History Main / CoolMask

* At least half of the appeal in {{Toys/Bionicle}}. Despite years of similar builds in the toys, there is ''always'' a new set of masks with each set of toys. InUniverse they grant a ton of powers, to name a few: [[BarrierWarrior shielding]], {{flight}}, [[XRayVision x-ray vision]], [[ImprobableAimingSkills accuracy]], [[VisibleInvisibility invisibility]], {{teleportation}}, even [[WindsOfDestinyChange altering probablity]]. (But the series has been {{ReTool}}ed a bit away from this, now including other headgear without powers.)
** A full list: Shielding, Underwater Breathing, Levitation, Strength, Speed, XRayVision, Time, Life, Light, Shadows, Concealment, Translation, Illusions, Night Vision, Mind Control, Telekinesis, Fate, Spirit, Detection, {{Telepathy}}, Flight, Accuracy, Radar, Kindred, Summoning, Stealth, Gravity, Reanimation, Corruption, Hunger, Silence, Repulsion, Disruption, Time Duplication, Diminishment, Clairvoyance, Quick Travel ({{Teleportation}}), Emulation, Growth, Rahi Control (Animal Control), Regeneration, Truth, Dimensional Travel, Charisma, Alternate Futures, {{Psychometry}}, {{Intangibility}}, Possibilities, Elemental Energy, Mutation, Creation, Scavenging, Incomprehension, Adaptation, Sensory Aptitude, Aging, Undeath, Conjuring, Rebounding, Biomechanics, and Fusion.
*** The abstractness of the powers grew as the series aged. One of the very cool features early on was how much the Toa mixed and matched elemental powers and mask powers, [[FridgeBrilliance a lot like]] Franchise/{{Lego}}. Stop a lava flow from damaging an island? Mask of strength and earth elemental powers on the first Toa to dig a trench, mask of speed on the toa behind to push the digger around so that the channel was dug in time.
** Some masks are more powerful than others, and only some actually grant powers at all. Only Toa and Turaga can use them either way. Matoran can sense if a mask has power, but can't use it. So multiple levels of this trope.
** Also, it's a breathing apparatus. [[spoiler: Since the Matoran were designed to live inside the giant robot body of Mata Nui, leaving Metru Nui to go to Mata Nui essentially put them in a toxic atmosphere.]]

* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'': Up until her drastic revamp in ''ComicBook/WonderWomanRebirth'' all versions of Doctor Cyber wore a gilded cybernetic mask/helm with a triangular bit at about mouth height and a recessed black strip beneath her brows in which two pricks of red light indicated her eyes.

** As noted in Western Animation, Cobra Commander usually wears one. Cobra Commander's mask in ''[[Film/GIJoeRetaliation Retaliation]]''? Elicits this [[InUniverse in-universe]] reaction from Zartan: "Cool mask."

* In Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Literature/{{Maskerade}}'', a takeoff of ''Literature/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'', the Opera Ghost is [[spoiler:actually an {{Adorkable}}, pitifully clumsy, shy, and just plain ''weird'' janitor who becomes ultra-coordinated and suave when he wears a mask, through the magic of MagicFeather.]]

* King from ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}''. He wears a mother-flipping LEOPARD MASK, and not just leopard print, no, he looks like a man with a LEOPARD FOR A FACE. And he always straps a tail on his pants for good measure. And his dialogue is always snarls. Same thing applies to his mentor, Armor King, whose mask also has [[MismatchedEyes different colored eyes]], one of which is ''[[RedEyesTakeWarning red]]''. Sadly, Kunimitsu isn't quite as powerful in the games despite her own mask habits.

* [[http://www.adventurers-comic.com/d/0325.html Subverted]] in ''Webcomic/{{Adventurers}}!''.

** Avatar Kyoshi herself, as detailed in her [[Liteature/TheRiseofKyoshi two]] prequel [[Literature/TheShadowOfKyoshi novels]]. Her parents' gang of bandits tell her that "putting on her face" will make her feel more confident, and she comes to agree, relying on the makeup to both hide her identity before she's ready to reveal herself and to help disguise her facial expressions when she's attempting to project a certain mood or air of authority. She and Rangi go so far as to attribute their losing in the final battle to forgetting to put their faces on before fighting someone who knew them before they became ''daofei'' bandits.

* The entire premise of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'' is that Link obtains lots of masks with unique powers. There are 28 obtainable masks in total: Four transformation masks, twenty regular masks that have different effects or uses, and the four masks from bosses that allow Link to refight them without having to go through their dungeons again.

* At least half of the appeal in {{Toys/Bionicle}}. Despite years of similar builds in the toys, there is ''always'' a new set of masks with each set of toys. InUniverse they grant a ton of powers, to name a few: [[BarrierWarrior shielding]], {{flight}}, [[XRayVision x-ray vision]], [[ImprobableAimingSkills accuracy]], [[VisibleInvisibility invisibility]], [[TeleportersAndTransporters teleportation]], even [[WindsOfDestinyChange altering probablity]]. (But the series has been {{ReTool}}ed a bit away from this, now including other headgear without powers.)

* Korekiyo Shinguji from ''VisualNovel/NewDanganRonpaV3'' wears a mask with a zipper that covers the lower half of his face. He even has identical copies of it that can be used for eating, sleeping, etc.! [[spoiler: The mask helps to hide his SplitPersonality based off his deceased older sister. Underneath, he wears lipstick, [[DudeLooksLikeALady which makes him look more feminine.]]]]

* ''WebOriginal/HowToHero'' discusses the need for masks in their [[https://howtohero.tumblr.com/post/159777930244/costumes entry on costumes]].

* In Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Discworld/{{Maskerade}}'', a takeoff of ''Literature/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'', the Opera Ghost is [[spoiler:actually an {{Adorkable}}, pitifully clumsy, shy, and just plain ''weird'' janitor who becomes ultra-coordinated and suave when he wears a mask, through the magic of MagicFeather.]]

** Schwartz Bruder, a helpful "Big Brother" character from ''[[Anime/MobileFighterGGundam G Gundam]]'', and the Gundam Fighter from Neo Germany who always follows the protagonist, Domon Kasshu, around like a "Chief Rival." However (as the name implies) well into the series, Schwarz Bruder is revealed to be none other than the protagonist's own actual brother (or at least a nanomachine copy of his conscience) meant to toughen Domon up to take down the Big Bad. "[[Anime/SpeedRacer Racer X]]" anyone?

** Rau Le Creuset and Neo Roanoke in ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeed Gundam SEED]]'' and ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeedDestiny Gundam SEED Destiny]]'' respectively. Neo's hiding scars (and his identity from the audience), Rau's hiding from the sight of his own face and attempting to create an [[CloningBlues independent identity]] for himself. Both are extremley dangerous, with Neo serving as a BadassNormal [[TheDragon Dragon]] to Destiny's secondary BigBad, and Le Creuset functioning, in no particular order, as [[spoiler: BigBad, OmnicidalManiac (WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds version)]], and one of the best pilots in all of SEED.

* Papillion Mask from ''Manga/BusouRenkin'' may be the only homunculus to wear a large face mask, depending on whether or not Moon Face's actual head is shaped like the moon. And Papillion Mask is probably the strongest, smartest, and most ambitious 'normal' human homunculus in the series.

** So, Fezzik was wrong when he told Inigo, "People in masks cannot be trusted."

* Radio/TheLoneRanger! (Who was that masked man?)

** Subverted by Kylo Ren, heir apparent to Vader's status as TheDragon of the sequel trilogy. He wears a pretty badass Vader-inspired mask through most of his first appearance in ''Film/TheForceAwakens'', but instead of amplifying his voice like Vader, it muffles it and makes it harder to understand him, an unfortunate side effect that Poe Dameron wastes no time mocking. Ren goes maskless in what are arguably his most intimidating scenes in the film (the interrogation of Rey, killing his father, and the final duel). In the sequel, ''Film/TheLastJedi'', he wears the mask for one scene before Snoke insults him for imitating Vader, and Ren smashes it to pieces.

* Comes up on occasion, especially Mexican ''lucha libre'' - major lucha libre feuds can culminate in a "mask vs mask" match, where the loser is required to publicly unmask themselves and have their real name revealed.
** Wrestling/ElSanto is perhaps the ultimate example. There is only one known occasion where he was publically seen without the mask. When he died, they buried him in it.
** The local sports commissions actually enforce these "matches of bets" -- ''luchas de apuestas'' -- in that the wrestler can no longer don the mask, at least in the locality involved!

* In possibly a tradition borrowed from luchador Wrestling/ElSanto, nearly all masked wrestlers have a secondary goal of keeping their masks on. If unmasked, they will immediately try to flee the ring or cover their faces with their hands. Thus, being unmasked generally robs a masked wrestler of their ability.
** However, in cases where a known wrestler is using a mask to hide their identity to get a match with a cowed rival, when they unmask, they become more powerful. One example would be Wrestling/DeanMalenko wearing a mask as Ciclope to get to his then-rival, Wrestling/ChrisJericho. However, this had been done before in the Atlantic Grand Prix Wrestling promotion in the Maritimes in 1980, when Leo Burke used this approach to get a title shot against "Dr. D" David Schultz.
* In American promotions, masked wrestlers have cycled in and out of popularity.
** In the 50s and earlier, masked wrestlers were considered one of the worst things in wrestling. Only pathetic undercarders wore masks, so that people wouldn't see who it was getting their asses kicked. (This often occurred, even later, with "Parts Unknown" wrestlers like "Mr. X"; in other words, known performers who are put out there to fill a slot on the card and do the job.)
** The pendulum swung the other way in the 60s and 70s; The Destroyer, Mr. Wrestling I & II, The Masked Superstar, The Assassins, The Spoiler/Super Destroyer were all major stars in America and Japan.
** In the 80s and 90s, Wrestling/BigVanVader, Wrestling/{{M|ick Foley}}ankind, and The Warlord were further unusual examples in that their masks did not conceal their identities; the masks were props reinforcing the wrestler's [[spoiler: TooKinkyToTorture]] images. American wrestlers with more traditional mask styles, such as [[Wrestling/DelWilkes The Patriot]] and The Killer Bees, never rose above mid-carder status.
** Wrestling/RonSimmons and Butch Reed began their time as Doom in traditional masks, but in a complete inversion of the trope only won the Wrestling/{{WCW}} World Tag belts ''after'' they were forced to unmask by the Steiner Brothers.
** The real life tragedy of [[Wrestling/OwenHart The Blue Blazer]] seems to have, among other things, ended use of the traditional mask by non-luchadores, at least in WWE.
** On the other hand, from the 90s to the present, Wrestling/ReyMysterioJr is the most famous of the [[MaskedLuchador masked luchadores]] to become superstars north of the border as well.
* The mask is also closely related to the CharlieBrownFromOuttaTown angles, where a banished/disgraced wrestler returns with a not-very-disguising mask under a different name to try to "clear" the banned wrestler (ie himself)'s name. Longtime fans still debate the ''least'' effective masked identity ever: [[Wrestling/DustyRhodes The Midnight Rider]] or [[Wrestling/AndreTheGiant Giant Machine]]. [[Wrestling/HulkHogan Mr. America]] wasn't particularly mysterious either.

* Percy De Rolo in the first campaign of ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'' had a bird-style mask that he wore during his time as "No Mercy Percy".

* King from ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}''. He wears a mother-flipping LEOPARD MASK, and not just leopard print, no, he looks like a man with a LEOPARD FOR A FACE. And he always straps a tail on his pants for good measure. And his dialogue is always snarls. Sadly, Kunimitsu isn't quite as powerful in the games despite her own mask habits.