[[quoteright:350:[[Manga/SaintSeiya https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cap080.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[WebAnimation/IfTheEmperorHadATextToSpeechDevice The fact that gold exists makes every other color equally inferior.]]]]

->''"I know gold's a bit gauche, but I wanted to ensure you grasp my new position atop the pecking order. And for the sake of your feeble mind, let's keep the name simple as well. We'll call this Golden Frieza."''
-->-- '''Frieza''' on his new GoldenSuperMode, ''Anime/DragonBallZResurrectionF''

Sometimes, the RedOnesGoFaster. Other times, the ''[[gold:golden]]'' ones do.

This is LawOfChromaticSuperiority applied to the color gold. This has to do with the assumption that gold, as a metal, is rare, and thus something golden stands for wealth and power.

This could be by a gold SixthRanger being equal to or better than the Red Ranger, an already Red character turning gold as an upgrade, a gold tier above other tiers, or something else. Whatever the case, Gold is simply the best.

ChromeChampion, BlingBlingBang and BlingOfWar are related, but are not part of the same MetallicMotifs purpose of "just better" as the LawOfChromaticSuperiority. [[note]]In terms of value rate, though, it may be beaten with Platinum or Diamond... but then it's no longer about color.[[/note]]

Compare PowerGlows, GoldMakesEverythingShiny, MadeOGold, GoldAndWhiteAreDivine and GoldenSuperMode. Contrast WorthlessYellowRocks. PurpleIsPowerful is the more mundane counterpart, but (especially in a YellowPurpleContrast) can be just as deadly.

----
!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''Anime/AstroBoy'' (1980): Atlas has golden skin to reflect his strength over Astro.
* In ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', Don Kanouji seizes gold for his {{Sentai}} color after half the rest of the team (i.e. Jinta and Karin) spends an entire episode arguing over who gets to be red. Both eventually settled on being two reds in addition to his gold.
* In ''Anime/DigimonTamers'', Takato's red digivice is destroyed, but his replacement is gold. His and his partner's SuperMode, Gallantmon Crimson Mode, does stick with traditional red, though.
* ''Anime/DigimonTheMovie'': Using the Golden Digi Eggs of Miracles and Destiny, Veemon and Terriermon were able to digivolve into the golden-armored Digimon, Magnamon and Rapidmon. Unlike other Armor Digimon whose power is comparable to an Ultimate, Magnamon and Rapidmon are as powerful as a Mega level Digimon and they are able to defeat Cherubimon and free him from the virus that corrupted him.
* ''Anime/DoraemonNobitaAndTheGalaxySuperExpress'' have the titular train being attacked by the Yadori aliens, who pilots white mini-[=UFOs=]. Save for their leader, the Yadori Emperor, whose UFO is gold.
* ''Anime/DragonBallZ'':
** Goku's original power multiplier was the Kaioken which had him TurnRed and maxed out at 20x base power. When that wasn't enough to beat Frieza he transformed into a golden-haired Super Saiyan, 50x base power.
** Averted with Super Saiyan God, Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan (aka Super Saiyan Blue) and Legendary Super Saiyan which are red, blue and green respectively.
** In ''Anime/DragonBallZResurrectionF'' and ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'', Frieza himself develops a new SuperMode that turns his skin gold. He mentions that [[InvokedTrope he chose to make it gold with this very trope in mind]], as stated in the page quote. Worth noting is that he mixes this with [[PurpleIsPowerful purple]], another color of high prestige.
* ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'': Fate's base magical color is golden, which is said to be rare among mages. She's also one of the strongest TSAB mages and considered by many to be the fastest, hence her other title "Golden Flash."
* ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'':
** Char Aznable changes his usual color from red in the original ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' to gold in ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam'' [[spoiler:where he fights for the AEUG, piloting the Hyaku Shiki under the alias of Quattro Bajeena]] The idea being that the gold paint job is an anti-beam coating. He goes back to using red for ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack'', however. Even more iconic about this change is that Char's many expies in part about his normal color scheme.
** ''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam'' has an odd example. The Shining Gundam has a golden SuperMode early on, but when it gets upgraded to the God Gundam, it instead gets a STRONGER golden SuperMode. It is much more powerful because it's powered by [[EnlightenmentSuperpowers Inner Peace]], while the original super-mode was powered by UnstoppableRage.
** The ''Zeta'' example is referenced in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny'' with the Akatsuki, a gold-colored mobile suit based on the first Strike models and originally piloted by Cagalli. It is heads and shoulders above her standard Strike Rouge, being faster, better armed, and most importantly beam-coated, which lends it its color. At one point it {{No Sell}}s the Destiny Gundam's beam weapons--something that no other suit could do up to that point. [[spoiler:Once the un-brainwashed Mu La Flaga gets his hands on it, its combination of speed and defensive ability becomes critical in saving the Archangel by TakingTheBullet again just like in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED'', this time without getting blown up.]]
* The gold cloths of ''Manga/SaintSeiya'', seeing how all the gold saints are extremely powerful. The full breakdown in ''Manga/SaintSeiya'' is Bronze < Silver < Gold < ''God''. This last one is used only by Gods, though there is an important exception late in the Hades Saga. It's also worth noting that five Bronze saints, basically {{Mooks}} / RedShirts for the good guys, manage to fight their way up that chain all the way up to god and beat their opponents throughout the course of the series.
* The Aquarion Logos Genesis from ''Anime/AquarionLogos''.
* Happens with two characters in ''Manga/SailorMoon'':
** Minako Aino/Sailor Venus has golden hair, golden BattleAura, her attacks are golden, and her planet's name in Japanese is "Kinsei", that is "gold star". At her debut she's the strongest of the Sailor Soldiers, and while Sailor Moon surpasses her she remains by far the strongest of the Inner Senshi.
** Sailor Galaxia wears gold armor, and her hair is (mostly) golden. In the manga she's the mightiest of all Sailor Soldiers in history up until Sailor Moon managed to match her, and in the anime she's the strongest bar none.
* In ''Anime/RedBaron'', Kaiser's organization builds the Gold Baron to be the technical superior to the titular Red Baron. It was for a while, as it was evenly matched in power while also having an additional system that allowed it to predict the opponents moves.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* ''ComicBook/MetalMen'': Gold is the leader, not counting Dr. Magnus (DaChief).
* ''ComicBook/IronMan'': [[Characters/MarvelComicsTonyStark Iron Man]] is often called "The Golden Avenger" even though he's mostly red nowadays (although he once had a fully golden armor).
* ''ComicBook/TheSmurfs'': To make himself stand out as the Smurf above all others, King Smurf from the comic book story of the same name (and its AnimatedAdaptation) wore a Smurf suit [[LessEmbarrassingTerm colored gold, which the other Smurfs see as yellow]].
* ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'': For a brief period, ComicBook/{{Cyborg}} was bonded to a morphing war-suit called the Omegadrome. This granted him a gold-colored form and a number of other new abilities [[VoluntaryShapeshifting such as being able to take human form.]]
* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'': When [[Characters/WonderWomanTheCharacter Diana]], ContinuitySnarl/{{Donna|Troy}}, and [[ComicBook/WonderGirl Cassie]] put on full armor Diana, the strongest, most experienced and eldest of their number, wears gold.
* ''ComicBook/USAvengers'': One villain the U.S. Avengers first faced was the Gold Skull, a money-obsessed villain. He happened to wear a suit of gold armor... which Toni Ho learned was ''real gold'' and not ''gold-plated'' as she happily tore it apart -- [[AwesomeButImpractical real gold might be shiny, but it's highly malleable.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fairy Tales]]
* In many variants of tale type ATU 530, "The Princess on the Glass Hill", of the international Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index, the hero either watches his father's grave at night or their harvest/ fields, and discovers three magical horses: the first of a copper colour, the second of a silver colour, and the last of a golden colour. The horses also lend him an armour in their respective colour. When the hero defeats the Glass Mountain challenge, it is almost always with the golden-coloured horse.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* High-ranking Thep Khufans in ''Fanfic/EgyptOnAnurKhufos'' have gold-colored ornaments and crowns, ranging from the royalty, to the Golden Guard military resistance group.
* In Chapter 30 of ''Fanfic/TheNightUnfurls'', original version, [[LightningBruiser Kyril]] has to fight [[DualBoss two familiars]] of Mandeville, depicted as two massive warriors in gold-coloured armour. Unlike a majority of the enemies [[CurbStompBattle he slayed]], he uses more time and effort against the two.
* Jane from ''Fanfic/ProjectDelta'' has golden-colored biotics with enough power to kill an army.
* {{Inverted}} in FanFic/RainbowDoubleDashsLunaverse, where due to its association with Corona gold is taboo. Jewelry made with gold won't sell, minting gold coins is considered blasphemous (and possibly treasonous), and even using the word in a poem is enough to raise eyebrows.
* The ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'' fanfic, ''Fanfic/SomethingAlwaysRemains'' has two examples:
** Spring Bonnie, a gold-colored animatronic, [[spoiler: isn't bound by the 12am - 6am rule]], is shown to possess enough strength to bash in metal walls, and [[spoiler: depending on who's currently haunting the suit]], is quicker and more deadly than the other animatronics. [[spoiler: Bonnie Wickes, one of the ghosts haunting the suit, had gold thread on her polo, and was the only staff member who did. She knows all the inner workings of the suit, including how to change the codes to deny access to Jeremy]].
** Downplayed with [[spoiler: Fredbear/Freddy Wickes. He's missing his golden suit and is just an endoskeleton. That said, he's the ''only'' one who can keep Bonnie Wickes from her murderous rampage]].
* ''Fanfic/TemporalAnomaly'' puts [[Series/KamenRiderZiO the future counterpart of Sougo Tokiwa]] in the world of ''VideoGame/Drakengard3''. As one might expect from the power he showed in the series, Sougo is able to easily overpower the Invokers in battle.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse:
** In ''Film/{{Wonder Woman|2017}}'' and ''[[Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague Justice League]]'', Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, has plenty of golden parts on her outfits, and she's a formidable warrior.
** ''Film/{{Aquaman|2018}}'': When Arthur is brought before him in chains, Orm is the powerful ruling king who wears a golden costume. In the third act, it is Arthur who wears gold while Orm's armor has [[MetallicMotifs silvery elements]], visually imparting that he is about to lose to Arthur before their second duel even starts.
* ''[[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 Godzilla: King of the Monsters]]'': Two of the most powerful {{kaiju}} of all, [[Characters/MonsterVerseKingGhidorah Ghidorah]] and [[Characters/MonsterVerseMothra Mothra]] respectively, produce golden light with their powers during the movie. Ghidorah has gold scales and he produces golden-yellow lightning, while Mothra produces gold light when she clears Ghidorah's stormclouds.
* ''Film/TheLawnmowerMan'': Jobe is able to project himself as a HugeHolographicHead at a certain point. A yellow-tinted head, no less.
* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:
** ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'': The Sovereign, including Ayesha, have golden skin and wear golden clothes, and are extremely smug. They ultimately become antagonistic to the heroes.
*** Inverted in one scene. Since the Sovereign are gold anyway, their high priestess Ayesha stands out when they all wear [[AnIceSuit winter capes]], and hers is [[PrettyInMink covered with white fur]], while her subordinated wear gold capes lined with fur. The rest of her clothes and her headgear are still golden.
** Loki's costumes in ''Film/{{Thor}}'', ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' and ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'', especially his full battle gear, have a lot of golden elements, he wears a golden helmet and wields golden weapons (Odin's Gungnir, Chitauri scepter) to demonstrate his perceived superiority. In ''Film/ThorRagnarok'' and ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' his costumes have hardly any gold on them, and even the helmet becomes light and ornamental [[spoiler:to signify his HeelFaceTurn]]. In ''Series/{{Loki|2021}}'', his AlternateSelf is forcefully stripped of his golden-clad costume and made to wear ordinary clothes without any decorations, [[spoiler:and after {{Heel|Realization}} and JerkassRealizations becomes a better person]].
** Grandmaster in ''Film/ThorRagnarok'' rules over Sakaar and is the only Sakaaran shown to dress in gold.
** ''Film/{{Black Panther|2018}}'':
*** Killmonger [[spoiler:chooses the gold-themed Black Panther suit that T'Challa considered too showy.]] He wants to demonstrate more of the Wakandan power to the world with force than what T'Challa had intended, so he wants to be seen. It also has gold teeth.
*** The [[AmazonBrigade Dora Milaje]] all have silver embellishments on their uniforms with the exception of Okoye who wears gold to indicate that she's their leader.
** Thanos in ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' believes that he is the one responsible for balance in the universe, and his full battle gear has a fair amount of gold on it. The Gauntlet that allows him to wield the Infinity Stones is golden as well.
** In her [[GoldenSuperMode Binary Mode]], Carol Denvers from ''Film/CaptainMarvel2019'' is surrounded by golden glow and her eyes turn golden as well. She is very powerful SmugSuper.
* ''Film/{{Phantasm}}'': The Tall Man's gold sentinels are more durable, hold more weapons, and can crash into people or things harder.
* ''Franchise/StarWars:'' ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'': Palpatine is in fact a powerful Sith master. His lightsaber has a gold plated hilt, and he kills no less than three out of the four Jedi masters who came to arrest him in a short amount of time.
* ''Film/TronLegacy'': An evil example. Clu, the administrator program gone full ZerothLawRebellion, is the only one with gold TronLines.
* ''Film/TheWiz'': The Emerald City starts green, but then an announcement from the Wizard changes everything red. "''I thought it over and green is dead / 'Till I change my mind, the color is red''" The residents turn red and sing its praises, and then there's another announcement: "''How quickly fashion goes down the sink. / Last week when you all was wearin' pink / Already for me red was old. / The ultimate brick is gold.''" It remains gold for the rest of the film.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* In ''Literature/LastLegionary'', Altern, aka The One, is TheDragon to [[BigBad The Warlord]]. He comes decked out in a massive golden exoskeleton, which allows the otherwise crippled Altern to not only walk, but defeat nearly any adversary in combat.
* Golden dragons are considered a myth in ''Franchise/TheWitcher'' universe, but they actually exist and are the most powerful (and rarest) kind of dragon, preferring to disguise themselves as humans, as the ''[[Literature/SwordOfDestiny Limit of Possibility]]'' short story demonstrates.
* Gold dragons in ''Literature/DragonridersOfPern'' are always female and are also known as queens; they are larger than all other colours, including the bronzes, and the other dragons defer to them. The Weyrwoman of a weyr is (almost) always a gold rider.
* ''Literature/HiveMind2016'': The ten zones of the Hive are color-coded; above all of them, Melisande is Gold Commander, the leader of Hive Defense. Atticus's Gold Assignment outranks anything from Amber's telepath unit.
* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'':
** House Lannister, the richest and ''de facto'' ruling house of the Seven Kingdoms, milk this for all its worth, as they prospered because of the abundance of gold mines in the Westerlands. Their sigil is a golden lion. Pretty much all of their clothing, armory, accessories, and weapons are gilded. The road connecting Lannisport and Casterly Rock with King's Landing is called the Goldroad. Every single member of the family has blond hair.
** The sigil of House Baratheon, the ruling house of the Seven Kingdoms at the start of the series, is a black stag on a field of gold. Goes hand-in-hand with the Lannisters' golden lion.
** Inverted with the gold (or rather cream, with hints of gold)-colored Viserion, who is physically the smallest of Daenerys Targaryen's dragons, compared to the green-colored Rhaegal and ''especially'' the black-colored Drogon.
* In Vaughn Heppner's ''Lost Starship'' series, the so-called New Men are gold-skinned humans with enhanced strength, speed, and intelligence (and highly advanced tech that allows three of their ships to completely [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomp]] a double-strength battle group). They also have a MasterRace mentality and believe themselves to be the true humanity, with the rest of the humans being little more than talking beasts. They believe that the "talking beasts" must give way to the "true humans", usually by dying. They bristle at other humans calling themselves "human" to the point of religious fervor, even though they are staunch atheists.
* ''Literature/HarryPotter'': According to supplementary material, students at Mahoutokoro School of Magic in Japan wear robes that change color according to their grades. If a student achieves top grades in every subject, their robes will turn gold.
* ''Literature/TheSunbearerTrials'': Of the three types of gods in this setting, the Golds, the Jades and Obsidians, the Golds are the most powerful and important of them, with their gods being the gods of such things as all animals or fire.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* In the original ''Series/BattlestarGalactica1978'', ordinary Cylons are silver/chrome but special commander Cylons are gold.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** The rank structure of the Daleks places Golden Daleks high in the heirarchy.
** In "The Deadly Assassin," the Doctor sneaks into the President's retirement ceremony by stealing a Gold Usher's robe, which allowed him to get past security checks. [[OhCrap "You wouldn't stop Gold Usher, would you?"]]
* ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' / ''Franchise/PowerRangers'':
** The Dragon Shield is a golden mantle worn by various Rangers that greatly increases their power. It is most commonly associated with SixthRanger Tommy Oliver, who with it was more than a match for the other five Rangers combined.
** Gold Rangers serve as a SixthRanger in various seasons. ''Series/PowerRangersZeo'' actually beat ''Sentai'' to the punch by renaming King Ranger (black suit with lots of gold armor) the Gold Ranger (considering that most of his gear and energy aura were more gold than they were black anyway). They even brought back the original team leader to fill the suit.
** [[SuperMode Power-ups]] frequently feature gold, whether they're team upgrades or Red Ranger-exclusive battlizers.
* In ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' the captains wore gold uniforms. Anyone wearing a RedShirt was not so lucky. This all changed starting with ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', however. The command uniforms were originally a greenish shade close to chartreuse. But the color came out on many people's TV sets as yellowish, so eventually the producers threw in the towel and changed them to gold.
** ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' changes up the color theme yet again. This time, gold stripes indicate command division, science / medical has silver stripes, and finally operations / security (a.k.a. the [[RedShirt redshirts]] and the people who are elbows-deep in machinery) have bronze.
* ''Franchise/KamenRider'' also follows the same rule as ''Franchise/SuperSentai''.
** Played subtly negatively in regards to ''Series/KamenRiderZiO''. As Sougo progresses through his increasingly powerful forms, the [[ChromeChampion silver]] on his costume is steadily overtaken by gold until it becomes the suit's primary color outright. One glance at his [[FutureMeScaresMe future]] [[EvilOverlord self's]] attire and it should become clear why this is a worrisome direction for his color palette to be taking.
** ''Series/KamenRiderZeroOne'': The suit of the arrogant and powerful Kamen Rider Thouser incorporates both Gold-Colored Superiority and an exaggerated version of [[JapaneseBeetleBrothers three-horned superiority]], as emphasised in his transformation jingle.
--->''"PERFECT RISE! When the five horns cross, the golden soldier Thouser is born!"''
* And likewise, ''Series/MadanSenkiRyukendo'' (they would add more gold armor parts to their already golden bits) and ''Series/TomicaHeroRescueForce''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]
* Gold, the leader in the Music/MCFrontalot song "[[LeaderFormsTheHead I'll Form The Head]]", discusses both this and the LeaderFormsTheHead trope.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* The golden dragons in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' are the most powerful among the metallic (i.e. [[CharacterAlignment good-aligned]]) dragons and, DependingOnTheWriter, the most powerful dragons overall. "Basic" ''D&D'' in particular had golden dragons as the ''only'' "metallic" example -- the usual chromatic spread of black, blue, green, red, and white (interestingly not all evil -- whites and blues were neutral in this edition), plus gold... and that was that. Golden dragons were still the most powerful here, having the best stats and being the only type to get two distinct breath weapons and have guaranteed spellcasting abilities (an explicit 100% chance on what would otherwise be a random roll) on top of that.
* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'':
** The Blood Angels chapter use a predominantly red color scheme. The [[http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/File:TheSanguinor.jpg Sanguinor,]] an angelic psychic manifestation called "the Exemplar of the Host", is almost entirely gold.
** The Adeptus Custodes, the SpaceMarines who guard Terra and are said to be to SpaceMarines what SpaceMarines are to humans, are gold-armored. So for that matter is the God-Emperor of Mankind himself, at least in those portrayals from before his mortal wounding.
* Gold is a trademark color (and material) of TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'s Solars, who occupy the pinnacle position of power (by most measures) of the game's namesake characters. Their trademark magical material, orichalcum, looks like gold, and can even be refined from actual gold with considerable effort.
* Zig-zagged throughout ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'''s history[[note]](Except for the legends in...well, ''Legends'' being considered utter garbage)[[/note]], as "gold" cards (cards with gold templates) tend to provide more bang for the buck, usually with added effects or being ahead of the power curve--the drawback being they're more difficult to cast; gold cards have more than one color of mana in their casting cost.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Toys]]
* ''Toys/{{BIONICLE}}'':
** The Golden Kanohi allows the Toa Mata to call upon all their mask powers they have obtained without the need to switch between them.
** Zig-zagged with Takanuva, who as a Toa of Light has naturally golden armor, but despite being an honorary Toa Nuva doesn't have the same raw power as the rest of the team (since he was still a Matoran when those Toa got their NextTierPowerUp into the Nuva). He does, however, have the unique ability to wield Light, an AchillesHeel of the Makuta.
** Toa Lhikan has a golden mask and pauldrons, and while he isn't stronger than the Toa Metru he is far more experienced than the novice team.
** Two of the three [[CosmicKeystone Legendary Masks]], the Vahi and Ignika, are golden in their normal forms. The Vahi turned orange from rusting under the sea, while the Ignika turns silver and then progressively black if its universe-destroying failsafe is ever triggered.
** Tahu's EleventhHourSuperpower takes the form of the aptly-named Golden Armor, which is designed to destroy the Makuta's essence over a very wide area (mainly in the form of their Rahkshi). While this function only works once, afterwards it grants Tahu all the abilities of Rahkshi destroyed this way, effectively handing him the same SuperpowerLottery ticket that the Makuta won.
* ''Toys/SuperThings'': The Super Leaders (leaders of a series' entire group of heroes or villains) are all colored golden.
* In ''Franchise/{{Tamagotchi}}'', Tamagotchi Planet is ruled by the Gotchi King, who resembles a giant limbless egg. What's the color of his egg shell? Gold, of course.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* In ''VideoGame/{{Beecarbonize}}'', your goal is to find the golden winning card by upgrading your cards with stars on them, all while reducing the amount of carbon emissions to mitigate natural disasters.
* In ''VideoGame/BokosukaWars'', when one of your units manages to win enough battles, they will evolve into a gold version of that unit and receive a major power boost.
* In the ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' games with selectable camouflages for weapons, golden camouflage is one of the harder unlocks to get, typically requiring you to earn all the ''other'' camos for the weapon first. Starting with ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsII'', however, gold is supplanted by the diamond camouflage, earned by unlocking gold camouflage for all weapons in a category. While there's still a bit of gold on the diamond camouflage, ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsIII'' makes diamond a tier below "dark matter", earned for getting diamond in ''every'' category.
* In ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'', the Knight Commander wears gold armour. If you agree to help him (read: [[ItsUpToYou defeat all the monsters yourself]]) at Zenan bridge, he'll give you his helmet of the same make.
* ''VideoGame/{{Coromon}}'': There are variants of every wild Coromon that have golden palettes, which show that they have increased potential compared to the regular form. Averted with "Perfect" forms, which are mainly {{Palette Swap}}s instead of being notably golden.
* ''VideoGame/{{Fairune}}'' has the Gold Knight, a rare version of the common Blue, Red and Black Knight enemies stated to be their captain, wear golden armor with a winged helmet.
* The Chocobos in the ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' series. Regular chocobos are yellow-orange, but there are other chocobo types characterized by different colors. Stronger breeds can swim and fly, but the gold chocobo is always the strongest.
* Galaxy Champions TV uses this several times. The final stage has golden flooring, and is also full of golden recolors of all the enemies, who are faster and more aggressive than their non chrome counterparts, when you fully upgrade a weapon future pickups of that weapon will be golden, and the Galactic Champion is decked out in golden Armour
* In ''VideoGame/GoldenEye1997'', the Golden Gun and Gold [=PP7=] in the multiplayer mode can both kill any enemy player in [[OneHitKill one single shot]].
* ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'' has the secret gold palettes for characters to unlock. [[SNKBoss They are notoriously overpowered.]]
* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'': [[WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse King Mickey]] wields the same Keyblade as Sora, except its blade is colored gold instead of silver. Apparently, it's called Kingdom Key D (short for "Darkness")
* In ''Franchise/MassEffect'', Cerberus has a white-black color scheme with gold accents. In-universe excerpts mention how Cerberus tech is often superior than standard fare of the same type.
* ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPartnersInTime'' has the Gold Koopeleon, a golden version of the Koopeleon that appears later in the game. Although this one has lower health than the original, it compensates by having a higher defense and attack power.
* Golden Beanies in ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga'' have higher stats than the standard Beanie, but also drop more coins.
* In the ''VideoGame/MarioKart'' series, regular red mushrooms gives one Nitro Boost. The rare Gold Mushroom gives infinite Nitro Boosts for about 10 seconds, and usually only shows up [[DesperationAttack when you're falling way behind]], (or playing as [[SpecialAttack Toad/Toadette]] in Double Dash).
* Averted in ''VideoGame/MechWarrior'' Online, where you can buy golden Clan Mechs as vanity items for about 400 USD (!), although they have no better stats than the normal models.
** In fact, the golden 'Mechs tend to die first, both because of higher visibility and the general disdain most players have for the people who were wasteful enough to actually buy them.
* Heavily averted in ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'', where not only is making gold gear excessively difficult due to the rarity of gold underground, but since gold is actually one of the softest metals on Earth, gold gear is lacking in all stats except for enchantability. As a matter of fact, a golden sword is worse than a wood one, dealing an equal amount of damage and having much less durability.
* ''VideoGame/NuclearThrone''
** Golden scorpions are the EliteMook versions of the already [[ScaryScorpions fearsome scorpion enemies]] found in the desert. They're a rare sight pre-loop, but become more abundant the more you loop.
** [[BlingBlingBang Golden weapons]] allow you to start with a stronger weapon than your [[StarterEquipment default revolver]] as well as having slightly better firepower than their less shiny counterparts.
* ''Franchise/RatchetAndClank'':
** ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClank2002'' allows you to upgrade 10 weapons into Gold Weapons through the use of hidden Gold Bolts and several regular bolts.
** ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankFutureToolsOfDestruction'' has the Gold Groovitron, an upgrade of the Groovitron that grants infinite uses of it.
** ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankIntoTheNexus'' throws back to the original game by making the [[NewGamePlus Challenge Mode-exclusive]] Omega weapons gold, while retaining the leveling system put in place by later games.
* In ''VideoGame/Rayman2TheGreatEscape'', the Power Fist, which looks like a [[GoldMakesEverythingShiny shiny golden fist]], grants Rayman much more powerful shots.
* In ''[[VideoGame/RocketKnightAdventures Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2]]'', if the player [[BonusStageCollectables collects all seven Holy Swords]], Sparkster will become Gold Sparkster, and the [[GoldenEnding true ending]] will be shown after the BigBad, King Gedol is defeated. Gold Sparkster charges his jet pack faster and his attacks do more damage, but unlike Super Sonic, he can still take damage.
* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'':
** The vast majority of [[SuperMode Super Forms]] in the series (including the most recurring one, Super Sonic) are golden in color. Super Sonic even provides the page image for GoldenSuperMode.
** ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes'':
*** The gilded Egg Knight has more health than the standard Egg Pawn.
*** The Gold Cameron has a more durable shell than the Green Cameron. It can only be destroyed if it is flipped on its side and its undercarriage is hit, or if [[SmartBomb Team Blast]] is used.
* ''VideoGame/StreetFighterV'' introduces G, the "President of the ''Earth''". His powers include being able to harness gold to perform all sorts of elemental attacks like firing liquid gold projectiles, creating barriers, and enhancing his strength to perform devastating punches. Also what appears to be some kind of golden tattoo on his skin is actually the ''world map'' imprinted on his body, and it lights up whenever he activates his V-Trigger.
* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'': The first upgrade of the Master Sword, the Tempered Sword, is red. Near the end of the game, it can be further upgraded into the Golden Sword. At least according to [[https://www.zeldauniverse.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/swordscopy.png this chart]], the Golden Sword may be the most powerful sword ''in the entire franchise'' (at least until ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' threw a wrench in the scaling).
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'':
*** Enemies tier in order of Basic all the way up to Silver as the most powerful (of which, Silver Lynels are considered to be on the same level as a {{Superboss}}, having more health than even the final boss of the game). Thanks to Downloadable Content there is an optional difficulty setting for the game, [[HarderThanHard Master Mode]], which also introduces a new and stronger enemy tier, Golden enemies (among which there is, of course, a Golden Lynel).
*** Two of the three kinds of beetles found in the game, the bladed and rugged rhino beetles, come in fairly realistic colors. Energetic rhino beetles, the rarest variant and the one worth the most when sold, are colored solid gold.
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom'':
*** Mark IV Soldier and Captain Constructs are distinguished from their lower-grade green counterparts by their full-body golden finish.
*** You can rarely find Golden Apples growing on trees alongside regular apples. Using them in cooking results in meals that recover more hearts and/or have longer lasting buffs.
* In ''VideoGame/TrialsOfMana'', the highest-rank of Valsenian guards are the Golden Knights and Duran's father was one of them. Part of Duran's dream is to become strong enough to join the Golden Knights, in honor of his father.
* ''VideoGame/WarriorsOrochi3'': Guan Yu's 4th level weapon is "Gold Dragon".
* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'':
** While command rank Elites tend to wear gold, the only game where this trope is played straight in is ''VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved''. Otherwise, gold-armored Elites are usually only the ''second'' strongest Elite variant in any given game.
** Arbiter Thel 'Vadam is one Elite who currently plays it straight; he wears gold armor by ''VideoGame/Halo5Guardians'', and is perhaps the greatest warrior of his race.
** The highest-ranked Skirmishers, the Champions, wear gold armor.
** ''VideoGame/Halo3'': The gold-armored War Chieftains are the most powerful type of Brute. Subverted in ''VideoGame/HaloReach'', where the gold-armored Captains are weaker than the darker-armored Chieftains.
** ''VideoGame/Halo3ODST'': The gold-colored Drone Leaders are the strongest of their kind, as they're equipped with energy shields and Brute plasma rifles.
** ''VideoGame/Halo5Guardians'':
** The gold-colored "Temple" line of Covenant vehicles has strong armor, better handling, and can either shoot faster or shoot while speed-boosting.
*** A downplayed example is present with the [[MegaCorp Liang Dortmund]] line of UNSC vehicles, which have slightly stronger armor and are painted goldenrod.
* ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'' has the Prime [[PoweredArmor Warframes]] and weapons. The original LostTechnology of the [[AbusivePrecursors Orokin]], as opposed to the inferior replications that are the regular versions, they are colored in the Orokin's characteristic [[GoldAndWhiteAreDivine gold and white]] (sometimes not so much the white, but ''always'' the gold) and are typically much, much better than their mundane counterparts.
* The two oldest, most important, and powerful animatronic characters in the ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'' series are gold/yellow colored.
** The [[VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys1 first]] and [[VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys2 second]] games in the series have Golden Freddy, a gold version of main mascot and BigBad, Freddy Fazbear. In each game he appears, Golden Freddy exhibits behaviors completely unlike any of the other animatronics out to murder you, such as teleporting into and vanishing out of your office. In the first game in particular, failing to avoid his jumpscare will not just kill you, but crash your game entirely.
** ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys3'' introduces Springtrap, initially known as "Golden Bonnie" prior to the reveal of his proper name. Springtrap is a gold version of Bonnie the Bunny, though the colors have faded to a sickly greenish yellow after more than 30 years. What makes Springtrap superior to the other animatronics is that he is [[spoiler:possessed by the spirit of the [[BigBad Purple Man]], the child murderer whose killings caused the other animatronics to become murderous, thus causing the events of the prior game]].
** In ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys4'', Golden Freddy, known here as [[spoiler:Fredbear]], is so dangerous that he completely replaces the other four animatronics when he becomes active. He performs all the other animatronics' same behaviors, but you need much quicker reaction time to survive. The reason Golden Freddy and Springtrap are both colored the same way is revealed to be because [[spoiler:they are the two original animatronics from the first Freddy's restaurant, Fredbear's Family Diner]].
* ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'': Samus has to face two living Chozo statues named "Torizo". The second one, aptly named Golden Torizo is the most powerful of the duo, given that it is faster, jumps higher, possesses great strength and can even throw Samus' missiles back at her. Its attacks are also rather devastating. The more damage you deal to it will cause its golden color to fade.
* In the ''Franchise/JamesBond'' game ''VideoGame/AgentUnderFire'', player upgrades take the form of "Golden [=P2K=]," "Golden Missiles" (read: unlimited missiles), "Golden Armor," "Golden Accuracy," etc. ''VideoGame/{{Nightfire}}'' toned it down so that only the Wolfram [=P2K=] received gold upgrades.
* In ''VideoGame/MegaManStarForce 2'', the secret, ludicrously powerful [[OptionalBoss DX bosses]] all have a shiny golden PaletteSwap.
* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1'' has the Mechon, which are primarily black. Then comes Yaldabaoth, "the most powerful Mechon ever built". Keeping in turn with the "precious metals" theme, Silver Face (or [[DubNameChange Face Nemesis if you're European or American]]) is also very powerful, and serves as the Leader of Mechonis' second in command, [[spoiler: until the pilot, Fiora, returns to her senses and rejoins Shulk and co.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Amorphous}}'': The [[HiveQueen Queen]] is the boss of the [[BlobMonster Glooples]], and its color scheme is red and gold.
* ''VideoGame/FarCry2'' has 8 golden AK-47s, 4 hidden across the two maps. There's no real point in getting them because all the only advantage is ''slightly'' more durability than the standard and can't be bought.
* In ''VideoGame/DungeonFighterOnline'', the much-coveted [[InfinityPlusOneSword Epic items]] are indicated by gold-colored icon frames and heralded by bright golden flash effects whenever they drop in a dungeon. Legendary items, which are slightly lower on the item tiers, are heralded with copper-colored flashes.
* In ''VideoGame/SpongebobSquarepantsBattleForBikiniBottom'', there are three pairs of golden underwear hidden throughout Bikini Bottom. Picking one up will [[HeartContainer permanently allow Spongebob/Patrick/Sandy to take an extra hit]].
* ''VideoGame/EnsembleStars'': Fine, the most powerful, wealthy, and influential unit, is typically coloured in white and gold, reflecting this trope as well as GoldAndWhiteAreDivine.
* Averted in ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'': The [[WrenchWhack Golden Wrench]], Saxxy and [[ImprovisedWeapon Golden Frying Pan]] all works just the same as the base weapon of their respective classes, except that it [[TakenForGranite turns their victims into golden statues]], unlike the Australium weapons who not only works exactly the same as their ordinary counterparts, but also doesn't turn anyone into a statue.
* The original ''VideoGame/SaintsRow1'' had unique golden (and platinum) weapons awarded for completing the (notoriously frustrating) hitman assignments. These not only came with free ammo refills (this in a game where you couldn't buy even ammo in gun stores), but also did two-to-three times more damage per shot than their regular counterparts. In particular, the golden-plated [[HandCannon Desert Eagle]] dropped pretty much every regular enemy in a single shot, turning it into a DiscOneNuke if you managed to complete the Los Carnales hitman list early on.
* In ''{{VideoGame/Grow}} RPG'', the best armor the hero can find in the tower is a golden one and the best weapon of the game is a golden sword.
* ''VideoGame/TheWolfAndTheWaves'': The golden mushroom is the most powerful healing item in the game, and only one will spawn on the entire island.
* ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'' has the Gold Rathian (circa ''[[VideoGame/MonsterHunter2004 Monster Hunter G]]''), an elite version of the Rathian with golden scales that possesses a deadlier venom and more potent fire breath.
* ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' has Amayzee Dayzees, versions of the Crayzee Dayzee enemies with golden petals and clothes. Their attack-power is jaw-droppingly high for a field enemy, and their defense is as well, and they have a high chance of fleeing, but taking them on is worth it, [[MetalSlime since they drop tons of Star Points.]] In ''[[VideoGame/SuperPaperMario Super]]'', they drop the Gold Leaf, which you can cook to make a Gold Bar that [[ShopFodder sells for a pretty penny.]]
* In ''VideoGame/{{Pronty}}'', the Chattertooth enemies has two versions, the Silver Chattertooth who's the first boss (and relatively easy, [[WarmUpBoss of course]]) and by the time you reach the end, the Golden Chattertooth who's obviously stronger and far more durable than the Silver and regular ones.
* ''VideoGame/BugFables'' has the Golden Seedling, a golden version of the [[TheGoomba Seedling]] enemy and the second-most powerful of all the Seedling variants, only behind the [[KingMook Seedling King.]] Their defense ''divides'' damage instead of subtracting like most enemies, and they have a high chance to flee, but it's worth the effort, as they drop loads of Exploration Points and Berries upon defeat. They're also guaranteed to drop the rare Tangy Berry, which becomes part of the best healing item in the game when cooked via Kut.
* In every ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing'' game, there are multiple versions of certain tools, with the different versions varying in quality. The highest quality tools are always gold.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* Discussed in ''VisualNovel/DaughterForDessert'' with the diner’s toaster, which has a gold-quartz heating element. Mortelli says he can never eat any other toast now that he knows he’s been eating toast cooked with gold.
* In ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'', the most powerful Servant one can summon is Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes. As the [[TheVerse The Nasuverse]] runs on OlderIsBetter, Gil is more powerful than all other heroes that came after him and naturally has gold-colored hair, frequently wears gold earrings and other jewelry, and has his infamous NighInvulnerable gold armor. It is unknown if the armor is actually ''made'' of gold but it can take a direct hit from Excalibur like it was nothing. For bonus points, his Noble Phantasm - Gate of Babylon - creates gold-colored rifts in the the sky to fire his many fantastically powerful treasures upon his enemies from.
** Saber, [[spoiler: Arturia Pendragon, aka King Arthur]], also gets this as she is said to be the strongest of the Saber class Servants, which is considered to be the strongest class, and also has golden hair. While she can be pragmatic and is utterly duty-bound, she's actually very sweet when she opens up and counts for both this and HairOfGoldHeartOfGold unlike Gilgamesh. While her sword is normally invisible as it is sheathed in wind magic, when she does reveal it the blade shines with a golden light and seems to be trimmed in gold - fitting as it is [[spoiler: Excalibur, the strongest holy sword]]. Even her old sword from her legend, [[spoiler: Caliburn]], was shown to be gold and incredibly powerful.
* In ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'', in addition to the red text, which speaks an absolute truth ([[MetaphoricallyTrue from the point of view of the speaker at least]]), the Game Master - the witch who "writes" the scenario of the current game - can use golden text, which indicates that they fully understands the rules of the game, and can be superior to the red. [[spoiler:After reaching the truth of Beatrice's game, Battler uses the golden truth to confirm that Kinzo is definitely DeaderThanDead, when his position prevents him from saying it in red without proof.]]
* In ''VisualNovel/DiesIrae'', the BigBad Reinhard has a pretty substantial gold theme going on with everything from his castle to his weapons and army being gold colored. He is also by far the strongest member of the Longinus Dreizehn Orden and carries the epitaph of the Golden Beast.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* When the LawOfChromaticSuperiority is brought up ([[ItMakesSenseInContext due to the topic of racism]]) in ''WebAnimation/IfTheEmperorHadATextToSpeechDevice'', the Emperor dismisses the concept since, in his words, the very existence of gold makes all other colors equally inferior.
* WebAnimation/FazbearAndFriendsZamination: In "Golden Freddy Goes to PRISON!" and in "Golden Circus Baby is Famous!" the animatronics dress in gold to reflect their wealth, without realizing that the entire treasure had fake money.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* ''Webcomic/DaughterOfTheLilies'': This is an indicator that [[TheArchmage Wizards are superior magic-users.]]
** Master Wu is a golden dragon, and his human form wears golden robes.
** Meanwhile [[spoiler: Thistle's eye glow gold when she's casting powerful magics, the arrow she enchants for Lyra glows gold, and her coat is edged with gold trim.]]
* ''Webcomic/SlightlyDamned'': The [[FeatheredSerpent wyverns]] come in [[http://www.sdamned.com/comic/528 several varieties]] but gold wyverns are the rarest and have the strongest [[BlowYouAway wind]] [[ShockAndAwe magic]]. Their scales are also [[SolidGoldPoop indistinguishable from real gold]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Ninjago}}'': The First Spinjitzu Master possessed golden power, which is essentally a stronger version of creation combined with [[PlayingWithFire Fire]], [[AnIcePerson Ice]], [[ShockAndAwe Lightning]], [[DishingOutDirt Earth]], and PureEnergy. At the end of the second season, [[spoiler:Lloyd Garmadon]] becomes the golden ninja and gains access to golden power.
* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsResistance'' averts this by introducing Commander Pyre, who is the gold [[TheDragon second-in-command]] to the [[ChromeChampion silver]] Captain Phasma from the films. Not enough of Pyre's combat skills are shown to us for anyone to accurately measure their abilities against each other, though, although Expanded Universe material weighs it in Phasma's favor.
* ''WesternAnimation/AThousandAndOneAmericas'': In the twenty-first episode, Chris and Lon witness the crowning of a new cique who will govern the Quimbaya tribe. The chosen one is dyed in gold (specifically, gold dust adhered to his body thanks to mud), and is bound to receive numerous golden objects by the inhabitants as offerings (though, as Chris learns later, since the cique is already wealthy and doesn't need any gifts, he will offer the golden objects to the gods instead by throwing them to the lake).
* ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'': In "The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 2", a damaged Bumblebee is upgraded into a new, powerful golden body and rechristened "Goldbug".
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Author Sir Creator/TerryPratchett remarked that he had a unique Death's Head signet ring made in silver. Then fans started copying it and the licensed merchandising company marketed a replica. So it wasn't unique any more. So he had a version made in gold. This was unique until the first gold versions appeared for fans with more disposable income. Terry has since considered upping the ante to platinum. He speculates that when platinum Discworld rings start to appear, he should move to something which is ''so'' unique it'll be practically unwearable, perhaps one cast in solid mercury that has to be kept in a physics lab freezer at minus 39°C, or perhaps one in plutonium that nobody, including the author himself, would dare wear...
* The UK emergency services operate a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold–silver–bronze_command_structure Gold-Silver-Bronze]] command structure, with the most senior officer in charge of an incident response designated as the "gold" commander.
* Gold Medals, which are awarded for first place finishes in the Olympics and other sporting events.
* Gold Records used to be this, awarded for 1,000,000 record sales, but then came Platinum (1,000,000 while Gold was reduced to 500,000) and Diamond (10,000,000).
* Gold credit cards had been originally (before [[TheEighties the 1980s]]) the elite of credit and debit cards, aimed mostly at millionaires. As the pool of potential customers enlarged itself over decades, more and more people could afford them. After the unpleasantness of [[TurnOfTheMillennium the late 2000s]], [[DeadHorseTrope Gold cards]] are perfunctory for many wage earners of the First World. [[RankInflation Therefore, to keep the status quo, banks and companies introduced more and more classes of credit/debit cards]]. Platinum, palladium, and so on, plated in said metals if needed. [[SarcasmMode Hopefully for their clients, they will think twice before introducing a Plutonium card.]]
* Averted with the officers' insignia of the [[UsefulNotes/YanksWithTanks US Armed Forces]] -- an O-2[[note]] (Lieutenant JG in the Navy, First Lieutenant in the other services)[[/note]] (one silver bar) outranks an O-1[[note]] (Ensign in the Navy, Second Lieutenant in the other services)[[/note]] (one gold bar), and an O-5[[note]](Commander in the Navy, Lieutenant Colonel in the other services)[[/note]] (silver oak leaf) outranks an O-4[[note]] (Lieutenant Commander in the Navy, Major in the other services)[[/note]] (gold oak leaf). [[JustSoStory Various folk explanations]] for this have been proposed (such as gold, like junior officers, being more malleable than silver), but the decision was actually made back in 1851 for the simple reason that silver was less expensive than gold.
* Similarly with decorations. The second award of a given decoration is a gold star. If one were to actually earn enough of a given decoration to merit ''five'' gold stars, a single silver star is worn instead.
* [[http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-36855705 Scientists]] have come up with a special way to make an alloy of titanium and gold that's 4 times stronger than titanium alone.
* Low purity gold alloy is often used as the coating on high quality magnets. The gold coating is not only far less corrosive, but is surprisingly far more durable than the standard nickel-alloy plating.
[[/folder]]
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