Blue Means Smart One

I wanted to call this trope 'Light reflections of 4400-4700 angstroms alludes to advanced intellect' but I was told it was too wordy.

The color blue is often associated with intelligence, wisdom, and logic. Those who are associated with the color blue tend to possess great knowledge about various subjects, from high grades in school subjects to mastery over technology and science.

Since Red Is Violent and Blue Is Calm, blue is used to represent rational characters who are more likely to use their high intellect and strategic mind to solve problems.

In fiction, characters with a blue Color Motif tend to be made into The Smart Guy of The Team or if a team isn't involved, their intelligence is their most outstanding feature in comparison to their peers. In a cast with Color-Coded Characters, the blue character should be expected to be the smartest. If there's a red character in the same group, they're likely to form a Red Oni, Blue Oni dynamic.

Note that the character wearing blue or having blue traits is not enough to count for the trope. They have to be part of an ensemble, be it a whole cast or just a small group, where the only character or faction represented by blue is the smartest and majorly characterized by their high intelligence.

Sub-Trope of The Smart Guy. See also True Blue Femininity, and Blue Is Heroic.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Asteroid in Love: Ao Manaka is uniquely designed to have a blue Color Motif: she has blue hair and blue eyes, and her name means exactly that. She also plays The Smart Girl role in the Earth Science Club in this School Club Story, being an astronomy geek who's also strong in the sciences, as well as the Only Sane Woman after Mikage's been Graduate from the Story.
• Bakugan: Marucho is the smart one among the brawlers, as he's very logical and he knows a lot about the rules of the game . He uses Aquos Bakugan, which are blue in color, and his outfits always incorporate blue.
• Black Butler: In the prestigious school Weston College, there are four houses for students with specific talents. Sapphire Owl, represented by the color blue, is for the smartest and most studious students.
• The Case Study of Vanitas: The two protagonists have a Color Motif; purple for Noé and blue for Vanitas. They form a Brains and Brawn dynamic with Vanitas being the Brains, as he's a vampire doctor and Guile Hero who is very knowledgeable about the World Formula and Curse Bearers. While Noé mostly relies on brute strength for a fight, Vanitas prefers to use his wit and deception.
• Cute High Earth Defense Club Happy Kiss!: Taishi Manza (Neve Kiss) is the blue-coloured member of the Five-Man Band comprised of five magical boys. He wears glasses, is Book Smart, and has a "bookish demeanor".
• Digimon Data Squad: Tohma/Thomas is a Teen Genius, who graduated from university at the age of 13, and functions as both The Lancer and The Smart Guy among the main characters. He also mostly wears blue, has a blue Digivice, and his Digimon partner is Gaomon, who is a blue bipedal dog.
• EDENS ZERO: Hermit represents the "Mind of Edens" of the Four Shining Stars, and displays unrivaled computer programming and hacking skills. She's a female android with the appearance of a girl with blue eyes and light blue hair, wears blue headphones and partly blue outfits, and her Battle Dress comes with a blue Battle Aura in the anime.
• Fairy Tail: Lucy Heartfilia's main outfits are partly blue colored and she is befitting herself as The Smart Girl of Natsu's team. She's a Badass Bookworm who uses her intelligence as a way to win battles against her stronger foes.
• Future Robot Daltanious: Manabu Karui is a 12-year-old Kid Hero who wears glasses and primarily dresses in blue. He frequently creates upgrades for Daltanious and in one episode, contributed to a devastated city's recovery by opening a windmill power plant and creating a system that helped restore electricity to it. In contrast, the Hot-Blooded Idiot Hero Kento wears red.
• Jewelpet Twinkle☆: Sara is a Teen Genius who likes science, especially chemistry, physics, and inventions, and is constantly reading magic books. Her magic and knowledge are the highest in Akari's class. She has blue hair, her magical girl outfit is blue and her Jewelpet is the blue-themed Sapphie.
• Kill la Kill: Houka Inumuta, the smartest member of the Elite Four, is in charge of Honnouji Academy's information and strategy committee, aiding the student council by analyzing information via his laptop. He has light blue hair, wears blue glasses, and his Probe Regalia Mk.II covers him in a light blue armor.
• Pretty Cure:
  • Played With in the original Futari wa Pretty Cure: Honoka Yukishiro's main color as a Cure is white, but her still quite prominent secondary color is blue. She's considered her school's science ace and spends a lot of her time wearing a lab coat over her school uniform.
  • Yes! Pretty Cure 5: Karen Minazuki/Cure Aqua is the Student Council President of her school and wishes to become a doctor when she grows up. She is the Pretty Cure of Intelligence and has the power of water.
  • Smile PreCure!: Reika Aoki/Cure Beauty is the Vice President of the school council and the Team Mom of the group who is more levelheaded and wise than her teammates, which often reflects in her refined speech. She has blue hair and wears blue, both as a Cure and a civilian.
  • Doki Doki Pretty Cure: Rikka Hishikawa/Cure Diamond's theme color is blue and she's a Badass Bookworm who once managed to scare a herd of MOTWs simply by shouting out a long number, and like Reika, she often uses ice in her attacks.
  • Go! Princess Pretty Cure: Minami Kaido/Cure Mermaid is another Student Council President with a blue color scheme in her Cure attire who has water and ice powers. She gets good grades and is the daughter of a wealthy CEO (although she wishes to work as a veterinarian for marine life instead).
  • HuGtto! Pretty Cure: Saaya Yakushiji/Cure Ange is a child actress who is known as the Pretty Cure of Wisdom, whose theme color is blue. She's a Barrier Warrior who often assists her teammates well in battle. She's also the Class Representative of Hana's class.
  • Healin' Good♡Pretty Cure: Chiyu Sawaizumi/Cure Fontaine is the Pretty Cure of Water and her theme color is blue. She's very intelligent, especially regarding science.
• Robot Romance Trilogy: Subverted with the first two entries of the trilogy (Combattler V and Voltes V), where The Smart Guy of each team (Kosuke Kita and Hiyoshi Go, respectively) wears green. The Super Robot Wars 30 DLC even lampshades this.
• Sailor Moon: Ami Mizuno/Sailor Mercury, the blue member of the Inner Sailor Guardians. She serves as The Smart Girl of the team, as she is highly intelligent. She can also use a scanning visor to get information and a handheld supercomputer to calculate more information.
• Wedding Peach: Yuri Tanima/Angel Lily, the member of the Love Angels with a blue magical girl outfit, gets the best grades of the group. She also is the calmest and wisest.
• Yuki Yuna is a Hero: When she transforms, Mimori Togo gets a blue magical girl outfit and she is the smartest of the Hero Club. She runs their website and has a lot of computer knowledge. Her magical girl powers are sniper-based which also plays to Smart People Shoot as snipers generally have to be good at mathematics to calculate shots.

Comic Books

• X-Men: Doctor Henry "Hank" McCoy, also known as Beast, has blue fur as a result of experimenting on himself to increase his physical attributes and possesses a genius level intellect. Some of the fields that he has expertise in are biochemistry, medicine and genetics, astrophysics, and computer engineering.

Fan Works

• Dungeon Keeper Ami: The titular Ami is the blue member and The Smart Girl of the Sailor Senshi. And that's before she got Trapped in Another World; then she uses modern world science to be an Outside-Context Problem to the medieval-era plus magic world of Adushul.

Films — Animation

• Beauty and the Beast: During the first part of the film, Belle is introduced with her blue dress and white apron ensemble during her "I Want" Song/Crowd Song "Belle", where she complains about her static village life. She also stands out as the only one in her village who is wearing blue clothing. During the number, she goes to the bookshop and tries to borrow another book, but the seller allows her to have one for free; in another sequence, she tries to talk to someone about the story of a book she read; and other villagers comment about her being a bookworm and having her nose stuck in a book.
• Inside Out: Sadness is the blue one of Riley's emotions. She's also a Cute Bookworm who's read all the Mind Manuals, which is very beneficial for her and Joy in their travel through Long-Term Memory.
• Megamind: The eponymous character is a blue-skinned alien in a cast of humans and his supervillain outfit is partly blue. He's also literally big-brained and his main ability is building highly advanced technology.
• The Super Mario Bros. Movie: The Toad General wears glasses and a blue uniform and has blue spots on his cap. Fitting his appearance, he's the smartest Toad in the Mushroom Kingdom, providing Peach with intel on Bowser's conquests.

Films — Live-Action

• Power Rangers (2017): Like in the original series, the Blue Ranger Billy Cranston is The Smart Guy of the team. He's able to easily deactivate an ankle monitor to trick the police and he figures out the location of the Zeo Crystal.

Literature

• Divergent: Blue is the signature colour of Erudite, the faction dedicated to knowledge and intelligence. Most Erudites wear at least one blue clothing item in their outfits, as the colour is supposed to aid their concentration.
• The Familiar of Zero: Among Louise's classmates, the blue-haired Tabitha wears glasses and is usually seen reading a book.
• Harry Potter: The Hogwarts School is divided into four Houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. The Ravenclaw House is characterized by the wisdom, wit, and intellect of its members. Said house is represented by the color blue and its representative gemstone is the blue sapphire.
• Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation: Roxy Migurdia has blue hair and eyes. She's the Brains in the Beauty, Brains, and Brawn trio formed by Rudeus' three love interests. Rudeus even names Roxy as the "Goddess of Wisdom" in the exclusive religion he eventually forms to worship his three wives.

Live-Action TV

• The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Among the Southlanders shown on the screen, Bronwyn is the smartest and most rational person. She is a healer with vast knowledge and wears a blue dress all the time. She is the only one who takes serious the threat of the Orcs, and in times of need she proved to be a level-headed leader.
• Power Rangers:
  • Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers:
    • The first Blue Ranger Billy Cranston is The Smart Guy of the original team.
    • Cestro, the Blue Ranger of the Alien Rangers of Aquitar, is The Smart Guy like his Earth counterpart.
  • Power Rangers Turbo: Justin, the Blue Ranger, is only twelve but picks up Billy's role and has skipped a few grades thanks to his genius mind.
  • Power Rangers in Space: T.J. is The Strategist of the group, very level-headed, and the Blue Ranger.
  • Power Rangers: Dino Thunder: The Blue Ranger Ethan James is a hacker genius and techno-geek. He naturally plays The Smart Guy of his team.
  • Power Rangers Megaforce: Noah Carver is the geeky and smart Blue Ranger of his team.
  • Power Rangers Dino Fury: Ollie Akana is the Blue Ranger of his team and is a young scientist who regularly assists his mother in her scholarly endeavors. In the sequel series, Cosmic Fury, the villains seem to notice this too and single him out for mind control. During his time on the dark side, Ollie applies his brains to be The Strategist of Lord Zedd's forces.
• Scrubs: The show portrays medical residents as being more intelligent and thoughtful than the surgeons, who are portrayed as meatheads who are mostly good for cutting up patients. Medical residents wear blue scrubs, while the surgeons wear green.
• Stargate Atlantis: Scientists of the Atlantis expedition wear blue-accented uniforms.
• Star Trek: Science Officers wear blue uniforms across almost all incarnations of the setting.
• Super Sentai:
  • Choujuu Sentai Liveman: Megumi Misaki/Blue Dolphin is the smartest of the team, she and the other two founding members of the team are all alumni of the Academia Island elite school but the other two ^note  - Yuusuke Amamiya/Red Falcon and Jou Oohara/Yellow Lion - were always near the bottom in school rankings whereas Megumi was ranked as the third best student in the entire mega-school.
  • Engine Sentai Go-onger: Renn Kosaka/Go-OnBlue is a knowledgeable bus driver who serves as the team's brains. His team uniform even has the word "Encyclopedia" to describe him.
  • Ressha Sentai ToQger: Haru "Tokatti" Tokashiki/ToQ #2 is Book Smart and primarily fights as the Blue Ranger of his team.
  • Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger: Melto/RyusoulBlue is the wise Blue Ranger of the team who serves as its primary tactician.
  • Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger: Vroon/Zenkai Vroon is a blue-colored Kikainoid whose endless curiosity is as likely to get the Zenkaigers in trouble as it is to save the day.
  • Avataro Sentai Donbrothers: Shinichi Saruhara/Saru Brother is the Blue Ranger of the Donbrothers who is also its most philosophical and sagely member.
  • Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger: Yanma Gast/Tonbo Ohger is the Blue Ranger of the team whose technological expertise allowed him to turn his kingdom N'Kosopa into a futuristic Tomorrowland.
  • Bakuage Sentai Boonboomger: Ishiro Meita/Bun Blue is the Blue Ranger of the team who uses his analytical skills to formulate plans to carry out the Boonboomger's operations.

Tabletop Games

• Dungeons & Dragons: Cloud Giants are typically depicted with pale blue skin and are the smartest and cleverest of all giant-kind.
• Magic: The Gathering: Each of the five colours of mana is associated with specific themes, philosophies, and forms of thought. Blue mana is tied to wit and intelligence — whether that's as a Guile Hero, Information Broker, using Anti-Magic to negate critical pieces of an opponent's plan, being a Science Hero, or just generally attacking where an opponent cannot defend.
• Warhammer: Each of the four primary Gods of Chaos has a strong color theme. Tzeentch, the god of trickery, sorcery, secrets, and knowledge, is associated with the color blue — his daemons are blue, his cultists dress in blue, his Impossible Fortress is made of blue crystal, and the god himself is colored blue when he's depicted directly.

Theatre

• Six: The Musical: Catherine Parr has blue as her Color Motif and is The Smart Girl of the six wives. She mentions advocating for women's education and the fact that she was the first queen consort to publish a book under her own name.

Toys

• Jewelpet: Sapphie is the smartest and most studious of the three mascot characters. She relies mainly on both science and magic in all of her studies. She's a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel dog with cornflower blue ears and her Jewel Eyes are made out of blue sapphires. Her Magical Class is Blue.

Video Games

• Dawncaster: The game uses a Class and Level System based on the Fighter, Mage, Thief fantasy classes that include intelligence, strength, and dexterity as key attributes Color-Coded for Your Convenience: intelligence is blue, strength is red, and dexterity is green. Each of the 6 classes starts off with 2 skill points coming from those attributes. In a case of Magic Is Mental, the Arcanist (the game's Mage class) starts off with 2 intelligence skill points.
• Eternal Darkness Sanitys Requiem: The main antagonists of the game, The Ancients are Lovecraftian Entities that are each associated with a specific color. One of these beings is Ulyaoth who takes the form of a giant jellyfish-like creature who is associated with blue and is The Chessmaster of the three Ancients.
• Final Fantasy XIV:
  • When you first meet Alphinaud and Alisaie, they're dressed in matching blue outfits out of place in Eorzea, marking them as being from Sharlayan, a nation of scholars. They're also the youngest graduates of the Studium, Sharlayan's finest college, at sixteen years old. They each possess a wealth of knowledge of diplomacy, aetherology, and magic, but not to the extent of those who have spent additional time to earn their archon's mark.
  • The uniform of Garlond Ironworks, a company staffed by some of the greatest magitek engineers in the world, consists of a blue doublet and slops in contrast to the black and red worn by Garlean soldiers. The Ironworks' engineering expertise proves invaluable to the heroes as they save Eorzea time and again.
  • In the Hildibrand quests, the good inspector's rival, Briardien, is a silver-haired Elezen dressed in blue and a skilled Amateur Sleuth. This contrasts him against Hildibrand, a Clueless Detective dressed in a black and white tuxedo. Briardien frequently performs Sherlock Scans to make logical deductions while setting elaborate traps for the Thief of Many Faces.
• The Legend of Zelda: Nayru, one of the three golden goddesses, is the goddess of wisdom and created the laws of the world. She is strongly associated with the color blue.
• Persona 4: Naoto Shirogane has blue hair and wears a lot of blue clothing and leads the Investigation Team's study group while also being a professional detective at the young age of 16.
• Rainbow Friends: Two of the titular Rainbow Friends, Blue and Cyan, play with this trope a bit. On one hand, Blue is the easiest of the bunch to outsmart, being easily fooled by hiding in a box and stopping dead in his tracks the moment someone leaves his vision. On the other hand, Cyan plays this trope straight, being the only enemy to actually notice whether a box moves and attacks accordingly.
• Super Mario Bros.:
  • Paper Mario 64: Mario's ally Goombario is the only one of the partners associated with the colour blue (his blue cap). He is also the game's Exposition Fairy, and, when he uses his "Tattle" command (in and out of battle), he blabs a description about a character or place.
  • Hint Toad, a member of the Toad Brigade (a recurring team of Toads introduced in Super Mario Galaxy), has blue spots on his cap and wears large spectacles. Fitting his appearance, he acts as the brains of the group, giving Mario helpful advice.

Web Comics

• The Order of the Stick: Roy wears blue armor. He is a fighter, and while fighters are stereotypically not that smart, he has an unusually high intelligence for a fighter, and is the one in the main cast with the most common sense. In fact, he is the one whose brain the mind flayer likes best.

Web Original

• Random Encounters: In "Pac-Man: The Musical," Inky, the blue ghost, seems to be the most intelligent of the ghosts. He uses the most sophisticated language of all of them, and even uses Gratuitous French.

Western Animation

• The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin: Gimmick is the scientist and inventor of the Trio and the one who always wears blue.
• Alvin and the Chipmunks: Simon is the smartest of the Chipmunks (as indicated by his glasses) and is almost always clad in blue.
• Captain Planet and the Planeteers: Gi is a college student, a scientist in training, and the Planeteer who knows the most about technology. Her water powers are colored blue.
• Code Lyoko: Jeremie Belpois wears a blue shirt and shoes for the first three seasons. He's The Smart Guy of the Lyoko Warriors, playing Mission Control and helping his teammates with his astonishing computing skills while they fight in the Cyberspace.
• The Fairly OddParents!: Timmy's friend A.J. is a straight-A student who is so intelligent that the government has sought him out for his technical assistance. He wears a light blue sweater vest and is the only one in the main cast who wears blue.
• Hey Arnold!: Among the girls in Arnold's class, the smartest one is Phoebe Heyerdahl who also happens to be the only girl who is always clad in a blue dress.
• Kim Possible:
  • Wade is a Child Prodigy who serves as The Smart Guy and Mission Control of Kim's team. He also created most of Kim's gadgets, such as the Kimmunicator. He's almost always wearing a blue T-shirt and jeans.
  • On the villains' side, Dr. Drakken has a blue Color Motif, wearing a blue outfit and even having blue skin. He's a genius robotics inventor and engineer who uses his devices to try and conquer the world.
• The Owl House: Augustus "Gus" Porter is The Smart Guy of the Hexsquad, being smart enough to take high school-level classes despite being 12 years old. He specializes in the light blue-coded illusion magic.
• Inverted in Pac-Man: The blue ghost, Inky, is typically the dumbest of the five.
• Steven Universe:
  • Pearl's gemstone is white, but she's the only one of the initial Crystal Gem trio who wears blue. She's an intellectual strategist who usually serves as The Smart Girl for the core team.
  • Sapphire, the blue Gem of the Red Oni, Blue Oni duo that fuses into Garnet of the Crystal Gems. She's intelligent and wise, having the power of precognition. Her thoughtful and logical behavior is a direct contrast to the red Ruby's emotional and irrational approach to things. When these two Gems aren't fused, Sapphire is usually coming up with a plan for the team.
• Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!: The blue monkey Mr. Hal Gibson is the team's science officer and the most logical member.
• Thomas & Friends: Thomas is painted blue and approaches life on the railway with curiosity and dedication.
• Trollz: Sapphire Trollzawa is The Smart Girl of the BFFL. She takes school-related things the most seriously out of all five of them. She has blue hair and bright blue eyes, she wears a blue sweater, and her gem is blue.

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