The Faceless: Difference between revisions

== Advertisements[[Advertising]] ==

* In Venezuela, there is this beer ad that features a [[Ms. Fanservice]] known as "la catira Regional" ("the Regional blonde", for the brand of the beer), who's always [http://www.google.co.ve/imgres?imgurl=http://2.bp.blogspot.com/__W1w33M6yfE/R7EbRmhcrxI/AAAAAAAAAnY/Ox6uHBL1kQ4/s400/CatiraRegional13.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp%3FTID3D53594%26PN%3D15&usg=__YSFIr_y0hWoZH9W_TftRbWdlWIg=&h=166&w=400&sz=23&hl=es&start=8&zoom=1&tbnid=Z5AfnFPokma4gM:&tbnh=51&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dla%2Bcatira%2Bregional%26um%3D1%26hl%3Des%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:es-ES:official%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D610%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1 in a bikini] [http://www.google.co.ve/imgres?imgurl=http://www.mercadolibre.com.ve/jm/img%3Fs%3DMLV%26f%3D24435414_8152.jpg%26v%3DE&imgrefurl=http://articulo.mercadolibre.com.ve/MLV-25372720-ccce2008-la-catira-regional-poza-vasos-sexys-cervezas-_JM&usg=__prdkA_3cYIrqp2woSfgwQsZJAYQ=&h=280&w=280&sz=11&hl=es&start=19&zoom=1&tbnid=BCFxLS0TMJZpiM:&tbnh=145&tbnw=175&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dla%2Bcatira%2Bregional%26um%3D1%26hl%3Des%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:es-ES:official%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D610%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C502&um=1&itbs=1&ei=kafDTO_bHcH6lwe5ir0H&iact=hc&vpx=606&vpy=254&dur=2090&hovh=224&hovw=224&tx=103&ty=72&oei=D6bDTImCHYL98Abc45TfBA&esq=17&page=2&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:10,s:19&biw=1280&bih=610 or some] [https://web.archive.org/web/20121031233637/http://dawarg.blogab.com/archives/261-La-catira-vestida-y-Regional-Pilsen-con-nueva-imagen.html other revealing outfit]. But everybody is more concerned about why she never shows her face: would she be ugly? Would she be a man...? And, not happy with making the whole country be worried about this matter, after years of teasing [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9glHiGiCy-U they make this], where you can see her face very briefly for some seconds. Isn't it cruel?

== [[Anime]] &and [[Manga]] ==

* In the ''[[GetBackers]]'' anime, whenever Raitei and the original Four Kings are shown in flashback, the 4th King, Kurusu Masaki is always hidden in shadow ([[Fridge Brilliance]] because he has the superhuman power to generate/manipulate light) and only his blackened silouhette is shown. This lasts until the first episode of the final story arc, where he is formally introduced

* ''[[Revolutionary Girl Utena]]'' uses this trope extensively, in many different ways. Primarily there's the Shadow Girls, who are always putting on a shadow play and thus are only ever seen in shadow. All parents have their faces hidden as well, and ''everyone'' has their face hidden in flashbacks, even characters whose faces we normally see. Oddly, nothing obstructs the viewer from seeing their faces—their faces are simply not shown, appearing instead as a blank spaceblack silhouette.

** One [https://web.archive.org/web/20120512204747/http://read.mangashare.com/Naruto/chapter-016/page002.html manga chapter cover] shows him in bed maskless but has him covering his face with his cover and hand.

* ''[[Ghost in the Shell|Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex]]'' has the [[wikipedia:Laughing Man (Ghost in the Shell)|Laughing Man]], who is such a competent hacker that he censors out his own face with a logo not only from any simple cameras that see him, but from the computerized brains of anyone who looks at him, in real time. Of course, he is revealed to viewers around halfway through, {{spoiler|and he also shows himself to Section 9 after the main conflict is resolved}}.

* An ''[[The X-Files|X-Files]]'' comic about the Fatima Prophecies had a scene with the Pope and a military commander discussing the third (unopened) prophecy. They were no backgrounds or faces, just the two symbolic outfits of "military" and "church".

* The Nazgul from ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''. Their faces aren't ''hidden;'' rather they Nazgul are completely ''invisible'' to the normal world, and Frodo can see them when he puts on the Ring at Weathertop (clearly in the book, distorted in the movie). If the Nazgul take off their robes, living people see nothing; this is revealed in the end, where (in the book, and partially in the film) the head Nazgul takes off his hood, showing a crown sitting atop an invisible head.

* ''[[Octopussy]]''{{'}}s face is obscured when Kamal Kahn goes to see her early in the movie; only her hands are shown as she feeds her pet octopus while talking to Kahn. This, plus the way he takes orders from her and the fact that the movie is ''named'' after her made it seem like she would be the [[Big Bad]] and not him.

* The driver of the semi in Steven Spielberg's ''[[Duel (film)|Duel]]''. Because the ''truck'' is the important character.

* An in-universe example actually happens to Mike Wazowski in the film ''[[Monsters, Inc.]]'', who for some reason, ''always'' has his entire face covered up in every single media he's appeared in, such as a commercial, a magazine, and even the DVD! (the hole in the middle of the DVD was actually placed in a way so that it too covered Mike's face). A more straight example would be a [[Godzilla]] [[Expy|stand-in]] named Ted, who for some reason is seen only from the legs down and clucks like a chicken (he was originally going to sound exactly like Godzilla himself, but the idea was refused due to copyright reasons). A blooper at the end of the film actually revealed that his upper body actually belonged to [[Toy Story (franchise)||Rex]], here portrayed as a normal-sized [[Tyrannosaurus Rex]] instead of a plastic toy.

* In ''[[Let Me In]]'', the English-language remake of ''[[Let the Right One In]]'', a clever stylistic choice signifies how it is a film principally about children ([[Not Growing Up Sucks|more or less]]), where the adult characters are mostly peripheral and often fleeting. Owen's island-like status is emphasised by his absent father only making one scene, by telephone, and his mother – a fairly constant presence in the book – appears numerous times yet is ''never once seen properly on camera'': she varies from being a distant figure, a ghostly reflection or obscured by a door, to fully visible yet thrown way out of focus or seen only from the neck down; even a passport-type photo glimpsed in her wallet is crumpled to the point of indistinguishability.

* ''[[E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial|ET the Extraterrestrial]]'': With the exception of Elliot's mother, the audience doesn't see the faces of any adults until the final third of the movie, playing up the perspective from a child's POV.

* In ''[[JuliasJulia's Eyes]]'', during the middle of the film, in which Julia has her eyes bandaged, everyone she interacts with has their face obscured to the viewer; either we see them from behind or their head is cut off by the camera.

* Gene Hackman's employer in ''[[The Conversation]]'' is only ever seen in shadows. Made all the more tantalizing because he's played by a very famous actor, who was unbilled in the film's original release, leading many viewers to say [[Hey, It's That Guy!|'hey, is it really that guy?']]

== [[Literature]] ==

* In [[James Swallow]]'s ''[[Warhammer 4000040,000]]'' ''[[Blood Angels|Red Fury]]'', the Angels Sanguine wear their face-concealing helmets even among their fellow Space Marines, also sons of Sanguinius; they only take them off when among themselves, and even there, they wear face shadowing hoods.

* Wilson on ''[[Home Improvement (TV series)|Home Improvement]]'' had the lower half of his face obscured by the fence in his yard; this later turned into a [[Running Gag]] where his face was half-obscured by other objects in scenes that didn't take place in the yard, and at least one instance where the ''top'' half of his face obscured but not the bottom half. In at least one press conference in real life, Wilson's actor, the late Earl Hindman, wore a miniature white picket fence over the lower half of his face. Another clip showing the curtain call at the end of the taping of one show also showed him holding a miniature white picket fence over his face. One Halloween episode had him dressed up as [[The Phantom of the Opera]], with the mask covering the ''upper'' half of his face., Wilson made a couple appearances with face-paint on as opposed to a foreign object between him and the camera. Another episode had him completely on-camera in Renaissance Faire costume, wearing a fake beard. Another showed him wearing a particle mask while helping Tim paint a house. His face is finally revealed in the 'behind the scenes' episode.

* Norm's wife Vera on ''[[Cheers]]''. Usually [[The Ghost]], she appeared in a couple of episodes as a sillouettesilhouette, and in one episode is fully visablevisible in the door of the bar ... just after being hit in the face with a custard pie.

* Captain Boday on ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine|Star Trek Deep Space Nine]]'', though that was presumably due to his allegedly squick-inducing transparent skull.

* Anubis on ''[[Stargate SG-1|Stargate SG 1]]'' is completely covered by a [[Black Cloak]] for the majority of his appearances. It [[The Reveal|turns out]] that {{spoiler|he doesn't ''have'' a face, since he has partially [[Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence|Ascended To A Higher Plane Of Existence]] and is an [[Energy Beings|energy being]]. He still has a ''skull'', though, and at one point allows it to become visible to freak out his enemies}}.

* Hello, ''[[Rhoda]]'', "This is Carlton, your doorman." Played by Lorenzo Music, he wwaswas only a voice on the intercom.

* "Charlie" from the 1970's TV series ''[[Charlie's Angels|Charlies Angels]].''

* ''[[100 Deeds for Eddie McDowd|One Hundred Deeds for Eddie Mcdowd]]'' has the titular character as The Faceless prior to becoming a dog (and since the show's been canceled, viewers will never know what Eddie [[Mc Dowd]]McDowd looked like before he became a dog).

* ''[[Saturday Night Live]]''{{'}}s "The Continental" sketches have never shown the face of the woman who always visits (and ends up running from) The Continental, only showing the woman's hands (and, on one occasion, her legs and feet). It should be noted that the original version of the show from the 1950s did the same thing (use subjective camera angles to to make female audiences believe they were being romanced through their TV sets), making the sketch accurate for the most part.

* Art Ofof Noise were intended at the very beginning to be a faceless non-group - in live performances, all the members tended to wear iconically-designed masks, and publicity shots were generally of things like spanners (with the ostensible reason that "[[Take That|A spanner is intrinsically more interesting than the lead singer of Tears for Fears]]". This was mainly at the insistence of the record company - the masks got dropped swiftly when the band jumped ship.

* MF DOOM always performs with an iron mask covering most of his face.

** ''[[Mad Magazine]]'' did a spoof that revealed his secret - he's actually an ugly little man who is chased by women because he happens to have a $100 bill stuck between his front teeth.

* ''[[Beetle Bailey]]''—Bettle—Beetle's eyes have never, ever been seen. Even before he was in the army, he had a hat pulled down low to hide them. They probably just look like dots, though. An early strip confirms your theory. Also, Mort Walker allegedly mentioned Beetle's eyes as being "India ink" -colored. Makes sense.

* Taokaka and the rest of the Kaka clan from ''[[Blaz BlueBlazBlue]]'' wear [[In the Hood|hooded jackets]] that show nothing of their face except glowing eyes—red, for Taokaka—and a mouth full of sharp fangs. They probably look like normal catpeople under the hoods, though. Probably.

* ''[[Chzo Mythos|]]'': Trilby's]] face is never shown in detail; during the ending of ''The Art of Theft'', he's only shown from the nose down, his eyes shadowed.

* The ''[[Nancy Drew (video game)|Nancy Drew]]'' game ''Danger By Design'' features an eccentric fashion designer who's begun wearing a mask all the time. Solve the crime, and you earn [[The Reveal]] that {{spoiler|she's hiding a really stupid tattoo on her cheek.}}

* Both protagonists of the ''[[BioShock (series)|BioShock]]'' series, [[Heroic Mime|who never speak either]]. The latter is a Big Daddy, who is The Faceless by definition.

* The Assassin from ''[[Monday Night Combat]]''.

* The ''[[Zettai Ryouiki NEW]]'' android app from Hastysoft stars a busty redheaded girl whose eyes are never shown - even in angles that would, she does the developers the favour of covering them with her hands!

* The Shy Guys from the ''[[Super Mario]]'' series. They all wear masks, and the trope is played straight even through Mario Power Tennis, where the Shy Guy's mask comes off during a cutscene. Luigi is the only one who sees its face, and all we get is his [[Reaction Shot]]. This is also played straight in Luigi's Mansion where, AGAIN''again'', Luigi is the only one who sees them sans masks... but all you see is two yellow eyes in a dark void, meaning that they still count, specially since it's implied that they aren't "real" ghosts, but creations of Vincent Van Gore.

* The ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' series has a few examples, most notably the various ninjas, though a couple of them have appeared unmasked, and Kabal. In Kabal's case, it's because his face was scarred in an unknown accident that requires him to constantly wear a mask that doubles as a respirator. One of his fatalities does involve him removing the mask, causing his opponent to literally die of fright upon seeing his uncovered face. A pre-scarring Kabal appeared without a mask in Shaolin Monks, but it doesn't really count snce that game is not canon to the main series.

** When he wore dark glasses as part of a disguise, he [https://web.archive.org/web/20090723213119/http://www.funnyfarmcomics.com/w/20030922.html sometimes] displayed [[Scary Shiny Glasses]] instead (even though you couldn't see his eyes anyway...)

* In ''[http://strangecandy.net/ Okashina Okashi]'', Dahlia, a mysterious female assassin, always hides in the shadows - even in an open battlefield. [http://strangecandy.net/d/20061026.html\]{{Dead link}}

* Black Mage in ''[[8-Bit Theater|8-bit Theater]]'' always kept his face hidden in the shade beneath his hat: {{spoiler|This was because his face [[Alien Geometries|didn't conform to euclidianEuclidian geometry]], and therefore looking upon it could [[Brown Note|drive people insane]].}}

* ''[[PvP]]'' also has a minor character ([https://web.archive.org/web/20110717220309/http://www.pvponline.com/2008/08/19/the-bonnie-situation-part-seven/ Jase's girlfriend, Bonnie]) whose face is obscured by her own speech bubbles.

* ''IGSRJ'', a parody of [[The Angry Video Game Nerd]] and the [[Irate Gamer]]. Furthermore, IGSRJ [[Synthetic Voice Actor|speaks through a text-to-speech program]], making his voice hidden too.

* Though his face is illustrated on the website, [[Red Letter MediaRedLetterMedia|Mr. Plinkett's]] face is never seen in his reviews - only his hands, present in first person perspective.

* ''[[Todd in the Shadows]]'' (either [[Face Framed in Shadow]], filmed with his back at the camera, or [https://web.archive.org/web/20130728014452/http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo/2027320900106978597ZwpGhZ masked]).

* The Chief from ''[[Agents of Cracked]]'' is always lit from behind. Lampshaded in the first episode of the second series, when the Sarge points out that the Chief's office always has terrible lighting.

* Let's not forget every single character in ''[[Red vs. Blue]]''. Lampshaded in Season Three when it's revealed that they don't even take their armor off when they're off-camera (with the exception of Donut, apparently and unsurprisingly, and possibly Grif and Simmons when they were in surgery), as Church has no idea what if Tucker is black or not. Tucker's more upset that Church doesn't even know his first name, though.

* Doctor Claw from the animated ''[[Inspector Gadget]]'' (who wasn't just faceless, he was mostly bodiless; only his arms and hands were ever shown). This was later ruined by a toy that ''did'' show his face and body (and utterly destroyed his coolness factor by presenting him as [https://web.archive.org/web/20061019142830/http://www.progressiveboink.com/archive/drclaw.html a skinny white-haired man with a twisted-lip sneer]), and also to a somewhat lesser extent by a Super Nintendo game that showed half his face in the final battle (where he was at least given glowing eyes). The toy went out of its way to play it up, too. The packaging specifically covered his face with a sign, informing potential buyers that they would have to buy the package to see what he looked like.

** ''[[G.I. Joe: Renegades]]'' continues the tradition. We see only ''part'' of Cobra Commander's face. Destro is introduced prior to getting his mask but he gets it soon after, and Snake Eyes's remains mostly hidden, except for [[The Un-Reveal]] in one episode, when Zartan tried to steal his mask, and then promptly gave it back after commenting that Snake Eyes needed it more.

* The original shorts of ''[[The Fairly Odd ParentsOddParents]]'' had Timmy's [[Unnamed Parent]]s are (like the ones from ''Cow and Chicken'') never shown from the waist up, but when it was made into its own show the parents' faces were seen.

* Orko's people in the ''[[He-Man and the Masters of the Universe|He-Man]]'' universe (called Trollians in the 2002 version) keep their faces concealed under wide-brimmed hats and behind scarves or veils; all that is visible are glowing yellow eyes in the shadows, and pointy blue ears sticking through the hat. It is explained in one episode that showing one's face to another being is, in their culture, at a level of intimacy on par with getting engaged.

* In ''[[Batman: The Brave And The Bold|Batmanand the Brave And The Bold]]'', Bruce Wayne is ''never'' seen without his mask. If he's not wearing it, he'll be in shadow until he is. Finally averted in "Chill In The Night", where he unmasks himself to Joe Chill, the man who killed Thomas and Martha Wayne, just to strike a whole other level of fear into the guy.

* In ''[[Batman: The Animated Series|Batman the Animated Series]]'', there's an episode, "P.O.V.", which features a ''very'' puzzling example of this trope. Batman and three of the Gotham Police Department's detectives work together (though they don't officially team up) to bring down a crime ring. The [[Big Bad]] in charge of the gang is always seen either in shadow or partially in shadow, so we can only see the outline of his face and some of his more notable facial features. He looks suspiciously like The Penguin (short and bespectacled), but obviously can't be because (if the basic shape of his face is any indication) he is not at all disfigured like the Penguin. What makes him an especially frustrating character is the fact that Batman apparently knows who he is, ''but he won't tell us''! And as if all that weren't mysterious enough, this villain is [[The Voiceless]] as well!

* In ''[[X-Men: Evolution]]'', Magneto's almost always wears his psi-blocking helmet, as in most versions, but here the helmet's shadow often obscures his face as well, leaving only his eyes (which glow white when he's using or about to use his powers) visible. If Magento has the helmet on and the shadow isn't there, he's usually about to be given either a [[Pet the Dog]] or a moment of weakness- in other words, something that humanizes him. If the shadow's there, he'll usually be in straight villain mode. His face was revealed at the end of the first season, and from then on we see it even when he is wearing the helmet. Its implied that his earlier "appearances" were actually astral projection, and this Magneto appears to have more developed telepathic powers than other versions.

* ''[[Wakfu]]''{{'}}s [[Big Bad|Nox]] removes his [[Cool Mask]] exactly once during the main series—with his back to the camera. His face is shown during his [[Start of Darkness]] episode, however.

* God in ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]''. His face is always just out of frame. This is easy to pull off since he's much taller than anyone else (being God and all.)

* Lt. Anna Baldavic from ''[[The Venture Bros]]''.

== [[Real Life]] ==