Expressive Mask: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

A character's mask is usually intended to obscure the face. In animation this used to also be a helpful cheat to draw something similar.

 

A peculiar variant of this extends to characters who only have a skull for a head, and therefore have Expressive Eyesockets.

 

* Commercials for the Jack-in-a-Box restaurant. The mascot's head is a giant ping-pong with a pointed nose and painted-on face, which always wears an expression suited to his tone of voice, though the actual transition only occurs when he's off-camera.

 

* A great example is ''[[Kinnikuman]]'', where the main character and just about everybody on his [[Planet of Hats]] wears a skintight mask meant to completely replace his face. It follows each and every one of his expressions perfectly. Due to the series being primarily about [[Professional Wrestling]], several other characters wear masks of varying properties (Mystic wood, crushed sapphire/steel alloy, etc.) that are likewise expressive, just not to the degree that Kinnikuman's is.

* ''[[Getter Robo]]'' has Stilva, a ''very'' expressive [[Humongous Mecha]] that mirrors its pilot's expressions, to the point that it even has a full set of teeth and an uvula. Similarly, all of the Ganmen ''and'' the titular mecha of ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]''.

* [[Mazinger Z|Bossborot]].

* In ''[[Saiunkoku Monogatari]]'', Kou Kijin's masks themselves aren't animated, but he has a wide assortment of them made by his friend and colleague Kou Reishin, and some of them are ''very'' expressive.

* Averted by Usopp's Sogeking mask in ''[[One Piece]]'', which generally ''hides'' his expressions to make him look calmer, but even then you can see his jaw sticking out from the bottom of it in a [[Wild Take]].

* Some Hollows in ''[[Bleach]]'' manage to be rather expressive despite the fact their face is essentially a bone mask. This is helped by the changes to the glowing pits of fear that are their eyes, narrowing and widening to help convey their emotions.

 

** Jason Todd (aka Red Hood) appears to be getting one in the DC reboot. The thing is, its a bike helmet that covers his face.

* Destro in ''[[G.I. Joe]]'' was a very good example of this, given that despite his wearing of a metal mask that completely covers his head, it was in essence "painted on", in regards to being able to furrow his brow, smile, frown, move his lips, etc. Destro's mask was played with in the live-action film where {{spoiler|his severely burned face is turned to flexible metal through the [[Applied Phlebotinum]] of the nanomites.}}

* ''[[The Spirit]]'' has a domino mask that's very flexible and shows expression very well.

* ''[[V for Vendetta]]'': His mask does not move, but lighting effects are used to make it more expressive. If you don't show the eyebrows, he looks innocently happy, but focusing on them makes him look more formidable.

* In ''[[Fall of Cthulhu]]'' by Boom! comics, the Masked Mute IS this trope. Her communication is literally all the different expressions her masks make.

* Rorschach from ''[[Watchmen]]'', whose Inkblot mask changes depending on his emotion at the time.

* There's also Emoticon from ''[[Welcome to Tranquility]]'', who is something of a unique example. {{spoiler|His mask actually always shows his true emoticons, and is effectively a proxy face for him, given a supervillain by the moniker of The Typist actually mutilated his face beyond recognition and rendered him utterly blind. The mask also has prosthetic eyeballs in it, allowing poor Emoticon to see. Understandably, he's got a bit of an attitude problem. Poor guy.}}

 

* The masks in ''[[The Incredibles]]'' are essentially dark patches on the characters' skin, changing shape as their features move and even covering their eyelids. Given everything else their costume designer, Edna Mode, is able to make their costumes do, this might just be another feature.

* All characters in the ''[[Bionicle]]'' films (save for a few such as Krekka who do not wear masks).

* [[Averted Trope|Aversion]]: The character designers for the animated film ''[[The Iron Giant]]'' deliberately gave the title character's head extra hinges, shutters, etc. so that it could produce facial expressions without cartoony contortions. The live-action [[Transformers Film Series|Transformers movies]] are similar, with even greater detail.

* While for the majority of ''[[V for Vendetta]]'' movie V's mask is just a mask, several scenes have been digitally edited so that the mask moves very, very slightly. The idea was, because people are so used to masks not moving, if they saw the eyebrow go up an unnoticeable fraction, it would make a huge subconscious difference. And it did, obviously. Watch the mask just before the big fight towards the end. It helps that it already looks a bit CGI in its normal form, but watching closely you can see it move the tiniest bit.

* Played for laughs in ''[[Scary Movie]]'', where the expression of the mask worn by the killer changes between shots into anything from mad, to happy, to [[The Stoner|stoned]].

 

* In ''[[The Belgariad]]'' and its prequels, the god Torak wears a steel mask over a severe burn that shifts as his healthy face would. To his defense, he ''is'' a god.

* [[Roald Dahl]]'s book ''[[The Witches]]'' gives the Grand High Witch of All the World a mask that looks exactly like a beautiful human face, moving perfectly with her own, which is [[Red Right Hand|ugly and scabby]]. The improbability of such a mask is commented upon.

* The character of fallen and tragic [http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix3/gaynorthedamned.htm Prince Gaynor the Damned] turns up in [[Canon Welding|several of Michael Moorcock's novels]] that feature an incarnation of the ''[[Cosmic Plaything|Eternal Champion]]''. Prince Corum opposes Gaynor, and so does Elric at one point (in ''The Revenge of the Rose''). Prince Gaynor the Damned is described as being sheathed from head to toe in metal armor which changes colors constantly, so that nothing of his body can be seen, and carries a great shield with the eight-arrowed star, the sign of Chaos. The colors that play over the surface of Gaynor's armor appear to change in reaction to Gaynor's emotions and moods. Indeed, Gaynor was cursed with eternal torment for betraying the cosmic balance and is unable to take off the armor on his own (although in one of the books, Corum rips off Gaynor's helmet and reveals a face continuously transforming in accordance with his status as a being of Chaos; his flesh seems to writhe like a mass of maggots). Gaynor is immortal (and may be unkillable, too, as he alone survives a wound from Elric's soul-sucking runesword Stormbringer), but longs only for death.

 

* The puppet's sunglasses in the original [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NA90IlymdZ4 Mahna Mahna] video change shape to match his expression.

 

* ''[[Calvin and Hobbes]]'' - Spaceman Spiff, interplanetary explorer extraordinaire, wears a space visor that is more like a small square black screen perched on his nose, which somehow conveys all of his eye's expressions. The standard expression is two squares, but he uses circles for alarm, a thin line for when he's squinting, and triangular shapes for when he's angrily blasting stuff. For that matter, the [[Calvin Ball]] masks and Stupendous Man's mask are very expressive for pieces of cloth (the Stupendous Man hood, however, does white out Calvin's eyes in his daydreams.)

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

 

* The Swiss theater troupe [http://www.mummenschanz.com/ Mummenschanz] play with, deconstruct, mash back together, and otherwise have all sorts of fun with this trope.

* The masks used in ancient Greek theater had all sorts of exaggerated expressions, but averted this trope: they were fixed facial expressions that cannot change. The actor used his or her body to convey emotion, and nothing else.

* An Expressive Mask can be created simply by drawing the mask onto the performer's face with makeup. As well as being cheap and easy, this method doesn't hide the face like an actual mask, which could otherwise inhibit the emotion the performer conveys.

 

* The Shy Guys from the [[Super Mario]] games do this, at least in Mario Strikers Charged and Paper Mario.

** Bandits also fit this trope to a T. The mask esssentially is their face.

* Bernard from the ''[[Maniac Mansion]]'' series has expressive glasses, as shown in the ''[[Day of the Tentacle]]'' intro.

 

** But the same strip contains robots whose normally-oval eyes appear as semicircles when they're annoyed, or as lines. (The latter made sense when it appeared on Sawtooth Rivergrinder, however, as the ^ shapes were displayed ''inside'' his eyes, which are confirmed to be capable of functioning as a graphical display.)

** "Suck it, arthritis!"

** Any inconsistencies with the masks have gotten a preemptive [[Hand Wave]]: The Doctor and his family know a variety of "ninja tricksh" which, among other things, let them eat with their masks on.

* In ''[[Everyday Heroes]]'', Carrie has both expressive glasses and [[Open the Iris|puppy eyes]] [http://www.webcomicsnation.com/eddurd/everydayheroes/series.php?view=single=73518 here].

* This effect shows up on the ''[[Johnny Wander]]'' characters who wear completely opaque glasses; it's subtler than most, but the glasses narrow and widen with emotion and sometimes change shape. Except [[Frozen Face|George's]], which are always perfectly round. [http://www.johnnywander.com/comics/13 Yuko demonstrates!]

* [[Yet Another Fantasy Gamer Comic|King Lewie]] (the Lich) is an example of "expressive eyesockets." He also has no difficulty smiling or frowning.

* Psycho Mantis' gasmask in ''[[The Last Days of Foxhound]]''.

* the Pyros also in ''Nerf Now!!''.

* [http://www.squidi.net/comic/amd/view.php?series=amd&ep=4&id=119 Hechter] is nothing more than a magically animated suit of armor, but he manages to have an amazing range of expression with his helmet.

 

* Parodied in [[Red vs. Blue]], which can't do this because it's Machinima in Halo, where everyone wears a helmet. Even ''talking'' is merely head-bobbing. When the Reds see the Blues talking on the screens under the canyon, but can't hear them, they comment on how ridiculous people look because you can't see their emotion. While vigorously bobbing his head.

** In fact, Machinima in general is all about getting by without live actors or this trope. Voice actors and careful posing of characters have to sell the emotion instead.

 

** Steel's mask shows his expression in the comics as well. A lettercol suggested it was either evidence of his superpowers (a [[Retcon]] that was later dropped) or he had ''really'' strong facial muscles.

** Music Meister wore a visor-ish mask that was detailed to look like a measure of music with a pair of one-eighth notes on it. It was quite expressive, with the notes functioning as pupils and the bar connecting them flexing like a mono-eyebrow. And, of the over a dozen costume changes he does in the course of one episode, is the one part that NEVER CHANGES.

** The coffee-table book ''Batman Animated'' reproduces the official model sheet for Harley Quinn, which explicitly instructs that the top of the mask is intended to change shape with her facial expressions ("Think of it like eyebrows").

** Lampshaded in one episode where AndrAIa assumes Hex's identity. She sits in front of a mirror waving her hand back and forth in front of her face, watching the expression change and saying "Happy...sad! Happy...sad!"

* The goggles that Time Squad officers wear in ''[[Time Squad]]'' act in this way. The easiest example would be Buck Tuddrussel.

* Most ''[[Transformers]]'' faces were like this. Despite being made of metal, they would easily slide into various facial expressions. This even happened in ''Beast Wars'', in which the character in question may not even have a ''mouth''.

** It's a show with the main character is a talking dog. Logical isn't the best word for it to begin with.

* Not quite a mask, but many characters wear glasses capable of changing shape with their expressions:

** Otto of ''[[Time Squad]]''.

** Tootie and Mr. Crocker of ''[[Fairly Oddparents]]''.

** ''[[Duckman]]''. His glasses don't change shape so much, but his his eyelids (and ''eyes'') are apparently part of his glasses, while his eyebrows float above them. As his glasses sit about a third down his bill, one can plainly see the blank yellow expanse where his eyes should be, whether or not he's got them on.

* ''[[Mucha Lucha]]''. Seeing as ''all'' the characters (yes, even Rikochet's ''dog'') are wearing masks and it would be difficult to portray their emotions otherwise, this is justified.

** The Shadowbolts play it more straight.

*** Rainbow Dash's Shadowbolt costume, by extension.

 

== Meta ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Disguise Tropes]]

[[Category:Graphical Tropes]]

[[Category:Costume Tropes]]