History Main / TechnicolorDeath

* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts'' all bosses once killed freeze in place and emit circular light and electricity from their chest (or the closest thing to it.) [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in that you are then treated to a fade out and then a cutscene with a more appropriate death animation, though some still fall into this trope, such as:

** Though the FinalBoss doesn't do this, all the bosses and standard enemies in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'' explode upon dying into little Twilight fragments.

* Ares in ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'', after he is stabbed, explodes in a nuclear explosion.

* The FinalBoss of ''VideoGame/EarthBound'' dissipates into static upon death and simulates the TV turning off.

** Andross, both times he is destroyed, explodes in a nuclear explosion.
** Aparoid Queen in ''VideoGame/StarFoxAssault'', exploding in a flash of blue light.

* ''VideoGame/SecretOfMana'' has, as the standard boss death, the enemy becoming colored with a red and yellow palette as if they were on fire, then covered in explosions before the screen flashes completely white and they completely vanish.
** Sequel ''VideoGame/SeikenDensetsu3'' takes the screen freeze, then white flashing of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' mentioned above and takes it a step further with actual death animations, beams of light emitting from the boss' body, then a surprisingly well-animated screen-covering explosion that nonetheless leaves our heroes unscathed.

* In the Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse, the Emperor's explosion upon death in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' is applied to a lot of dark Jedi, such as Joruus C'Baoth in Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy.

[[folder:Live Action Television]]
* When ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' villains die, they go out with a bang. Sometimes it's such that you'd think the monster's destruction would do more to the city than the monster would have if left alone. ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' in particular went the distance, with all sorts of flashy and colorful effects as the monster staggered around, leading up to the final kaboom (which could consist of two or three explosions.) They haven't looked like ''that'' in a while, even for main villains.
** This of course applies to ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' as well, with the champion probably being [[Series/HikariSentaiMaskman Emperor Zeba]] who bleeds red energy, dissolves into green energy, floats up into the sky while forming into a face, and then explodes ''four times.''

** The revived series has at least tried to depict regenerations more consistently, usually involving the Time Lord's body erupting in golden energy. Ten's regeneration into Eleven was particularly violent and wrecked half his console room, either due to the amount of radiation Ten absorbed or how long he spent putting it off. The real answer is, of course, "the production team wanted to make some tweaks to the ship."
** Interestingly, while the Doctor got this violent-looking blowtorch-like effect, when the ''incredibly'' insane and murderous recurring villain the Master regenerated, the effect was quite peaceful looking with colorful energy smoothly washing over him. (However, it caused him to ''scream in agony,'' while none of the Doctor's regenerations ever did that...)

* When demons die in ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' they explode with red flashing lights. Angels take this to the next level where not only does white light explode from their body, but covers the entire room of wherever they're at.

* Happens when many demons or warlocks are "vanquished" (destroyed) in ''Series/{{Charmed}}''. Though later seasons replace this with flamy explosions. Notable examples:

** Played with in ''Film/GodzillaVsBiollante''. While Biollante doesn't die in the sequence described here, she undergoes a sequence which embodies the trope very well. After being mortally wounded by Godzilla, Biollante converts herself into a cloud of glowing green spores which rises into space, with an image of Erika appearing in the pretty cloud. At the end of the film, Biollante is revealed to have turned into a giant rose that is orbiting the Earth.

* MarvelCinematicUniverse:

** All the Monsters of the Week Sailor Moon destroys, a unique death scene for each type. Also the way Malachite disintegrates when he is stabbed. Neflite too, although he is no longer a villain at this point.

* ''ComicBook/{{Necronauts}}'': When Fort destroys one of the cultists' sleeping bodies to demonstrate that they're not bluffing about having found their headquarters, the cultist's dream avatar lights up like a christmas tree.

*** The warlock, Nicholas, explodes into a purple shockwave with sparks. (He is later resurrected and is permanently re-killed in a similar way replacing purple with yellow)

*** Shax glows as he spins around and explodes into sparks

** And of course, in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'', with standard enemies dissapearing into puffs of smoke.

* Ares in ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'', after he is stabbed explodes in a nuclear explosion.

* In ''VideoGame/SonicRiders'', Babylon Gaurdian disintegrates into sparks when Sonic defeats him. And in ''Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity'', Master Core: ABIS explodes in a spectacular explosion when Sonic defeats him.

* ''VideoGame/SecretOfMana'' has, as the standard boss death, the enemy becoming colored with a red and yellow animated pallete as if they were fire, then covered in explosions before the screen flashes completely white and they are completely vanished.
** Sequel ''VideoGame/SeikenDensetsu3'' takes the screen freeze, then white flashing of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' mentioned above and takes it a step further with actual death animations, beams of light emitting from the boss' body, then a surprisingly well animated screen covering explosion that nonetheless leaves our heroes unscathed.

* Johann Schmit/Red Skull ends up suffering from this trope in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'' when his attempt to use the Tesseract/Energy cube on Captain America after the device holding it was destroyed ended up backfiring on him.

* ''Franchise/{{Highlander}}''. The Quickening that occurs whenever an Immortal dies causes various sparks, electricity and destruction to surrouding vicinity.

* Bosses in the ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi Mario & Luigi]]'' [=RPG=]s tend to explode into glowing stars and lights when they die. In ''Partners in Time'', they flash rainbow colors before doing so.

** Bosses in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'' freze in place, flash multiple colors, have any body parts (that are separate sprites if they have them) explode individually before finally being covered in dozens of explosions.

* ''Franchise/WildArms'':
** The first game has each generic enemy dying by flashing colors and collapsing vertically into a little pool on the ground. Bosses get the more enhanced effect of flashing colors while beams of light shoot around and a big flash.

* Rasputin in ''WesternAnimation/{{Anastasia}}''. When his reliquary is crushed, green light shines from him before his skin melts off leaving a skeleton which disintegrates into dust. Since his reliquary was the seal of the contract between him and the forces of hell, his body and his soul were only an extension of their will through the liquary and their property and the moment it was destroyed, the bond was broken and both his body and his soul were claimed by them.

* The Emperor's death in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' was like this.

* Lampshaded in ''Manga/MiraiNikki'' by Yuno's reaction to the death of The 3rd.

* Many [[TheNthDoctor regeneration scenes]] in ''Series/DoctorWho'' are like this, with the obvious difference that the character in question is in a sense dying but simultaneously getting better. They're also unusual in that it's the death of the hero, not the villain. No two regenerations have been shown to be quite alike; mostly it's been a case of how the special effects team wanted to show off at the time.
** Creator/DavidTennant turning into Creator/MattSmith looked pretty much like Creator/ChristopherEccleston turning into David Tennant years earlier... but the big difference is that Tennant-into-Smith caused explosions throughout the TARDIS interior and caused it to crash. Just why this is is the subject of much FanWank, though there's a very real possibility that it's just [[TheAllegedCar the TARDIS]] being the TARDIS and the timing being wholly coincidental. The real answer is, of course, "the production team wanted to make some tweaks to the ship."
*** Interestingly, while the Doctor got this violent-looking blowtorch-like effect, when the ''incredibly'' insane and murderous recurring villain The Master regenerated, the effect was quite peaceful looking with colorful energy smoothly washing over him. (However, it caused him to ''scream in agony,'' while none of the Doctor's regenerations ever did that...)

** Sequel ''VideoGame/SeikenDensetsu3'' takes the screen freeze, then white flashing of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' mentioned above and takes it a step further with actual death animations, beams of light emitting from the boss' body, then a surprisingly well animated screen covering explosion that nonetheless leaves our heroes unscathed.

** Sequel ''VideoGame/SeikenDensetstu3'' takes the screen freeze, then white flashing of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' mentioned above and takes it a step further with actual death animations, beams of light emitting from the boss' body, then a surprisingly well animated screen covering explosion that nonetheless leaves our heroes unscathed.

** [[spoiler: Riku Replica]] in the same game falls down and emits a pool of darkness as if it was his own blood, then sinks into it.

* Tabuu gets a similar explosion to Aparoid Queen in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl''.

* Volgin in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'' ends up defeated by Snake, and ends up being hit by lightning. He then catches on fire, and the bullet bandomeers end up being set off by the flames.

** ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' bosses recoil in pain and explode for about 10 seconds as the background fades to white and they disappear into the background.

* ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts'':

** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TznkwCWiwq4 Marluxia]] from ''Chain of Memories'' had an epic disintegration into CherryBlossoms and swirly darkness amidst a background that resembles a darkened sky

* In ''Anime/SailorMoon [=SuperS=]: TheMovie''), the main villain dies in this manner, where it shows her already blob-like face melting and swirling (she's merged with a "black hole" at this point so she looks like a glowing ball with a face on it) and then the whole thing explodes.

* In the Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse, the Emperor's explosion upon death in ReturnOfTheJedi is applied to a lot of dark Jedi, such as Joruus C'Baoth in Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy.

** Creator/DavidTennant into Creator/MattSmith looked pretty much like Creator/ChristopherEccleston into David Tennant... but Tennant-into-Smith caused explosions throughout the TARDIS interior and caused it to crash. Just why this is is the subject of much FanWank, though there's a very real possibility that it's just [[TheAllegedCar the TARDIS]] being the TARDIS and the timing being wholly coincidental. The real answer is, of course, "the production team wanted to make some tweaks to the ship."

* ''Film/KingsmanTheSecretService'' has every mook's [[YourHeadAsplode head explode]] into a literal fireworks display, complete with Pomp and Circumstance playing in the background. It's just as hilarious as it is awesome.