Dredd's armour

[Mudcrab]

So, I just finished Assassin's Creed Brotherhood and got the Armour of Brutus...

http://assassinscreed.wikia.com/wiki/Armor_of_Brutus

You can see where this is going I'm sure. Got me wondering whether it was based on original (perhaps ornamental) Roman armour and whether that was an influence on Dredd's design originally? Or is it nothing to do with the real Brutus and the guy's just based it on Dredd/Gladiator? Can't find anything under a quick search other than folk moaning about it being ugly. I though it was pretty cool, for obvious reasons. Even the left shoulder plate is over-sized in a similar way to Dredd's, though it does look more like traditional Centurion style shoulder bits.

Obviously the romans used eagles all over the place, just can't find any shoulder ones. Anyone know of anything, or anything that Carlos has said about the eagle previously? Only other place I can think of is Homelander's from The Boys but I'm guessing that's very likely based on Dredd's 

Would put this in the games section but my question's more about Dredd's armour design so here we are.

[Molch-R]

Dredd's eagle was a symbol on the Spanish peseta, and was also used as a symbol by both Franco's fascists and America - that was Carlos' inspiration for using it.

[JOE SOAP]

Dredd's eagle was a symbol on the Spanish peseta, and was also used as a symbol by both Franco's fascists and America - that was Carlos' inspiration for using it.

and just about every other fascist movement.

[Frank]

Dredd's eagle was a symbol on the Spanish peseta, and was also used as a symbol by both Franco's fascists and America - that was Carlos' inspiration for using it.

and just about every other fascist movement.

Quite. Let's split the difference and say authoritarian regimes, so we can include Zoroastrian Persia, modern day Turkmenistan, the Aztec Empire,  and of course the corporate world. Again. And again. And again.

As, Molch-R says, the peseta design's the reason why Dredd wears an eagle; the reason why the eagle design's on the coin is another matter. The eagle's a predator that sits atop the food chain, so it's natural that any organisation wanting to project power and promote compliance would choose that animal as its symbol. Most of the faiths, states and corporate entities associating themselves with the eagle are either death cults or in the business of promoting injurious products or activities.

As with Justice Dept; associating themselves with the absolute power and inevitability of death (via the symbol of the eagle) encourages fear, quiesence and a perverse identification in the subjects of these organisations. That probably goes some way to explaining why the young Ezquerra "was always fascinated by the eagle that appeared on Spanish coins minted under the (fascist) Franco regime" (i), and chimes with his decision to base Dredd's helmet design on "a Fifteenth-century executioner's hood" (ii).


(i) Jarman, Colin M. & Acton, Peter, Judge Dredd: the mega-history, Lennard Publishing, 1995 (p.23)

(ii) ibid (p.22)

[I, Cosh]

Vaguely related to this. I saw this picture in the Guardian a few months ago and always mean to post it here. I was really struck by the similarity of the Spanish riot cop gear to Ezquerra's design for the proto-judge uniform from Origins. Not sure if the image will show up. If not, it's number six on this slideshow.



Could only find this Robinson cover of the Origins one from Prog 1529, if anyone fancies digging out some scans you can prove how wrong I am.

[JOE SOAP]

Don't all riot uniforms more or less look like that?

[I, Cosh]

Probably, but it was the helmet which particularly caught my eye.

[Frank]

Probably, but it was the helmet which particularly caught my eye.

Tulisa has that same problem in a video I watched.

[JOE SOAP]

I apologised about that.

[Frank]

I apologised about that.

Unless you're Phil Lynott's kid, I don't think your auld fella should be that colour. Get a doctor to have a look at it before it spreads and something falls off.

[The Adventurer]

So, I just finished Assassin's Creed Brotherhood and got the Armour of Brutus...

http://assassinscreed.wikia.com/wiki/Armor_of_Brutus

This is from the loading screen of World of Warcraft. I played a trial of it 5 or so years ago, and my first reaction with seeing it was 'I don't think that beard is regulation, Judge'

[Mudcrab]

Heh, I did notice WoW in the search results but chose to ignore that  Interesting though, another Dredd influence perhaps.