History Main / ChestOfMedals

* In the 1970s and 1980s, Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev was the punchline of countless [[RussianHumour Soviet jokes]] ridiculing his love for medals, due to him being perhaps the [[MilesGloriosus most notorious Type 3 in the Soviet Union]]. He even awarded himself with the Order of Victory that should only be given to great WWII military leaders, despite his own modest WWII record — he was a regimental commissar, and later, when {{Political Officer}}s were abolished, a simple colonel with quite an average career. Like Zhukov (see above), he had four Hero of the Soviet Union stars AND a star of the Hero of Socialist Labour, as well as dozens upon dozens of other decorations that he, to put it mildly, [[BlingOfWar didn't entirely deserve and wore very prominently]]. After he died, his Order of Victory was specially posthumously revoked from him. Here are some of the gems:

-->Hibbity hobbity bobbity boo, so I seeeee yoooouuuu!

* ''StarTrek'': when Captain Kirk is being courtmartialed, as part of his identification process the computer starts reading out a very long list of impressive-sounding medals he's won. The opposing side wants to cut it short because it's ''taking too long'' to list his achievements.

** NYC police officers have a huge number of various medals attached a bar that holds their badge on their chest. It's kind of ridiculous that you have trouble finding the badge among the giant square on their chest.

*** To be honest, some historians now think that the Purges in the end had a net ''positive'' effect on the Soviet military, as paradoxical this may seem. Red Army indeed was at its weakest in TheThirties, but it was even ''before'' the purges, due to general neglect by the government, outdated tactics and equipment, and incompetent leadership: most of the generals in mid-Thirties were either Civil War-era dinosaurs who outlived their time, political lickspitties, or the clever, but militarily incompetent opportunists. The Purges sort of "cleared the field", allowing the young, ambitious and competent commanders like Zhukov, Konev and Rokossovski to rise to prominence, even if they suffered from the purges themselves.

* This is repeated in the StarTrekTheNextGeneration episode The Measure of a Man, as part of Picard's goal to show Data is a person. Somewhat interesting, both characters don't have that many awards (Kirk 7, Data 4), the problem comes from the fact that the machine reading them out does so SLOWLY.

* ''{{NCIS}}'': Gibbs has been awarded numerous medals and citations, however since he doesn't particularly care for them Tony has to keep track of them; he even gave away his Silver Star in one episode.

* In ''[[BuckyOHare Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars]]'', the Air Martial exemplifies this and is basically in it for the medals.

* Two of the bosses in ''[[BionicCommando Bionic Commando Rearmed]]'' are generals with so many medals that they actually stop bullets, rendering them immune to attacks from the front. You have to either shoot them in the back or use another method of hurting them.

* Invoked in ''MassEffect'' - one of the characters claims that Anderson "could melt all his medals and make a life-sized statue of himself".

* Invoked in ''MassEffect'' - one of the characters claims that Anderson "could melt all his medals and make a life-sized statue of himself"
* Two of the bosses in ''[[BionicCommando Bionic Commando Rearmed]]'' are generals with so many medals that they actually stop bullets, rendering them immune to attacks from the front. You have to either shoot them in the back or use another method of hurting him.
* General Krukov in [[CommandAndConquerRedAlert Red Alert 3]] has a modest Soviet Officer uniform with one of two medals when we first see him in the prime universe (or for what the term Prime Universe [[TimeyWimeyBall means anymore]]). By the time he has adjusted to the AlternateUniverse where the Soviets are winning the war, he looks more like Marshall Zhukov from the page image.

[[folder: Western Animation]]
* In ''[[BuckyOHare Bucky O' Hare and the Toad Wars]]'', the Air Martial exemplifies this and is basically in it for the medals.
* In one episode of HannaBarbera's ''Breezly and Sneezly'' Breezly (a polar bear) manages to sneak in to a fancy dinner held at the army camp by masquerading as a 10 star general. [[UpToEleven (5 star being the highest possible rank)]] He successfully pulled this off for a while wearing only [[HalfDressedCartoonAnimal the upper half of the uniform]].
* In an old ''LooneyTunes'' short set in the FrenchForeignLegion, the fort Commandant has so many medals on his chest they jingle loudly as he walks, and the bars holding them are wider than he is.

* In the 70's and 80's, Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev was the punchline of countless [[RussianHumour Soviet jokes]] ridiculing his love for medals, due to him being perhaps the [[MilesGloriosus most notorious Type 3 in the Soviet Union]]. He even awarded himself with the Order of Victory that should only be given to great WWII military leaders, despite his own modest WWII record — he was a regimental commissar, and later, when {{Political Officer}}s were abolished, a simple colonel with quite an average career. Like Zhukov (see above), he had four Hero of the Soviet Union stars AND a star of the Hero of Socialist Labour, as well as dozens upon dozens of other decorations that he, to put it mildly, [[BlingOfWar didn't entirely deserve and wore very prominently]]. After he died, his Order of Victory was specially posthumously revoked from him. Here are some of the gems:

Often a part of wearing BlingOfWar. Often found on TheGeneralissimo.

Compare and contrast BlingOfWar. Often found on TheGeneralissimo.

* This was a very common trait of Soviet-era generals. Most of the Soviet high brass until the late {{Eighties}} were WWII veterans, and often held at least some small command, leading to significant level of them being already decorated back then. Add to it the Soviet practice to award decorations on the anniversaries (until the late {{Sixties}} ''battle'' decorations were used, later they've switched to the special "breathing" medals), and the regulation that the soldier must wear ''all'' his decorations, including campaign medals, service ribbons, qualification badges etc., on his formal parade uniform, and by the end of the [[OldSoldier third decade of service]] you'll end up with a [[BlingOfWar walking jewelery store]].

* This was apparently a very common trait of Soviet-era generals. The Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev was perhaps the most notorious Type 3 in the Soviet Union. He even awarded himself with the Victory Order that should only be given to great WWII military leaders, despite his own modest WWII record. After he died, his Victory Order was specially posthumously revoked from him. However, WWII General - later Marshal - Georgy Zhukov (currently the article image), said to be the most decorated officer in all Russian history, did earn all his medals due to FourStarBadass-worthy accomplishments not only against [[NaziGermany the Wehrmacht]] in the GreatPatrioticWar, but also against Japanese forces during the 1930s invasion of Mongolia, not the least of which is forcing Japan to stay away from Russia by leading the Russians alongside the Mongolians at Khalkhin Gol to beat the Japanese in 1939, and - through no actual intention of his own - convincing the Japanese generals that '''all of Russia's generals are as much of {{Four Star Badass}}es as he proved himself was against them'''. Did we mention that he did all of this with a Soviet military that was more or less at its ''weakest'' in its entire 70 years of history, the ranks of its experienced officers (many of whom were WW1 veterans) having been so devastated by Stalin's Great Purges in the '30s?

* In the 70's and 80's, Soviet leader LeonidBrezhnev was the punchline of countless [[RussianHumour Soviet jokes]] ridiculing his love for medals. Like Zhukov (see above), he had four Hero of the Soviet Union stars AND a star of the Hero of Socialist Labour, as well as dozens upon dozens of other decorations that he, to put it mildly, [[BlingOfWar didn't entirely deserve and wore very prominently]]. Here are some of the gems:

* In one episode of HannaBarbera's ''Breezly and Sneezly'' Breezly (a polar bear) manages to sneak in to a fancy dinner held at the army camp by masquerading as a 10 star general. (5 star being the highest possible rank, making his BeyondTheImpossible.) He successfully pulled this off for a while wearing only [[HalfDressedCartoonAnimal the upper half of the uniform]].

# An officer has so many medals nailed to his uniform that one would expect him to be a ranking general officer, but he turns out to be only a captain. And yes, he earned them all ''the hard way''. In other words, a ColonelBadass who refuses to be promoted off the field, and has the medals as proof of his numerous {{badass}} achievements.
# An actual general has more medals than a normal general could ever achieve in a lifetime. Might be because he's a FourStarBadass who engaged in numerous campaigns, surviving each of which would be considered a miracle in and of itself.

* This was apparently a very common trait of Soviet-era generals. The Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev was perhaps the most notorious Type 3 in the Soviet Union. He even awarded himself with the Victory Order that should only be given to great WWII military leaders, despite his own modest WWII record. After he died, his Victory Order was specially posthumously revoked from him. However, WWII General - later Marshal - Georgy Zhukov (currently the article image), said to be the most decorated officer in all Russian history, did earn all his medals due to FourStarBadass-worthy accomplishments against both Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan (see his entry under FourStarBadass for the long list).

* General Krukov in [[CommandAndConquerRedAlert Red Alert 3]] has a modest Soviet Officer uniform with one of two medals when we first see him in the prime universe (or for what the word Prime Universe [[TimeyWimeyBall means anymore]]). By the time he has adjusted to the AlternateUniverse where the Soviets are winning the war, he looks more like Marshall Zhukov from the page image.

* ''AlloAllo'' has Captain Bertorelli (a type 3) who has three rows of large, showy, medals (and loads of gold braid):

[[caption-width-right:318:Marshal Georgy Zhukov shows us how its done. And if you're wondering, yes, he ''earned'' all those medals.[[hottip:*:Who do you think dragged the Great Purges-decimated Red Army from the brink of defeat against the Nazis' surprise invasion, after he beat the Japanese so soundly they gave up beforehand?]]]]

Compare and contrast BlingOfWar.