History Main / ColorFailure

* In the ''WesternAnimation/DungeonsAndDragons'' episode "Valley of the Unicorns," the unicorns suffer this when their horns are stolen.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'', this happens to [[NewAgeRetroHippie Mr. Small]] whenever he hears [[TyrannosaurusRex Tina]] [[TheBully Rex's]] name. The color from his tye-dye shirt doesn't just disappear, it flows in liquid form in a puddle around his ankles, combining it with [[BringMyBrownPants another trope entirely.]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* Kurimu in ''LightNovel/SeitokaiNoIchizon'', lampshaded.

* A common reaction of anyone who hears trivia from a [[https://www.youtube.com/user/mameshibavideos#p/u/19/mjmQw3JaTsE mameshiba]].

* In [[Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi Negima's]] GagSeries, Ayaka and Makie have a RunningGag, wherein if [[GenkiGirl Makie]] is even ''slightly'' less bubbly than normal, Ayaka will call her out on it and say she fails at "being Makie!" Makie goes white with shock and a big, stone-textured "CRUSHED" in Japanese falls on her head. She stays this way for the scene and everyone else ignores it, whether by themselves or when someone else prompts them to.

* Manako in ''Manga/DailyLifeWithMonsterGirl'' goes into shock after hearing that a 100+ cm bra was too small for Centorea. Grasping the air in front of her own flat chest.

* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive''

* Herbert from Webcomic/{{Sinful}} [[http://www.fanelorn.net/SINFUL/archives/42 constantly]] [[http://www.fanelorn.net/SINFUL/archives/113 suffers]] [[http://www.fanelorn.net/SINFUL/archives/511 from]] Color Failure, usually when he's just been hit by the Clue Bat.

* ''{{Webcomic/Selkie}}'' has the titular character suffer one [[https://selkiecomic.com/comic/selkie1262/ after using her father's credit card without permission]] while at school.

* In the TV anime of ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders'', this occurs to Daniel J. D'Arby during his FreakOut when Jotaro makes outrageous raises in their poker game. It's gradual: first, he loses all the color in his hair, then in the moments before he passes out, he loses the rest of his color.

* At one point, Nako and Uruka of ''Anime/SteelAngelKurumi 2'' are being chased by a giant statue of Buddha. ItMakesSenseInContext. Sort of.
* This happens to Taiga a few times in ''LightNovel/ToraDora!'', such as when she see her crush Kitamura naked. Also, all the boys in class 2C end up this way when the person who led their campaign to unite and outvote their competition on what to do for their school festival ruined the very same campaign by doing a lottery draw instead of majority vote.

* America in ''Manga/AxisPowersHetalia'' after he finally gets a look at his own weight.

* ''LightNovel/HaiyoreNyarkoSan'': In episode 7, when Mahiro tells Nyarko "I don't like you", she collapses on the beach, turning white and muttering {{Madness Mantra}}s straight out of the Franchise/CthulhuMythos. After Mahiro is convinced to apologize and take Nyarko on a date, she starts invoking this trope deliberately to get him to do certain things with her (though he draws the line when she tries to drag him into a sex museum, even saying "Turning white's not going to work this time!")

* In [[Manga/MahouSenseiNegima Negima's]] GagSeries, Ayaka and Makie have a RunningGag, wherein if [[GenkiGirl Makie]] is even ''slightly'' less bubbly than normal, Ayaka will call her out on it and say she fails at "being Makie!" Makie goes white with shock and a big, stone-textured "CRUSHED" in Japanese falls on her head. She stays this way for the scene and everyone else ignores it, whether by themselves or when someone else prompts them to.

* Happens to [[Manga/HimoutoUmaruChan Umaru-chan]] after she spills coke on the Internet router at home and realises with horror that she's been cut off from the outside world; she tries all her other devices and even attempts to play games but finds out all of them need the Internet to work. Complete with PsychoStrings.

See also BlueWithShock, an artistically different and most of the time less extreme version, common with BlankWhiteEyes. SisterTrope to BlankFaceOfShame. Compare DeliberatelyMonochrome. Common side effect of a CornerOfWoe. Not to be confused with colors looking wrong on something due to artistic oversight.

* Happens a lot in ''Manga/NininGaShinobuden'', usually to Kaede.

** ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' references this, when Megatron ponders when Optimus will "fade to gunmetal gray" as he's dying.
*** He does upon dying from his wounds from the assault on the base in Jasper.

* When ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' found out what chum is made from in the episode "The Hankering", the yellow drained from his torso. We was able to wipe it off the floor with a towel and wring it back into himself.

* This is generally the effect of the arsenal of the Blue Meanies in WesternAnimation/YellowSubmarine.
* The Boov from ''WesternAnimation/{{Home}}'' turn white when extremely shocked, as opposed to yellow for merely scared.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Trolls}}'': It's eventually revealed why Branch is not nearly as colorful as every other troll. [[spoiler: Trolls become grey when they become depressed. It eventually happens to every troll when they all get captured.]]

In RealLife, people can turn pale when ill or shocked. In animation, they can go grayscale or pure white. These events are usually played for comedy and characters once grayscale they can be unresponsive or completely frozen in place.

See also BlueWithShock, an artistically different and most of the time less extreme version of this, common with BlankWhiteEyes. SisterTrope to BlankFaceOfShame. Compare DeliberatelyMonochrome. Common side effect of a CornerOfWoe. Not to be confused with when the colors look wrong on something due to artistic oversight.

-->-- '''Megumi''', ''Manga/ShokugekiNoSoma''

* ''Manga/ShokugekiNoSoma'''s Konishi tends to turn white when thinking about his [[ClubStub club's outlook]]. Lampshaded by Megumi.

** The same thing happens to [[WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadrunner Wile E. Coyote]] in ''Stop! Look! And Hasten!'' when he leaps into the Burmese Tiger Trap he has dug, only to learn that, rather than the Road Runner. he's [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin caught a Burmese Tiger]]. ("''Surprisibus! Surprisibus!''")

* Herbert from Webcomic/{{Sinful}} [[http://www.fanelorn.net/SINFUL/archives/42 constantly]] [[http://www.fanelorn.net/SINFUL/archives/113 suffers]] [[http://www.fanelorn.net/SINFUL/archives/511 from]] ColorFailure, usually when he's just been hit by the Clue Bat.

* In ''Manga/{{Beastars}}'', Legosi's fur completely turns white when he mistakenly believes he killed Haru in his sleep and it stays that way even after he finds out she is ok. This ends up helping him when he gets into a NotWhatItLooksLike situation and has to hide from the police until his fur goes back to normal so they won't recognize him.

* In ''Webcomic/{{Rain}}'', Rain's [[http://rainlgbt.smackjeeves.com/comics/1073316/its-a-small-world-after-all/ reaction]] to Gavin asking her if she happened to be familiar with his childhood friend, [[OldFriendNewGender Ryan Flaherty.]]

* In ''Webcomic/{{Rain}}'', Rain's [[http://rainlgbt.smackjeeves.com/comics/1073316/its-a-small-world-after-all/ reaction]] to Gavin asking her if she happened to be familiar with his childhood friend, [[SecretIdentity Ryan Flaherty.]]

* In ''Manga/{{Beastars}}, Legosi's fur completely turns white when he mistakenly believes he killed Haru in his sleep and it stays that way even after he finds out she is ok. This ends up helping him when he gets into a NotWhatItLooksLike situation and has to hide from the police until his fur goes back to normal so they won't recognize him.

In RealLife people can turn pale when ill or shocked. In animation, they can go grayscale or pure white. These events are usually played for comedy and characters once grayscale they can be unresponsive or completely frozen in place.

** Yanagin discovered in ''High School Girls are Funky -- Ramen'' that NAGO didn't even knew it was ''her'' who was making a duel--despite winning over Yanagin ''twice''.

** When Hattori sees the main characters' designs for shonen heroes, and says "These all suck!"

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Trolls}}'': It's eventually revealed why Branch is not nearly as colorful as everyone other troll. [[spoiler: Trolls become grey when they become depressed. It eventually happens to every troll when they all get captured.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'', this happens to [[NewAgeRetroHippie Mr. Small]] whenever he hears [[TyrannosaurusRex Tina]] [[TheBully Rex's]] name. The color from his tye-die shirt doesn't just disappear, it flows in liquid form in a puddle around his ankles, combining it with [[BringMyBrownPants another trope entirely.]]