History Main / HighlyConspicuousUniform

* In TheDarkKnightReturns, Batman points out that he wears a bright yellow target on his chest for a reason, it's armored enough to take direct gunfire and every idiot mook aims right for it.

* Another modern example, the U.S. Army's combat uniforms (the Army Combat Uniform, and before it, the Battle Dress Uniform and Desert Combat Uniform) all feature a patch with a reflected United States flag on their right shoulder ([[FridgeBrilliance it's reflected because if they actually were marching forward with a flag on their right side, that's how you'd see it from their right side, blue field on the right (closest to the flagpole) blowing back. It'd basically only be seen in the traditional direction if the soldier was marching backwards. Unless the wind was blowing from a different direction.]]) When deploying into a location where red, whit and blue blend in poorly, it's switched out for a less visible monochromatic version.

** The later series gradually phased out the bright colors in the uniforms in favor of black and gray. Limiting the colored part to the shoulders and eventually just an undershirt. ''Enterprise'' also has quite reasonable dark blue uniforms.

** The Crimson Guard (see page image) are actually a bit of an aversion, as they're not frontline troops, but Cobra Commander's most elite forces. One has to have a degree in law or accounting to even be eligible to join, although scientists and others with highly specialized, and valuable, skills have been included in the ranks. [[InSeriesNickname Siegies]], when not serving directly at a Cobra base, are deployed out into the world to infiltrate society, spying on enemies and legally earning money to be funneled back to Cobra. Of course, this applies mainly to the comic books; in the cartoon, the Guard aren't featured much outside of the twins, Tomax and Xamot, and in the [[DICEntertainment DIC]] miniseries "Operation: Dragonfire", one nameless Siegie even sees [[MerchandiseDriven becoming an Alley-Viper as a promotion!]]

* Another modern example, the U.S. Army's combat uniforms (the Army Combat Uniform, and before it, the Battle Dress Uniform and Desert Combat Uniform) all feature a patch with an inverted United States flag on their right shoulder ([[FridgeBrilliance it's inverted because if they actually were marching forward with a flag on their right side, that's how you'd see it from their right side, blue field on the right (closest to the flagpole) blowing back. It'd basically only be seen in the traditional direction if the soldier was marching backwards. Unless the wind was blowing from a different direction.]]) When deploying into a location where red, whit and blue blend in poorly, it's switched out for a less visible monochromatic version.

* As in the quotation of Warhammer40K, the {{SpaceMarine}}s generally do this (it can be handwaved that their armour is generally considered good enough to not need it). 'Justified' in that they ''want'' to be visible - people tend to change their mood a bit when they see a huge superhuman in a powerarmor with a handheld SMG which shoots grenades.

*** Add to this that the fifth movie and DeepSpaceNine give Starfleet far more sensible uniforms when they're ''expecting'' ground combat--the former based on the British Army "Wooly Pully" sweater, the latter matte-black body armour.

** Justified, [[LampshadeHanging and discussed]], within the series itself by Jack O'Neill. The entire point of the Goa'uld and their armies was to be seen and feared, to cow people into submission through displays of power rather than through actual ability. When the Jaffa begin to rebel in solid numbers they begin to accept human style weapons and tactics (Even though they are [[RockBeatsLaser less advanced]]), because they human weapons are designed to ''kill'' people, while Jaffa weapons are designed to ''intimidate'' people.

** It is a JustifiedTrope in the case of Rebellion-era Stormtrooper uniforms, since TheEmpire relied heavily on highly visable shows of force to enforce compliance among member worlds. Having a legion of mooks wearing smooth, skeletal-white, faceless armor looks intimidating without looking deliberately evil.

** {{FridgeBrilliance}} - how better to discourage your troops from turning round and running away?

* The Alliance soldiers in ''{{Firefly}}'' got the nickname "purple bellies" from the purple-painted armor they wore on ther abdomens. And while the coats that gave the Independent "Browncoats" their nickname would probably help blend into the arid enviroments of most outer worlds, the red vests they wore underneath would definately not.

* As in the quotation of Warhammer40K, the {{SpaceMarine}}s generally do this (it can be handwaved that their armour is generally considered good enough to not need it). 'Justified' in that they ''want'' to be visible - people tend to change their mood a bit when they see a huge superhuman in a powerarmor with a handheld SMG which shoots grenades. SoYeah.

* {{Gundam}}, anyone? To be fair, the regular footsoldiers who don't pilot HumongousMecha usually have more sensible uniforms. The real winners are the Mobile Suits, themselves. Though it's pretty much an excercise in futility trying to camoflage anything that big, colours like fire engine red, purple and the classic Gundam red, white, blue and yellow paintjob are kinda pushing it. This is mostly due to ExecutiveMeddling, as Tomino had planned the original Gundam to be mostly white and grey, but his bosses told him [[MerchandiseDriven colourful robots would sell better]]. [[AllThereInTheManual Supplementary materials]] sometimes justify the original Gundam's flamboyant colours as being "Demo" or "Parade Colours" as it was a prototype planned to be used to demonstrate the capabilities of MS technology to the top brass... but then they turn around and make [[{{Mooks}} massproduction models]] based on it painted to look like they're wearing [[RedShirt red t-shirts]].
Another possibility heard recently is that in a world where electronic recognition system and IFF are heavily jammed back to the point of bringing back old age tactic it's in your interest to be recognizable by your friend.

* {{Gundam}}, anyone? To be fair, the regular footsoldiers who don't pilot HumongousMecha usually have more sensible uniforms. The real winners are the Mobile Suits, themselves. Though it's pretty much an excercise in futility trying to camoflage anything that big, colours like fire engine red, purple and the classic Gundam red, white, blue and yellow paintjob are kinda pushing it. This is mostly due to ExecutiveMeddling, as Tomino had planned the original Gundam to be mostly white and grey, but his bosses told him [[MerchandiseDriven colourful robots would sell better]]. [[AllThereInTheManual Supplementary materials]] sometimes justify the original Gundam's flamboyant colours as being "Demo" or "Parade Colours" as it was a prototype planned to be used to demonstrate the capabilities of MS technology to the top brass... but then they turn around and make [[{{Mooks}} massproduction models]] based on it painted to look like they're wearing [[RedShirt red t-shirts]]. Another possibility heard recently is that in a world where electronic recognition system and IFF are heavily jammed back to the point of bringing back old age tactic it's in your interest to be recognizable by your friend.

*{{Gundam}}, anyone? To be fair, the regular footsoldiers who don't pilot HumongousMecha usually have more sensible uniforms. The real winners are the Mobile Suits, themselves. Though it's pretty much an excercise in futility trying to camoflage anything that big, colours like fire engine red, purple and the classic Gundam red, white, blue and yellow paintjob are kinda pushing it. This is mostly due to ExecutiveMeddling, as Tomino had planned the original Gundam to be mostly white and grey, but his bosses told him [[MerchandiseDriven colourful robots would sell better]]. [[AllThereInTheManual Supplementary materials]] sometimes justify the original Gundam's flamboyant colours as being "Demo" or "Parade Colours" as it was a prototype planned to be used to demonstrate the capabilities of MS technology to the top brass... but then they turn around and make [[{{Mooks}} massproduction models]] based on it painted to look like they're wearing [[RedShirt red t-shirts]].

** It is a JustifiedTrope in the case of Rebellion-era Stormtrooper uniforms, since TheEmpire relied heavily on highly visable shows of force to enforce compliance among member worlds. Having a legion of mooks wearing smooth, skeletal-white, faceless armor looks intimidating without looking deliberately evil.
*** It also looks glaringly obvious, and the contrasting black underneath means they can't conceal themselves in any terrain. The only time they actually used effective camouflage was with the solid white snowtroopers on Hoth. It's also one of the few times we see the Imperials actually ''win''. The justification doesn't really work here, since the intimidation factor of your {{Mooks}}' uniforms shouldn't become a liability once the opposition calls your bluff.