History Main / SuddenEyeColour

It was once quite common for characters to have BlackDotPupils, sometimes in the form of BlackBeadEyes or PieEyes instead of having irises. While it's in no way rare these days, it's also not quite as typical as it was before. In remakes, sequels of older media, or (in the case of LongRunners) as the [[ArtEvolution series progresses]], the characters will often be given coloured irises instead of their traditional dots.

* Rare live-action example-- Leela in ''Series/DoctorWho'' originally had brown eyes as a hangover from an original plan to have her AmbiguouslyBrown. The actress, Louise Jameson, had naturally blue eyes, and had a lot of trouble with the colour-changing contact lenses she had to wear, so at the end of the story "Horror of Fang Rock", Leela's eyes are explicitly turned blue in story due to looking too closely at a laser beam and/or exploding spaceship.

* The notorious Season 25 promo picture of ''WesternAnimation/ThomasTheTankEngine'' shows Thomas with not only a whole new and chibified redesign, but he is also given blue eyes.

* ''Franchise/AlvinAndTheChipmunks'': The chipmunks have had their signature eye colors already established, however, this didn't happen until ''WesternAnimation/TheChipmunkAdventure'', and subsequent episodes of the [[WesternAnimation/AlvinAndTheChipmunks 1980s series]] that were produced by Creator/DiC, when Alvin and Simon were given blue eyes, and Theodore was given green eyes; prior to that, the Ruby-Spears produced episodes and previous incarnations gave each of them plain, black eyes.

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[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]

* Occurs twice in ''Film/SpaceJam'':
** WesternAnimation/BugsBunny suddenly gains irises just after the Monstars burst into Schlesinger's Gym to assess the opposition. Michael Jordan asks, "Who are they?" Bugs's response is, "Remember the little aliens I told you about?" then hides behind Michael's shoulder and points at the towering bruisers, eyes wide with fear. For the record, Bugs has dark brown irises.
** WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck demonstrates some ToonPhysics to Michael Jordan by getting his neck stretched BeyondTheImpossible, stating, "See? No sweat. This is Looney Tune Land." with Daffy shows his darling blue irises at that moment.

** Toys often gave Angelica purple eyes for whatever reason.

** In ''ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog'', Mighty, Ray, and Nack were given redesigns to make them fit amongst the post-''[[VideoGame/SonicAdventures Adventures]]'' redesigns. All three characters received blue eyes.

* Wakako in ''Manga/WakaoZake'' has very large, solid black irises in the manga, but in the anime adaptation, her irises are yellow and tan, and there's some suggestion of pupils.

* In ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'', Wander only gets irises when under stress or making puppy dog eyes. Hater already has green eyes, but gets irises of a darker shade when he's stressed.

* ''Franchise/SpyroTheDragon'': Spyro in the original Playstation trilogy has black eyes, although they were always meant to be purple, such as on the cover of VideoGame/SpyroEnterTheDragonfly where he is depicted with purple eyes, yet his in-game model had black eyes. In ''VideoGame/SpyroAHerosTail'' his model has light purple eyes.

* ''Franchise/SpyroTheDragon'': Spyro in the original PS1 trilogy has black eyes, although they were always meant to be purple, such as on the cover of VideoGame/Spyro:EnterTheDragonfly where he is depicted with purple eyes, yet his in-game model had black eyes. In ''VideoGame/Spyro:AHerosTail'' his model has light purple eyes.

* Inverted in ''VideoGame/SpyroReignitedTrilogy''. Several characters (such as the originally bright green eyed Sheila) were redesigned to have black eyes. Sheila for example has eyes of an extremely dark shade of green with black pupils.

* The ''Franchise/ArchieComics'' characters traditionally drawn with black eyes, but are occasionally depicted with iris colors (for example, Betty had blue eyes went when {{goth}}, but normal eyes in her normal attire). Spinoffs have a tendency of giving them eye colors:

* As a part of the redesigns for ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'', most of the ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' characters went from having BlackBeadEyes to having colored ones. Sonic has green, Tails has blue, Amy also has green, and Knuckles has violet.

* Early games in ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' franchise did not show Link's or Zelda's eye colors. Later games give Link InnocentBlueEyes and Zelda usually has blue eyes too.
* Crash's eyes were meant to be green in ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot1996'', but his model only shows BlackBeadEyes. His higher poly model from the [[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot2CortexStrikesBack sequel]] shows his eye color.
* ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'': The earlier games (like ''VideoGame/KirbysDreamland'') had the titular Kirby having simple dots/lines as eyes. Later games would show him having dark blue eyes.

* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', distinct irises made their debut on [[http://egscomics.com/comic/2013-09-13 the last strip]] of the Family Tree storyline in the second last panel. The first time colored irises were seen was in [[http://egscomics.com/sketchbook/2013-09-14 a sketchbook strip]] the next day. Dan has continued to include irises ever since though, since the story comics are in grayscale now, colored irises have been seen only in sketchbook strips and in the Squirrel Prophet storyline (the last time the story comics were in color).

* In ''[[Fanfic/RedSadie Ruby Stars]]'', Sadie's eyes are described as green [[spoiler:pre-gem lodging]], while they're black in the show.

* In ''[[Fanfic/RedSadie Ruby Stars]]'', while Sadie's DreamingOfTimesGoneBy [[spoiler:as her mother Kay]], her eyes are red instead of black. The following chapter also reveals [[spoiler:that her eyes have actually turned red]].

* ''Disney/WinnieThePooh'':
** Christopher Robin was usually portrayed with BlackBeadEyes or SkintoneSclerae in Disney's ''Franchise/WinnieThePooh'' franchise, until he got more realistic eyes with white sclera and [[BlackDotPupils black iris]] in ''Disney/WinnieThePooh''.
** When Rabbit freaked out in ''Disney/WinnieThePooh'', his eyes changed from generic black to blue.

* The general style of anime has changed since the 1990s. While characters did have eye colors, often times they were quite dark looking (either due to the animation or the art-style). Newer sequels and remakes done in the 2000s and 2010s give the characters bigger and brighter eyes; compare the first season of ''Manga/YoureUnderArrest'' to the final season, or the 90s ''Anime/SailorMoon'' anime to ''Anime/SailorMoonCrystal''.

It was once quite common for characters to have BlackBeadEyes or PieEyes instead of having irises. While it's in no way rare these days, it's also not quite as typical as it was before. In remakes, sequels of older media, or (in the case of LongRunners) as the [[ArtEvolution series progresses]], the characters will often be given coloured irises instead of their traditional dots.

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[[folder: Fanfic]]

[[folder: Film -- Animation]]

[[folder: Film -- Live-Action]]

[[folder: Live-Action TV]]

[[folder: Video Games]]

[[folder: Webcomics]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]

* In ''[[Fanfic/RedSadie Ruby Stars]]'', while Sadie's DreamingOfTimesGoneBy [[spoiler:as her mother Kay]], her eyes are red instead of black. The following chapter also reveals [[spoiler:that her eyes have turned red]].

*** ''Sonic the Comic'' had this happen in-universe. Originally, Sonic had black eyes that "glowed green with Chaos energy" when he went [[SuperMode Super Sonic]]. Later, he was attacked by [[EnergyBeing a creature of pure Chaos energy]], and the experience turned his eyes permanently green (or red in Super Sonic mode), in order to match the changes to his videogame design. According to one post-series cover, this might have been {{retcon}}ned away so that he gained green eyes in the same accident that [[LockedIntoStrangeness caused his blue fur.]]

** ''ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog'': Mighty, Ray, and Nack were given redesigns to make them fit amongst the post-''Adventures'' redesigns. All three characters received blue eyes.

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'':
** DependingOnTheArtist (and the shot), Rubies (yes, all of them) usually have black eyes or red eyes.
** Onion originally had black eyes, which were changed to red in later appearances.

* For the duration of the "[[{{Animesque}} Action Delivery Force]]" segment in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "Reincarnation," [[SignificantGreenEyedRedhead Fry's eyes are green]], Leela's is blue, and Amy's are [[TechnicolorEyes lavender]].