Badposter rates every country flag

[Pokemon DP]

 

[badposter]

Flag of Colombia

(state ensign)
Civil ensign

Spoiler

(Note: all references to “this flag” are references to the state ensign, since that's the most commonly used flag)
Part 1
Rule 1: It's a simple flag.
Rule 2: The yellow represents Colombia's gold, the blue... Oh, fucking again? The goddamn sea and sky (it also represents Colombia's rivers). Red represents the blood shed during Colombia's war of Independence.
This flag has the same colors as Ecuador's and Venezuela's. This is because, after the countries became independent in 1819, Gran Colombia (known as the time as just Colombia), an union of Venezuela, New Granada (which has been known as Colombia since 1863) and Ecuador. The republic was politically unstable (some wanted federation and some wanted a centralized state), so it broke up in 1831. The countries created after the breakup had yellow, blue and red flags (those were the colors of Gran Colombia's flag. As for why Gran Colombia had those, colors, it's on Wikipedia). All the countries formed after the breakup had (imo) distinctive flags at first. In 1860, Ecuador changed its civil ensign. It becam a yellow, blue and red tricolor, in which yellow occupied as much space as blue and red combined. In 1861, New Granada adopted a state ensign identical to Ecuador's civil ensign. I guess since Colombia's bigger than Ecuador, Ecuador's the country that has to use its state ensign, which has a complex coat of arms, even though Colombia's civil ensign's coat of arms is rather simple.
Uh... I think I'm the only person who cares about the last paragraph.
Rule 3: Red, blue and yellow. According to Francisco de Miranda (the first person to raise a red, blue and yellow flag, which is the origin of Gran Colombia's flag) Goethe had this to say about these colors:

First he explained to me the way the iris transforms light into the three primary colours […] then he proved to me why yellow is the most warm, noble and closest to light; why blue is that mix of excitement and serenity, a distance that evokes shadows; and why red is the exaltation of yellow and blue, the synthesis, the vanishing of light into shadow.

It is not that the world is made of yellows, blues and reds; it is that in this manner, as if in an infinite combination of these three colours, we human beings see it. […] A country [Goethe concluded] starts out from a name and a flag, and it then becomes them, just as a man fulfils his destiny.

I just think it looks nice.
Rule 4: This flag has no text or emblems. The civil ensign has one of the simplest coats of arms I've seen
Rule 5: This flag is identical to Ecuador's civil ensign, forcing Ecuador to use its complex state ensign. A much simpler way to repeat what I've written.
Rule 2
Republic of New Granada (1834 – 1861)

Spoiler

It was actually pretty distinctive. Also, I might be beating a dead horse, but it allowed Ecuador to use its simple civil ensign
Rule 3
It's good looking, but... Well, I've already told you about Ecuador.

 

[badposter]

Flag of Comoros

Part 1
Rule 1: I honestly can't memorize this flag, though this is probably because the fact that the country is little known. If Comoros were more well known, I'd probably memorize this flag, since it's not very complex.
Rule 2: The green and the crescent represent Islam, the country's main religion (brought to the island country by Persian and Arab traders during the Middle Ages), the stripes represent the country's four main islands (Mohéli, represented by yellow, Anjouan, represented by red, Grande Comore, which is represented by blue and Mayotte which is actually administered by France but claimed by Comoros, and is represented by white) and the stars represent the exact same thing as the stripes, making this flag have redundant symbolism.
Rule 3: Some flags can get away with having many colors, but this one doesn't.
Rule 4: Stars and a crescent. That's a simple emblem.
Rule 5: It's a distinctive flag.
Part 2

Since declaring independence, the country has experienced more than 20 coups d'état or attempted coups, with various heads of state assassinated

This has lead to quite a few flag changes.
1963-1976

Spoiler

This flag doesn't have redundant symbolism and also is not as busy as the current flag.
1976–1978

Spoiler

This was the flag of Comoros under the Ali Soilih regime. Soilih was a communist, so he added red to the flag. This flag at least doesn't have too much colors.

The 1978-1992 and 1992-1996 flags, while being able to be told apart from the 1963-1976 also have a white crescent on a green background, so I have the same opinion on them as I have on the 1963-1976 flag.
1996-2002

Spoiler

Please don't put text on flags.
Part 3
Way too many colors, and besides going back to the older flags wouldn't hurt symbolism or distinctiveness

 

[badposter]

From here, I can either post the flags of the Congos (whose official names, which are used to distinguish the countries don't start with C) or I can post the flag of Costa Rica. Wikipedia's list of sovereign states puts the Congos first, so Costa Rica will have to wait.
Flag of the Congo (Democratic Republic of)

Part 1
Rule 1: A child could. You know how the rest of the sentence goes.
Rule 2: The sky blue represents peace (I'm liking this streak of flags with blues that don't represent sea or sky. Hope this continues) (oh, also I suppose I should say the Congo Wars, which happened here, were the deadliest conflicts in history since WWII. The Second Congo War (1998–2003) killed 5.4 million people.While the wars are mostly over, there are still rebel groups in the country's east. I don't know that much about the topic, so I won't say it's true, but Rwanda may be funding the rebels. Then again, it may not be, I don't know much about the topic.)
Wait, this is about flag symbolism, not modern Congolese history. All right, red represents the country's martyrs (yeah, Congolese history's pretty bloody), yellow represents the country's wealth and the star represents the country's radiant future.
Rule 3: Yellow, red and blue. Good colors imo.
Rule 4: Stars are simple. I've written that a lot.
Rule 5: Yeah it's distinctive.
Part 2
Congo-Léopoldville (Independence 1960-1963)

Spoiler

Look pretty European imo.
1966-1971 (the 1963-1966 flag is pretty similar)

Spoiler

It's like the current, but the blue's darker. I prefer the current, but is one is good too.
Zaire (1971-1997)

Spoiler

Mobutu Sese Seko was a corrupt dictator who violated human rights, but this flag is a actually a good Pan-African, managing to be distinctive though a bit complex. Still, *bleep* Mobutu.
The country's 1997-2003 and 2003-2006 were pretty similar to Congo-Léopoldville's (though the 2003-2006 had a lighter blue)
Part 3
I like simple, good looking and distinctive flags, like this one.

 

[badposter]

Holy *bleep* I somehow *bleep*ed the DRC. I wrote it all, but apparently it didn't come out fully. Sorry, I'll fix it.
Oh wait, I just *bleep*ed up my spoiler tags. Now it's fixed

 

[badposter]

I apparently suck at tags. The preview button is good.
Flag of the Congo (Republic of )

Part 1:
Rule 1: Simple. What's simple? This flag.
Rule 2: The flag has Pan-African colors. Of course, the colors of Pan-Africans also have meanings specific to the place they represent. In the Republic of the Congo's* (you, know, I'm thinking that despite the fact I'm writing about the Congos consecutively, I plan to separate the Koreas. It's pretty incosistent, and yet I'm gonna do it) case, green represents the country's agriculture and forests, yellow represents the nobilty of the Congolese people, and red...

However, the symbolism behind the red was left unexplained

Well, in Ethiopia's flag (all Pan-Africans are based on the Ethiopian flag. Well, actually, that's a lie there's anotherPan-African flag which has nothing to do with Ethiopia's. There are actually a few flags using that flag's colors, but most Pan-African have Ethiopian colors), red represents strength. (I'm not red represents strength on this flag.

*You, know, I'm thinking that despite the fact I'm writing about the Congos consecutively, I plan to separate the Koreas. It's pretty incosistent, and yet I'm gonna do it.
Rule 3: Red, green and yellow. The most commonly used Pan-African colors (when I say Pan-African without specifying which tricolor I'm talking about, it's the Ethiopian colors) look good.
Rule 4: Neither text nor emblems. This section is pretty short.
Rule 5:

Honestly, the only flags with Pan-African colors I can distinguish are that of Ethiopia, Ghana (due to the World Cup), the Republic of the Congo, São Tomé and Principe, Burkina Faso and Zimbabwe. I think I'm gonna copypaste this in the future.

Nice diagonals. They make the flag distinctive.
Part 2
People's Republic of the Congo. (1970-1991)

Spoiler

Nice stealth Pan-African. I also like the green, gives the flag color. Not as good as the current, though.
Part 3
A good Pan-African

 

[Pokemon DP]

that flag is really soothing to look at

 

[DragonFreak]

d i a g a n o l s

 

[badposter]

Flag of Costa Rica
Civil ensign

State ensign

Spoiler

Part 1
Rule 1: The civil ensign is simple, but the state flag has a complex coat of arms in a rather small area, which a child could not draw from memory.
Rule 2: First, some history. From 1823 to 1838, Costa Rica was part of the Federal Republic of Central America along with Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Los Altos (which was annexed quickly by Guatemala and Mexico). The Federal Republic's flag was influenced by Argentina's flag and had two blue stripes (representing the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans), and a white stripe between them (representing the land between them). The blue and white of this flag, and of every country that was a member of the Federal Republic's flag, comes from this. The red comes from the French flag and was added to make this flag's colors match with France's after the 1848 French Revolution.
Nowadays:

The blue color stands for the sky, opportunities, idealism and perseverance. The white color stands for peace, wisdom and happiness. The red color stands for the blood spilt by martyrs in defense of the country, as well as the warmth and generosity of the people

And as for the pretty complex coat of arms:

The coat of arms depicts the isthmus between the Pacific ocean and the Caribbean Sea, with 3 volcanoes. The 7 stars stand for the 7 provinces of Costa Rica. The Spanish name of the country is scrolled on a white banner, Republica de Costa Rica (Republic of Costa Rica), and the Central American union is recognized in the blue upper scroll, America Central, recalling the former United Provinces of Central America.

Rule 3: Red, white and blue

Some overused things are good.

Also, technically the state ensign more colors, but I don't cou