Red Eyes Take Warning / Western Animation

Examples of Red Eyes, Take Warning in Western Animation.

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• Aaahh!!! Real Monsters: Before he transforms into his One-Winged Angel form, Ickis' eyes start turning red, complete with a sound effect that sounds like they're filling up with blood. To a lesser extent The Gromble, whenever he's really ticked off his eyes start turning red much in the same manner as Ickis' eyes before he looms.
• The Huntsman from American Dragon: Jake Long had completely red eyes in season 1, then later had normal eyes when the characters were all redesigned in season 2.
• Atomic Betty:
  • In an episode when Rich Bitch Penelope is cloned, the clone has red eyes. It is probably less evil than the original.
  • Koreena, Betty's old rival turned villain, also has red eyes.
• The Batman's version of the Joker has nearly completely red eyes (but yellow pupils).
• The Joker's Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker design (also used for Static Shock and Justice League) also has red pupils. The red eyes on the latter-day DC Animated Universe design, along with the slicked-back hair sported by the Future Joker design in Return of the Joker, were inspired by the novel's descriptions of Hannibal Lecter.
• Batman: The Brave and the Bold:
  • The eyes of Ultra-Humanite's army of mind-controlled dinosaurs glow red in "Four Star Spectacular!"
  • Inverted with the Blue Beetle, where when his eyes are red, he's friendly.
• Bugs Bunny cartoon Hyde and Hare. When Dr. Jekyll turns into the evil Mr. Hyde his eyes turn red. After Bugs drinks the formula and turns into a giant green rabbit the same happens to him.
• Bunsen Is a Beast: Amanda Killman has red outlines around her eyes to reflect her devilish nature.
• Buzz Lightyear of Star Command:
  • The Affably Evil Emperor Zurg.
  • Also, XR had red eyes during his brief stint as villain NOS-4-A2's vampire slave.
  • And NOS-4-A2 himself has red eyes.
• Captain Planet and the Planeteers: In "The Conqueror", Zarm's eyes turn red whenever he's manipulating the older Planeteers.
• In Castlevania (2017) the vampires that serve under Dracula have red eyes that's usually the only things that can be seen under their hoods, though it's not a genetic trait as other named vampires don't have red eyes e.g Carmilla who has Icy Blue Eyes. Also Alucard, Dracula's son has Supernatural Gold Eyes to show he's a Half-Human Hybrid but Drac himself has the classic scarlet pupils and when he's enraged the whole sclera goes red◊.
• On Code Monkeys, whenever a character gets really angry or psychotic, their pixel eyes will briefly become red.
• Codename: Kids Next Door:
  • In "Operation: L.O.C.K.D.O.W.N.", Numbuh 3's Big-Bottom Rainbow Monkey Doll gets these as part of its Evil Costume Switch into a Spank-Happy Vampire, replacing its classic Mickey Mouse eyes, when it is revealed that the operatives were transformed into vampires and were about to spank Numbuh 5 for using the Quadruple Emergency Bypass Code to lift the lockdown. Then again, it's a stuffed animal, so it can't really attack.
    Vampirified Numbuh Three: Isn't that right, Big-Bottom Vampire Monkey?
  • In "Operation: P.R.E.S.I.D.E.N.T.", the Delightful Children from Down the Lane's robotic clone of James Nixon McGarfield, the former Fourth Grade President, has these, and always used when it is about to attack its enemies.
  • The Were-Dogs have this, too.
• Count Duckula's demented cousin, a pyromaniac vamp who likes to dismember his victims. Also El Loco, the vicious bull Duckula has to fight.
• Danny Phantom:
  • Several of Danny Phantom's enemies have red eyes, including his arch-rival, Vlad Plasmius (whose eyes are blue in human form and completely red and pupil-less in ghost-form), and his sociopathic alternate-future self, Dark Danny (AKA Dan Phantom). Red-eyed Dungeon Master Clockwork, on the other hand, despite being originally portrayed as a villain, is good-hearted but on the neutral side.
  • Danny's own red eyes when under the control of Freakshow in "Control Freaks".
• In Darkwing Duck , DarkWarrior Duck has glowing red eyes (well, his mask does), and the screen fades around them in an extremely creepy scene transition.
• Dorg Van Dango: Yooki does this when she's angry or in the process of scaring someone, complete with evil voice.
• In the Gadget Boy & Heather episode "Double, Double, Toil, and Dabble", Gadget Boy's Evil Knockoff Bad Gadget Boy had red eyes to distinguish him from the real Gadget Boy.
• Played with on Gargoyles; Demona, the evil gargoyle, has eyes that glow red when she's angry while our heroes' eyes glow white. However, it was later established that it was a sex-linked trait; Angela, a new heroic gargoyle in Season 2, also has red-glowing eyes, as do all other female gargoyles, while all male gargoyles have white-glowing eyes (except in the case of clones, where the eye-glow colors are gender-swapped). Still definitely a sign to take warning, though.
• Odd variant: while Serpentor from G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero was always evil, his eyes briefly turned red when he held the battleax of Vlad the Impaler, one of the many historical tyrants whose DNA he shared. This was presumably a hint that Vlad had really been a vampire in the show's universe and contact with one of his artifacts had evoked that trait in Serpentor.
• Trina Riffin from Grojband whenever she's writing in her diary in Anger or Fear mode.
• Skeletor, nemesis of He-Man from He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2002). His eye (sockets) function as a literal warning, as little red lights start growing in them when he gets angry or excited in evil ways.
• Hazbin Hotel:
  • Alastor the Radio Demon has bright red irises against blood red sclera, and they glow red when he goes into his Game Face. He's also one of the most powerful and notoriously evil demons in Hell.
  • Cherri Bomb has one large red cyclops eye and is a violent psychopathic anarchist.
  • Charlie's Game Face comes complete with hellish red eyes, a sign that no matter how sweet and perky she is, she's still the princess of Hell.
• The Hollow: The devil dogs have glowing eyes that have a reddish tint.
• The Grinch in How the Grinch Stole Christmas! has red pupils on yellow for most of the film. His eyes turn blue-on-white during his Heel–Face Turn, then switch back (by mistake?) for a few shots, then stay blue.
• In Ivick Von Salza: The Little Lumberjack, whenever the yeti gets mad, his eyes turn red.
• In Jackie Chan Adventures, the Shadowkhan and the Demon Sorcerer Big Bad Duumvirate, among others, have red eyes. When Jade and later Valmont get possessed by the show's overall Big Bad Shendu, their eyes turn red whenever HE'S in control of their body.
• Jonny Quest TOS episodes
  • "Monster in the Monastery". The fake yeti (who are malicious enemy agents) have red eyes.
  • "The Robot Spy". The titular opponent — which was sent by the Diabolical Mastermind Doctor Zin — has one large red eye.
• The Legend of Korra: Played with. The imposing and scary Red Lotus combustionbender P'Li has eyes of an unusual shade of russet—which is still in keeping with the usual theme of firebenders having gold or brown eyes—and a bright scarlet one tattooed on her forehead.
  • Played straight with Unalaq, whenever he enters the Avatar State, and in his Dark Avatar form.
• Littlest Pet Shop (2012): The Biskit twins have reddish eyes, though they're not so much evil as they are sheltered and distant from those around them.
• Metalocalypse: Dick Knubbler's robotic eyes turn red when he gets pissed off. Not so much "evil" as "Jerkass", but when one works for five chaotic musicians that cause destruction wherever they go (by accident, sometimes, even!), it's hard to call oneself "good".
• My Goldfish is Evil: Admiral Bubbles has dark red pupils, underlining his evilness.
• My Little Pony:
  • My Little Pony 'n Friends: Grogar, the Sorcerous Overlord villain of "The Return of Tambelon", has solid blood-red eyes without visible sclerae, irises or pupils.
  • My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
    • Discord's eyes are yellow with red pupils, and he used to be a villain.
    • Fuzzy Legs the spider has solid red eyes, as part of his character's parody and subversion of stock portrayals of monstrous spiders.
    • "Luna Eclipsed": The spiders created by Luna's spell have solid red eyes, as part of their exaggerated monstrous appearance.
    • "Magic Duel": The Alicorn Amulet makes the wearer's eyes go red. Trixie, who showcases the effect, becomes drunk with power and starts acting outright like a tyrant, as opposed to her moderate Jerkass tendencies.
    • "Power Ponies": Fluttershy's eyes turn red when a firefly was flicked out of the crosshairs of the weapon as part of her Hulking Out.
    • "Bats!": Fluttershy gets red eyes when she's turned into a vampire.
    • "Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?": Among the Tantabus' dream monsters, Monster Angel Bunny, the flying and some of the living houses have red eyes with yellow pupils.
    • "To Where and Back Again: Part 1": Discord's pupils literally turn to fire for a moment when he learns the Changelings have captured Fluttershy.
    • "All Bottled Up": The ponies affected by the inadvertent release of Starlight's bottled anger have glowing red eyes.
    • "Marks for Effort": Cozy Glow's red irises are the first cue that she is actually a manipulative villain, which isn't shown until several episodes later.
    • "What Lies Beneath": The spiders' eyes glow bloody red, strengthening Yona's original terror of them.
• The New Adventures of Superman: "The Japanese Sandman". The titular monster (who commits evil acts in return for a black pearl) has red eyes.
• Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu. All the skeletons, Lord Garmadon and the Hypnobrai tribe have glowing red eyes.
• The Penguins of Madagascar:
  • In "Dr. Blowhole's Revenge", Skipper activates a King Julien robot decoy.
    Skipper: Glowing red eyes. That's almost never good.
    (the robot explodes)
  • In "The Hoboken Surprise", all the animals are replaced with robots with red eyes.
• Pound Puppies (1980s): The first season features a villain named Captain Slaughter in some episodes. All that is seen of his shadow-obscured face is a pair of sinister red eyes.
• The Powerpuff Girls (1998) (and its anime counterpart) gives us Brick of the Rowdyruff Boys. True to this trope, Brick loves to cause destruction and hurt others.
  • In the 1998 series' episode "Tough Love", the people put under HIM's mind control in his attempt to kill the girls sport red blank eyes, alongside an angry expression.
• The Real Ghostbusters: Although a number of ghosts have these, the most notable example is "The Umpire" from "Night Game". While for the most part a neutral judge and even a Reasonable Authority Figure, his eyes glow bright red once and only once: when Peter implies that a human soul isn't the most valuable thing in existence. Peter immediately takes it back.
• Scooby-Doo:
  • Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! episode "A Gaggle of Galloping Ghosts". The Gypsy Fortune Teller, who turns out to be the episode's villain in disguise, has red eyes.
  • Some of the ghosts from the Chest of Demons that Scooby and Shaggy are tasked with recapturing after being tricked into releasing them in The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo have red eyes.
    • Maldor the Malevolent in "Scoobra Kadoobra" starts out with yellow eyes, but at one point his eyes turn red when he glares at Daphne. A bit later, his eyes stay red for the rest of the episode.
    • The Reflector Specter from "Reflections in a Ghoulish Eye" is a hideous red-eyed demon who hides in mirrors.
    • Marcella, who is recaptured by the gang in the episode "When You Witch Upon a Star", has red, pupil-less eyes.
  • The evil clones of Mystery, Inc. in the What's New, Scooby-Doo? episode "A Scooby-Doo Valentine" have red eyes.
• She-Ra and the Princesses of Power:
  • Hordak's eyes are a flat red glow, without iris or pupil. He's the Big Bad.
  • When corrupted by a First One virus, Adora gains these in her She-Ra form. Corrupted Adora is The Berserker, and is generally best avoided; in She-Ra form, Adora can break rocks, and while corrupted, she has absolutely no goals beyond mindless bloodshed.
  • Averted with Entrapta. While she has dark red eyes and wears a creepy, red-eyed welding mask, she's True Neutral and most of the damage she causes is in pursuit of learning something new, as opposed to evil; indeed, she ends up as a Token Good Teammate to the Horde after her defection.
• Slugterra: The eyes of mecha-beasts turn red when they are ghouled, as seen in "Mecha Mutiny".
• Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM): Dr. Julian Robotnik has a pair of red cybernetic optics that shine like hellish spotlights in the dark.
• Star Trek: Lower Decks:
  • It's revealed that the Tamarian expression for "Oh, crap!" is "Zinda, his eyes red!"
  • Admiral Buenamigo's pet project, the fully-automated Texas-class U.S.S. Aledo, starts glowing red when its corrupted A.I. causes it to turn on and kill Buenamigo before attacking other Starfleet assets.
  • Parodied when AGIMUS tries to make himself appear reformed by changing his light colors from red to blue. When he switches back, Tendi says that proves he's a monster. When he does eventually decide to reform, the light changes back permanently.
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars:
  • Cad Bane is a Duros bounty hunter with red eyes. He's an extremely dangerous fighter and crack shot with a blaster, and he most certainly Would Hurt a Child in exchange for a paycheck.
  • Season 3's Mortis trilogy has the Son, Anthropomorphic Personification of The Dark Side, combined with black sclera.
• Star Wars Rebels:
  • Ezra Bridger's eyes take on a reddish tinge when he opens the Sith holocron, signifying the growing influence of The Dark Side on him.
  • Grand Admiral Thrawn has red eyes and is one of the most cunning, ruthless, and dangerous enemies of the Rebels.
• Superfriends:
  • The 1973 episode "Menace of the White Dwarf". The evil Mad Scientist Raven (who acts more like a Comic Book supervillain than any other opponent the Superfriends faced during this season), has red eyes.
  • The evil Superman from the 1979 episode "Universe of Evil" has red eyes as well, and for bonus points, they're ringed in black, with freakin' huge demonic points◊. Evil!Batman and Evil!Robin also have red eyes in place of their good counterparts' plain white eyes.
• Teen Titans (2003):
  • Trigon, very bad dude indeed.
  • Brother Blood, Big Bad of the third season, has eyes that glow red when he uses his Psychic Powers; in the fifth season, the mechanical eyes on the skull-"face" on the Brain's life-support pod also glow red when the Brain is interfacing with his computers or is just angry.
  • Red Star's eyes are normally green, lacking pupils or whites. When his uncontrollable and incredibly destructive radioactive powers start to activate, they glow red.
  • Raven isn't evil and her eyes are normally a deep purple, but when she goes One-Winged Angel her eyes glow solid red. And suddenly there's four of them. Makes sense since Trigon's her dad.
• Nearly all the Decepticons of the original Transformers (notably the original cartoon) had red optics. Later versions had a bit more optical variety.
  • The episode "Attack of the Autobots" had the Brainwashed and Crazy Autobots' optics turn red, being restored to their normal blue when cured.
  • Transformers: Animated has all red-eyed (or in the case of Soundwave, red-sunglassed) Decepticons like the original cartoon, with the exception of the nominally-a-Decepticon Swindle, who has purple eyes. However, Sari Sumdac, a human child, also appears to have red eyes. They turned blue◊ after she "upgraded" herself. Also, in Animated, Wreck-Gar's eyes turn red when he threatens to destroy Detroit as a reference to Transformers: The Movie and his G1 counterpart's toy commercial. An interesting example occurs in Wasp. Originally, he had blue eyes, but after his stay in prison (and subsequent madness and desire to turn Bumblebee into iron filings), they become purple. And what color do you get when you mix red and blue?
    • The Autobots' eyes also turned red when they were brainwashed by Soundwave into being evil.
  • Pops up a few times in Beast Wars, despite bots like Rattrap and Rhinox just normally having red optics, to warn you things are about to get real. When Megatron becomes a transmetal the first you see of him are his glowing red eyes against a silhouette, Silverbolt's eyes are normally gold but when Blackarachnia was killed and he uttered Tarantula's name in a vengeful manner they turned red, and most notably when Rhinox is reprogrammed as a Predacon his normally wise red eyes glow blood red for very good reason.
  • False Convoy in Transformers: Return of Convoy is distinguished from Optimus Prime by having red eyes instead of blue.
  • Shattered Glass, of course, reverses this, with the Decepticons mostly having blue optics and the Autobots mostly having red ones. Though there are a fair number of green, yellow, and other oddball optic colors on both sides, and Heatwave strangely has red optics despite being a nice guy, even by his fellow Decepticons' standards. Turns out, it's because he's not actually from the SG universe at all.
• In Winx Club , although Bloom is a friendly, easygoing and sweet girl most of the time, if you commit the mistake of pissing her off enough (and trust us, it's very hard to achieve it) you'll see LITERAL FLAMES coming from her eyes...
• In What If…? (2021), the eyes of Doctor Strange slowly turn to red as he absorbs more and more power from all the extra-dimensional creatures he consumes, along with an increasingly demonic appearance and unhinged behaviour.
• X-Men: The Animated Series:
  • As in the comics, the Sentinels sport glowing red eyes.
  • Apocalypse, both before and after the Art Shift sees this in play. Pre-Art Shift, his eyes has red sclerae with yellow irises. After the Art Shift, his irises were now red, whereas the sclerae were subject to Black Eyes of Evil.

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