[quote=@Negatomsk]

I know how helmets work, which was why, once again, I specifically stated that mine was designed to resist [i]impacts[/i], and not just shock. Run a car into a stop sign you will flatten it. Run a car into a bollard specifically designed to stop vehicles and you will total your ride and possibly kill yourself.

Lobo's helmet is specially modified to resist impacts, by way of treating it in an energy designed to absorb and dull them.
[/quote]

See there's a difference between your example of a bollard and a helmet, being that a bollard isn't flexible and doesn't bend to pressure applied against it. The force here isn't just being applied to your skull, it's also being applied to your neck. Your head, upon impact, will have the momentum of the headbutt carry through and like Newton's Cradle,
[img]http://i.imgur.com/kD3DAwn.gif[/img]
You're going to find your head lashing back. Now, this helmet may be designed to absorb impact force, but that doesn't mean he halts all force being directed against him. Lobo's helmet is not Captain America's shield, it's not going to stop everything dead on impact.

Therefore the shock isn't from cranium meeting mask. It's from the brain being wracked about inside its skull as the head whips back. This is, by all accounts, a clean knockout when you consider that Gonad's might coupled with the power amp granted by the Beardforce evaluating the overall strength of its foe results in a [b]lot[/b] more than just a simple sneeze-butt. (hah, sneeze-butt.)

Also, as for Gonad's perception, that's different. Gonad must perceive someone to be a threat in order for the Beardforce to evaluate them. The Beardforce does the rest in terms of power-scaling.