Costume Evolution

"In the four months since the last episode aired, I've created a brand new, ultra-efficient, technologically advanced Duel Disk System! And that's not all. I also have a sexy new outfit."

— Seto Kaiba, Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series

A character's main outfit can change over the course of a series, often when it's a new season or new installment. Whether it's a superhero's costume (even if those characters wear an Unlimited Wardrobe otherwise), a military uniform, or a character's Limited Wardrobe, the original outfit will often be radically different from what the characters are wearing later.

The changes can include an entirely different outfit, where only the basic form is kept over. Say a Princess's main dress in the next season is still a Pimped-Out Dress but doesn't share colors, form, fabrics, or decorations. The changes can also be very minor, to the point of being barely noticeable. Say a set of Powered Armor just has a few small vents and fins added. Small changes are more likely when Clothes Make the Legend.

The reasons for this can be due to the creators just liking the new designs or them feeling the current costume is So Last Season, to them trying to reflect cultural changes (which is one of the most common reasons for uniform updates in Real Life), to needing new content in a Merchandise-Driven show. In live-action works, changes can be to make a costume more comfortable and easier to work with for the actors wearing them (so it's an Enforced Trope to avoid actors risking physical harm). In computer animation and video games, it could be due to increases in processing power allowing for greater detail than before.

The larger changes may give a justification for the change, while the smaller ones will just assume the audience will either not notice or accept that the costume was tweaked in the time between installments. Though even after an upgrade a previous outfit may become the Iconic Outfit.

A Super-Trope to Frilly Upgrade (as this trope happens a lot to Frills of Justice), Significant Wardrobe Shift (Character Development shown through costume changes).

A Sister Trope to Beta Outfit (where a different costume is depicted as an early short-lived experiment), Fanservice Pack (where a character's look becomes increasingly sexualised), Earned Stripes (when it's directly tied to rankings and tiers), and Early Installment Character-Design Difference (where a character's costume changes early on in a work's history, but then stays stable).

Compare Good Costume Switch, Evil Costume Switch. See also Art Evolution, Adrenaline Makeover.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Beyblade Burst: In Turbo, all the old characters (i.e. Valt, Lui, Shu) from seasons 1 & 2 who have appeared in the new series received new outfits.
• Bleach:
  • Ichigo originally possessed a standard Soul Reaper uniform with a belt strapping his Zanpakutou sheath to his back. His Shikai transformed the belt into a red strap and his Bankai turned the kosode into a tattered long coat. Awakening his Fullbring gave him a uniform made of black flame that eventually transformed into a black bodysuit with white skeletal armour. The restoration of his Soul Reaper powers merged with the remnants of his Fullbring to add neck armour and X-shaped straps to his Shikai and Bankai uniforms. After training with Squad Zero, he obtains a tattered, black-streaked, white waist-cloth and shoulder armor that crosses his chest in an X-shape.
  • Uryū Ishida is just as prone to costume changes. Flashbacks to his childhood have him wearing a long white training tunic with gray lines and the Quincy cross on the back. During his initial introduction, he wears an all-white ensemble with blue lining consisting of a long white tunic with the Quincy cross on the back and white pants and matching shoes. For the mission to rescue Rukia, he dons a tweaked outfit that adds a new long tunic split up the sides, his Sanrei Glove with its solid form bow, a cross pattern to his shoes, and a short cape. After donning a Soul Reaper outfit for disguise, during the fight with Kurotsuchi his temporary Letzt Stil overlays an asymmetrical white coat, a white half-waistcloth with blue patterning, a shoulder pauldron, and an energy "quiver". For the anime original Bount arc, he gains a new outfit with his temporary powers consisting of a white tailcoat with heavy blue lining and the quincy cross with silver bracers on the arms used to manifest his bow, white pants and white shoes with a cross pattern. For the Arrancar arc, he wears a shorter white tunic with a blue side belt for the Seele Scheider as well as cuffs and a more elaborate cape with eupletetes and gold braid, retaining the white pants and shoes from previous outfits. For the Lost Agent arc, he switches to a plain all-white look with a black undershirt. The Thousand-Year Blood War arc switches the undershirt to blue and later his Sternritter uniform adds a military-style white coat, belted at the waist with gold details over his Quincy tunic, sometimes with a long white cape.
  • A number of Soul Reapers received outfit tweaks for the Lost Agent arc after the Time Skip. Byakuya Kuchki swaps his kenseikan for a slimmer set of hairpieces, loses his scarf, and dons a modified haori with gold trim and tassels. Renji Abarai has longer hair, a maroon headband replacing his white one, and long dark straps on each wrist with bandages over his arms. Kenpachi Zaraki loses his spiked hairdo and bells for a long messy haircut and swaps out his eyepatch. Toshiro Hitsugaya has longer less spiky hair, adds a long turquoise scarf, and replaces his green sash with a chain. Shinji Hirako returns to Soul Reaper robes and a captain's haori with a white necktie.
• Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE!: After their Lovracelets are destroyed by the Sand Clock Monster at the start of season 2, the Battle Lovers get the new True Lovracelets from Wombat who lampshades their frilly upgrades.
  Wombat: "In season 2, your items and designs always change. That is the law of the universe! The providence of nature! And it's not just how they look! You've also powered up, and you boast a far more vivid design, invoking the taste of the 'now' and the 'young'!"
• Dragon Ball:
  • Goku's gi constantly changes over the course of the series. It changes from blue to red/orange after he starts training under Master Roshi, then he adds blue weighted clothing underneath. He adds Master Roshi's "Turtle" and King Kai's "Kai" symbols to it when he starts training under them, then replaces them with "Go" symbols when he surpasses them before finally removing the symbols entirely. In Dragon Ball Super, he changes to a different orange gi for the Resurrection F and Tournament arcs, then changes back to the gi he wore in the Buu saga.
  • Vegeta's outfit also changes, gradually becoming less complex as his character arc and very slow Heel–Face Turn presses on. He's introduced wearing a full set of Saiyan armor with large shoulder pads and skirt flaps, but during the Freeza Saga necessity forces him to change to an older model chestplate without the frills. In the Android and Cell Sagas, he wears a suit designed by Bulma that features a refined version of the previous chestplate, and by the Buu Saga, he ditches the armor and replaces the full bodysuit with a tanktop-styled version. The early parts of Super have him using a new Bulma-designed chestplate on a black bodysuit, but after the Tournament of Destroyers, he reverts to the Android-era suit, which is generally seen as his Iconic Outfit.
  • Gohan makes slight changes to the Great Saiyaman costume over the course of the Buu Saga. While he initially wore an orange-and-black helmet with a visor to hide his Secret Identity, he had to swap it out for a white bandana and sunglasses since the World Martial Arts Tournament doesn't allow the use of armor. After Kid Buu's defeat, he also discards his Badass Cape.
• Fairy Tail invokes this frequently thanks to the various Time Skips. The characters generally have a set color scheme they stick with though.
  • With the exception of Edolas and the Celestial clothing he dons in a few arcs, Natsu consistently wears his white scarf, white pants tied off above the ankles with an orange-trimmed black waist cloth, and sandals. His top goes from an open vest to an asymmetrical jacket that leaves his right arm uncovered post-timeskip, both colored black with orange trim. In the final arc after the second Time Skip, he adds bandages and a black cuff to his exposed arm.
  • Lucy varies her outfits quite a bit in the early seasons, but her primary outfit was a white top with a blue cross pattern and blue skirt. Post time skip, she dons a skimpy midriff-baring white top with a blue heart pattern, a short blue jacket, detached blue and white sleeves, and a blue skirt. Her final look gave her a solid blue top with gold lacing that exposed her back and a white skirt.
  • With Gray the one consistent detail about his outfits is that he's constantly losing them. He often incorporates a long white coat when he is wearing them.
  • Not counting her arsenal of armors, Erza's main outfit goes through five major overhauls over the manga(four in the anime which used her second outfit from the start.) Although the details change her general look remains much the same for her first three armors, a steel gray breastplate with pauldrons, gauntlets, over a blue skirt and boots. Her final season design notably gives her a more formfitting breastplate with a Cleavage Window adding a cape and greaves with leg pieces. She then goes back to wearing her post-time skip armor, but drops the pauldron on her left shoulder leaving her left upper arm bare, and adds back the tassets from her first two armors. The cross emblem on her breastplate likewise shifts from a cross with the Heart Kruez logo to an asymmetrical gold cross centered on the left side of her breastplate over a Fairy Tail guild emblem, to a plain gray cross in her post-timeskip design to ditching it entirely for her fourth design before going back to her third design.
  • Fairy Tail's Master Markarov Dreyer also goes through several outfits over the course of the series. Intially he wears an orange jacket, white shirt with the guild emblem, orange shorts, sandals, and a blue and orange striped jester hat. For the Guild war with Phantom Lord, he switches to his Wizard Saint outfit consisting of a white tunic with the Fairy Tail symbol on the left collar, black pants, and a formal white coat with fur trim with the Ten Wizard Saints' symbol on the back before returning to his original look. During the Battle for Fairy Tail, he switches to wearing a white dress shirt with a red vest over it and black pants with a light-colored, high-collared cape embossed on the back with the guild emblem. During the S-Class trials, he initially sports a Hawaiian shirt with black shorts before changing into his Wizard Saint outfit which gets largely shredded during the fight with Grimoire Heart. Following the return to Fairy Tail after seven years, he goes back to his third outfit for the first part of the Grand Magic Games, before changing to a black gauken uniform, and then his Wizard Saint outfits which became his default outfit for the next few arcs. Following the one-year Time Skip, Markarow is sporting a full beard and wears a new outfit consisting of a belted white tunic, black pants, and a short black cape with yellow trim and an unknown symbol on the back. For the Alvarez War, he returns to his Wizard Saint outfit swapping out the white shirt for a new purple one.
  • This is especially noticeable with the Fairy Tail members who stayed on during the Seven-Year timeskip thanks to aging. Macao keeps the white coat but grows a mustache and adopts a more dignified outfit to reflect his role as Guildmaster. Wakkaba loses the pompadour for a shorter hairstyle, switches to a cigar, and dons a yellow button-up with a fur-collared green coat. Reedus loses weight, drops the artist's smock and pointed hat for a Gentleman Adventurer-styled outfit. Laki goes from her collared white dress with chin-length hair to a black dress with cleavage, a red cape, and long hair in a ponytail. Romeo goes from wearing a dark t-shirt with an "S" to his Natsu-inspired getup of a white-trimmed maroon vest and white pants with a yellow scarf. Jet loses the fur-trimmed coat and hat and dons a ponytail with a purple and brown top. Droy is overweight and sports a green jacket over a white shirt. Bisca switches from her yellow hat and black dress to a more Stripperific getup that's a fringed swimsuit with a cowboy hat. Alzack dresses about the same with some minor changes but has a shorter spikier haircut. Max drops the bowl cut and blue suit for a brown vest and black pants with a black collared shirt and a shaggier hairstyle. Kinana loses her frilly white and green waitress outfit for a simpler green top with a long white skirt. Warren goes from a brown and orange getup to a vaguely Chinese green vest with yellow trim over a white shirt. Nab loses the green & black vest and pants, dons a red cape, and grows a beard. Vijeeter abandons the black bodysuit with white lines for a black and orange Indian-style get-up with a blue turban.
• My Hero Academia uses this a lot since the protagonists attend a Superhero School and are constantly improving and adjusting their costumes over time. A prime example is the main character, Izuku "Deku" Midoriya: his original outfit was conceived largely out of his admiration of All Might, so it has a cowl that resembles All Might's ludicrous bangs (which just looks like rabbit ears on Deku) and a facemask that has All Might's trademark grin across it. Over time his costume becomes more practical, including gaining armor and shock absorbers on his legs once he switches to a fighting style based on Shootfighting, gauntlets that help focus the air pressure of his "finger flick" attack, and later has openings to allow him to use his newly-unlocked "Blackwhip" quirk. The All Might cowl and mask never really go away, mainly out of nostalgia,^note Deku's mother made the original outfit as a present celebrating his first day at U.A., so he tends to stick close to the original design, but he stops wearing the cowl and the mask loses the grin, instead looking like an emergency gas mask.
• Naruto: Over the Time Skip, some characters (mainly the Konoha 12) start wearing new clothes. The title character went from wearing a complex-looking jacket and pants with some accessories added to a simpler, black and orange jacket and pants with little to no add-ons. Sasuke's outfit went from a simple collared shirt, arm warmers, headband, simple pants, and boots to looking more like a samurai without the headband. Sasuke would later change his clothes again, but Naruto kept the same design until The Last: Naruto the Movie set a few years later.
• Pokémon: The Series:
  • The main party members switch outfits whenever they go into a new region. Johto and the Orange Islands avert this, though.
  • Despite being Put on a Bus, Misty had two costume changes: one for Pokémon Chronicles and one for her Hoenn appearances. Neither design originates from the games.
• Pretty Cure: In both Futari wa Pretty Cure MaX Heart and Yes! Pretty Cure 5 GO!GO!, the heroines gain brand new outfits and powers as they surrender their powers at the end of their respective series. Cure Black and White's outfits are similar to their old ones, but with added gear for protection, but the Precure 5's costumes took a more uniform look with what looks like colored jackets over their old uniforms (though whether they were wearing their old costumes under them or not is never really seen).
• In Sailor Moon, the team goes through this twice, particularly in the manga. At the end of the Infinity Arc and into the Dream Arc, the team upgrades their costumes into the "Super" styling. Moon and Chibi-Moon gain flared see-through shoulder guards, multi-colored skirts, and rear bows with longer tails; the other Guardians gain the rear bows and the shoulder pads only have one flared see-through guard. They get more uniformed looks once they all hit Eternal.
• Throughout Saint Seiya, the Bronze Saints' Cloths frequently change in appearance as they go through several battles and receive various repairs and mystical upgrades. The anime only brought in new Cloth designs between the Sanctuary and Asgard arcs (plus another upgrade in the Hades OVAs), but in the manga, Seiya's Pegasus Cloth was redesigned no less than five times.
• Lina Inverse in Slayers goes through three similar, but slightly different outfits (one in the prequel OVA and movies, one in Season 1, and one in later seasons). The main changes are the accessories such as boots, gloves, and pauldrons; the basic silhouette (form-fitting tunic and pants, and a large cape with Shoulders of Doom) remains constant.
• In the Trigun manga, Vash starts out with his original red coat that gets destroyed over the original run. At the beginning of Maximum, he switches to a new one that has a new collar and some different straps on the front. That gets destroyed halfway through Maximum, and two volumes later he switches to a third coat that's closer in style to his original one, though it has more buttons on the sleeves than the first one did, and keeps this look for the remainder of the series.

Comic Books

• Batman:
  • Batman started out with gray tights and a black cape with blue highlights, that was shaped like bat wings. The biggest change changes from this were swapping the cape for a standard cape with a jagged hem and swapping the purple gloves for spiked black gauntlets. Changes since then have been various coloring changes, such as adding yellow to the mix, mostly for his Utility Belt and the outline of the bat symbol. This is also rather explicit in-universe and in adaptations that he is constantly modifying his outfits with modern tech or unique mission profiles.
  • Batgirl started out with black tights, a dark-blue cape yellow gloves, boots, and utility belt (although she wore a grey costume in '90s flashback stories). Post-Flashpoint Barbara's costume was almost completely black in color, except for her cape's violet inner side and her pale yellow gauntlets and boots. During the Burnside Era, she wore an indigo jumpsuit and a yellow cape, but after ''Rebirth, she changed back to her classic look but replacing her cowl with a pointy-eared domino mask.
  • In her early appearances in the 1940s, Catwoman didn't actually have a standard costume, instead relying on disguises. The Spy Catsuit was popularized by the 1960s TV series. Modern depictions have drawn influence from Navy SEAL wetsuits, adding some tactical gear to make it look more high-tech. Cyber Punk influences are occasionally worked in.
  • Jean-Paul Valley's Batsuit evolution mirrored his Sanity Slippage - the more armor and deadly gear he added, the crazier he got.
  • Robin (1993): Tim Drake's Robin costume did away with the short shorts of his predecessors after wearing a version of Jason's costume once to have an armored short-sleeved ensemble with green pants, steel-toed tabi boots, and a black cape. He then got rid of all the green for a red and black long-sleeved outfit and further modified that by eventually trading the tabi boots in for more generic steel-toed boots all before he switched to the Red Robin costume.
• Captain America: Steve Rogers' original costume was what appeared to be the traditional spandex tights with buccaneer boots. Retcons of his 1940s adventures have reimagined the costume as a more sturdy military-style outfit with pouches, hard protective headwear, and sensible combat boots.
• Daredevil: Matt Murdock's costume was yellow and red before it became all red.
• Doctor Strange: Stephen Strange wore a dark blue cloak when he was first introduced. The Ancient One granted him the red and gold cloak in recognition of his dedication and heroism.
• The Flash:
  • The Flash (2016): "Year One", being an origin story, has Barry Allen working on his Flash outfit. It doesn't become the Flash outfit until his showdown with the Turtles.
  • Wally West originally just used his uncle’s Flash uniform but later changed it dropping the wings on the boots, adding white lenses in place of the cowls eyeholes, switching the circular lighting belt for a V-shaped one, and changing the costume red to a darker shade. Following Barry’s return, in The Flash: Rebirth he altered his cowl to cover his nose and changed his symbol to resemble the simplified version used by the DCAU Flash.
  • After the Flashpoint event, the New 52 series The Flash (2011) shifted Barry from his Silver Age look to a new design based on Wally’s Flash costume but with the coloring and cowl design of Barry’s with additional black lining and detail. He later briefly changed his costume to feature dark red accents with additional gold lightning patterns before switching back.
  • Eobard Thawne's costume was originally just Barry's with a different colour scheme, with no reversed symbol. Once he truly returned in Blackest Night, the direction of the lightning bolt was also reversed, similar to his "successor" Hunter Zolomon's design. Once he returns in Rebirth, he's also adopted the more modern belt, again, similar to Hunter.
• Iron Man: Tony Stark started out with a gray, bulky suit of armor before it changed into the sleek red-and-gold armor it is now. This is noted in the first Iron Man movie where the prototype armor was based on the one in the first years of the comics. Beyond that, smaller details are regularly in flux since Tony is always tweaking and enhancing his armor.
• The Ray: The Ray's original pre-Flashpoint costume comprised a black and gold bandleader's jacket, a white and gold bodysuit, fingerless gloves, and a Cool Helmet. His Freedom Fighters costume keeps the Cool Helmet but instead has a high-collared black and gold bodysuit. His DC Rebirth costume is based on his original costume, while his Arrowverse costume is based on his Freedom Fighters costume.
• Sonic the Comic: Amy Rose starts out with a green plaid skirt and a white t-shirt (with its design changing every issue). After she becomes more action-oriented, she changes to blue jeans and a grey sweatshirt (with designs that also almost never stay the same). In the final arc, which is based on Sonic Adventure, Amy stops wearing her quills up and puts them into a bob.
• Spider-Man:
  • His first costume, as drawn by Steve Ditko in 1962, was red and black with under-arm webbing.
  • In 1966, John Romita Sr. changed Peter's costume to what is considered his classic look: red and blue with no underarm webbing.
  • In 1984, Peter acquired the black suit but returned to his classic look.
  • In 1989 he became the host of the Uni-Power and became Captain Universe, with the lower part of his mask staying the same.
  • In 1990, Todd McFarlane made the blue parts of Spider-Man's costume darker and re-added the under-arm webbing, though in the wake of the Clone Saga he returned to his classic look.
  • His 2004 Secret War outfit was black with blue spider-leg-like stripes, his 2006 Iron Spider costume was red and metallic gold with a large spider emblem, and his 2010 Future Foundation outfit was white with black sides, eye-pieces, and spider emblems.
  • His 2011 "Big Time" Stealth Suit was black with green/red Tron Lines.
  • In 2015, he started wearing the Spider-Armor Mark IV, which is metallic red and blue with underarm webbing and a glowing outline around the spider emblem.
• Static: Virgil Hawkins' original costume in 1993 featured something more akin to Black Lightning's wardrobe, with a skintight black suit with white lightning in an X-shape on his chest, as well as an X on the hood/cowl above his eyes.◊ Come 2000 and the DC Animated Universe cartoon Static Shock, he adopted a new look that has mostly stuck since, being incorporated into the comics in the "Return of the Cool" storyline, where he wears some form of black under-attire with a golden lightning bolt on it, as well as an unzipped yellow-lined hooded jacket that can go anywhere from waist to knee level, and a large golden domino mask and goggles either over or above them.◊
• Superman:
  • Superman has had several tweaks to his outfit over the years, many involving the coloring and form of his Chest Insignia. During his brief time in The '90s as Electric Superman, he had a white and blue outfit, but he inevitably reverted to form. The New 52 relaunch brought a major change in that he lost the red Underwear of Power and his suit was now Kryptonian body armor. When the pre-New 52 Superman returned to The DCU for DC Rebirth, his new costume no longer had the red Underwear of Power either, though he did regain them in Superman (Brian Michael Bendis).
  • Supergirl has worn dozens of different costumes, although she always reverts to her iconic blue shirt/red skirt combination. She started out with a red cape, blue long-sleeved shirt, and a blue skirt which she sometimes swapped with a red one. At the onset of the Bronze Age, she tried a different costume every two issues until deciding on a puffy-sleeved deep-cleavage blue shirt and red cape, choker, short pants and boots that she wore until the early 80's when she changed back to her classic look plus a red hairband. In the Post-Crisis era she changed to midriff blue shirt with yellow-rimmed cuffs and long blue shirt, and Post-Flashpoint she changed to a high-collared blue leotard and boots with knee-holes. During Red Daughter of Krypton she wore a Red Lantern variant before the Rebirth relaunch when she returned to her classic look.
  • Power Girl has gone through a number of different costumes during her run. Her most well-known and original costume consists of a white leotard, blue boots and gloves, and a red cape. She's also worn outfits that either had no cape or changed the amount of blue fabric, as well as several full-body suits with white and gold. Only two of them lack her famous Cleavage Window, however.
• Wonder Woman has gone through several minor costume changes, but she tends to return to her red and blue leotard. Other outfits give her pants or battle armor, or just add darker colors. Her original costume slowly morphed into the iconic leotard look after starting out with loose-flowing athletic shorts that turned into tight bike shorts and got progressively shorter under different artists. These days, she seems to have permanently moved on to include pteruges over her permanently shrunken shorts.
• X-Men:
  • Every member has had major upgrades. Even Professor X exchanged his wheelchair for a gold hoverchair powered by alien tech.
  • The first two upgrades for the team were all designed by Jean Grey.

Fan Works

• Adventures of a Screwed Up Clone:
  • Danny's costume has changed a bit over the years, the white belt has some gadgets on it now, and there are some green accents to some areas of his suit. Dani even notes that it looks more obviously heroic.
  • When Dani finally transforms after she's been at Wayne Manor for a while in chapter 26, she finds that her costume has changed as well.
• The Legend of Mare-Do-Well: After Pinkie's friends saved her from certain death, Twilight and Rarity created a new costume for Pinkie since the old one was shredded by Pinkie out of grief of failing to save Gummy. The new costume they presented to her has, among other things, padding, an invnear invisible covering for Pinkie's head, and most of all, a voice modification spell that changes any wearer's voice into that of a confident mare of justice. What is particularly fitting is that the voice was based on that of Pinkie's Confidence.
• The Phantom Twins: The main cast all get new outfits at the beginning of season 4.
  • Danny Fenton now wore a full red short-sleeved shirt with a black jacket; his jeans were a little darker in blue and red Converse shoes.
  • Dayla Fenton wore a light blue long-sleeved shirt with a short-sleeved purple shirt over it, her usual black jeans, and now purple Converse shoes.
  • Sam Manson's hair had gotten a little longer and was now just at her shoulders, and she now wore a black short-sleeved shirt that left her midriff uncovered, short purple lace fingerless gloves, black combat pants, and her favorite combat boots.
  • Tucker Foley still had his red beret, a yellow short-sleeved shirt with black trimmings on the sleeves, a white long-sleeved t-shirt underneath with also black trimmings, his usual green cargo pants, and brown boots
  • Andrew Knight wore a white short-sleeved shirt with a long-sleeved red and black checkered shirt over it and left the buttons undone, light blue denim jeans, and black combat boots
  • Jazz Fenton's hair was shorter and was just above her shoulders, and she now wore a black short-sleeved shirt, a blue skirt with black leggings, and flat blue shoes.
  • Valerie Gray wore a black skirt with her yellow singlet top but now an orange cardigan with it and white boots that went to her knees.
• Shadows over Meridian: To symbolize her fully claiming the title of Queen, Jade ditches the ninja robes she'd been wearing since arriving on Meridian for a battle kimono over black biker shorts, along with an indigo crown shaped like dragon horns.
• Unity (Finmonster): Now that she's branching out as an independent hero separate from the rest of her family, Violet has upgraded her costume. It's now purple instead of red, with a V insignia instead of an I, and is covered with a coat.
• Zim the Warlord: Irken Reversion:
  • Gaz's canonical switch from a black dress (as in the show) to a blue shirt and black skirt (in the movie) occurs during the time skip. According to her, it's because she got tired of people thinking she was Goth or emo.
  • Due to outgrowing his old uniform during his Reversion, Zim gets a new outfit after waking from his coma. While he keeps the black pants and red shirt, he adds a white Irken symbol on the front of the shirt, an open black vest, and green shoes.

Films — Animation

• Lightning McQueen from Cars starts out having headlights and taillights made out of sticker decals, but from Cars 2 and onward, he’s replaced them with actual working lights (though that didn't stop Sally from calling him "Stickers").
• DC Animated Movie Universe:
  • Nightwing started off in Son of Batman wearing a costume based on the classic black and blue Nightwing suit, being one of the few exceptions of wearing an outfit based on The New 52 ones. In Teen Titans: The Judas Contract, he does switch to a New 52-inspired outfit, complete with red logo. In Batman: Hush, he switched to something more akin to a Truer to the Text version of the classic black and blue Nightwing suit.
  • When the series started, it was reflective of its chief influence, The New 52 and saw Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman in costumes based on their New 52 costumes. However, it started to move away from this, as reflected in all three movies set in the universe in 2019 seeing the respective leads ditch them:
    • Superman donned his Superman Reborn costume at the end of Reign of the Supermen.
    • Batman: Hush sees Batman don the classic grey and blue, complete with Underwear of Power, after his Hush-induced fall. That said, even before Hush, the New 52-based suit has been tweaked a bit through the films.
    • Wonder Woman starts wearing her Rebirth costume in Wonder Woman: Bloodlines and in fact was revealed to have worn it when she originally left Themyscira, only donning the War outfit when she became public and returning to the Rebirth outfit in the climax. Additionally, Reign saw her get an early start, ditching the Tomboyish Ponytail permanently.^note Her fight with Doomsday in The Death of Superman saw the ring holding her hair in a ponytail destroyed and she'd put it back as such for the funeral.
  • Batman: Hush sees a lot of this and not just with Batman himself and Nightwing:
    • The Scarecrow appeared in a short on Justice League: Throne of Atlantis wearing Civvie Spandex akin to his incarnation in The Dark Knight Trilogy. Here, he actually dons his classic costume.
    • Harley Quinn started off wearing an outfit based on Suicide Squad (2016) in Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay. Again, like Bruce, Dick, and Crane, she switches to her classic costume.
  • Justice League Dark: Apokolips War:
    • During their time forced to work for Darkseid, Batman and Wonder Woman wear new outfits, including a Hellbat Armor-inspired costume with red and black color scheme for Batman and the return of the ponytail for Wonder Woman.
    • Harley is shown wearing her classic cowl with the Hell to Pay outfit.
• Frozen: Best seen with Elsa's attire:
  • In Frozen, Elsa changes her coronation dress to something she's more comfortable with. She's willing to wear other clothes, as long as they also fit the general form of the ice dress.
  • In "Frozen Fever", she gives her usually-blue ice dress a green makeover and adds some flowers from a vase to her bodice.
  • In "Olaf's Frozen Adventure", her Christmas dress is now a midnight blue off-the-shoulder sleeved gown - displaying a return to her use of dark colors - that incorporates her signature Snow Queen style. The dress has a velvet texture and a white fur collar with small stones inside, and a small V-shaped cut at the center that exposes a purple undershirt. Elsa's outfit features another transparent blue cape; however, this one is slightly less transparent than the ice capes. She wears dark blue kitten heels, similar to her first Snow Queen outfit. On the chest, cape, and rims of the outfit are diamond-shaped crystals scattered across, with some forming the lower half of her snowflake emblem on the neckline and a larger pattern on the back of the cape.
  • In Frozen II, Elsa's main ice dress now includes a long coat with a sash around her midsection incorporating a snowflake emblem, has a double-cape that has a snowflake on the back, and is just waist length instead of trailing on the floor, and has ice leggings underneath the main dress, which is in a lighter shade of blue and has a window showing her upper back. The outfit also includes boots instead of kitten heels.
  • On a related note, Elsa's nightgown has switched from blue to violet with snowflake patterns.
• Hey Arnold! The Jungle Movie has all of the main ensemble featured in slightly updated and spunkier-looking versions of their classic appearances, because the movie takes place one year after the original series and they're all embarking on a major adventure.
• How to Train Your Dragon:
  • In How to Train Your Dragon 2 the kids had their outfits changed from the previous film, with one reason being they're now young adults instead of teens. Hiccup still has a green undershirt, but instead of a furry vest over it, he now has leather armor. Astrid still has her armored shoulders, fuzzy boots, and Lady Legionnaire Wear, but has even more Pelts of the Barbarian added.
  • By the third movie, the riders now wear incredibly detailed scale-patterned battle armour that is coloured and customized to resemble the appearance of their particular dragon. Like Hiccup, Astrid now has a masked helmet that features back horns to resemble her dragon, Stormfly.
• The Incredibles:
  • In The Incredibles Edna Mode patches up Mr. Incredible's outfit a couple of times and then makes him a new outfit, this time Red instead of blue. She also makes matching outfits for the whole family, which also updates Elastigirl's costume.
  • Winston Deavor tries his hand at updating Elastigirl's original costume in Incredibles 2, arranging for a new suit to be designed by Alexander Galbaki, a rival of Edna's. Grey and black dominate rather than the white and scarlet of her old suit. It eventually starts taking Clothing Damage, though, prompting Helen to change back into her more durable Mrs. Incredible costume.
• Master Shifu gets a new green robe in Kung Fu Panda 2 to reflect his position as the new Grandmaster, as well as his growth into a more calm and relaxed individual. Master Tigress also gets a new tunic in Kung Fu Panda 3, though this doesn't seem to have any special significance outside of the passage of time.
• Trolls:
  • In the first film, Poppy wears a cyan dress with a light blue, wavy spade-like pattern across the hemline, and a green thin headband surrounded by blue flowers. In Trolls World Tour, the hemline changes to a flower-esque pattern and a darker color than the rest of her dress, and her headband gets a major overhaul with a thicker front and a larger number of flowers that alternate between blue and green. She gets an even more drastic change for Trolls Band Together, wherein her dress and headband are given a knitted texture (as well as another entire redesign for the latter, now blue and green with the flowers replaced by leaves and a couple sprigs), and she starts wearing striped leg warmers.
  • Poppy also goes through a different evolution in the spin-off TV shows. Within the first four seasons of Trolls: The Beat Goes On!, her outfit is almost identical to the one she had in the first movie, albeit with a thicker, less detailed hemline. In the series' second half, the color scheme of her dress is inverted with the addition of a pink heart button. She returns to the original outfit in Trolls Trolls Topia, but with the dress' hemline turning thinner and the headband's flowers becoming tulip-like.

Films — Live-Action

• The Dark Knight featured Batman updating his costume from Batman Begins with a slimmer design but with more segmented armor pieces, most notably separating the cowl from the neck, allowing Batman to finally turn his head.
• DC Extended Universe: Superhero costumes tend to get brighter in the films not directed by Zack Snyder that feature characters he cinematically introduced (Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman and Jason Momoa's Aquaman, most prominently), also as a result of them not using Snyder's trademark Color Wash.
  • More specifically, Aquaman gets a more comic-accurate orange-ish gold and green royal suit in his solo film's last act instead of a seemingly more common Atlantean suit in both versions of Justice League.
  • Harley Quinn very frequently changes outfits (a lot in the same movie sometimes), but she has three/four main ones: a Debbie Harry-inspired one in Suicide Squad, a pink top and golden overalls in Birds of Prey and a Injustice 2 / Batman: Arkham City inspired red and black leather suit in The Suicide Squad.
  • Zack Snyder's Justice League has Superman wearing a black and charcoal version of his normally blue suit.
  • Batman's suit goes from Batman: The Dark Knight Returns-inspired in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice to a more armored version in Zack Snyder's Justice League. He also gets plasma-proof gauntlets. Then he dons a trenchcoat in the Bad Future.
  • In the Bad Future scene of the aforementioned film, The Joker (Jared Leto) has ditched his garish mob boss outfits from Suicide Squad for a white surgeon's robe, orange gloves, and a bulletproof vest adorned with police badges. He also let his hair grow long and erased the "Damaged" tattoo on his forefront.
  • Deathstroke's outfit in that future got darker compared to the orange color it had prior to the apocalypse.
  • Barry Allen has a new suit in The Flash, which looks less armored and less "cobbled together" than the one he had in both versions of Justice League.
• Costumes are frequently updated between Marvel Cinematic Universe movies.
  • Captain America frequently shifts costumes here. In his original movie alone he goes from a wool comic-inspired stage outfit with the triangular shield to a makeshift combat outfit with a leather jacket and helmet to his finalized combat uniform with the circular shield. In The Avengers, he gets a new upgraded uniform mixing the color scheme of his stage outfit with a more utilitarian look. In Captain America: The Winter Soldier he dons a navy S.H.I.E.L.D. stealth suit with silver patterning before switching back to a variant of his WWII suit with an additional toro stripe for the final battle. In Avengers: Age of Ultron, his new Avengers outfit takes the foundation of his stealth suit and adds back the coloring and stripes from his previous suits with the Avengers logo on the shoulders and magnets for his shield. His Captain America: Civil War outfit is darker, loses some of the red and white, and adds more armor with the Avengers logos getting removed after he goes rogue. In Infinity War his Civil War suit is roughed up and dirty with the sleeves rolled up, the chest star missing, new buckles on his harness, and no headgear, while Cap now sports a beard. To replace his missing shield, he wields two Wakandan vibranium shields for the battle against Thanos. Avengers: Endgame has him back in the S.H.I.E.L.D. stealth suit at the start, before he dons a red and white suit for travelling in the Quantum realm regaining his shield as well. During the 2012 sequence, he briefly returns to his Avengers costume before donning a revamped version of his Civil War suit with scale detailing on his upper torso and shoulders for the final battle
  • Other especially noticeable ones were War Machine getting a red, white, and blue paint job, along with a name change to "Iron Patriot" in Iron Man 3 (and then reverting back afterwards) and The Falcon painting his wing pack red and white by the time he joined the Avengers.
  • In Spider-Man: No Way Home, Electro and the Green Goblin are initially identical to their appearances in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man respectively. However, both gradually change over the film to receive more comic-accurate costumes. After regaining his body and later powering up via an Arc Reactor, Electro goes from being blue like Ultimate Electro to wearing an electrician's outfit evocative of his original comic costume, with the "mask" being a burst of yellow electricity that covers his face. Meanwhile, Norman shatters the Goblin mask early on and later upgrades his armor with pouches, goggles, and a tattered purple hood, the latter working with his now-visible Nightmare Face to evoke the Expressive Mask used in the comics.
• Star Trek
  • Star Trek: The Motion Picture featured a lot of Space Clothes in varying shades of tan and pastel, which was quite a contrast to the black pants and colored shirts of the original show. The engineering of the costumes was so complex (for some the pants went straight in the shoes) that the actors demanded a redesign if another movie was made. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan made a more unified design with black slacks and a maroon jacket with turtleneck colors and insignia that designated their department. These were so well received they were reused for all of the Original Series line of movies, with only a few variations and casual wear outfits introduced in other films.
  • Star Trek: Generations showed the characters on the Enterprise sport a combination of the series costumes (colored torsos and black shoulders) and the designs made for Deep Space Nine (black torsos, colored shoulders). The DS9 costumes were intended to be a starbase variant while the TNG costumes remained for starship crews, but this was the only time we see both worn by the same crew. A Troubled Production intended for entirely new costumes to be introduced, a modern updating of the Original Series maroon jackets, but the limited time to develop them properly led to a scramble to properly outfit the actors with what they had available.
    • Star Trek: First Contact finally introduced new costumes with black pants and torso, greyish purple shoulders, and colored undershirt. This design remained for the rest of the TNG films and filtered into both DS9 and Voyager later on.
• Star Wars: Apparent across the films.
  • Luke Skywalker's primary outfits reflect his character growth across the Original Trilogy. He starts out wearing a white tunic and tan pants in Episode IV, reflecting his naivete and inexperience. In Episode V he shifts to a dingy gray jumpsuit invoking how he's no longer the innocent he was. In Episode VI, he dons an all-black ensemble with a charcoal Jedi cloak and tabard channeling his growth as a Jedi Knight and mirroring his father's colors.
  • Darth Vader's iconic look undergoes some notable changes between his initial introduction in Episode IV and his return in Episode V. His mask design is tweaked with black lenses replacing the original red, his robes are now under his shoulder armor, his chest panel was redesigned and his outfit is much more polished. His suit in Episode III is a hybrid of his Episode IV and V designs, with a redesigned symmetrical face mask (his Original Trilogy masks were asymmetrical because they were handmade while the one in Episode III was machine-made) and larger helmet.
  • Han Solo starts out Episode IV wearing navy pants with red bloodstripes down the sides, an open tan shirt, and a black vest. In Episode V he's now wearing a dark gray jacket and brown pants with yellow bloodstripes and his tan shirt is closed. In Episode VI, he wears the same outfit but replaces the jacket with a vest of the same color and briefly wears a camo longcoat on Endor.
  • Princess Leia Organa initially wears her white ambassador dress and hair buns for most of Episode IV before shifting to a more formal gown for the victory celebration. In Episode V, she wears her white Hoth garb for most of the film, briefly switching to a red and gray dress in Cloud City before donning a white jumpsuit. In Episode VI, Leia starts out disguised in bounty hunter armor. After being captured by Jabba, she's forced into a gold metallic bikini with a red loincloth. Post escape on the Rebel fleet, she wears a gray tunic over a tan shirt with gray pants. On Endor, she wears a green camo poncho and helmet over her outfit and later changes into a brown dress with white sleeves gifted to her by the Ewoks. For the final battle, she changes back to her fleet outfit.
  • Anakin Skywalker's costume changes reflect his character arc much like his son. In Episode I, a young Anakin wears tan slave attire for most of the film before changing to tan Jedi garb with a padawan braid. In Episode II, an older Anakin wears a brown and tan Jedi tunic, dark leather tabards, and a dark Jedi robe. In Episode III his outfit has gotten darker the colors shifting to black and brown, his hair has grown out, and he wears a black glove over his robotic arm. After his climactic battle with Obi-Wan on Mustafar, his mutilated and burned body is encased in Darth Vader's Episode V suit.

Live-Action TV

• Arrowverse shows often update their heroes' costumes near the start of a new season. For instance, for the 2015 season (Arrow's fourth and The Flash's second), the Flash got a new white Chest Insignia and Green Arrow got a whole new sleeveless suit closer to the source material.
• The main cast of both Babylon 5 and its Crusade spin-off had their uniforms updated over the course of the show. Both originally wear standard EarthForce blue and black. After Babylon 5 rebels against the corrupt Earth government, new black uniforms with gray lines are introduced. Similarly, in Crusade, an episode features a costume designer coming aboard in order to put together uniforms for the Excalibur crew as a symbol for the people of Earth. He finally comes up with a different black uniform.
• Daredevil (2015): Matt Murdock's outfit in season 1 is all black, with a black mask pulled down over the top of his head. After getting cut up by Nobu, he gets a new armored suit courtesy of Melvin Potter, in time for his final takedown of Wilson Fisk. Over the course of season 2, Matt gets some extra additions from Melvin, such as finally getting his billy clubs in the season 2 finale when visiting to get a new armored suit for Elektra. Then he loses the armor at the end of The Defenders (2017) when he's crushed under Midland Circle. Subsequently, he spends season 3 of Daredevil back in his original season 1 costume but with a new mask made from a nun's habit (which becomes more justified once Fisk threatens Melvin into creating a red Daredevil costume for Dex).
• Doctor Who:
  • The most significant example in is the Cybermen, who have had a succession of very different designs over the years. Major redesigns occurred in "The Moonbase" (replacement of the original Body Horror-inflected look from "The Tenth Planet" with a cleaner robotic appearance), "The Invasion" (introduction of the "square-headed" or "earmuff" head design), "Earthshock" (replacement of the skin-tight appearance of the outer suit of earlier designs with a baggier look reminiscent of military combat fatigues, with the chest electronic panel integrated into the suit instead of worn over the top of it on a yoke), "Rise of the Cybermen" (the cloth-like outer suit of earlier designs replaced with a segmented, hard-shelled armor), "Nightmare in Silver" (now looking almost like knock-offs of Iron Man), and "Ascension of the Cybermen" (now reminiscent of a hard-shelled version of the eighties silhouette, with a return to the "square-headed" look).
    • This is lampshaded in "The Doctor Falls", in which the independently-created Cybermen on the Mondasian Generation Ship evolve over the course of the episode from a version of the original "Tenth Planet" design to the RTD-era "Cybus" design to the Moffat-era design.
  • The Doctor's examples have been more subtle but have frequently been associated with tonal shifts in the series and characterisation:
    • In the Third Doctor's first season, he wore a midnight blue jacket. The various jewel-coloured velvet jackets that the character is more usually associated with were introduced in his second season, as part of the general Lighter and Softer switch at the time.
    • In the Fourth Doctor's final season, he moved to a more subdued all-burgundy version of his iconic woolen overcoat, scarf, and hat. This was largely due to the tastes of the new producer but also fit with the sombre tone of the season.
    • In the Seventh Doctor's final season, he switched his cream-coloured jacket for a dark brown one, which again fit the darker tone of both the stories and the characterisation.
    • The Tenth Doctor wears a brown suit with a long overcoat for the duration of series 2. However, in series 3 and 4, he switches back and forth between the brown suit and a blue one from episode to episode.
    • In the Eleventh Doctor's final half-season following the departure of his long-term companion Amy, he switched his previous tweed jacket and shirt for a more elaborate and more serious-looking Victorian-style three-piece suit and overcoat. Again, this marked a shift in characterisation.
• The Mickey Mouse Club: The Mouseketeers' ear hats originally had a white letter "M" on the front before being replaced by the Mickey Mouse Club logo for Season 2. This was because the earlier design was simplistic enough to make counterfeits of.
• In the first few seasons of Power Rangers, the members would get their suits updated along with their powers, to keep up with the concurrent Super Sentai. Power Rangers in Space was the last series to do this. The series past that just had different teams, with the exception of Power Rangers Megaforce which had a suit change due to briefly returning to adapting multiple Sentai into a single storyline.
• Red Dwarf: In the first two seasons, Rimmer wears a smart khaki Space Corps uniform and Lister a stained, shabby version of the same uniform. In season three, Lister is given his biker leathers and Rimmer a shiny green suit that fans dubbed "Captain Emerald". Rimmer's look changes to a red version of a similar suit in season 4, then a quilted version in red or blue from season 5 onward (later retconned with the explanation that blue means Hard Light), back to the Space Corps uniform in season 8, and eventually a blue version of the "Captain Emerald" suit in season 10. The Cat is the exception, as he gets a new suit in every episode.
• In late-series Smallville Clark Kent finally becomes a bona fide superhero instead of a guy helping people out, and he starts out with the moniker "The Blur" (from his Super-Speed) with an all-black ensemble that includes a black T-shirt with the House of El insignia in white, black pants, and a black Badass Longcoat. In season 10 he transitions to a version of this uniform colored blue and red. The classic caped uniform and "Superman" moniker don't show up until the Grand Finale.
• In Star Trek the Starfleet uniforms have had lots of changes over time.
  • The first two pilots of Star Trek: The Original Series were inconsistent with color schemes of the outfits but leaned into the entire crew wearing some version of khaki, smokey blue, or tan uniforms. Once the series was established, the color scheme of gold for command (actually more of a lime green; the lighting and Color Wash made them look gold and it stuck), blue for science/medicine, and red for security/engineering took hold, which also gave us the infamous Red Shirt trope to kill off security officers. The collars were also high and didn't really fit right, before changing to a lower cut with a black undershirt. The miniskirts also weren't introduced until after the pilots. Kirk is later given a Captain variant costume with a green wraparound tunic.
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation had black and primary colors tights and jumpsuits. Also, the red and gold color coding was switched from the original series. The jumpsuits went through some changes between seasons, mostly for the comfort of the actors. The original one-piece jumpsuit was notoriously uncomfortable to wear, which led to a new design nearly identical but was in two pieces, drops the shoulder piping, and gave a cadet collar. Patrick Stewart ended up suffering from back pain from the original outfits and was almost forced to leave the show; Picard was given a unique commanding officer uniform with a grey tunic and red jacket, which is even looser-fitting as a result.
  • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager have mostly black jumpsuits with primary colors on the shoulders. DS9 eventually switched over to the costumes introduced in Star Trek: First Contact, which could be seen in Voyager when they make contact with Starfleet Command.
  • In Star Trek: Enterprise the original Starfleet uniforms were blue jumpsuits with department color trimmings. As a prequel, they had a lot more modern touches than the other costumes, as the uniform looked more like a modern flightsuit (complete with pockets, a first for the franchise) and the admiral uniforms had a necktie.
  • Star Trek: Discovery introduces new blue uniforms but have more military-style stripings and an asymmetric collar. The department colors were changed to metallic styles of gold for command, silver for medical/science, and bronze for engineering/security, largely under the premise that Discovery was not a standard multi-task Starfleet ship but an R&D testbed. Season two introduces a general Starfleet uniform that looks nearly identical to the colors and stylings of the Original Series but with some Discovery-style features like the asymmetric collar.
  • Star Trek: Strange New Worlds seeks to emulate the overall look of the Original Series uniforms but with modern costuming textures and techniques. Department insignia patterns are woven into the shoulders, which are only really seen in close-ups.
• Wonder Woman: Despite the material being "indestructible" ("The New, Original Wonder Woman"), Diana's Wonder Woman outfit changed dramatically from her WWII adventures to modern times.

Literature

• Legion of Nothing: Nick Klein inherits powered armor from his grandfather along with the identity of the Rocket. He keeps on tinkering and improving the armor throughout the series, with stuff from weaponised lasers and nanotechnology to futuristic alien tech.

Theater

• During the development of Hadestown the characters' costumes changed for each production, with most designs being finalized around the National Theater production in London. Orpheus and Eurydice's outfits would change again for the finalized Broadway release.

Video Games

• Batman: Arkham Series:
  • Batman's costume in Batman: Arkham City looks mostly the same as his suit in Batman: Arkham Asylum, but the Bat-Symbol, utility belt and gauntlets have been altered slightly.
  • Batman's suit in the prequel Batman: Arkham Origins is a much bulkier suit with segmented armor plates and a helmet-like cowl and slightly shorter "ears", similar to the costume in The Dark Knight.
  • Batman: Arkham Knight: Batman starts the game with a slightly updated version of his suit in City, before switching to a more armored suit partway through.
• BlazBlue:
  • Starting in the third game, Noel Vermillion ditches her NOL army uniform (back-baring minidress with detached sleeves and a beret) for a more casual one (a back and midriff-baring tank top under a capelet, hair freely down with hairpins, gun holsters on her back).
  • Like Noel, Makoto also gets a new outfit to replace her NOL uniform. Unlike Noel, this outfit is only visible during story mode and in one pre-fight intro. For actual gameplay, she sticks to her regular battle outfit.
• Disney Speedstorm unifies its cast by having each character trade their usual attire for a color-coded racing suit.
• Since the companions in Dragon Age II are restricted to their personal (upgradable) outfits, their appearance only changes after significant events in their respective character arcs.
  • Aveline's armor goes from low-rung mercenary gear, to city guard armor, to Guard Captain plate mail,◊ each version coming with more protection and bling.
• Dynasty Warriors features this in spades. There's been a total of 9 main iterations of the game, and every returning character gets a redesign for the next game. This also extends to the other sub-series and spinoffs that have more than one entry, such as the Samurai Warriors games.
• The King of Fighters: Many outfits are era-specific; e.g. Orochi Saga Kyo wears a school uniform with a headband while NESTS Kyo wears jeans and white jacket without the headband. Other examples include Ralf and Clark, who at first just look like head swaps of each other, but later evolved in different ways; King and Benimaru, who has the same case as Kyo; and Robert and Athena, who change clothes practically every installment.
• Klonoa wears a new outfit in nearly every game in his series. The first remake of the first game, through the use of And Your Reward Is Clothes, allows the player to choose from most of his past outfits to wear in-game.
• Final Fantasy:
  • Remakes of the 2D games will often update the designs of the characters to go with the updated graphics, in many cases bringing them in line with their official artwork. Examples include the Black Wizard, who goes from having a long robe and exposed face to a more ornate version of the face-obscuring Black Mage outfit; Firion, who was originally a slightly changed Fighter from the first game before getting redesigned to something closer to his official art; and Cecil, whose Paladin form got a design based on his official art...except for his in-battle sprites in the PSP remake, which for some reason stick mostly to his design from the SNES original, creating inconsistency with his field sprites.
  • Every returning character in Final Fantasy IV: The After Years gets an updated design. Some modifications are minor, such as Cecil getting a slightly different hairstyle; others are more major, such as Yang who looks like he's wearing half of a coat.
  • In the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, several characters have updated designs, such as:
    • Zack in Crisis Core after Angeal's death
    • Cloud, Tifa, Barret in Advent Children
    • Yuffie in Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus
  • While changing costumes is a gameplay element in Final Fantasy X-2, Yuna and Rikku both have new default outfits, Yuna's being particularly notable for being both a Significant Wardrobe Shift and a Fanservice Pack.
  • In Dissidia Final Fantasy, many characters, especially those from the 2D games, are designed according to official artwork rather than their original in-game appearances, which are sometimes relegated to alternate outfits.
  • During the course of the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy, Lightning, Serah, Snow, Hope, Vanille, and Noel undergo noticeable costume changes that are closely tied to the respective game's plot and character development. Some changes are minor such as Noel's darker color scheme and Vanille's new headdress in Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII; while other changes are major such as Lightning and Snow, who get a new design for each game. Major changes also apply to Hope and Serah in Final Fantasy XIII-2, with the former becoming the 24-year-old leader of the Academy and the latter being upgraded from schoolgirl to time-travelling warrior.
  • Final Fantasy XIV sees many of its story characters change outfits over the course of the game's ongoing story, often gaining new clothes with each expansion. The entire Scions of the Seventh Dawn, minus Krile, gains new outfits by the end of Endwalker:
    • Y'Shtola starts off wearing a white fluffy shirt with blue pants and small black boots. When she comes back in Heavensward, it's replaced with a white robe with an open front, hot pants, and thigh-high boots. When she ends up on the First, she ends up with a black dress with fur trim.
    • Thancred starts out with a black shirt with a longsleeved white undershirt, green trousers, and sandals. When he reappears in Heavensward, he dons a white sleeveless shirt, black pants, boots, and waist cape. When he ends up on the First, it's replaced with the Level 80 Gunbreaker armor dyed white and black.
    • Urianger spends most of the game wearing a hefty black robe with a white hood and sandals. When he ends up on the First, he gains the Level 80 Astrologian armor.
    • Yda starts the game wearing a white open top, white hot pants, and armored thigh-high boots as well as a mask. When she's revealed as Lyse, she starts wearing a vest, crop top, hot pants, and the same armored thigh highs. Near the end of Stormblood, she dons the real Yda's outfit being a red top with gold bracers and white baggy pants.
  • Final Fantasy VII Remake retains the base elements of Tifa's iconic outfit (white tank top and black skirt held up by suspenders) but makes a few logical changes to better suit her Action Girl personality, like the addition of a sports bra and compression sleeves, and changing the skirt from wrap to flare (with Modesty Shorts underneath) for better freedom of movement.
• Kingdom Hearts:
  • Sora, Riku, and Kairi each go through design changes as the series progresses and they get older. However, Sora has the most designs to date as his appearance changes accordingly depending on what world he visits in order to "protect the world order."
  • The Final Fantasy crossover characters get less drastic, but still noticeable changes as well, such as Leon's jacket getting swapped for a vest.
• The Legend of Zelda:
  • Despite being different people, each of the Links' outfit changes have been very minor compared to the others, with one of the biggest alterations being chainmail under the cloth in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. The biggest change yet is in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, where he wears a specially made sky blue tunic (designed by Zelda herself, according to the King) without a floppy hat as his main outfit in promotional appearances, as well as in flashbacks. The usual green tunic is still there, but you will have to work hard for it. Tunics of past Links may also be received through amiibo.
  • Princess Zelda originally had a pink dress with puff sleeves and a wide bell skirt that had white ribbons and bows near the hem. This only lasted the first couple of games. In The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past she had a white dress with some purple trimmings and gold accessories. This would be the first form of her standard dress, which would evolve over further games. Much like Link, Breath of the Wild features her in her biggest costume change yet, with a dark blue/white royal outfit and a sky blue tunic not too dissimilar to his own for travelling.
• Mega Man Zero: Zero in the Mega Man X era has enlarged forearms and forelegs, Power Crystals on his chest, white gloves, and shoulder guards. This era's Zero is slimmer, black fingerless gloves, a different helmet design, and no shoulder guards.
• In the Monkey Island series, main character Guybrush Threepwood has undergone several costume changes throughout the games. In the second game, Guybrush grew a beard and added a slightly oversized blue coat to his standard breeches and shirt ensemble, in his attempt to look more mature. In the third game, he lost the coat and the beard. In the fourth game, he changes to a red coat. Tales of Monkey Island returns to the blue coat, but he has a goatee instead of a full beard.
• Persona 4: Arena and Ultimax take place a couple years after Persona 3, so the characters from that game have different clothes. Yukari now is an Toku actress, so she wears pink tights, while Mitsuru wears a white fur coat to reflect her status as the head of a major company.
• In Sonic the Hedgehog, Dr. Eggman was first introduced wearing a simple red long-sleeved shirt with black pants/boots and a yellow cape. Come Sonic Adventure, Eggman's outfit is updated to a red zippered coat, black pants with zippered boots, and replacing the cape with a pair of goggles on his head.
• In the Street Fighter games Chun-Li started out with a blue Mini Dress Of Power, while some later games (notably, the prequel series Street Fighter Alpha) swapped it with blue tights (though still had some of the trimmings of the original outfit).
• Street Fighter V features many returning characters gaining new clothes (although their classic outfits are available too).
  • Ken is the most standout example, wearing his iconic red gi around his waist and sporting a tight black shirt while growing out his hair and tying it into a topknot.
  • Sakura finally changes out her Sailor Fuku for a blue vest over a white blouse and a black skirt, in addition to an ascot. Karin, likewise, changes out her school uniform for a red suit with black tights.
  • Ibuki changes her ninja garb out for a blue school uniform but retains her black ninja mask.
  • Juri gains a new outfit consisting of a violet jacket over a skintight black bodysuit. She also dons an Eyepatch of Power concealing her new Feng Shui Engine, which is green in contrast to her remaining brown eye.
  • Dhalsim dons a turban and grows out a beard.
  • Sagat adds a tattered cloak to his outfit.
  • Akuma's hair grows out a lot, resembling a lion's mane.
• Super Mario Bros.:
  • In the first game, Mario had a brown shirt and red overalls and Luigi had a green shirt and white overalls, though promotional artwork showed both with red and green overalls with blue shirts, respectively. Later games took the promo art and swapped the colors, starting with the cover and instructions for Super Mario Bros. 3, though Super Mario Bros. 2 previously used those colors in-game.^note Super Mario Bros. 3, due to palette limitations, gave the Bros. black overalls. Super Mario World was the first game to give Luigi darker blue overalls than Mario, though here, Mario's were light blue, while Luigi's were indigo. This didn't happen again until Luigi's Mansion, where Luigi had navy blue overalls, while Mario's were the usual shade of blue, and this time, it stuck.
  • Princess Peach has always had her pink dress with the tiny puff sleeves and bell skirt (though the limitations of the first game made it appear white with red trim). Just graphical increases allowed more details to be shown and then added.
• Super Smash Bros. games after the first frequently add more detail to characters than the original games showed. For example, Peach's outfit became a full Pimped-Out Dress with extra overskirts and lace trimmings. It was at its peak in Brawl. The collective fourth game with its deliberately more stylized look than Brawl's reigned it back in, though it was still lacier than in her home series.
• In the Japanese version of Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Isabelle wears a festive kimono◊ on New Year's Day (in the localized versions, she just continues to wear her New Year's Eve tuxedo). Then Happy Home Designer and amiibo Festival (which feature the kimono in all versions) came along and updated that kimono◊ to be bigger.
• In Fire Emblem: Three Houses, the students of the Officer's Academy wear school uniforms that, for most students, consist of a black tunic coat and slacks with golden accents. After the five-year Time Skip, the now-former students of the Academy swap out their uniforms for unique attire that reflect their growth as people and the changes they underwent as a result of the war that breaks out during the interim.
• Every member of the cast in Soulcalibur VI got a fresh re-design to bring them into The New '10s. The game is a Soft Reboot of a classic Dreamcast title nearing twenty years in age and some aspects of their character design have aged poorly.
  • Mitsurugi has seen little change beyond the addition of slightly richer reds and a tiger decal, matching his new Animal Motif.
  • Sophitia keeps her basic design from I but kept some elements of her design from III, like her laurel wreath and white upper tunic. She has also undergone some physical changes - she looks like her IV incarnation, but younger and bustier.
  • Nightmare's appearance from IV was relatively bland, so the re-design added gold trimmings and detail and made him look more monstrous by adding Spikes of Villainy and glowing red eyes.
  • Xianghua got a Minidress of Power and blue leggings to replace her pants from I, and has a hairstyle based on IV.
  • Kilik oversaw one of the most dramatic design changes. Much of his old design was thrown out. Rather than being a Walking Shirtless Scene with an overall basic look, his new design gives him a Chinese warrior-monk top to cover his chest along with phoenix-themed boots and shoulder-pauldron.
  • Ivy wears an even skimpier version of her I outfit while maintaining her body proportions from later titles. This makes her the hottest and sexiest incarnation of the character yet.
  • Zasalamel combines aspects of his III and IV appearances, giving him the former's boots and hood with the latter's wizard robe and collar.
  • Siegfried keeps his general European knight design but his armour is more detailed with blue and gold trimmings (to represent Light Is Good) and adds a Scarf of Asskicking much like his P2 costume from III. He's also been made a bit taller and heavier-built than in previous games.
  • Taki combines many aspects from all of her previous costumes, with the purple-red hue of her ninja suit from I, the steel mask from III and adds new glowing Japanese runes (she is a demon huntress with some implied degree of magical knowledge). She has also been made slimmer, and addressing previous criticisms that she looked too European, has more Asian features to her face.
  • Yoshimitsu is a character who wows players with Rainbow Pimp Gear Costume Porn with every entry, and this doesn't disappoint either. He appears to wear some kind of exoskeleton under his clothing and has skeletal boots along with a demonic mask that has glowing green eyes.
  • Maxi doesn't deviate much from his classic I design, but his sleeves have been shortened to show off his muscular arms, and he has a bright sash instead of his old belt.
  • Astaroth got a wildly new design, giving him the appearance of a stone golem with red Volcanic Veins and a barbarian fur loincloth. His armour pieces are spikier and have a distinct cobra motif. The big man of Soul Calibur has never looked more intimidating.
  • Seong Mi-na has an interesting design that takes cues from Soul Blade, the very first title of the series, but thigh-high leggings go with her boots.
  • Raphael is another character who got a huge overhaul. In comparison to his Modest Royalty appearance from II, this new design is a much fancier costume with frills and a gold Fleur-de-lis, with a new face covering that combines glasses with a Domino Mask.
  • Amy got an outfit based on her gothic Lolita outfit from III, with a new rose motif.
  • For the first time, Hilde the Germanic warrior-princess forgoes a helmet, wearing a tiara instead. She has new gold armour worn under a fur-trimmed red surcoat, giving her a balance between her armoured P1 designs and her royal P2 designs.
  • Setsuka has undergone a big change. Gone is the traditional geisha kimono, now she is wearing a dress that amusingly blends western and eastern styling from her previous outfits, to reflect her origin as a European woman raised in Japan.
  • Hwang has underseen some of the most dramatic changes of any character in the series. Apart from a scarf from III and his signature headband, almost nothing of his classic costume has remained. Here, he wears primarily black with a longcoat, a massive hat, and a mask to conceal his identity. Hwang looks to all the world like a character from Bloodborne, not medieval Korea.
• Tekken: Much like his ancestor from Soulcalibur, Yoshimitsu is a prime example of this trope. He undergoes this in every single game in the series, and it's become a long-standing tradition of Bandai Namco to give the character in both entries a new look in every new entry in the respective series. In 1 he was a traditional ninja with a hannya mask. In 2 he switched to an oni mask and gained a farmer's hat. 3 and Tag 1 started the legacy of him having a more futuristic, cyber-ninja look, and is considered to be by far his most iconic design as a whole, sporting a lightsaber katana and what appears to be a cross between a Xenomortph and a mushroom for a mask. In 4, he became a cyborg skeleton with beetle armor and dragonfly wings. 5 returns him to a more traditional samurai look but sporting futuristic elements still, serving as a reference to his ancestors from Soulcalibur. 6 is by far his most nightmarish look, resembling a skeletal demon with exposed muscle tissue and a demonic sword. As of 7 he sports his oddest look yet, wearing a sort of bio-organic alien armor with octopus tentacles around his head.
• Them's Fightin' Herds: Paprika and Pom didn't wear their blanket and bell collar, respectively, when the characters were first revealed. They were added later for more color.
• World of Warcraft:
  • Thrall was introduced wearing a suit of black plate armor that he inherited from the previous Warchief, Orgrim Doomhammer. In Cataclysm, when he stepped down as Warchief in order to devote his time to combating Deathwing and healing the injuries the world suffered during his rampage, he changed his attire to a set of shamanic robes. During Warlords of Draenor, he changed his outfit yet again to amalgamate elements from both his costumes, wearing his armor underneath his robes. After he is called back into action in Battle for Azeroth to deal with Sylvanas, he becomes a Walking Shirtless Scene.
  • When she was introduced in Warcraft III Jaina originally wore a purple cloak over a white and purple outfit that exposed her midriff. In World of Warcraft proper, she wore a gown instead of pants and ditched her cape, which remained mostly unchanged (barring her hair turning mostly white in the aftermath of Theramore's destruction during Mists of Pandaria) until Battle for Azeroth, where her outfit got a complete overhaul to accommodate a blue cloak, armor over her right arm, and a more nautical feel in general to reflect her eventual reconciliation with her former homeland of Kul Tiras during the events of the expansion.
  • In life, Sylvanas wore a blue cloak and armor. In Undeath, she pulled an Evil Costume Switch and her outfit became noticeably darker in color. In Legion, she added pieces of leather to her armor that covered up previously exposed sections such as her midriff and forearms.
  • When he came to maturity in Cataclysm, Anduin Wrynn wore a set of white, blue, and gold clothing, which later featured epaulettes and a purple sash in Legion. In Battle for Azeroth, to reflect his ascension as King of Stormwind following his father's death, he now wears a set of gold and silver armor complete with a Cool Helmet shaped like a lion's face.
  • When he was reintroduced in The Burning Crusade, Khadgar resembled his statue in Stormwind's entrance, being a wizened old Wizard Classic wearing white and blue robes. In Warlords of Draenor when he became relevant again, his outfit was redesigned to be more rugged, and he went from having a long beard to being clean-shaven to reflect how he is Younger Than They Look. The Warcraft Chronicles books retroactively apply this appearance to him during the Second War.
  • In his initial in-game appearances, Tirion Fordring wore a hood and cuirass to reflect how he had been excommunicated and stripped of his status following him sparing the orc Eitrigg. In Wrath of the Lich King, he began wearing different Paladin armors to reflect how he was now in charge of leading the Argent Crusade against the Lich King.
  • Garrosh Hellscream originally wore a tribal outfit in line with the rest of the Mag'har. During Wrath of the Lich King, when Thrall brought him to Northrend to help lead the campaign against the Lich King, he wore the armor of the Ko'kron vanguard. When he took over as Warchief during Cataclysm, he became a Walking Shirtless Scene wearing the Tusks of Mannoroth as Shoulders of Doom (though he would ditch the Tusks after he was ousted as Warchief).
  • Varok Saurfang originally wore a Battlegear of Wrath, but in Battle for Azeroth was given his own unique set of armor.
• Sunrider 4: The Captain's Return gives the cast more elaborate outfits than what they had in the previous games. Kayto Shields has added a Coat Cape to his uniform, Ava Crescentia's uniform now includes a capelet that only covers one shoulder, and Veniczar Fontana has ditched his previous getup altogether in favor of a military dictator's dress uniform with a cape, sash, epaulets and Chest of Medals.

Web Animation

• My Little Pony: Equestria Girls Digital Series: The most clear example is the main characters' brand new wardrobe, but even the recurring although nameless extras at school get some of it.
  • Each of the girls get a new wardrobe, getting rid of the skirts-and-big-boots that all of the main characters except Twilight and Sunset have worn since the first film in favor of more unique and character-fitting outfits. Rarity gets elegant gem-encrusted high heels and a pencil skirt, Fluttershy gets a green breezy dress, Pinkie Pie gets a mostly white and pink outfit with a rah-rah skirt, and Rainbow Dash gets what looks like sportswear with black tights. Applejack's outfit is actually fairly close in overall "look and feel" to her original clothes, but uses the newer, more natural boot and skirt designs. Sunset's design also echoes her original one, with an orange/black/purple color palette and a skirt, and Twilight's clothes bear a superficial similarity to the Equestrian Princess-as-human's (blue shirt with slightly poofy shoulders, bright pink bowtie, purple skirt).
  • Some of the recurring background and supporting classmates also get wardrobe overhauls, some minor (Trixie swaps the giant boots for ankle-high boots with similar design) and some major (one of the most commonly recurring jocks — a blue fellow usually seen accompanying a techie — got a new jacket, shoes and pants).
  • One girl previously seen as a Crystal Prep student seems to have transferred like Twilight and is now among the background students at CHS. Of course, she has ditched her uniform for new, casual clothes (and a fedora) in the process.
  • Flash Sentry's first appearance in the series was as a cameo in "Queen of Clubs", where he looked as he always did (barring the Labcoat of Science and Medicine). He then opens the "Best Trends Forever" episode with a light redesign: his hairstyle is subtly different, and his shoes use the new model instead of the big design used for non-Crystal Prep boys and men since the first film.
• In the Time Skip between the end of Volume 3 and the beginning of Volume 4 of RWBY virtually everyone went through this trope, showing their change through those events. They are again given new outfits, along with minor weapon upgrades, after becoming licensed Huntsmen in Volume 7.

Webcomics

• The Legend of Maxx uses this extensively. Almost all of the main characters have gone through at least one costume change since the comic began:
  • Maxx changes out of his plain purple shirt in favor of a set of Shadow armor as part of his (fake) Face–Heel Turn.
  • Cyril acquires a fancy blue robe, made for him by Maxx, upon becoming a wizard.
  • Hannah changes from her nurse's outfit into a set of fur armor after being taught how to fight by the undead Vikings.
  • Even Aley arguably goes through this when his/her fairy fuzz layer is torn off by Hannah early in the comic.
• The Order of the Stick has Elan swap his bard armor and tunic for a blue swashbuckling ensemble when he takes up the dashing swordsman class, and Haley switches her brown midriff-baring outfit for some leather armor to spruce up her look after her Traumatic Haircut.
• In Magical Boy, Max starts out in a typical hyperfeminine Magical Girl costume, complete with his chest binder being broken. His first Transformation Sequence is played for severe gender dysphoria (with a deserved Content Warning beforehand). As the comic progresses, however, his costume gradually becomes less feminine.
• Flashback sequences in Everyday Heroes show that Mister Mighty used to wear a most grey outfit with a domino mask rather than his current mostly red outfit with a cowl.

Western Animation

• In The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius every main character kept the same outfit except for Libby, who switched from a ponytail and blue dress to dreadlocks and a pink shirt to coincide with her Promotion to Opening Titles. The change occurred in the episode where she impersonated an Egyptian queen and decided to keep the new look and changed her clothes with it.
  • Jimmy went from a red and white striped t-shirt, blue shorts, and brown shoes in the pilot shorts, to a red t-shirt with a yellow atom symbol in the TV shorts and the movie, and finally long blue jeans and white sneakers in the tv show.
• The third season of Avatar: The Last Airbender has the gang go undercover in the Fire Nation wearing their mostly-red clothing, as opposed to the outfits that reflected their place of origin that they wore previously.
• Oddly enough, this happened in reverse to Bonkers when the titular character got his tail stuck in a patrol car's grill during his switch from being Lucky's partner to Miranda's in "New Partners On the Block". When he finally pulled it loose, the fur had peeled back like a banana, and that look remained with him for the rest of the show, signifying his change into a bumbling fool. The really odd thing about all this? The episodes where Lucky is partnered with Bonkers were made after the ones with Miranda, and the show retroactively bridged them.
• In the fourth season of ChalkZone, Rudy and Penny's outfits changed slightly, though the same color schemes were utilized. Rudy switched from his olive and light green shirt to an all-olive green shirt with a pocket in front, and his pants became longer. Penny switched from a shirt to a tank top and switched out her sneakers for loafers, also losing her socks.
• Code Lyoko redesigned the battle outfits of all of the Lyoko-Warriors halfway through. The most drastic change was Yumi, whose outfit went from geisha-inspired to ninja-esque.
• DC Animated Universe:
  • Batman spent most of Batman: The Animated Series era in the blue cape and cowl costume with a yellow oval insignia, with the Batman: Year One costume used for flashbacks. Starting with The New Batman Adventures Batman is in a matte black version of the Year One costume.
  • Static Shock:
    • In later seasons, Static trades in his white t-shirt with black Chest Insignia for a sleeveless black tee with a golden insignia, which he wears without the jacket in warm weather. He also ditches his yellow goggles for blue-tinted Cool Shades. The overall changes make his costume look Darker and Edgier. Static also used to fly around on manhole covers and various round objects before Richie developed a retractable flight disc for him. In the first two seasons, Virgil wears a yellow and red shirt with a blue collar, dark red pants, and sneakers. In the third season, he wears an orange and black shirt with a number five on the sleeves, blue jeans, and brown boots. In the fourth season, he wears a similar outfit but the shirt is yellow and the jeans are white.
    • Richie wears a simple t-shirt in the first season but switches to a hoodie with the same design afterwards. Later, he reaches superhero potential like Virgil due to realizing he had slowly developed Super-Intelligence and designs a costumed identity, deeming himself Gear.
  • Justice League:
    • Continuing Batman's appearance, his cape and cowl took on a purple tint (likely to help separate him from the background).
    • Aquaman debuted in Superman: The Animated Series in his classic orange shirt/green pants and gloves combo. In JL, he sports a look somewhat inspired by his Peter David-era look, including becoming a Walking Shirtless Scene and wearing a medallion and gold gauntlets.
    • In early episodes, the Green Lantern Corps are shown using the same uniform throughout their ranks. During the episode "The Return", they're shown wearing custom uniforms (Word of God on the commentary is that they wanted to give Kyle Rayner his then-current costume in the comics and the rest fell suit). In Justice League vs. The Fatal Five, it's shown that Kyle Rayner will at some point don his DC Rebirth costume (itself based on his '90s costume) and Kilowog appears, sporting a version of his Green Lantern: The Animated Series costume.
    • Huntress was initially shown wearing a costume only inspired by the costume that debuted in Batman: Hush. When she became a recurring speaking character, she got a redesign that was Truer to the Text of the Hush look.
    • Supergirl made her debut in Superman: The Animated Series wearing an original costume that featured a white tank top and blue skirt. While she kept that at first for Unlimited, she sported a version of the Michael Turner look for the final season.
    • Crimson Avenger first appeared in JLU wearing a comic-accurate version of his comics costume. His appearances in the final season see him dressed as a Palette Swap version of The Green Hornet.
    • Volcana debuted in Superman: The Animated Series wearing a cocktail dress and jacket. During JL, she wears a tank top with a Cleavage Window and pants.
  • While Wonder Woman is still in the same costume she wore in JL for Justice League vs. The Fatal Five, it also sees Wonder Woman carrying a sword in a scabbard around her waist.
• Donald Duck's sailor hat was originally white with a blue rim before switching to the more familiar blue hat with black rim. As time went on, the four buttons on his shirt disappeared and his bowtie switched from black to red.
• When Doug switched from Nickelodeon to Disney and underwent a one-year Time Skip, some of the characters' outfits were changed slightly. Doug wears a slightly different green sweater vest (though it's near-identical to his first one), his shirt has longer sleeves, and his sneakers are bluish-black instead of red. Skeeter went from wearing a red t-shirt with a yellow lightning bolt on it to a red long-sleeved shirt with a yellow "O" on it, as well as adding a purple vest. Patti wears a longer version of her shirt from the Nick version, swapping her skirt for pants the same color, as well as switching out her sneakers for loafers (also the same color). She also got a haircut and began wearing earrings. The trim on Beebe's dress went from pink to white, and she began wearing dark purple leggings underneath. She also went from wearing yellow shoes with pink socks to white high heels with no socks (or white boots in the movie and most episodes taking place in the wintertime). Roger went from wearing a leather jacket to a leather vest and has a slightly different hairstyle. Judy switched her purple sweater dress and black long-sleeved shirt for a purple button-down shirt.
• Harley Quinn (2019): Harley starts out in her classic jester costume, but severs ties with the Joker and swaps it out for her Stripperiffic New 52 getup.
• Hazbin Hotel has several charaters change their looks from pilot to series. Some are minor, such as tweaks to Charlie's hair and suit, Angel's gloves changing, or Alastor's pants changing color, while Vaggie gets an entirely new outfit (white dress and mismatched stockings to hotel uniform) and Velvette only keeps her skintone and is otherwise totally redeisgned (she swapped a red and white gothic lolita look for pink and purple fashionista...and an Unlimited Wardrobe still in those colors). Also all three versions of Cherri Bomb (pilot, "Addict" music video, and series proper) have different tattoo sleeves—the first the simplest to make it easy to animate, the second more complex, and the third similar to the second but with thicker lines.
• Invader Zim: On the show, Gaz wore a black dress and a skull necklace, but in the comic continuation and Enter the Florpus wears a light green shirt (blue in the movie) with an 8-bit bunny skull and a black skirt. This is to reflect attempts to flesh out her character a bit, with focus on her gamer habits, and move away from making her look Goth (which was apparently never the original intent).
• In the fourth season of The Legend of Korra, Tenzin and his family have traded their traditional Air Nomad robes for modern wingsuits designed by Asami, which let them glide for longer distances. This also reflects Character Development on Tenzin's part, as during previous seasons he tried to hold up all the Air Nation traditions his father told him about, even when they didn't seem to fit into the modern world anymore.
• The Loud House:
  • Lori's rival, Carol Pingrey, initially wore blue in "Picture Perfect" to highlight how similar she and Lori look. When she reappeared in "Selfie Improvement", her outfit became purple.
  • Since the start of the show, Lily had been wearing nothing but a white diaper. Come Season 5, she begins wearing a white shirt and lavender shorts after completing potty training.
• Molly of Denali: In Season 1, Layla had her hair tied into a braid, and wore a purple shirt underneath blue overalls and purple sneakers. In Season 2, her outfit changed. She now wears her hair down, has a dark green shirt, beige pants, and pink-purple shoes.
• Since it is Merchandise-Driven, Ninjago will periodically update the look of the characters to reflect their new outfits for every season in the show.
• Popeye: In the theatrical shorts, Popeye and Bluto's old-fashioned captain outfits were replaced by Navy whites with the coming of World War II, and they lasted well beyond the war. Also in the 1940s, Olive's saggy shirt and skirt became primmer, and her galoshes were replaced by high-heels.
• Robotboy:
  • Donnie's shirt changes from gray to red in the second season, and the skull on his shirt from light blue to black. However, the skull is mostly absent.
• SpongeBob SquarePants started out by just wearing his underwear and shoes to bed. In the more recent seasons, there are times he now goes to bed barefoot, and beginning with "Night Light" in Season 5, he begins wearing traditional sleepwear.
• Steven Universe:
  • When Gems regenerate their physical body after it's damaged, their new form can include a change to their otherwise Limited Wardrobe. By the end of the fifth season, Pearl and Garnet had two major outfit changes, while Amethyst had three. This also causes more subtle changes to the Fusions those Gems make up — Opal (Pearl + Amethyst), for instance, changed her outfit once when Pearl did, and again after Amethyst did.
  • In Steven Universe: The Movie, the now older titular character swaps out his red-pink T-shirt for a blue one, in addition to wearing a pink varsity jacket. In Future, he swaps out the blue shirt for a black one much like the shirt his father wore as a rock star.
• The Dragon Prince In "Rebirthday" aside from Claudia and Viren, most of the cast have received new designs with the Time Skip.
  • As high mage, Callum now wears an outfit similar to Viren's but with his blue, red, and gold pattern, and his hair is now styled to the side, resembling Anime Hair.
  • Now king, Ezran wears a silver crown to replace the one lost with Viren, and his red outfit now looks much more like King Harrow's except with coattails. In addition, his formerly large hairdo has been pulled back into a ponytail.
  • Soren has grown out his hair alongside a stubble and his crownguard uniform has more black included and he now goes without his chest plate and cape.
  • Amaya's armor has some Sunfire elements incorporated into its design, she's no longer wearing gloves, and she has an asymmetrical haircut.
  • Janai wears the same lighter colours her sister had as queen along with a similar headdress.
• In The Owl House special "Thanks to Them" The Hexsquad undergo various changes, both subtle and overt.
  • Luz's hair is longer, and she's wearing a beanie with two pins — an eye, and a bisexual pride flag. She is also sporting her pilot shirt underneath Eda's Hexside Varsity Jacket, capped off with green sweatpants and red & white sneakers.
  • Amity's hair now reaches down to her shoulders, with her purple hair dye fading to pink hair with brown roots at the top looking like a star. She's wearing black garden pants over a dark pink shirt.
  • Willow has grown out her hair as well, with her braids now hanging over her shoulders instead of laying on top of them. She's wearing a yellow shirt with a leaf on it, under a long, green coat.
  • Hunter's hair has been cut shorter to resemble Luz's Season 1 design, and his Idiot Hair is cut down to a tiny curl over his forehead. He's wearing a yellow sweatshirt with a breast pocket, faded jeans with patches on the knees, and red sneakers.
  • Gus is wearing a black and teal baseball shirt with a stylized tree on the front, a black leather jacket, and blue pants. He's also wearing at least three watches on his wrists.
  • Vee is shown changing her appearance to differentiate herself from Luz — her hair is green with blue tips while retaining her basilisk ears which blend in, and her skin color is lighter, though still similar enough to easily pass as a member of the Noceda family. She's wearing an orange jumper with a pumpkin on it, blue pants, and brown boots.
  • Camila also has a significant change in appearance — her hair is curlier with a streak of gray in the front, her glasses now have gold frames, she has an open brown flannel shirt (which holds a heart-shaped pride pin) over a black shirt with a pumpkin on the center, jeans, and brown boots.
    • At the end of the episode, the Hexsquad returns to the Demon Realm wearing their Halloween costumes, with Luz and Amity in particular dressed as Azura and Hecate, albeit leaving behind the wigs and the capes.
• The main Winx Club characters, the Winx and the Specialists, wear the same thing every day but get a new outfit almost every season, and for special events like a dance or beach day. And of course, after Charmix, which just adds a little charm and purse to their transformation, all subsequent Frills of Justice are completely new outfits and wings. The Specialists also get an upgraded battle outfit after season 5 or so.
• Kim Possible: Early in the final season, Kim's mission outfit gets trashed and she finds it impossible to obtain a replacement in the same style. She tries various options and finally settles on a new look which she keeps until the end of the series.

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