Highly-Conspicuous Uniform: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

In [[Real Life]], soldiers on duty will usually wear fatigues. These combat uniforms are designed for many practical needs, including a lack of highly-visible markings or bright colors to help the soldier blend into the environment better. This results in fatigues crafted in either a neutral monochrome or a camouflage pattern, with the flashy dress uniforms reserved for ceremonial purposes. Officers wear the same outfits as enlisted men (except for the rank insignia) so that they can't be singled out by the enemy.

Of course, it's entirely possible to combine both instances into one huge Uniform of Impracticality, as seen in the trope illustration.

 

 

Compare [[Highly-Visible Ninja]], [[Chest Insignia]] (the superhero version of the Bullseye Badge), [[Bling of War]] (uniforms that are [[Impractically Fancy Outfit|flashy]]), [[Dress-Coded for Your Convenience]], and [[Fashion Victim Villain]].

 

 

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* ''[[The Five Star Stories]]'' is similar to 40k, in that [[Super Soldiers]] get [[Bling of War|ludicrously flamboyant costumes]], while ordinary grunts have realistic uniforms based on actual combat fatigues. The translated sourcebook insert sections in the English editions even describe some of the [[Real Life]] inspirations for various pieces of FSS military equipment. [[The Kingdom|Colus]], for example, seems to be a big importer of pre-reunification West German surplus.

* France from ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'' has a bright blue and red military uniform as opposed to the dull colored uniforms his fellow Allied Forces wear. It's [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] in one strip where France wears a boring grey inform instead of his usual one, when England questions why France explains that French army's colorful garb made it ridiculously easy for the Italians to aim at them.

* In ''[[Winter Cicada]]'', Kusaka wears one while fighting in the Boshin war. One wonders how in the heck they could even fight with those helmet-hair thingies.

* Everyone in the ''[[Gundam]]'' franchise is dressed this way. Justified in the case of the mobile suit pilots and naval officers (who aren't trying to hide) but played unfortunately straight by the rest of the military personell.

* In several adaptations of ''[[Area 88]]'', pilots wear brightly-colored flightsuits. In a desert environment, they'd stick out like sore thumbs.

 

== Comic Books ==

** Interestingly averted by the original version of the [[Secret Six]]. Yes, they usually have very bright and distinctive outfits, but when they go on night or stealth missions, the colouration changes accordingly.

** In ''[[The Dark Knight Returns]]'', Batman states that the reason for his very visible chest symbol (black on yellow at this point) is specifically to draw weapon fire to that point, where he is wearing a heavy armor plate.

 

== Film ==

* Anton Arcane's mercenary mooks in ''The Return of [[Swamp Thing (film)|Swamp Thing]]'' wear bright orange uniforms.

 

** The standard-issue steeds of said Heralds are no less conspicuous between the indelible white coats, silver hooves, and blue eyes. However a sentient warhorse with more speed and stamina than anything remotely natural is usually useful enough to make up for it even without factoring in the various psionic and arcane abilities.

* Commented on by Diana Wynne Jones' protagonist in Homeward Bounders. Here the characters get transported from world to world at a moments notice, each world being at different technology levels. On finding themselves trapped in a war zone, Jamie immediately starts to look out to see if uniforms are brightly coloured or mud brown. In terms of civilians trying to go their own way, the former is good, the latter, pretty bad.

 

== Live-Action TV ==

** [[Fridge Brilliance]] - how better to discourage your troops from turning around and running away?

* The 80's miniseries 'V' has this trope relating to the 'visitors' themselves. As the 'visitors' only dressed up as [[Human Aliens]] in the first place to appear friendly to humans, it is reasonable for them to not be wearing camo or body armor would've rather spoiled that image.

** Note that there is a clear difference between the uniforms worn by the Alliance in wartime and in peacetime; the uniforms shown in flashbacks are far less conspicuous gray-black suits of armor, while the armor worn during the series itself is the "purple-belly" armor. This makes sense, as the Alliance troops in peacetime are intended to be highly visible.

* [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer|Buffy Summers]] goes patrolling in brightly colored outfits. Justified in-universe in that vampires are attracted to bright colors and genre savvy citizens wear muted colors.

* Though not as obvious [[A Song of Ice and Fire|in the books]], pops up in ''[[Game of Thrones]]'', where the Night's Watch wear pitch-black uniforms. This would be reasonable in any other location, but the Night's Watch patrol [[Grim Up North|the North]], and when they're out in the snows beyond the thick forests just north of the Wall, they kind of stand out.

 

== Newspaper Comics ==

* [[The Far Side]] gives [http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y269/Zen00/Random/Far%20Side%20Madness/Gary_Larson_bad_new_uniforms.jpg a great example of this].

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* VIPER from the ''[[Champions]]'' Universe has their symbol prominently displayed on their uniforms. Earlier editions had their heroic counterparts UNTIL doing the same, but the most recent incarnation goes for the more subtle (and more realistic) approach of just putting the badge on their headgear and uniform sleeves.

** The Imperial Guard, on the other hand, prefer to use camouflage... mostly. At least one Guard unit, the Mordians, prefer to wear bright-blue dress uniforms into battle. The impact of such a move is diminished with the existence of working stealth generators.

*** Truth be told, most of the Space Marines follow this trope to a T, but they also have their own infiltrators and camo troops, the scouts, which are also the Space Marine newbies, making every Space Marine also a god in infiltration, as stated, they just don't care...

*** And there are Orks who paint themselves ''purple'' and think it makes them invisible, "'cause nobody's ever seen a purple Ork, rite?" Worst part: Orks run on [[Clap Your Hands If You Believe]], so it might actually ''work.''

* The Campus Security in ''[[GURPS]] IOU'' wear red uniforms with a ''literal'' Bullseye Badge, underlining their status as the setting's [[Red Shirts]]. Their most common nickname isn't "Targets" for nothing.

 

== Toys ==

* Most of the minifigs in Lego sets have bright colors, even the more outright militant sets (licensed properties notwithstanding).

 

== Video Games ==

* In ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]] I'' & ''II'', soldiers of the Old Republic got to battle wearing bright red combatsuits, and the Mandalorians seem to like wearing armor in nearly every color of the rainbow. But both are easily topped by the Sith Troopers and their shining silver uniforms.

* In the video game ''[[Haze]]'', the Mantel soldiers all wear helmets and shoulderpads that glow luminous yellow, with the rest of their armor being dark grey or black. The helmets and shoulderpads also flash red when the user takes damage. In reality, those helmets would only serve as massive targets for their enemies, especially since they'd flash whenever they hit their marks.

* The dull grey armour in ''[[Gears of War]]'' would be [[Real Is Brown|good for blending in with one's surroundings]] if not for the colour-coded lights on it.

* In [[Halo: Reach]], [[Rainbow Six|Rainbow Six: Vegas]], and every other multiplayer FPS with a character creator, most players are normally dressed in gaudy and brightly-colored fatigues and armor.

** Though ''[[Call of Duty: Black Ops|Call of Duty Black Ops]]'' prevents you from meddling with the actual ''uniform'', there's nothing to stop you from slapping [[Rule of Cool|orange-and-black tiger stripes]] on your gun, putting a bright pink emblem on it, and then wearing blue face paint.

* In ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'', every class's uniform is brightly-colored around the torso, to draw attention to the weapon they're wielding and to make aiming at them easier.

 

== Web Comics ==

* [[Last Res0rt]]'s Players (the ones without a team, at least) wear white jumpsuits with the [[Iconic Logo]]... right over ''their freakin' hearts''. [[Bizarre Alien Biology|Well, at least where we think their hearts are.]]

** [[Justified Trope|Ironically, since the point is for most of them to die ANYWAY...]]

** The Executioner's outfits aren't much better, since they're still brightly colored (with the possible exception of Team Equuleus)!

** The other main fighting force we've seen (the Star Org) has slightly drabber blue/teal outfits, although those berets of theirs make rather nice targets....

 

== Western Animation ==

* Agents of M.A.D. often wear jumpsuits with the M.A.D. logo emblazoned on the chest in public. Despite this, [[Inspector Gadget]] ''never'' realizes that they are his enemies. Then again said agents include three specific mooks that are ALWAYS there and Gadget doesn't recognize them either, so odds are Doctor claw knows there's nothing to worry about.

* In a Family Guy cutaway, Peter is shown in combat in the jungle in full clown mode, including face paint. He tells the other soldiers "You guys are stupid. See, they're gonna be looking for army-guys."

 

== Real Life ==

* [[Truth in Television]]: In [[Real Life]] western warfare, uniforms with adaptive coloring did not become widespread until the twentieth century. Prior to that, armies tended to use bright colors and bold designs to intimidate enemies and aid identification of allies during combat.

** Worth noting, musicians (fifers and drummers especially) were generally uniformed in the reversed colors to the regular soldiers (British musicians would have coats of their unit's facing color faced in red for example). The reason was simple, so the officers could locate them (the musician was the equivalent of a radioman, drumbeats carried better than voices).

** Notably averted by the [[Semper Fi|US Marine Corps]] with their Service Dress uniforms (the military equivalent of a business suit). The uniforms in question are dark green with tan shirts and mostly subdued insignia & buttons. Pop off the ribbons, badges, and officer's rank pins, and you could almost go to combat in it with the addition of some ammo pouches.

*** The US Army's Class A uniform similarly is in shades of green, though it is being phased out and most soldiers would rather not try to fight in the thing.

** The French continued their use of the Highly Conspicuous Uniform into the early days of [[World War I]], when the British and Germans had switched to more practical khaki and grey, respectively. French had considered alternative colors, but problems was that dyes would had be bought from ''[[Honor Before Reason|Germany]]''. However, story of bright uniforms is exaggerated, whit most frontline troops having more reasonable uniforms. The Conspicuous Uniforms were mainly Reserve or Dress uniforms that were pressed into service because of an extreme dearth of proper ones.

** Note that due to cheap materials, primitive dyes, and infrequent laundering, pre-20th-century Highly Conspicuous Uniforms would rarely retain their bright colors in the field. The British, for example, began phasing out the Redcoats in the mid-19th-century in favor of khaki battle uniforms, because that was the color the uniforms wound up ''anyway'' when serving in Africa and India. The word "khaki" itself [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|means simply "dust"]] in Hindi and Urdu.

* In a more modern situation, the US Air Marshals, whose entire purpose was to sit anonymously on planes so that potential hijackers or terrorists wouldn't know if there was one on board, were for some time required to dress in business attire, even if everyone else on the plane was dressed looking like they were ready to hit the beach. Even more insanely, they were required to show their ID at the gate and get on the plane before the other passengers. After this was publicized in the media by air marshals who'd been complaining that undercover agents should actually try to be undercover, they changed the rules. At least one marshal, before the rules were changed, decided to use these rules to his own advantage. Since it was practically impossible to be incognito, he would make a ''deliberate effort'' to stand out, making it clear that ''he'' was the marshal of the plane, so that if anything did go wrong, his partner at least had a ''chance'' of being ignored.

* Real life Bullseye Badges: Allied tanks after the invasion of Normandy carried the US white star on their sides. When a lot of destroyed allied tanks were found to have a neat hole punched in the middle of said star, they were drabbed-down with mud or paint.

** Modern air forces mostly have two-tone grayscale versions of their "official" roundels and insignia. Compare the two on the page for the [[wikipedia:Royal Australian Air Force|Royal Australian Air Force]] on [[The Other Wiki]].

** Played straight with the "invasion stripes" used by the Allied air forces during the Normandy invasion. Of course whatever remained of the Luftwaffe in the area was a far smaller threat then friendly fire, so pretty much Justified.

*** Not to mention the [[Nose Art|various color schemes]] used by aviators on both sides throughout the war. Some units, such as the [[Eagle Squadron|American Volunteer Group]] or the [[Red Tails|Tuskegee Airmen]], are as famous for their paint jobs as they are for their achievements in the war.

** "Stripping the paint" for aircraft in [[WW 2]]. The British and Luftwaffe scorned it because it made the aircraft shiney and blatantly obvious. The US 8th Air Force simply didn't care; more than once it was actually suggested that they ''wanted'' enemy aircraft to find them, so they would engage and be shot down.

*** The actual reason for using the minimal bare-metal finishes on the American planes, of course, was that it was [[Boring but Practical|cheaper and faster to build and deploy the aircraft if they didn't waste time painting them first.]] It was also pointed out that the olive-drab favored by the Army didn't exactly blend in with the skies of Western Europe to begin with, which was where the Germans tended to run into them anyways.

*** While various styles of camouflage have gone in and out of vogue for the US military, the bare-metal finish has been favored over the past few decades because the Americans deploy their aircraft to so many widely varying environments, and because the widespread modern use of radar has made painting planes to try and hide them a futile gesture anyways.

** Given the frankly terrifying capabilities of the Finns when fighting the Russians back in [[WW 2]], one wonders at the sanity of those ridiculing them. Admittedly, the years since have been a little quieter for them, but even so...

* If the enemy is [[Shoot the Medic First|unscrupulous]], medics and civilian emergency vehicles still have this problem. While the main reason for putting big red-on-white crosses/crescents on medical assets is to proclaim they're not a threat and to encourage the enemy to direct their attacks elsewhere, the conspicuous markings can indeed backfire if the opposition suspects a [[Trojan Horse]]. And yes it's still illegal to give weapons to medics featuring the red cross, which is the second reason the Red Cross is barely seen anymore.

** Similarly, [[World War II]] officers had a particular white marking on their helmets, which officers at the time would go out of their ways to smudge with mud to hide. It was noted once that Tom Hanks's character in ''[[Saving Private Ryan]]'', for instance, would have in real life known better than to leave a bright white "I'm an officer, snipe me!" mark on his forehead.

* Inverted Trope at times during War On Terror operations in Afghanistan. Special Operations Forces troops sometimes have as their assigned mission to blend in with, gain the confidence of, train, and fight beside native irregulars. To that end they wear native dress, let their hair grow (to an extent) and grow beards (to the Afghan tribesmen a beard denotes manhood). Occasionally a Pentagon commando general officer will take it upon himself to try and make them "...present a more military appearance..." by ordering said troops to shave, get haircuts, and wear "proper uniforms". Such an order is invariably ignored by the field troops if their chain of command passes it on and doesn't just bury the order somewhere in the piles of paperwork any modern army generates.

** Meanwhile, some Canadian troops in the early months of the war in Afghanistan were issued green/brown "temperate woodland" camouflage, due to a lack of beige/brown "arid region" uniforms.

** Similarly, a number of British and US troops had to make do with jungle-pattern camouflage BDUs during Desert Storm, as there weren't enough desert-pattern fatigues in storage and the jungle-pattern was at least designed for hot weather.

** A more prominent example is the ACU uniform itself, which many soldiers complain is noticeably more visible than the older BDU/DCU color schemes. The Army is already fielding a replacement for a uniform that has only been in issue for a few years. The Air Force, having problems with their own ABU fatigues (thick permanent-press uniforms using an unrealistic "tiger stripe" camouflage pattern in urban colors), is also issuing the new Army uniform. Both services are only issuing it for use in Afghanistan, however.

* [[wikipedia:Swiss Guard|The Swiss Guard]] both plays this straight and subverts it. Official, well know uniforms is colorful as a peacock. Work uniform is much more practical.

*** They ended up looking almost ''exactly'' like Russian Police in their white-blue-gray "city" camo.

** US Navy flight-deck crews work in an environment which is loud, dangerous, often poorly lit, and very busy. Since being spotted by the enemy is not an issue, the various work groups wear [[Color Coded for Your Convenience|brightly-colored]] jerseys in a [http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fil:Coloured_flight_deck_jerseys.jpg rainbow palette], so they can easily spot and identify each other.

* Subverted with Britain painting some recon planes pink during World War II. While they stood out garishly on the ground, when flying dawn or dusk flights the pink was actually the most effective camouflage color. In a similar manner the Long Range Desert Group 'Pink Panthers' look a bit stupid if seen outside of a desert.

** Similarly-garish was the "dazzle" camouflage of WWI and WWII. Naval vessels were painted with big, blocky intersecting stripes. The point wasn't concealment but rather confusion as the odd lines and shapes made it difficult to determine the range and heading of the ships so painted.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Index of Exact Trope Titles]]

[[Category:Military and Warfare Tropes]]

[[Category:Combat Tropes]]

[[Category:Costume Tropes]]