History Main / SleevesAreForWimps

* A number of Gary Frank's redesigns for the ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}} lack sleeves. This has been pointed out by the fans.

* All of [[WolfMan Zafira's]] clothes in ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'' are like this, from the black wife-beater he wore on his first meeting with Hayate to the barrier jacket that he uses now.

* Comicbook/{{Wolverine}}. Several of his costumes have involved a full-body spandex suit, which leaves bare only the lower half of his face...and his arms.

* ''Videogame/DoomEternal:'' Part of the Doom Slayer's redesign for this game removes the upper arm area in his otherwise perfectly protective armor, while also giving him the sort of demon-throttling biceps that wouldn't fit in ''any'' armor. As a side bonus, [[MythologyGag it makes him look even more like the original Doomguy]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsRainbowRocks'', Sunset Shimmer wears a sleeveless purple top [[spoiler:when she throws her jacket aside to sing with the Rainbooms in the final showdown.]] For a villainous addition, Aria Blaze wears a cropped green vest/shirt whose sleeves have been ripped off, she's also the only member of the Dazzlings to wear a dress that lacks any kind of sleeves during the final showdown.
** Sunset Shimmer wears a strapless dress in her super-powered form in both ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls'' and ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsFriendshipGames'' while combating the Mane 6 and Midnight Sparkle respectively. Talking of the latter, Midnight Sparkle also wears a strapless dress.

* Tank tops and t-shirts with the sleeves ripped off are quite common in the punk and {{metalhead}} subcultures.

->'''[[Series/TheFlash2014 The Flash]]''': No sleeves. Don't you get cold?\\
'''[[Series/{{Arrow}} Green Arrow]]''': I spent the better part of five years on an island in the North China Sea. I don't ''get'' cold, Barry.
-->-- ''Series/TheFlash2014'', [[Recap/TheFlash2014S2E8LegendsOfToday "Legends of Today"]]

You might even say he has a "[[{{Pun}} Right To Bare Arms]]."

-->-- ''[[Recap/TheFlash2014S2E8LegendsOfToday "Legends of Today"]]''

* Yami Sukehiro from ''Manga/BlackClover'' wears a white tank top that shows off his muscled arms, and he's a tough swordsman who wields powerful Dark Magic.

** Riku never wears sleeves. Not at 6, not at 15, not at 16. '''Never'''. Except ''once'', when he had to wear the Organization coat, and even then it's a wonder he didn't cut off the sleeves to look more badass (if only because it would have jeopardized the whole 'impostor' plan).
** Kairi as well.

* In ''Podcast/{{Voyage to the Stars}}'', when Elsa get the laser and uses it to destroy the death cave they're trapped in, she obviously has to rip off her sleeves. [[{{Exaggerated Troper}} Then she keeps going]], ripping her outfit down to a [[{{Battle Bikini}} bikini]].

* Inverted in ''Anime/{{Katanagatari}}'' Shichika wear sleeves but only sleeves, no shirt. his torso [[WalkingShirtlessScene remain uncovered]].

This is mostly an AlwaysMale trope, since the reasons for putting a woman in a tank top are usually [[FanService somewhat different]], but it's far from unheard of for ActionGirl characters to dress like this as well, such as a TankTopTomboy.

** Also Abel, Guy, Cammy, Ibuki, Birdie, Cammy, Charlie, T. Hawk, Yun, Yang . . . tons of them, really.

* Kenshiro of ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'' wore outfits without sleeves. When he went into Hokuto Shinken asskicking mode, oftentimes the shirt would disintegrate with the power of his BattleAura and leave him shirtless.

* Manga/FullmetalAlchemist Edward Elric typically wears a black jacket, a long, red coat, and white gloves, but frequently invokes this trope either via AdrenalineMakeover, or to lecture someone on why human alchemy is bad. His automail arm [[http://www.shonenwallpapers.com/images/wallpapers/effects_Edward_Elric_FMA_Full_Metal_Alchemist_Wallpaper800-375705.jpeg increases this trope's intended effect exponentially]].

** And an entire ''team'' of "Tank Top (Add Noun Here)" high-end Martial Artist heroes. It's thier hat-- they ''all'' wear tank tops.

* Spoofed in Gintama, when Katsura is send in prison. The resident though guy Shachi sport the torn sleeves style to look more badass and intimidating, but [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Katsura]] try to warn him that there is a problem with his shirt and someone [[ComicallyMissingThePoint ripped off his sleeves]]. Shachi then become self-conscious about it.

* The original costume worn by Comicbook/TheMightyThor invoked this trope, as did the alternate costumes he wore in the 90's while he was mortal. His current costume covers his arms with chainmail.

** It's so much his trademark that in ''Film/TheFifthElement'', Willis is at the opera wearing a tux which gets severely damaged in the ensuing battle, resulting in a ''sleeveless tux''!

** When his catcher takes Vaughn out to dinner, he chooses a place which requires ties. He shows up with his regular outfit...plus a tie. His first line? "I feel like a banker."

* The Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse has a few examples of sleeveless badasses. Thor, Sif and Hawkeye usually go without sleeves. There are several scenes in ''Film/IronMan'', showing Tony Stark working in his lab without sleeves. Thor goes without sleeves in the beginning of ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', but gets them back when things get serious.

** In the sequel ''Film/SpidersIIBreedingGround'' after taking off her black shirt, the lead character Alexandra is wearing a greay tank top when she fights off the spiders, free's Jason, messes up with the lab and fights off Grbac.
* Angela Vidal in the fourth ''Film/{{REC}}'' movie wears a tank top after she ditches her long sleeved shirt, before she takes out an axe as she tries to escape the ship she's at.

* Ash from ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' wears this all the time, and has a mullet to go along with it. Though Ash doesn't do any actual ass-kicking in the show, he gets Badassery by pure [[TheSmartGuy brains]] and Memetic Mutation; and for bonus points there's a sign on his door which says "Dr. Badass is... IN/OUT".

* ''Series/TheWalkingDead'' has Daryl Dixon, resident redneck/hunter/tracker/zombie killer extraordinaire. The first time we see him wearing sleeves (about half way through the second season), he ends up ripping them off by the halfway point of the episode. It seems like this is changing, though, with the adoption of a blue jean jacket (with sleeves) as the timeline of the series moves into winter.

* Way too many eighties music videos to name here feature sleeveless shirts, vests worn without shirts, and similar things. Its one of the things that defines the period, along with EightiesHair.

* CJ from ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'' starts out wearing a white tanktop.

* Oni girl [[CuteBruiser Suika Ibuki]] from ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}''. That despite looking like a 10 year old.

** Oddly enough, in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'', Ashe, Penelo and Fran all have some sort of sleeves, while the sleeveless ones are Vaan and Basch. Ashe doesn't have anything covering her shoulders, but she does wear sleeves covering the top of her arms. Many NPC wear sleeveless tops.

** The female player character of ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'' wears the tank-top plus vest variant, and takes down legendary and pseudo-legendary alike with little difficulty.

* This appears to be the philosophy of Letho of Gulet, from ''Franchise/TheWitcher'' video games. While every other witcher or soldier has something at least resembling armor covering their arms, Letho goes sleeveless, and bears a few scars to show for it. Given his improbably muscular arms, one wonders if he is just showing off, or legitimately can't find any sleeves that will fit over them.

* In VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}, Zarya's default outfit is armor that covers her entire body except her head and biceps. Some of her alternate skins (like her [[TheEighties Totally 80's]] outfit) are also sleveless.

* Neither Richard, nor Benn of ''Webcomic/LookingForGroup'' wears sleeves. The latter even exposes her arms when wearing a [[PrettyInMink fur]] [[PimpedOutCape cape]].

** Jupiter wears a vest but no shirt, and is one of the biggest, most aggressive planets around and who is actively trying to overthrow Sun.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Loan-A-Lisa", Principal Skinner decides to start working for Nelson to earn more money. Upon remembering that Nelson likes the sleeveless look he rips off the sleeves of his shirt and jacket, but makes no other changes. Superintendent Chalmers in a case of StrangeMindsThinkAlike shows up with the exact same look.

* In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsRainbowRocks'', Sunset Shimmer wears a sleeveless purple top [[spoiler:when she throws her jacket aside to sing with the Rainbooms in the final showdown.]] For a villainous addition, Aria Blaze wears a cropped green vest/shirt whose sleeves have been ripped off, she's also the only member of the Dazzlings to wear a dress that lack any kind of sleeves during the final showdown.

* The Gems in ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' all have default outfits with either very short sleeves (for example: Garnet, Sapphire and Steven) or no sleeves; which possibly fits them into this trope since Gems are generally physically much stronger than humans.

* The majority of UsefulNotes/AustralianRulesFootball players wear sleeeveless guernseys, although sleeved versions do exist, and some players regarded as being among the greatest ever (such as Essendon's James Hird and Hawthorn's Michael Tuck) almost always wore sleeved jumpers.
* Likewise, most NFL players will be wearing jerseys just big enough to be stretched over the shoulder pad, leaving the arms bare. At least for games in warmer weather. Cold weather games will see everyone in some sort of tight fitting, spandex/compression sleeves in an attempt to stay warm. The old, short-but-baggy sleeves are basically a remnant of history, due to compression stuff being readily available at all levels of play, and baggy sleeves potentially giving tacklers something extra to grab on to.

* Charlie from ''Film/{{Bumblebee}}'' is a WrenchWench [[TheLadette Ladette]] whose clothing mostly consists of [[TankTopTomboy sleeveless black band shirts]].

* Leonard Smalls in ''Film/RaisingArizona''; He preferred the classic "garish Hawaiian shirt over white henley" ensemble.

* Plourr Illo in the ''ComicBook/XWingSeries'', past a certain point, is usually shown sleeveless. Even during a briefing when the other Rogues are in their [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/New_Republic_dress_uniform dress uniforms]], Plourr [[http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/8443/blz07.jpg gets to go without the jacket]]. May be excused as this was after the arc in which she left the squadron to rule Eiattu VI; she came back, but it was clear that she didn't have to stay with the same rules.

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* Matrix in ''WesternAnimation/ReBoot'' only goes sleeveless. When he his forced to do a tux for his sister's wedding, he immediately proceeds to rip the sleeves off.

* In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsRainbowRocks'', Sunset Shimmer wears a sleeveless purple top [[spoiler:when she throws her jacket aside to sing with the Rainbooms in the final showdown.]] in addition, Aria Blaze wears a cropped green vest/shirt whose sleeves have been ripped off, she's also the only member of the Dazzlings to wear a dress that lack any kind of sleeves during the final showdown.