History Main / BootsOfToughness

* ''{{Series/Firefly}}'' likes this. Mal, Zoe and Jayne are the show’s tough characters and they all usually wear rugged boots.

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* Turanga Leela in ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' wears very heavy boots and is fond of kicking people with them.

* Shiki Ryougi from ''LightNovel/KaraNoKyoukai'' undergoes a drastic internal transformation following her two-year coma, going from an angsty, confused teenager to a brutal, if sentimental CombatPragmatist. The only outward change that signifies it, however (besides a slightly different haircut), is that she goes from wearing geta (traditional wooden sandals) to practical army boots.

* Rather than the pixie boots his predecessors wore [[Comicbook/RobinSeries Robin III]] (Tim Drake) wears metal toed tabi boots.

** ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'': Trevor Phillips is a meth-addled FunctionalAddict with a thermonuclear HairTriggerTemper and [[AxCrazy a violent streak a mile wide]], and he starts off with a pair of sturdy worn work boots as battered as everything that he owns. In his very first cutscene, he uses them to stomp [[spoiler:Johnny Klebitz]]'s head flat.

** ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'': Trevor Phillips starts off with a pair of sturdy worn work boots as ragged as everything that he, a meth-addled FunctionalAddict with a thermonuclear HairTriggerTemper, owns. In his very first cutscene, he uses them to stomp [[spoiler:Johnny Klebitz]]'s head flat.

* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'': The only classes who ''don't'' wear boots are the Scout, who opts for cleats instead, and the Spy, who wears what has to be the world's most uncomfortable pair of dress shoes.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. In the AlternateRealityEpisode "[[Recap/BuffyTheVapireSlayerS3E9TheWish The Wish]]", a DarkerAndEdgier Buffy wears cargo pants and combat boots, in contrast to the ActionFashionista we're used to.

* Franchise/Batman started out wearing a typical "Superhero" suit, with footwear that was more like a form-fitting slipper than an actual "shoe", but more recent depictions have him wearing something more akin to a boot, often with a closeup of the tread while he's kicking someone or swinging.

* In ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'', [[DrillSergeantNasty Holly Blue Agate]] is the authoritarian supervisor of Pink Diamond's Quartz soldiers and zoo, and wears white thigh-high boots.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. In the AlternateRealityEpisode "[[Recap/BuffyTheVapireSlayerS3E10TheWish The Wish]]", a DarkerAndEdgier Buffy wears cargo pants and combat boots, in contrast to the ActionFashionista we're used to.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. In the AlternateRealityEpisode "The Wish", a DarkerAndEdgier Buffy wears cargo pants and combat boots, in contrast to the ActionFashionista we're used to.

* ''Franchise/IndianaJones'': Indiana as an AdventurerArchaeologist wears boots, tough enough for stomping killer ants. His teacher persona does ''not'' wear them, opting for everyday shoes, not that he'd need them since when he's teaching, nothing "adventurey" happens.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'': Jorgen Von Strangle is the toughest Fairy in Fairy World, and dresses like a drill sergeant, right down to the combat boots.

* ''Series/BrooklynNineNine'': [[TheBigGirl Det. Rosa Diaz]] wears leather motorcycle boots that are as tough as she is.

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* '''Substantial:''' Boots of Toughness are not flimsy or delicate. They don't look fragile, and they don't require lots of attention. Wipe off the mud and the blood and the beer, give 'em a quick swipe of shoe polish once in a while, and they're good to go. The character wearing fancy python-leather cowboy boots with lots of tooling and inlay work is probably not a tough working cowboy — his boots aren't suitable.

!!Examples

[[folder: Comic Books]]

[[folder:Film]]

* Part of badass bounty hunter/biker Leonard Small's wardrobe in ''Film/RaisingArizona'' - true enough, when [[spoiler: he gets blown up by a grenade]] the boots are all that's left of him.

** In [[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor "The Day of the Doctor"]] the War Doctor, the one who fought in the Time War, wears boots. His more pacifistic incarnations wear shoes of various kinds.
** Ace habitually wears rugged Doc Marten boots, rather than the fashionable shoes favoured by most companions.

* Nancy Sinatra sings about her boots as a metaphor for becoming tough in her hit, "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'":
--> These boots are made for walkin'
--> And that's just what they'll do
--> One of these days these boots
--> Are gonna walk all over you.

* ''WesternAnimation/FairlyOddparents'': Jorgen Von Strangle is the toughest Fairy in Fairy World, and dresses like a drill sergeant, right down to the combat boots.

* Part of badass bounty hunter/biker Leonard Small's wardrobe in ''RaisingArizona'' - true enough, when [[spoiler: he gets blown up by a grenade]] the boots are all that's left of him.