History Main / EyeLightsOut

*** A more solemn example in "Fires of Raven" ending, [[spoiler: where you're presented with the remains of Ayre's IB-07 SOL 644, with the camera cuts to the head part to focus on Ayre's fading lights.]]

* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'' where it appears that Barry has just died and his GlowingMechanicalEyes turn off. A few seconds later, they turn back on and Barry starts LaughingMad at the camera.

* [[spoiler:Raiden's visor]] does this in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4''. [[spoiler:But it later turns out he's NotQuiteDead.]]

* [[spoiler: Marvin]] in ''[[Literature/HitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish,]]'' after reading [[spoiler: God's Final Message To His Creation]]:

* [[spoiler: Marvin]] in ''[[Literature/HitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish,]] after reading [[spoiler: God's Final Message To His Creation]]:

** In ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', C-3P0's eyes go out when he's blasted apart by the stormtrooper. Notably, after Chewbacca repairs Threepio, his lights were still out, and he complained about not being able to see. When Chewie fixes that, they come on again.
** It happens again in ''Film/RogueOne'' when [[spoiler: K-2SO finally collapses after being blasted several dozen times by stormtroopers in the process of [[YouShallNotPass holding them off]] to protect Jyn and Cassian.]]

* This is actually more Truth in Television than people realize. There are species of animal (such as pink-eyed guinea pigs) whose eyes really do fade to a dull brown the moment they die.

* This is actually more Truth in Television than people realise, there are species of animal (such as pink-eyed Guinea Pigs) whose eyes really do fade to a dull brown the moment they die.

%%* The Big Daddies in ''VideoGame/BioShock'' exhibit this.

%%* Happens to each of the Colossi in ''VideoGame/ShadowOfTheColossus''.

* In ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', Staryu and Starmie's cores blink and stop glowing when they're [=KOed=].

* ''Franchise/NeonGenesisEvangelion:

* In ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'', [[spoiler:the BigBadEnsemble's cores fade away as they're dying.]]

* B.OB from ''Film/TheBlackHole'', does a different version where the 'lid' of his TinCanRobot closes over his eyes. It might have been played straight originally, as the eyes were meant to be computer screen, but they couldn't get them to work during filming, so the robots had fake cartoon eyes attached, as if put there by the designers to [[UncannyValley make them look more personable]].

%%* Happens to Marvin in the ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy''. [[spoiler:Of course he's not really dead, but the first time you see it in the theater it's ''very'' dramatic, with a hint of "did that really happen?"]]

** Geth eyelights don't seem to switch off automatically. In VideoGame/MassEffect3 [[spoiler:Legion's lights continue to glow when he's dead, at least while the camera is on him.]] The sinister red glow of a Reaper's firing chamber ''does'' go out, though.

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%%* Cyborg in ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans''.

Related to NoOntologicalInertia, and when objects that the person has linked to their LifeForce (which also glows) fades out or breaks at their death. GlowingMechanicalEyes are a prerequesite for the robotic version. Not at all related to ByTheLightsOfTheirEyes. Nor when you SeeTheWhitesOfTheirEyes. Compare VolcanicVeins, where the veins stop glowing once the character dies.

* In the ''Manga/OnePiece'' anime, when a pacifista is destroyed by the Straw Hat Crew.
* The 0 Gundam does this after it is impaled on Exia's GN Sword in the finale of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'', complete with the entire mobile suit going limp before it explodes.
** In the first season, the entire face mask on '''[[SayMyName HOWARD MASOOOOOONNNNN]]''''s flag goes dark when it is turned into a pin cushion by the Throne Zwei's GN Fangs.
* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''s Unit 01. Its eyes tend go out when it runs out of power or the pilot's {{synchronization}} is interrupted by something. Although if the pilot's in sufficiently deep shit, its probably going to [[MamaBear get right back up]] with the eyes [[RedEyesTakeWarning lighting up again]]. Especially noticeable in ''End of Evangelion'' when Unit 01 simply turns off while hovering in mid-air to represent that Shinji hitting his DespairEventHorizon resulted in him losing his chance of fighting back for good.
** ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion'' does it a little differently. When Unit 01 runs out of power, the green parts of its armor fade out along with the eye. Makes sense as the armor is [[RestrainingBolt the only part that actually requires power]]. Similarly, while the dummy plug-controlled Unit 01 is strangling Unit 03, Unit 03's eyes are shown flickering before Unit 01 breaks its neck with sheer strength. Right before Unit 01 punches Unit 03's head so hard it explodes, Unit 03's face is shown once again with the eye still flickering but much dimmer.

* In ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', Staryu and Starmie's cores blink and stop glowing when they're [=KOed=].

* Happens to giant alien robot in ''WesternAnimation/MonstersVsAliens''.
* Optimus Prime in the 1986 ''WesternAnimation/TransformersTheMovie''. The authors must have had some bet on how many tropes they can fit into one death scene...
* ''WesternAnimation/WallE's'' AUTO and EVE.

* HAL 9000 in ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey''.

* Happens to Marvin in the ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy''. [[spoiler:Of course he's not really dead, but the first time you see it in the theater it's ''very'' dramatic, with a hint of "did that really happen?"]]
** It happens to Marvin in [[Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy the books]] too. Only later. [[spoiler:And he really does die.]]

* ''Franchise/StarWars: Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', C-3P0's eyes go out when he's blasted apart by the stormtrooper. Notably, after Chewbacca repairs Threepio, his lights were still out, and he complained about not being able to see. When Chewie fixes that, they come on again.

* B.OB from ''Film/TheBlackHole'', does a different version where the 'lid' of his TinCanRobot closes over his eyes. It might have been played straight originally, as the eyes were meant to be computer screen, but they couldn't get them to work during filming, so the robots had fake cartoon eyes attached, as if put there by the designers to [[UncannyValley make them look more personable]].

* The short story ''Ieia'' features a deity trapped in a statue, with glowing amber eyes as the only sign of life. The statue's owner, who doesn't believe in the supernatural, thinks she's imagining the glow. When the deity proves its existence in the course of committing a HeroicSacrifice, the owner is so overcome with reverence that she barely notices the eyes have gone dim.

* The Centurions in ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' too, for that matter. Not only do they have the CyberCyclops roaming red eye, but it goes out when the 'bot is destroyed.

* [[spoiler:Callister]] in ''Series/{{Eureka}}''.
* A similar thing happens with the Goa'uld in ''Series/StargateSG1''. Since their eyes aren't ''always'' glowing, and only do so when they choose, they don't fade when they die like in most cases of this trope. Instead, the eyes flash once and then fade before they die, accompanied by the special Goa'uld eye-flash sound effect.
** There's a particularly good example of this in "Double Jeopardy", when Teal'C[[spoiler:'s robot duplicate]] shoots Cronus in the back several times with a staff weapon - his eyes flash in time with the energy blasts hitting them, then light up one last time and slowly fade as he expires.
** The genetically-engineered Goa'uld Kull Warriors wear full-body armor, including helmets with blue lights over the eyes. When the warrior dies, the lights fade out. (The armor seems to sense the brain activity of the wearer, to know when they want to fire their weapons or when they die.)

* In the ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' episode [[Recap/SupernaturalS02E20WhatIsAndWhatShouldNeverBe "What Is And What Should Never Be"]], the djinn's glowing blue eyes fade before he collapses dead.
** In a variation in [[Recap/SupernaturalS02E22AllHellBreaksLoosePartTwo "All Hell Breaks Loose Part Two"]], when the Yellow-Eyed Demon is killed the yellow fades from his hosts eyes, leaving the normal eyes of his dead host.
* ''Series/TokusouSentaiDekaranger'' TheMovie: Volger's eye lights go out when he's defeated... [[spoiler:then he gets back up.]]

* All the R-Y model robots in ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' (including party member Robo) have this happen to them.

* In ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'', if Nordom (the [[ClockworkCreature modron]]) dies, the eyes of his portrait go black.

* Happens to each of the Colossi in ''VideoGame/ShadowOfTheColossus''.
* The Big Daddies in ''VideoGame/BioShock'' exhibit this.
* [[spoiler:Arthas/The Lich King]] does this in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft.'' Promptly followed by various other signs such as rolling eyes, going limp/his arm releasing its grip on [[spoiler:his father's ghost]] and eyes rolling back into his skull. Although in this case, the reason the eyes stop glowing is presumably because [[spoiler:Ner'zhul is no longer possessing him]]. The glow stopping and death aren't directly connected.
* The Draenei race, who have glowing blue eyes, instantly fade with an audible hum the moment they die.
* ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}''
** ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaJudgment'': The Time Reaper's purple eyes are the last thing you see of him, then they burn out.
** The blue light in the titan's eyes fade as it is destroyed in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaLordsOfShadow''.
* The protagonist of ''VideoGame/{{Limbo}}'' upon death.
* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', shortly before the Collector General's death, the light in its eyes go out [[spoiler:as Harbinger releases control]].
** In the first game, if you pay careful attention to geth corpses (that [[LudicrousGibs weren't incinerated, frozen, melted, or turned into clouds of ionized gas]]) you'll find that after about ten seconds, their flashbulb heads begin to dim and eventually go out. It also happens to Saren, showing just how far [[spoiler:he's been implanted with Reaper tech. Shortly afterwards the eyes light back up as Sovereign takes control of his corpse]].
** Geth eyelights don't seem to switch off automatically. In VideoGame/MassEffect3 [[spoiler:Legion's lights continue to glow when he's dead, at least while the camera is on him.]] The sinister red glow of a Reaper's firing chamber ''does'' go out, though.
* In ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime'', Space Pirates' eyes appear to be on fire; when killed, they go out. This is most noticable when [[spoiler:the Omega Pirate is killed, and falls on you]].
* ''VideoGame/MetroidDread'' has this happen to [[spoiler: Samus at the end of the game when [[BigBad Raven Beak]] is choking her to death. When Samus's body gives out, the light from her visor fades. The light quickly returns however when Samus's Metroid powers kick into overdrive.]]

* Used for symbolic effect in ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}''. [[spoiler:While Sans's eye lights going out doesn't signify his literal death, it does accompany the moments where, as some players have put it, "[[PluckyComicRelief Sans]] [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness stops being Sans]]."]]

* In the intro for ''VideoGame/MortalKombatDeception'', Quan Chi and Shang Tsung "defeat" Raiden, whose eyes lose their glow shortly afterwards. He recovers soon after in time to take on the new BigBad, Onaga.
* In ''[[VideoGame/{{Ultima}} Worlds of Ultima: The Savage Empire]]'', the automaton Yunapotli is invulnerable ... until his power source is destroyed. The cutscene shows him fallen to his knees with his glowing eyes fading out.
* ''VideoGame/{{Tyranny}}'': Bleden Mark's eyes stop glowing as he dies, as his entire body disintegrates into shadows.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'''s 'Honor and Glory', which covers Reinhardt's backstory. Near the end, Balderich von Alder, Reinhardt's fellow Crusader and mentor, [[YouShallNotPass stays behind to hold off]] the oncoming Omnic horde, having [[ICanStillFight sustained a lethal injury earlier.]] Unlike many instances of this trope playing out, Balderich actually ''wins'' his last encounter, destroying every pursuing omnic before collapsing on a throne, with the eye-lights on his helmet slowly fading and turning black.
* In ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'', [[spoiler:the BigBadEnsemble's cores fade away as they're dying.]]
* Cayde-6 in ''VideoGame/Destiny2: Forsaken.''

* [[https://www.instagram.com/p/CE9BAmsBf3t/ This comic]] by Baldstache {{subvert|edTrope}}s, {{discusse|dTrope}}s, and {{play|edForLaughs}}s this trope for laughs. An anthropomorphic street lamp realizes that his bulb is burning out and thinks he's dying... only to remain alive after the bulb burns out. The street lamp admits that he assumed the bulb was tied to his sentience.

* Lava mutant in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond.''
* Mordred's animated gargoyle statues in the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited''.
* Happens to the robot in the pilot episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheTick'' immediately before he says "GravityIsAHarshMistress".
* Cyborg in ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans''.
* Tornado Tyrant in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold''.
* D.A.V.E in ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'', as a ShoutOut to HAL.

* In ''Series/BattleBots'''s 2018 competition, Kraken has a pair of eyes with bright lights within them. Appropriately, when it suffered a mechanical failure in its debut battle, the lights started to flicker and dim, then went out completely as the referee did the knockout countdown.

** In ''Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy'', the glow in Grand Admiral Thrawn's eyes go out right after his FInalSpeech.

** ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion'' does it a little differently. When Unit 01 runs out of power, the green parts of its armor fade out along with the eye. Makes sense as the armor is [[RestrainingBolt the only part that actually requires power]]. Similarly, while the dummy plug-controlled Unit 01 is strangling Unit 03, Unit 03's eyes are shown flickering before Unit 01 breaks its neck with sheer strength. Right before Unit 01 punches Unit 03's head so hard [[{{Gorn}} it splatters like a watermelon]], Unit 03's face is shown once again with the eye still flickering but much dimmer.