Good Costume Switch

Ashi turns over a new leaf.

"But there is something that I need your help with. I can't wear these Kree colors anymore. And since you are obviously the only person around here with any sense of style..."

— Carol Danvers to a young Monica Rambeau, Captain Marvel (2019)

Bob has decided to give up his evil ways. Perhaps he met a special person, found a few True Companions, had a Heel–Faith Turn or Heel Realization or maybe he became a pacifist. Whatever the reason, he's resolved to be good from now on. In order to show that his old self is gone for good, he decides to change his outward appearance. Bob gives himself an Important Haircut, puts on a new suit, gets rid of his evil tattoos, and so forth. Just don't rule out Reformed, but Not Tamed.

Popular changes include going from generic evil colors like red and black to generic good ones like white and gold, shaving the Beard of Evil, growing your hair out from the Bald of Evil, and covering up evil scars. Donning a cape is also a good choice.

A Sub-Trope of Significant Wardrobe Shift. Contrast Evil Costume Switch.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Used in Afro Samurai: Resurrection - Toward the end of the movie, half of Kuma's mask is knocked off, around the same time he begins thinking about his actions. Later, when he decides to try and protect Afro, he tears the other half off (in the process, showing that Cybernetics DON'T Eat Your Soul). That said, Afro being the Anti-Hero bordering Villain Protagonist he is, and the show having such Gray-and-Grey Morality, it's debatable whether this is a good or evil costume switch...
• Solomon Goldsmith from Blood+ When he decided to switch to Saya's Side he changes his White Suit for a Black Suit which also invokes Dark Is Not Evil as well.
  • This has a significance in-story; Solomon was wearing white when he first met Diva and so pledged to wear white from then on as a sign of devotion to her. The black suit showed he was renouncing his devotion to Diva in favor of Saya.
• The first Reinforce of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's, who loses the red Facial Markings and red belts after she's cleansed of her berserked defense program.
  • Agito in ViVid and Force has a new, less revealing barrier jacket that looks somewhat like the one Signum wears. Similarly, Nove, Wendi, Dieci and Cinque^note though she still keeps wearing her Badass Longcoat over hers are shown wearing barrier jackets that are slightly different from their previous ones, swapping their old Latex Space Suit outfits for a Leotard of Power instead.
• Used in Fruits Basket as Akito stops wearing the manly kimono of evil and starts wearing cuter clothing.
• Juvia gets a new costume after she joins Fairy Tail, though this doesn't happen until at least 40 chapters after her Heel–Face Turn.
  • Similarly late, Bixlow loses the skulls on his shoulders and gains a tuft on his hood for his and Fried's Big Damn Heroes moment in the S Class Trial arc, making him look like a knight.
  • When Laxus shows up to fight Hades, he's dressed in a simple white traveling cloak. Not so much a change to good as something extremely simple and humble compared with his usual fur-lined Coat Cape.
  • Ultear never really had a trademark outfit, but she wears less makeup and her clothes become less revealing after her Heel–Face Turn.
• Fresh Pretty Cure!:
  • When recurring Quirky Miniboss Squad members Westar and Souler come back from deletion to help the Cures, their heretofore predominantly black uniforms are changed into predominantly white ones.
  • On a less spoilery note, Setsuna gets a full makeover when she does her Heel–Face Turn, trading in her black dress and silver hair (Eas) for a red dress and pink hair with a winged tiara (Cure Passion).
• Siren/Ellen in Suite Pretty Cure ♪ changes her casual outfit to have brighter colors and a new music note styled hairpiece when she officially becomes a good guy.
  • Every other villain from Minor Land get his old (good) costume back, after being de-brainwashed.
• Digimon Tamers has a subtle way of going about this. While not necessarily a villain, Rika initally wears a shirt with a broken heart, but after she starts to recognize the Power of Friendship and realize that she can't do everything herself, this shirt is exchanged for one with a normal, non-broken heart on it.
  • Also, Beelzemon goes from Red Eyes, Take Warning to the green eyes of his Impmon form when he gains his Blast Mode upgrade and joins the team, completing his Heel–Face Turn.
  • A different Beelzemon: In Digimon Fusion, The Dragon Reapmon sides with the heroes and is injured. He is restored into a new form in time to be a Big Damn Hero: namely, Beelzemon. Of course, visually speaking, it's only a fitting form for a Good Costume Switch because we remember the other one from Tamers. There's nothing friendly-looking about him; if anything, his original form was less mean-looking.
• Digimon Adventure 02:
  • When Ken went to the Digital World for the first 21 episodes, it was as the Digimon Emperor, with a futuristic cape and suit. When he undergoes his My God, What Have I Done? Heel Realization, the Emperor outfit fades away to his normal school uniform, which he wears for the rest of the series.
  • Yukio Oikawa, Ken's Man Behind the Man, typically has a deathly pale pallor to emphasize his villainous nature. In the final episode, his skin tone is normal, possibly suggesting that his pale skin was a side-effect of hosting Myotismon's spirit.
• Hisashi Mitsui in Slam Dunk. He starts as a Jerkass street thug full of rage, with Japanese thugs clothing (large trousers, etc...), long hair and a missing tooth (two missing teeth, after he meets Sakuragi). After he sees the light, and asks Anzai to accept him back in the team, he shows up at the gym with a sportsman attire, shaven hair and his "new teeth".
• Naruto: Gaara, Kankuro and Temari have new outfits when they reappear to help the Leaf Ninja in the Sasuke Retrieval Arc, explicitly meant to symbolize their new alliance with Konoha.
• Access from Akazukin Chacha wore black and dark blue armor. After his turn, his armor becomes white, red, orange and gold.
• Sailor Moon villains are often turned good by Sailor Moon and her posse. They usually appear later in new outfits. Most notable are the Black Moon Sisters and Sailor Galaxia.
  • Played with in Tin Nayanko's case. Sailor Moon's attack hits her bracelet purifying HALF of her from Galaxia's influence, turning half her costume white. Sadly Galaxia will have none of it and offs her.
• Livio the Double Fang from Trigun Maximum cuts his hair after his face heel turn, and later gets a cape and hat.
• Zolf in Slayers is first seen covered in full-body bandages, thanks to a Flare Arrow from Lina Inverse. His burns heal at the same times as his Heel–Face Turn.
• Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water. Grandis is the first villain of the series and wears a military uniform. When she announces her Heel–Face Turn she's wearing a dress and it becomes her standard outfit (unless she's going into battle).
• Though he was never explicitly evil Naito Kimija of Sacred Seven gets some new, white and blue armor from Ruri's sister when he goes to assist Alma in taking down Kenmi. A radically different look from his normally dark Sacred Seven armor.
• Dazai from Bungou Stray Dogs had a dark-themed wardrobe during his mafia days, and it was changed to one with lighter colors after his Heel–Face Turn.
• Although she's actually wearing the same costume from when she was a villain Eida in Dancougar Nova goes from being pale and sickly looking with dark lipstick to a regular complexion when she turns good. Her helmet also goes from being a Scary Shiny Visor to showing her eyes, and she goes from being monotone and robotic to her usual personality. Oddly its never explained why she suddenly looked like that as a villain (as she was a friend of the team and they didn't know she was action their rival and she looked and acted normal when with them) in the first place.
• In Dragon Ball Z, Vegeta starts off wearing a full suit of Saiyan armor. As the series continues, and Vegeta gradually undergoes a Heel–Face Turn he continues to stop wearing pieces of it, and by the time of the Buu arc he's just wearing the gloves and boots over the blue bodysuit. And at the very end of the series, once Vegeta has fully become a good guy and accepted the Earth as his home, he starts wearing Earthling clothes instead.
  • Then averted with Dragon Ball Super, which puts Vegeta back in the Cell-era Saiyan armor. Although he wears civvies with his family and the armor is probably just Fanservice.
  • Also played with using Vegeta's costume switch starting with Resurrection F. It has him donning an entirely new set of Saiyan armor but this armor is explicitly something made by Bulma for him to wear, reflecting both his Saiyan heritage AND his new identity as a resident of Earth. Notably, the grey bodysuit, in addition to giving Vegeta a much lighter color palate overall, makes his Super Saiyan Blue transformation stand out even moreso when he uses it.
• Buso Renkin: After completing his character development, and became an Urban Legend during the epiloge, Papillon switches his purple butterfly logo to orange.
• Assassination Classroom: After being reinstated to Class-E despite her brief Face–Heel Turn, Irina starts to wear more conservative clothes than the revealing ones she used to wear.
• In Magic Knight Rayearth, Caldina's dancer outfit is black in the first half when she's a villain. When she returns in the second half, she exchanges it for a white version.
• Justified in Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid. Ilulu started wearing loose t-shirts after her Heel–Face Turn to better fit in with humans (as they're the only clothes that fit and she wasn't skilled enough at transformation magic to make her own).
• Gundam
  • In Mobile Suit Gundam, Char Aznable wears an outfit consisting of mostly red, with a black and gold cloth shoulder shield, wearing a white mask and helmet. When he dons the heroic identity of Quattro Bajeena, he wears clothes with the same colors, but his new outfit is a sleeveless black and red vest with gold highlights, red pants, a white undershirt, and he replaces the helmet and mask with black sunglasses. After he goes back to being evil, he ditches the black entirely, going to a red suit with gold highlights and a dark red cape.
  • Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: After the AEUG steals the Gundam Mk. IIs, they replace most of the black Titan paintjob with white, more like the original Gundam.
  • The protagonists of Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans mostly use mobile suits they took from their enemies, which they customize both cosmetically and practically. The Gusion has a particularly extensive rework: The version◊ used by the vicious Space Pirate Kudal Cadel is so heavily armored it appears rotund and frog-like—characters are surprised it has a standard Gundam Frame underneath. Tekkaden completely redesign the exterior into Akihiro's Gusion Rebake◊, which only has remotely as much armor on its legs, shoulder, and back-mounted shield.
  • In Gundam Build Divers, when Ayame decides to pull a Heel–Face Turn for good, she modifies her old RX-ZeroMaru SD Gunpla to dump the predominant black for all white, losing a lot of the ninja motif in favor of making look more like its mainstream counterpart, the Unicorn Gundam.

Comic Books

• According to the Star Wars Legends Infinities comic book series (a series of What If? versions of the original trilogy), this is what would've happened to the redeemed Darth Vader had he survived the battle on the second Death Star. Good Vader dons a head to toe white attire... While keeping his entire previous Evil Overlord look, providing one of the few examples of Paint It Black being done in reverse.
• X-Men: Shortly before becoming headmaster of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, back in the 1980s, erstwhile Big Bad Magneto discarded his usual outfit of red body armor with purple trunks, gloves, cape and boots in favor of a costume which consisted of a magenta body stocking with a large, off-center "M," and a light-purple cape. He also doffed his famous, and face-obscuring, helmet.
  • Subverted later—whenever Magneto ends up on the good side of the Heel–Face Revolving Door he mostly keeps his "evil" costume.
  • In fact, during the Genosha Excalibur series, in which Mags' role was purely as a good guy (though one you didn't want to screw with, of course), he wore a black version of his usual costume (albeit without the helmet.) When he found out Wanda was in danger^note Well, House of M was on the way and it turned out that in the end Wanda was the danger. and he was ready to kick ass, he donned the latest version of his traditional outfit. ^note Of course, he shoulda gone back two outfits—this one was actually only used during "Planet X", whose drug-addled nigh-Omnicidal Maniac antagonist was retconned into having been an impostor, one whose actions the true Magneto detested.
  • After more than a decade of being a team member, Magneto finally changed his look, and like Excalibur Genosha, it's more villainous-looking than anything seen before. The "Marvel Now" version is black and white, and the white-with-black-lines version looks about as friendly as Darth Vader above. The inverted one isn't much better. Adding red in "All New, All Different Marvel" makes for a look that says Red and Black and Evil All Over. Though as stated before, it makes sense for him—he's still anything but warm and cuddly. Still, it's funny to note that the friendliest-looking outfit he's ever had was his original look as the X-Men's first Big Bad.
  • Played straight with his costume from Brian Bendis' Uncanny X-Men (2013) run, which was a white version of his classic costume. He later returned to this look in Jonathan Hickman's House of X revamp.
• In the indie comic Thieves & Kings, Soracia the Queen of Halves'... epic ... Heel–Face Turn culminates with the cutting off of her black beribboned evil black cloak. It then forms up into a dummy shape of her and cries that it loves her. After that she wanders around in a fairly average cloak and skirt combo that still manages a certain amount of flair and swirl when she swings her longswords, but doesn't reek of black magic.
• Anti-Venom so much so, that right now he's the third most popular Marvel Comics character (behind Deadpool and Wolverine), and went from hoodlum-whacking-vigilante into a crusader tasking himself with a single mission: Killing the Venom symbiote and all its spawns. A fairly literal example as well since, like the Good Vader seen above, it's literally a color-inverted version of the Mac Gargan Venom form.
• Squadron Supreme had their arch enemies, The Institute of Evil, brainwashed into their team and many of them changed their costumes. The most obvious one is Foxfire, who wore a punk outfit and after her change she wore a white outfit that covered more.
• Gothtopia had a variation: To reflect Gotham's sunnier appearance, the Batfamily traded their dark, imposing costumes for bright, inspiring ones as they operate more in the daytime.
• After the AXIS Inversion causes his Character Alignment to change, Sabretooth dons a new costume deliberately reminiscent of the one worn by his fallen nemesis, Wolverine.
  • The Red Skull also played the trope straight in this storyline, his skull turning from red to white after Charles Xavier took control.
  • Inverted with Iron Man, who went from his signature red and gold to an almost silvery-white armor after he turned evil.
• Loki: Agent of Asgard: Similar to Sabretooth, the title character changes their outfit after the Inversion, including a lot more gold and whites. However, whether it's an actual Good Costume Switch is complicated, given Loki was trying to be good before the Inversion occurred.
  • And there's also the fact that the inverted Loki was kind of a dick.
• In the IDW Comics Transformers series, Starscream grows to be less selfish over the course of events. How do you know you're really no longer dealing with the same guy he was at the start? One upgrade makes him look more like the Transformers: Armada Noble Demon version of the character. Though that upgrade is then replaced by one based on his G1 look.
• The Ultimates (2015): After evolving into his true form, as a lifebringer rather than a world-eater, Galactus' appearance changes from blue and purple to white and orange.
• Wonder Woman Vol 1: After her Heel–Face Turn Paula von Gunther ditches the skirt suits with padded shoulders for sleeveless light sundresses. She also ditches her golden dragon cigarette holder.

Fan Works

• Hours 'Verse: After Akechi's Heel–Face Turn, his thief outfit changes to a fusion of his old ones; it has the prince-ly shape and gold accents of his Crow outfit, and the coloration and belts of his Black Mask one.

Films — Animation

• Happens to Megamind after he stops Titan from destroying the city and permanently giving up his evil ways. The follow-up The Button of Doom ultimately subverts this: having become defender of Metrocity after the end of the movie, Megamind auctions off his evil weapons and dresses in a white suit and cape in imitation of the previous superhero, Metro Man. Minion comments, "Somehow I don't think it's you." After using his only remaining weapons, a Death Ray and Spider Tank, to defeat a Humongous Mecha, Megamind decides to just be himself when fighting evil, and so goes back to black.
• Downplayed in My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Rainbow Rocks. Sunset Shimmer removes her black leather jacket during the Battle of the Bands after the Dazzlings have taken over the entire school with their Hate Plague. While that's all her costume actually changes, it still signifies the completion of her Heel–Face Turn. It helps that, immediately following this, she gains an anthro form like the Humane Five before blasting the Dazzlings with the Elements of Harmony.
  • Sunset Shimmer also gains an entirely different costume in two music videos released after Rainbow Rocks which features a much lighter color scheme than her first outfit. When she loses her jacket again in the "My Past is Not Today" video, the lighter colors are all the more noticeable.
  • The same color scheme appears in the Friendship Games sequel, and though she keeps the jacket, it's lost the metal studs. Arguably, the real good costume doesn't show up until she faces off against Evil Twilight, in one that's a closer match to Princess Celestia's color scheme than her own
• In the Christmas special, Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town, Jessica Claus originally wears a black and grey dress, but after falling in love with Kris Kringle and turning on the anti-toy laws, she begins wearing a blue and yellow dress.

Films — Live-Action

• In Equilibrium, Preston dons an all white suit before the Final Battle, presumably his parade uniform since he's going to see Father. He even has his sword with him in a white scabbard. Then again, why a society with no emotions would need a parade uniform is unclear.
• In The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Blondie borders on Chaotic Evil for most of the movie, but after he cements his goodness by selflessly comforting a dying soldier rather than choosing to pursue the gold, he changes to the poncho from the first two movies in which he's more caring and heroic.
• Marvel Cinematic Universe:
  • Guardians of the Galaxy (2014): Gamora, Drax, and Rocket Raccoon dress in dark clothes for most of the film, then the dark red outfits of the Ravagers in the final battle. At the end, Gamora wears a more feminine miniskirt and Rocket wears blue.
  • Avengers: Age of Ultron: Wanda Maximoff dresses in black clothes for most of the movie, notably sporting a red dress and a black leather jacket when she, her brother, and Ultron fight the Avengers on Ulysses Klaue's ship. When she betrays Ultron, her outfits are comprised of black dresses with red tops (a red shawl in Seoul and a red leather jacket for the final act), emphasizing the red more than the black.
  • Thor: Ragnarok: Loki changes back to his dark green color pattern from the first Thor film when he arrives to help evacuating the citizens of Asgard, as summarized by Costume designer Mayes C. Rubeo:
    Rubeo: Loki and his [blue] color when we first see him in Sakaar, it's because Loki is full of weakness. One of his weaknesses is to [associate] with the wrong people — many times in his life. And this time, he's [joined] the Grandmaster, who is some sort of like a tyrant. [...] So he adopts the same kind of colors, which is uncharacteristic of him and of his actual [green-hued] costume. Then he goes back to his original costume when he finds his senses to help Thor and being a good brother again.
  • Captain Marvel (2019), once Carol realizes she's on the wrong side of the unjust Kree/Skrull War, she no longer feel right wearing the green and silver Kree Starforce colors, and so she changes her uniform to the red, blue, and gold of her comics counterpart.
• In Kung Fu Hustle, right after Sing gets his ass handed to him by The Beast, and unlocks his true potential, he changes to a traditional martial arts uniform.
• Eponine for much of Les Misérables (2012) wears very revealing rags (Word of God says she is a Honey Trap). When she betrays her family, she switches to her iconic trenchcoat and cap ensemble.
• A variation in Spider-Man 3: After Peter gets over his Took a Level in Jerkass phase and pulls off the black costume, he reclaims his familiar Spidey Suit.
• Star Wars:
  • In Return of the Jedi, when the redeemed Anakin appears before Luke as a Force Ghost, he has ditched his iconic black armor for a set of white and brown robes similar to those worn by his master Obi-Wan.
  • In The Force Awakens, after escaping from the First Order, Finn gradually sheds his stormtrooper armor and completes his Heel–Face Turn by wearing Poe Dameron's jacket.
  • In The Rise of Skywalker, after Kylo Ren/Ben Solo turns back to the side of good, he trades in his villainous armor for a simple black tunic.
• X-Men: Apocalypse: Storm dons the X-suit after her Heel–Face Turn.
  • X-Men: Days of Future Past also has Mystique undergoing such a change after her Heel–Face Turn. No longer is she Going Commando, and gains an X-suit of her own.
• Austin Powers in Goldmember has Mini-Me do this after Nigel Powers convinces him to switch sides. Before, he looks like a small Dr. Evil (hence his name) and looks like a small Austin after.
• The Great Warrior Skanderbeg has the titular hero switch sides from the Ottoman Empire to his Albanian homeland and ditches his janissary outfit for his Albanian vests and armor when suiting up for battle.

Literature

• The Kingdom Keepers gives us Jez, after Maleficent's control over her is destroyed.
• The Salvation War: Leilah, after joining the rebellion against God, dyes her wings black and puts on a black dominatrix outfit. Her change of allegiance, in this story, is a very good thing.
• A Song of Ice and Fire. Jaime Lannister is a Smug Snake Blood Knight notorious for killing the previous king despite being one of his sworn bodyguard. The Kingsguard wear white cloaks and armour, but Jaime has both his armour and even his sword gilded as he's a member of the incredibly wealthy House Lannister. After a series of Break the Haughty moments, Jaime realises how much he's strayed from the Knight in Shining Armor ideal and decides to change his ways, reverting to the pure white armor of the Kingsguard.
• In Worm, when Taylor/"Skitter" finally becomes a hero and takes on the name "Weaver", she makes minor cosmetic alterations to her original costume: blue lenses instead of yellow, a lighter weave, and blue symbols emblazoned on her shoulders.

Live-Action TV

• Inverted in Babylon 5. For the first two seasons, the crew wear standard issue EarthForce uniforms. When Earth goes Vichy, the station secedes from the Earth Alliance, and the main characters don new, Minbari-inspired uniforms. As an added inversion, the new uniforms are darker than the originals.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
  • Played straight then subverted with Spike; when he gets his soul in the final season he briefly dumps his signature Badass Longcoat, as it was a Battle Trophy from his Hero Killer days. Later however, as he grows more comfortable with his ensouled self, he starts wearing it again.
  • When Anya is introduced, she has brunette hair. She colors it blond after becoming human, then goes back to brunette when she becomes a vengeance demon again. When she turns human for the second time, she goes back to blond.
• Averted in Code Lyoko: Evolution with William Dunbar. Despite switching back to the good guys his outfit remains very similar to his evil one, although it lacks the XANA symbol and corset.
• The Flash (2014): Caitlin discovers she has ice powers and a Split Personality, which seems to take over towards the end of season 3, only to partially revert in the finale. In season 4, she appears to be her normal self again, but it turns out that Killer Frost still exists as an alternate personality who takes over from time to time. However, with some help from Iris, she makes a Heel–Face Turn, though not quite a full one. Her new outfit for this season consists of just a light blue jacket, in contrast to the dark blue dress, boots, and jacket she wore in the previous season. While not as exciting, the new jacket is quick and easy for her to change into should Killer Frost need to make an appearance.
• Kamen Rider:
  • As a villain, Gentoku from Kamen Rider Build wears the uniform of the side he is on. When he joins the good guys and starts living with them, it's pronounced by him wearing casual clothes (terrible, custom-made casual clothes) and slightly later, Fun T-Shirt.
  • Kuroto Dan from Kamen Rider Ex-Aid usually wore business suit and ties in blacks and greys as a villain. After his Heel–Face Turn he switches to a more business casual style in whites and greys.
  • Mitsuzane Kureshima pulls both this and Evil Costume Switch through the run of Kamen Rider Gaim. He ends up wearing clothes similar Kouta's earlier outfit.
  • Alain of Kamen Rider Ghost dressed up in white and green clothes gifted to him following his Heel–Face Turn. He originally did that only to please the gifter and returned to his Ganma uniform after trying them out. The switch would become permanent only when events conspired against him, making the clothes a Tragic Keepsake.
• Legend of the Seeker
  • When Cara joined the main cast, her costume change? Her Mord-Sith uniform now shows her cleavage.
  • The first encountered Mord-Sith, Denna, changes her outfit to white when she is no longer a Mord-Sith and becomes the Madam of a brothel. Subverted when it's revealed that she's still evil.
    • Also subverted in the very loosely based-on source material, Sword of Truth, where a Mord-Sith wearing white indicates that her pet is fully trained (as oppposed to her normal red uniform as a pet-in-training tends to bleed).
• Invoked in Legends of Tomorrow when Sara Lance changes her outfit from the all-black leather outfit of Black Canary that she wore on Arrow to the White Canary after joining the Legends. While the Black Canary is never portrayed as a villain, Sara is a former member of the League of Assassins who has a lot of guilt over her past, so her sister Laurel (who's taken up the Black Canary mantle) gives her the white outfit to inspire Sara to leave her darkness behind.
• In Power Rangers Mystic Force, when Koragg the Knight-Wolf is freed from The Master's control and becomes Leanbow, the Wolf Warrior, his armor changes from purple to crimson. (Eventually. He's good but still purple for quite a few episodes, but is red upon fully joining the team. It's theorized, but not stated in either version, that it had something to do with the blast he protected the Rangers from by absorbing just before he changes into the red suit for the first time.)
  • Likewise for Wolzard/Isamu in Mahou Sentai Magiranger.
  • Similarly, the head of the Predazord (aka Gao Hunter) in Power Rangers Wild Force/Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger transforms into a friendlier version with a more humanoid face once its pilot gets de-possessed. (And it happens to Stratoforce and Centaurus in Power Rangers Lost Galaxy, once they throw off the villain's remote control. That series, too, had sentient Zords.)
    • Kyoryuger pulls it too; the pteranodon mech Pteragordon's got a friendlier face under Utsusemimaru than under Dogold.

Pro Wrestling

• While this happens regularly, with or without a gimmick change attached, the most direct example is Hulk Hogan. When he's playing the Heel, he dons a black and white outfit, including his signature tearaway shirt, feather boa, weight belt, and bandanna. Immediately upon turning Face, which happens often, the black and white disappears in favor of his classic red and yellow costume.

Sports

• While sports typically don't have "good" and "evil" as such, seeing a favorite player be signed by your hometown team and stride onto the field wearing your team's jersey can have the same feeling.

Tabletop Games

• As Lillian Corvus gains more control over her magic and grows as a person in Sentinels of the Multiverse, she goes from a black and green dress as the villainous Matriarch to a white one as she joins the Dark Watch and truly becomes a hero.
• Pathfinder: Nocticula, pre and post-Heel–Face Turn. As a Chaotic Evil demon lord, Nocticula wore black glorified lingerie that covered just enough to keep things PG-13. As the Chaotic Neutral Redeemer Queen, she wears a pretty vaguely qipao-styled blue and white dress.

Toys

• G.I. Joe:
  • Storm Shadow underwent a Heel–Face Turn between the releases of his first and second figures. While working for Cobra, he wore an outfit that resembled a traditional ninja outfit, only white with no sleeves and the Cobra logo on the chest. When he defected and became a Joe, he started wearing a white and green camouflage outfit that was more loose and flowing.
  • Mercer was a Cobra Viper who defected and become one of Sgt. Slaughter's Renegades. While no figure of pre-defection Mercer exist, it can be assumed he dressed the same as every other Viper: dark blue fatigues with red stripes, black vest, and a face-concealing helmet. As one of the Renegades, he wears an orange vest and light blue pants.

Video Games

• Used in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, as the story is about redemption. As the story progresses, Starkiller gradually changes from a very menacing set of Sith robes to a set of white, yet still badass Assassin's Creed-esque robes. Of course, this is the canonical version. The player can choose to change their costume throughout the game.
• In Final Fantasy IV, Cecil's transformation from Dark Knight to Paladin (though he was Dark Is Not Evil to begin with), the switch being symbolic of his redemption.
  • The same happens to Kain in Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, though by that point, Gray!Kain is wearing rags instead of his Dark!Kain armor, but then becomes Light!Kain, wearing light blue and white, and what appears to be a crocodile skull for a helmet (It isn't one. It just appears to be one.)
  • Similarly, Golbez discards his dark armor when becoming the Man in Black, embracing a more natural Barbarian Hero look meant to symbolize his Walking the Earth in search of atonement. He does keep the Badass Cape, however.
• Something like this comes up near the end of Knights of the Old Republic. The Sith Lord Darth Revan used to wear an intimidating, downright Ringwraith-esque black outfit complete with a mask. There also exists a lighter-coloured version of the same robe that may have been worn by a redeemed Revan. Unfortunately, without the black color and hooded cape, it loses the coolness factor entirely. (Though a mod does exist letting you wear the classic Revan costume, but in white and red instead.)
• When you recruit an enemy unit in Fire Emblem, their sprite changes from red to blue.
  • The same also applies to recruiting Other units, which changes them from green to blue. Note that both this and the example above only applies to the 2D games; in the Tellius games characters remain the same color when switching sides, with only status and battle screen colors changing.
• In Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, Pete has a combination of this and Evil Costume Switch in that he assumes the Paper Thin Disguises of Captain Justice and Captain Dark so that he could get votes for the local popularity contest. No one's fooled and he's utterly useless as Captain Justice.
• Kristell in Mabinogi: Fantasy Life. While she is on the side of the fomors she wears her normal succubus clothes, but when she switches sides she starts wearing priestess robes. You only see this in Tarlach's memories though as she switched sides long before you arrived.
• Inverted in Tales of Destiny 2 with Judas. He's gone from a Jerkass Anti-Villain to an atoner and he switches into an all-black outfit with purples and blues and mildly creepy cross motifs instead of bright blues, reds, and pinks like he wore before, and wears a skull mask, but Dark Is Not Evil.
• Richard in Tales of Graces gets one. In the main arc, when he's essentially an avatar for the Big Bad, he wears black. In the future arc, he first appears in an alternate costume in green, white and turquoise, after a Heel–Face Turn.
• Averted in Resident Evil 5 where despite being freed from Wesker's control, Jill Valentine still wears her purple Spy Catsuit during the events of helping Josh with escaping the Tricell facility and appearing during the final confrontation with Wesker by the volcano. Justified due to Jill having very pressing matters and having no time to change clothes.
• In Overlord, a Noble Demon low-Corruption Overlord will gradually grow brighter and shinier. This is by contrast to a high-Corruption Overlord, whose armour gradually darkens and gets spikier; this would be an Evil Costume Switch if you weren't at least theoretically evil to begin with.
• Zigzagged in the Epic Battle Fantasy series. During Epic Battle Fantasy 2, Big Bad Lance wears an outfit deliberately resembling a Nazi officer's uniform. He pulls a Heel–Face Turn at the end of the game, and when he makes his playable debut in Epic Battle Fantasy 3, he trades the Nazi outfit for gear resembling a WWII-era American soldier's uniform. The Nazi outfit is still available as a late-game armor set, though, and he goes back to wearing it as his default in Epic Battle Fantasy 4 and Epic Battle Fantasy 5 (the latter of which is a Continuity Reboot which has him start off as a villain again before being conscripted into the good guys' party).
• Hendrik gets one in the second act of Dragon Quest XI, going from his Black Knight armor to a Blue Is Heroic padded armor set when he joins forces with the Luminary, reflecting his Heel–Face Turn. You can still acquire his original outfit as a costume, however.
• Drakengard 2: One of the main protagonists and the closest Nowe has to an official Love Interest is Manah, the former antagonist of the first game who has since grown up and seen the error of her ways. As a result, her red and black robes are discarded in favor of more casual brown and green clothes.
• Shade The Echidna from Sonic Chronicles stops wearing her helmet after defecting to Team Sonic. While she did remove her helmet every so often beforehand, it's gone for good once she's on Sonic's side.
• Starting in Crash Nitro Kart Crunch Bandicoot became more colorful and saturated in design to mark his joining the Bandicoot family. Specifically, the color of his camo pants went from winter to forest, his boots changed to a more saturated red similar to Crash's and his fur becomes a warmer brick color rather than burgundy.
• One of the playable characters (more specifically, Dominique) in Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2 was a traitor in Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. To emphasize that they are not secretly plotting your death this time around, the black and gold accents they had have been swapped out for white and blue.
• Spyro: Year of the Dragon: At the beginning of the game, Minion with an F in Evil Bianca wears her dark purple mage robe in full, covering her entire body with it and having the hood up. Halfway through the Evening Lake worlds, she has took the hood down and opened the robe (wearing it as more of a cape), showing a bright orange blouse underneath, and her rabbit ears are now on full display. The cutscene where she is first seen with this changed look also happens to be the one which reveals her as a Well-Intentioned Extremist, setting up her Heel–Face Turn at the end of Evening Lake.
• Hi-Fi RUSH: Following her Heel–Face Turn, Korsica gets blasted with a laser by Kale when he "fires" her. This results in her clothing getting torn up and her swapping her boots out for sneakers, along with getting prosthetic arms, a chest implant, and a small facial scar, signaling her switch from corporate drone to active member of the La Résistance.

Web Animation

• Germaine of Neurotically Yours makes one, starting in "Germaine Returns", following her giving up her whorish ways. She elaborates further on it in "Clothes Donations" saying that she's going to stop wearing black because it reminds her of the dark years she's trying to forget.
• To an extent, Washington from Red vs. Blue. Throughout the Recollections saga, he wears his dark gray and yellow, Freelancer issued armor. His involvement in those three seasons are as follows:
  • In Reconstruction he enlists the Reds and Blues in his hunt for The Meta, and later his crusade to bring down Project: Freelancer, but he isn’t truly one of them.
  • In Recreation, he’s in a UNSC prison for being a member of Freelancer. At the end of the season he’s given a deal by the Chairman of the Oversight Subcommittee to bring him the last remaining Freelancer AI, Epsilon, in exchange for his freedom. This leads him to side with the Meta, kill Donut and Lopez, and take Simmons hostage.
  • In Revelation, he’s the Big Bad along with The Meta as they hunt the Reds and Blues in a bid to capture Epsilon, who has taken on Church’s identity. At the end of the season, they manage to capture Epsilon’s copy of Tex, which prompts the Meta to make a Face–Heel Turn again on Wash, nearly killing him until the Reds and Blues show up and finally kill the Meta.
  • Wash is Easily Forgiven by the blue team, who then give him Church’s light blue armor so he can avoid being recaptured by the UNSC while Church himself goes into the memory unit to find Tex. He continues to wear the light blue armor through the modern day segments of season 9, 10, and through most of 11, before switching back to his gray armor, during which time he’s shown to open up to the Reds and Blues and truly become one of them.

Webcomics

• Belkar Bitterleaf, the psychopathic halfling from The Order of the Stick gets a temporary costume change in strip #58 when a magically enhanced Wisdom score makes him see the error in his violent ways...for about one minute.
• Ellen of El Goonish Shive, switches from a suit to casual clothes after her Heel–Face Turn. Granted, she spent at most a day as a Heel, so...

Web Video

• In Within Lapenko, Smug Snake and Smarmy Host Richard Sapogov gets his Waistcoat of Style dirty and starts wearing a nerdy sweater. That marks the beginning of his Heel–Face Turn.

Western Animation

• Used in Avatar: The Last Airbender. For all of Season 1, Zuko wore lots of militaristic red and Shoulders of Doom. As a neutral in Season 2, he wore nondescript green and brown Earth Kingdom clothes. And after his complete Heel–Face Turn in season 3, he changes to a far less intimidating set of red-and-gold robes.
• Happens quite a bit in Beast Wars, particularly when Blackarachnia turns from Predacon to Maximal in season 3 (justified due to the Transmetal driver).
• Tangled: The Series
  • After Varian re-sides with Rapunzel in the third season, he switches his faded blue and black alchemy gear with a new steampunk wardrobe that is pale yellow and brown.
  • Cassandra gets a new costume during the epilogue of "Plus Est En Vous", after turning good for, uh... good. It's green with a gold line in the front, in sharp contrast to her usual attire.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
  • In the very first episode, along with switching from her Nightmare Moon form back to her proper Princess Luna form, she trades out her black armor for night-themed regalia similar to that of her sister's.
  • "Magic Duel" starts out with Trixie having pulled an Evil Costume Switch, wearing a black cloak and the Alicorn Amulet in lieu of her usual magician's hat and coat. At the end, after the mind-warping amulet has been disposed of, she is back to wearing her regular clothes.
  • Granted it's more of a good hair switch (they don't normally wear clothes after all) but Starlight Glimmer switches to a different mane style after her reformation.
• ReBoot did this in season 4 to Hexadecimal to complete the Heel–Face Turn. Complete with white and gold color scheme.
• In season 2 of Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, former Big Bad Baron Draxum loses his trademark mask, symbolizing his Heel–Face Turn, as he risks his life to rescue a human woman and her small child from a collapsing Ferris wheel gondola. After this, Draxum gets rid of his sinister warlord armor completely in favor of a simple kimono.
• In Rose Petal Place, as part of her fake Heel–Face Turn, Nastina cleans up her castle and wears a pink and white dress with a gold crown.
• Samurai Jack: Ashi's "suit" when she was a disciple of Aku was actually a layer of some kind of soot or hardened tar on her skin from being burned with hot coals as part of her Training from Hell. When she completes her Heel–Face Turn, she scrubs it off and makes a new outfit out of plants.
• Star Wars Rebels: After his Heel–Face Turn and subsequent defection from the Empire, Kallus switches out his Imperial Security Bureau uniform for an Alliance officer's uniform, and adopts a more casual hairstyle.
• Steven Universe:
  • In general, since a gem's outfit is part of their physical form, modifications can only be done by temporarily shapeshifting different clothes or getting poofed and reformed with a new outfit as part of it. Since Homeworld has strict codes concerning the uniqueness of individual gems outside of the aristocratic elite and Pearls, finding a common gem that looks substantially different from the normal for that gem usually means they've gone rouge in one way or another.
  • As shown in "The Answer", when Sapphire defected from the Gem Homeworld, her dress changed from including a diamond (the symbol of Homeworld) on the front to a stripe. Ruby's outfit similarly changed from the standard for Ruby Guards to a more simplified and unique looking outfit that includes a headband.
  • Discussed when Peridot joins the Crystal Gems.
    Peridot: Am I gonna have to wear a star? Where am I gonna put the star?
    • Come the episode "Change Your Mind", after having reformed from being poofed in "Reunited", Peridot's costume now sports the Crystal Gem star along with some new Cool Shades.
  • When Lapis Lazuli finally works through her hang-ups, properly joins the Crystal Gems and gets poofed, her new form trades the flowing skirt that is standard for her cut of gem on Homeworld out for a pair of pants.
  • Pink Diamond invokes this twofold. When she first made her Rose Quartz persona, she was dressed in the usual Quartz Soldier attire like everyone else so that she could fit in. Once she embraced her Rose Quartz identity and created the Crystal Gem movement, she altered the form further, trading out the soldier attire for an elegant white ballgown.
• TaleSpin: When Kit Cloudkicker worked for Don Karnage in the four-part pilot episode, "Plunder and Lightning", he wore a red bandana. When Kit turns to Baloo's side, he wears a blue and red baseball cap.
• An origin story episode of Teen Titans (2003) featured Starfire with a black armored costume, and what's supposed to be a princess crown. She was a villain for about half the episode and was very badass. By the end of the episode, she switches to the outfit she wears through the entire series and asks her new teammates if she looks "nice".
• Thomas & Friends:
  • Bulgy from the episode of the same name was painted red in his original job as a double-decker bus who hated railways and wanted them ripped up. In "Bulgy Rides Again", he became a lot friendlier and was painted green for his next job as a mobile vegetable stand. In "Unscheduled Stops", Bulgy is not only back to his old anti-rail ways, but is also back to his old job as a double-decker bus, and his original red livery as well.
  • When he was owned by Sailor John in Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure, Skiff the Railboat had brown woodworkings. After he gets a new captain, Joe, and joins Sodor, Skiff's woodworkings are painted blue.
• The Tick: Big Shot (based on The Punisher) wears a turquoise turtleneck sweater in all post-therapy appearances.
• Wander over Yonder: After his Mook–Face Turn, Westley discards the lightning bolt-topped cap the Watchdogs all wear and wears the star-topped cap Wander gives to him.
• In Young Justice (2010), Superboy's original costume while controlled by the evil "Light" is a pure white bodysuit with the Superman insignia. When he's freed from their control, he changes to a militant looking black T-shirt with the Superman insignia and combat jeans.

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