Amazing Technicolor Population: Difference between revisions

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In the real world, the color range of human skin is fairly limited. We largely come in varying shades of {{color|brown|brownish}}, and even the most generous will generally only give humans four distinct "colors": {{color|pink|pink}}, {{color|brown|brown}}, {{color|red|red}} and {{color|gold|yellow}}. This is to say nothing of proper [[Race Tropes|ethnicity]].

This is not so in cartoons. Animators, whether they're drawing cartoon characters or building models for a video game, have the freedom to make or draw anything they want. Thus, the normal range of human skin colors needn't have any bearing on the appearance of cartoon characters. Want your characters to be {{color|blue|blue}}, {{color|orange|orange}}, and {{color|silver|silver}}? Go right ahead! Want a dude with a {{color|purple|purple}} face to live next door to a [[Green Skinned Space Babe|green-skinned, not-from-space babe]]? The freedom's all yours, pal! If the characters are [[Genre Blind]], their unusual skin tones will probably go unnoticed. If not, this may be [[Hand Wave|Hand Waved]] in various ways or [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]].

This is not so in cartoons. Animators, whether they're drawing cartoon characters or building models for a video game, have the freedom to make or draw anything they want. Thus, the normal range of human skin colors needn't have any bearing on the appearance of cartoon characters. Want your characters to be {{color|blue|blue}}, {{color|orange|orange}}, and {{color|silver|silver}}? Go right ahead! Want a dude with a {{color|purple|purple}} face to live next door to a [[Green-Skinned Space Babe|green-skinned, not-from-space babe]]? The freedom's all yours, pal! If the characters are [[Genre Blind]], their unusual skin tones will probably go unnoticed. If not, this may be [[Hand Wave|Hand Waved]] in various ways or [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]].

Giving your characters unrealistic skin tones sounds like a great way to avoid [[Race Tropes]] and [[Unfortunate Implications]], doesn't it? Well, sometimes. [[A Worldwide Punomenon|Unfortunately]], it doesn't always work like this. If a character is meant to be of a specific ethnicity, they will most likely have the "correct" skin tone for their ethnicity, regardless of anything else. It seems as if [[Humans Are White|only "white people" get Amazing Technicolor Skin]]--everyone else is left out. Still, it's a nice thought. Isn't it?

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* Does the unnatural chalk-white Joker count?

** The {{color|green|leaf-green}} Poison Ivy surely does.

* Once famously lampshaded to discuss racial matters in [[Green Lantern (Comic Book)|Green Lantern]]/[[Green Arrow]], where an elderly black man gives Hal a [[What the Hell Hero]], saying that

* Once famously lampshaded to discuss racial matters in [[Green Lantern (Comic Book)|Green Lantern]]/[[Green Arrow]], where an elderly black man gives Hal a [[What the Hell, Hero?]], saying that

{{quote| I been readin' about you, how you work for the {{color|blue|blue}} skins and how on a planet someplace you helped out the {{color|orange|orange}} skins and you done considerable work for the {{color|purple|purple}} skins! Only there's skins you never bothered with -- the black skins!}}

** And then, some years later, reversed (in a fairly light-hearted way) when a bunch of {{color|purple|purple}}- and {{color|orange|orange}}-skinned aliens visit Earth to complain that GL is neglecting the rest of his space sector to look after Earth; they use the same words with the colours swapped. Poor Hal just looks to the sky in frustration.

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** Savion's reading of "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LT0qNwAx1Ss The Purple King]" hung a lampshade on this.

** Similarly, the "human" puppet characters in ''[[Avenue Q]]'' are {{color|green|green}}, {{color|blue|blue}}, and {{color|orange|orange}}.

* ''[[Star Trek (Franchise)|Star Trek]]'' gave us {{color|blue|blue}} Andorians and Bolians, [[Green Skinned Space Babe|Green Skinned Space Babes]] from Orion, and {{color|orange|orange}} Talaxians with polka dots. Most other races just have [[Human Aliens|whatever colorations Earthlings have]], since make-up isn't free. Thus, Vulcans can be black, white, or Asian. Klingons were played mostly by white actors in {{color|brown|brown}} shoe polish in ''[[Star Trek the Original Series (TV)|TOS]]'', but black actors played Klingons more often as of ''[[Star Trek the Next Generation (TV)|TNG]]''.

* ''[[Star Trek (Franchise)|Star Trek]]'' gave us {{color|blue|blue}} Andorians and Bolians, [[Green-Skinned Space Babe|Green Skinned Space Babes]] from Orion, and {{color|orange|orange}} Talaxians with polka dots. Most other races just have [[Human Aliens|whatever colorations Earthlings have]], since make-up isn't free. Thus, Vulcans can be black, white, or Asian. Klingons were played mostly by white actors in {{color|brown|brown}} shoe polish in ''[[Star Trek the Original Series (TV)|TOS]]'', but black actors played Klingons more often as of ''[[Star Trek the Next Generation (TV)|TNG]]''.

** "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield", probably the most [[Anvilicious]] episode of the [[Star Trek the Original Series (TV)|original series]], involved aliens who were chalk white on one side of their bodies and coal black on the other side. They were in a [[Fantastic Racism|race war]] between those who were white on the right and black on the left, and those who were black on the right and white on the left.

* For its part, the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] has a number of [[Human Aliens|humanlike aliens]] and "near-humans" who are brightly colored. Most are explained as being normal humans in the far past who got separated onto different planets. Different living conditions and thousands of years' worth of microevolution resulted in people with {{color|blue|blue}} and {{color|pink|pink}} skin.

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* ''[[Psychonauts (Video Game)|Psychonauts]]'' features a lot of {{color|blue|blue}} and {{color|purple|purple}} characters. It interestingly averts the "race" clause of this [[Trope]]--it features a {{color|green|green}} black girl and a bright lavender Spanish man.

** Chops is a Black Canadian with {{color|red|red}} skin and {{color|green|green}} hair, though. And Milla Vodello is a Brazilian whose skin and hair are actually fairly realistic, if a little dark in the skin.

*** {{color|blue|Blue}} skin also tends to mean "bad news": Both of the [[Final Boss|Final Bosses]], along with Dr. Loboto and local bully Bobby Zilch, are colored {{color|blue|blue}}, which leads to some [[Epileptic Trees]] of [[Luke I Am Your Father]].

*** {{color|blue|Blue}} skin also tends to mean "bad news": Both of the [[Final Boss|Final Bosses]], along with Dr. Loboto and local bully Bobby Zilch, are colored {{color|blue|blue}}, which leads to some [[Epileptic Trees]] of [[Luke, I Am Your Father]].

* The minor character Yoa in ''[[Beyond Good and Evil (Video Game)|Beyond Good and Evil]]'' is {{color|blue|blue}}. It's implied that she's "not a local," though she's still considered "human" to the game's [[Enemy Scan|scanner]].

* Bosco of the Telltale ''[[Sam and Max Freelance Police (Video Game)|Sam and Max Freelance Police]]'' games is "light {{color|purple|purple}}", but has an African-American voice. His mother is a more typical "black" medium {{color|brown|brown}} though.

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* ''[[City of Heroes (Video Game)|City of Heroes]]'' allows you to create characters with skin in any of thirty shades spread across the rainbow or ten monochromatic shades from white to black in addition to a wide range of 'normal' skin shades. The NPC characters use this to a greater or lesser extent; for example, in the Outcasts NPC villain group, characters with ice powers have pale-blue skin, characters with fire powers have red skin, and characters with stone powers have grey-brown skin. The members of the Trolls NPC villain group all have skin that is a light green, a side effect of their use of the drug Superadine.

* ''[[Geneforge]]''. In the earlier games, only spellcasters had funny skin colors, but more recently, anyone could be blue, green, or hot pink.

* The [[Playing With Fire|Fire Clan]] of ''[[Golden Sun (Video Game)|Golden Sun]]'' have some spectacular skin colors. Among the major antagonists, Saturos is blue, Agatio is green, Karst is pink, and Menardi is white except for her ears, which are dark red. They also appear [[What Measure Is a Non Human|not to be entirely human]], since they have scales, [[Pointy Ears]], [[Facial Markings]], and [[Anime Hair|equally bizarre hair colors]]. It's never really in-game mentioned beyond "kind of strange-looking".

* The [[Playing With Fire|Fire Clan]] of ''[[Golden Sun (Video Game)|Golden Sun]]'' have some spectacular skin colors. Among the major antagonists, Saturos is blue, Agatio is green, Karst is pink, and Menardi is white except for her ears, which are dark red. They also appear [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?|not to be entirely human]], since they have scales, [[Pointy Ears]], [[Facial Markings]], and [[Anime Hair|equally bizarre hair colors]]. It's never really in-game mentioned beyond "kind of strange-looking".

** [[One Winged Angel|Turning into dragons]] wasn't obvious enough?

** [[One-Winged Angel|Turning into dragons]] wasn't obvious enough?

*** Again, it doesn't really come up in idle chatter, and {{spoiler|the protagonists' parents get turned into a dragon}}, so what does ''that'' mean?

** The Beastmen of Morgal in ''[[Golden Sun Dark Dawn|Dark Dawn]]'' also tend to get pretty outrageous fur colors, especially since they're supposed to be... well, animal-people. The band alone contains a bubblegum-pink [[Catgirl]], a teal green fox, and a dark blue wolf. The king of Morgal is also blue-furred and ''has brown hair''. Rather disconcerting. {{spoiler|After the firing of the Apollo Lens, everyone left in Morgal apparently has [[Hair of Gold|fur of gold]] now, bar Sveta who wasn't there during the firing.}}

** Also in ''Dark Dawn'', Blados of Tuaparang has blue-white skin. He was initially assumed by fans to be from Prox, but lacks the pointy ears and scales (and, you know, [[Captain Obvious|is from Tuaparang]]). Another character from his hometown looks entirely human aside from having [[Anime Hair]] and ''horns'', so again, "not entirely human" might be the cause.

* [[Inverted Trope|Inverted]] in indie-developed [[Xbox Live Arcade|XBLA]] game series ''[[The Dishwasher]]'' - everyone has completely white skin, regardless of actual race. [[Chef of Iron|The]] [[Everyone Calls Him Barkeep|Chef]] is, [[Word of God|according to the sole creator]], quite black, but appears just as ashen as everyone else.

* [[Inverted Trope|Inverted]] in indie-developed [[Xbox Live Arcade|XBLA]] game series ''[[The Dishwasher]]'' - everyone has completely white skin, regardless of actual race. [[Chef of Iron|The]] [[Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"|Chef]] is, [[Word of God|according to the sole creator]], quite black, but appears just as ashen as everyone else.

* The ''[[Double Dragon (Video Game)|Double Dragon]]'' arcade games have technicolor [[Palette Swap|palette swaps]] of the enemies in later areas, such as the green Abobo and blue Burnov.

* In a world where every car has a different paint job, the [[Putt Putt]] series is bound to play this straight. It gets even better when you find you can change his color. It always starts out {{color|purple|purple.}}

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** Krusty the Clown causes continuity errors with this trope. Depending on the episode, his unusually pale skin is either clown makeup or his natural color. However, that only seemed true in earlier seasons, and now it's implied to be due to Krusty's harsh, self-destructive lifestyle, with all his childhood flashbacks having him have normal skin.

*** The shorts on [[The Tracey Ullman Show]] featured background characters who were blue, grey, or orange.

* [[Doug (Animation)|Doug]] and his family were just about the only "flesh tone" people aside from Mr. Bone, Roger's cronies, and Mayor White--indeed, the most common skin tone in the ''Doug'' universe seemed to be ''purple''. Interestingly, Doug's crush was a [[Dark Skinned Blond]].

* [[Doug (Animation)|Doug]] and his family were just about the only "flesh tone" people aside from Mr. Bone, Roger's cronies, and Mayor White--indeed, the most common skin tone in the ''Doug'' universe seemed to be ''purple''. Interestingly, Doug's crush was a [[Dark-Skinned Blond]].

** For instance, Roger was green, Chalky was yellow, Bebe was purple, Mr. Dink was purple. Since Skeeter was blue (more like a dark teal, really), the prevalence of the [[Black Best Friend]] trope caused many to assume that blue is the equivalent of black in that world.

{{quote| '''Judy:''' ''(Talking about Roger)'' Is he the blue one?<br />

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* All the humanoid "sprite" characters in ''[[Re Boot]]'' have unusually colored skin.

** AndrAIa and Ray Tracer are borderline, since they're different shades of orange, a color which often results from cheap self-tanner in the real world.

** Enzo runs into [[Fantastic Racism|racial prejudice]] at the start of season three. For while, Mainframers will happily accept green merchants and scientists, though a green guardian is [[Does This Remind You of Anything|apparently beyond the pale...]]

** Enzo runs into [[Fantastic Racism|racial prejudice]] at the start of season three. For while, Mainframers will happily accept green merchants and scientists, though a green guardian is [[Does This Remind You of Anything?|apparently beyond the pale...]]

** Interestingly, this all suggests a kind of inherent caste system. Guardians are blue, the Matrices and probably other system-based sprites are green, and web-based sprites are orange. Vires tend to be strange-looking in general.

* In ''[[Voltron]]'', the people from the evil planet (planet Doom in the English translation) are all different cool tones, including almost pure white, sky blue, deep cobalt blues, and even a green or brown earthtone from time to time.

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* ''[[The Thief and The Cobbler (Animation)|The Thief and The Cobbler]]''. The thief is green, the [[Evil Chancellor]] Zig-Zag is blue, and the cobbler is gray. The only person who has anything like a normal skin color is Princess Yum-Yum.

** Not to mention Zig-Zag's minions (who are purple, pink, green, and gray), the purple-skinned One-Eyes, and the multi-colored populace of the Golden City. The desert-dwelling brigands, the witch, and King Nog all have relatively normal skin tones.

* From ''[[Kim Possible (Animation)|Kim Possible]]'': Drakken and the -Go family. In Drakken's case, ''incessantly'' lampshaded, and they [[Noodle Incident|constantly imply that there's a horrifically fascinating story]] behind his blue skin. In [[The Tag]] of the [[Grand Finale]], he's about to tell said story when the <s>episode</s> ''series'' [[The Un Reveal|cuts out]]. "I remember it was a Tuesday-" *click*.

* From ''[[Kim Possible (Animation)|Kim Possible]]'': Drakken and the -Go family. In Drakken's case, ''incessantly'' lampshaded, and they [[Noodle Incident|constantly imply that there's a horrifically fascinating story]] behind his blue skin. In [[The Tag]] of the [[Grand Finale]], he's about to tell said story when the <s>episode</s> ''series'' [[The Un-Reveal|cuts out]]. "I remember it was a Tuesday-" *click*.

** And Ron turns blue when he briefly [[Not Himself|goes evil]], leading to the popular [[Epileptic Tree|Tree]] that he's actually Drakken's son.

* The Gross Sisters from ''[[The Proud Family]]'' are rather randomly blue, considering all the other characters are correctly colored and the series is '''all''' about [[Five Token Band|ethnic diversity]].