Rainbow Pimp Gear: Difference between revisions
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{{quote|''Reminds me of this one group I ran with. The barbarian in our group found, and I quote: "a pink frilly tu-tu of Strength +6", and he wore it with [[Double Entendre|pride]] for the rest of the campaign.''|'''KillItWithFire''', [[The Order of the Stick|Giant in the Playground forum]]}}
What happens when players equip their characters with gear solely based on stat bonuses [[Rummage Sale Reject|without consideration to how it will look on them]]. The end results tend to be... colorful... to say the least. David Sirlin has an article on this phenomenon, appropriately entitled ''[http://
Many games try to circumvent the phenomenon by letting the equipment to be dyed, or allowing cosmetic alteration of equipment so it would look like another item.
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{{examples}}
== Tabletop Games ==▼
* ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'': Jarlaxle is this trope exactly, possibly due to living in a world that is also a ''[[Dungeons
** /tg/ on Jarlaxle:
{{quote|His hat in that game... I didn't think he could have one more outrageous than usual. [[Beyond the Impossible|I was wrong.]] [http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/13958009/#13959754]
His outfit... I was watching a [[Let's Play]]. I'd heard of Jarlaxle. The LPer hadn't. His reaction to going around the corner to see this would have been worth the ENTIRE LP even if it had sucked. [http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/13958009/#13959880] }}
== Video Games ==
=== Action Game ===
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* ''[[EverQuest]]'' and ''EverQuest 2'' originally filled this trope. However, EQ1 introduced armor dye. EQ2 includes a feature where you can equip a piece of armor to appearance, and hide cloaks and hats.
* The now-closed ''[[Tabula Rasa]]'' MMORPG seemed to generally avert this, as armor colors were generally of a duller shade, and dyes could be made to change the color of most armor, and so, were usually tolerable in terms of color coordination.
* It happens in ''[[Final Fantasy XI]]'', though not as often or as glaringly as in some [[Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game|MMORPG]]s. [[media:rainbowpld.png|This is an example of a paladin in good enmity gear for the time]]—not pretty—but it irks the most when the red and semi-revealing Scorpion Harness body piece is worn as part of an outfit with the blue and concealing Dragoon or Blue Mage artifact armor. What an eyesore. On the other hand, it's quite nicely averted with top-level White Mage gear, which is pretty consistently blue and white with the occasional small red highlight. Warriors also get a dark <s>blue</s> <s>purple</s> <s>ultramarine</s> blurple hauberk and nearly matching purple gloves and black shorts... along with bright gold <s>bananas</s> boots.
** With the introduction of a ''bright'' ''[[The Nostalgia Chick|piiiink]]'' gear set for Monks, Thieves, Rangers, etc, there's now a <s>true rainbow</s> bottle of Pepto-Bismol to be worn, too.▼
* ''[[
▲With the introduction of a ''bright'' ''[[The Nostalgia Chick|piiiink]]'' gear set for Monks, Thieves, Rangers, etc, there's now a <s>true rainbow</s> bottle of Pepto-Bismol to be worn, too.
▲* ''[[Runescape]]'' is so, so guilty of this. Not only can you make your default clothes any color you want, you can also equip any combination of armors in the game, leading to combinations like a fishbowl helmet, a body that makes your torso transparent, a orange and yellow-striped cape, a pink miniskirt, and an ''anchor'' for your weapon. Thankfully, most equipment sets look decent (with the exception of the Infinity mage set, which is a set of robes that looks like it was designed by a chameleon on LSD). [http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110211133038/runescape/images/5/51/Infinity_robes_set.png It's mostly magenta.] [http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110216140540/runescape/images/a/a5/Infinity_robes_(All_elements).png Luckily, it's recolourable to make it more palatable.]
** The example above was designed to be laughable. On the other hand, "hybrid" or "tribrid" gear for players who wish to use and/or defend against multiple styles of combat (melee, projectile, and magical) without changing armour will almost always look absurd. Wearing a robe skirt, leather body armor, metal boots and gauntlets, a visored helmet and a backpack with a chicken in it - while wielding a salamander - is ''optimized gear'' for certain activities.
** Even worse, the developers ''try'' to give the player some control over the look, by having dyes... that only work when trying to dye armor that basically amounts to [[Vendor Trash]]. And basic capes. On the other side, dye wouldn't stick to metal or leather...
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* In ''[[The Lord of the Rings Online]]'' you can make things like hats, cloaks, and even boots invisible, you can dye all of your equipment in a wide variety of colors, and you can even equip to alternative sets of equipment that replace the visuals of your actual equipment without having any effect on the stats. So nobody has to look like a clown. Except those [[Princesses Prefer Pink|people who want to]].
* ''[[Maple Story]]'' has this, especially once you get to a level where armour is no longer purchasable, and you have to take whatever colour armour you can get. Luckily, you can fix this with cash shop equipment, which masks over whatever you're actually wearing. (Its rather expensive, however.) If you don't want to be wearing something in a specific equipment slot at all, there's even invisible item masks, which just hides specific equipped items.
** Like-colored equipments for classes tend to have like stat boosts. Translation? People who want the most out of a stat will tend to wear only one color—and if they're obsessive enough they'll just hunt down the gear . . . which, given the fact that the resident search engine for [[Heroes-R-Us|the]] [[Inn Between the Worlds|Free]] [[Bazaar of the Bizarre|Market]], known as the [[What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic|Owl of Minerva]], [[Bribing Your Way to Victory|costs about 600 NX]] as opposed to the thousands that any given shirt or pair of pants in the Cash Shop would cost, a high-level player who bothers with NX (and getting all the different sets of equipment) could just bother with saving up their money (both kinds), buying a few, and jumping into the infamous sea of spam to find their armor or spending hours looking for it in the overpriced player stores. This was not actually too bad until Nexon constantly began to release special equipment which outshined standard equipment in stats so much that wearing standard equipment will [["Stop Having Fun!" Guys|automatically brand you as someone who isn't playing the game correctly]]. At least their outfits will match.▼
** Many players have the weird habit of mixing ''cash items'', which has no benefit whatsoever since almost all are purely cosmetic. Particular standouts are the clown faces, animal heads (''heads'', not ''hats'') and multicolored hair. [http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j46/Edmania/untitled-1.jpg From left to right,] the first player of Maple Story wears standard equipment (worst statistics), a player who wears special equipment (mindlessly overpowered in statistics), a player who has a sensible sense of fashion from using cash items to cover their somewhat not-so-great appearance while at the same time reasonably using their money, and the last one is someone who you can't even tell what they are because they drown themselves in absurd combinations which they believe is stylish.▼
▲Like-colored equipments for classes tend to have like stat boosts. Translation? People who want the most out of a stat will tend to wear only one color—and if they're obsessive enough they'll just hunt down the gear . . . which, given the fact that the resident search engine for [[Heroes-R-Us|the]] [[Inn Between the Worlds|Free]] [[Bazaar of the Bizarre|Market]], known as the [[What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic|Owl of Minerva]], [[Bribing Your Way to Victory|costs about 600 NX]] as opposed to the thousands that any given shirt or pair of pants in the Cash Shop would cost, a high-level player who bothers with NX (and getting all the different sets of equipment) could just bother with saving up their money (both kinds), buying a few, and jumping into the infamous sea of spam to find their armor or spending hours looking for it in the overpriced player stores. This was not actually too bad until Nexon constantly began to release special equipment which outshined standard equipment in stats so much that wearing standard equipment will [["Stop Having Fun!" Guys|automatically brand you as someone who isn't playing the game correctly]]. At least their outfits will match.
** Then you run into people who practice in [[Min-Maxing]]. Let's just say that in any other game, you would not normally be allowed to run around wearing a glowing stone relic for a helmet, a paintbrush as their weapon, green shoes... and your only real ''armor'' consisting of nothing but a [[Modesty Towel]].▼
** At as low a level as 18 (out of 200), a fairly simple quest gives out a terribly tacky full-head hat with defense and stat bonuses leagues ahead of any other hat. This, however, renders your head completely invisible, and the only way you can see your face again is to a) wear a less powerful hat or b) [[Allegedly Free Game|buy a NX hat]]. Ahhh Freemium.▼
▲Many players have the weird habit of mixing ''cash items'', which has no benefit whatsoever since almost all are purely cosmetic. Particular standouts are the clown faces, animal heads (''heads'', not ''hats'') and multicolored hair. [http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j46/Edmania/untitled-1.jpg From left to right,] the first player of Maple Story wears standard equipment (worst statistics), a player who wears special equipment (mindlessly overpowered in statistics), a player who has a sensible sense of fashion from using cash items to cover their somewhat not-so-great appearance while at the same time reasonably using their money, and the last one is someone who you can't even tell what they are because they drown themselves in absurd combinations which they believe is stylish.
▲Then you run into people who practice in [[Min-Maxing]]. Let's just say that in any other game, you would not normally be allowed to run around wearing a glowing stone relic for a helmet, a paintbrush as their weapon, green shoes... and your only real ''armor'' consisting of nothing but a [[Modesty Towel]].
▲At as low a level as 18 (out of 200), a fairly simple quest gives out a terribly tacky full-head hat with defense and stat bonuses leagues ahead of any other hat. This, however, renders your head completely invisible, and the only way you can see your face again is to a) wear a less powerful hat or b) [[Allegedly Free Game|buy a NX hat]]. Ahhh Freemium.
* Another Nexon game, ''[[Mabinogi (video game)|Mabinogi]]'' makes it possible to completely avert this. There are many different styles of equipment with identical stats, grouped into three categories—clothing, light armour, heavy armour—with weapons and shields being a bit more varied. Combine this with [[Crack is Cheaper|cash shop]] dyes (which can be used to dye pretty much anything, including weapons), and it's fairly easy to customize colour and style combinations to create any look you want. However, since all gear, whether dropped, crafted, or purchased from [[NPC]]s, comes in completely random colour combinations (some of them fairly hideous on their own), and there are many items which exist solely to look silly (such as the "bald wig" and "tree costume") it is also possible to play this trope straight to [[Up to Eleven|truly epic levels]].
** Since shop items change colours randomly, it's also possible to create stylish and coordinated ensembles simply by waiting until the desired colours are available. However, this can take a very long time and a lot of shop-watching; and some colour combinations are only available via boss drops, special event rewards, or [[Crack is Cheaper|cash shop versions]] (such as pink and white shields, or bright purple longbows).
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* ''Mobsters 2'': Most high-level players wear what amounts to a uniform of Combat Pants (puffy camouflage trousers) and a Window-pane Overcoat (a long grey coat over a waistcoat, shirt, and tie). Their bottom half is in the army and their top half is attending a business meeting.
* A common effect in ''[[Monster Hunter]]'' with new players, who forge whatever they can afford to increase defense without them knowing about skill points. More experienced players equip full sets of armor from a certain monster (which doesn't look tacky) to get the skill points that the monster set gives. Even more experienced players know that, with the right combinations of armor sets, a unique combination of skills can be attained instead of having to go with a pre-made set... at the cost of looking like a rainbow pimp again.
** To provide a mild example, a commonly seen set in ''Tri'' is to have mostly advanced magical white armor from a certain Elder Dragon, replace the waist with a lower rank form of the same armor (which looks the same but gives different skill points)... and then replace the helmet with the head of a dinosaur which boosts rewards.▼
* This very trope was mentioned on the ''[[Tibia]]'' [
▲To provide a mild example, a commonly seen set in ''Tri'' is to have mostly advanced magical white armor from a certain Elder Dragon, replace the waist with a lower rank form of the same armor (which looks the same but gives different skill points)... and then replace the helmet with the head of a dinosaur which boosts rewards.
▲* This very trope was mentioned on the ''[[Tibia]]'' [http://forum.tibia.com/forum/?action=thread&postid=28084609#post28084609 forums]. The game itself suffers from this kind of gear as well, just take a look at the so-called [http://tibia.wikia.com/wiki/Blocking_Set blocking set].
** It should be mentioned that the equipped items have no bearing on a character's appearance and outfits are instead chosen in a menu. That being said, some player's tastes can be questionable.
* ''[[Dofus]]'' only has three visible pieces of equipment (with the weapon also showing, but only when it's used). Hat, cloak, and pet / mount. A character is also allowed to customize their own colors (but only at character creation or for a small real money fee). These colors, combined with armor that stands out very starkly and tends to be rather absurd (A popular early hat is basically a severed sheeps head with the tongue still hanging out), means that the odds of your character looking not stupid is very low. Of course, anyone going into Dofus intending to look badass is playing the wrong game.
* Averted by ''[[Wizard 101]]''. Yes, when you first get an item it may clash, but you can go to a shop in the main shopping district and dye it to match whatever else you have on, if you have the gold (by the second world, you always will). This is good because it's almost always better to use drops instead of buying shop items (except in the case of decks and sometimes wands).
** Though some hat and robe combos might look a bit odd regardless.
* Neatly averted by ''[[City of Heroes]]''/''[[City of Villains]]'' -- even though the various enhancements might style themselves as jewelry or hunks of technological gear, adding them to your character changes ''nothing'' about your appearance. If you looked like a clown, it was because you deliberately made yourself look like one in the character editor.
=== Role Playing Game ===
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* ''[[The Last Story]]'' allows the player to dye the characters's clothing, item by item, as well as partially undress them and so on. The colours you are given at the start of the game include orange and hot pink. The uniforms include one with assless chaps. [[Hilarity Ensues]].
* ''[[Half Minute Hero]]'', since most of the items are deliberately mismatched and stupid, and since you can't take equipment you gain in later levels with you. You will probably be wearing a long brown wig for most of the early game due to its big critical hit ratio.
* The 3D games in the ''[[Might and Magic]]'' franchise are notorious for it. Somewhat lampshaded in-game, as some item descriptions for a lot of the uglier equipment tends how awful it looks.
=== [[Stealth Based Game]] ===
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* ''[[Spore]]'' can get quite silly in the tribal stage, with a wide variety of items available in different categories. Getting the best stats for a creature requires some unusual combinations of clothing, but the game's built-in colour-coordination and ability to move and size the items generally averts total ugliness. Still, it's tricky when you find that your [[Badass]] warlike tribespeople absolutely ''need'' cowboy hats. One method for dealing with that is to make it as small as possible, and try to hide under something else.
** In the Creature phase, it can happen with '''body parts''', particularly for a "social" species. It doesn't help that they're acquired randomly.
* ''[[Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas]]'': You can make some pretty outlandish things to CJ with the various clothing accessories. A chainsaw-wielding loony with a hockey mask, wearing what could only be considered a "diaper", and cowboy boots. Where's my respect, man?
▲== Tabletop Games ==
▲* ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'': Jarlaxle is this trope exactly, possibly due to living in a world that is also a ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' setting. Everything he wears is highly magical and very, very... unique. He almost fits this trope literally, as he wears a color-changing rainbow cloak (it also cycles through ultraviolet!) and a large be-plumed hat that could best be described as pimptastic. Of course, he's probably doing this on purpose, as he's quite flamboyant and is happy with his look. It also makes him quite memorable, which is what he's going for. Jarlaxle's reputation is "He dresses like a goofball, but ''don't screw with him''." It also helps that everything he wears has a perfectly practical use. Even the ridiculous plume on his hat can be used to summon a monster in a pinch.
== Web Original ==▼
* [http://www.cracked.com/photoplasty_204_if-real-life-worked-like-role-playing-game_p25/#20 This image] from a ''[[Cracked.com|Cracked]]'' slideshow titled "If Real Life Worked Like a Role-Playing Game".▼
== Web Comics ==
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'''Vaarsuvius:''' Indeed. A most grave conundrum you faced. }}
* [http://www.thenoobcomic.com/index.php?pos=5 Sir Bob] in ''[[The Noob]]'' is an example of this.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130510063616/http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/comics/stolen-pixels/6879-Stolen-Pixels-150-2-Shoes-of-Floppiness Parodied] by ''Stolen Pixels'' in regards to ''[[Dragon Age Origins]]''. ''[[Dragon Age]]'' actually tends to [[Averted Trope|avert this]] by giving stat bonuses to characters who wear a full set of armor (e.g. chainmail breastplate + gloves + boots.) At that point in the game, though... yeah, most characters fit the trope.
* In ''[[8-Bit Theater]]'', [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2001/08/09/episode-066-is-it-possible-to-be-a-fourth-wheel/ Red Mage states he would wear his underwear over his armour if it granted +3 Endurance.] An obvious jab at this trope and super hero suits that really look like they wear briefs on top of spandex.
* While not as colorful as the example above, [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/2/13/ this strip of] ''[[Penny Arcade (Webcomic)|Penny Arcade]]'' also makes fun of the trope.
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* In ''[[Goblins]]'', Minmax finds a suit of armor in the Maze of Many while in dire need of it (having lost most of his clothes). To his great dismay, however, the whole armor is ''pink''. Although it might be [http://www.goblinscomic.com/02032012/ more pracical than he thought], subverting the trope.
* In one ''[[xkcd]]'' comic, the protagonist gets a shoe that grants immortality. Too bad it has [http://xkcd.com/1065/ creepy individual toes].
▲== Web Original ==
▲* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130923031421/http://www.cracked.com/photoplasty_204_if-real-life-worked-like-role-playing-game_p25/#20 This image] from a ''[[Cracked.com|Cracked]]'' slideshow titled "If Real Life Worked Like a Role-Playing Game".
== Real Life ==
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{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Videogame Culture]]
[[Category:Costume Tropes]]
▲[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:CRPG Tropes]]
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