Line #62 Main/Faceship


1	[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/small_starship_mario.png]]]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Well, at least you'll never lose it in a parking lot.]]
3
4	->'''Mei Ling:''' [Meta Knight] also commands the Halberd, a flying battleship.\
5	'''Snake:''' Mm, I've seen it. The bow looks like his mask. What kind of weirdo puts his face on the bow of a ship, anyway?
6	-->-- '''[[VideoGame/MetalGear Snake]]''''s codec call regarding [[Franchise/{{Kirby}} Meta Knight]], ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl''
7
8	%%One quote is enough. Besides, the trope naming quote has nothing to do with this trope.
9
10	So, your airship/spaceship/boat/car or other vehicle is already [[RuleOfCool cool]] as it is. However, it seems to be missing something. How can you make it cooler? With your own self-image, of course!
11
12	A faceship is any vehicle or ship that has the likeness of a character's face or the entire character built on it, usually its pilot or Captain. Villains have a tendency to use these, either for the purpose of intimidation or due to their [[SmallNameBigEgo huge ego]], but heroes can ride in these as well (see image at right for a hero's example). If the design isn't the owner's face real face but the design of their distinctive mask or helmet, it gets a bit more plausible, but it can make it less obvious which came first.
13
14	Alternately, instead of a face, the front will be a [[NothingButSkulls skull]], for the extra intimidation factor.
15
16	Often overlaps with CoolStarship, CoolAirship, CoolBoat, or CoolCar. If the face has a mouth that can swallow things, it's a MegaMawManeuver. Villainous versions overlap with MalevolentMugshot. This is a {{Subtrope}} of {{Thememobile}}.
17
18	----
19	!!Examples
20
21	[[foldercontrol]]
22
23	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
24	* The ships of Shangri'La in ''{{Anime/Noein}}'' have the form of multi-faced floating statues.
25	* Team Rocket's Meowth Balloon from ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries''. Also, their Magikarp (originally a Gyarados) submarine.
26	* In the ''Mazinger'' series:
27	** ''Anime/MazingerZ'': Dr. Hell's CoolShip s and {{Cool Airship}}s often have a face built on them.
28	** ''Anime/GreatMazinger'': And so did Mykeros and Demonika, Mykene Empire Cool Airships and airborne carriers. Mykeros had multiple faces built along its entire perimeter in reality were gates to launch the {{Robeast}}s.
29	** ''Anime/UFORoboGrendizer'': When Grendizer transformed into a Starship, his face appeared situated on the bow. Several Vegan Starships also had a face on the frontside.
30	* While most of the [[HumongousMecha Gunmen]] in ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' are face-shaped, the Anti-Spirals have several spaceship models based on body parts, including faces. It is ''incredibly'' creepy. Chouginga Dai-Gurren also counts. It's essentially a huge transforming robot, which spends more of its screen-time as a giant ship. It's ship-form is basically the Anime/SpaceBattleshipYamato with a face slapped onto the front.
31	* Subverted in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'': the ''Falmel'', Char Aznable's personal ''Musai''-class cruiser, may have a bridge tower customized to be vaguely reminiscent of his helmet and mask, but it was already there ''before'' Char was given it by admiral Dozle Zabi, who has been seen commanding Zeon's fleet at Loum from either the ''Falmel'' itself or a cruiser with the same modification. The latter is explicitely the case in the retelling ''Manga/MobileSuitGundamTheOrigin'': Dozle commanded the Battle of Loum from the ''Valkirye'', [[AceCustom a command modification that includes that bridge design, improved communication suite, and point defense]], and later had the ''Falmel'' customized in the same way before assigning it to Char.
32	* Benjamin Gundam V2 from ''Anime/SDGundamWorldHeroes'' captains a ship that has a Gundam face at the bow. [[TransformingVehicle It can also transform into a submarine.]]
33	[[/folder]]
34
35	[[folder:Asian Animation]]
36	* ''Animation/HappyHeroes'': The spaceship Big M. and Little M. are using right before they're sent falling to Planet Xing is designed to look like an imposing-looking helmet, with the front windows resembling eyes.
37	[[/folder]]
38
39	[[folder:Comic Books]]
40	* ''ComicBook/AngryBirdsComicsGamePlay'': The submarine in ''Operation Nautilus'' looks a little like a pig's head.
41	* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'': The Batmobile sometimes has his masked face on it. One time, ComicBook/TheJoker decided he should have something like that and created the Jokermobile, which has his face on it.
42	* The Blitzspear from ''ComicBook/NemesisTheWarlock'' -- a reverse example, in that the Blitzspear appeared several episodes before Nemesis himself, and the artist decided that when Nemesis himself finally appeared, the face would be based off the car.
43	* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'':
44	** In "ComicBook/BrainiacRebirth", Brainiac rebuilds himself like a skeletal robot, and builds a ship which looks right like his skull, with CombatTentacles attached to the base. "ComicBook/SupermanBrainiac" reintroduces his skull ship to the Post-Crisis continuity.
45	** In ''ComicBook/KingdomCome'', Dr. Sivana's head appears in the form of a tentacled faceship similar to Brainiac's, slaughtering the Marvel Family in a movie sequence made to torture a grown-up Billy Batson into submission to Lex Luthor's will.
46	** ''ComicBook/PowerGirl2009'' has Vartox's ''Intergalactic Headship'', shaped like his head.
47	* From ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'', Rodimus has one (which he dubs the [[http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Rodpod "Rodpod"]]) in ''ComicBook/TransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye''. It's absolutely ''hideous'', and the rest of the ''Lost Light'' crew loathes it (at one point Whirl vents by attacking it with a metal 2x4). Still, after the original is blown up they decide to build a new one anyway, and Rodimus admits that most people are pretty decent.
48	-->'''Perceptor:''' We're not locking the Rodpod?\
49	'''Skids:''' Hopefully someone will steal it.
50	* In ''ComicBook/PaperinikNewAdventures'' the Evronian SigilSpam of duck bills is applied even to starships, resulting in the front of their ships vaguely looking like an eyeless Evronian.
51	* The ''ComicBook/RatMan1989'' comic strips in the ''Roland Rat'' [[TheChristmasAnnual Christmas Annuals]] reinvent the Ratmobile (which in the puppet shows is a bright pink Ford Anglia) as a racer shaped like Roland's head, with exhaust "whiskers" and a giant version of his omnipresent sunglasses as the windscreen.
52	* In ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogIDW'', Eggman's main flying fortress and production and distribution method of the Metal Virus was actually called "The Faceship". It would offload its payload by ''vomiting floods of the Metal Virus over towns and cities.''
53	[[/folder]]
54
55	[[folder:Fan Works]]
56	* ''Fanfic/ACrownOfStars'': The HMS Asuka Langley Sohryu is a moon-sized starship. It has a 1000 kilometre tall picture of Asuka painted on its hull, wearing her plug-suit.
57	[[/folder]]
58
59	[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
60	* The "Pink Elephants on Parade" sequence from ''WesternAnimation/{{Dumbo}}'' ends with all of the pink elephants turning into various vehicles that look like them before finally exploding, [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment never to be seen, heard, or mentioned again.]]
61	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperMarioBrosMovie'':
62	** The Shy Guys and Shifit take Luigi to Bowser in a Shy Guy-shaped hot air balloon; the balloon itself is the hood, while the basket is the mask.
63	** Bowser's castle and kingdom is itself a massive floating chunk of land he controls, with a gigantic bust of his face on the front.
64	* [[MeanCharacterNiceActor Hamm/The Evil Doctor Porkchop]] was briefly seen piloting a blimp shaped like him during the opening credits of ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3''.
65	** Also, the ''Toy Story'' Hot Wheels die-cast toyline, which comprises of cars shaped like various characters from this film series.
66	** And the Disney Racers die-cast toyline, which is sold exclusively at the Ride/DisneyThemeParks.
67	[[/folder]]
68
69	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
70	* Dr. Evil's sub from ''[[Film/AustinPowersInGoldmember Goldmember]]''.
71	* [[TheDragon Megatron's]] [[TankGoodness tank mode]] from ''Film/TransformersRevengeOfTheFallen'' for some reason has his face on the front.
72	* The film ''Film/MeetDave'' is built around this trope-specifically Eddie Murphy's character who's a Faceship for a bunch of tiny aliens, commanded by Eddie Murphy's ''[[ActingForTwo other]]'' character.
73	* In Creator/StephenKing's ''Film/MaximumOverdrive'', the BigBad is a "Happy Toyz" truck with a [[ComicBook/NormanOsborn Green Goblin]] {{Expy}} built onto the front.
74	* In ''Film/TheIcePirates'', a group of evil SpacePirates come after Jason and Princess Karina in a huge land vehicle with a giant spiked skull built onto the front.
75	[[/folder]]
76
77	[[folder:Literature]]
78	* ''Literature/TroyRising'': features a mobile asteroid with a Spartan head carved into its surface.
79	* The crab-like Prador that inhabit Neal Asher's ''Literature/ThePolity'' universe feature this trope by shaping their ships roughly in their own image, a slightly flattened pear.
80	[[/folder]]
81
82	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
83	* The masks worn by ''Series/KamenRiderDenO'''s various forms also adorn the cars of the [=DenLiner=] train.
84	[[/folder]]
85
86	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
87	* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': The sample dwarven spaceship in ''TabletopGame/SpellJammer'' is shaped like a giant dwarf's head. In 5e ''Spelljammer,'' the tyrant ship, created by beholders, is shaped like a beholder.
88	* ''TabletopGame/FleetsThePleiadConflict'': The ''Sparta'''s prow is shaped like an ancient Greek helmet.
89	* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' features [[https://scryfall.com/card/bro/237/liberator-urzas-battlethopter Liberator, Urza's Battlethopter]], an attack helicopter with the face of its creator Urza.
90	[[/folder]]
91
92	[[folder:Toys]]
93	* ''Film/TheMask'' got ''two'' in the toyline -- the Mask-Mobile and the Mask Cycle. The first is notable for appearing in both the [[WesternAnimation/TheMask animated series]] and in ''Film/SonOfTheMask'', and the second is a two-for-one Facemobile: its sidecar carries Milo, and has a replica of Milo's grimacing green Mask face on it. Both of these are justified examples of the trope, even for a toy--the Mask can customize an ordinary car or motorbike just by sitting on it!
94	* ''Toys/{{BIONICLE}}'': The Toa Terrain Crawler's visage is very similar to the [[MaskOfPower Kanohi Faxon]] worn by Hahli. Being that it's a living creature fitted to be used as a diving vehicle, it's more coincidental than anything.
95	* Hot Wheels has a line of ''Franchise/StarWars'' themed vehicles, some of which seem to be characters' heads or faces turned into cars.
96	[[/folder]]
97
98	[[folder:Video Games]]
99	* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'':
100	** The TropeNamer is Starship Mario, a spaceship/planetoid from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2'', where Lubba comments that it's less like a spaceship and more like a [[{{Pun}} faceship]].
101	** In ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBrosWii'', the airship that Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings ride has Bowser's face as the figurehead.
102	** In ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBrosU'', the Koopalings all have airships that each have their individual faces on them. Bowser's airship from ''NSMBW'' also returns as their mothership.
103	* The [[VideoGame/{{Kirby}} Battleship Halberd]] has its captain Meta Knight's mask on it. Which is lampshaded by [[VideoGame/MetalGear Solid Snake and Mei Ling]] in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Brawl.''
104	* ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird'' has the "Gatmobile", which is a big ol' van with a Gat head for a front end, usually ridden by a Saints mascot wearing a large Gat mask. It's not unique (although [[MetalSlime you'll probably think it is]]) and it's implied to be one of the parts of the Saints turning into pop-culture icons. Oh, and it doubles as the most durable vehicle that isn't a Tank, and as a result, doesn't cause mass panic when it's driven.
105	* In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'', Snake encounters Liquid Ocelot's base of operations, Outer Haven, which for strange reasons, has the faces of Solidus Snake, Liquid Snake, Solid Snake and Big Boss on it that resemble Mt. Rushmore.
106	* ''VideoGame/{{Neptunia}} V'' has a really strange one; Creator/KeijiInafune's [[http://www.siliconera.com/2012/05/11/neptunia-v-has-an-even-crazier-keiji-inafune-cameo/ face on a plane.]]
107	* Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik from ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' series makes plenty of ships that have his face on it, most notably the Death Egg.
108	* The Huge Spaceship in ''VideoGame/LittleBigPlanet 2'' looks like the Enterprise with Sackboy's head.
109	* In the opening stage of ''VideoGame/StarFoxAssault'', Andrew (the nephew of the late Emperor Andross) transforms his flagship into a gigantic replica of his head as [[ContinuityNod a homage]] to the final battle of ''VideoGame/StarFox64'', where you fought Andross (who was nothing more than a giant disembodied head and hands).
110	* The GangplankGalleon from ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'' has King K. Rool's head as the figurehead. Furthermore, his airship, the Flying Krock, has a cockpit shaped like a crocodile head.
111	* ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'': Samus Aran's Gunship throughout its various incarnations usually seems to be designed with Samus' helmet at the front. Granted, it's not really her face, just the helmet that she wears.
112	* General Skun-ka'pe's ship in ''[[VideoGame/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse]]'' looks like the head of a gorilla. The mouth opens to reveal the hatch, and the tongue is the ramp/escalator.
113	* The Stinkowing (a fighter jet shaped like Stinkoman's mask) from ''VideoGame/Stinkoman20X6''.
114	* While Ganon himself doesn't appear in it, the Demon Train of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSpiritTracks'' (a CoolTrain with a human face on the front) looks so much like him it has been nicknamed the Ganontrain.
115	* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJzT2krN2CY BustCzar/Head Zeppelin]] from ''VideoGame/HeavyWeapon'', a face-blimp that fires out missiles and drops bombs.
116	* Charon, the ship that guides damned souls to Hell in ''VideoGame/DantesInferno'', has a giant talking head as the figurehead.
117	* The race of Lingon in ''Website/FigHunter Universe'' uses spaceships shaped like their heads.
118	* Several of the historical Cooper family vehicles from ''VideoGame/Sly3HonorAmongThieves'' have stylized Cooper faces in the design, notably the autogyro.
119	* In the ''VideoGame/StreetPassMiiPlaza'' game ''Mii Force'', the Gold Bone Gang's entire fleet apparently has this motif, with all of the skull-faced opponents piloting a ship with a skull on it somewhere (including, yes, on their mothership).
120	* ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankACrackInTime'' has a Face''station'' with the Nefarious Space Station, shaped like Dr. Nefarious' head.
121	* While it's not ''your'' head, in a ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' dungeon you can get a flying helicopter mount of Mimiron's Head, a flying mechanical gnome head.
122	* Semi-example in ''VideoGame/{{Armikrog}}''. Tommynaut's spacecraft has eyes and spiky hair that make it look like a head, and there is even a monogrammed T on the forehead, but it doesn't really resemble ''his'' head.
123	* Seafolk Village, the only major settlement in ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon's'' Poni Island. Apart from the Pokémon Center, all the villagers live in boats that are shaped like various Pokémon: Wailord (a restaurant), Huntail, Whiscash, Magikarp and, of all things, ''Steelix''[[note]]at least the other ships' basis are aquatic Pokémon; Steelix is ''weak'' against water attacks[[/note]].
124	* Krapton supervillain Rictus from ''VideoGame/{{Anachronox}}'' commands a large spaceship called KSC ''Grimacer'' whose bow is adorned with a giant grimace that can [[MegaMawManeuver swallow little hapless shuttles]]. The doors inside the ship are adorned with the exact same visage.
125	* ''VideoGame/NiNoKuniIIRevenantKingdom'' features the Zippelin, a giant airship decked with a gaudy oversized bust of the guy who made it, Zip Vector. Everyone (except Zip) agrees that flying around in something with a giant golden head on the bow is not only embarrassing, but also impractical due to weight and aerodynamics. Thus, Bracken resolves to ditch the head and turn the Zippelin into a regular CoolAirship.
126	* ''VideoGame/FugaMelodiesOfSteel'': Most of the Berman Army's tanks have triangular dog ears placed on top of them, which are often situated behind a main gun, giving said main gun the impression of a dog's snout and the top of the tank overall the impression of a dog's head. The Goldschakal boss tank and Lanzierer {{mooks}} take this one step further by how they already have a "snout" on their tower areas, separate from their main guns.
127	[[/folder]]
128
129	[[folder:Western Animation]]
130	* A very obtuse example in a short on MTV's Liquid Television, called "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lH1EdZIz21o/ Space War]]", that was done to appear like a 6th grader's board doodling of an alien invasion shows the alien's mothership to be a 400 mile tall version of the classic image of what most Westerners think as god's face.
131	* The Petercopter and Hindenpeter in ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' has Peter Griffin's head at the front. Peter actually has multiple vehicles with his likeness, and they always crash. Also, in an ImagineSpot teaser, Stewie is an intergalactic fighter pilot tasked with destroying a huge Death Star-esque station that is essentially a 3D model of Peter's head. In reality, he's playing with a toy fighter ship and jabbing it into the side of Peter's head as he yells "Got you! Got you!".
132	* In the WesternAnimation/{{Classic Disney Short\|s}} ''The Autograph Hound'', Creator/GretaGarbo arrives at a movie studio in a limo that has her face on front.
133	* In ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'':
134	** [[AnimalEspionage Agent P]]'s hovercar is platypus-shaped.
135	** Dr Doofenshmirtz has a monster truck, among other vehicles, shaped like him.
136	** Professor Poofenplotz from "Isabella and the Temple of Sap" has her "Me-Mobile", a SpiderTank shaped like her head. "Bee Story" reveals that Poofenplotz also has a "Myself-icopter."
137	** Phineas and Ferb themselves get in on the action with hot-air balloons in their own likenesses in "Last Train to Bustville", and a space station shaped like Phineas' head in ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerbMissionMarvel''.
138	* Megatron did this twice. First, in ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'', he molded a Vok craft into his face for a few minutes. Then, in ''WesternAnimation/BeastMachines'', he built a transforming ship with his face permanently on it.
139	** In ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'', Megatron has his face peek out from his Cybertronian jet alt-mode.
140	* The Larrymobile from ''WesternAnimation/VeggieTales'', which basically looks like Larry Boy laying on his back with his plunger-ears serving as the back wheels and two more plungers seving as the front wheels located where his legs (if he had such, since Larry Boy doesn't have legs) would be.
141	* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/StaticShock'' had ComicBook/TheJoker and his henchmen drive around in a firetruck shaped like his face terrorizing people.
142	* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Cyberchase}}'' had The Hacker and his cronies Buzz and Delete enter a race with a large sinister-looking green car with The Hacker's face on the front.
143	* ''WesternAnimation/TheLooneyTunesShow'': Daffy's car is a parade float shaped like himself.
144	* A few of Megabyte's vehicles from ''WesternAnimation/{{Reboot}}''
145	* The Thunderquack from ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck''.
146	* Lord Hater's skull-shaped ship from ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder''. And his ill-fated H.A.T.E.R.V. vehicle from "The New Toy" had his face at the front.
147	[[/folder]]
148
149	[[folder:Real Life]]
150	* Creator/BobHope had custom car builder George Barris make a [[http://www.golfcartcityonline.com/blog/2011/05/george-barris-bob-hope-golf-cart/ golf cart]] in his likeness.
151	[[/folder]]

Context Main / Faceship