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gh0st-ratt · 26 days ago

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DBDA character colour dynamics

Dead Boy Detectives did something really fun with giving each main character a 'hero colour', and utilised that to make subtle stories about that character as their colours change. And I want to talk about it and flex my knowledge of the colour wheel.

I'm not going to go through every colour and what they represent because I know a lot of people have done that (Asidian is one of note, go check those out they're really good)

But what I will talk about is opposing colours - also referred to as complimentary colours - and how they inform character dynamics.

The show very clearly presents the four main characters' primary colour palette or 'hero colours', especially with what they wear. Edwin is always wearing his blue-toned school uniform, and I think it is a wonderful representation of his character that the outfit is not a bright, clear blue. I know there was talk about a version of Edwin's outfit being a blue suit (which would have looked amazing but I prefer the outfit we were given for analysis sake), but Edwin's outfit being a subtler representation of his hero colour ties into him presenting himself as a subtle character.

He keeps to himself, and no one really gets to know how he really is until they get close, he's often got a large coat covering everything else - his colour is so barely obvious because he does not let himself be obvious.

There's also the matter of colour meanings (which I won't get too into), as Edwin represents blue; blue as in calm, but also blue as in sadness. Edwin is a very put together character. But he's also a very lonely character. He's almost always wearing a dull blue.

A fun thing with having colour-coded-characters is that there is opportunity for there to be hidden implications between characters of opposing colour schemes. I'm not actually sure if the show meant to play with these implications, because a lot of the characters don't have attributed colours, but I never doubt costume designers and it's fun to imagine.

Edwin's colour is blue, and the opposing colour of blue is in fact orange. And I don't know about other people, but I see the Cat King to be representative of the colour orange. He's introduced as a ginger cat, he's wearing earthy tones every time we see him during that Life, and he's got that sparkly coat from ep6 (which I will touch on later).

And that makes dynamics really fun. Because it again positions Edwin and the Cat King as oppositions on another, subtler level. The Cat King is constantly trying to push Edwin to be less reserved, to act on what he feels; he's pushing his buttons, he's pulling his pigtails, he's being a real fucking shit, and the general opposite of how Edwin tries to present himself.

But, blue and orange are also complimentary colours; they bring out how different the other looks, and make them more vibrant (some even say "they bring out the best in each other"). And you can definitely argue that those things all happen between Edwin and the Cat King.

The Cat King's influence allows Edwin to accept himself more than he has been repressing for his entire life. And the Cat King is finally shown someone who isn't taking his shit and not falling into him easy, and actually almost causes some self reflection.

These colours as representing actually expands in the scene where the Cat King appears in The Creeping Forest, he is wearing a coat that is mostly blue, but with orange/brown details. And Edwin is wearing an outfit that has blue/teal underneath, with his brown coat on top. They're influencing each other! Edwin lets the Cat King get closer for a moment, and the Cat King has been letting Edwin unconsciously endear himself to the Cat King.

Then there is their final interaction, where the Cat King has changed lives and also changed colours. He is no longer opposing or complimenting Edwin, his colour is now the shade of black. They are no longer at odds, they have completed their game.

NOW about Edwin's confession-attempt sweater.

His sweater is a greener colour than he has been wearing for the entirety of the show (more of a teal). Green is in fact the opposing/complimentary colour of red. It could be seen as Edwin - attempting to create a 'perfect confession' to Charles - going for a colour that compliments him better than his typical blue tones.

This makes the confession in hell all the more impactful because Edwin is only wearing white in that scene - he's not complimenting or opposing anyone, he's confessing rushed, unplanned, in the worst of places, but that doesn't matter! Because Edwin and Charles have never been complimentary colours in the 3 decades they've known each other and that's okay! That's great even! Charles doesn't need Edwin to compliment/oppose him in character colours and he expresses that with his response to Edwin's confession.

This lack of colour is presented in episode 1, in the moments where it's just Edwin and Charles alone in their office, working out a case, they've both stripped down into their underclothes, shedding their character colours. In those moments their colours and subsequent balances don't matter, because it's just them.

A fun thing that I always love with duo characters is when there is a warm-toned character and a cool-toned character, and Charles and Edwin are that exactly. Charles has the warm colour of red, as well as a darker jacket and coat and gold (warm) jewellery. Edwin has cool tones of dulled blue blazer, dark blue vest and bow tie, and a lighter brown coat.

I'm actually going to recommend that you check out some gifsets of the show and characters because there are creators out there who colour their gifs showing the warm/cool tones really well, even between characters and the background. (wordsinhaled, sasakiniko, every-moment-a-different-sound, to name a few, there's definitely more)

I'm sure most people know about the infamous red-smear hospital design tumblr post and the double-meanings of the colour red, so I won't get too into that. That being said:

Red represents passion, strength, love, etc. But it also represents anger and danger. Having Charles' hero colour be red allows for representation of his constant internal battle. He tries so so hard to be there for his friends, to be liked, to be the one "keeping spirits up", but he's also terrified that his anger makes him a "bad guy", and that he really is just his father. By being his hero colour, he allows himself to be both. But he's also claiming it as his own in a way.

There's also the matter of Charles losing his hero colour as he gets more and more distressed throughout the show. He's losing all that the colour represents, but he's also losing himself. He doesn't feel like a hero anymore. When his shirt is black, the show isn't toned as warmly. He isn't toned as warmly.

But then there's the moment in episode 5. (I've seen this in a post but I cannot find it so if anyone knows lmk and I'll mention the creator) The episode 5 hug, when Charles expresses all his fears to Edwin of becoming what he's afraid of and all that he's hidden. Edwin, as he reassures Charles: tugs at Charles' lapels, straightens a pin, and lifts Charles' coat collar, exposing the red underneath. Edwin brings back Charles' hero colour to him, even before his shirt changes back on its own.

Charles' colour opposition is against himself not anyone coloured green. Toning his shirt darker is a brilliant way to demonstrate how he feels like he is growing darker and less of a hero, and it's subtle enough that you don't notice it all the time. Also it would've looked horrific having his shirt turn slowly green.

There's also the matter of the colouring of the lights of Heaven and Hell. I know that Heaven is coloured blue because in the Sandman comics they present Death taking someone with a black wing shape over blue - which the show uses.

Edwin's hero colour is blue, the colour of Heaven, which is ironic because he has only ever been destined for Hell. However, it is prominent especially in the scene of Charles choosing to go with Edwin instead of Death. We see the bright blue of Death pour in from the window, but Charles doesn't choose that light, he chooses Edwin instead, a different shade of blue.

What's also interesting is that Charles isn't red in that moment; it's the same set of colours as the confession, one of them isn't wearing their hero colour, the other is, and the connection between them still works.

Charles chooses Edwin over Heaven. Edwin's confession is accepted. 30+ years and they still don't need that colour compliment. But I digress.

There's also the matter that Hell's colour is represented by red. A bright, brilliant red. Very similar to Charles' typical shirt.

Now I could say how Charles would recognise that as him being hellish, or similar to Hell in anyway BUT instead I am going to say how, while Edwin may be destined for Hell, he doesn't get it, he gets something else red that is much much more lovely.

The boys hero colours represent what each other's afterlives would be, but they don't need those afterlives because they have each other representing them anyway.

Okay move over boys I want to talk about Crystal

Crystal's hero colour is also quite obvious from the get-go, as she is almost always wearing some shade of purple, and when she isn't, I feel like they colour tone her hair so it looks a little reddish-purple (check out ep3 and 6 and tell me if I'm insane).

The choice for purple as her colour is perfect because while purple is a dark colour and often associated with black or red to seem 'evil', it's not a completely menacing colour. Just like Crystal, who may seem harsh or rude (or, as we see in her memories, a real bitch), but is actually just someone who is trying and caring. So, she gets a royal colour.

Purple is also apparently the colour of spirituality, so there's a little reference to her psychic background.

It's also the colour you get when combining blue and red. Crystal is both a combination of Edwin and Charles, but she also allows them to be closer together. Anyway like I said this isn't about them.

I don't think that Crystal wears purple much in the memories we see of her, representing how she wasn't really ever herself in those moments: she was masquerading as someone else. She's also not wearing her hero colour because, well, she's not a hero in those moments.

Purple's opposing colour is in fact yellow. And Crystal's opposition for the majority of the show is David the Demon. Now David isn't really yellow, he's more brown, but I'm preferring to think of it as a tainted, ruined yellow. Because he is of course, a demon. He's ruining Crystal's life, he's ruining the life of the guy he's possessing, he's dirtying everything he puts his hands on, so it makes sense that he'd ruin his colour. It's not much of a hero colour anyway.

I lied earlier, when I said that Crystal doesn't wear purple in her memories, I think she does wear purple when she is with David. Which does make sense! She seems to be trying to be a little bit more herself with him, she even says she "-thought it was love". What's interesting is that the purple she wears in those scenes is a darker purple than we see her in later episodes. That purple is almost menacing, because she's being influenced by a literal demon.

Crystal wearing her hero colour in those scenes also emphasises her contrast to David. They are technically complimenting each other, bringing out the worst, but they're also opposing. David doesn't actually love Crystal, he just wants to possess someone powerful. The context differs with their perspective, but no matter what we can see that they are on completely different ends of the colour wheel. Especially seeing as David's yellow can hardly be called that.

When Crystal brings David to her Mind Tree, where everything is coloured purple, the yellow is cancelled out. You can't see it very well at all, because David is not the one in control, it isn't his turf and it isn't about him. It's Crystal's moment, and bathed in her hero colour, she defeats her villain.

(I don't know why the inside of Crystal's head with the eyes is blue. It doesn't line up with anything I'm analysing and I don't understand it. Maybe it's just cause it looks good)

Niko has a hero colour, but is not defined by it. And I think that's because she does not see herself as a hero. "[She] knows [she's] not the bravest" and she's always a little shocked and excited to be invited on cases; she doesn't see herself within the 'hero' stereotype, and therefore does not often wear her hero colour.

Niko's hero colour is pink, which is interesting for a few reasons, one is that pink doesn't really have an opposing colour. Sometimes pink is just considered an extension of red and therefore green is a possible complimentary colour.

This kind of falls into the idea of Charles and Niko being similar, both trying to stay positive when it feels like their life (or death) is falling apart a bit, both the 'sunshine to a grumpy', both sweethearts. This leads on to my argument that we were robbed of Niko and Charles interactio--

Also the fact that Niko has no opps. Her ever-changing wardrobe stops that and also because how could you hate her.

While other characters' colours tie into where they are in their arc, Niko's outfits seem to tie into the narrative itself.

At the end of Devlin House, Niko comes running towards Edwin, Charles and Crystal wearing green. She has been wearing this the entire episode, which has allowed her to tie into the Sprites' outfits subtly, but now she is with different characters. Now she is complimenting Charles. And this presents on screen as Niko creating a sort of distraction for Charles after the Devlin House; he can ignore what just happened, he can ignore Crystal and Edwin prying, he can just focus, as the red character, on complimenting both Niko's colour and her crowbar, letting Niko balance him out.

Niko seems to only wear her hero colour in the Dead Dragons, as she sends a letter to her mother, and as she plans the date for Jenny and Maxine. This is because, to her, this is the time she is being truly brave and trying something new with new people because she wants to. She's been scared to read her mother's letters and scared to reply, but now she has braved that hill, and therefore can wear her hero colour. This then continues with the date; this is Niko's "-case of [her] own", she's the one instigating something she really thinks is going to benefit those she is trying to help! She's being brave, she's "-been helping a lot of people lately" and this is her doing this for the first time herself!

Niko's use of a blue colour palette in Creeping Forest was probably partially due to Edwin abandoning his typical hero colour to favour the teal sweater, which allows stylistically for there to be a time for Niko to be blue without the colours conflicting.

With Edwin, blue represents both calm and sadness, but with Niko I think while it represents that, it's to a different level. Niko isn't exactly calm about anything that occurs around her in episode 6, but neither is she sad, per say. She's upset about upsetting Jenny and the destruction of her idea of love, but she's more.. ambivalent about what is happening.

What's interesting is when Niko first questions Jenny about her behaviour, she's wearing the blue outfit, but the next day, after she has been thinking over her behaviour and Jenny's reaction, she's wearing an orange outfit! Which we have already established is the opposing colour to blue. Niko has changed her perspective entirely, and her outfit represents that.

And in the final episode, her outfit is white, because she has no more interactions to have, and there is no more narrative for to compliment.

#dead boy detectives #dbda analysis #save dead boy detectives #*bernie voice* i am once again asking you for good places to get screencaps #images break it up and make it look less like 30 paragraphs of me yapping but it doesn't help when they're SHIT IMAGES #edwin payne #charles rowland #the cat king #crystal palace #crystal palace surname von hoverkraft #niko sasaki #i'm not tagging people not because i don't want to credit them but because that's awkward #it's like sending up a flare in the forest and someone you admire comes to watch you stumble awkwardly through it i don't want that #the case of the creeping forest #the case of the devlin house #the case of the two dead dragons #the case of the very long stairway #zero says thingz

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