What would YOU add to Indy's gear??

[madkidjedi]

Hey, gang;

Just to spark up some conversation here... but as I work on my fan-fiction screen-play of an Indiana Jones feature, I've been working up some ideas for modifications on Indy's 'canonical' gear. I will be sharing my ideas via pictures in a day or two, but thought I'd ask you all this question: What would you add to his gear??

[garylafortuna]

In a scene in KOTCS, Indy borrows Mutt's knife. A good add on to Indy's gear I think, would be a knife. Not something as blatantly obvious as a Rambo or Crocodile Dundee style knife, but something subtle and befitting the period, that he could wear concealed, perhaps on his belt under his jacket in the back. A British commando knife would fill the bill perfectly.

[zmarty]

Yeah, I agree. I feel like a buck knife or a 5 inch folding blade would be sufficient. Another thing would be suspenders. In a cold environment, it would be the perfect place for a holster so his gun wouldn't freeze to his hand since it is inside his zipped jacket after all. The only downside is that he would have to know to draw the weapon early on. In a hotter environment, he would just wear them because they would look pretty damn cool. Not to mention a different colored shirt every once in a while. Im sure he gets tired of Cream after a while. Haha

[madkidjedi]

Great suggestions, guys... one thing though: 'canonically speaking' Indy always had a jack-knife. He even had it out, though did not actually use it, when he accidentally ducked into Belloq's tent in Tanis, found Marion alive, and was thinking of freeing her...? Remember...? He slowly closed it, and put it away...? "If I take you outta here now, they'll start combing the place for us..."

Suspenders would not be a bad idea, either. In fact, those of us lucky enough to own a pair of Wested trousers know that the buttons are there for vintage-style suspenders to attach to. I feel they would be just one more thing to get caught on obstructions. But not a bad idea at all. And I really like the 'different colored shirts' idea. As a fan of the Marvel Comics "Further Adventures of..." series, I already feel like Indy's color-palette as far as shirts go, was already more diverse.

My ideas (as I'm writing them into my previously-mentioned screenplay) are both practical and functional, and very "Indy" if I say so myself. One little third thing is a 'kinda obvious' kit piece that Indy no doubt has had in his satchel from the beginning. But here's some pix of my ideas:









Scarf and goggles just . make. sense. And for the scene I'm writing, a GREAT reveal gag, too. But for anyone who knows the benefit of the classic bandanna to the cowboys of the Old West... the scarf in Indy's world would be just as valuable. The goggles, the same, given the climates he's prone to travel in.

And the compass... just goes without saying... though our fair professor could easily navigate by the stars, if he had to.

[garylafortuna]

Excellent choice on scarf, compass, and goggles Madkidjedi. Remember the old western movies where the hero was in hot pursuit of the villain. The bad guy was waiting up in the rocks to drygulch our hero, but he saw the sun glint off the bad one's gun barrel, and got him first. Just trying to say that those nickel plated goggles might not be the way to go. Perhaps something in olive drab or flat black.

[madkidjedi]

Oct 11, 2013 2:54:50 GMT -5 garylafortuna said:

Excellent choice on scarf, compass, and goggles Madkidjedi. Remember the old western movies where the hero was in hot pursuit of the villain. The bad guy was waiting up in the rocks to drygulch our hero, but he saw the sun glint off the bad one's gun barrel, and got him first. Just trying to say that those nickel plated goggles might not be the way to go. Perhaps something in olive drab or flat black.

I TOTALLY agree!! And I was going to do the ol' 'shoe-polish-aging' effect on the metal-bits before I took these pic... but the old polish dried up in the container, so I just took 'em anyway.

Still, they'd be plenty useful when he wasn't needing to be stealthy. And there are pairs of goggles (for sale on eBay where I got mine, heh) with the metal-shiny-bits painted flat black... so there is that option, too.

[S. Dakota Jones]

One thing I've always thought Indy could use is a couple of ammo pouches on his gunbelt. Just like 2 speed loader pouches or containing moon or half moon clip reloads for his trusty S&W. I just can't imagine him having loose rounds or even the above mentioned reloads just sitting in the bottom of his satchel.
The type I'm thinking of would be small and not overly bulky, nothing to take away from how streamlined his gunbelt is(I like that), Even though he does(and is prepared to) get into gunfights I can't imagine him running around with a belt full of ammo, ala a wild west gun rig or have his belt covered in ammo pouches.

Of course it IS divided so maybe he already has that thought out and one of the compartments is dedicated to ammo(probably sticks the Hi Power in one slot already anyways.

[garylafortuna]

Won't be long Indy start looking like Batman. Sheesh.

[Thomas]

A multi-tool in a leather belt sheath/pouch.  I have the Swiss Army "Swiss-Tool" and would swear by it.  With all the jams Indy gets into, I think it makes great sense.  Besides, It's small enough that no one is ever going to see it.  Besides that, a fixed blade like this "Uncle Henry" was in full production from 1904 until 2004, a perfect hunting/survival knife for Indy...Not to big and appropriate to the times and culture.   www.knivesplus.com/unclehenryknife-sc-153uh.html 

[niagrawhipco]

A machete to clear away the jungle underbrush or the occasional enemy.... lol

[Pennsylvania Jones]

Y'know... since the comic book's shirt variants are on the table, how about gear from a game? The thing I loved the most about Emperor's Tomb was its Canteen mechanic.


So, the default Canteen in that game, as I found out through research, was a British Mk VII water bottle with either P08 or P37 Skeleton Webbing.  Both the bottle and the webbing can actually be procured at WPG, so it wouldn't be that much of a stretch if I wanted to add them to my gear in real life.  If we're especially nitpicky, the water bottle Indy used in the game seems to have a screw-on cap attached to the top of it, as opposed to the cork closure the real ones used.




The larger canteen pickup, however, seems quite a bit harder to find.  It's pretty obvious that it's a circular canteen, and I think a 2-quart one would be more accurate than a 4-quart one given the relative size and the in-game capacity of the canteens, but beyond that I couldn't really find anything that looks quite like this specific canteen.  I'm not sure I understand its design myself.  Is it just a dark grey one with webbing sewn onto the wool?



TL;DR, I'd add the Emperor's Tomb canteen(s) to Indy's Gear.