Just what ARE the armor bonuses?

I've started to wonder this, I mean, they're just metal helmets. How could they possible protect you. And how are they produced?

You eat them, of course!

Are you just getting into Doom now? Situated within the proper historical context of what other games used as powerups, helmets make a lot more sense than leaves, mushrooms, feathers, tomatoes, etc. Sure, having a stationary HEV recharge-station makes more sense, but it's more fun to make the player Pac-Man about looking for them.

Short answer: They're symbols. I doubt there's a within-lore, emic explanation, unless you care to make one up.

Marnetmar said:

You eat them, of course!

Alright, But how do they protect you then? And just what are they?

How ever could a rubber suit protect you from lava? It's a game.

But yes, they are helmets, as helmets are and forever will be associated with armor/protection.

schwerpunk said:

Are you just getting into Doom now? Situated within the proper historical context of what other games used as powerups, helmets make a lot more sense than leaves, mushrooms, feathers, tomatoes, etc. Sure, having a stationary HEV recharge-station makes more sense, but it's more fun to make the player Pac-Man about looking for them.

Short answer: They're symbols. I doubt there's a within-lore, emic explanation, unless you care to make one up.

I've been playing Doom for two years, so no. But what I'm asking is, If ID was to create lore concerning the pickups, how would they explain the armor bonuses?

They're too small for Doomguy's head. I think he puts them on his testicles to protect them. All 200 of his testicles.

Jayextee said:

They're too small for Doomguy's head. I think he puts them on his testicles to protect them. All 200 of his testicles.

We have a winner.

Jayextee said:

They're too small for Doomguy's head. I think he puts them on his testicles to protect them. All 200 of his testicles.

As much as I like to overanalyze, this made me LOL.

I can never play Doom properly again, knowing he's packin'. Thanks.

Jayextee said:

They're too small for Doomguy's head. I think he puts them on his testicles to protect them. All 200 of his testicles.

Then what are the colored armours gears for?

LOL , BTW.

Can I have a driiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiink?

They're game abstractions. I don't think they're supposed to correspond to a "real" item like the weapons, ammo pickups, berserk packs, stimpacks, and medikits, or even the whatevspheres which could be demonic artifacts.

Remember they used to be score items, like all the treasures in Wolfenstein 3D. Then they decided to ditch the score, kept two of the treasure items, and gave them a use: health and armor bonus. That's all there is to it.

Gez said:

They're game abstractions. I don't think they're supposed to correspond to a "real" item like the weapons, ammo pickups, berserk packs, stimpacks, and medikits, or even the whatevspheres which could be demonic artifacts.

Remember they used to be score items, like all the treasures in Wolfenstein 3D. Then they decided to ditch the score, kept two of the treasure items, and gave them a use: health and armor bonus. That's all there is to it.

Well, that does make sense. I just wanted to know any theories others might have about what they are in-universe.

They look like random 22nd century gadgets which can help protect you against attacks. Same with health bonuses. I don't think they're medieval magical stuff.

A few artifacts from the other dimension are now laying around and you may want them, too.

Spiritual Armor provides a little extra protection above and beyond your normal armor.

From the manual.

think in one of the alphas/beta, the armor sprite also had boots and helmet. I guess someone at id thought it looked stupid (it doesn't), or maybe that it would be difficult to identify (it's not). Or, maybe they wanted to have more than one armor item, kinda like 4-shells, and shell box.

Jayextee said:

They're too small for Doomguy's head.

Not really...

those are helmets? I always thought they were shards.

@essel
That is actually quite accurate.
The "helmet" armor pickup can be explained within the following video. If you notice, the blue potion health pickup is actually the "design" potion you see in the video. Once you finish this video it will all be clear how they came to the end result of the helmet armor pickup. It all comes down to design.

The armor pick-ups make you sterile. Don't touch them.

EDIT

I imagine the next thread , "What do the medkits/stimpacks have inside? :O"
And then "What is that in the health bonuses? Vodka?"

I'd imagine the medkits have bandages and anesthetics while stimpacks have something similar to L4D2's adrenaline shots, since adrenaline is a stimulant, hence stimpack. Either that or it's about 6 cans of energy drink.

joe-ilya said:

I imagine the next thread , "What do the medkits/stimpacks have inside? :O"
And then "What is that in the health bonuses? Vodka?"

I kinda already have theories on those. And besides, Doomguy isn't russian...Or is he?

Jayextee said:

They're too small for Doomguy's head. I think he puts them on his testicles to protect them. All 200 of his testicles.

My fucking god.

joe-ilya said:

And then "What is that in the health bonuses? Vodka?"

They're bongs. Doom marine is high off his ass while hallucinating he is on mission to save Earth.

Doominer991 said:

I kinda already have theories on those. And besides, Doomguy isn't russian...Or is he?

I always assumed he was Polish. It just... makes sense.

Doominer991 said:

I kinda already have theories on those. And besides, Doomguy isn't russian...Or is he?

"Doomguy is supposed to be YOU!" -John Romero-

schwerpunk said:

I always assumed he was Polish. It just... makes sense.

Since his great great (?) granddad was BJ Blazkowicz, yeah.

Doomguy drinks hair lotion.