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{{trope}}
[[File:ExpressiveMask.jpg|link=Teen Titans (Animationanimation)|frame|[[Emoticon|O_o]]]]
 
 
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* 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.
* Alphonse Elric from ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' could be remarkably expressive with his helmet, despite the fact that it never moved (even when he talked; his voice came from inside the armor). He's actually able to blush visibly, despite being a soul bound to an empty suit of armor. The helmet only changes when he's drawn as [[Chibi]]. Which happens fairly often -- possibly because of this trope. The rest of the time it never changes.
* The villain Kain in the first ''[[Tenchi Muyo!]]'' movie had a face that resembled a mask (including not moving when he spoke) and which changed expression occasionally, though it seems to have been a part of his body.
* ''[[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]].
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* 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]].
* Arkana's mask in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' fluxes with his eyes. Since the mask is wider than his head, when his eyes are open large, it can look like Arkana's eyes are wider than his head.
* 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.
* In ''[[Skip Beat]]'', Kyoko's Bo costume (a giant chicken suit) is somehow capable of blinking, glaring evilly, and a wide variety of other expressions.
* No Face's noh mask in ''[[Spirited Away (Anime)|Spirited Away]]'' was meant to be a complete blank and rely on tricks of lighting to convey mood, both as real masks do and to suggest his lack of individual personality. It wound up betraying some emotion, though, with the mouth and eyes seeming to tilt up and down slightly.
 
 
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** 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.}}
** ''[[G.I. Joe: Renegades|Renegades]]'' Destro is a subtler example, as only the parts surrounding his eyes move and even then it's so little that it's only ever shown in close-ups.
* [[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]] and [[Deadpool]], both of the [[Marvel Universe]], often manage some pretty goofy expressions even though they wear masks concealing their entire face. These are usually of the "cocked eyebrow" variety. [[Depending Onon the Artist]], Deadpool's mouth can be seen through his mask, making his expressions even ''goofier''<br /><br />Spidey's expressiveness extends to ''[[The Spectacular Spider -Man]]'' [[Animated Series]], rivaled only by the marvelously emotive full head masks of the Green Goblin and the Chameleon. Chameleon at least has a good excuse, but we've also seen Flash with a donkey head mask during a play, the mouth of which moved just as fluidly.<br /><br />They experimented with this for [[Spider-Man (Filmfilm)|the movie]], but decided that in live-action it moved the mask firmly into the [[Uncanny Valley]].
* Both [[Marvel Universe]] characters [[Fantastic Four|Dr. Doom]] and [[Iron Man]] have masks specifically described as made of metal, yet both can show emotion when needed. The trick is the angle from which they're shown.<br /><br />Justifications exist: Iron Man is shown creating a faceplate for his armour that follows his own expressions, the better to intimidate his foes. In ''The Ultimate Super-Villains'' anthology Doctor Doom's updated mask contains micro-servos that can mimic expression. He habitually keeps it locked in an arrogant scowl to better intimidate his underlings.
* ''[[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.
* ''[[The Phantom (Comiccomic Stripstrip)|The Phantom]]''. Arguably the [[Trope Maker]] since he's been doing it since 1936, four years before Batman and [[The Spirit]] existed.
* The Taskmaster is wears a skull mask that is quite expressive, to the point where his mouth seems to move when he talks. [[Depending Onon the Artist]] is will either contort with his expressions like a rubber mask, or rely on the expressions of his eyes if it's a more hard mask.
* 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.}}
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* [[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.
* Justified in ''[[The Mask (Filmfilm)|The Mask]]'' (all versions) because the thing is magic, even if it appears wooden when not being worn.
* 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]].
* Jack Skellington in ''[[The Nightmare Before Christmas]]'' not only has expressive eyesockets, he ''[[Up to Eleven|even can stretch his face into a]] [http://necaonline.com/nbctcg/cardlist/characters/jack2.jpg terrifying roar]''. This helps to make him more endearing to the audience, obviously, but some fans have come up with an in-universe explanation that, this paired up with the fact that Jack apparently has a need to eat and can feel pain, that Jack is a skeletal ''creature'' ([[Fan Nickname|Bone Demon]]) rather than an actual skeleton.
* The skeletons in [[Jason and Thethe Argonauts]] have angry "eyebrows."
 
 
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== Live Action TV ==
* In the ''[[Tales Fromfrom the Crypt]]'' episode "Only Skin Deep", an abusive creep goes home from a costume party with a shapely young lady - himself dressed as a pirate, her as a body bag ('artificial shell with a corpse inside' - tip off number one?) and with a slightly disturbing mask. Naturally, he doesn't notice that the mouth of the 'mask' and the eyeholes move when her mouth and eyes do, respectively... typical Crypt type 90's horror ensues. It's clearly makeup, but for plot purposes, no one has ever apparently put on corpsepaint in their life, god forbid for a costume party...
* The puppet's sunglasses in the original [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NA90IlymdZ4 Mahna Mahna] video change shape to match his expression.
 
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== Video Games ==
* ''[[Psychonauts (Video Game)|Psychonauts]]'': Not quite a mask, but Agent Sasha Nein's glasses are capable of changing shape with his expressions. He ''is'' [[Psychic Powers|psychic]], of course, but that seems a rather trivial use of telekinesis.
* 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.
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== Web Comics ==
* The [[Big Bad]] and common [[Mooks]] for most of ''[[Its Walky]]'' are capable of showing rage, confusion, and even bewilderment through their helmets. Sometimes even [http://www.itswalky.com/d/20030216.html all of them at once].
* Justified in ''[[Freefall (Webcomic)|Freefall]]'': Sam Starfall's mask was purpose-built to mimic human expressions, and [[Mobile Suit Human|he can control it with his tentacly face]].
** 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.)
* Xykon of ''[[The Order of the Stick (Webcomic)|Order of the Stick]]'' doesn't wear a mask, but his skull is surprisingly expressive, even if it can't do an [[Evil Laugh]]. Of course, the ''rest'' of his body is ''also'' moving more than a normal skeleton.
** "Suck it, arthritis!"
* Averted in ''[[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja (Webcomic)|The Adventures of Dr. McNinja]]'' The masks on the titular character and his ninja family stay motionless. However, they manage to be fairly expressive through eye movements (it helps that the masks show eyebrows.)
** 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.
* [[Chopping Block|Butch]]'s [[Friday the 13th (Filmfilm)|Jason]] mask.
* In [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=539 this] ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court (Webcomic)|Gunnerkrigg Court]]'' strip, young Donald has quite expressive glasses.
** Later awesomely -- and hilariously -- averted with robots: [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=638 Sky Watcher] is very expressive ''without'' visibly moving parts of the head in organic style and [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=645 KingBot] found an alternative solution.
* Similarly, Buck from ''[[Buck Godot: Zap Gun for Hire]]'' has a belt which sometimes changes to an appropriate expression for the situation. This seems to be a Foglio feature...
* Qujia Vloz'ress, a minor antagonist in ''[[Drow TalesDrowtales]]'' wears a black, smooth, featureless mask, which is nevertheless [http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?order=chapters&id=919 quite expressive].
* [[PvP]]: Scratch Fury in his Christmas tree disguise, Kringus.
** Brent's eyeglasses [http://www.pvponline.com/2011/11/21/fine-print squint when he squints].
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* 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.
* The Pyros in ''[[Cuanta Vida (Webcomic)|Cuanta Vida]].'' A good thing too, seeing as it's hard enough to know what they're thinking through their [[The Unintelligible|muffled speech.]]
* Psycho Mantis' gasmask in ''[[The Last Days of Foxhound]]''.
* the Pyros also in ''Nerf Now!!''.
* Mr. Snippy in ''[[Romantically Apocalyptic (Webcomic)|Romantically Apocalyptic]]'' has open goggle-flaps on his mask which function as rudimentary eyebrows, changing angle to very effectively portray [http://romanticallyapocalyptic.com/15 anger], [http://romanticallyapocalyptic.com/36 shock], [http://romanticallyapocalyptic.com/31 worry], [http://romanticallyapocalyptic.com/30 desper][http://romanticallyapocalyptic.com/42 ation], [http://romanticallyapocalyptic.com/38 determi][http://romanticallyapocalyptic.com/40 nation], [http://romanticallyapocalyptic.com/60 fear], [http://romanticallyapocalyptic.com/44 bad][http://romanticallyapocalyptic.com/45 ass], and [http://romanticallyapocalyptic.com/46 oh crap]. All the masked characters also show expression by the angles at which their masks are shown, and their [[Colour-Coded for Your Convenience|coloured goggles can change in tone and brightness to express different emotions]] or even [http://romanticallyapocalyptic.com/59 levels of consciousness].
* [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.
* [[The Phantom of the Opera|Erik]]'s half-mask in the [[Fanfic|fan]][[Web Comic|comic]] ''[[Roommates 2007 (Webcomic)|Roommates]]'' and its [[Spin-Off]] s (''[[Girls Next Door (Webcomic)|Girls Next Door]]'' and ''[[Down the Street (Webcomic)|Down the Street]]'').
* Mortimer Jones' mask from ''[[Newheimburg (Webcomic)|Newheimburg]]'' does this a lot.
* Not in canon, but fans love to take the [[Team Fortress 2 (Video Game)|Pyro]]'s gas-mask and deform it according to this trope.
 
 
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== Western Animation ==
* Most [[Animated Adaptation|Animated Adaptations]] of the characters in [[The DCU]] (and the [[Marvel Universe]]) have expressive masks; especially notable are Robin from ''[[Teen Titans (Animationanimation)|Teen Titans]]'' (pictured) and [[Justice League|JLU]]'s Steel, whose mask is an immoble steel helmet.
** 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.
** Also noteworthy from [[DCAU|the animated continutity]] are Atomic Skull and Blight; both have exposed skulls (the latter because of transparant skin, the former because...[[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|well]]...) which tend to show a greater range of emotion than you should be capable of getting from a skeletal jaw and eye-sockets.
** 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").
** One aversion of this trope in ''[[Batman: theThe Animated Series]]'' is Page Monroe's completely unmoving mask in "Mean Seasons," which parallels her aversion to her actual face.
* In an inversion, ''[[Re Boot]]'''s character Hexadecimal, a computer virus of an excessively chaotic and unpredictable behavior, had no facial animation for most of the series. Her face was a "drama mask", and her expression would always [[Weeping Angel Artwork|change on a cut or while her face was not visible (usually blocked by her hand)]].
** 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!"
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** 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:
** Dexter of ''[[DextersDexter's Laboratory]]''.
** Otto of ''[[Time Squad]]''.
** Tootie and Mr. Crocker of ''[[Fairly Oddparents]]''.
** Doctor Octopus of ''[[The Spectacular Spider -Man]]'' swaps unmoving [[Nerd Glasses]] for curiously emotive [[Goggles Do Nothing|goggles]] after his [[Face Heel Turn]].
** ''[[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.
*** It has been shown that the glasses contain his eyes even when he sleeps with them on the nightstand next to his bed - literally [[Blind Without'Em]].
** The ''[[Storm Hawks (Animation)|Storm Hawks]]'' have welding goggles that do this.
* ''[[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.
* Numbuh Two from ''[[Codename Kids Next Door (Animation)|Codename: Kids Next Door]]''.
* [[Ant-Man]] from ''[[The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes (Animation)|Avengers Earths Mightiest Heroes]]'' might have a broader range of expressions with his mask than without.
* Barely noticeable, but Photo Finish from ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' and her oversized glasses certainly count. It's most noticeable during her interview with various newsponies about how she discovered Fluttershy as her next big star.
** The Shadowbolts play it more straight.
*** Rainbow Dash's Shadowbolt costume, by extension.
* In ''[[Wakfu (Animation)|Wakfu]]'', Nox's mask has shutters that act as eyelids. However, more often than not, we get the full unsettling effect of those unblinking [[Glowing Eyes of Doom|glowing]] eyes.
 
 
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