I’ve come across phrases like “Armar-se em valente” before, where “armar em” means put on a show. So armar-se em valente might be making a big show of what a heroic figure you are (shortly before being flattened) but I came across a slightly different version the other day: armar aos cucos. There are variations too: Armar aos cágados and Armar ao pingarelho. These all seem to mean more-or-less the same thing: to make yourself the centre of attention – for example by giving a huge tip (the example I saw at first) or by having an eye-catching look like in this make-up tutorial.
Luso 