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Convenient Color Change

 Convenient Color Change
type
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 Convenient Color Change
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Convenient Color Change
 Convenient Color Change
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convenientcolorchange
 Convenient Color Change
comment
Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_content_3'); })Video games, movies, and other media action can be fast paced and potentially confusing. Telling apart The Cavalry from the Elite Mooks they're engaging is complicated by the camera moving and lack of good lighting; this is why factions are Dress-Coded for Your Convenience and members of Super Team are Color-Coded Characters. If there's energy attacks, so are they. Ray Guns will have the color of the faction, and even normal guns' tracer rounds will be the same color.
Which works fine until the hero or a villain picks up the opponent's costume, weapons, or vehicles. Going a step further, what about characters who switch sides like the henchmen pulling a Mook–Face Turn? What ends up happening is a Convenient Color Change. The clothing, weapon, vehicle, character, building, or even city will change their default color to the one they're now aligned with. In the case of an infiltrator, the "how" for this color change is usually glossed over, but if a reason is given, it's that the colored areas are kind of like a high tech/magical mood ring.
Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_content_2'); })There's a lot of variations on this. Mecha-Mooks that get hacked will spontaneously change the color of any lights on their chassis, as if they were built with multiple colored bulbs just in case they were ever hackednote (or the owner wants to mod them). Characters under Mind Control or the effects of The Virus may have this happen to them as well.
This tends to be a staple of strategy games if different players have the same units and structures at their disposal, because you do need a way to tell your forces apart from your opponents', hence the use of Color-Coded Armies and Color-Coded Multiplayer. In this and other settings, a unit/character that can change color without changing alliances serves as an infiltrator.
Paint It Black is a subtrope of this. See also Eye Colour Change.
 Convenient Color Change
fetched
2018-10-11T23:35:37Z
 Convenient Color Change
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2020-06-25T17:24:53Z
 Convenient Color Change
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Dropped link to ColourCodedForYourConvenience: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Convenient Color Change
processingComment
Dropped link to FamilyFriendlyFirearms: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Convenient Color Change
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Dropped link to MerchandiseDriven: Not an Item - FEATURE
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Dropped link to StarWars: Not an Item - CAT
 Convenient Color Change
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DBTropes
 Convenient Color Change / int_169f043b
type
Convenient Color Change
 Convenient Color Change / int_169f043b
comment
StarCraft has it for mind-controlled units in the Brood War extension, but averts it for "rescuable" units in missions (usually heroes).
The sequel also does this, with the color of mind controlled units changing to the controller's side as long as they are being controlled.
Campaign or custom map triggers that change unit control will also change the color accordingly. E.g. One early mission has you bring your hero unit to a beacon, which sets off a script to turn the whole base to your control, along with a new paint job.
 Convenient Color Change / int_169f043b
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1.0
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1.0
 StarCraft (Video Game)
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Convenient Color Change / int_169f043b
 Convenient Color Change / int_2ffcbd43
type
Convenient Color Change
 Convenient Color Change / int_2ffcbd43
comment
Though not universally true, Fire Emblem characters will often switch their outfits to blue instead of green (NPC) or red (enemy) upon joining the player's army.
 Convenient Color Change / int_2ffcbd43
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1.0
 Convenient Color Change / int_2ffcbd43
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1.0
 FireEmblem
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Convenient Color Change / int_2ffcbd43
 Convenient Color Change / int_4dd54482
type
Convenient Color Change
 Convenient Color Change / int_4dd54482
comment
In Ben 10: Alien Force, Albedo is an alien who created a knockoff Omnitrix that has synced with Ben's, rendering him stuck with Ben's normal human form as his default. Eventually, the two Omnitrixes react to each other, and Albedo becomes a color-inverted Ben - dark hair becomes white, green clothes become red. Eventually, he creates another, better one called the Ultimatrix. It's red, like his jacket. So is the flash created when Albedo transforms with it. Then Ben gets it... and when he puts it on, it becomes green, as is the flash when he transforms with it.
 Convenient Color Change / int_4dd54482
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1.0
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1.0
 Ben10AlienForce
hasFeature
Convenient Color Change / int_4dd54482
 Convenient Color Change / int_76e539a2
type
Convenient Color Change
 Convenient Color Change / int_76e539a2
comment
In Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS, Subaru receives her sister's magical Device from her for the Final Battle. At first, it remains purple (her sister's signature color), but when she is preparing a powerful spell, it turns blue (Subaru's color), just like her own twin Device.
 Convenient Color Change / int_76e539a2
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1.0
 Convenient Color Change / int_76e539a2
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1.0
 Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS
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Convenient Color Change / int_76e539a2
 Convenient Color Change / int_7785278d
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Convenient Color Change
 Convenient Color Change / int_7785278d
comment
BioShock
The security bots in BioShock change from red-light to green-light when you hack them. Likewise, Big Daddies' helmet lights will turn green when hypnotized and red when aggro'd.
The sequel's multiplayer uses red, white, and blue in a similar way; red machines have been hacked by the enemy team, and blue ones by your own. White is unhacked (vending machines) or inactive (turrets).
 Convenient Color Change / int_7785278d
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1.0
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 BioShock (Video Game)
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Convenient Color Change / int_7785278d
 Convenient Color Change / int_7832b74c
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Convenient Color Change
 Convenient Color Change / int_7832b74c
comment
When gems in Steven Universe fuse, their gemstones change color to match their fused form's palette, despite not otherwise shapeshifting like the rest of their bodies. Notably, gem homeworld society has a taboo against the cross-caste fusions which cause such color shifts, hence the in-series pejorative "off color".
 Convenient Color Change / int_7832b74c
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1.0
 Convenient Color Change / int_7832b74c
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 Steven Universe
hasFeature
Convenient Color Change / int_7832b74c
 Convenient Color Change / int_791fca44
type
Convenient Color Change
 Convenient Color Change / int_791fca44
comment
The security bots in BioShock change from red-light to green-light when you hack them. Likewise, Big Daddies' helmet lights will turn green when hypnotized and red when aggro'd.
 Convenient Color Change / int_791fca44
featureApplicability
1.0
 Convenient Color Change / int_791fca44
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1.0
 BioShock (Video Game)
hasFeature
Convenient Color Change / int_791fca44
 Convenient Color Change / int_791fca45
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Convenient Color Change
 Convenient Color Change / int_791fca45
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The sequel's multiplayer uses red, white, and blue in a similar way; red machines have been hacked by the enemy team, and blue ones by your own. White is unhacked (vending machines) or inactive (turrets).
 Convenient Color Change / int_791fca45
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1.0
 Convenient Color Change / int_791fca45
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1.0
 BioShock 2 (Video Game)
hasFeature
Convenient Color Change / int_791fca45
 Convenient Color Change / int_7f02dd41
type
Convenient Color Change
 Convenient Color Change / int_7f02dd41
comment
In Star Wars: Battlefront, any command posts you/the enemy captures will change colour.
 Convenient Color Change / int_7f02dd41
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1.0
 Convenient Color Change / int_7f02dd41
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1.0
 Star Wars: Battlefront (Video Game)
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Convenient Color Change / int_7f02dd41
 Convenient Color Change / int_815a9dd3
type
Convenient Color Change
 Convenient Color Change / int_815a9dd3
comment
In Paperboy, when a house cancels its subscription (because of your incompetence), its paint suddenly turns gray and metal skulls appear on its fenceposts.
 Convenient Color Change / int_815a9dd3
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1.0
 Convenient Color Change / int_815a9dd3
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1.0
 Paperboy (Video Game)
hasFeature
Convenient Color Change / int_815a9dd3
 Convenient Color Change / int_99041728
type
Convenient Color Change
 Convenient Color Change / int_99041728
comment
At one point in Transformers: War for Cybertron, an Autobot Brute picks up the hammer weapon dropped by the Decepticon Brute he just killed. The weapon immediately switches from the purple-tinted Decepticon version to the red-tinted Autobot version of the same weapon.
 Convenient Color Change / int_99041728
featureApplicability
1.0
 Convenient Color Change / int_99041728
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1.0
 Transformers: War for Cybertron (Video Game)
hasFeature
Convenient Color Change / int_99041728
 Convenient Color Change / int_9a8bf274
type
Convenient Color Change
 Convenient Color Change / int_9a8bf274
comment
When buildings are captured in Command & Conquer games (or when soldiers are mind-controlled), they change to the color of the team that captured them. Garrisonable Structures also get instant sandbags, flags, and color-coded paint jobs.
 Convenient Color Change / int_9a8bf274
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1.0
 Convenient Color Change / int_9a8bf274
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1.0
 Command & Conquer (Video Game)
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Convenient Color Change / int_9a8bf274
 Convenient Color Change / int_9ef055f4
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Convenient Color Change
 Convenient Color Change / int_9ef055f4
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In Ratchet & Clank, Nodes captured in the multiplayer modes of Up Your Arsenal, Deadlocked and Full Frontal Assault change from uncaptured grey to that of the team who captured it, blue or red.
 Convenient Color Change / int_9ef055f4
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1.0
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 Ratchet & Clank (Franchise)
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Convenient Color Change / int_9ef055f4
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Convenient Color Change
 Convenient Color Change / int_a7a0b48b
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Played with in NieR: Automata. At the start of the opening sequence, 2B's flight unit isn't the white one - it's one of the five identical black ones. Once the flight leader gets picked off by long-range fire, 2B assumes command of the mission, and her flight unit takes on the white coloration. It becomes a moot point when she's the only one left 30 seconds later, but in later flight segments 2B's flight unit always turns white, while 9S's remains black. This persists when playing as 9S, what changes is which flight unit you control during the sequence.
 Convenient Color Change / int_a7a0b48b
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 Convenient Color Change / int_b3710357
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Convenient Color Change
 Convenient Color Change / int_b3710357
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In the TRON universe, vehicles change to the color of whatever program is piloting it. Also, programs that are reprogrammed (or deprogrammed) may change color. The page picture is Flynn invoking the trope in order to pass himself off as a Mook. note  Exaggerated and Justified in the franchise, as a Program's circuitry patterns identify their function and loyalties, and it could easily represent forging a process' user ID.
 Convenient Color Change / int_b3710357
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1.0
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Convenient Color Change / int_b3710357
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Convenient Color Change
 Convenient Color Change / int_bcdcf629
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In Transformers Animated, when Mixmaster and Scrapper change their allegiance to the Decepticons, their optics go from yellow to red, as Autobots have blue eyes and Decepticons have red ones. They also go from the yellow and gray colors of the vehicles they were made from to the bright green and purple of the G1 Constructicons.
 Convenient Color Change / int_bcdcf629
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 Transformers: Animated
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Convenient Color Change
 Convenient Color Change / int_c51b8d7a
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In Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne, the main characters tattoo's will change color from blue to red when health is critically low.
 Convenient Color Change / int_c51b8d7a
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1.0
 Convenient Color Change / int_c51b8d7a
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 Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne (Video Game)
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Convenient Color Change / int_c51b8d7a
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Convenient Color Change
 Convenient Color Change / int_c7fe36fb
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In Dune II, when an Ordos Deviator tank hits an opposing unit and put it under Ordos control, the unit's color changes to Ordos green.
 Convenient Color Change / int_c7fe36fb
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1.0
 Convenient Color Change / int_c7fe36fb
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 Dune II (Video Game)
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Convenient Color Change / int_c7fe36fb
 Convenient Color Change / int_ce6f9be7
type
Convenient Color Change
 Convenient Color Change / int_ce6f9be7
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El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron has the weapons change color from black to white as soon as you steal (and purify) them from enemies.
 Convenient Color Change / int_ce6f9be7
featureApplicability
1.0
 Convenient Color Change / int_ce6f9be7
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1.0
 El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron (Video Game)
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Convenient Color Change / int_ce6f9be7
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Convenient Color Change
 Convenient Color Change / int_da448595
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In The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, Phantoms being controlled by Zelda turn pink.
 Convenient Color Change / int_da448595
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1.0
 Convenient Color Change / int_da448595
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 The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (Video Game)
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Convenient Color Change / int_da448595
 Convenient Color Change / int_da92c130
type
Convenient Color Change
 Convenient Color Change / int_da92c130
comment
In Erfworld, raiment has similar properties. It changes color and even symbol depending on who a unit serves. So when Wanda uncroacks or Decrypts a unit, its raiment immediately changes to her or Parson's symbol.
 Convenient Color Change / int_da92c130
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 Erfworld (Webcomic)
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Convenient Color Change / int_da92c130
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Convenient Color Change
 Convenient Color Change / int_e75c6d45
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Magic weapons in Goblins are explicitly said to glow with the aura color of their wielder and change depending on who is wielding them.
 Convenient Color Change / int_e75c6d45
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1.0
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 Goblins (Webcomic)
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Convenient Color Change
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Gears of War: The light on guns change to either blue or red depending upon which side picks them up.
 Convenient Color Change / int_e9cb2780
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1.0
 Convenient Color Change / int_e9cb2780
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 Gears of War (Video Game)
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Convenient Color Change / int_e9cb2780
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Convenient Color Change
 Convenient Color Change / int_eaeeea9b
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The sequel also does this, with the color of mind controlled units changing to the controller's side as long as they are being controlled.
 Convenient Color Change / int_eaeeea9b
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1.0
 Convenient Color Change / int_eaeeea9b
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1.0
 StarCraft II (Video Game)
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Convenient Color Change / int_eaeeea9b
 Convenient Color Change / int_f724b70d
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Convenient Color Change
 Convenient Color Change / int_f724b70d
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In Code Lyoko, Ulrich's katana usually glows blue when striking or parrying, but in the hand of a XANA-controlled warrior (like a polymorphic clone, a brainwashed Aelita, or William), it glows red instead.
 Convenient Color Change / int_f724b70d
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1.0
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 Code Lyoko
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Convenient Color Change
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Transformers
The franchise has many, many, maaaany characters over the years get a repaint from a powerup, sometimes temporary and sometimes permanent, because it lets them sell the same toy again.
In Transformers Animated, when Mixmaster and Scrapper change their allegiance to the Decepticons, their optics go from yellow to red, as Autobots have blue eyes and Decepticons have red ones. They also go from the yellow and gray colors of the vehicles they were made from to the bright green and purple of the G1 Constructicons.
 Convenient Color Change / int_fb9c177d
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1.0
 Convenient Color Change / int_fb9c177d
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 Transformers (Franchise)
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The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Convenient Color Change
processingCategory2
Costume Tropes
 Convenient Color Change
processingCategory2
Disguise Tropes
 Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury / int_3d4f266f
type
Convenient Color Change
 TheArtificialIntelligencePrinciple
seeAlso
Convenient Color Change
 Hellboy II: The Golden Army / int_3d4f266f
type
Convenient Color Change
 Skyline / int_3d4f266f
type
Convenient Color Change
 TRON / int_3d4f266f
type
Convenient Color Change
 TRON: Legacy / int_3d4f266f
type
Convenient Color Change
 Fire Emblem (Franchise) / int_3d4f266f
type
Convenient Color Change
 ConvenientColorChange
sameAs
Convenient Color Change
 Afraid of Monsters (Video Game) / int_3d4f266f
type
Convenient Color Change
 BioShock (Video Game) / int_3d4f266f
type
Convenient Color Change
 Command & Conquer: Red Alert Series (Video Game) / int_3d4f266f
type
Convenient Color Change
 Command & Conquer: Tiberian Series (Video Game) / int_3d4f266f
type
Convenient Color Change
 DogFighter (Video Game) / int_3d4f266f
type
Convenient Color Change
 Dune II (Video Game) / int_3d4f266f
type
Convenient Color Change
 Gears of War (Video Game) / int_3d4f266f
type
Convenient Color Change
 LEGO Dimensions (Video Game) / int_3d4f266f
type
Convenient Color Change
 Paperboy (Video Game) / int_3d4f266f
type
Convenient Color Change
 Shadow Force (Video Game) / int_3d4f266f
type
Convenient Color Change
 The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (Video Game) / int_3d4f266f
type
Convenient Color Change
 My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Rainbow Rocks Shorts (Web Animation) / int_3d4f266f
type
Convenient Color Change
 Erfworld (Webcomic) / int_3d4f266f
type
Convenient Color Change
 Goblins (Webcomic) / int_3d4f266f
type
Convenient Color Change
 Sly Cooper: Thief of Virtue (Webcomic) / int_3d4f266f
type
Convenient Color Change
 Code Lyoko / int_3d4f266f
type
Convenient Color Change
 Star Wars Rebels / int_3d4f266f
type
Convenient Color Change
 Transformers: Animated / int_3d4f266f
type
Convenient Color Change
 TRON: Uprising / int_3d4f266f
type
Convenient Color Change