This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Silent Hunter: A little note from my own viewing experiences. I was watching Mac Gyver (it's shown on a digital channel called Bravo in the UK), more specifically the episode.
In the first scene, I note that a female character who is being followed by a man in a face concealing radiation suit is wearing a red blouse. "Red Shirt", I think, "she's going to die".
Therefore, I was not surprised that her car blew up when she went to meet Mac Gyver. Mac went to her funeral, believing she was dead.
However, it turned out that the person in the car was not her, but a work colleague. At that point the toaster hit the wall .
Seven Seals: I'm taking out the Simpsons example, which is clearly pure Retirony. To be a good Redshirt, you have to be nominally appropriate for your task, yet serve as cannon fodder for the bad guy. A random guest getting shot up doesn't count.
Addendum: Retirony calls the sidekick "a perfect example of a Red Shirt" because he's black. I don't see it. RedShirt-ness is not about being visually distinct or a minority, but being introduced as an "this could happen to the hero, too" kind of guy (of course, the hero is too important to actually kill off; the Red Shirt is an appropriate substitute).
Lale: You know, given their reputation for Hurricane of Puns, I'm surprised Yu-Gi-Oh GX never made a joke about this trope.
Xander77 is there a place in the main article where we can place 
?
- I lie in the night air in my red shirt, the pervading hush is for my sake,
Painless after all I lie exhausted but not so unhappy,
White and beautiful are the faces around me, the heads are bared of their fire-caps,
The kneeling crowd fades with the light of the torches.
—>— Walt Whitman, Song of Myself Part 33
- Boone: You ever watch Star Trek?
Locke: Not really.
Boone: The crew guys that would go down to the planet with the main guys — the captain and the guy with the pointy ears? They always wore red shirts and they always got killed.
Locke: Yeah?
Boone: Yeah.
Locke: Sounds like a piss-poor captain.—Lost
Mike: Do you think it counts as a parody that the Babylon Five security uniform features a gunsight over the wearer's heart?
Lots42: Now I'm re-curious about that one Star Trek one-shot comic book I read and of course forgot the name of. An old colleague of Spock convinces the Enterprise to stop by to investigate a dimension thinger and alternate universe selves. Kirk takes Spock, Chekov and a redshirt. Not only does the redshirt survive, he has actual lines and kicks actual ass. It was quite refreshing.
