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Take note, security officers: You can get these at Wal-Mart.
"It's not as bad as a red [shirt], but a bit worse than a blue [shirt]. Sort of a mauve, but I didn't want to say mauve..."
Dr. Girlfriend: Is there a reason you always use #21 and #24? The Monarch: I know it sounds crazy, but they both have that rare blend of "expendable" and "invulnerable" that makes for a perfect henchman.
Nobody in their right mind wants to be a Red Shirt — it's death sentence even the most Genre Blind can spot a mile away. It's been lampshaded to death and back, but it remains a very real trope with very real danger for the nameless fictional people under its thrall. So, if you're saddled with this Red Death what can you do? Change the color of your shirt!
In Star Trek, "Blue Shirts" were for science personnel and "Gold Shirts" were command staff; both had a much better life expectancy mostly due to rarely being sent on away team missions, the latter more so. The opening quote is a play on this, noting that the character is less vulnerable than a redshirt, but more so than blue.
Chromatic issues aside, the Mauve Shirt is a former Red Shirt who has managed to get enough screen time and lines to make him stand out from the rank and file, but not enough to be part of the main cast. It can also be accomplished by showing pictures of a spouse or baby (Be careful with that, as it's Tempting Fate all by itself), personal quirks, or just plain old giving them a name (whole or in part). The advantage to this is that they're less likely to be killed senselessly, because the audience cares for them and it would hit harder than some faceless redshirt no one cares about. The downside is that, since their death would now have more emotional impact, they are more likely to be Killed Off For Real to prove how bad the new villain is. If they're successful enough, they just might graduate from Mauve Shirt and become a "Gold Shirt" as part of the supporting cast or even the main cast.
Now this character can live, but not really get the Plot Armor that major characters have. Also, shows where Anyone Can Die love to kill off these characters — we're getting to know this guy, he must be important, then boom! He's dead, and the status quo remains safely in power. See also Hero Of Another Story for a character starting as a Mauve Shirt. Compare Ensemble Darkhorse.
For the villain equivalent, see Mook Promotion.
This is still a Death Trope, so expect spoilers.
Compare Red Herring Shirt.
Examples:
Anime
- Barely touched on in Gundam Seed, early on in the series, when the Archangel lands at an Alliance fortress, one soldier is heard mentioning that his mother's illness is getting worse. The fortress gets blown to oblivion.
- In Gundam 00 there's Joshua. He's shown as reckless and undermining and he breaks off from Graham's assault force to attack Lockon, who promptly blows him up just in time.
- For a living version, Shiho Hahnenfuss. Started as a sidestory character, eventually got brief cameos on the show... but never spoke outside of video games and never does anything in the actual series. She still scored surprisingly high on popularity polls for a while, and even got at least one figurine of herself.
- Daysia Barry in D Gray Man makes a flashy appearance on the scene. He's likeable, has cool powers, a great backstory, a unique character design, a name... then he meets Tyki Mikk.
- Last Exile has Mullin Shetland, a member of the Red Shirt Army who is slowly built up and even gets a Love Interest. He has beat the odds and not died in the incredibly deadly Napoleonic style battles he's been in. He manages to survive 19 battles (the 20th promoting him out of the firing line) and even falls in love with a former enemy soldier when, predictably, he is shot in the final episode's boarding actions, wringing it for so much grief it's almost a Shaggy Dog Story. Subverted because he's seen giving a child (son?) a piggyback ride on Earth during the epilogue of the final episode.
- The plot of Mobile Suit Gundam and many other Universal Century stories are paved with the corpses of Mauve Shirts.
- One UC character stands out as flamboyantly mauve: Lt. Apolly Bay of the AEUG in Zeta Gundam, who makes it through almost the entire show from his introduction in the beginning of the series without establishing solid personality characteristics. Lt. Apolly is in at least half of the episodes, a named character almost always with a speaking role, yet the poor guy is complete wallpaper. He's the one who gets to say "It's a kid!" and spoil Mineva Zabi's majestic entrance, yet he has no personality whatsoever. It's hard to imagine a mauver shirt.
- Saikano, being a horrifyingly sadistic Kill Em All series, will often build up characters just to kill them off horribly in the war segments.
- Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann does this with Gimmy and Darry. Where entire waves of the Redshirt Mecha brigades they are a part of are getting blown away around them, invariably they are the only ones who survive... until the last time, when two other Mauve Shirts get blown away saving them.
- While inmates in Dead Leaves are often killed off randomly and rapidly, Chinko Drill actually survived a lot, like repeatedly attacking 777 and just bouncing off. Unfortunately, he's not so lucky when the drill gets stuck in said guard's neck.
- Inoue from Code Geass. Stuck around as one of Zero's nameless lieutenants for the majority of the first season before getting blown up at the hands of an enemy mook's mech. Named by another one of Lelouch's nameless lieutenants right after that.
- Fullmetal Alchemist has the chimeras who follow Greed being like this. All are likable anti-villains with distinct personalities and it's a real punch in the gut that all of them get killed off arguably, it is even more wrenching in the manga, where Bradley kills most of them right in front of Greed and later, "Greedling" kills the only survivor during the period where he didn't have his memories. What Have I Done? follows immediately afterward
- Maes Hughes is also another possible example of this, due to the fact that as soon as he discovered that Bradley was a Homunculus, he was killed shortly thereafter. Also falls under this category because he always shows off the pictures of his daughter.
- Hayate Gekko from Naruto is a great example, dying soon after his introduction, but not so soon that he couldn't be voted as one of the series' 10 most popular characters at least once. His appearance also fits, as he wears a standard Chunin uniform with barely enough modification to be unique.
- Daisuke Saiki from X 1999. Not a Dragon of the Heaven (only nephew to one of them, Aoki) and not very accepting of Kamui at the beginning, but still a devoted ally that has a Bodyguard Crush on Hinoto and dodges death more than once. Until Fuuma fulfills his wish to die protecting Hinoto. Very messily.
- About 90% of the cast of Bokurano.
- In the Chapter Black saga of Yu Yu Hakusho, four fledgling psychics join the heroes. One of them gets curbstomped by Docter and is hosptalized for the rest of the arc, and another gets eaten by Gourmet.
- In Ginga Densetsu Weed, we meet Jerome and his pack. They're off hunting down the Kaibutsu, an experiment that has broken out of the lab he was created in. We learn the pack's names (Noss, Robert, Rocca, and Hoiler) and we think that they're going to be main characters too. Surprise surprise, all of them are killed off in the space of two episodes, Noss by ambush and the rest while fighting to give Jerome a chance to kill the Kaibutsu.
- In Shin Mazinger, Boss claims "We're here to get blown up but somehow never die!"
Comic Books
- Due to seventy-plus years of history, the number of superheroes and supervillains availible to DC Comics has made it so that every DC superhero or supervillain who does not have an ongoing title - and some of those who do, given their willingness to turn everyone and their dog into a Legacy Character - is one of these. Being in a Shared Universe really helps this.
- Similarly, everyone in the Marvel Universe with a name and a superpower can be killed, though they do not have as much history as DC. The X-Men are particularly notable because they are so easy to create.
- In the Marvel Adventures: Avengers line, HYDRA Mook Carl has become one of these thanks to a running gag that he causes a lot of accidents that screw up HYDRA and any other group he joins.
Film
- In Galaxy Quest Guy Fleegman parodied this because of being a Red Shirt in the original show, but bootstrapped himself to Mauve and eventually to main cast thanks to his paranoia and personality. And because he was lucky enough to be in a show that liked to subvert the classic tropes.
- Amusingly, in the film's finale, he's the one character in the shooting spree before Omega 13 is activated and they enter a Time Warp that didn't get shot.
- Many James Bond movies have male characters on Bond's side who are not important to the series like Felix Leiter but have enough personality and screen time not to be just another Red Shirt. They are invariably killed off by the Big Bad's goons. Examples: Quarrel in Dr. No, Sir Godfrey Tibbett in A View to a Kill, the Turkish intelligence officer Kerim Bey in From Russia With Love, etc.
- Star Wars has had a few, notably Biggs Darklighter, an old friend of Luke's and his wingman in the Battle of Yavin (the one who called Luke "the best bush pilot in the Outer Rim Territories"). In a scene cut from the movie (but in the novelization and some deleted scenes on DVDs, also in the NPR Radio Play) Biggs, who has been training at the Imperial Starfighter Academy, returns to Tatooine briefly and tells Luke he has a friend-of-a-friend who knows where the Rebels are hiding and he is going to join them. He's killed in the battle, but not randomly, and it's a hard hit to Luke.
- Admiral Piett could be considered a Mauve Shirt for the Empire. He survives Vader's wrath in Empire Strikes Back and was popular enough to be written into Return of the Jedi.
- How is it Wedge Antilles hasn't been mentioned yet? In the Expanded Universe, he becomes a major supporting character, but in the movies he's definitely a Mauve Shirt who is lucky enough not to be Killed Off For Real.
- A number of mauve-wearing cops show up in The Dark Knight, most of them part of Jim Gordon's Major Crimes Unit. Some of them - including Wuertz and Ramirez - are corrupt and work for The Mafia.
- Another one - who has been in Gordon's unit since Batman Begins - is Everton from Chef! and the overseer from ''Planet of the Ood''.
- What does that have to do with Mauve Shirt?
- Madril, the rather old and fatherly ranger who accompanies Faramir in Lord Of The Rings is a clear example of this. He gets just enough dialogue and screen time for the audience to warm to him over two films for us to hate Gothmog (the Witch King's Dragon) when he kills him.
Literature
- In the Redwall series, on occasion, certain vermin in the villain's army will be given some screen time and a chance to discuss the situation. These will usually be the only vermin aside from the Big Bad and his lieutenants to get names. Expect them to desert before the final battle.
- Warhammer 40000 novels tend to be even worse than Gundam. Quite often, a chapter will begin with the introduction of a character, give parts of their life story up to that point, then kill them off at the end of the chapter once the plot-relevant part is over.
- Particularly egregious is the novel Dark Apostle. Throughout the book's course, all of the main human characters get killed off brutally. One survives... and gets captured and possessed by a demon.
- Not uncommon in the X Wing Series, where Anyone Can Die. Stackpole's books make heavy use of Red Shirts with a name, a species, and one or two lines, and now and again he kills off someone with slightly more pagetime. Emphasis on slightly. It's hard to care, even when the other characters remark about the loss of a teammate, when that teammate was barely ever shown doing what they reminisce about. Aaron Allston's books, on the other hand, have a Cast Of Snowflakes, and no one dies without having thoughts of their own, developing, and showing the readers their Hidden Depths. It's often hard to tell who lives and who dies.
Live Action TV
- Star Trek Voyager had Lieutenant Joe Carey, who was tipped to be the new Chief Engineer before B'Elanna stole his thunder in early in the series. He is then absent for the entirety of the series, except for time travel episodes that return to the time of the first or second episodes when you'd expect him to be there. He finally pops up in season 7, four episodes from the end of the series, and is killed off by the episode's villain in an attempt to show that's he's Dead Serious.
- In season 4, DS9 introduced Enrique Muniz, who had a strong aura of Red Shirt about him, being a previously unknown crew member in a highly dangerous situation. He survived, and recurred in a couple more episodes until finally being killed off early in season 5. I found myself actually unsure throughout the episode whether his severe wound would kill him before he could receive proper medical attention.
- Almost every single Tau'ri who captains an Earth-built starship on StarGate and related shows. They're all given names and a little bit of backstory/personality, but only one survived more than a few episodes (Pendergast). One, a long-running secondary character, was killed the very episode he took command of his vessel.
- Chuck the Gate Tech might also qualify for this. His predecessor was also a Mauve Shirt who was killed off for dramatic effect in the first season finale.
- Braca from Farscape at first appeared to be just another mook, until the first season finale when Big Bad Scorpius tells him "I believe your star is on the rise," a signal to the viewers that he actually is going to be important and they should pay attention to him. He ends up surviving the whole show, along with his boss. The trope was averted because Braca was originally slated to get killed off but managed to survive due to David Franklin’s incredible ability to emote. Braca also managed to go from red-shirt to having a first name and command of his own ship, so kudos that mook.
- Doctor Who subverts this with Private Ross Jenkins. He gets a name, a bit of a personality in "The Sontaran Strategem". He is killed in the second part, "The Poison Sky". He managed to get a rather large following on The Doctor Who Forum and a fan club there: Private Ross Jenkins' Widows. It helped he was one of that story's Good Looking Privates. The Doctor even shouts about his death angrily, which is more than some of his old companions got when they left the show alive.
- In the new series of Doctor Who, nearly any person who is given a name and a bit of sympathy for the Doctor and his companions dies.
- It's also important to note that anybody who gets asked to travel on the TARDIS before the end of the episode will die. See: Jenny and Astrid.
- This is used for the Doctor's character development, as he eventually notices this trend and stops inviting people altogether.
- On a side note, in "The Empty Child" mauve is defined by the Doctor as "universally recognised colour for danger" — red is "just humans. By everyone else's standards, red's camp."
- Lost has done this not once, but several times, always with annoying people who often have incredibly ironic deaths:
- In season 1, Leslie Arzt appears as a (seemingly) knowledgable science teacher who accompanies the Big Damn Heroes to the Black Rock to help them properly handle the dynamite. Of course, as Arzt is in the middle of a lecture about dynamite safety, the stick he's holding explodes.
- In season 5, Neil "Frogurt" is introduced as an irritating, neurotic man who is literally wearing a red shirt and is constantly complaining about the others' inability to make fire. Cue a fire arrow straight through his chest.
- Additionally, a random DHARMA Initiative security drone named Phil starts making frequent appearances in the latter half of season 5. While he hasn't died yet, his increasingly annoying behavior—culminating with punching Juliet and Sawyer's vow to kill him in the penultimate episode of the season—seems to indicate that he will be killed in the cataclysmic finale.
- One of the Ajira Flight 316 survivors steps forward and appears to be both the leader and really important. He has a lot of mystery about him, making you think he'll last for a while as he's clearly a big player...then he's abruptly shot by Ben, and second-in-command Ilana steps forward as the one who's really important (so much so that she's a regular in season six).
- Well, Sawyer didn't kill him. But it seems magnetized steel girders did.
- Detective Ronnie Gardocki of The Shield had no dialogue in the series pilot, and the actor who portrays him went uncredited. He appeared in about half of the episodes in the first season, and was a "recurring character" up through season four. According to That Other Wiki, fans originally suspected he would become a redshirt, and the series writers even toyed with this idea in season 2. However, he survived and graduated to a regular cast member in the last three seasons, becoming increasingly important as the series went on.
- During the first decade of Law And Order, the only police character other than the regulars to be given any character development at all was Detective Tony Profaci, whose job it was to pop into the office, or even into the crime scene, to provide some sort of crucial new information or lab results, crack a few jokes, and leave. In the first nine seasons, Profaci appeared in 53 episodes. Unfortunately, his mauve shirt status was not sufficient to save him when, in the made-for-TV movie Exiled, he was found to be on the take from The Mafia and forced to resign in disgrace. Since then, no other non-regular police character has been allowed to recur that often or develop that much of a persona.
- In the penultimate episode of the seventh season of Monk, Monk's nebbish neighbor Kevin Dorfman is killed in the episode's beginning. He had been in a few episodes prior to this and had something of a fan following, so this was quite a shock to the viewers.
- Major Lorne from Stargate Atlantis. Not one of the main cast, but a member of the security team who avoided death for five seasons. It doesn't help that Lorne usually leads the squad that gets killed, captured or fed upon.
- Steve on Top Gear, who is ostensibly the director of the "Top Gear Technology Centre." He was featured prominently in an episode in which the presenters need a racing car and a pit crew to compete in the Britcar 24-hour endurance race at Silverstone — and was honored afterward by appearing in the studio when the film aired to receive the audience's applause. Has appeared only once or twice since.
- The re-imagined Battlestar Galactica loved this trope. The show had a huge cast of minor recurring characters - reporters, pilots, mechanics, marines, almost all of who had names, and, sometimes, personalities. Of course, in a show which really liked Anyone Can Die, this wasn't exactly a good thing... RIP, Gunny Matthias, Jammer, Racetrack, Skulls...
Video Games
- Company Of Heroes' opening cutscene for the Invasion of Normandy campaign (which is a Shout Out of the opening scene in Saving Private Ryan itself) shows a cinematic beginning of the first boats going on the beach, with a particular shot toward one. It has a sergeant in the boat state their orders and speaks some encouragement to the other men in the boat with him. They soon all die attempting to reach the safe(ish) mound of dirt in front the the German-entrenched hills. The game then cuts to another boat, turning the cinematic graphics to the actual in-game graphics, showing you the troops you will first command in the campaign
- Fire Emblem may be the supreme overlord of this trope, with nearly every character in the game being one, due to the fact that the only characters that cannot be Killed Off For Real are the Lords. The greatest example? The almighty 3-13 archer of course.
- In the real-time strategy game Myth: The Fallen Lords, all of the player's units could be considered mauve shirts, since the game tries to get you emotionally attached to them by giving the otherwise-identical units unique names and calling out "Casualty" in a grim voice whenever one of them dies.
- Same thing for Cannon Fodder, of course.
- There's also the fact that they gain experience with each kill, and that when they die they aren't replaced until the beginning of the next level.
- Half Life: Blue Shift's Barney Calahoun, who is a redshirt Security guard, frequent ally and friendly casualty to Gordon freeman... He survives the events of his own story and appears Half Life 2, transitioning completely from a minor character to a central one. Arguably Shepard from Opposing Force manages this too, being a Marine grunt (mainstay of the game's human enemies). Unfortunately for him as-of-yet he hasn't appeared in another game.
- Super Robot Wars Original Generation adds a number of Mauve Shirts to fill out the Heroes' roster. So far, they've proven surprisingly durable, and even include a few Badass Normals (which, for a mecha show, means they pilot the grunt suits).
- In most SRW games, certain series allow you to switch pilots freely within their own series, so some of the lesser characters get a chance to shine (putting Boss into a spare Mazinger Z when Kouji gets his Mazinkaiser is popular). In OG, this applies to every character and every mecha, so if you like a side character better than a "main" one using an appropriate robot, go for it. Just be aware that certain chapters will assert mecha ownership, especially if it's an ATX or SRX mecha in question.
- In Gears of War, Carmine (whose name is a shade of Red) was a faceless Redshirt squadmember (the only man on the team to wear a helmet and mask) who dies after the first couple of levels to show that the situation is serious (he's 1 of only 2 named hero characters in the entire game to perish). Due to being "a weird fan favorite", he was scheduled to return in Gears of War 2 in the form of his brother, Ben Carmine, the next of the 4 Carmine brothers "Well... 3, now." And then there were two. With the extra screen time he received compared to his brother (surviving to the second act) he was a true Mauve shirt.
- Jagged Alliance is a fantastic example of this. Even though you can replace the occasional dead merc with relative ease (and in fact, the penalties for getting them killed are often lighter than those for firing them), they're all given names, personalities, and back-stories, making you feel like scum when they die. (Note however that other would-be contractors may notice a trend...)
- Except for Reuben, the remorseless mass-murderer. Die, bastard!
- Metroid Prime 2: Echoes features several Galactic Federation troopers. While they're all dead on arrival, scanning their corpses reveals their logs, a portion of their character, and their lives and interactions before their deaths—there's the one who's gone crazy, there's the cynical snarker, there's the Straw Feminist type who idolizes Samus, etc.
- Metal Gear Solid 3 has Ivan Raidenovich Raikov. His design is a Discontinuity Nod, his name is a cruel pun, and his roles are that of a Morality Pet to the Big Bad, and of a hapless victim for the player to take out their frustrations with the series' Scrappy upon. Due to becoming a bit of a favourite in the fanbase for a few complicated reasons, he made a cameo in Portable Ops, despite the fact that he can be killed in the original without causing a TIME PARADOX, where he got a little scene with some characterisation (vain, aggressive, fierce, and a little sociopathic, but mostly amiable).
- Jonathan in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops exists for three reasons. The first one is to provide a sympathetic villainous point of view, so you understand why the Russian soldiers have decided to hook up with a crazy American anarchist with a Compelling Voice. The second reason is to be your first non-Snake character, so you can learn how the soldier system works, and he gives He Knows About Timed Hits tutorials to you. The third reason is to take a bullet intended for Big Boss during Gene's Moral Event Horizon, and provide a Player Punch. For the last reason, he and Snake cannot suffer permadeath in online play.
- Tales Of Symphonia has lots of named NPCs with just enough background and emotional value, but the one that sticks out is Botta, the second in command of the Renegades. He starts out one of the first villain characters you see, interestingly, but the plot twists around so far that when he makes a Heroic Sacrifice to save the party, many players find it to be a genuine Tear Jerker.
- Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War has your second wingman PJ; after Pixy goes AWOL, he goes from Crow Team Butt Monkey to the second Galm 2, continuing to retain his Gameplay Immortality and now actually able to (very infrequently) help you. Unfortunately, his Genre Blindness catches up to him when immediately after the Avalon attack he declares that he's going to propose to his girlfriend back at the base... "I even bought flowers!" Then you see a light in the distance, headed your way...
- A common occurrance in squad-based tactical combat games like X-COM. Players often get quite attached to soldiers who've survived a few encounters (especially in impressive ways or against the odds) and been given names and nice equipment... but of course, they're not that much more robust than a rookie and die all too easily when things go pear-shaped.
- Quite a few characters could be categorized in this way in Mass Effect 1 & 2. In the first game, you can have a conversation with Corporal Jenkins and he appears (briefly) as a regular member of your squad before being gunned down by Geth drones on Eden Prime. Wilson in Mass Effect 2 plays a very similar role before being shot and killed. Other characters, including most of your non-squad crew members in the second game, are at risk of dying depending on your actions.
Webcomics
- Wonderfully used in this
 Order Of The Stick comic, where two soldiers save themselves from dying as part of the city's Redshirt Army by saying their names. One of them even keeps his last name in reserve to potentially save himself from another life-threatening situation. In fact, the two of them later become major supporting characters.
- Also, in the same battle, the remaining members of the Sapphire Guard become Mauve Shirts, particularly Lien and O-Chul, while the rest are wiped out.
- Some people on the Giant's forums have attempted to make their own: That Guy with a Halberd.
- As the body count rises during the siege of Gobwin Knob in Erfworld, Dora, and then Webinar are quickly added to the list.
- Misty, the Lookamancer who helped Parson with one of his plans, and Jaclyn, the only named Archon, both end up croaked.
- Nick and Shep in Schlock Mercenary are lampshaded as Red Shirts by the narrator in their first appearance, and quickly prove the narrator wrong, followed by becoming Those Two Guys in the mercenary unit. Shep even lasts to reach a successful retirement.
- Not to mention John Der Trihs, wearing a red shirt per his rank Lieutenant/Lieutenant commander, often getting shot/blown/cut up but still surviving.
- Bert from Sluggy Freelance was originally a one-off gag character, but was given a larger role during the "KITTEN" storyline. Of the dozen plus supporting characters in that Story Arc, he was one of only four to survive. He went on to become a recurring character ... until "KITTEN II" finished what the original couldn't. He did get to come back as a ghost, though.
- Girl Genius offers Sergeant Scorp of the Baron's Vespiary Squad, a Cool Old Guy in every sense of the term and possibly the least mad character in the entire series.
- Arguably, Goldie from Everyday Heroes. Most of one chapter involves Jane Mighty explaining how Goldie was her mentor, teammate, and all-around bff. Then, just as the readers get to know her, she gets Stuffed Into The Fridge by their backstabbing boss, which brings about Jane's Help Face Turn.
- In Goblins, the survivors of the fight in Brassmoon City. Namely, the hobgoblin (Scrole), the kobold (Takn), the ogre-kobold duo (Pan & Yala) and that female creature that's creature type is yet unknown (fan-named Dorky or Undorky).
Western Animation
- This trope was invoked, then lampshaded, and then violently subverted in The Venture Brothers. Though the two main henchmen, Number 21 and Number 24, (one named "Gary", the other nameless) are theoretically just numbers, they have quirks, personalities, and a lifetime supply of Genre Savvy, making them still henchmen, but not really killable. All of the other henchmen usually are killed in droves, often at the hands of Brock Sampson. This was lampshaded by number 21 who seems partially aware of his own status as a mauve shirt (see quote below). Later, they bring up the point again to Henchman #1 (named "Scott"), who they are convinced is going to die despite his being much more competent than the both of them (when last seen, #1 is still technically alive, but in the process of being brutally pummeled by Brock Samson). In the third season finale, however, Number 24 is trapped by a seatbelt, and dies a horrible fiery death, after which his flaming, severed head falls into 21's arms. Any doubt that this was the actual course of events was set aside by the first episode of season #4.
#21: I can't believe we didn't get blown up. Dude, we're like those guys on TV that never get shot. We are like main characters. #24: Don't jinx it.
- Most of the Klokateers on Metalocalypse die brutal deaths the moment we see them on screens. It doesn't help that they are Faceless Goons and look identical. There is one exception though, a midget Klokateer who won Murderface's diamond encrusted codpiece during employee appreciation day. This Klokateer is often seen in later episodes, sporting his prized codpiece.
- Played with in the Futurama star trek parody episode, 'Where No Fan Has Gone Before'. When the crew meets the cast of Star Trek, they are introduced to 'Welshie', a guy who joined the cast in the twenty-two hundreds. He is almost immediately killed off.
- On the other hand, the real reason he was there was James Doohan having refused to take part in the episode.
- In The Incredibles Helen's friend (and former pilot) Snog was originally going to be the pilot of the plane to Syndrome's island and was to have been killed when it was shot down (in the commentary, Brad Bird even said that they needed to have a character who had enough characterisation for the audience to sympathise with who could then be killed off to show the seriousness of the situation), but it was ultimately decided the scene would be better if Helen was the pilot.
Other
- Slightly subverted in Evil Dead The Musical with Ed The Bit Part Demon.
Ed: I'm that guy you see in every horror flick/You probably don't remember me, I come and go too quick
Linda (a main character): We've listened to you talk for the past two minutes! You said a whole lot just now, just you! Aw, you're not a bit part demon any more, you're a lead player! A star!
Ed: You're right! Now I see that this thread has been disrupted/I've said more than five words without being inturrupted/I'm a bit part no more, my character's had a swing/Now it's time for this demon to sing, sing, singgggggggggggg, I
*gunshot*
Ash: Now you'll have a bit part, in hell!
Real Life
- Sanada Yukimura. He starts out as a normal soldier, pretty much someone you'd expect to die sooner. But he proves to be tougher than expected, surviving lots and lots of dangerous battles, and eventually at the end of the Siege of Osaka, performs a Foe Tossing Charge, killing many soldiers with just a few helpers but being heavily wounded and finally declaring to supposedly a random mook... "I am Sanada Yukimura, no doubt an adversary quite worthy of yourselves, but I am too tired to fight any longer. Go on, take my head as your trophy." It's no wonder that due to his record and his awesome charge, Ieyasu honors him as Japan's Number One Soldier.
- According to one source, he performed the foe-tossing charge many times, getting pushed back at the last possible second, almost getting to Ieyasu Tokugawa's face.
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