History Main / BrightIsNotGood

** Giffany from the episode "[[Recap/GravityFallsS2E5SoosAndTheRealGirl Soos and the Real Girl]]" is an {{Animesque}} character from a dating sim whose color scheme is primarily bright pink. She also turns out to be [[ClingyJealousGirl incredibly possessive]], to [[{{Yandere}} psychotic extremes]].

* ''Manga/OnePiece'' has the Big Mom Pirates/Charlotte Family. Almost all of Big Mom's children (including Big Mom herself) wear bright colors, so much they could fit right in a circus or a Disney movie but they're a notorious and vicious pirate crew who would bring destruction to entire islands and populations solely to take some ingredients for a wedding cake. The only exception is Charlotte Katakuri, Big Mom's second son, who [[DarkIsEvil wears all black]] and looks like a tattooed BadassBiker instead.

** Subverted with Claycia in ''VideoGame/KirbyAndTheRainbowCurse''. She wears a purple dress with magenta polka-dots, a bright pink scarf, has teal hair, and is initially the BigBad of the game. [[spoiler:It then turns out she's only evil because she's [[DemonicPossession possessed]] by the game's true villain, Dark Crafter, who is a pure black cloud, but hides that by using all of the world's colors to make it look like a giant evil rainbow cloud.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': [[Characters/AmphibiaTheCore The Core]]'s "inner sanctum" inside its mindscape has the appearance of a grand, brightly-colored library, a stark contrast to its mechanical RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver appearance in reality. It shows the inner sanctum to Marcy [[spoiler:whilst it's planning to manipulate her and [[TheAssimilator assimilate her permanently]]]].

** The BigBad [[Characters/GravityFallsBillCipher Bill Cipher]] takes this further, being a bright yellow triangle who produces blue flames when he [[DealWithTheDevil makes his deals]], as do his Henchmainiacs, interdimensional beings who are all bright colors.

* ''VideoGame/FarCry4'', the BigBad, Pagan Min, wears very flamboyant, primarily pink clothing, and is the AxCrazy former Triad drug lord turned dictator of Kryat.

* ''VideoGame/PlanetSide'' has [[MachineCult the Vanu Sovereignty]] and [[LaResistance the New Conglomerate rebels]], which have bright purple/teal and bright blue/yellow armor, respectively. The Sovereignty are fanatically devoted to ([[UnwillingRoboticisation forcibly]]) "uplifting" humanity. The Conglomerate are devoted to personal freedom, [[MegaCorp corporate profits]], [[PrivatelyOwnedSociety libertarianism]], and laissez-faire capitalism.

** ''VideoGame/KirbyTripleDeluxe'' has [[spoiler:[[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Queen Sectonia.]] Unlike all of the other ''Kirby'' villains (i.e. [[VideoGame/KirbysDreamLand2 Dark Matter]], [[VideoGame/KirbyMassAttack Necrodeus]], or [[spoiler:[[VideoGame/KirbySqueakSquad Dark Nebula]]]]), whose sole goal is destruction and darkness, [[spoiler:Sectonia's goal is to ascend to [[AGodAmI godhood]] by merging with the [[WorldTree Dreamstalk]] and sucking the life out of Popstar so she can become its queen. She also has a very bright color scheme, primarily consisting of dark blue and yellow, fitting for a wasp-like creature. In Dededetour!, she's mostly magenta. Her Soul form in the True Arena is also bright blue.]]

** Negaduck wears yellow, red and black--the colors of the venomous coral snake--to contrast hero Darkwing Duck's more toned down [[RealMenWearPink purple, pink and teal]] color scheme.

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* In ''Anime/KillLaKill'' you have Ragyo, who wears brightly colored clothing so extravagant that Music/LadyGaga would probably tell her to tone it down a bit. She also projects a [[EverythingsBetterWithRainbows rainbow-colored aura]] wherever she goes. And she is the GreaterScopeVillain of the anime [[spoiler:(later outright BigBad)]], one of the most cruel and unforgivable villains in anime ever, and a serious contender for the title of [[AbusiveParents "Worst Anime Mom"]]. The same anime has Nui Harime, who wears a bright pink lolita dress, [[CuteAndPsycho but is just as bad as Ragyo]]. This contrasts the DarkIsNotEvil theme of the protagonist, who is RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver, without the actual "evil" part.

** Kyubey. A TalkingAnimal, colored white and pink? How dangerous could it be?[[note]][[DealWithTheDevil Very]].[[/note]]

* ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'': Cytomander is an avian beastman with what seems to be peacock DNA. Despite being bright and colorful he is a villain (admittedly a [[SissyVillain sissy]] one) and possibly the most psychotic of the Four Great Generals.
* Luck of ''Manga/BlackClover'' wears bright green, has blonde hair, and clads himself in greaves and gauntlets made of bright blue lightning. In spite of his appearance, he's a borderline psychotic fighter who becomes more unhinged as a battle goes on.

* ''ComicBook/SinCity: That Yellow Bastard'': The aptly named Yellow Bastard is Ethan Rourke "Junior", a sadistic SerialRapist and murderer of little girls, who is protected by his father Senator Rourke. After getting nearly killed by Detective Hartigan, Junior is revived in a way that leaves his body unable to properly process waste, which gives him a [[EvilSmellsBad disgusting smell]] and [[AmazingTechnicolorPopulation yellow skin]] which gives a SplashOfColor in the black and white comic. Even in the CrapsackWorld of Sin City, he stands out as one of the most revolting antagonists in the series.
* In the ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' franchise, Decepticons often favor dark colors. However, the Dreamwave Comics G1 series features a bright orange-and-yellow repaint of Starscream called Sunstorm. He is a totally unhinged [[PoisonousPerson radioactive]] berserker. It was apparently going to be revealed that his madness was due to The Fallen within his mind, but Dreamwave went under before his story could be completed.

* Tamatoa from ''{{WesternAnimation/Moana}}''. He's a gold-encrusted giant crab who lives in a bright cave of treasures and even has a VillainSong called "Shiny" (which is a visual and auditory homage to Music/DavidBowie), who even has his own [[LightEmUp bioluminescent light]]. He's also a human eater, a ''cannibal'', and [[SmugSnake incredibly smug]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'': Oogie Boogie whenever he is in the spotlight, which he loves, has a neon-green hue and he absolutely fits right in with the colours of his tacky, cheap fun-house lair, his clownish style. The contrast to the gothic-colored and somber-looking good monsters of Halloween Town can be reminiscent of Batman and the ComicBook/TheJoker.
* ''WesternAnimation/TitanAE'' The Drej, are EnergyBeings of bright blue light, and are responsible for the destruction of planet Earth, and seek to destroy the surviving humans.
* In ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'', Woody, Buzz, and the rest are running on a ConveyorBeltOfDoom, hoping to escape the garbage shredders. Rex spots a light at the end of the tunnel, thinking it's the sun (and thus, outside to freedom). Nope, it's the incinerator.

* ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'': [[Characters/MonsterVerseKingGhidorah King Ghidorah]] has golden scales covering his body, but he's also just about the single evilest character in this movie: an animalistic but intelligent and ''actively malicious'' OmnicidalManiac who [[KillAllHumans kills all humans on sight]] for his own amusement and who wants to reshape the Earth with an extinction event.
* ''Film/HotelRwanda'': The uniform of the Interahamwe, a politically extremist militia force engaging in genocide against the Tutsi, seems to be brightly-coloured tropical shirts.

* ''Franchise/StarWars'' has Force lightning, a technique where a Force user projects bright blue lightning from their hands. It’s almost always used to torture and kill people, and it’s fueled by ThePowerOfHate. It’s almost exclusively used by the Sith, who generally go for [[EvilWearsBlack dark colors]].

* ''Film/TronLegacy'': As everyone is ColorCodedForYourConvenience, [[BigBad CLU]] and his {{mooks}} wear black robes with luminescent lines. CLU and his army actually use harsher colors (reds and oranges) while everyone else uses light, brilliant shades (blue and white) for their lights. Castor, on the other hand, wears all white.

* [[EldritchAbomination Hastur]] from ''Literature/TheKingInYellow'' and the Franchise/CthulhuMythos.

* ''Series/BlackMirror'': ''[[Recap/BlackMirrorNosedive Nosedive]]'' takes place in a dystopian StepfordSuburbia future where people rate each other on a Facebook-style phone app, and the rating affects almost everything about your life from where you can live or work to your priority for hospital treatment. Everyone is always smiling and wears bright, inoffensive pastel colors. However, everyone is also narcissistic and obsessed with status; HappinessIsMandatory (as you being upset or negative might make other people around you upset and get them to downvote you... and you really don't want ''that''), DisproportionateRetribution over slight social faux pas is rife, and it's all enough to drive the SocialClimber protagonist LaughingMad by the end of the episode. The only person in the whole story [[DarkIsNotEvil who wears black]] is [[spoiler:the prisoner in the cell opposite Lacie's in the end, with whom Lacie sprints towards a mix of VitriolicBestBuds and LoveAtFirstSight]].

* In ''Roleplay/TheDigimonEpicsCivilWarReboot'', Rhuell Argentum, TheEmperor of the [[TheEmpire Metal Empire]], is a Shoutmon [=EX6=], which is mostly bright, shiny gold.

* The tabletop game ''Polaris'' is built around this trope, as it deals with a perfect civilization under the stars whose destruction is heralded by the appearance of the sun. The dawn's first appearance is described in the gamebook: "Light coming up from the edge of the sky, colors [[red:redder]] than stars, new shades that had never been seen, yellow and [[green:green]] and [[gold:golden]] through the icicle walls, burning out the stars from the sky, brilliant and impossible and beautiful and alien."

* ''TabletopGame/PrincessTheHopeful'': Princesses of Mirrors have a strong light motif, to the point where one of their nicknames is "Lightbringers". They are also narcisstic brats who have a strong tendency to get others killed due to their own overconfidence.
** Similarly, the colors of the Court of Storms are white, [[SicklyGreenGlow acid-green]], and steel-gray, and they are the Court of "destroy anything touched by the Darkness, no matter the collateral damage".

[[folder:Toys]]
* ''Franchise/TheTransformers'':
** From the [[Franchise/TransformersGeneration1 the good ol' 80s series and comics]] through ''[[Anime/TransformersCybertron Cybertron]],'' Starscream of ''[[{{Franchise.Transformers}} Transformers]]'' had a red, white, and blue color palette, the same as BigGood [[PrimaryColorChampion Optimus Prime]], and generally brighter and friendlier colors than the darker-colored Decepticons. He really stands out amongst the Seekers, his PaletteSwap buddies from the original series. You've got Starscream's bright and friendly colors next to Skywarp's black, Thundercracker's dark blue, and the mass-produced {{Mooks}}' light purple. Of course, he is, well, TheStarscream; you can't trust anything about him.
** The G2 toyline featured a large number of G1 toys with completely new color schemes. Many Autobots got darker color schemes, while a large number of Decepticons suddenly got flashy neon appearances (which often ranged from "garish" to [[FashionVictimVillain "eye-searing"]] in intensity).
[[/folder]]

* The real world in ''[[VideoGame/DmCDevilMayCry Devil May Cry's]]'' [[VideoGame/DmCDevilMayCry reboot]] is gloom and somber while the demon world has extremely vivid colors.
* ''VideoGame/Destiny2'': Starting in ''The Witch Queen'', the [[ArtEvolution art design]] for the [[BigBad Darkness and the Black Pyramids]] began incorporating a colorful, high-contrast, almost toyetic palette to what once was previously a uniform and oppressive gloom. These colors primarily being seen on abstract murals and iconography, the intent was to convey a sense of alien culture and symbolic meaning incomprehensible to outsiders such as the player, and the simple, toy-like designs tie in to previous allusions about the whole MythArc resembling a game played between vast, godlike entities.

* Ozma from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'' is a big colourful swirly energy ball thingy. It is what happens when an Eidolon (a God essentially) [[LossOfIdentity forgets who it is]]. It's the toughest boss in the game, and, thankfully, optional.
* [[MonsterClown Kefka Palazzo]] from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' wears an outfit with many vivid colors and different patterns on it. His goal is to destroy the world.
* The entire world of Spira in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' is, as a rule, vividly colorful and sunny. It's also described by a few characters later in the game as being a "Spiral of Death," and the bright colors are there to distract everyone from their misery.
* ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'': [[SuckECheeses Freddy Fazbear's Pizza]] is full of balloons, streamers, children's drawings, and candy-colored animatronics. [[HostileAnimatronics And death.]]
* None of the examples in this folder are as psychotic as ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'''s Kratos, the Ghost of Sparta, however. His skin, rather literally, is pale white, but he was enough of a madman to [[spoiler:destroy all of Sparta and the Pantheon associated with it just for revenge. Granted, he would make a genuine attempt to defy this in the [[VideoGame/GodOfWarPS4 Norse lands due to having a son.]]]]

** [[spoiler:[[BigBadFriend Marx]],]] the FinalBoss of ''VideoGame/KirbySuperStar'' is a brightly colored jester with lavender skin, a red and blue jester hat, and large golden wings with multicolored flashing hexagons under them serving as membranes. Despite the bright color scheme, he's an AxCrazy VillainousHarlequin who tricked the sun and moon into fighting, used Kirby to summon Galactic Nova, [[spoiler:stole his wish so he can control Popstar,]] and left him to die in the void of space. [[spoiler:He gets even more colorful as [[BackFromTheDead Marx Soul]] in the remake's True Arena; his body becomes a bright purple, his wings turn into a dark magenta, the hearts on them become sky blue, his tongue becomes bright pink, his jester hat becomes brighter, and he has a gold necklace with a pink gem in the center which is presumably made from the remains of Nova.]]

** There's also [[spoiler:Star Dream]] from ''VideoGame/KirbyPlanetRobobot''. It is a powerful, interdimensional supercomputer which powers the entire Access Ark that President Haltmann tries to use against Kirby after having his butt handed to him. [[spoiler:However, once [[TheStarscream Susie]] stealing the control helmet for Star Dream causes it to assimilate Haltmann's body and gain sentience, it becomes self-aware of the world around it and seeks to ''[[OmnicidalManiac commit omnicide]]'' to achieve ultimate prosperity. Then, when Kirby knocks off the front covering of the Access Ark, it turns out that Star Dream itself is another ''Galactic Nova.'' That's right - another clockwork star just like the one that was destroyed by Marx back in ''Super Star.'' It's Soul OS form even takes on the color scheme of the original Nova.]]

** [[spoiler:Void Termina's true form, Void Soul and Void in ''VideoGame/KirbyStarAllies''. His true form is bright pink just like ''Kirby himself,'' Void Soul is entirely baby blue, while Void is straight-up RedAndWhiteAndEerieAllOver with multicolored veins coursing through his body. They're also the stronger forms of the game's - and by extension, ''the entire franchise's'' - GreaterScopeVillain.]]

* ''VideoGame/PlanetSide'' has the [[MachineCult Vanu Sovereignty]] and the [[LaResistance New Conglomerate]] rebels, which have bright purple/teal and bright blue/yellow armor, respectively. The Sovereignty are fanatically devoted to ([[UnwillingRoboticisation forcibly]]) "uplifting" humanity. The Conglomerate are devoted to personal freedom, [[MegaCorp corporate profits]], [[PrivatelyOwnedSociety libertarianism]], and laissez-faire capitalism.

** The Sha are creatures imbued with Shadow energy, but they use white flames aside from the Sha of Pride which uses dark blue shadowy bolts. Their forms are deep black with white highlights, combining BrightIsNotGood with DarkIsEvil.

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}''
** The Schnee family is entirely white themed. Their surname means "snow" and those born into the family have names that evoke whiteness. The red-themed founder of the Schnee Dust Company, Nicholas, is a good man who uses his wealth to lift the people of Mantle out of poverty. However, the family head, Jacques Schnee, marries into the family and takes on the family's name and symbols after taking over the business from Nicholas. Under his leadership, the SDC loses the beacon of quality and philanthropy; as a stately, white-haired, white-suited man, he looks the part and engages in good PR, but is a greedy businessman who not only maximises profit by cutting corners on quality, suppressing wages and workers rights, but who also terrorises his own family and seeks to control every aspect of their lives.
** Since his first appearance, General James Ironwood dresses in pristine white garb befitting his status as a headmaster and general dedicated to protecting Remnant's citizens. However, he willingly turns on his own allies if he thinks they're not up to the job, taking authority away from them in favour of giving it to himself. When he does it to Ozpin in the second volume, it brings Qrow back to Beacon, prepared to pick a fight over Ironwood's behaviour. Five volumes later, the Atlesian Council becomes increasingly concerned about his growing ability to circumvent their power in favour of placing himself in command of all the sensitive decisions. [[spoiler:Eventually, Ironwood descends so far into authoritarianism in his fight against Salem to the point where he becomes an ArcVillain in Volume 8.]]

* ''Webcomic/{{Royal Blue}}'': The King of Steira, despite being bright blue, is an evil coward and abusive father.

[[folder:Web Original]]

* ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'': Negaduck wears yellow, red and black--the colors of the venomous coral snake--to contrast hero Darkwing Duck's more toned down [[RealMenWearPink purple, pink and teal]] color scheme.
** And he appears after DW's oldest and most recurring enemy, Megavolt, whose yellow jumpsuit, giant battery and plug helmet act as beacons to his being an electrical powerhouse making his very powers both bright and deadly.
* The Gigglepies and their CrapsaccharineWorld from ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents''.
* Giffany from the ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' episode "Soos and the Real Girl" is an {{Animesque}} character from a dating sim whose color scheme is primarily bright pink. She also turns out to be [[ClingyJealousGirl incredibly possessive]], to [[{{Yandere}} psychotic extremes]].
** The BigBad [[Characters/GravityFallsBillCipher Bill Cipher]] takes this further, being a bright yellow triangle, who produces blue flames when he [[DealWithTheDevil makes his deals]], as well as his Henchmainiacs, interdementional beings who are all bright colors.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePilgrimsProgress2019'':
** Mr. Worldly Wiseman wears brightly colored fancy clothes but he nearly gets Christian killed with his advice.
** Vanity Fair runs a perpetual carnival that is very bright and colorful, but the people immediately resort to violence when rebuffed, ultimately killing Faithful.

* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantis_shrimp mantis shrimp]]. It's brightly colored, probably much more colorful than our eyes and brains can handle - especially since it has 16 varieties of cone receptors in its eyes (compared to the 3 varietes we have), allowing it to see an almost impossibly wide light spectrum. It also looks really cute, in an [[EldritchAbomination alien sort of way]]. It also [[OmnicidalManiac brutally, happily murders everything around it]] with its claws, delivering [[MegatonPunch dismembering supersonic punches]] which deal massive damage even when they miss, because the water around the claw starts boiling due to friction caused by the speed of these punches. It's strong enough to punch through aquarium glass (which, coupled with the aforementioned bloodlust, makes it a poor choice for most aquariums) and injure human beings, and has earned an affectionate nickname ''thumb splitter'', since that's what will happen if you try to touch it. Oh, and those claws? They're so tough that scientists would love to replicate their structure, in case it can be reproduced in human scale and used in the military.

** The BigBad Bill Cipher takes this further, being a bright yellow triangle, who produces blue flames when he [[DealWithTheDevil makes his deals]], as well as his Henchmainiacs, interdementional beings who are all bright colors.

* ''Literature/ElricOfMelnibone'': Melniboné is one of the archetypal [[TheEmpire evil empires of high fantasy]], a place of fabulous wealth, corruption, and decadent cruelty sometimes called the Bright Empire, which once conquered the world with fleets of gold-plated warships and ruled from a shining city called Immrryr. Their emperors traditionally hold court atop a throne carved from a single gigantic ruby. Having decayed to a VestigialEmpire hasn't put a damper on either their fondness for light and bright colors or their sadistic hobbies (their favorite musical instrument is constructed by mutilating slaves so that each one can only scream a single, perfect note).

* ''Literature/ElricOfMelnibone'': Melniboné is one of the archetypal [[TheEmpire evil empires of high fantasy]], a place of fabulous wealth, corruption, and decadent cruelty sometimes called the Bright Empire, which once conquered the world with fleets of gold-plated warships and ruled from a shining city called Immrryr. Having decayed to a VestigialEmpire hasn't put a damper on either their fondness for light and bright colors or their sadistic hobbies (their favorite musical instrument is constructed by mutilating slaves so that each one can only scream a single, perfect note).

* In ''WebOriginal/BrigScarletFlamingo'', brightness of a colour scheme usually corresponds to its user’s moral greyness at best.

* ''Film/{{Midsommar}}'' is a horror film where the villains, a commune of fair-haired Swedes, is strongly associated with light and bright colors. They wear white tunics with colorful accents, cover themselves in brightly colored flowers, and paint their temple bright yellow. The sun is always shining, because it's summer, so it's an example of DaylightHorror as well.

* In ''Film/RobRoy'', Archibald Cunningham is a foppish swordsman who wears a variety of pastel-colored clothes and who commits theft, arson, and the rape of a woman and a boy.

* In ''Film/TronLegacy'', where everyone is ColorCodedForYourConvenience, [[BigBad CLU]] and his {{mooks}} wear black robes with luminescent lines. CLU and his army actually use harsher colors (reds and oranges) while everyone else uses light, brilliant shades (blue and white) for their lights. Castor, on the other hand, wears all white.
* In ''Film/Venom2018'', Riot is the symbiote with the lightest color, silver, and is by far the most vicious and depraved of its crew.
* In ''Film/XMenFirstClass'', Azazel's skin is vivid red.

** ''ComicBook/XMen'': A villainous shapeshifter and longtime foe of the X-Men, Characters/{{Mystique}}'s true form has [[AmazingTechnicolorPopulation blue skin]], [[EvilRedhead red hair]], [[YellowEyesOfSneakiness yellow eyes]], and wears white clothing.

* From ''Literature/HarryPotter''
** Avada Kedavra, the Killing Curse, is cast as a vivid green light.

** ... until Dolores Umbridge and her obsession with [[pink:pink]] came around in ''Literature/OrderOfThePhoenix''.

* ''VideoGame/HyperLightDrifter'': Oooooooh yes. The world is replete with [[OrangeAndBlueContrast bright, pinkish reds pale, sickly blues and greens]]. Sounds like a jogging outfit from TheEighties, but instead it emphasizes a sense of [[SceneryGorn worldwide wrongness]].