History Main / PowerGlows

* ''KingdomHearts''. And Kingdom Hearts II is even worse. Everything sparkles, lights, shines, flares, an so on... MY EYES!!

*** This is because the glowing BattleAura's are a product of [[KiAttacks ki energy]], the source of nearly all DBZ fighters' superhuman powers. All, that is, except the Androids. The fact that their power is so different in nature was part of what made them so dangerous: all of the heroes can sense powerful ki from miles away, but one of the Androids could be standing right behind them and they wouldn't even know it. [[spoiler:Which is exactly what happens to [[ButtMonkey Yamcha]]. The results include a fist-shaped hole from his back to his chest.]]

* Invoked in ''Dream Park'', as holographic auras of appropriate intensity are overlaid on Gamers' bodies when they activate their characters' magic.

* In ''Ultima 6 and 7'', every single magical item glows brightly, using palette cycling. This is spoofed in various fanfics.

* In ''Dragon Quest 8'', Once a character reaches maximum tension, that character will glow until they attack or use magic that has a quantifiable effect, be it damage, healing or a stat buff. They'll also stop glowing if a boss nullifies their tension with a [[StatusBuffDispel wave of ice]].

* In the Fallout series there is a type of ghoul called Glowing Ones. As their name suggests, they are brightly [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin glowing ghouls]]. They are a stronger type of the regular ghoul with special powers directly related to their heavy irradiation, including a burst attack where the entire area around them briefly becomes irradiated, too.
* ''Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce''. ''All'' characters glow when they enter their SuperMode.

** This is lampshaded when [[spoiler:Naruto's controlled form of the 9-tails's chakra]] is actually [[MundaneUtility used as a flashlight.]]
** A the Fourth Raikage's Raiton: Yoroi (Lightning Armor) cover his body in lightning.

** Gandalf invokes this trope when he adds lighting to [[HandWave explain]] the disappearance of Bilbo in his Birthday party.

* Inverted in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'', where the actual Holy Grail is the most mundane-looking wooden cup yet the gold-colored lining of the True Grail makes it appear to glow from the inside.
** And before that, played straight in ''Film/TempleOfDoom'' with the stones of power that glow when they are together. (And get very hot, by the way)
*** Which can work without inviting magic. If the stones were radioactive and enveloped in a fluorescent substance, the effect could be quite close to what was seen in the movie - when you get more of it close together, the rate of radioactive decay gets up, which in turn means more heat and more light from the fluorescence. Of course, it probably weren't awfully healthy to keep them near yourself and touching them.
**** The rate of decay would actually remain the same (Unless there was neutron-induced fission going on). However, placing a few of them together would increase the temperature, and expose the fluorescent material on the surface of each to radiation from its neighbour.
*** Of course, you still have to explain why they glow brighter and with more intensity when people chant at them.

* In ''Film/Stardust'', [[spoiler: Yvanne defeats Lamia when she glows blinding whilst hugging Tristan]]

[[folder:Film]]
* The lightsabers in ''StarWars'' are the logical conclusion of this phenomenon. No other weapon can beat a sword that's actually ''made'' out of glow!
* In the 1985 film ''TheLastDragon'', there is The Glow: when a fighter's hands glow, he is among the best in the world - when his entire body glows, he IS the best. Sho'Nuff, the Shogun of Harlem, demonstrates the former towards the end of the movie, but Leroy "Bruce Leroy" Green demonstrates the latter after a beatdown.

* From the same continuity as the above: The [[MacGuffin Tesseract]] from ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger''. At the start of the film, Johann Schmidt comes across the artifact buried in the tomb of a Norwegian warrior, but we know it's fake because it ''doesn't'' glow. The ''real'' one, on the other hand, is like a small star.
** The glow extends to Arnim Zola's Tesseract-powered weapons as well, all of which carry luminous blue power packs.

* In the second ''Pokémon'' movie, to save Lugia, the three legendary bird Pokémon, and resolve all conflict, Melody had to play a tune on what looked like some sort of ocarina. The stones she played it next to glowed depending on what note she used, and then glowing water came out from nowhere and entered into the sea.

* This happens to Cartman in ''South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut'' once he harnesses the power of his malfunctioning V-chip.
* The reagent in ''ReAnimator'' is not only a fine example of TechnicolorScience, but also glowy.
* In ''{{Tangled}}'', Rapunzel's golden hair glows whenever she uses its powers of healing and immortality. She manages to take advantage of this when she and Flynn get trapped in a flooding cave and need to find a way out.
-->''Flower, gleam and glow\\
Let your power shine.''

* In Stardust [[spoiler: Yvanne defeats Lamia when she glows blinding whilst hugging Tristan]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{WALL-E}}'', not only does EVE glow very faintly (the better to invoke a Gaussian Girl), her presence and touch cause electrical lights to glow as well.

* Using cosmic powers seem to produce a purple glow in ''[[Webcomic/M9Girls M9 Girls!]]''

* In ''SuperSmashBrosBrawl'', characters will obtain a [[BattleAura glowing aura]], along with [[GlowingEyesOfDoom yellow eyes]] when they break a Smash Ball, an item that gives them the capacity to perform a personalized FinishingMove.

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* The fact that the protagonist of [[DragonAgeTheCrownOfThorns this]] particular ''Franchise/DragonAge'' fanfiction gets his magic [[spoiler:from a fairly unstable tear in the Veil, which he has in his body,]] means, among other things, that he starts glowing white whenever he does something unusual, either just from the eyes or his whole body, up to looking like a [[Series/StargateSG1 Stargate ascended ancient]].
* In Fanfic/KeepersOfTheElements, the Keepers often have [[ColorCodedElements colour-coded]] power glows when casting spells. Other magical beings also have glows when casting spells.
[[/folder]]

* In ''Toku'', a basic rule is "if you make your [[SuperSentai sword]] or [[KamenRider foot]] glow, it will gain the power to explode rubber monsters."
** ''KamenRiderFaiz'' had an interesting spin on it: The five Riders' costumes were covered with "veins" through which pumped a glowing substance that to powered them. In nighttime scenes, the "veins" and visors would glow, and use of a FinishingMove would cause a bead of energy to run from the belt (the main power source) to the Rider's foot or sword or whatever they were going to use to kick butt.

* The [[Series/WonderWoman Wonder Woman TV series]]: There is always one of those just when [[SecretIdentity Diana Prince]] [[EverythingsBetterWithSpinning spins]] [[ChangingClothesIsAFreeAction to change clothes into]] WonderWoman. (Notice that there wasn't any AudibleGleam nor PowerGlows in "The Feminum Mystique Part 1", the only episode in the series where Wonder Woman changes back into Diana Prince.

* ''{{Exalted}}'' puts this principle to good use: the more Essence you draw into your Charms over a scene (i.e. the more powerful you make your superpowered attacks), the more glow, or Anima (in the parlance of the game), you produce. It begins with your Caste mark faintly appearing on your forehead, progresses into a glowing field or effect which physically envelopes you in various ways[[hottip:*:(brilliant golden glows for Solars, sickly green lights for Infernals, silver tattoos lighting up across Lunars' skin, elemental environmental effects for Dragon-Blooded, spiritual auras and halos for Sidereals, bleeding necrotic Essence for Abyssals, and industrial or technoscientific effects such as electric discharges and arcs, billowing steam, and even chemical or molten metal secretions from Alchemicals' skins)]], and culminates in your [[BattleAura Anima Banner]] unfurling in some spectacular fashion. Once those Charms get about 16+ Essence pumped through them during a fight, a couple of battling Exalted can be seen unmistakably for miles around, and can even approximate daylight visibility conditions during the night.

-->--Theme song to ''WesternAnimation/StoneProtectors''

-->--'''Domon Kasshu''', ''GGundam''

* Tony Stark's arc reactor in the ''IronMan'' movies glows ''very'' blue. Very vaguely justified in that it is producing electrical energy, and that whatever reaction happens in it might give off Cherenkov radiation. As for the repulsors... the workings of a palm-sized rocket/energy weapon are anyone's guess.
* From the same continuity as the above: The [[MacGuffin Tesseract]] from ''CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger''. At the start of the film, Johann Schmidt comes across the artifact buried in the tomb of a Norwegian warrior, but we know it's fake because it ''doesn't'' glow. The ''real'' one, on the other hand, is like a small star.

* In ''PulpFiction'', the contents of the [[MacGuffin briefcase]] is never shown, but whatever it is [[PowerGlows glows]].

* As demonstrated [[http://www.rhjunior.com/NT/00474.html here]] in ''[[http://www.rhjunior.com/NT/ Nip & Tuck]]'', particularly sexy lingerie glows, too. (Obviously a reference to the ''PulpFiction'' example mentioned above.)

* ''MassEffect'''s biotics have glowing energy about them when they use their [[MindOverMatter biotic powers]], especially when using a powerful biotic move. Samara is a really good example, especially when she fights [[spoiler:her daughter Morinth]] to the death.

* In the film of HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone, a glow surrounds Harry when his wand chooses him. (A slightly different thing happened in the book.)

* ''ImmortalIronFist'': the titular character's fist glows when he summons his chi.

* Nicolae Carpathia in the Literature/LeftBehind book ''Armageddon'' gives off a burnt-orange glow while he and most of his Global Community cabinet are stuck in New Babylon during the Fifth Bowl Judgment that causes all light everywhere to be nonexistent.