Color-Coded Characters

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
Which set of Turtles is easier to tell apart?

When a creator of a work introduces a large number of characters at once, such as at the beginning of a work, they have to find a way to distinguish them and make them memorable in the audience's mind. Some of the ways they do that is to give them memorable names or personality traits. But perhaps the easiest way ties to human's strongest sense: our sight. By giving each character a specific Color Motif, the audience can quickly come to associate one color with that character and tell the characters apart with only a glance.

Note that this is not always the only way to tell the characters apart. It is usually just one of many.

Bright, contrasting colors, particularly primary colors, are common. One specific such color combination is Chromatic Arrangement. When used for characters, Rainbow Motif is another.

This trope can come into play with Palette Swap (colors used in Video Games), and how to tell characters apart with Only Six Faces.

A Sub-Trope of Color-Coded for Your Convenience.

A Super-Trope to Chromatic Arrangement.

Compare Color-Coded Elements (when the color also pertains to the character's Elemental Powers), Color Motif.

Examples of Color-Coded Characters include:

Anime and Manga

  • Sailor Moon
    • Sailor Soldiers
      • Usagi/Moon, Pink/White
      • Ami/Mercury, Blue
      • Rei/Mars, Red
      • Makoto/Jupiter, Green
      • Minako/Venus, Orange
      • Setsuna/Pluto, Black
      • Chibiusa/Chibi Moon, Pink
      • Haruka/Uranus, Navy
      • Michiru/Neptune, Turquoise
      • Hotaru/Saturn, Purple
    • Black Moon Clan
      • Prince Demand, White
      • Blue Saphir, Blue
      • Green Esmerude, Green
      • Crimson Rubeus, Red
    • Ayakashi Sisters
      • Petz, Dark Green
      • Calaveras, Yellow
      • Belthier, Blue
      • Koan, Pink
    • Witches 5
      • Cyprine, Deep Blue
      • Ptilol, Deep Red
      • Viluy, Whitish Blue
      • Tellu, Green
      • Mimette, Yellow
      • Eudial, Red
    • Amazon Trio
      • Hawk's Eye, Red
      • Tiger's Eye, Orange
      • Fish Eye, Light Blue
    • Amazoness Quartet
      • Vesves, Red
      • Pallapalla, Blue
      • Cerecere, Yellow
      • Junjun, Green
  • Digimon
    • Digimon Adventure
      • Taichi, Orange
      • Yamato, Blue
      • Sora, Red
      • Koushirou, Purple
      • Mimi, Green
      • Jou, Black
      • Takeru, Yellow
      • Hikari, Pink
    • Digimon Adventure 02:
      • Daisuke, Blue
      • Miyako, Red
      • Iori, Yellow
      • Takeru, Green
      • Hikari, Pink
      • Ken, Black
    • Digimon Tamers
      • Takato, Red
      • Ruki, Blue [1]
      • Jianliang/Jenrya, Green
      • Ryou, Purple/Dark Blue
      • Juri, Yellow
      • Kazu, Orange
      • Kenta, Rose
      • Shaochung, Pink
      • Ai and Mako/Impmon, Purple
    • Digimon Frontier
      • Takuya, Red
      • Kouji, White/Blue
      • Junpei, Indigo
      • Izumi, Pink
      • Tomoki, Green
      • Kouichi, Black
    • Digimon Savers
      • Masaru, Orange
      • Touma/Tohma/Thoma, Blue
      • Yoshino, Pink
      • Ikuto, Purple
      • Miki, Black
      • Megumi, White
      • Suguru, Yellow
    • Digimon Xros Wars
      • Taiki, Red
      • Kiriha, Blue
      • Nene, Black (changes later to Lavender Pink)
  • Revolutionary Girl Utena with the Duelists' roses. Other than Utena, who is a Rose-Haired Girl and bears a white rose, the rest below match their hair colors as well:
    • Utena: White/Pink
    • Touga: Red
    • Saionji: Green
    • Juri: Orange
    • Miki: Light Blue
    • Nanami: Yellow
    • Ruka: Dark Blue
    • Professor Nemuro and The Black Rose Duelists all have black roses
  • Mobile Suit Gundam 00
    • Setsuna - Blue
    • Lockon - Green
    • H/allelujah - Orange
    • Tieria - Purple, though most of his Gundams were Gray until The Movie.
  • Naruto - as evidenced by their backgrounds during openings and closings
    • Team 7:
      • Naruto, Yellow/Orange
      • Sasuke, Blue
      • Sakura, Red/Pink
      • Kakashi, Green
  • Puella Magi Madoka Magica - Each Mahou Shoujo have her hair, eyes and soul gem of the same color.
    • Madoka, Pink
    • Homura, Purple
    • Mami, Yellow
    • Sayaka, Blue
    • Kyoko, Red
  • Ronin Warriors
  • Bubblegum Crisis
    • Sylia, White/Bluish-white and Blue
    • Priss, Blue and Red
    • Linna, Green and Orange
    • Nene, Pink and Purple, later Pink after the Mid-Season Upgrade
  • Inuyasha
    • Inuyasha, Red
    • Kagome, Green
    • Miroku, Violet
    • Sango, Pink
    • Shippo, Blue
    • Kirara, Yellow
  • In Pretty Cure All Stars DX 3, the Cures are sent to different dimensions in three mostly-color-coordinated groups:
      • Pink-tinted leaders
      • Cool-color-tinted girls
      • Bright-color-tinted girls
  • Yes! Precure 5/Go Go
    • Nozomi/Cure Dream, Pink
    • Rin/Cure Rouge, Red
    • Urara/Cure Lemonade, Yellow
    • Komachi/Cure Mint, Green
    • Karen/Cure Aqua, Blue
    • Kurumi/Milk/Milky Rose, Purple
  • Tokyo Mew Mew
    • Ichigo Momomiya/Mew Ichigo, Pink
    • Minto Aizawa/Mew Mint, Blue
    • Retasu Midorikawa/Mew Lettuce, Green
    • Bu-Ling Huang/Mew Pudding, Orange
    • Zakuro Fujiwara/Mew Zakuro, Purple
  • In Kuroko no Basuke, all of the Generation of Miracles have hair colors that match with the kanji in their names, except for Kuroko. They also combine this with Curtains Match the Window.
    • Kise, Yellow
    • Midorima, Green
    • Aomine, Blue
    • Murasakibara, Purple
    • Akashi, Red
    • Momoi, Pink


Comic Books

  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: An interesting example. While this trope has overall been played straight across the franchise, it was averted with the old comic, where not only did all of the turtles have the same skin tone, their bandannas were all red (whenever they got colored at all), making it hard to tell the four apart even when they did have their trademark weapons. The new IDW comics are continuing the tradition.
    • On the other side of the spectrum are the original toys, where not only did Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael all have their specifically-colored bandannas, their green skin tones were all in unique shades as well. This was duplicated in the second cartoon, making the turtles easier to differentiate from each other. See the Western Animation section below.
    • The rest of the installments have just opted for similar skin tones, with the bandannas and weapons being the aids to tell the guys apart.


Fan Works

  • Fiona's five personalities from Kira Is Justice each has their own color. In order of speaking order: White, Blue, Yellow, Green, and Pink.
  • Celebrity Deathmatch Revenge Fic, Final Stand of Death, each of the Fusion Gundam has home kit colors of their football clubs as their own, with their heads, which wolf-like, tails, and arms being exception. Their tails are in the colors of the clothes that were wearing when they originally were killed.
    • Hornet (Geri) : Warford F.C. (Gold and Black)/(tail: Union Jack)
    • United: (Mel) Leeds United F.C. (mostly White)/(tail: Leopard prints)
    • Spur: (Emma) Tottenham Hotspur F.C (White and Blue)/(tail: Pink)
    • Hawk: (Victoria) Harlow Town F.C. (White with Red Strips)/(Tail: Black)
    • Redd ( Melanie) : Liverpool F.C. (Red... of course) / (tail: Aqua)

Film - Animated

  • Cars
    • Piston Cup racecars:
      • Tow Cap #4, yellow, purple, and white
      • Dale Earndhart Jr. #8, red, black, and white
      • Nitroade #28, red, orange, and black
      • Mood Springs #33, blue, purple, and black
      • Trunk Fresh #34, yellow, green, and black
      • Shifty Drug #35, magenta, yellow, and white
      • Tank Coat #36, pink, red, and white
      • View Zeen #39, blue, teal, and orange
      • Dinoco (Strip "The King" Weathers) #43, blue, orange, and white
      • Easy Idle #51, blue, black, and white
      • Leakless #52, yellow, black, and white
      • Faux Wheel Drive #54, blue, green, and brown
      • Fiber Fuel #56, orange, yellow, and white
      • Octane Gain #58, orange, black, and white
      • Vitoline #61, green, gray, and white
      • Transberry Juice #63, blue, purple, and yellow
      • RPM #64, orange, blue, and yellow
      • N 2 O Cola #68, purple, green, and white
      • Gasprin #70, blue, yellow, and black
      • Rev N Go #73, blue, orange, and red
      • Sidewall Shine #74, red, yellow, and white
      • Vinyl Toupee #76, purple, black, and white,
      • Retread #79, purple, red, and white
      • Creme-filled Gaskits #80, red, yellow, and blue
      • Shiny Wax #82, green, yellow, and white
      • Re Volting #84a, red, gray, and white
      • Apple Computer #84b, black, white, and gray
      • Hostile Takeover Bank (Chick Hicks) #86, green, orange, and yellow
      • Bumper Save #90, red, teal, and white
      • Sputter Stop #92, orange, teal, and white
      • Spare-O-Mint #93, blue, green, and white
      • Rust Eze Medicated Bumper Ointment (Lightning McQueen) #95, red, orange, and yellow
      • Tach-O-Mint #101, brown, green, and white
      • Li'l Torquey Pistons #117, red, blue, and black
      • Clutch Aid #121, blue, green, and black
      • No Stall #123, red, black, and yellow
    • World Grand Prix racecars:
      • Francesco Bernoulli #1, green, white, and red
      • Lewis Hamilton #2, black and yellow
      • Max Schnell #4, purple, black, red, and yellow
      • Miguel Camino #5, red, orange, and white
      • Raoul Caroule #6, blue, white, and red
      • Shu Todoroki #7, red, and white
      • Carla Veloso #8, blue, green, and yellow
      • Nigel Gearsley #9, green, black, and orange
      • Rip Clutchgoneski #10, red, orange, and green
      • Jeff Gorvette #24, yellow, red, white, and blue
      • Lightning McQueen #95, red, orange, and yellow


Film - Live-Action

  • Pirates of the Caribbean - very subtly Jack-Red, Will-Blue, Elizabeth-Yellow, Barbossa-Green.
  • Played with in Reservoir Dogs: each of the robbers is given a colour-based codename (Mr. White, Mr. Orange, Mr. Pink, etc), but they all wear identical black suits, shades and have slicked-back hair precisely in order to make identification (in the context of a police lineup) more difficult.
  • Heathers: All three Heathers, Veronica, and J.D. wear their own color of clothing — Chandler is red, McNamara is yellow, Duke is green, Veronica is blue and J.D. is black, though this isn't noticeable at first. Chandler's red hair bow becomes a symbol of power, as after her death, Duke claims it for herself, symbolizing her replacement of the original Heather. Veronica forcefully taking it from Duke at the end of the film shows the end of the Heathers' power.


Live-Action TV

  • Naturally, the members of numerous Super Sentai/Power Rangers teams in each season are distinguished by the colors of their outfits. The most common color combination consists of red (usually the leader), green, blue, yellow, and pink. Some seasons will have a black or white Ranger in lieu of one of the above colors. In a manner similar to the G.I. Joe laser situation, some colorcoded aspects will change when a Ranger acquires a different shiny suit.
    • In particular, the subtractive primary colors (red, blue, and yellow) are the only colors that have been present on every Super Sentai/Power Rangers team to date.
    • Power Rangers took it Up to Eleven in their first few seasons. Not only did they always wear their designated ranger colors unmorphed, most of their accessories (backpacks, notebooks, etc.) were also color-coded, alongside Pink Ranger Kimberly having a pink car (really a dark magenta, but that was what they were going for) and Yellow Ranger Trini drinking a banana milkshake at the juice bar (yes, out of a yellow glass.) A couple of former Rangers have mentioned hating seeing their Ranger color once they leave the show.
    • Lampshaded in Dino Thunder. At the end of the episode when he gains the new Black Ranger powers, Tommy comments that he doesn't know what he's going to wear since he doesn't have any black clothes in his wardrobe.
    • Actually broken by Karone in Lost Galaxy. As the Pink Ranger, her outfits consist of black leather with maybe a pink hairclip. It should be also noted in the same season that Mike the Magna Defender doesn't have a specific color, and he was the first unmorphed Ranger not to.
    • Despite the trope of Dark Is Not Evil being present with the usage of a Black Ranger, when the Rangers' weapons glow during the execution of an attack or something similar, the Black Ranger's weapon occasionally glows with a purple hue rather than a black coloration, as true black is at times reserved for the villains instead. As a result, it's the only weapon where the "glow" does not match the Ranger's designated color in such cases where coloration is utilized whenever Power Glows. An example of this occurring can be seen in Power Rangers Operation Overdrive, whenever Will the Black Ranger strikes with his signature weapon.
  • The Kamen Rider Series now becomes guilty of this trope because of merchandising. Almost every main Rider will have several modes, color-designated.
  • The Fresh Beat Band: Shout wears orange, Kiki pink, Marina blue, and Twist yellow.


Music

  • The boyband JLS, who, thanks to their rise to fame on The X Factor, are colour-coded, and have carried it into their music career, often performing with not just in coloured clothing, but having coloured tape around their microphones and coloured earpieces. It's almost guaranteed that if you used their real names (Aston, JB, Marvin and Oritse) very few people would know who you were talking about, but if you said 'the blue/red/green/yellow guy from JLS,' they would.


Puppet Shows


Video Games

  • Mario Series in general, especially in the sports games and other spin offs. Though due to there being Loads and Loads of Characters most have a primary color and a secondary color associated with them to prevent overlapping.
    • Main Characters
      • Mario, Red
      • Luigi, Green, Dark-Green, or Blue - depending mostly on what colors Yoshi and Toad are
      • Yoshi, Green, Light-Green
      • Toad, Blue or White, or Red in the context of the Toad Brigade
      • Peach, Pink
      • Daisy, Orange/Yellow-Orange or Yellow
      • Bowser, Orange/Red-Orange or Dark Green
      • Wario, Purple(lighter), sometimes Yellow
      • Waluigi, Black, or Purple(darker)
      • DK, Yellow, or Brown
      • Rosalina, Cyan and White
    • Among species you can tell their attack patterns or characterizations based on color as well
      • The Lumas, White (Luma), Black (Polari), Purple (Lubba), Red (flying), Orange (Co-star), Yellow (launch star), Green (green star), Blue (Lumalee Lumabop), and Pink (Hungry Luma)
      • Koopa Troopas and Paratroopas, Green (walk in straight line for Troopas, hop aimlessly for Paratroopas), Red (walk back and forth for Troopas, fly up or down or side to side for Paratroopas), Blue (kicks shells), and Yellow (flashes)
      • Goombas, Brown (on dry land), Blue (in caves), and Gray (in castles)
      • Piranha Plants, Green (hides in pipes when Mario/Luigi is near it), and Red (comes out of pipes even when Mario/Luigi is near it, but will not come out if Mario/Luigi is on top of it)
      • Cheep Cheeps, Red (faster, can jump out of water) and Gray (was changed to green in All Stars, slower, always in water)
      • Bros., Lime (Hammer), Blue (Boomerang), Red (Fire), Green (Sledgehammer), Purple (AFHB), and Orange (Sumo)
      • Koopalings, Green (Bowser Jr.), Cyan (Larry), Black (Morton), Pink (Wendy), Lime (Iggy), Purple (Roy), Orange (Lemmy), and Blue (Ludwig)
  • In the Donkey Kong spinfoff series
    • DK, Yellow
    • Diddy, Red
    • Dixie, Pink
    • Tiny, Purple
    • Lanky, Blue
    • Chunky, Green
  • Sonic the Hedgehog: Each of the characters' fur/feather/body color tends to follow them everywhere.
    • Team Dark is more complicated however
      • Shadow's fur is Black with Red highlights and wears silver shoes, he is usually associated with Blacks and Grays or Dark Red, but for some reason his attacks and auras all orange.
      • Rogue has White fur, and wears a black bodysuit with White gloves a pink heart and pink accents. Tends be associated with Pink/White, but her auras are magenta and attacks are typically black.
      • Omega is Red, Black and Gray. Like Shadow he is also associated with Blacks, Grays, and Reds, but his auras are a deep purple.
  • In Skies of Arcadia there are the five (later six) admirals of the Valuan Armada, with their uniforms and ships:
  • Star Fox:
    • Fox, Yellow
    • Falco, Blue
    • Peppy, Red
    • Slippy, Green
    • Krystal, Purple
    • StarWolf as of Starfox Command: Wolf, Red; Leon, Green; Panther, Blue
  • Metroid Prime Hunters
    • Trace - Red
    • Spire - Orange
    • Kanden - Yellow
    • Weavel - Green
    • Sylux - Blue
    • Noxus - Violet
  • Advance Wars gives us Orange Star, Blue Moon, Yellow Comet and Green Earth. Interestingly Orange Star's color is actually Red. It's name was changed from Red Star in western releases due to Unfortunate Implications.
  • Despite a fifteen year history, Resident Evil continues to clothe five out of six major characters in the same colors through every appearance. Chris is a hunter green, Jill is usually powder blue but sometimes edges towards indigo, Claire is maroon, Ada is crimson, and Wesker is black with occasional edging into dark navy. Leon is the only combo-breaker who appears to own clothes in more than one segment of the color wheel.
  • The Color of Mantra from Asura's Wrath is this depending on the character. The following colors revealed so far are:

Web Comics

  • Project 0 as per the characters' buttons on the website. Typically prominent on their outfits as well.
    • Owen, Purple
    • Aatu, Blue
    • Bea, Orange
    • Ciro, Yellow
    • Kareem, Red
    • Veronica, White
    • Noor, Black
  • Each of the kids in Homestuck has a color that is featured on their clothes, chat log text, etc.: John is blue, Rose is purple, Dave is red, and Jade is green. Interestingly, John and Jade's shirt colors are swapped. This is actually a feature of troll society, where the Fantastic Caste System ranks people by blood color: each of the trolls types with, dresses in, and even wears make up that is the same color as their blood. Karkat, who types in grey to maintain anonymity about his blood, is an exception. The kids from alpha Earth have their own colors that are similar to their corresponding beta kid's: Jane is light blue, Roxy is pink, Dirk is orange, and Jake is dark green.
    • A bunch of other things have associated colours as well - Derse has purple; Prospit has yellow; the armies of Derse and Prospit have black and white respective due to Chess Motifs also being in effect; the Felt, Doc Scratch, Lord English, and the Green Sun all have the same shade of green (Doc Scratch is also associated with white); and the Kids' and Trolls' universes respectively are depicted as red and blue. The kids' sprites also have associated colours - Nannasprite is light blue, Jaspersprite is pink, Davesprite is orange, and Jadesprite is dark green. In other words, exactly the same as the Alpha kids' colours, except Jaspersprite's, which is slightly different to Roxy's.
  • This can be seen in Voodoo Walrus by way of the main cast having certain colors that the artist repeatedly works into their clothes. Orange and green for Grymm, a dull blue and grey for Creep Knight, vibrant blue for Bowler, and purpler for Mirth. This isn't just for clothes, it extends into their word bubbles as well. And many other supporting characters are color coded too. But some colors change with major personality shifts.


Web Original

  • In the Global Guardians PBEM Universe, the Iron Legion is a group of seven Powered Armor mercenaries who are code named for the seven spectral colors (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet), and whose armors are colored to match their names. The Lightning Power Special Team, a group of color-coded heroes, are the premiere superheroes of Japan.
  • Each of the four main characters in Oktober have a color that is associated with them, which makes it easier to keep track of who's entry you are reading. Nick is orange, Natasha is red, Matthias is green, and Smith/Jones is blue. Additionally, side characters seem to have colors that are associated with them as well. Most notably, Daphne is light blue, Midas is blood red or maroon, and Joshua is silver.
  • The Five Powers of Lambda each have their own particular colours. Soleil is black, Krieggarten is gold, Seisen is blue, Casus Belli is green, and Zafiel is red.


Western Animation

  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: As of the 1987 series:
    • Leo, Blue
    • Raph, Red
    • Don, Purple
    • Mike, Orange
    • April, Yellow (April was also represented as Pink in the early games of the 2003 series, but was eventually changed back to Yellow.)
    • Casey Jones appeared as a Green blip on the radar, it's also stated as his favorite color.
      • And in the original toyline and 2003 series, the green skin tones of the turtles were each a unique shade.
  • Mickey Mouse
    • Mickey - Red
    • Donald - Blue
    • Goofy - Green (or Orange, particularly in older works)
    • Minnie - Pink
    • Daisy - Purple
    • Pluto - Yellow
  • Justice League
    • Superman, Red
    • Batman, Blue
    • Wonderwoman, Yellow
    • Green Lantern, Green
    • Flash, Orange
    • Hawkgirl, Gold
    • Martian Manhunter, Teal
  • The Batman
    • Batman, Blue
    • Robin, Red
    • Batgirl, Purple
  • Powerpuff Girls
    • Blossom, Pink
    • Bubbles, Light Blue-Blue
    • Buttercup, Light Green-Green
    • Princess, Yellow
    • Bunny, Purple
    • Bullet, Orange
    • Prof. Utonium/Power Prof, White
      • Mojo was also purple in the one episode when he was given Chemical X powers, and his costume was a darkblue/purple color in general.
    • Brick, Red
    • Boomer, Dark Blue-Blue
    • Butch, Dark Green-Green
  • Codename: Kids Next Door
    • Numbuh 1, Red
    • Numbuh 2, Blue
    • Numbuh 3, Green
    • Numbuh 4, Orange
    • Numbuh 5, Purple/Indigo
    • Temporary Numbuh 49, Yellow
  • The Drama Brothers on Total Drama Island. I'm going with their trademark outfits:
    • Cody, Tan
    • Trent, White
    • Harold, Black
    • Justin, Indigo
    • Sasquatchanakwa, Purple
  • The Brave Little Toaster
    • Toaster=Blue
    • Herbie=Green
    • Lampy=Orange
    • Blanky=Yellow
    • Radio=Red
  • Teen Titans
    • Robin - Red
    • Starfire - Orange
    • Terra - Yellow
    • Beast Boy - Green
    • Cyborg - Blue
    • Raven - Purple
  • In the Huntik Secrets and Seekers opening, we have:
    • Sophie- Red/pink
    • Lok- Blue
    • Dante- Yellow
    • Zhalia- Green
  • Wild Kratts: Martin wears blue, Chris wears green. Oh, and Chris's evil Zachbot double wears red.
  • Voltron is an interesting case as in the original series some of their uniforms didn't match their lion colors and actually matched the lions of someone else. This was changed by Voltron Force th
    • Keith, Black Lion(but originally had a red uniform)
    • Lance, Red Lion (but originally had a blue uniform)
    • Allura, Blue Lion (originally with a pink uniform)
    • Pidge, Green Lion and uniform
    • Hunk, Yellow Lion and uniform
  • Transformers Generation 1 - Had similar colour-coding for lasers to the G.I. Joe example; Autobots fired orange lasers, while Decepticons fired purple. The Autobots' eyes are blue, the Decepticons' eyes are red (at least in the 80's cartoon.)
  • The Ashleys in Recess
    • Ashley A. - Pink
    • Ashley B. - Yellow
    • Ashley Q. - Blue
    • Ashley T. - Green
  • The Mane Six from My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic
    • Twilight Sparkle - Purple
    • Pinkie Pie - Pink
    • Applejack - Orange
    • Rainbow Dash - Blue
    • Rarity - White
    • Fluttershy - Yellow
  • Lite Sprites. The entire series is themed around colors, since the special ability of all the Lite Sprites is that they can give various colors to various types of objects, using their wands.
    • Prisma - Pink
    • Astra - Yellow
    • Meadow - Green
    • Brooke - Blue
    • Bleak - Grey
  1. ↑ oddly, her partner Renamon's various Evolutionary Levels were all yellow in color, but her Digivice, Cool Shades, and animated backgrounds were various shades of blue.
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