History Main / IconicItem

** *His Treecko has the twig he likes to put in his mouth.

* In ''Manga/PokemonSpecial'', most of the Dex Holders wear an extra accessory (or have a slightly different physical feature) to differentiate them from the characters they were based on. Gold has his goggles and cue, Crystal her star-shaped earrings, Silver his black gloves, etc.

* Arguably Josh Lyman's backpack on ''Series/TheWestWing''.

* Various variations appear for the ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' characters. Every protagonist has a NiceHat which they can quickly be identified with. Pokemon also count in {{Fanon}}: May is synonymous with a Torchic starter, Brendan with Mudkip, Dawn with Piplup, Red with Pikachu, Blue with Eevee, and Bianca with Munna, just to name a few.
** Ash's Squirtle from the Squirtle Squad has pretty awesome sunglasses reminiscent of Kamina's. Yeaaah...
** His Treecko has the twig he likes to put in his mouth.

* Parodied in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'' when Spongebob loses all his clothes in his efforts to escape Sandy's dangerous "pre-hibernation week" activities, and Sandy stumbles across them while looking for him.

** Some other examples are Aang's arrow tattoo or his glider, as well as Katara's hair loopies or water jug. Iroh and [[SpotOfTea tea]] could also be thought of this way.

* MickeyMouse 's red short with yellow buttons.
* DonaldDuck 's blue (in the comics black) sailor vest

* [[Anime/{{Pokemon}} Ash Ketchum's]] hat.

* AbrahamLincoln's hat. America's greatest citizen summed up in one piece of clothing.

* Creator/CharlieChaplin's Cane and Bowler Hat.

* Orihime's hairpins in ''Manga/{{Bleach}}''. [[spoiler: She mysteriously loses them after the TimeSkip, though....]]
** Urahara's NiceHat
** Byakuya's headpiece
** Kenpachi's [[PowerLimiter eyepatch]]
** Kyoraku's Hat And Robe
** Ulquiorra's half helmet
** ''Everyone's Shikai.''
*** Fuck that. Bankais are what's happening.

* Music/KaizersOrchestra had the WorldWarI gas mask worn by the organist. All of the three first albums feature the mask prominently on the cover art and the band's live performances involved the mask staying on for the entire set, rendering the organist into HeWhoMustNotBeSeen and HeWhoMustNotBeHeard.

* Emma Swan's red coat in OnceUponATime.

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* Most of the main characters' cards in ''Anime/YuGiOh'' and ''Anime/YuGiOhGX''. Somewhat believable in the case of Kaiba's Blue-Eyes White Dragons, since there were only four in the world, and he has three (he ripped up the fourth as soon he got his hands on it [[IfICantHaveYou to prevent anyone else from using it]], because only three copies of any given card may be used in the same deck). However, Mai's Harpie Ladies or Asuka's Etoile Cyber are common cards that could have been dropped by anyone.

* Leonid Brezhnev [[BlingOfWar set of four Golden Star's of Hero of the Soviet Union]].

* Many of Franchise/{{Batman}}'s RoguesGallery. Two-Face has his two-headed coin; the Penguin has his top hat, monocle and cigarette holder (and his gimmick umbrellas); the Mad Hatter his top hat; Ra's al Ghul his high collared cape; etc.

[[caption-width-right:330:ComicBook/CaptainAmerica's Shield, Franchise/IndianaJones's {{Fedora| Of Asskicking}} and {{Whip| It Good}}, [[SuperMarioBros Mario's]] [[NiceHat hat]], [[Anime/YuGiOh Yugi's]] [[TransformationTrinket Millennium Puzzle]], [[Series/DoctorWho The Doctor's]] Sonic Screwdriver, [[Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet Freddy Krueger's]] Glove. Not that you didn't recognize them all on sight.]]

An IconicItem is an object carried or used only by one specific character, which also serves to ''define'' the character. Seeing it immediately brings that character to mind. Seeing the object abandoned (i.e., on a battlefield or in a ditch) would cause the character's friends to worry about his safety. Usually concludes with the character in question casually walking up shaken and asking if anyone has seen his IconicItem.

Such safety worries would be on a sliding scale of realism; [[CaptainAmerica Cap's]] shield is one-of-a-kind, but there may be ''many'' [[Comicbook/{{Spiderman}} Spidey]] outfits or beat-up [[Franchise/IndianaJones brown fedoras]] out there. Provenance would have to be established before a search party is called.

If the IconicItem just so happens to correlate with the character's personality or traits, which it's going to 90% of the time, it's probably also a WeaponOfChoice.

Often produced as OfficialCosplayGear. Compare ClothesMakeTheLegend and IconicOutfit. Also compare NationalWeapon for a type of cultural IconicItem.

* Many of the Angels in ''KidouTenshiAngelicLayer'' would count; more than tools to their users, who even ''talk'' to the robotic dolls on more than one occasion, an abandoned Angel is a sign that something is deeply wrong with its operator.

* Guts from ''{{Berserk}}'' actually has three of these, his {{BFS}} The Dragonslayer, his mechanical hand and his Berserker armour, all of which are one-of-a-kind items that match his personality.

* Vash The Stampede's very distinctive revolver, and Wolfwood's massive cross (both from ''{{Trigun}}'').

* Rosette's watch in ''ChronoCrusade''.

** Taichi's [[GogglesDoNothing goggles]] themselves are an example of this trope, as is Yamato's harmonica (which becomes a minor plot point late in the series), Koushirou's computer and Sora's hat/helmet thing.

* Kenshiro's jacket in ''FistOfTheNorthStar''. It's so iconic that it inexplicably reappears on him after every fight where he rips it beforehand. When he tears his shirt, it's usually a surefire sign that someone is going to die.
* [[TheRival Ryouga's]] trademark bandanna from ''[[RanmaOneHalf Ranma 1/2]]'', and he went as far as wearing dozens of them, one over the other, to use as weapons in his first match with Ranma.

* ''MahouSenseiNegima'' carries a small few of these, most notably Asuna's bells given to her by Takahata.
* Luffy's straw hat in ''OnePiece''. Zoro's haramaki, and Chopper's hat [[spoiler: (Before the TimeSkip)]] also counts too.
* Russia's scarf in ''AxisPowersHetalia''.

* Haruko's engine-powered Rickenbacker bass guitar/multi-purpose weapon from ''{{FLCL}}''.

* Shiki of ''KaraNoKyoukai'' has her [[AwesomeAnachronisticApparel red bomber jacket worn over a traditional kimono.]]

* ''CaptainAmerica's'' shield. As the theme song reminds us, all those who chose to oppose the shield ''must'' yield.

* ''{{Thor}}'s'' Hammer Mjolnir(carried over from NorseMythology).

* ''JudgeDredd's'' Lawgiver gun.

* Iconic costume parts could also be included (''Franchise/{{Batman}}'s'' cowl, ''Comicbook/{{Spider-Man}}'s'' suit in a trash bin). See the above codicil.

* ''WonderWoman's'' lasso and armor.
* Even though there are 7200 ''GreenLantern'' rings they are keyed to specific people who all live in different parts of the galaxy and if one is lying around the owner is usually in grave danger.
* Less well known but many versions of [[{{Flash}} Wally and Barry]] always have the ring that contains their suits somewhere on their person.

* Spider Jerusalem's oddly impractical sunglasses from ''{{Transmetropolitan}}''. They're shaped like that because they're a combination of shades and a digital camera, specially designed for his journalist work. Also because the machine that made them was on drugs. No, seriously.
* Wesley Dodds, the ''[[ComicBook/TheSandman Sandman]]'', has his gas-mask, a perfect complement for his sleeping gas gun. NeilGaiman gives Morpheus, king of dreams, a similar looking helm, but he wears it far less often.

* ''GreenArrow'' has his arrows, particularly the boxing-glove one.
* The WolverineClaws, which are even part of [[{{wolverine}} his]] body.
* Jughead Jones from ''ArchieComics'' has his crown-shaped beanie.

* {{Asterix}}' winged helmet, Obelix' small helmet and menhir, Vitalstatistix' feathered helmet and shield.

* Rorschach's mask from ''Comicbook/{{Watchmen}}''

* [[DollarsTrilogy The Man With No Name's]] distinctive [[color:green:green]] poncho

* [[TheStoic Mace Windu's]] [[color:purple:purple]] [[LaserBlade lightsaber]] and Darth Maul's double-bladed [[LaserBlade lightsaber]] are unique [[strike:one-of-a-kind]] weapons in the ''StarWars'' movies (all [[LaserBlade lightsabers]] are different, but [[TheStoic Windu]] and Maul's are the only ones of their kind seen). Notably, the [[color:purple:purple]] [[LaserBlade lightsaber]] was SamuelLJackson's only demand for accepting the role.

* {{Zorro}}'s black mask and Andalusian hat (in the novel he originally wore a sombrero). To a lesser degree his sword and bullwhip.

* In ''ElDorado'' people keep commenting about Mississipi's odd-looking hat, but he refuses to stop wearing it because it belonged to his dead mentor.

* Anton Chigurh's coin, captive bolt pistol and sound-supressed Remington 11-87 semiautomatic shotgun in ''NoCountryForOldMen''

* In the 1976 film version of ''{{Carrie}}'', Norma is never seen without her red baseball cap. She wears it in gym class, during detention, and even at the prom. The only two times when she's not wearing it are when she's getting her hair styled (and even then, it's perched atop the giant hair dryer), and [[spoiler:when Carrie knocks her flat on her ass with the firehose and kills her, blowing her cap off in the process]]. The cap was reportedly the idea of her actress, P. J. Soles.

* The Monkey King's expanding staff from ''JourneyToTheWest''.
* SherlockHolmes's pipe. The deerstalker in adaptations, though not the original books.
* In ''HarryPotter'', Mad-Eye Moody's mad eye. After [[spoiler:he dies in ''DeathlyHallows'', [[TheHero Harry]] sees it stuck on Umbridge's office door in the Ministry of Magic and is so infuriated that he steals it back, tipping her off that there are intruders in the building.]] There are other items that probably also count, like [[GentleGiant Hagrid's]] umbrella.
** Pretty much any wizard's wand in the HarryPotter universe. Remembering them, on the other hand...

* Rincewind's hat in ''Literature/{{Discworld}}''. Of course, all wizards and witches wear a [[RobeAndWizardHat pointy hat]], but Rincewind is the only one who finds it necessary to write "WIZZARD" upon it in sequins. And he ''always'' comes back for his hat. (Although at the start of ''Discworld/InterestingTimes'', he's been seperated from it for some time while on a DesertedIsland, and found it necessary to construct a replacement ("a CargoCult wizard's hat") out of grass and bamboo. With "WIZZARD" spelt out in cowrie shells).

* [[AroundTheWorldInEightyDays Phileas Fogg's]] top hat and pocket watch (used as an icon for him in the closing titles of the film adaptation starring David Niven).
* [[PeterPan Captain Hook's]] ... um, it's on the tip of my tongue...
* [[TheCaineMutiny Captain Queeg's]] steel balls.

* ''Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'': Arthur's bathrobe, Ford's satchel (and, of course, his copy of the ''Guide'' itself), Zaphod's Presidential sash, and towels in general.

* [[XenaWarriorPrincess Xena's]] chakram.
* Done (very, very badly) in an episode of ''MightyMorphinPowerRangers'', where a kid who was banned from the science fair is abducted by the Monster of the Week, which he then drops his hat. The Rangers find the hat, and immediately blame Rita, [[FridgeLogic which makes no sense at all]]. They ended up being right, but they had no right or reason to assume that at all.
* [[HappyDays Fonzie's]] jacket.

** [[CSIMiami Horatio's]] ... [[MemeticMutation sunglasses.]] [[TheWho YEEAAAAAAAAHH.]]

** Danny from ''CSINewYork's'' father's dog tags.
** Sid from ''CSINewYork'' has the iconic glasses that come apart in the front.
* In ''LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'', Goren uses his pocket knife a lot (not as a weapon mind you, just to pick up stuff he doesn't want to touch, dig stuff out of walls, etc).

* HannahMontana's blonde wig. And her pink, [[EverythingsBetterWithSparkles sparkly]] jacket.

* In UglyBetty Betty's Red glasses and pink brasses. Although she finally gets the braces removed in the final fourth season.
* "Boston" Rob Mariano, from ''Series/{{Survivor}}'' and ''The Amazing Race'', has his Boston Red Sox hat. At one point on ''The Amazing Race'' 7, he gives a local the blue Red Sox hat he traditionally wore on ''Survivor'', and from the next leg on (including on All-Stars) he wore a [[LawOfChromaticSuperiority red one instead]].

* ''TheCloser'': Brenda's purse, a huge black thing that she would be completely lost without. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in the finale, when Brenda is forced to shoot [[spoiler: Philip Stroh]] through the bottom of it, and the rest of the Major Crimes unit all get together and buy her a new one exactly like the old one because she doesn't look right without it.

* Arguably Josh Lyman's backpack on ''TheWestWing''.
* Nina's locket on ''House of Anubis''

* ''TheATeam'' has two: Hannibal's cigars and B.A.'s van. The cigar is ''so'' iconic that in the film, it ''immediately'' identified him.

** In addition, the Sword in the Stone (Caliburn), to the point that both swords are often [[LostInImitation mistaken to be one and the same]]. Although in some cases they ''are''; Arthurian canon is sketchy and full of {{RetCon}}s and AlternateContinuity.

* Many mythological examples such the [[GreekMythology Aegis carried by Athena, Hermes' winged sandals, Poseiden's trident]], [[NorseMythology the mythological Thor's Hammer]], [[GreekMythology and Hercules' lion skin cloak and club]].

* JohnLennon [[LennonGlasses Glasses]]. You get the image.
** RingoStarr's rings (lampshaded in ''Help!'').
*** PaulMcCartney's Hofner bass.
* MichaelJackson's single glove; subverted with his sister Latoya's headband, which was meant to become her iconic item, but never did.
* EltonJohn's [[MakingASpectacleOfYourself glasses]].
* [[PublicEnemy Flava Flav's clock medallion]].
* [[Music/GunsNRoses Slash's]] [[CoolShades sunglasses]]. His signature [[CoolHat top hat]], is rarely taken off, but he always wears the glasses.

* [[ZZTop Dusty Hill's and Billy Gibbons's]] [[BadassBeard long beards]] and sunglasses.

* [[{{Queen}} Freddie Mercury's]] bottomless mic stand and [[{{Queen}} Brian May's]] Red Special guitar (which he built himself).

* {{Buckethead}}'s white mask (recently used by the Jabbawockeez too, though) combined with the plastic bucket he wears on his head.
* [[CoheedAndCambria Claudio Sanchez's]] legendary hair. If not that, then his collection of personalized Gibson Explorers.
* On the subject of hair, [[MyChemicalRomance Ray Toro's]] fro pretty much has its own fanbase.
* IanDury's caliper and walking stick. The latter is an interpretation of Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick

* [[{{Peanuts}} Linus's]] SecurityBlanket. Snoopy's dog house.

* {{Garfield}}'s square bed.

* Signature Gear in ''{{GURPS}}'' cannot be permanently stolen from the player and is only truly lost if willingly sold or physically destroyed (and in that case you get a new one).

** Many named characters have something along these lines, but {{Commissar}} [[CoolOldGuy Yarrick's]] [[EyeBeams Bale Eye]], [[BigBad Abaddon]] [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast The Depoiler's]] [[EvilWeapon Daemon Sword]] [[TheUnpronounceable Drach'nyen]] and [[SpaceMarine Marneus]] [[GeniusBruiser Calgar's]] [[PowerFist Fists]] [[HandCannon of]] [[MoreDakka Macragge]] are a few examples of note. Not to mention the fact that almost all of the Legion Primarchs had a signature weapon that either summed up who they were, how they fought, how they thought or all of the above.
** The [[ChainsawGood chainsword]] is one of the most famous weapons to come out of the game, since it [[RuleOfCool sums up nicely]] what the setting is all about.

* VideoGame/GoldenSun: Isaac's (and later [[VideoGame/GoldenSunDarkDawn Matthew's]]) ScarfOfAsskicking. Menardi and Karst's [[SinisterScythe scythes]].

** [[TheProtagonist Sonic's]] nemesis Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik also has his Eggmobile, a rotund hovercraft that is used as his personal transport and as the cockpit of his maned machines. His ScaryShinyGlasses would count as well.

* Proto Man's [[color:gold:yellow]] scarf & Zero's Z-Saber from the ''VideoGame/MegaMan'' & ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' games. The latter item was changed to an even more iconic, triangular shaped appearance in ''VideoGame/MegaManZero''.

** There are several others. [[LadyOfWar Rose's]] {{scarf|OfAsskicking}}, Guile and Charlie's dogtags (Guile later taking the presumably KIA Charlie's dogtags for his own), Dhalsim's necklace made out of the skulls of the children in his village who died from famine, [[BruceLeeClone Fei Long's]] nunchaku, Dee Jay's maracas, etc. Of special note is [[VideoGame/FinalFight Guy's]] [[NiceShoes sneakers]], popular enough to spawn a [[MemeticMutation meme]] ("''[[TakeThat Real]]'' {{ninja}}s wear [[ProductPlacement Nikes]]!").
* ''HalfLife'' - Gordon Freeman's crowbar. To date he's had five (and subsequently lost four) of them. Also the Gravity Gun in ''VideoGame/{{Half-Life 2}}'' and its episodes. Also, the [[PoweredArmor HEV suit]].
* Garrus Vakarian's visor in ''MassEffect'', and Commander Shepard's N7 armor.

* Minsc's [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot Miniature Giant Space Hamster]] Boo in the ''BaldursGate'' series.

* Samus Aran's Charge Beam and Varia Suit, commonly found in every ''{{Metroid}}'' game, and the focus of most of the box art designed for the games.
** And we musn't forget her ArmCannon - though in this case, it's literally her arm. Or, rather power suit's arm.

** Her Missiles as well, with their distinctive rocket shape and red tip. So iconic, even more so than the unique round green-tipped Super Missiles, that in MetroidFusion they made it so that it's the Super missiles that have the rocket shape with red tip and the normal missiles are just grey cylinders.

* Sora's keyblade and crown necklace in ''KingdomHearts''.
* [[MortalKombat Scorpion's]] spear, Liu Kang's headband, [[VideoGame/MortalKombat2 Shao Kahn's]] [[DropTheHammer hammer]], Johnny Cage's [[MemeticMutation five-hundred dollars]] [[TheGlassesComeOff sunglasses]]...

* The Protagonist's [[HeadphonesEqualIsolation "Audio Atlus" headphones]], [[TheChick Yukari's]] heart-shaped choker, and [[IdiotHero Junpei's]] baseball cap in ''{{Persona 3}}''.
* In ''{{Persona 2}}'', we have Tatsuya's lighter, Jun's flowers (and watch), and Maya's Mister Rabbit.

** Most of the other characters have something like this too, but Neku and Shiki's [[IconicItem Iconic Items]] are, well, the most iconic.

* Raidou Kuzunoha the 14th of ''RaidouKuzunohaVsTheSoullessArmy'' and ''RaidouKuzunohaVsKingAbaddon'' is noted, both in universe and out, as having a reputation attached to the school uniform he wears. He is even wearing it in the second game when he is 20 and no longer in school.
* Most ''HarvestMoon'' protagonists wear a red neckerchief. Even some animals in the ''Wonderful Life'' subseries wear them.

* Various variations appear for the ''{{Pokemon}}'' characters. Every protagonist has a NiceHat which they can quickly be identified with. Pokemon also count in {{Fanon}}: May is synonymous with a Torchic starter, Brendan with Mudkip, Dawn with Piplup, Red with Pikachu, Blue with Eevee, and Bianca with Munna, just to name a few.

** Some pokemon species have some: Cubone/Marowak has a bone club and a skull helmet, both from their dead mother. Farfetch'd gets a stick of celery it uses, [[JokeCharacter pathetically]], as a sword. Oshawott and Dewott have Scalchops, [[ImprobableWeaponUser Scallops it uses as swords.]] Even when as Samurott it becomes a [[DualWielding Dual]] BFS [[DualWielding Wielding]] pokemon, the battle animation for Razor Shell is still a Scalchop.

* VideoGame/DukeNukem's golden Desert Eagle. Funny enouch, a lot of people might not even realize he ''has'' an iconic item. It was absent in his best known game ''VideoGame/DukeNukem3D'', and none of the games that came after it sold near as well. Strangely, it was changed to an M1911 in ''VideoGame/DukeNukemForever''.

* Like KOS-MOS above, [[DeadRising Frank West]] can use a '''lot''' of different weapons, but is always seen (in promo material and official art) with [[BatterUp Baseball bats]]. Taken UpToEleven in VideoGame/TatsunokoVsCapcom, where Frank uses one in a hyper, and again in ''[[DeadRising2 Case West]]'', where he has an infinite supply of baseball bats unless the player gives him another weapon.

* [[RatchetAndClank Ratchet's]] Omniwrench

* Amaterasu from ''{{Okami}}'' has the Divine Retribution Relfector, her past self Shiranui has the Solar Flare, and Issun has his beetle helmet.

* From Fallout we have the iconic Vault Suit; each protagonist has had one with a unique number and is apparently the only canonical item of clothing he wears throughout his adventure if the endings are to be believed.

** From Fallout 3, we have the [[PoweredArmor T-45d Power Armor]] worn by the Brotherhood of Steel.

* ''Tom Clancy's SplinterCell'' has Sam Fisher's trifocal nightvision goggles.
* While [[YumeNikki Madotsuki]] can equip various other objects, the one she's most often associated with is her [[KnifeNut knife]].

* [[SomethingPositive Aubrey's choker]] (wherein it became a plot point when her soon-to-be-husband Jason destroyed it.)

* ''TheSimpsons'':

* In most ''{{Transformers}}'' series, the Autobot Matrix of Leadership is strongly associated with Optimus Prime, who carries it inside him. When it's seen in other hands, it's generally a sign that Optimus is badly injured, if not dead.

* Most of the leading characters in ''Around the World with Willy Fog'' have some form of iconic item:

* Every character on ''ScoobyDoo'' can be identified by their one outfit, but the most iconic item is Fred's ascot.

* Louise's bunny ears on ''BobsBurgers''. The third-season premiere, "Ears-y Rider", was devoted to her efforts to get them back after a bully took them.

* AbrahamLincoln's hat.

* ''TheBoondocks'' made a comment about how it is near-impossible to think of Martin Luther King Jr. in anything besides a gray suit... You just can't imagine him in a sweater and jeans sitting on the couch watching football or something.

* {{Lights}} early on in her career would wear a brightly-colored headband; however, she no longer wears the headband nowadays, ultimately subverting this trope.

* Tom Landry's hat.
** If that doesn't motivate you, then nothing will.
* [[MythBusters Jamie Hyneman's]] beret, clean white shirt, and walrus mustache.

* Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves ''always'' wears a bow tie (though not the same one).
** And why not? Bow Ties are cool.

* CharlieChaplin's Cane and Bowler Hat.

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* The Guy Fawkes mask worn by the title character from ''VForVendetta''.

* Roland's guns in ''TheDarkTower''.

* Ahiru's pendant in ''PrincessTutu''. If you see it laying around, she IS in trouble--she can't be a girl without it.