History Main / ColorCodedCharacters

* ''VideoGame/AdvanceWars'' gives us Orange Star, Blue Moon, Yellow Comet, and Green Earth. Interestingly Orange Star's color is actually Red. Its name got changed from Red Star in western releases.

Compare ColorCodedElements (when the color also pertains to the character's {{Elemental Power|s}}), ColorCodedSpeech, ColorMotif, ColorfulThemeNaming, RedIsHeroic.

** Godzilla: Blue
** Mothra: Green
** Rodan: Red
** Ghidorah: Yellow

** Shiritsu Ebisu Chuugaku primarily uses attendence numbers, but also occasionally uses individual member colors. The current lineup: Purple, Green, Lime/Light Green[[note]]The Lime member left the group in early 2018, later to be adopted by a new member in 2021[[/note]], Pink, Blue[[note]]Due to the Blue member's death in 2017, the color was permanently retired for members, and adopted as the official group/fan club color[[/note]], Orange[[note]]Graduated in 2022[[/note]], Yellow, and Aqua/Light Blue. In 2021 new members were added, taking Red, Lime, and White[[note]]The first member ever to adopt this color.[[/note]] as their official color. 2022 will add Honey Orange/Light Orange and Milk Tea/Beige.

* This is standard practice for Japanese and Korean idol units. It was initially done as a way to tell apart different members on stages as well as the management agencies' way of making more money by putting out merchandise in multiple colors. Eventually, it became the fans' own way of showing loyalty and admiration of their favorite members. Fans show support for their favorite member at live events by waving "sign lights", electronic glow sticks sold as merchandise, preset with the members' colors. It has, of course, carried over to 2D and 2.5D idols (that is, anime characters who release singles alongside "real" music acts), such as ''VideoGame/LoveLive'', ''Theatre/{{Tsukiuta}}'', and ''VideoGame/UtaNoPrinceSama''.

* The boyband JLS, who, thanks to their rise to fame on ''Series/TheXFactor'', are colour-coded, and have carried it into their music career, often performing not just in coloured clothing, but having coloured tape around their microphones and coloured earpieces. It's almost guaranteed that if you used their real names (Aston, JB, Marvin and Oritse) very few people would know who you were talking about, but if you said 'the blue/red/green/yellow guy from JLS,' they would.

* Music/TallyHall: Their signature ties:
** Andrew is [[color:green:green]]
** Joe is [[color:red:red]]
** Rob is [[color:yellow:yellow]]
** Ross is [[color:gray:gray]]
** Zubin is [[color:blue:blue]]
** Bora, who is basically an honorary member of the band, is [[color:orange:orange]]
*** This originally was used to make them stand out from other Ann Arbor bands, and the colors were chosen based on their instrument colors. Ross "inherited" Steven's gray tie when he replaced him in the band.
*** They've said before that purple can be the tie color for fans.
* Music/TheBeatles in the famous AbbeyRoadCrossing. John is in white, Ringo wears a black pinstripe suit, Paul wears a grey suit (and no shoes), while less-formal George wears bluejeans and a blue denim work shirt.
* Music/TheSaturdays: Often played with, as the artwork for the ''Chasing Lights'' era prominently featured the girls wearing a different color each, though no one colour was specifically assigned to any of them. This is especially prominent in the video for "Up".
* Each member of Music/{{Kiss}} got a designated color with their 1978 solo albums. Those colors were then incorporated into their new stage costumes in 1979 and each band member rose up to the stage under a spotlight of their designated color at the beginning of their concerts that year.
** Gene Simmons - Red
** Paul Stanley - Purple
** Ace Frehley - Blue
** Peter Criss - Green
*** When Eric Carr replaced Peter Criss on drums, they had the same guy who painted the solo album portraits do one of him as well, and his "color" was orange.
* Music/MysterySkulls' animated music video for ''Ghost'' features characters that are blue, yellow, red, and pink. The leader character seems to be the yellow one, however, and the pink character is a male ghost and the main antagonist of the video.

* Extremely common in J-pop Idol acts, initially as a way to tell apart different members on stages as well as the management agencies' way of making more money by putting out merchandise in multiple colors. Eventually, it became the fans' own way of showing loyalty and admiration of their favorite members. Occasionally, some performers will share the same color onstage or differentiate with a paler or darker shade, ironically causing some confusion among fans if the colors aren't distinct enough.

Bright, contrasting colors, particularly primary colors, are common. Regardless who they're assigned to, you can almost always count on a [[ChromaticSuperiority Red]] and a [[RedOniBlueOni Blue]] to appear. [[ChromaticArrangement Green and Yellow]] are also common. To round out a FiveManBand after using [[ChromaticArrangement the four primary colors]] you might see Pink for TheChick. If TheHero doesn't get [[RedIsHeroic Red]] or [[BlueIsHeroic Blue]], then they probably get White or Black with the four supporting members doing ChromaticArrangement. Though as part of the group Black has an odd tendency to swap with Green too. Purple, Orange and other colors are less common unless you have enough units for a full RainbowMotif or more. Metallic colors like Gold and Silver are usually reserved for the badass SixthRanger, as with Black and White if they haven't been used yet.

** [[TheChick Lulu:]] Green

* ''WebAnimation/{{Alphabet}}'': The letters has their own colors

** Z - White with light blue shading

** Shiritsu Ebisu Chuugaku primarily uses attendence numbers, but also occasionally uses individual member colors. The current lineup: Purple, Green, Lime/Light Green[[note]]The Lime member left the group in early 2018, later to be adopted by a new member in 2021[[/note]], Pink, Blue[[note]]Due to the Blue member's death in 2017, the color was permanently retired for members, and adopted as the official group/fan club color[[/note]], Orange, Yellow, and Aqua/Light Blue. In 2021 new members were added, taking Red, Lime, and White[[note]]The first member ever to adopt this color.[[/note]] as their official color

** A - Red

** E - Teal

** G - Purple

** I - Mint

** K - Lemon

** O - Cerulean
** P - Pink

** T - Grey
** U - Yellow Green

** Z - Blue Green

* ''WebAnimation/Alphabet'': The letters has their own colors

* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' does this a lot. The elements of the Triforce and their respective goddesses/bearers (and [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames oracles]] [[NamesTheSame of the same name as the goddesses]]) thematically arrange them as follows:

* ''Series/{{Through The Dragon's Eye}}'': Boris is orange, Doris is purple, and Moris is green.

* ''Series/{{ThroughTheDragonsEye}}'': Boris is orange, Doris is purple, and Moris is green.

** In 2022, Louis de Pointe du Lac wardrobe consists exclusively of black and grey apparel.

* ''Series/InterviewWithTheVampire2022'': In 2022, Louis de Pointe du Lac and [[HumanDisguise "Rashid"]]/Armand's wardrobe consists exclusively of black and grey apparel.

* ''Webcomic/GrimTrigger'': Every character has different colored lineart that usually corresponds to their hair, eyes, or clothing
** Tage: Green
** Hunter: Red
** Lodin: Maroon and pink
** Proxy: Purple

* ''Series/InterviewWithTheVampire2022'': In 2022, Louis de Pointe du Lac's wardrobe consists exclusively of black and grey apparel.

* The ''Music/EvilliousChronicles'' franchise makes use of Music/{{Vocaloid}}s for its songs and subsequently draws on their already existing ColorMotifs for the series' characters. Characters portrayed by KAITO have a blue motif, characters portrayed by MEIKO have red, Miku characters have green/turquoise, etc. This also has the side effect of the colors representing the SevenDeadlySins being very mismatched from the colors they are traditionally associated with however (with the exception of possibly Sloth, associated with the Miku character Margarita).

* Regulars on WebVideo/FailRace will usually maintain the same color car across dozens of races in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV''.

* ''VideoGame/DeepRockGalactic'' gives each of the four playable classes their own main color, which shows up on their armor and in UI elements related to them. The Gunner is green, the Driller is yellow, the Engineer is red, and the Scout is blue.

* [[VideoGame/GalaxyAngel The second Galaxy Angel trilogy]] uses this for the female members of the Rune Angel Wing, in the form of the members' favorite colors.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''Webcomic/GrimTrigger'': Every character has different colored lineart that usually corresponds to their hair, eyes, or clothing
** Tage: Green
** Hunter: Red
** Lodin: Maroon and pink
** Proxy: Purple