics. By the way, SW Legends has an interesting detail, that Storm Troopers also used kaminoan Clone troopers amidst their ranks, alas the genetic pool of Storm Clones was much more diverse, because material was taken from different Storm Troopers.

[@voiceofraisin3778]

@@nikmenn2751 Kamino hasnt been destroyed but Tipoca city is now a submarine. First series of bad batch.

[@LynnHermione]

the idea of a storm trooper being able to customize their uniform for aesthetic reasons seem pretty nonsensical

[@tezlaactual6582]

Also the clones were also mostly the same build and size and weight and height, whereas stormtroopers weren't even necessarily the same species so they had to be a lot more adjustable

[@Ace-Lee]

From a purely practical standpoint, my main problem with stormtrooper armour is the lower backplate. It’s one solid piece which doesn’t allow you to bend at the waist or sit down. To fix this problem most cosplayers cut it into 2 pieces thus creating what I call an a$$plate, which pops out from under the thermal detonator belt when you least expect it. From the front, it’s intimidating armour, from the back it needs some work.

[@tbotalpha8133]

Imagining Stormtroopers sat around bitching about the flaws with their equipment.

[@kathilisi3019]

"I can get annoyed at impractical footwear of all varieties!" 😂 I felt that! That's why shoe shopping always seems like a chore to me... I want all my footwear to be comfortable and practical, and if it's for some reason required to look pretty as well, it feels like an impossible task. Let's call it a quest.

[@K.M.SheasChampion]

So true!

[@Ailieorz]

Pike's armor is meant to be plate but it is hard to tell from animation. She is also pretty cool, it's a decent series if you get a spare couple of hours

[@criticallol3039]

More like several hundred hours 😂

[@chrisrudolf9839]

@@criticallol3039 Ailias was obviously referring to the animated series, not to the original streamed D&D roleplay campaign. The animated series (first and until now only season) is just 12 episodes of around 30 minutes each.

[@criticallol3039]

@@chrisrudolf9839 Yeah I only connected that until after I made the comment. Oh well

[@SylviusTheMad]

That was absolutely Cullen's Dragon Age Inquisition armour, and that game did put him in a drafty tower in a ruined castle high in the snowy mountains. Honestly, no one was dressed warmly enough in that game, but Cullen came closest.

[@WigglesMother]

To be fair, the bulk of Skyhold is supernaturally warm, at least relative to the snowy mountains around it. Haven, on the other hand....

[@iusedtowrite6667]

The lack of proper feet movement would make the armour useless. Like being unable to freely move (especially the joints) would make most Armour useless and moot. Cause feet movement has to be the most important. Cause even if your top area has no protection, you'll be able to run away. But impractical leg stuff would be useless

[@daltigoth3970]

To be fair, the ends of the metal plates on Cassandra's boots do curl outward and the plate itself has a larger cavity than would be needed to simply fit around the boot. It appears to only be tight on the boot just in front of the curls so depending on how the metal is attached it may allow for a decent range of motion.

[@Randoman590]

The Joseph Joestar school of thought on Combat. I approve.

[@wolfpack_104]

The history of Clone trooper armor in the Star Wars prequels/Clone Wars series is actually pretty interesting. Colored armor aside, the commanding officers and special units were incentivized to customize their armor to better fit their combat styles which can be seen in the armor setups of clones like Captain Rex, Commanders Wolf and Cody, and ARC trooper Fives.

[@elijahh2220]

For the temperature concerns on Cullen: Inquisition actually covers a wide array of biomes, unlike its two predecessors, Origins and DA2. However, both player bases are in a place literally called the Frostback Mountains, and he's not a companion, so he mostly just stays up there in the cold. He does take part in a battle in a jungle, though. I never actually noticed that Cassandra's armor (that set of it, anyway) is bad -- I was just relieved Dragon Age finally got away from boobplate! But all your issues with it make absolute sense. Really interesting video!

[@eveningstarinthebluedarksky789]

Agree on all points!

[@Inlelendri]

Jill, are you telling me that you are not in fact a shape-shifting sapient bear? Have I been duped this whole time?

[@boiledelephant]

Came here to say this. My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined.

[@TWX1138]

Hearing the on-screen person formerly known as Sursum Ursa deny being a bear was quite a sad moment. Like a loss of childhood innocence...

[@m.maclellan7147]

I see her more as a wolf, myself. Lean and deadly! 🐺 🐺 🐺 🐺

[@christophergroenewald5847]

In Dragon Age: Inquisition, the Inquisition itself is based high in the snowy mountains. So Cullen's thick, furry armour does have a purpose

[@edd17sp74]

One thing I would just like to say in regards to the stormtrooper helmet is that in Rebels, Rex wears stormtrooper armor as a disguise once, and he says he can’t see out of the helmet either. (I think Kanan says he can’t see either, but I can’t remember.) So it’s not just Luke that can’t see, and supposedly this was put in the show as an explanation as to why stormtroopers have such notoriously bad aim, but clone troopers don’t.

[@matthewturpin6429]

I dunno, I think a much simpler explanation is that one has to A: turn the helmet systems on, and B: fit the helmet pretty much exactly. They're almost certainly adjustable to a fairly large degree, but the inside of Stormtrooper helmets very clearly has a lens structure in front of the eyes, and if its misaligned at all it would make ones vision much worse.

[@kilianortmann9979]

@@matthewturpin6429 So a narrow sweet-spot, like some VR headsets then?

[@berthulf]

@@kilianortmann9979 No. It's like wearing glasses. You have the wrong prescription, you can see jack shit. You wear them in an odd position, you can see jack shit. you have the right prescription and wear them properly, the world is your oyster... target range... whatever, you get my drift. Stormtroopers have bad aim because of deficient training, inaccurate weapons, 'don't kill them, but make it look like you're trying' orders, the good guys having plot armour, or a combination of the above.

@@matthewturpin6429 That would make sense for security reasons, especially if the adjustment can only be done by specialist technicians and not by the troopers themselves. Though in the armor department the Rebels had the right idea IMO; while the armor can block low-powered blasters like Ezra's stun pistol, it's hopeless against anything used on a real battlefield so they might as well just wear camo clothing instead and use the creds they saved to buy more powerful and accurate guns.

[@sjmcc13]

Ezra wears ST helmets just fine a lot in Rebels though. Rex is more the stubborn old fart refusing to accept/learn new things, and the ST helmets would have to be made to fit multiple head shapes, as opposed to 1 heard fits all CT helmets.

[@raziyatheseeker]

Ahhh, the classic studded leather of D&D. Where the studs do jack all to protect against weapons, and it's speculated someone looked at brigandine and thought it was only the fabric. Normally I like reflavoring studded into hardened leather that needs the studs to hold it together, whereas normal leather is either soft enough to stitch it together or is just a linothorax. But otherwise... ech. At least the ambiguous quilted cloth has a use for its studs, to reinforce the stitching. Good call, I wouldn't have thought that till you pointed it out. On that note? Banded armor, another trope D&D armor, can easily be converted into semi-historical stuff as well. A Roman legionary's lorica segmentata, a samurai's do-maru, or even just a very metal-intensive brigandine. EDIT: Within the comments, Anna Soloveyna also pointed out a traditional Russian armor that counts as banded mail, too. She describes armor of small horizontal metal plates over mail. She also describes similar scale armor and the cultural significance of said Russian armor. A good read.

[@seanheath4492]

For what it's worth, I remember reading way back in the day (Complete Fighter's Handbook for AD&D 2e) that studded leather in D&D is more along the lines of scale armour, just with closely-set studs instead of overlapping scales. But yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if the initial inspiration was someone saw brigandine and didn't realize that the studs were there to keep the _metal plates_ in place.

[@matthewturpin6429]

I think the only 'historical' examples of studded leather in the DND fantasy style I've ever encountered seemed basically for intimidation. It was essentially 'spiked clothing' so thugs could grab people and *encourage* them to not move, or else the studs would dig in. At the same time it would make wrestling them back much more unpleasant for the same reason. Was never intended to be defensive armor. (will see if I can find the source references)

[@markmittelbach7975]

@@seanheath4492 historical art with brigandines and coats of plate often does show them with massive studs. Probably because drawing accurately sized studs was either beyond the techniques of the time, or wouldn't show well, and the studs were how the artist showed that 'there was plates in this cloth' because the plates themselves wouldn't be visible. Go forward a half-millennia and background knowledge that was required to read the art was lost, and you've got people looking at art with brownish armor (dyes faded) with big old studs.

[@Blokewood3]

Skallagrim has done tests on a fantasy armor referred to as "studded leather" though it could probably also be described as ring armor. It was made of soft leather with studs and large washers attached to it. Because of the way the rings were positioned, it was a bit of a gamble whether the armor would successfully defend against an attack. Cuts from long swords and great axes had a tendency to just zing off, but cuts from smaller weapons like a wood-cutting axe went straight through. The armor successfully stopped multiple thrusts from a gladius, because the blade was too wide to penetrate between the rings, but when more narrow thrusting weapons were used it went straight through.

[@annasolovyeva1013]

Banded armour... Saw the description on the internet. Armour like that actually existed in medieval Russia (no full-plate in our conditions due to economics and climate), you can see it in the Historical Museum in Moscow or in the Smolensk Kremlin. All as explained, chainmail+ small metal plates on top.

[@Fairyfink]

Never mind mugs and t-shirts, I need to be able to buy Jill Bearup approved fight-appropriate footwear.

[@markmittelbach7975]

"I am not a giant sapient bear": That's exactly what a giant sapient bear would say

[@timidwolf]

Stormtrooper armour: Against a blaster shot in it's general direction = Useless. Against a lightsaber (according to the Obi-wan series) = Up to three solid strikes before the trooper will even go down, armour appears still intact.

[@DavidCowie2022]

Does it make a difference if the blaster is fired by one of The Heroes, or by a random rebel?

[@justarandomtechpriest1578]

@@DavidCowie2022 yes

[@theguppiest]

Durability predictability of an iPhone

[@TheWonderfulWombat]

Has she done the Templar armor from DA2 yet? Gotta love wearing a full floor-length robe with your plate armor. Also, Cullen does spend most of his time in Skyhold, which is a fortress on top of a snowy mountain. It is also probably pretty cold under the MASSIVE HOLE in his bedroom ceiling. Fix that already, Cullen!

[@jimstoesz3878]

Cullen's armour is phenomenal character storytelling when coupled with the context that Dragon Age fans have going into Inquisition, very clearly showing how he's changed (for the better) since the last game. It's a shame the armour isn't as technically good as it could be, but well... you saw what they did to Cassandra. And yes, he spends 99% of his time in a snowy mountain range (the remaining 1% is spent in a desert, but that's mostly just a matter of asset recycling soooo...).

[@aquadraco20]

I just noticed that Cassandra has hearts on her boots. That's amazing and adorable.

[@mgrape]

As for the stormtroopers in the original movies George Lucas himself said back in 1977 "Some of the stormtroopers are women, but there weren't that many women assigned to the Death Star. We can assume that there are quite a few elsewhere." So from the original movies and forward the stormtroopers are canonicaly mixed gender and has always been and anyone trying to argue about it beeing some woke thing to have female stormtroopers has to go argue that with George Lucas back when he made the first movies before bothering any of the rest of us.

[@DrownedInExile]

People squealing about wokeness won't let pesky little facts get in the way of their little tantrums.

[@Anti_Woke]

From the title I thought this was going to be a foot-armour tier list and I was looking forward to Jill roasting the wedges (or grilled cheese-wedges, or something?). Good nevertheless.

[@chocoboknightguy]

I never noticed the sticky outy bit on Cullen! I do remember that another character points out the specific way Cullen trains people to hold shields to deflect spells (angled to prevent spells splashing in your face). I wonder if the arm placement makes that sticky outy bit make some kind of sense when fighting wizards with that kind of angled shield grip?

[@matthewcrenshaw960]

To my understanding, Cassandra's armor is mostly for fearmongering un-knowing commoners, as she's part of the inquisition. The metal studs might actually be for anchoring actual magical protections to, so that warriors see seemingly bad armor and expect nothing there and get surprised.

[@corynydam2361]

If I remember right, the bear’s armor was specifically said to be rusty and battered from years of neglect.

[@QueenSonoko]

This series and your other armor stuff is very helpful for designing armor for my ocs! I still really struggle with it but I'm getting better!

[@Maria.Annette]

One day, I hope to create a character with armor that Jill would wear that would also be aesthetic as hell.

[@kh628]

If you haven't looked him up yet, dig into Filippo Negroli - a Milanese armorer from the 1500s. That guy's workshop was producing more aesthetic armor than modern media does, and it was actually wearable. I find it's great inspiration for what could be possible in a fantasy setting.

[@m.maclellan7147]

@@kh628 Italian, naturally !!!!

[@stuartconrod8364]

A source I really like is Brett Devereaux's 'A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry' blog. He has a whole series of articles collected as resources for worldbuilders, and has a couple good pieces on armor designs. He also does Kit Reviews, assessing the outfitting of various fantasy armies. For example, he thought the Dothraki kits in Game of Thrones were pretty good while the Lannister armor was pretty terrible.

[@thelegendaryhusquin9906]

Another amazing video Jill! All the armors in the video look so cool, and hearing you talk about the different kinds of pieces of the armor was not only informative, but fun. I also want to add, that there were some clones that became stormtroopers, but they were few and far between. Higher ranking clones also began training new stormtrooper cadets shortly after the empire was established. Again though great armor tier list.

[@rajamicitrenti1374]

Most are for Dragon Age won't have a helmet, partly because the game always removes them for cutscenes and anytime they are in a locale where they isn't an expectation of a fight. And IIRC, all the Dragon Age games have an option to visually hide all helmets on your characters even in combat, though they still get the stat benefits of them.

[@SampoPaalanen]

In regards to Stormtrooper armor strength that's more or less how modern military body armor is (or at until very recently was), it won't stop a direct rifle shot (or in case of Star Wars military grade blaster) at typical combat ranges but it will turn what would a lethal injury into "bad but something you can still survive with treatment" injury or a bad injury into not so bad injury. Mostly likely when they speak of Stormtroopers surviving blaster hits they don't mean "got up like nothing happened" but rather "was carted into a medbay and thrown into a bacta tank and survived because of that".

[@Blokewood3]

The armor also protects against shrapnel, which is a concern with weapons that regularly blast chunks out of the walls. In the original trilogy there are scenes in which unarmored imperials and rebels go down when only the wall next to them was shot (presumably the shrapnel killed them) but stormtroopers only stay down if they themselves were directly hit.

[@sjmcc13]

The black underlayer is supposed to do just that by spreading out the heat of a blaster bolt (they are made of plasma, so hot hot hot) so the result is "just" a 2nd or 3rd degree burn, over a decent portion of the body.

[@cdburner5911]

My headcannon for stormtrooper armor is that it is cheap mass produced 'better than nothing' armor focused on intimidation and giving the wearer a sense of security, and meant to stand up to the average blaster those pesky civilian populations in need of suppression would have, but the more powerful military or modified blasters just overwhelm it. Further, the empire treats everyone and everything as disposable, so why have good armor if cost more than several troops. I think its similar to the TIE fighter. Good enough to cow a civilian population, but otherwise pretty much expendable.

[@kevingriffith6011]

I think of it more like Kevlar. It's the difference between waking up in the infirmary or not waking up at all. The kind of armor it would take to absorb a blaster bolt and keep you conscious would probably both be *extremely expensive and extremely impractical* (although phasma's armor seem to shrug off blaster bolts so eh). It also explains why rocks thrown by teddy bears are effective against it since it was designed to disperse energy weapon impacts, not to deflect hard physical impacts (outside of probably the helmet).

[@SamCoulson]

@@kevingriffith6011 The old novel Han Solo at Stars End (or one of the others in the trilogy) confirms this, that the undersuits are energy dissipating, but not very punch-proof. At least one guy gets sucker punched and knocked out.

[@SkylerLinux]

I must admit the Star Wars armor is actually pretty decent, I mean we've seen concrete hit with blaster fire. So that's very much an improvement, and yeah if the armor stops it being deadly but knocks them out. I'll say yeah totally believable.

[@TheeGoatPig]

Are you planning on doing a best-of armor tier list? That could be fun to take all of the "I'd Wear It" armors and rank them against each other.

[@thatjeff7550]

Regarding the armored polar bear's (i.e: 'panzerbjorn,' iirc) armor: It's been a while since I read the books but if I recall correctly the reason why the armor is pitted is because the leaders of a human town stole his armor and hid it away from the character and didn't take good care of it. Again, if I recall correctly, a panzerbjorn's armor is his life--if he loses it, he can't ever go back to the tribe until he recovers it. When the character FINALLY finds his armor the humans have hidden away, it is heavily rusted and pitted. That pic you show is AFTER he's done his best to polish it to serviceable repair. Further along in the movie, there's another panzerbjorn with his armor supremely polished to the point that it has a mirror-like sheen.

[@Blokewood3]

My understanding of Stormtrooper armor was that its main purpose was for protection against glancing blows or shrapnel. In the original trilogy you can sometimes see unarmored imperials or rebels die when the bolt actually hits the wall next to them (they were killed by the shrapnel blasted out of the wall) but Stormtroopers only stay down if they are hit directly with a blaster bolt.

[@terencemcquillan5750]

Came to say the same thing.

[@sjmcc13]

The under layer also spreads out the heat of blaster bolts, they are thermal damage not physical, to give a chance at survival. The trooper can still go down due to the pain from the burn though, as it is a lot of heat and large severe burns can still occur after after spreading out the heat, but they were made to spread it out enough to give a chance at survival.

[@Elvalley]

The guards covering the front of Cassandra's boots seem to be there to suggest the shape of high-heeled feet without actually making her wear high heels. Cheeky, if that's the case.

[@oracletx]

As for the VPN-D&D parallel, I'd go with the Echo Knight's subclass ability. They can create an Echo, which has 1hp but otherwise is just like the Echo Knight, and it lets them act from wherever the Echo is. They can attack, manipulate objects, go scouting around, be immune to conditions, and sacrifice itself to take a hit for somebody. There are some fancy switching places tricks and a few other things, but the best part of the simile is an Echo Knight can make an Echo, and the Echo can do all sorts of dangerous things over yonder as if the Knight is doing them, while the Echo Knight is safely elsewhere.

[@stephanieturner6912]

Yes there is an artery in your upper arm called the brachial artery. Always a good idea to protect it.

[@mickys8065]

In regards to the shoes: The front plate seems to be similar to the way my safety boots are made (Although mine doesnt have a plate quite that big), which certainly do make it hard to kneel or just get close to the ground, but are worth the hassle when I slam my feet into the edge of a metal beam for the hundredth time. Purely from observation, I'd guess the video shoes would be good for mounted vs ground combat, as that would make your feet and ankles more desirable and easier to reach targets, while also decreasing the need for full foot mobility.

[@SamCoulson]

Was looking through the comments exactly for something like this regarding the ankle armor. That makes a lot of sense against impacts from the front or drops from above, and for someone who doesn't need to crouch much, like a mounted warrior. However, if it was primarily for when one was mounted, why not put the armor on the stirrups or vehicle foot pedals? Does the character ride bareback or something?

[@SamCoulson]

These front ankle armors are used extensively in the Star Wars: Rebels TV show. Hera Syndulla is a prime example of this. Of course, being animated, they break physics and have the armor bend quite often, though it's clearly meant to be rigid metal.

[@SamCoulson]

I bet you could kick a ball quite well with these ankle armors. Maybe it's intended to be an offensive kick damage multiplier, rather than defensive armor?

[@natecunha2795]

Cassandra DOES wear helmets with full coverage, but Dragon Age has a feature to make them disappear during cutscenes so you can see the characters' faces.

[@xenon8117]

What’s worse for Cassandra is that those arms always show up for me separate from the body so Cassandra is just hollow.

[@elfchild9]

I'd love to see you review some of the armor sets from the Zelda: Breath of the Wild videogame, specifically the Ancient Set and the Soldier's Set. They both come with helmets, but... hoo boy, are the Ancient helmets weird.

[@rodrikforrester6989]

01:05 "First up we have Pike Trickfoot from Legend of Vox Mashina and you'll be vastly unsurprised to know I've never watched that." I don't think that was ever in question given how you thought it was pronounced :P

[@JillBearup]

When in doubt, guess incorrectly :D MA-key-nah, I assume?

[@rodrikforrester6989]

@@JillBearup yep, like in "machinations".

[@zenfrodo]

In one of the Got Talent shows, there was an entire dance troupe who did their thing in full stormtrooper armor -- so obviously it's flexible and should allow decent vision. There's a convention security group that wears it, too. So either both groups have substantially modified it or it falls in the Pretty Good/I'd Wear It zones.

[@jackielinde7568]

Jill, my understanding is that Palpatine had his revolution planned for quite some time. At that time, the Republic (not yet an empire) did NOT have an army and depended on the Jedi to "take care of things". It was Epi 2 and 3 that introduced the clone army under the "Hey, we suddenly need an army to defend ourselves from these murder-killbots-all-named-Roger. Oh, hey! Look, I found this clone army under a rock, and someone's willing to make more." Between Epi 3 and 4, we go from a Republic to an Empire, and an empire needs an army. Things happen with the people making the clones. But, hey! The Empire's recruiting a-la Police Academy 1 style, so anyone can now join up. Luke even talks about going to the academy with Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru. (Why? I don't know. He's some hick bumpkin who doesn't know the Empire from the Rebellion. Too bad the Stormtroopers made up his mind for him.) But that's why at the beginning, they're all Jango Fett clones, and in A New Hope, they're a professional army.

[@Blokewood3]

I think that's right, though I think at the academy Luke was going to train to be a pilot, not a stormtrooper. His reason for wanting to go to the academy is just that he is desperate to get off Tattooine. His best friend Biggs Darklighter had already graduated from the academy, but then jumped ship and joined the rebellion. Deleted scenes and the radio drama imply that Luke was planning to do something similar.

[@jamesanderson6769]

As someone who works with thin metal. You could make it thin enough that a mouse could wear it comfortably.

[@zacharyjohnson8037]

Cassandra's footwear reminds me of something at my old job. There was a department were they delt with casting metals (basically you melt down metal to be a liquid and you pour it in a mold that shapes out into whatever you were making) and natural hot metals are dangerous so certain protective gear had to be worn. One of those peices of protective gear was a metal plate worn on the top of the boot to make sure any spills didn't burn through your laces into your foot. From my playthrough i never saw Cassandra work with molten metal and i even did the romance subplot. Maybe its a secret hobby? Casting industrial metals to make non-descript machinery for hundreds of companies around the world?

[@charles2703]

I came here to type this. It’s also good protection for people with a lot of pallets and metal bins like me.

[@ThatShortCat]

There is quite a lot of acid,lava and various liquidy painful things that get thrown around by mages and rogues so maybe that's why?

[@zoewhite5496]

Cassandra is wearing combat wedges designed not to look like heels from the outside. It's that front metal bit that gives it away. Because the shape clearly fits over the arch of the foot in heels, and her foot will bend properly if her ankle is higher.

[@Anna_the_salty_squirrel]

I once had a set of greaves with a poleyn piece similar to the one from the Dragon Age's character and the pointy bit at top would dig in my thigh when standing upright. 0/10 do not recommend pointy bits in armour no matter how aesthetically they might look.

[@ekij133]

How thin can you make metal? - Very thin, very, very thin. Just keep beating it and it gets wider and thinner. Think Aluminium foil, or gold leaf. However while you can get metal very, very thin it may not be much use as armour when that thin but that's going to be a problem for any armour on a mouse.

[@rileymcmonnies]

Cullen is also known as the Lion of Ferelden, which is where the fur detailing comes from.

[@alexashton6501]

Cassandra is a party member so you can equip her with a helmet as part of gameplay. Cullen is an NPC advisor who appears in the hero hub (Haven/Skyhold) for flirty conversation without his helmet, or is present for specific story missions with his helmet... hence him having a pre-determined helmet. Lore wise - both Cassandra and Cullen are trained specifically to fight spellcasters (Seeker for Cassandra, Templar for Cullen), so their preferable targets aren't wielding melee weapons but magic.

[@UtahSustainGardening]

Metatarsal protection in those boots. Required for some trades.

[@333Saffie]

If you bellow in a full-faced helmet you WILL be heard. Just not by anyone else :P

[@RB01138]

Not an armour expert, but those boots look like they took inspiration from welders boots. Some of which have a leather cover with a metal insert. Their primary function is to protect the laces from sparks/slag and also protect the the delicate bones on the top of your foot from impacts. They normally pivot at both ends with a 3/4" ish of extra leather at the top so as to allow some movement, though they still result in some restriction of movement. They're around, but not super popular amongst the tradespeople i worked with. They would probably be nice when welding aluminum though, as that stuff stays liquidy for a while given it's low melting point and sometimes comes off in huge globs of evil.

[@Tyranzor64]

The idea of the storm trooper armor is to absorb a blaster shot on the white bit, which melts and disperses like ablative armor. The black body suit underneath absorbs the remaining energy and disperses it to prevent the trooper from getting annihilated in one shot

[@DrinkGameRepeat]

I wanted to, I guess, *sort of* explain Cullen's armour? I have no idea if this will make it go up or down in your ranking personally, but for me it does! The armour is, mostly, ceremonial. It's not meant to be worn in the actual heat of battle. He's a diplomat and informant first, a behind the scenes "general" type. This is his every day, "just incase something happens" yet also keeping up appearances armour. The back of the helmet does indeed have steel, and the lion's mane over it is a layer - or maybe two - of leather, *then* the decorative pieces.

[@kevingriffith6011]

What kills me (and probably Cullin... Kullin? I dunno, Dragon Age guy) is that if that haute piece gets hit... like, say, he narrowly avoids his opponent's sword... that piece of armor would actively guide the strike *into* his arm, rather than deflecting it away or stopping it from hitting anything important like armor probably should. The point of a haute piece is that if your enemy is making a horizontal cut and it catches you in the shoulder... chances are that swing is going to deflect into your neck, and the haute piece catches cuts like that before they do any head-removey things.

[@DrBrangar]

Better VPN Spell analogy: Nondetection. It shields an object or creature from divination magic for the duration

[@JillBearup]

I like your thinking :D

[@lothcatskilledthesith6903]

Cassandra Pendergast's boots look almost like welding boots. Mine have this little shield attached to the toe that buttons over the top of the laces. Just a thought, if Cassandra's boots maybe have laces...I'm reaching here.

[@AskMia411]

Armor reviews are always a good time!!! What do you think about the various armor on The Rings of Power, now that it’s out and it can be seen clearer? Speaking of, I have a video idea!!! You should do a fight scene analysis on The Rings of Power series!!!! Especially the fight between the healer and the orc, it seemed really well done!!!! Especially for a “non combatant vs scary monster” type fight!!! It reminded me of the fight in the blacksmiths shop in Pirates of the Caribbean, the use of every day objects in a fight.

[@courtneybermack]

This is an acceptable sponsor read! I did in fact watch it!

[@kerricaine]

fun fact: stomtrooper costume armor is kind of functional in a real world setting. i remember reading about a 501st member who, while doing an event in the desert, stepped in a rattlesnake nest. despite them crawling up his leg and a few biting into the pastic, none could get through. i like to headcanon that clone/stormtrooper armor is more environmental protection and intimidation factor than inherently designed to withstand blaster fire. in clone wars, we generally see 2-3 shots being all it takes to take them down, sometimes less.

[@malahamavet]

ok people, who wants her to review ALL 3 of Casca's armours? I think they're 3, the first one was renaissance looking whith those puffy shoulders, then she had the one whith the little cape and the helmet whith a feather, my personal favourite cause she looks like the leader as he is and pretty stylish too. The third one I think is only in the manga, when they go to rescue Griffith, she has an even more covering armour that made her shoulders broad, very man-ish now that I think about it, even though Casca had 3 armourarmours each more protective than the other, most berserk characters have pretty realistic looking armour yet fantasy. Berserk would give her an entire video worth of content

[@MagicCardboardBox]

I once read a book where someone went into a one-on-one sword fight intentionally without a helmet because it limited his peripheral vision and he was okay with the trade-off in protection

[@HenryLoenwind]

The last one looks like it's a variable set. I can imagine that for actual frontline fighting, the fur collar would be left out, which would allow the shoulder pieces to actually go on the shoulders. They have that rotating clasp for it.

[@jickboi308]

4:24 one character I find does this shoe part right would be samus in her dread suit since those parts are made to move with her legs so she can be protected but move her feets as she needs.

[@startrek2365]

One of the things I like about the game that casandra comes from is that you have an option to be able to see the faces of the characters for game reasons while it still counting as them having the helmit for mechanic reasons. I like this because it lets you keep that face that you spent time on at the beginning of the game but you can still have the benefits of a helmit.

[@macmcleod1188]

The odd shoulder piece might be for deflecting spear and Lance attacks away from the face while mounted.

[@tuffy135ify]

4:20 those look like they were meant to be tarsal-guards, but they are flush against the shin. They have them in modern work boots. Really useful for the workplace, but I doubt it for battles.

[@Cinnder]

'He has a helmet! I know that shouldn't weigh so heavily...' I dunno -- it looks pretty heavy to me. 😁

[@connormacdonald9217]

May I suggest Empress Caiatl from Destiny 2? She only has one outfit, and it slaps.

[@roguedogx]

4:42 it's a modeling thing. that area of the foot, along with hands, are two places of a humanoid shape that are exceptionally hard to model. especially if you are trying to rig I will openly admit I have given player characters giving my characters similar boot designs because I screwed up modeling them and it was either that or delete the entire feet and doing them all over again.

[@WolfRose11]

For Cassandra, they might be shin guards because you can see her knee further above so they wouldn't protect her knee at all. With the foot guards, they might be a guard for horse riding? They look to be a shape similar to stirrups.

[@charles2703]

Cassandra’s boots are covered with metatarsal guards, my work boots have the same thing and I understand biker boots sometimes have them. Her’s aren’t hinged in anyway so that is a huge problem. Her armor, I guess stems from her opponents primarily trying to tackle her because the random studs remind me of anti coyote and hawk armor for dogs.

[@blong217]

So I get the reason for the front boot protection. I run a shoe store and we sell a specific type of boot with a metal guard right at that point called a MET Guard (metatarsal). My only guess for their purpose is if someone is making large swinging attacks and misses they won't hurt that area because of the guards.

[@karmachameleon326]

Your NordVPN commercial is significantly better than any other ‘tuber I’ve seen. Kudos!

[@RedPandaGod01]

To my knowledge, stork trooper armor does not stop direct shots from blasters, but are able to dissipate, indirect or glancing shots, they also work to protect from protect troopers from their environment and more primitive weapons to a degree, basicly they don't have to worry about getting cuts or scapes from the environment or shrapnel, and have protection from conventional blades and fire arms, however they are vulnerable to vibroblades and some firearms like the cycler rifle. However you would be unable to stab them with a regular knife unless you can remove their helmet or stab between it and their body glove. Theu can also survive weaker blasters like those some may carry for self defense and many primitive guns equivalent to many of our modern guns, such as a glock, uzi, or ar-15. Though an anti material rifle will still kill them, to my knowledge their body glove well pertective vs blades would likly not stop a bullet though or atleast not a semi powerful one, the blaster used by military groups such as storm troopers are actually much more powerful then you think how, especially han's gun witch is a very powerful blasters type, ignoring the rebel alliance witch war very well armed for some reason more non alliance rebel groups would lack the military grade weapons needed to effectively combat storm troopers, however of course if the plot demands a teddy bear with a rock or a wooden spear, or a blind man with a wooden stick could easily take out a trooper for some reason even though storm trooper armor should completely pervert damage from a normal spear, and one would expect their helmets to offer some protection when being hit in the head. Maybe ewok spears and stones secretary have tech like vibroblades. Or they are secret strong enough to bench a bantha that they can just stab and throw rocks that hard. Starwars is inconsistent in what things are said to do and what they actually do.

[@dvklaveren]

The haute piece is high enough up on the armor, but it doesn't look that way because of the cowl, which makes it look like his shoulders start higher up when they don't, that is just the way the fabric falls in the ar piece.

[@thornescapes7707]

Storm trooper armour vs blasters is not the only consideration. There are more hazards than that. I believe that the armour can be also justified as being resistant to minor shrapnel as well as possibly having some integrated communications and possibly some environmental features like temperature and probably gas filtration. This is speculation, admittedly, but it just makes sense. Even if blasters were powerful enough to easily overcome the armour, there are other reasons to wear it. Plus, you know, the faceless evil henchmen effect.

[@Blokewood3]

I think that's right. In A New Hope, when Luke, Han, and Chewie break into the detention level there is a scene where one of the unarmored imperials dies even though he blast only hit the wall next to him, so presumably he was killed by the shrapnel. I think this also happens to some of the unarmored rebels during the Tantive IV battle. The stormtroopers on the other hand only stay down when hit directly by a blaster bolt.

[@88porpoise]

Saw the thumbnail and thought this was going to be an explanation of what that absurd piece of armour was. Well this was a great consolation prize

[@insanitysportal6692]

Can never have too many armor reviews! Keep it up!

[@drewfromyay882]

The mouseguard armor segment reminds me of Redwall. Please review the armor of the various critters in that series.

[@amandadiamond7147]

1-With Pike Trickfoot, its animation and D&D at that- I understand wanting the character's face visible. Unless a player makes a super specific helm for their character 2- Bears are furry tanks already, armor is overkill. We should be thankful real-life polar bears cannot smith armor. We would be so screwed. 3 Bioware was trying to do better in DA: inquisition, getting away from the Parade armor in the Origins and listening to feedback from cosplayers (they added pouches to costumes so they could carry some necessities.

[@Fatherofheroesandheroines]

I think sometimes animators and video game creators fall asleep while animating and then just say " I gotta turn in something..so..here ya go" lol

[@johnsullivan6560]

Dragon riders of Pern? You just seem to be the type. Not a put down, I have read them until they fell apart and I had to replace them! Love your work. Thank you.

[@khathaway414]

YEAH MORE JILL!!! I am always down for more Jill.

[@Serbobiv123]

to be fair to the funny foot armor thingies, they look a lot like the metatarsal protection on my safety boots at work, so not historical but still plausible... if the toe wasn't unarmored that is.

[@julianmhall]

Hi Jill.. I watch the TV series Forged in Fire where competitors in the final round make swords / large bladed weapons. One of the tests of the weapons they make is Doug Marcaida's 'Kill Test'. IMHO if it wouldn't have protected against Doug's Kill Test, it's not armour.

[@JimmyMidnite]

I’ve heard the same endless refrain about stormtrooper armor dissipating the shot, but I don’t recall ever seeing that - pretty sure in Rebels, they were getting up because they were shot by Ezra’s weird lightsaber/stun blaster combo (also it was clearly a kid’s show so the writers needed to invent a way to tone down the violence…seems like most of the stormtrooper deaths were them being tossed from high places, so we don’t see them die) Edit: I recall the armor working in one specific instance in Rogue One, but that’s because Chirrut Îmwe was using a trooper as a human shield, so obviously it has to work.