Faceless Goons: Difference between revisions

[[File:StormtrooperCorps_anh1080p_7371StormtrooperCorps anh1080p 7371.jpg|link=Star Wars|frame|Okay, everyone, from the top! [[A Chorus Line|One! Singular sensation!]]]]

{{quote|''"Attack, faceless minions! Take him down!"''|'''Pseudo Kuno''', ''[[Ranma ½]]''}}

[[The Faceless]] also come in bulk, as demonstrated by this subset of [[Evil Minions]] whose defining characteristic -- apartcharacteristic—apart from being evil, of course -- iscourse—is the lack of individual identity. They will wear matching uniforms and helmets or [[Malevolent Masked Men|masks that completely obscure their facial features]]. Sometimes, the (perpetually scowling) lower portion of their faces may be visible, but their eyes will pretty much always be hidden, like under the brim of a helmet, behind [[Scary Shiny Glasses]] or [[Malevolent Masked Men|malevolent looking masks]] (especially [[Gas Mask Mooks|Gas Masks]] or [[Rage Helm|Rage Helms]]s), or beneath an opaque visor. Note that a balaclava or Ninja mask covers everything except the eyes, but goons wearing them still count. Note that a unique face as a symbol of identity means that [[You All Look Familiar]] allows for unmasked but identical mooks to be effectively Faceless.

If even hurting [['''Faceless Goons]]''' seems a bit extreme, you'll get [[Mecha-Mooks]] instead who are beaten till they show [[Bloodless Carnage|broken gears and sparks]]. This can also serve as a justification for why the [[Big Bad]] has so many identical soldiers running around.

What's interesting to note is that in [[Real Life]] the [['''Faceless Goons]]''' do have upsides; if someone is behind a mask or hood or even mirrored sunglasses they often [[GIFT|no longer feel responsible for their own actions]] and [[Punch Clock Villain|obey commands (especially very cruel ones) more readily than if they were just in plain clothes]]. Possibly a case of [[Truth in Television]]. This can, however, backfire pretty badly. Human beings have a natural, instinctual [[Ape Shall Never Kill Ape|aversion to killing people.]] Looking a man in the eye and then killing him is a very hard thing to do. Covering a person's face, subconsciously supressing our recognition of them as human, makes killing them a lot easier on our willpower. [[Fridge Brilliance|This may be why]] [[Improbable Aiming Skills|heroes never have trouble hitting the Faceless Goons,]] [[Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy|yet the Faceless Goons can't hit the hero not wearing a mask.]]

* Both the [[Mooks|expandability]] and [[Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy|incompetence]] of the [[Faceless Goons]] are heavily subverted in ''[[Black Lagoon]]'' where Balalaika's Russian ex-military mercenaries are easily the most deadly force on the show and the murder of two of them lead to a city-wide manhunt.

* In ''[[Darker Thanthan Black]]'', the minions of PANDORA dress like riot-police, with face obscuring helmets. They are shown as jerks on one occasion, threatening Kirihara, and tend to get unceremoniously killed by Contractors.

** Other Marvel villain groups, A.I.M. and the Secret Empire, take this a step further -- theyfurther—they are not only masked, but identify themselves only by numbers instead of names (except for Karl).

* The Immortals from ''[[300]]''. In real life, however, they were called "Immortals" simply because the reserves standing by to replace any who fell kept the number of the unit at precisely 10,000 men. Contemporary pictures of them from frescoes, etc, [httphttps://web.archive.org/web/20170906003503/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/Persian_Army_Immortal.png\] depict them wearing open-faced caps.[https://web.archive.org/web/20131227231434/http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/Archers_frieze_Darius_palace_Louvre_AOD487.jpg\]

* The Huns in [[Walt Disney|Disney's]] ''Mulan'', specifically in the scene where thousands of them stampede down a snowbank to attack the good guys. Aside from the evil [[Big Bad|Shan Yu]] and a few of his sketchy malicious pals, all his minions qualify as [[Faceless Goons]].

* In the audio commentary on the ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' films, [[Peter Jackson]] and company mention that they made the human allies of Sauron, the Haradrim, into [[Faceless Goons]] in ninja-wrap-turbans to [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?|de-emphasise their humanity]], something they didn't have to do with the [[Always ChaoticExclusively Evil|slavering, monstrous Orcs]] that make up the usual mookdom. They also subverted this in the extended edition, when Faramir looks at the body of a fallen Haradrim (with his young, handsome face exposed) and comments on what circumstances would have led him from his home and family to die violently in a foreign country. In the book, this was an internal musing by Sam.

** Although, ironically, in the book the dead guy's laying face-down.

** Saruman's Uruk-Hai also fit the trope with their identical, face-concealing helmets. In their case the point was probably the intimidation factor of several thousand identical goons, along with saving some time for the special effects people, as they didn't have to craft unique masks for every actor.

* The obscure Nixon-parody film ''Hail'' (AKA ''Hail To The Chief'') subverts this in a sequence where members of the President's new paramilitary force attack a camp of peaceful protesters; the attackers' faces are fully masked, but when one of them witnesses a camp-resident doing an impromptu [[WalkWalking Onon Water|Jesus impression]] on top of a sunken car, he pauses, lifts his hinged mask, stares for a moment more, then calmly shoots the resident.

** Taken to the next level, really, in the respect of this trope being to dehumanize them so the audience doesn't feel bad for them. There is a scene where the Vipers are seen unmasked... And the entire point of the scene is to show that they're completely mind-wiped with no chance of recovery, barely human anymore, really.

* In ''[[Batman Begins]]'', the League of Shadows' [[McNinja|McNinjas]]s obscure their faces, though they also ditch the masks when they infiltrate normal society. The masks actually become a plot point during Bruce Wayne and Ducard's duel: both don masks and hide among a throng of similarly-masked mooks.

* The Coachman's minions from [[Pinocchio]] whom resemble giant hairy creatures with executioner's hoods and glowing yellow eyes.

* The red-neon-armored bad guys from ''[[Tron]]''.

* The main characters in ''[[Hunter Prey]]'' until their suits can adapt their bodies to the atmosphere.

* While the ''[[Star Wars]]'' movie prequels play this trope completely straight with the Republic's Clone Troopers -- whoTroopers—who are on the heroes' side, oddly enough ([[It Was His Sled|until the end, that is]]) -- the ''Republic Commando'' series of novels by Karen Traviss (based on the [[Video Game]] of the same name) completely subvert this by Lampshading the troopers as living, breathing ''people'' that the so-called heroes are monstrously using as disposable cannon fodder. Only a relative few of the good guys ever realize this and come to appreciate these slaves as human beings who have gotten an infernally raw deal in life.

** The novel ''The Death Star'' (no, really, it exists) focuses on some of the faceless mooks 'seen' in the movie. For example, the commander of the troops that Han Solo, screaming, barged in on, is a main character in the novel. Due to a nudge from the good side of the Force, he lets Han and crew escape by intentionally leading his men the wrong way. It also focuses a lot on people who have no choice to be part of the Imperial death machine (and yes, it mentions that pesky thermal vent port).

** Defied by [[Genre Savvy|Vimes]] in ''[[Discworld/Night Watch (Discworld)|Night Watch]]'' when there is danger of rioting at his Watch station.

{{quote| '''Vimes:''' And then you and Waddy go and stand guard outside, where you can be seen. You're friendly-looking local lads. Take your bells, but, and I want to make this very clear, no swords, right? ... What do you want 'em to see? Now what ''I'' want them to see is Fatty Colon, decent lad, not too bright, I knew 'is dad, an' there's ol' Waddy, he drinks in my pub. 'cos if they just see a couple of men in uniform with swords you'll be in trouble."}}

** While not exactly goons normally (they became goonish in ''[[Discworld/Thief of Time|Thief of Time]]'') the Auditors of Reality are literally faceless, and so devoid of identity that if they show any signs of having one they pop out of existence.

* [[Doctor Who]], of course, employed plenty. Some of the most typical were the War-Lord's goons (presumably of his race) in the last Troughton serial ''The War Games''. Mask obscuring most of the face, vaguely Nazi-like, near-100% fatality rate, almost no kills - doesn't get more [[Faceless Goons]] than that.

* Most Federation soldiers in ''[[Blake's Seven|Blakes Seven7]]'', although there's a deliberate subversion in one episode when a trooper removes his helmet.

* Lannister uniforms in [[Game of Thrones]] include helmets with somewhat impractical folding visors that cover the wearer's face. Seen [http://images5.fanpop.com/image/photos/29400000/Cersei-and-Lannister-soldiers-cersei-lannister-29431415-570-300.jpg here]. This is in marked contrast to the books, where there is no standard uniform for any of the factions beyond a garment bearing some version of your Lord's insignia.

** Greyjoy soldiers also cover their faces with wraps underneath their enormous Wehrmacht cast-off helmets.

* ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined(2004 TV series)|Battlestar Galactica]]''. Cylon [[Mecha-Mooks|Centurions]]. Played initially for laughs in the new series when Baltar is trying to preach to one of these chrome domes, and you can't tell if the Centurion is paying attention or just wondering what this crazy human is babbling on about. Later on, [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|it ends up protecting Baltar with its own body when a warhead hits the ship.]] The series often implies that these [[The Voiceless|voiceless]] death dealers have a rich internal life once they've been released from the lobotomization imposed upon them by the skinjobs, but we never exactly learn how they view their situation.

** The Shadows are not merely faceless, they are invisible.

* Most troops in [[Warhammer 4000040,000]] are either alien monsters or wear full-face helmets, but most squad leaders, special characters, and superior officers are modeled bare-headed, to make them stand out more. Yes, men in suits of [[Powered Armor]] the size of tanks are running around with their heads completely exposed. Good thing 40k snipers haven't learned to hit the weak point [[For Massive Damage]].

** They can smell their enemies that way. https://web.archive.org/web/20130710001235/http://tsoalr.com/?p=796

* Most of the members of the violent "Burners" gang from ''Urban Chaos: Riot Response'' wear painted hockey masks, though unlike most [[Faceless Goons]], they get pretty emotional when screaming profane threats at the [[Player Character]].

* The Nod soldiers in ''[[Command and& Conquer]]: Tiberian Sun'' and more egregiously in ''[[Command and& Conquer]]: Renegade''.

** Armacham's security/mercenary troops play around with this. In the first game, the security guards wear caps and [[Sinister Shades|shades]] but their faces are otherwise visible (and in the expansions, their troops in riot gear wear full-face helmets). In ''Project Origin'' the unarmored Black Ops units wear balaclavas, while the Black Ops assault troops wear helmets and goggles that cover more of their faces, but the elite troops have full-face masks. By ''F.3.A.R.'' the entire Armacham force policing Fairport wears balaclavas, even their helicopter pilots.

* The majority of the Mantel forces in ''[[Haze]]'' -- including—including the main character, who only gets a unique model once he joins the Promise Hand. This is well in line with the game's themes.

** Cocoonian soldiers serve this function in ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]''.

** Played with in ''[[Final Fantasy X -2]]''. The Leblanc Syndicate seems to have an endless number of these, only differentiated by gender-specific uniforms. They're literally called "Goon" or some variant thereof. Goon, She-Goon, Mr. Goon, Ms. Goon, etc. It becomes a plot point later on when the heroines steal a set of uniforms from some female [[Faceless Goons]] and wear them to sneak into Chateau Leblanc.

** Interestingly enough, ''[[Assassin's Creed: Revelations]]'' gives you the option of doing this to your apprentices.

* Because they need helmets to survive in the Schwarzwelt, ''everyone'' in the Strike Team in ''[[Shin Megami Tensei]]: [[Strange Journey]]'', whether they have names or not, winds up a faceless goon. Even [[Hello, Insert Name Here|you]]. This is thanks to the [[Powered Armor|Demonica]]'s head-concealing helmet, which doesn't even have eye-sockets -- itssockets—its "eyes" are actually optical sensors that project an image inside the helmet. Only plot-important characters ever raise the helmet's faceplate to let the player see their faces.

* In ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20130318061244/http://www.drunkduck.com/Harkovast/ Harkovast]'', [[The Nameless]] are a good example of this trope, being an army of warriors who lack not just names but also cannot speak and always have their faces covered by helmets. They are so anonymous that they are the only creatures in [[Harkovast]] who cannot be identified with a real world animal.

* In ''[[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]]'', Tarquin's troops {{spoiler|in all three of his empires and his original one}} are faceless goons.

* ''[[SCP Foundation]]'' has Class D personnel -- thepersonnel—the resident [[Red Shirt|red shirts]] -- wearing—wearing headgear that obscures the top half of their face explicitly to avoid humanization, and thus, the possibility of having regular staff becoming friends with Class D staff.

** Just to make sure you ''really'' don't feel for 'em, D-class personnel aren't technically even employees -- theyemployees—they're criminals who've either been sentenced to life, or were on death row.<ref>or Foundation employees who stepped so far out of line that they probably would end up sentenced to life if such shenanigans ever made it as far as court</ref>. The appeal of being D-class appears to be that you won't be cooped up for long; even if you survive the crazy-dangerous testing for which the position was created, you get terminated at the end of the month, quickly and painlessly.

* ''[[Kim Possible]]'' subverts the trope; Drakken's masked goons are a rare example of faceless [[Punch Clock Villain|Punch Clock Villains]]s.

** Lampshaded with a 50' shade by the two [[Genre Savvy]] henchmen 21 and 24, when they're sent on a mission with the new guy in episode 36. They constantly talk about how he's going to die, while they'll get away scott scot-free.

{{quote| Henchman 21: You still don't get it. 24 and I have been on, like, a thousand missions. We've been shot at, dipped in acid...<br />

Henchman 24: Brock Samson hit me with a car. Drove right into my kidney. Here I am!<br />

Henchman 21: Yeah, we can walk across this floor and nothing would hit us. But then like this huge log would swing down and take your head off.<br />

Henchman 24: Hey, here; what's your name?<br />

Henchman 1: Henchman number 1.<br />

Henchman 24: See, you are nameless.<br />

Henchman 1: I'm Scott Hall, my name is Scott Hall. Okay?<br />

Henchman 24: No, won't help.<br />

Henchman 21: Yeah, now it's just pathos. So you're dying in my lap and I'm all "Scott! Scott don't you quit on us! Don't you dare!!"<br />

Henchman 24: You just made your unavoidable death more pathetic.<br />

** Occasionally masked police or security guards show up to act as [[Red Shirts]].

* Fencing and kendo masks invoke this trope, partially for practical protection, partially for the psychological factor: people instinctively hold back against one another, especially people they know, when using weapons. Hiding the face eases this discomfort, and allows them to go all out against each other.<br /><br />At least for kendo, there is reason to look into your partner's eyes, as letting your eyes wander may give away your intention; but the eyes can remain visible as long as the mask conceals familiar facial features, and swordfighters express far more with their body-language than their eyes, which traditionally are concealed behind a helmet of some sort, anyway.

* The psychological phenomenon [[wikipedia:Deindividuation|deindividuation]] explains part of why this trope might exist. When humans are placed in a group, they're more likely to do things against their moral or social beliefs because they feel anonymous. There's a chance that villains who [[Genre Savvy|know this]] purposefully use [[Faceless Goons]] - it's easier for your soldiers to commit atrocities/be bad when deindividuation is in effect.