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"Well her clothes are blacker than the blackest cloth
And her face is whiter than the snows of Hoth
She wears Doctor Martens and a heavy cross
But on the inside, she's a happy goth."
The Divine Comedy, "The Happy Goth"

The stereotypical Goth character, especially in teen television shows, is frequently a Snark Knight or a Deadpan Snarker, someone whose dark clothes and grooming reflect a pessimistic mentality. Contrariwise, the Perky Goth, who is almost always female, operates on the principle that dark does not always mean depressing. Sometimes, a singular Goth takes on both personalities.

She wears the clothes, but her personality is always cheerful and amiable (occasionally approaching Genki Girl territory). Appropriately, this is a Sister Trope to Elegant Gothic Lolita (referring to an actual subculture mainly popular in Japan). If she's supposed to be attractive, she has a strong chance of being Raven Hair, Ivory Skin.

While the trope is sufficient to cover both, a character who is to Emo as this trope is to Goth would essentially be a "scene kid" or "cupcake emo", which are notable for their pink/black stripes. This is technically a different subculture than emo, but they're closely related and scene can be summarized as "Perky Emo with a little bit of rave culture".

And to emphasize: perky goth is an acknowledged part of the goth subculture, not just something made up by media.

See also Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Contrast Goths Have It Hard.


Examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Anime & Manga 
  • Genki Girl Ako Udagawa from BanG Dream!. Her wardrobe consists almost entirely of blacks and reds, she accessorizes with chains and leather, and her Chuunibyou moments involve a lot of flowery talk about "the darkness" and such, yet she's one of the most chipper and upbeat characters in the cast, especially in contrast with her bandmates.
  • The disturbingly cheerful Undertaker in Black Butler.
  • Sawyer the Cleaner, from Black Lagoon, qualifies. In one scene, when she's explaining that the bad smell in a hotel room is from the ooze from rotting corpses she had to clean up in there earlier, she smiles happily, glad to have made things clear, while everybody around her is busy losing their lunch.
  • Road Kamelot of D.Gray-Man.
  • D.N.Angel: Towa looks like an Elegant Gothic Lolita, but has the personality of a hyperactive Genki Girl.
  • Misa Amane from Death Note, who wears lots of black, crosses, etc. but is always upbeat and cheery. Played with, in that she's a Stepford Smiler who beneath her cheeriness is traumatized, obsessive, and insane. There's also the cheery shinigami Ryuk.
  • Reiko, the first Devil Hunter Yohko villain. In spite of her dark nature, she seems to smile a lot.
  • Fairy Tail:
  • Death in the anime Kamichu! has a short scene with the god of poverty. She's a bit beyond perky and well into total bonkers. Or maybe she just knows something we don't. That's one hell of a Slasher Smile she has got there...
  • Riho Yamazaki, Detective Shido's ditzy secretary, becomes this in Nightwalker. Being a Nightmare Fetishist helps too.
  • TJ from Occult Academy is an oddball goth boy who is obsessed with the occult. He has half of his hair dyed red, wears eyeliner, and wears lipstick.
  • One Piece:
    • Nico Robin. She sort of has a taste for the macabre. To name a few examples, she suggested "Being of Darkness" as a name for the Thousand Sunny and even called the Cerberus on Thriller Bark "cute".
    • The "ghost-princess" Perona in the pre-time skip version.
  • Ouran High School Host Club:
    • Another male example: Nekozawa. He's the president of the Black Magic Club, is obsessed with curses, and has plenty of fun being generally creepy. Not even the fact that he's allergic to light seems to bother him all that much. Having an adoring younger sister helps.
    • Also a girl from Ouran named Reiko, who marries Honey.
  • Stocking from Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt, particularly when eating sweets.
  • Tomoe Hotaru/Sailor Saturn from Sailor Moon. Despite tending to wear dark clothes, keeping a dimly-lit (and somewhat creepy-looking) room, and wielding the element of death and destruction, Hotaru is a very kind and even joyful girl when she can be, especially when Chibi-Usa is around.
  • Yugi, the eponymous character of Yu-Gi-Oh!, dresses either in all black or in absurdly cute outfits, has wild hair (that's natural) and wears chains, LOTS of leather and dog-collars... Yeah, collars. His monster theme is darkness and black magic and he is regularly possessed by a spirit that's at the very least EXTREMELY ruthless. None of this stops him from being a pacifistic, friendship-obsessed sweetheart. And also cute.
  • Bocchi the Rock! has the unnamed PA-san. Despite her pale-skinned and dark-haired looks with piercings, and her black clothes, which make her come across as a little creepy and scare Hitori the first time they meet, she is a genuinely kind, sweet, friendly, cheerful and easygoing young woman.

    Comedy 
  • Comedian Iliza Shlesinger is a Genki Girl and Motor Mouth who tends to dress in a darker fashion at times, with dyed hair and healthy amounts of black clothing. She herself pokes fun at this, referring to herself in one routine as looking like a "nineteen-year old lesbian manager of a Hot Topic."

    Comic Books 
  • Lex Luthor's niece Nasthalthia in All-Star Superman. Not exactly perky so much as very laid-back and quite fine with her life of villainy as opposed to depressed or moody.
  • Betty Cooper of Archie Comics actually went goth in one issue (really!), and was still generally rather cheerful. Her two goth friends were even more cheerful than she was.
  • Asta from Resident Alien is a goth, but she remains cheerful and friendly rather than dark and gloomy.
  • Death from the old Joe Kelly run of Deadpool was pretty much a Perky Goth. That or just a plain old death-obsessed, somehow corporeal, skeleton of some sort.
  • The not-so-grim reaper of Death Vigil may dress in a Black Cloak and has her skin and hair bleached, but she is a kind and spirited lady who acts as a mother to the members of the Vigil.
  • The Ghoulunatics from EC Comics are dark and morbid but in a fun and gleeful way.
  • Emily the Strange routinely dresses in black clothing and likes scary things, but she also loves cats and communicates her excitement through exclamation points.
  • Lex from GloomCookie, on occasion.
  • The Bride of Nine Spiders from Immortal Iron Fist is sometimes like this.
  • The goddess Persephone (formerly Kore) as portrayed by George O'Connor in Olympians: Hades, Lord of the Dead.
  • Nico Minoru, a.k.a. Sister Grimm, in Runaways. In the beginning, at least.
  • Death of the Endless, from The Sandman (1989), is described by Neil Gaiman as a Perky Goth. She is not just responsible for Death, though; she also gives the breath of life when someone is born. She's pretty much the person you'd most want to see at a stressful moment like that. Her brother, Dream, fills the Mopey Goth niche. Although in stories taking place in earlier eras (read: billions of years ago), Death was a bit of a wet blanket herself before she started spending a few days each century with mortals.
  • Black Betty from Stormwatch PHD.

    Comic Strips 
  • Liō from, well Liō. He's mute, but his joyous grins and gleeful attitude speak for themselves. He frequently breaks out into hysterical laughter, usually at the outcome of a prank he just pulled. As for the "Goth" part of the equation... read the comic, but this is a pretty good demonstration.
  • Nemi is a snarky, Sarky Goth. Sort of a Garfield Goth, in fact.
  • Dethany Dendrobia, in On the Fastrack, is a classic example. She's as Goth as it gets, but cheerful, friendly, and a real asset to the company — which is how she gets away with seriously non-corporate clothing and accessories under the reign of Ms. Trellis.

    Fan Works 
  • Codex Equus: Sola Mors of the Trimortidae. Despite her preference for Goth fashion, Sola Mors is rather joyful, carefree, and fun-loving, if a bit eccentric and emotional. And despite embodying the aspect of Lonely Deaths - or perhaps because of it - she's very kind and warm-hearted, and reaches out to those who have fallen into loneliness and despair. She was also this as a mortal teenager, but constant bullying for being "weird" as well as non-interference from her school gradually wore away at her psyche until she killed herself.
  • Played very weirdly in My Immortal, where the main characters are mostly depressed but have pretty much the personality of the preps they hate so much.
  • The New Adventures of Invader Zim has Viera, who is a Goth and also a pretty nice person, in sharp contrast to Gaz.
  • Quinn's half-sister Charlie from the Glee fanfic Not the Same and its sequel Never the Same, though being around balls of sunshine like Marley and Sam all the time is bound to make anyone perky. Just like Jenny from Gossip Girl (see below) this has much to do with being played by Taylor Momsen.
  • In The Return, conversion into a succubus seems to be synonymous with becoming a Perky Goth. See especially Yuki/Nabiki the "cute" succubus. Those Two Guys Sam and Naoko choose to dress as perky goth too.
  • Hayden from Riding the Waves has a few shades of this.
  • As a college student Shego was a goth in The Touch of Green Fire because the fashion hid her green skin well. While not as sarcastic as she is current time, she was rather perky.
  • Travels Through Azeroth and Outland has the narrator meet a draenei named Vasalyan, who loves looking at dark and gloomy landscapes. Nonetheless, he's still as joyous as most every other draenei. Felya, a cheery Forsaken priestess, is perhaps another example.
  • Anzu Chino of Twilight Pretty Cure counts as this, even though she doesn't identify as a goth per se. She just happens to wear a lot of black, and she's one of the most kind and understanding members of the ensemble. Her classmates, however, are convinced she's not only a goth, but that she's an Emo Teen who cuts her wrists, which isn't true.
  • Under the Northern Lights: Saga is a Nightmare Fetishist with a love for dark heavy makeup and macabre jewelry who works as a temple maiden in a temple to a goddess of night and darkness. She is also chirpy, happy and carefree most of the time. However, she claims that "Goths are posers!", so she presumably wouldn't use the phrase herself. She differs from most of the examples on this page by being a reindeer.
  • Mr. Evil's Original Character "Bloody" Mary Rogers is described as "The most energetic goth girl you would ever meet".
  • Thor fan Savu0211 portrays Hel, the Norse goddess of death, as being one of the perkiest members of her family in stark contrast to her pessimistic father, Loki.
  • Downplayed in OSMU: Fanfiction Friction with Oswald. At the end of Chapter 5, he appears in front of Opal, Omar and Orla wearing dark clothing, including a shirt with a blazing skull on it and black leather wristbands, but it's just to go see the bands Alien Open Autopsy and Coprolite, and isn't what he wears as everyday attire.

    Films — Animation 
  • In Encanto, Isabela becomes this after shedding her persona as The Ace, trading in her perfect pastels for a dark, artfully disheveled dress and hair "dyed" with multi-colored pollen. She's much happier as a result.
  • Mavis in Hotel Transylvania, particularly when presented with the opportunity to leave her stifling castle, and also spending time around Jonathan.
  • Megamind is a Card-Carrying Villain whose aesthetic is all dark muted colors, spikes on everything that his inventive genius touches and heavy metal, but he is also friendly, chipper and (outwardly) full of joie-de-vivre, especially when dancing down the city streets to the aforementioned heavy metal.
  • Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas is rather eager and excitable — although he could also get pretty moody.
    "... Why does nothing ever turn out like it should? Well, what the heck, I went and did my best. And by God, I really tasted something swell..."
  • Bliss from Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken is one, due to her having dark clothes and dark makeover, though initially lacking the black hair at the start of the film with her hair dyed a dark green, she fully switches to black in time for the big Prom dance and witnessing the battle between Nerissa and Ruby. She also has a penchant for "catastrophizing", as in predicting bad things that happen, but most of it never happens.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • Lake Placid vs. Anaconda: Margo has several tattoos, wears all black clothing, and is a Snark Knight extraordinaire, but the people she snarks at have it coming, she's a decent friend to Bethany, and she spends most of her screen time smiling before the monsters attack.
  • Tim Burton's films, when not being plain-old-gothic (the Batman Film Series or Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street), are this in terms of overall tone (Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands'', etc.). It's even the caption on his creator page.
  • The World's End has a male example in the form of Gary King, a cheerful, lively middle-aged fan of classic Goth band The Sisters of Mercy who wears a black trench coat and fingerless gloves. The character of Gary King is actually a parody of the way an older Perky Goth would be perceived by the rest of the world outside of the Goth subculture: as irresponsible and immature, with an adolescent attitude well into adulthood. He's also a Deconstruction, as his manic attitude is eventually shown to be covering for a deep depression at never having achieved anything in his life. It is also revealed that he has been hospitalized for attempting suicide at least once.
  • We Are the Night. Nora is perhaps the archetype. While sporting a goth haircut and dress style, she's also a very cheerful, energetic vampire.
  • Almost any goth character in Gap.
  • Raven in Cecil B. Demented combines Perky Goth, Badass Adorable, and Cloudcuckoolander in a most intoxicating way.
  • Angela in Night of the Demons (1988) and its sequels. She remains pretty perky even after going all evil and demonic.
  • Morgana from Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies was presumably this, until her boyfriend died in the intro.
  • Due to the apparent fetishes/artistic style of the directors, most every character from The Matrix dress in a goth-like manner, but none act the part.
  • Jill from The Dead Matter, who loves nothing more than a good seance, and calls dead spirits with a smile! She's also the most level-headed of the entire group when it comes to logically dealing with the Zombie Apocalypse.
  • A 1950s example: the title character in Cry-Baby, who has a tattoo of a black teardrop dripping from his eye. He's not exactly "perky," but he's generally optimistic despite his surly attitude.
  • In God Bless America It's exaggerated in both how Roxy is Gothic to the point of being psycho and how she's perky to the point of Genki Girl. She's always talking and smiling while planning to kill people. Her clothes and hair are normal though.
  • Alice in The Perks of Being a Wallflower counts as such with her clothes and liking for zombies.
  • Hellabent from Otto; or Up with Dead People She is calmer than your average perky goth, but definitely has a good and happy attitude; her girlfriend Medea is more serious, but still likes to play as a little girl with her lover.
  • Vexy of The Smurfs 2, even after she changes into a Smurf.
  • In Quantum Apocalypse, scientist Trish Zane dresses in Goth fashions and has a very cheerful personality.
  • Reagan Hall in Assassination Nation is a less heroic example. She dyes her hair blue and is usually seen in dark colors... and is also a Cruel Cheerleader and an Alpha Bitch who expresses no sympathy when her classmates are the victims of a massive data hack, and even partakes in it by sharing nude pictures of another girl with the rest of the school. Said girl responds by bashing Reagan's head in with a baseball bat.
  • A straightforwardly villainous example is Sonya in The Babysitter (2017). Her clothes are all black and white, and of the cultists, she indulges in the creepiest behavior of all of them. She's not at all gloomy, though, and is having as much of a blast killing people as the rest of the cult, while also being very sharply dressed in her black-and-white clothes.
  • The Harry Potter films portray Bellatrix Lestrange as a villainous example of this. She wears worn, tattered-looking black dresses with tight leather corsets and black high-heeled boots,a necklace in the shape of a bird's skull and has thick, dark hair and dark undereye circles. She's also very much a Perky Female Minion to Voldemort, with very childlike mannerisms- to the point of excitedly cheering and jumping up and down after lighting a house on fire.
  • Safety Patrol: Most of Hannah's clothing is black (even part of her cheerleading uniform) and she wears dark lipstick and eyeshadow, but she's a pretty nice person who only gets mopey when there's something to be mopey about.

    Literature 
  • Blood & Chocolate: Most of Aiden's fellow Goths are artistic, approachable, and mellow for most of the book (until being told malicious lies about Vivian), and she refers to some of them as "the gigglers."
  • In the Bloodsucking Fiends trilogy, Abby Normal is determined not to show her perky side to the vampires she meets or to other Goths, but she does let the reader in on her secret.
  • In Castle Hangnail, Molly is more or less this, allowing for the fact that she's twelve and her relentlessly normal parents and sister have veto powers over her clothing preferences.
  • Akura Mercy from the Cradle Series has black hair and clothing and creepy shadow powers, but she's one of the kindest and most cheerful people in the series.
  • A Dog's Way Home: Lucas' girlfriend, and later his fiancee, Olivia is described as "kind of Goth". She's a snarky but otherwise nice woman.
  • The Dragaera series has two examples:
    • Telnan, introduced in Dzur, thinks like most Dzur warriors (as Vlad sarcastically notes) that black-on-black is a wonderful color combination, but acts like The Ditz.
    • Sethra Lavode might be a better example, dressing all in black and having an unsettling pallor (she is an eons old undead), but being surprisingly friendly. She also has a disturbingly silly sense of humor. In one book, she passes sentence on one of her apprentices for attempting to kill several of her friends, influence the succession of the House of the Dragon, and start a war. The sentence is to strand her in an alternate, desert dimension with shelter, plenty of food and water and a stick, and instruct her to write "I will not interfere with the Dragon Council" in the sand 83,521 times. Wherein hangs the tale: Sethra IS eons old. Having seen so much, there's really only two ways to go, and the other way would either have destroyed her or the world, one way or the other. If there's anyone entitled to live and advocate the sentiment of "Live Here Now", it is certainly Sethra Lavode!
  • Molly Carpenter from The Dresden Files has shades of perky goth, 80's Brit-punk, and BDSM fetish going.
  • A rare male example occurs with Corey in the Ethan Banning novel Undertow. He's not really a Goth, though, he just thinks the look is appropriate for an apprentice necromancer.
  • Friday the 13th:
    • Friday the 13th: Carnival of Maniacs has an odd example. Pamela Voorhees possesses a teenage goth named Gloria Sowici (nicknamed Glo), so we end up with a woman with a Sickeningly Sweet attitude inhabiting the body of a girl described as pretty dour and unpleasant to look at. Suffice to say, characters, such as the guy who picks up the hitchhiking Pam-Glo, remark on the contrast.
    • Bella Morte (real surname Morrison) from Jason X: Planet of the Beast is a Perky Goth IN SPACE!.
  • Becky, a.k.a. Dharma, fills this role from beyond the grave in The Infected. Ironic, considering that in life she was clinically depressed and suicidal. However, her spectre is firmly committed to supporting her friends, having fun and getting everyone to lighten up.
  • Jez from The Kingdom Keepers has pale skin and dresses like a stereotypical goth, yet acts more flirty than you'd expect. This could be because she's really being brainwashed by Maleficent to spy on Finn.
  • Yamie from Kure-nai, who is at her perkiest when interacting with Murasaki.
  • Zanna from the The Last Dragon Chronicles has pale skin, and wears black make-up and black clothes, but is relatively happy and has fun a lot more than normal stereotypical goths, though she has reformed into more Hipster territory by the time The Fire Eternal kicks off.
  • Eve Rosser from Morganville Vampires. She dresses Goth to the hilt, but is almost always cheerful and, when excited, jumps about 'like a demented, goth bunny'.
  • Lucy Danvers, the "Q" of the titular Red Room division is basically an Expy for Abby. It's just that she's also gay and works for the equivalent of the The Illuminati and The Men in Black.
  • A Series of Unfortunate Events: Violet's character design changes from a rather innocent '50s girl style to a lolita-style goth.
  • Sephie Beller from Transformers: Shattered Glass is often depicted as being into Gothy clothing, hairstyle, and music, but she's not typically gloomy or depressed in the slightest (or at least no more often than a typical 20-something would be), and seems to be a pretty cheerful technophile. Of course, since this is a Mirror Universe, it's entirely possible that it's the Perky Goth stereotype that's the "norm", and it's gloomy Goths that would be unusual.
  • Raven Madison from Vampire Kisses is a mixture of highly stereotyped goth who listens to Him, Marilyn Manson, and strangely enough The Cruxshadows (strange not because she's goth, but because most music references were ones that are what people think goths listen to), wears mostly black, is obsessive over vampires, and is disliked by most people, but besides that she acts like any other teenager.

    Live-Action TV 
  • The entire Addams Family are perky goths. However, the perkiest character by far (in the film and television versions at least) is Gomez Addams, possibly the first male Perky Goth in popular culture — if you equate "manic" with "perky".
  • One of the teams on The Amazing Race's 12th season was a pair of dating, incredibly Perky Goths. They got 5th place.
  • Merton Dingle from Big Wolf on Campus, a chess club nerd turned Perky Goth.
  • Coreen Fennel on Blood Ties (2007). Vicki Nelson, the acerbic heroine, comments, "No one likes a perky goth."
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Anne used to be a regular at The Sunset Club, a gothic night club for vampire poseurs and wannabes. However, most members had never actually seen a real vampire, and thus they naively believed them to be gentle, misunderstood beings, referring to them as the "Lonely Ones".
  • Burke's Law: Downplayed with Leona Barnett in "Who Killed the Movie Mogul." She's a dark-clad woman who owns a horror movie memorabilia shop and is obsessed with the dark side of life. However, she shows a more friendly and cheerful side during the few moments where she isn't interacting with her emotionally distant father or being accused of his murder by the police (both of which provide some justification for an unhappy attitude).
  • Doctor Who:
    • A couple incarnations of the Doctor have slipped into this; particularly the Retconned-out Ninth Doctor played by Richard E. Grant. The Fourth Doctor also fits, but it's a played-with example — he doesn't really dress the part (or at least his garish, oversized scarf ruins the effect of his dark Victorian coats, red ascots and poet shirts), but his character was inspired by starving Victorian gothic poets and he acted like a Gothic Horror hero — albeit the cheeriest, cutest one you could ever imagine. In other words, he's a "goth" in the Victorian sense.
    • Heck, even the actual canon Ninth Doctor could be considered to fit. His outfit (leather jacket, black pants, navy undershirt) was practically Gothic compared to previous Doctors. And he certainly had his perky moments. But then again, he had enough dark moments that we may just have to call him Bipolar Goth.
    • "Midnight": Jethro Cane wears leather cuffs and black nail polish, but while a typical moody and rebellious teen, is much nicer and more reasonable than his jerkass parents. He's notably the least vocal about the idea of killing Sky and is visibly uneasy about the other passengers turning on the Doctor, although he's too fearful to do anything about it (again, typical of a teenager; peer pressure is a problem for a reason, and Jethro's own father is the one trying to drag the Doctor to his doom).
  • Cassandra "Elvira" Peterson built an entire career out of being cheerful, sexy and dark. The character she was an Expy for, Vampira, was also sexy, but otherwise a more "traditional" style of Goth.
  • Tina on Glee. "Even though I'm painfully shy and obsessed with death, I'm a really effervescent person!"
  • Noel Fielding on the The Great British Bake Off as he frequently dresses and describes himself as goth, yet is very helpful and encouraging to the bakers and maintains a goofy, optimistic demeanor and smile.
  • Emma Zoole from Homicide: Life on the Street is a sweet-natured, cheerful woman who just so happens to be a Nightmare Fetishist obsessed with death and serial killers.
  • Richmond from The IT Crowd, who listens to Cradle of Filth and is mistaken for a vampire on his first appearance, but who is generally cheery despite being severely demoted and spending most of his time supervising equipment he can't even identify. Although he almost seems completely oblivious to the fact that he is a Goth... or at least oblivious to other people's reaction to him or the stereotype associated with being a Goth. Maybe it makes sense for him to be happy.
  • God would sometimes appear in the form of a male Perky Goth in the TV series Joan of Arcadia.
  • Law & Order: Organized Crime: Det. Jet Slootmaekers, who will wear checkered pants, Doc Marten-style boots, and leather jackets.
  • Roald from Letterkenny. He tries to be moody, but just can't help himself. Is surprisingly good at breakdancing.
  • Renaldo on Los Espookys is a huge horror and gore fan dresses like a typical goth, but he is very upbeat, optimistic and full of enthusiasm.
  • Abby Sciuto, The Lab Rat in NCIS. As Tony DiNozzo put it, she's "A paradox wrapped in an oxymoron, smothered in contradictions in terms. Sleeps in a coffin. Really, the happiest goth you'll ever meet." Unless you try something funny on her or her team. Or sneak a pantie peep.
  • The (never actually SEEN) Perky Goths from Once a Thief, Episode 10.
  • Piper Gray of Some Assembly Required dresses in dark clothing and hair, enjoys scaring people who annoy her, but is almost always smiling, and has an incredibly outgoing personality.
  • Wizards of Waverly Place:
    • Miranda is never seen not smiling, yet is constantly referred to as "scary" and says such gems as "I hate corporate America!". The perky part is probably to keep her safe and acceptable.
    • Aria Montgomery, also played by Lucy Hale, appears to have been there before the series.
    • In the later episodes, Alex actually qualifies except for having a fashion plate taste in wardrobe.
      Harper: (after having had her mind fused with Alex's) You've got some scary thoughts in there.
      Alex: Thank you. (giggles)
  • You're Skitting Me features a rare male example in a set of sketches that features a trio of emo kids, and a fourth one who doesn't quite get it and irritates the others by being continually upbeat.

    Music 
  • Many early-2000s Post-Hardcore and Emo Music bands had this aesthetic, such as My Chemical Romance, AFI, and The Used.
  • The subject of Kate Nash's Mariella is a misunderstood loner who likes to wear black, but she's also a cheerful little girl who always gets the crossword puzzle right.
    "She marched to her wardrobe and threw away the colour, because wearing black looks mysterious, but it didn't impress her mother...But Mariella just smiled as she skipped down the road because she knew all the secrets in her world."
  • AJ McLean of Backstreet Boys started out as the group's "Bad Boy", but his on-stage style has evolved into a more goth-like look (his Twitter and Instagram handles even have "skull" in them), and his cheerful personality, it's a little odd to see him performing songs like "I Want It That Way" alongside his bandmates.
  • The Birthday Massacre. They even have a song, "Horror Show", that pokes fun at the other kind of goth.
    They're getting ugly;
    They're a horror show.
    And now we're laughing
    Because they'll never know
    That they have everything.
    We give them all of our own
    And they tell us they're sick and they're all alone.
  • Canadian singer Lights, Her appearance and love for metal music would make up the 'Goth' part of this trope, while her own music and personality make up the 'Perky' part. Go figure.
  • Creature Feature. They only sound dark and depressing, but take one listen to any of their songs and tell me they're not having a grand old time trying to top themselves on the What-the-Fuck-o-meter.
  • Emilie Autumn's music tends towards melancholic and angsty, but there's also a great deal of caprice and whimsy which reflects her perky side. The trope is more evident still in her live shows and interviews.
  • Jennifer Parkin of Ayria is pretty much this, and it shows through her music. Well, except for the sadder songs. Ditto for Helalyn Flowers, also on the Alfa Matrix label. They dress gothically, and often have gothic subjects in their lyrics such as psychic lesbian vampires and tentacle hentai, but their musical style is mainly upbeat synth-rock.
  • Ditto Zombina and the Skeletones. They don't take the goth part terribly seriously as their name would suggest, primarily writing energetic Pop Punk songs about their love of B-movies, mad science, pulp fiction, and retro science. Though from time to time they'll throw out a few surprisingly darker and melancholic songs just to shake things up.
  • The Divine Madness
  • Amy Lee of Evanescence. Cheerful and brooding, sanguine and melancholic, she is darkness and light personified.
  • Type O Negative. They look extremely intimidating and popularized a "doom" sound in music, and they sing tunes about having sweet girlfriends and about silly goth girls with too much black hair dye. Although they do have quite a few sad songs.
  • Wednesday 13.
  • Natalia Kills.
  • The Welsh Synth-Pop / darkwave group Future Perfect. Along with singer Rebecca Morgan's gothic dress style, they can be angsty and depressing in some songs (e.g. "Poisoned Love", "Not in Control", and "Complicated Machine"), but other times they're peppy and upbeat ("Paradise", "Light", and "Saint Perfect").
  • The Break Up, another goth-influenced Nu-Wave band, has their share of depressing songs, often about failed relationships as their name suggests, but also a good number of perky songs such as "Ninja", "Lightning", "Trapeze", and "Synthesis".
  • Kerli, who has dubbed her style "bubble goth". As time progressed, she has become more "perky" than "goth".
  • Voltaire who is possibly the most successful gothic comedian in history.
  • Donna Lynch and Steven Archer of Ego Likeness are this in person. However, their music certainly isn't.
  • The Crüxshadows.
  • John Entwistle of The Who. Famously The Quiet One in the band, he put his lighter side on display via Halloween-like imagery, such as the skull costume he often wore and his self-penned, darkly comedic Step Up to the Microphone moments like "Boris the Spider" and "My Wife".
  • Alice Cooper.
  • Danny Elfman: The red hair contrasts with the Goth image, but the Slasher Smile and cheerfully upbeat songs like "No One Lives Forever" certainly doesn't. There's a reason he's Tim Burton's go-to guy for soundtracks and Jack Skellington's singing voice.
  • The Divine Comedy's "The Happy Goth" is happy on the inside; she's just finding her comfort zone. The lyrics speak for her father, who's apparently coming to realize that he doesn't have as much to worry about as he feared.
  • Grimes's fashion sense, music videos, and lyrical content can be very dark, but her general demeanor and music style is fairly cheerful.
  • The music video for Chvrches's "Empty Threat" features a group of goth teens happily enjoying themselves at the local water park after a few drinks and cigarettes. One of the teens looks slightly like singer Lauren Mayberry, who was a self-confessed Perky Goth when she was a teen.
  • The short-lived Scottish synthpop duo Strawberry Switchblade was signed to Korova, the same label as Echo & the Bunnymen and other post punk acts. Yet, their light bubblegum pop sound, coupled with their flamboyant style - frilly black outfits studded in polka dots - set them apart from their labelmates. Strawberry Switchblade were a one hit wonder with their song "Since Yesterday" in most of the world, but they were also incredibly popular in Japan, possibly making them an Ur-Example to a sister trope.
  • The Cure are a band mostly known for their dark, gloomy songs and equally gloomy image and are regarded as one the most iconic Goth Rock bands out there. But this is of course the same band that wrote "The Lovecats" and "Friday I'm In Love".
  • Alessandro Cortini of Nine Inch Nails - all of his clothes and guitars must be black, makes eerie, noisy ambient synth tunes and synthpop tunes about isolation, but is a generally cheerful and pleasant person.
  • Singer Heather Baron-Gracie and drummer Ciara Doran of Pale Waves.
  • Tegan & Sara certainly have had the goth look going on at various points in their career, but they have plenty of upbeat songs in their discography, most notably "Everything Is Awesome" from The LEGO Movie.
  • Tribulation's one of two guitarists, Jonathan Hultén. He dresses mostly in black even offstage, has a fascination with the dark and macabre that shows in his artwork, has referenced Bauhaus on his Instagram, and comes off as very polite and happy in interviews.
  • Dave Vanian of The Damned. A vampire who's not above exchanging some light hearted banter wth the fans and his band mates.
  • Mötley Crüe guitarist Mick Mars generally wears far more gothic looking attire than his bandmates, usually donning a black coat, sunglasses and hat. He also comes across as a very nice and down to earth man in interviews.
  • The Frozen Autumn are well-noted for their gloomy "frozen wave" brand of Dark Wave, but lately have been moving in the perky direction.
  • The main premise of The Gothsicles which describes itself as "oddball EBM". In a genre defined by angsty and dark music, Gothsicles go for "fun, loud and entertaining". Most songs are affectionate love letters to gaming, Lovecraft and the 1980s sung by someone who sounds like the Squeaky Voiced Teen from The Simpsons. Meanwhile, the music videos are decidedly and deliberately uncool.
  • Lacuna Coil:
    • Much of their music belongs to the Gothic Metal genre, and their scene shows and videos are quite dark, but the band's off-stage image is much perkier and more positive.
    • Lead singer Cristina Scabbia's public image as a vlogger and Twitch streamer is quite positive, enthusiastic and happy, at the same time as she obviously likes Goth paraphernalia and clothes even off-stage.
    • In the official video for "Nothing Stands In Our Way", the entire band shows this attitude in the behind-the-stage footage.
  • Laura Bienz of St. Griselda and Lorelei Dreaming is a textbook lolli-goth in the same league as the aforementioned Ayria, as exhibited on the cover of Future Fables.
  • Voltaire. No, no, not the eighteenth century French author; Aurelio Voltaire Hernandez, the twenty-first century songwriter, author of humorous perspectives on being a Goth, and occasional stand-up comedian. That Voltaire. He also does music for the Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, so that makes him doubly cool.
  • Apoptygma Berzerk, originally rooted in dark EBM, made a Lighter and Softer turn with Welcome To Earth and Harmonizer, then turned the perkiness up further with their New Sound Albums You And Me Against The World and Rocket Science. Piston Damp, the spinoff band founded by Stephen Groth's brother Jonas, also embraces this trope.

    Myths & Religion 
  • Baron Samedi from Voudoun. God of death, dresses like an undertaker, wanders the graveyards as a skeleton, and enjoys his "life" to the fullest. His wife Maman Brigitte also counts.
  • Photophobia didn't bother the late Church of Satan founder Anton Le Vey, either. After he got rolling, the witty religious rebel played off and played jokes on, off, and with his own image and reputation to a level you'd expect out of (irony noted) the Devil. This was even noted in a interview with him prior to his death undertaken by the pornographic publication High Society magazine.

    Podcasts 
  • The Cool Kids Table game Creepy Town has Dianne "Di" Harris, who enjoys all manner of dark and occult things, and gets very giddy when she sees them.
  • Sid from Sequinox is one in both her civilian and magical girl forms, since she's themed after Autumn and Halloween.
  • Brimstone Valley Mall:
    • Asmoraius is a demon who likes to dress in dark lipstick and eye shadow, Victorian-style clothing, and proudly boasts that he's "goth as fuck." He's also incredibly outgoing and personable, and one of the friendlier demons in the series.
    • Trainee is a cheerful, happy-go-lucky teenage girl who wears pentagram jewlery and whose interests include witchcraft and trying to summon demons.

    Puppet Shows 

    Pro Wrestling 
  • Sting is essentially this, as he kept the costume inspired by The Crow he adopted during the nWo angle, but has gone back to his former upbeat showman persona during his early WCW days.
  • Jeff Hardy, too, has played up this angle in both WWE and TNA. He wears corpse paint and his fans are known as "Creatures of the Night," but he's otherwise fun-loving and full of spirit.
  • Daffney Unger, from both WCW and TNA, was known for deliriously screaming and laughing during her own matches and those of her friends.

    Tabletop Games 
  • Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition has the Shadar-kai, who were changed from their original selves (gloomy-goth fae trapped in the Plane of Shadow who hate everyone not them) into this. Shadar-kai in 4e were originally humans who migrated to the Shadowfell in pursuit of immortality. They got their wish- sort of. Shadar-kai don't age and can theoretically live forever, but if they ever succumb to ennui, they start to fade away. The Shadar-kai thus have an active and vibrant culture, devoted to exploration, self-expression, and a general 'carpe diem' attitude. These guys consider bragging contests a sport.
  • It's implied a lot of Sin-Eaters are like this. They were given the chance to come back from the dead and gladly accepted, so why shouldn't they be happy? Their general culture is one of celebrations and gatherings in the vein of the Day of the Dead and New Orleans funerals.
  • Penny Dreadful from Mage: The Ascension lives and breathes this trope. It's also implied that just as many of the Hollow Ones are perky goths as are traditional ones.
  • Eclipse Phase has the newscaster Momo von Satan, the host of a comedy news program. Imagine The Daily Show if Jon Stewart was a tiny Japanese woman who continually argued with a giant grey CGI penis wearing a horned Viking helmet about journalistic ethics, and who filled the show with cracked-out one-frame Easter Eggs, and you'll pretty much have the idea.
  • There's a Perky Goth card in the Chez Geek expansion Chez Goth.

    Toys 
  • Storm E. Sky in the 2017 incarnation of Lalaloopsy has a storm/rain motif, wears black and white, and loves rock music. She is also daring and does care for others.
  • Pluto from Milky Way and the Galaxy Girls dresses in all black and loves death metal but is very passionate.
  • In Monster High the young vampiress Draculaura fits this trope to a T. Her friend Frankie Stein really belongs here too.

    Video Games 
  • Animal Crossing has Muffy, a sheep with black wool, pale white skin, black lipstick, and striped purple horns. New Horizons also makes her default outfit a dark purple Ruffled Dress. Her gothic appearance is contrasted with her Cool Big Sis personality type, making her a Tomboy with a Girly Streak who will become very protective of the player once they get close. Her birthday also happens to fall on Valentine’s Day, an overlap she enjoys for effectively giving her a double party.
  • Token Evil Teammate Shadowheart from Baldur's Gate III. Her raven hair, penchant for dark clothes, and worship of a malevolent God of Darkness definitely marks her as a goth, but while she's quite haughty at first she's ultimately quite a friendly and easygoing woman with a penchant for snark. As part of her Character Development, she actually becomes much more perky, but with it potentially far less goth, even dying her hair silver-blonde.
  • BanG Dream! Girls Band Party! has Ako Udagawa, the drummer for the goth J-Rock band Roselia. Her wardrobe consists almost entirely of blacks and reds, she accessorizes with chains and leather, and her Chuunibyou moments involve a lot of flowery talk about "the darkness" and such. She's also one of the most chipper and upbeat characters in the cast, especially in contrast with her bandmates.
  • Nina Cortex from Crash Bandicoot. She's paler than mayonaise, dark and cynical, yet loves animals and laughs. She has times when she's moody and aggressive, but that's because of her evil Mad Scientist uncle.
  • Sigrun from Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening is a member of the Legion of the Dead, dwarves who have symbolically died and consider themselves dead to the world. Their normal mindset is quite gloomy, but Sigrun manages to subvert the expectations despite her dark, tattooed exterior. This is even lampshaded by Nathaniel who thinks she ought to be a bit more grim to suit the image.
  • Noctis in Final Fantasy XV is themed around darkness powers and has a gothic appearance, with black clothes and hair. Fans assumed he'd be dark and brooding and were surprised when they bought the game and he turned out to be a chill young man whose primary interests are junk food, fishing and cute animals.
  • Hu Tao from Genshin Impact runs a funeral parlor in Liyue, wears dark clothes*, is pale-skinned, and speaks about death and your eventual demise a lot... But she's also cheerful, energetic, and a Bunny-Ears Lawyer.
  • Giana Sisters: In Giana Sisters DS and Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams, Punk Giana is a cheerful kid, despite her ferocious appearance and gothic-style clothes. Cute Giana is perky as well, as the Kickstarter Web site describes her as liking things spooky (even gaining more powers as the dream she's in gets more morbid.)
  • Cube from Jet Set Radio counts, though only since the localization of the first game. The Japanese original had her in more traditional skater-punk style.
  • Sora of Kingdom Hearts gets a goth makeover to blend in whenever he visits Halloween Town, but is no less relentlessly cheery for it.
  • Subverted by Morinth from Mass Effect 2. She seems like one of these when you first meet her, but she's a Serial Killer obsessed with dominance, violence and death.
  • Neon White of Neon White refers to Neon Violet as an "alt girl". She wears a black jacket, skirt, and collar, and is incessantly cheerful and enthusiastic.
  • Nintendo Wars: Lash from Advance Wars is a Perky Goth villain. It's not to say she isn't evil, but she's a chipper and cheerful Manchild of an Evil Genius, with a theme that absolutely slaps, and easily the most cheerful of all the villains. In the "defeat" conversation at one point in the third game, she even growls, "No more miss nice perky goth!"
  • Shoka Sakurane from NEO: The World Ends with You. She's pale, has bags under her eyes, and she wears a black hoodie with cat ears based off Mr. Mew. She also snarks a lot, with her catchphrase being "Later, losers."
  • Marnie from Pokémon Sword and Shield is a downplayed version. Her fashion style has elements of this, as she wears a pink dress with pink ribbons in her hair, accented by a studded black (fake) leather jacket, a spiked necklace, and black nail polish. In terms of personality, while she's good-natured and her dialogue doesn't hide when she's happy, she's generally very stoic like a stereotypical Goth would be.
  • Jennifer "Jen" Tate, main character of Primal, dresses in a crimson, midriff-baring shirt with black pants and lots of leather belts all about, on top of having pale skin, black eyeshadow, and a spiky-looking back tattoo. She also spends much of the game transforming into various creepy monstrous humanoids. She's nonetheless surprisingly cheerful and quippy overall.
  • Abigail from Stardew Valley wears dark clothes and dyes her hair purple, and her mother often bemoans her interest in the occult, but she's otherwise a friendly, well-adjusted young woman.
  • In Summertime Saga, Odette is a pretty standard big-breasted goth girl with a knack for partying. To a lesser extent, Eve and Grace qualify, as well.
  • Lilia Vanrouge from Twisted Wonderland is a vampire-like Elegant Gothic Lolita who belongs to a dorm full of dark, gothic and BDSM-esque aesthetics, but is a childish Keet.
  • Fay from Witches X Warlocks dresses all in black and has spooky cobweb decorations in their design. They’re also very excitable and enthusiastic and wants nothing more than to help the world find love.

    Web Animation 
  • Hello Kitty And Friends Supercute Adventures: Kuromi's personality in the series. She dresses in black, has a skull motif on her outfit and house, and is obsessed with Halloween, to the point that even though it's her birthday, that takes a backseat to the holiday for her. That being said, she's cheerful, friendly, and will participate in various activities with her friends without complaint.

    Webcomics 
  • Gilly Woods the Perky Goth of Dork Tower is the trope namer. Along with all of the typical goth mannerisms, she smiles all the time, collects plush animals, enjoys cookies and ice cream, and is perpetually optimistic. She embarrasses her brother Walden, who is a stereotypical Mopey Goth and Dark Lord of the Mud Bay Goth community.note  Over the years, she's traveled to London to study pre-med in England, came out as bisexual, and has become romantically linked to her roommate — all while still remaining perky and goth-y.
  • The main character of Buttercup Festival is a perky goth, and embodies perhaps the more whimsical side of the trope.
  • Miho from MegaTokyo has been defined by Fred Gallagher as a "perky goth", though she's more of a Little Miss Badass.
  • Crystal from Zebra Girl. She starts out completely bubbly from the get-go, and one day decides to go goth on a lark, without actually changing her personality in any way.
  • Blossom from Rhapsodies (though she's more Industrial Punk than most examples).
  • Amy Fang from Dead Metaphor is a good example. Though she wears death-metal shirts and seems to have an obsession with horror/zombies, she is perpetually perky, energetic and somewhat childish. In the more recent webcomic Woo Hoo, where Amy reappears, she seems a bit more grown-up, but she's still definitely a pun-loving perky goth.
  • Dora from Questionable Content. Her transition from "mopey" to "perky" allegedly came before her first appearance, and she's called out on it in an early strip by a member of her former "coven". This same member (Raven) shows up a few weeks later with a job application as a non-gothic Genki Girl.
  • Death in the webcomic Finder's Keepers (2008) seems to be this.
  • On the outside, Alisin in Fans! is cheerful, fun-loving, and free-spirited, and it's only when you look closely that it's revealed that underneath the perky exterior she's a neurotic, self-loathing and nihilistic mess.
    • In later arcs, Aly (she's no longer Alisin) was able to shed her self-loathing, due in large part to the unconditional love of her husband Rikk, and later Rumy when she joined them in a triad marriage, plus finding fulfillment in her job as a nurse in a juvenile cancer ward. She also grew her hair out and dropped most of her goth fashions. In one recent arc, she was held hostage by Keith Feddyg, who told the young patients about her past life, and then killed one 8-year-old who defended her. Aly, bolstered by Rikk and Rumy, was able to say the one thing Keith couldn't bear to hear; "I forgive you."
  • Happy Goth from The Devil's Panties.
  • Vanity Thorn from the webcomic Sequential Art.
  • Esther from Scary Go Round. Her friend Sarah has also become much perkier throughout the comic.
    • SGR actually plays with Goth stereotypes quite a bit overall — Sarah goes a bit Tsundere for and winds up dating the much older Ryan, while Esther and Sarah's friend Big Lindsay is less goth and more of a Class 3 The Big Guy (who is eventually Put on a Bus by getting pregnant). And then there's the odd case of Roxy Postlethwaite, who is supernaturally Changed into a "White Goth" — part banshee, Cloud Cuckoo Lander, all Nightmare Fuel.
  • Marius, Mordred, and Sarah from My Life In Blue.
  • The Order of the Stick's Tsukiko. Evil mystic theurge, but she loves what she does.
  • Cassie from The Wotch is a goth and proud of it. Oh, and she always wanted to see a unicorn. Despite her dark fashion sense and outlook, she can almost always be seen fawning over her crush, Robin.
  • Angelica from Bloody Urban has somewhat morbid interests and usually wears punky black clothes and black makeup, despite being The Ditz.
  • Katie and Abby from Weregeek, especially Abby.
  • Silverblue from Jack, based on the character of a friend of the author (who herself is a Perky Goth in real life), is very much this by the time she realizes that everything that happens to her in hell is her own self punishment, and no, she does NOT have to watch the same round of musical holes every day if she really doesn't want to.
  • The Dark Lordess Tyfnee from Dumnestor's Heroes, as exemplified by this strip.
  • Cherri Creeper, the protagonist of School Bites.
  • Kanaya from Homestuck is an inversion. On her home planet, most residents stay indoors during the day for fear of the blistering sun (and the undead who rise in the morning), and wear nothing but black and gray. Kanaya, on the other hand, comes out during the day (and keeps actual plants in her home) and wears a variety of bright colors... so, for all intents and purposes, she's the goth of her planet.
    • Aradia, post-resurrection, is a more straight example. While she also doesn't wear black or grey, she's an extreme Nightmare Fetishist who is incredibly cheery and enthusiastic about the chance to throw someone a "corpse party". She somehow manages to be so sweet and likeable about it that it almost isn't creepy.
  • Elliot from El Goonish Shive has a goth female form with its own personality as a part of his cover identity spell. When he assumed it the first time, he was too impressed to be angsty: though later still morphed into its imitation without enforced supernatural angst attached
    goth female Elliot (ogling the mirror): The world is cold, but this form is ''hot''.
  • Runie from 200:20 could be considered an excellent example of this as well. The many, many outfits in which she is seen wearing normally involve black colors or fishnets (she is most often seen wearing a something that looks a cross of a Chinese dress with panty hose and knee high boots). Although her attitude might also qualify her to be considered as The Cutie as well.
  • L.A.W.L.S. has Autumn The Furry Slayer, who's not of the "slitting her wrist to Morrisey's Morosity or something" sort. She's rather kind of fun, in her own loudly and violently crazy way.
  • In Gunnerkrigg Court Parley's classmate Lily Cooke (or "Cookie Monster") fits the type, between her love of dark colours, visible ex-fairies' influences and Cat Smile.
    • Jenny in a later chapter is another example. She's a bit less perky but she's still very friendly. As a bonus she's an actual witch.
  • Vicious Whisper from Serenity Rose is a textbook example, with bright pink hair, a very positive (and vocal) outlook on life and all while following strong Goth Aesthetics.
  • Matchu has Famine, who, despite the evil sounding name, is rather cheerful in her own weird way.
  • Happens to Felicia near the end of Ozy and Millie, as she becomes Goth, but the circle of Goths she tries to hang out with snubs her because she's "too happy" so she quickly abandons that.
  • Pretty much all the main and many minor characters in Between the Lines (2006) are gothic, though not everyone dresses in stereotypical completely black. They have the range of personalities you'd expect from a group of people.
  • Dot of Goth Oz is a Spirited Young Lady wearing more pink and purple than she does black.

    Web Original 
  • The websites Suicide Girls (NSFW!) and Gods Girls (NSFW!) (as well as their Tumblr pages, just google either one with the word tumblr also, Tumblr sites as NSFW!) exist to document these women in their natural habitat. And naked.
  • The Image Boards have memetically described this as a "Big Tiddy Goth GF".
  • "1-800-Tech support" has Erica who, while into black makeup, mummifying her dead cats and so on, is generally fairly chirpy...unless it's that time of the month.
  • At least one of the hosts from the podcast Lime and Violet alludes to having been one of these in the past, after a teenage stint as a more typical Mopey Goth.
  • Moria from Gaia Online kind of drifts between this and Regular Punk depending on her characterization. (Though she was a vampire for about a week once, which ranks pretty high on the goth scale.)
  • The writer of this Agony Booth recap declares that most Goths actually are like this, and that Repo! The Genetic Opera gives them a bad name for this reason.
  • Survival of the Fittest has Anna Chase of v4 and Keira MacDonald of the spinoff Evolution. Anna's a little more downplayed on the perky part, and while not a Shrinking Violet, can come off as seemingly rather meek at times. However, she still definitely fits the description. Keira, however, is played completely straight; her "power" is that she coughs up smoke at irregular intervals, for crying out loud!
  • Sara Waite of Whateley Universe appears to be a goth due to her natural coloring, and, as a lust demon, she's rather perky.
  • A Squid Called Zelda, especially since she started wearing black makeup in her movie reviews.
  • Ralis Kahn of Wayside Creation's "Mad Monster Lab".
  • Bones Cloud from Equestria Chronicles. Your friendly neighborhood mortician pony.
  • Youtube vlogger Miss Hannah Minx is probably the most gratuitously perky goth in the whole world, especially in her Jinx and Elvira personas. Example.
  • Ask A Mortician, a Youtube webseries where Caitlin Doughty, a licensed mortician, cheerfully answers people's questions about death, burial, cremation, and other such things. To answer someone's question if it's possible to bake someone's cremated remains into a chocolate cake (no, really, that was the question), she does precisely that with some fake remains (with "Sorry U Died" written in icing). The cake was apparently quite disgusting, and the whole thing was hilariously absurd.
  • RWBY has Ruby Rose, whose character design is best described as "goth meets Little Red Fighting Hood", even fighting with a giant scythe. The initial "Red" trailer had fans presuming that she would have a more muted personality, but as more material about the series came out, it became clear that she was more upbeat. She has statues of creatures of Grimm in her room and is both fascinated by the monsters and utterly determined to annhilate them all.
  • Inverted with Shana Festa of The Bookie Monster and author of the Time of Death novels. She looks like someone's perky neighbor yet runs one of the biggest horror book review sites around.
  • In Moonflowers, Persephone is very much this. Apart from being blonde, she's the queen of the dead who dresses in a muted color scheme (blues and grays, with black jewelry), but is quite sociable and friendly.
  • DSBT InsaniT: Well, Killdra's not quite the friendliest example, but she isn't a Debbie Downer like her brother is.
  • The Music Video Show has the host wearing black nail polish, skull hats, black clothing (with a skull tank top in season four) and cracks jokes constantly at the videos she's watching. Taken further with her twitch streams.
  • Regular Car Reviews: Mr. Regular basically describes the Buick Regal Grand National (which famously only came in black) as one of these:
    "A real life Dark Knight... A sinister rolling reminder to any passing oligarch that death claims all... [Beat] Nah! If you want to know the truth, this is the happiest car in the world.
  • The Hardly Working sketch "Goth Dave Matthews Fan" is Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
    His nails may be black, but his heart is [tie]-dye.
  • hololive EN:
    • Calliope "Calli" Mori is a literal grimm reaper (and first apprentice to the Grimm Reaper), who dresses like a cross between a stereotypical evil queen and an Elegant Gothic Lolita, is seldom seen without her massive Sinister Scythe on her back, and raps about her love of death and murder. She's also an incredibly sweet, friendly, and funny girl prone to blushing. The exception is when she's around Kiara, who brings out her Tsun side. Her song Deadbeats is half about her love of murder, and half about her love of her fans (who are called "Deadbeats").
    • EN's third generation introduces Shiori Novella, who flat-out describes herself as "your hot goth girlfriend, question mark?" and admits to liking Hot Topic. She's also a huge nerd who squees on stream over obscure facerig technology and science facts.

    Western Animation 
  • The titular character of The Adventures of Figaro Pho is a timid boy who wears lots of black and lives in a gothic mansion. However, he built a Robot Dog who he loves to play with, and has very childlike enthusiasm at times.
  • Debbie of American Dad! seems to have an obsession with death and the dark side, but for the most part seems very friendly and well-adjusted.
  • American Dragon: Jake Long: One-Shot Character Joshua wears dark clothing and has a poetic soul. He's happy and expressive while he and his girlfriend Tricia are in a relationship but gets much more gloomy during their brief breakup.
  • Be Cool, Scooby-Doo!: In "American Goth," Shaggy's childhood friend Amelia is a goth girl with an unfailingly kind and sunny disposition. The same is true of her parents. For the most part, her friends are Large Hams who only pretend to be stereotypical goths.
  • Lydia, from the Animated Adaptation of Beetlejuice. (Not the near-suicidal emo kid from the movie, although she did lighten up at the end of the movie and new wardrobes are expensive.)
  • Count Duckula, on his own show at least.
    • He's mostly this in Danger Mouse as well, being a Harmless Villain who only wants to make it big in show business rather than a genuine threat.
  • Craig of the Creek has Tabitha and Courtney, two teenage goth girls who are dubbed "The Witches of the Creek" by the elementary school aged main characters. The two (particularly Tabitha) are amused by the intimidating witchy image the kids have of them and enjoy messing with them, but they're very playful and even end up helping the kids a few times.
  • Danny Phantom: Sam Manson is very clearly one of these. By outward appearance, she's your stereotypical Goth girl. But she's actually quite happy with the way life is! She often tries to be a stereotypical edgy, brooding goth, but it never lasts long. It generally appears as though Sam considers herself a Goth because she likes the style... or because she wanted to rebel against her parents. During the Christmas season, she becomes so cheery and full of holiday spirit that it unnerves everyone around her!
  • Ingrid Third in Fillmore! is pale, raven-haired, dresses only in black most of the time and cracks wise all the time.
  • Vanessa Doofenshmirtz of Phineas and Ferb, whenever her dad's not around to embarrass her.
    • Actually addressed in one episode, where Vanessa informed her father that she and her friends were "Punks, not Goths."
  • The 1999 direct-to-video Scooby-Doo movie, Scooby-Doo! and the Witch's Ghost, features "The Hex Girls", a rock-band trio of friendly Goth girls. They identify themselves as "Eco-Goths", are deeply involved with environmental causes, and the lead singer's Wiccan background becomes key in dealing with the titular Witch's Ghost. They generally retained both aspects of this trope in subsequent appearances in the franchise (namely in Scooby-Doo! and the Legend of the Vampire and Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated).
  • Teen Titans (2003): Jinx is this, serving as a cheerful and perky villainess foil for the heroic, gloomy goth Raven.
  • The Modifyers: Agent Xero uses a ring to change into her alter ego: Lacey Shadows. Except her personality doesn't change, so she's just as upbeat and playful as she normally is. The only differences are, her hair shortens and becomes multi-colored, she wears dark eyeshadow, and she gains a British accent.
  • Triana Orpheus in The Venture Bros., in sharp contrast to the unrelenting weirdness surrounding her home life. Her dad, despite being a major contributor to the weirdness, is also as perky as his wardrobe is somber. And he's always offering homemade snacks to anyone who visits.
    "[cape flick, dramatic music] Who wants... PIZZA ROLLS?"
  • Ruby Gloom is pretty much what happens when you make a show based around this trope, with the titular character being an incredibly cheerful girl who wears dark clothing and lives in a old Victorian mansion. This is hammered in by the show's theme song telling the audience that they're going "to show you the bright side of the dark side."
  • Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja gives us Julian, an endearingly gothic Cloudcuckoolander who's apparently based on Noel Fielding.
  • The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy: Inverted with Mandy. She may appears innocent with her pink flower dress, but she's actually so gloomy, cynical, and hostile that even creatures from the underworld fear messing with her.
  • On South Park, the Goth Kids are decidedly not an example, but their rivals, the Vampire Kids, come a lot closer, largely consisting of popular kids who like Twilight but dress in a dark clothes.
  • Total Drama:
    • Gwen fits this bill pretty well when she's in a good mood.
    • Scary Girl from the 2023 reboot fits this bill even better, however, as her nickname would suggest, this peppiness serves to make her even more unnerving.
  • Matt's Monsters: Manson toys with the trope, as although she is pretty gloomy and snarky, she does have a more cheerful side and it is not difficult for her to show it up.
  • Mona the Vampire of course has the title character herself. The main theme song describes her as "a nice, normal girl" and, indeed, she is. She just has a bit of an overactive imagination that cause a bit of trouble on occasion.
  • The title character of Vampirina counts for this. As a vampire, she has a love for all things spooky and creepy. However, as a little girl, she also loves playing with dolls, and is very quirky and upbeat.
  • Charlene from Victor and Valentino is a chipper Creepy Child who dresses in all black and likes the occult.
  • Entrapta in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power was designed as a Perky Cybergoth, with a purple-dominated colour palette, big, chunky steel-capped boots, long oddly-tinted hair, and a scary red-eyed mask, contrasting with an extremely upbeat and likeable demeanour. She even manages to make friends with Big Bad Hordak, who is entirely devoid of perkiness.
  • Juleka Couffaine from Miraculous Ladybug is too shy and reserved to really qualify as "perky", but is nonetheless a pleasant, amiable person with an archetypically goth look.
  • Inside Job (2021): During her investigation of Brett, Reagan discovers that he was both a goth and a jock at the same time in high school, which she uses as proof that his backstory is insane and possibly fabricated. Turns out it's simply a result of him being completely desperate for approval and willing to change everything about himself to get it.
  • As The Owl House has progressed, Amity has gradually made her way towards becoming this. By the time of "Enchanting Grom Fright", while she is certainly still prickly and abrasive, she has become significantly less volatile towards other people, especially her newfound crush Luz. By the time of "Eclipse Lake", recent events including Amity finally defying her mother's will as well as her and Luz becoming girlfriends have made Amity significantly happier and more positive, with her frequently smiling and being far friendlier to everyone. It gets to a point where by the time of "Thanks to Them" Amity is the more joyful, optimistic, and positive partner in her romance with Luz, due to Luz's own spirits and optimism being ground into dust by all of the horrible things she has faced and experienced.
  • Kaeloo: Lavanade is pale-skinned, wears all-black clothing, and talks to ghosts. She's also a cheerful and friendly young girl who loves jokes and hugs.

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