Face Of A Thug / Video Games

• Buckshot Roulette: Despite how horrifying the dealer looks, it is nothing but polite and honorable during its game of chance with you to the very end, following the rules in the same exact fashion you are and never stooping to any dirty tactics, cheap scares, or even any unsportsmanlike behavior. You're not even forced into its Deadly Game, as the decision to play is entirely the player character's choice.
• Occurs in Fire Emblem games every once in a while:
  • Gonzales from Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade. Nice guy overall, looks like this.◊ As Echidna puts it, he's got a good heart, but he's ugly as sin.
  • Garret would qualify as well.◊
  • Awakening's Brady looks like◊ a tough delinquent, but is in fact a priest with poor reflexes, and a crybaby to boot.
  • In Fates, Benny◊ is a hulking mercenary with a mohawk and scarred face, and a kind-hearted man who is very protective of his comrades; his son Ignatius inherited this too as he looks unsociable but like his father he is actually timid.
    • Benny's son Ignatius is something of a downplayed example, as most of the other characters aren't outright scared of him, but his stern-looking face often makes them think he's in a bad mood.
  • Fates also features the "generally intimidating" rather than "outright ugly" version of the trope with Xander. He's actually fairly handsome, but he tends to have a serious or stern look on his face most of the time. His supports with Mozu and Sakura specifically point this out; both of them start out intimidated by him.
  • While it's not quite to the extent of the above three, as it only comes up in one support chain, Laslow refers to Saizo as a "scary guy in a mask" in Revelation. It probably helps that Saizo looks rather angry most of the time, to the point that his Fire Emblem Heroes title is "Angry Ninja".
  • There's a downplayed example with Jesse in Echoes: Shadows of Valentia. While no one comments on his appearance during the main game (and he looks fairly pleasant), Silque assumes that he's a brigand at first and says that he has an "unwashed rogue" appearance in a flashback. This is an Informed Deformity as Jesse is clean-shaven, handsome and altogether heroic in appearance◊.
  • Hubert in Fire Emblem: Three Houses, while by no means deformed and in fact rather handsome, sports by default a very untrustworthy, thuggish face expression and is a high-class manipulator. He ends up playing a role similar to Gharnef, but on the Crimson Flower route, he's on your side and still capable of acts of decency and has nothing but contempt for "those who slither in the dark", while on other routes he's at least nice enough to leave behind a note that helps the party track down the Agarthans/TWSITD and exact retribution on them.
    • Byleth also applies, albeit to a slightly lesser extent. Even before the events of the game, they carry the moniker "the Ashen Demon" due to their reputation of fighting without a single emotion on their face, which scares the absolute crap out of their enemies. This carries over to their reputation at Garreg Mach Monastery, where several students note they're disturbed by Byleth's expressionless gaze and how they seem to stare right past them, but despite this, Byleth is generally one of the most polite and effective professors in the monastery.
    • Dedue also qualifies. Several characters are intimidated by him at first, and animals run away in fright just from being near him, due to his stern face and nature as The Stoic. However, he's actually a Gentle Giant (as long as you don't harm Dimitri) who likes cooking and gardening.
  • Diamant from ''Fire Emblem Engage" is a tall, musclebound man with an imposing presence dressed in mostly red and black. However, he values peace above all else and in fact wants to reform his kingdom into one that does not wage war. He is also polite in all of his supports, down to not even holding a grudge against Ivy for helping her father kill his father.
• Street Fighter:
  • Zangief has the face and voice of one, too. To elaborate: his face is usually contorted in anger with a barbaric and evil-looking beard, his head is shaved aside from a wild mohawk in the middle, his deep, booming laugh rings through the air, his giant and intimidating muscular body is covered head to toe in red scars, with hair everywhere. Yet he's one of the nicest characters in the cast, a Graceful Loser, and a Gentle Giant that likes to help others, especially children. Combined with his Soviet origin during the Cold War, many players mistook Zangief for a villain. No wonder he appears in a villain support group in Wreck-It Ralph (albeit as a warm-hearted one who gives a pep talk to Ralph).
  • Dhalsim's gaunt physique, white eyes with no pupils, stretchy arms, and necklace of human skulls make him look like an undead villain. However, he's actually one of the nicest characters in the series. He's usually a pacifist but entered the Street Fighter tournament anyway to raise money for his poor village, his win quotes tend to either be constructive criticism or gentle encouragement for his opponents, and he's also a kind mentor to other characters away from the arena. And those skulls he wears around his neck? They belonged to babies from his village who died in a famine; he wears them to remind himself why he fights.
• Namu Amida Butsu! -UTENA-: This is the biggest problem Rasetsuten has about himself. The guy is a sweet and shy young man who just want to make friends, but has a scary face and is unable to smile, and wishes others will not judge him for how intimidating he looks.
• Persona has Igor, whose evil-looking eyes and creepily long Gag Nose gives you the impression that he's a bad guy...except he's actually the series Big Good (from Persona 3 onwards) and your most valuable ally in every game.
  • Takeharu Kirijo, Mitsuru's father, from Persona 3. When he first appears, he's described as "scary-looking" (complete with an eyepatch!), but he proves to be a surprisingly noble man and a genuinely caring, if stern, father who admonishes Mitsuru to work in harmony with others rather than try to shoulder everything alone, and feels guilty that his daughter and her friends are forced to clean up after his father's mistakes.
  • Persona 4's Kanji Tatsumi, the tough guy who can take down a biker gang with his bare hands, is often mistaken for being in a gang, and...likes to sew, being incredibly good at it. He's also the youngest of the team.
  • Persona 5 has Munehisa Iwai, the proprietor of an airsoft gun shop who looks like a Yakuza and actually did run with the yakuza for a time, but beneath his gruff exterior is a man who is trying to do right by his son.
• Harvest Moon:
  • Hayden from Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility/Animal Parade. It's a bit of an Informed Ability, because he looks as cute and chibi as everyone else, but according to characters in-game, his bearded face and Big Ol' Eyebrows are so offputting they scare children. Which is sad, because Hayden is a domestic, softhearted bartender who's almost universally liked in the town. Not to mention, he really wishes he could be a preschool teacher, and his wish is revealed to be "I wish my face didn't scare children".
  • And then there's Gannon in Sunshine Islands. He's got a pretty creepy/ugly face and walks/looks kinda like a gorilla, but once you befriend him, you see he's actually really nice. And even prior to that, his adorable daughter Eliza says that while he "talks like a hooligan, he'll never leave my side." Awww.
• Corpse Party has Yoshiki Kishinuma. He enjoys teasing Satoshi, but so does everyone else, and he's a pretty decent guy overall.
• A large amount of the cast in Inazuma Eleven look like thugs and bullies like Someoka, Builder, Tobitaka, and other recruitable characters whose faces are just plain scary and weird. To put it, Someoka looks very similar to Garret example above.
• BlazBlue:
  • In Iron Tager's Story mode, he is attacked by Bang, who claims he looks evil and will probably do something evil someday. This is not the case: Tager is a decent enough guy who's just doing his job, and won't harm you unless you interfere with his mission or Kokonoe orders him to, but he does look like a hulking red ogre. Then again, this is Bang we're talking about.
  • Downplayed with Ragna, the main character. He's quite a handsome guy, and quite a good guy deep down too, but he's also a Perpetual Frowner, so people have trouble approaching him.
• Pokémon:
  • Hydreigon is frequently portrayed this way, as it's mentioned to be vicious, destructive, and all-in-all the closest thing the series has to a Horsemon of the Apokélypse, not helped because of its King Ghidorah-esque appearance and Ghetsis's own horribly underleveled Hydreigon. But Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity has Hydreigon as an important character… and to be honest, you'd never find a nicer 'mon in that game. He's polite, well-spoken, a little bit of a ditz, has a massive appetite… and he says that an apt description of his species is really scary!
  • Elite Four member Sidney becomes this in the remakes of Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire - he looks like he is going to skin your cat alive now,◊ but still jokingly refers to himself as "this loser" and cheers you on when you defeat him.
  • This trait appears to be a common trend among trainers who specialize in Dark types. Grimsley has an appearance that suggests that he's a vampire of some sort but in reality he's self-deprecating, and Nanu, Ula'Ula Island's Kahuna, also appears to be intimidating, but at the same time, he also appears to be pretty apathetic (although this may also be an act).
    • The trend of Dark-type trainers being decent people outside of battle continues into Pokémon Sword and Shield. Rival Marnie is aloof and has a "goth punk" get-up but is unquestionably polite and whose friendliness to the protagonist is only behind Hop (given her Morpeko really likes the player and lead Pokémon tend to mirror their trainer's feelings). Gym Leader Piers is the head of a punk band whose gym functions almost like Streets of Rage, but is one of the more openly friendly Leaders and ends up playing a major role in the end-game and post-game definitively on the player's side.
  • Pokémon that evolved through a high friendship stat usually look very friendly. The same can't be said about Crobat, which evolved from Golbat. It always has a scowl on its face, baring its teeth with angry red eyes with yellow sclera. People new to the series wouldn't even know this grouchy-looking Pokémon is in that form because it genuinely values its friendship with its Trainer so much. This also extends to Alolan Persian, which looks like it's always scheming something and to a lesser extent, Lucario and Silvally, both of which look very stern and may come across as unapproachable at first glance.
  • Other Pokémon may have intimidating appearances but their actual behavior is anything but: Granbull is a bulldog with huge fangs, but at the same time it's a timid fairy type. Its pre-evolved form Snubbull has a permanent case of Resting Bitch Face, but its Pokédex entries describe it frolicking with women. Golisopod is a giant 6-foot isopod covered in steel-hard scales and massive claws... that runs away when its health drops below half. Araquanid a massive spider that's nearly six feet tall and has a permanent glare, but also takes care of any weak or injured Pokémon it finds. Houndstone is a large skeletal dog, but they express Undying Loyalty to their Trainers. Mabosstiff is...another large dog, this one based on the Mastiff, taking the appearance of a Mafia don, and can have Intimidate as an Ability, but they are renowned for getting along very well with children. In Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, Arven loves his Mabosstiff very much, who loves Arven right back in full.
  • Pokémon Legends: Arceus:
    • Cyllene is a tough, cynical, serious woman with a constant formal and dour look on her face. She also looks like a Distaff Counterpart to Cyrus, the nihilistic Omnicidal Maniac from Pokémon Diamond and Pearl who is heavily implied to be her descendant. While hesitant to reveal it, she also greatly respects the protagonist and becomes one of their greatest allies when you're exiled from Jubilife Village.
    • In the case of both a Pokémon and their trainer: Iscan's a big, brawny guy with a shaved head who is actually quite sweet and a bit of a coward around ghosts. His noble Basculegion is a ghost but, similar to Wyrdeer, requires no fighting it beforehand before it allows you to ride it.
  • Pokémon Scarlet and Violet has Eri, one of the bosses of the local villainous group Team Star. She's a Huge Schoolgirl, a Fighting-type specialist, and dressed in a Heel wrestler getup particularly with an imposing make-up. However, she's a sweet and caring girl who looks out for her friends.
• In Potion Permit, Yorn has a thuggish appearance that intimidates his patrons, and no one dares to ask about his past. When he receives a mysterious package from the capital, people are afraid it might contain something dangerous, but it turns out to be a banjo all along, which Yorn uses to reveal his musical talent and that he's not as scary as he looks.
• Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney has Cutter, a minor character with a thuggish outward appearance who's actually a kind-hearted sculptor.
• From the Tekken and Soul Series, we have Yoshimitsu. What's interesting is that he's always wearing masks, so his actual face is concealed. However, the masks he always chooses to wear look downright creepy and menacing. Anyone unfamiliar with Tekken or the Soul Series would likely assume that he's a villain, but he's one of the most heroic and nicest guys in the series.
  • The games lore have also suggested that there have been multiple Yoshimitsus throughout these series, and that Yoshimitsu is the title of the leader of the ninja clan that he belongs to rather than a specific characters name, meaning that the character is actually multiple good guys with an evil looking face.
• Letho of Gullet from The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings looks like your typical Dumb Muscle, except he's also acutely aware of it and takes advantage of others once they start assuming he is.
  • Most Witchers you come across have the face of the thug. It comes with being quite hard to actually kill, yet working a job that has them waist deep in drowners, various wraiths, and worse on a nearly constant basis. They may or may not be decent fellows, depending on the exact Witcher, but they've all got enough badass to back up their scars. They wouldn't be Witchers otherwise.
  • Sigi Reuven aka Sigismund Djikstra looks and sounds like a thug (and not even a badass action guy, just a fat, brutish bar-brawler,) but is actually the smartest crimelord of Novgorod and former spymaster of Redania.
• Mark Kimberly from Shenmue has a mean look about him, but is one of the friendliest gaijin Ryo can meet in Yokosuka. Mark's intimidating look has a lot to do with him originally being a member of the Mad Angels gang in pre-production, but he was changed into a Nice Guy later on.
• The Legend of Zelda:
  • Grog from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask is a rather pale and somber-looking young man who sits moping under a tree; in the latter game, he even has a spiky mohawk that makes him look like a typical punk. But under the seemingly grim exterior is a Friend to All Living Things; the Ocarina of Time version determines that Link must be a nice guy on account of the latter getting along with Grog's beloved pet Cucco, while the Majora's Mask version is able to soften his grimly fatalistic outlook on the imminent destruction of Termina by the Moon upon seeing his flock of Cucco chicks grow into roosters before his eyes.
  • Midna from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is a black- and grey-skinned imp with red irises, yellow sclera, Scary Teeth, and a freakily designed helmet/mask, all of which give her a faint resemblance to the Shadow Beasts that drag Link into the Twilight at the start of the story (which explains Wolf Link's hostile growling when he first sees her). And she does have some Kick the Dog moments early on, such as riding on Link's back when he's in wolf form without asking, taunting both him over his kidnapped friends and Princess Zelda over the Twilight-corrupted state of Hyrule, repeatedly making clear she cares more about her native Twilight Realm than Hyrule, and overall being rather bossy. Underneath it all, however, she's still a heroic character who's nonetheless willing to help the people of Hyrule because that also means defeating Zant, and even underneath the snark still respects Link and especially Zelda for helping her. She also becomes much nicer over the course of the game, especially after Link and Zelda save her from nearly dying.
  • Batreaux from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is a demon who looks the part, but he is actually a nice guy who gets along well with children and wants to become a human so he can interact with people without scaring them. Granted, he does cause monsters to appear in Skyloft and make the Remlits aggressive because of his evil aura, but this is entirely involuntary on his part; making him human removes the aura and the enemies.
  • Kilton from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is an ugly, grey-skinned man who wears makeup and clothes that make him look like the monsters he obsesses over and owns a creepy shop called "Fang and Bone" that is only open at night. One guard character even requests that Link get a photo of Kilton to determine if the shopkeeper is really as sinister-looking as people have said. But Kilton is nonetheless a good guy who sells Link various items that help him kill monsters more easily.
  • Due to the Off-Model animation in its cutscenes, the ordinary citizens of The Legend Of Zelda C Di Games take this up a notch, looking scarier than even the villains of both games. In particular, Yokan first appears in an Extreme Close-Up reminiscient of a Screamer Prank, while Lika flashes a Death Glare at Zelda that makes her look like one of the villains (or at least on serious drugs).
• Xenoblade Chronicles 2:
  • Vandham's a huge, scary-looking guy who is Covered in Scars (most notably an X-shaped scar covering his face centered on the bridge of his nose) and is introduced attacking Rex's team after their stranding in Uraya with the seeming intent to take Pyra for himself due to her being the Aegis (something that Torna and the Ardainians had been trying to do up to that point). But the fight turns out to be meant to gauge Rex's resonance with Pyra and see if he is truly worthy to be the Aegis's Driver (he even chastises Rex for pushing her too hard), and Vandham soon afterwards happily invites them to rest at Garfont Village. Here, he's revealed to be the leader of the Garfont Mercenaries, a group dedicated to helping meet people's needs all across Alrest, and he's also known for taking in numerous war orphans of all nationalities to live in Garfont Village. For these and other reasons, he's known as a supreme Nice Guy in Uraya and A Father to His Men among his mercenaries. Rex and the others subsequently make plenty of comments about him being much kinder and gentler than his intimidating appearance would indicate.
  • Wulfric is a Blade who looks like a demon spawned from hell itself,◊ but is a friendly sort who likes to help people. He often howls in a scary fashion when he feels frustrated by peoples' reaction to his appearance, which, of course, only exacerbates the problem further. One Heart-to-Heart scene can result in him guiding an elderly lady with poor eyesight back to her house, while the townspeople look on aghast; she, on the other hand, is quite happy to be helped by (what she assumes to be) such a strapping young man.
    One day, I will make friends with everyone!
  • Perceval is another demonic-looking Blade who also appears to be covered in flames, yet he is nonetheless a very compassionate and justice-oriented guy. His unique Blade Quest starts with him defending a woman who is being bullied by debt collectors and later sees him going on Merc Missions to hunt down not just those culprits but anyone who preys on the weak in a similar way.
• Pearl from Splatoon 2 is a rapper with permanently glaring eyes who tends to look rather fierce even when smiling. Despite this, she's a nice lady willing to help out total strangers in a pinch, even if her energy can get overwhelmingly aggressive at times.
• Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception: Mikazuchi, Imperial Guard of the Left, usually terrifies everyone around him, and even the protagonist always feels like his life is in danger if Mikazuchi so much as looks at him. Actually, he is a pretty nice guy, he's just terrible at socializing and has a naturally intimidating presence. In his disguise as Sakon the candy salesman he's much more approachable.
• Octavian the Eagle of The Secret World; as if being taller and brawnier than just about every other human character in the game, he's got an immensely rough, craggy face Covered in Scars, with a heavy brow and a jawline like an entrenching tool, and the fact that he never smiles only makes him seem even more intimidating. However, it turns out that Octavian has been a Retired Badass for the last few hundred years, and actually refuses to get involved in any further conflicts, preferring instead to spend his days asleep on his couch.
• Kiryu from Like a Dragon is a genuinely nice, helpful guy, but is also a former Yakuza, and people can often tell just by looking at his intimidating, near-perpetually dour demeanor. In fact, just about everybody in the series has an intimidating face, and here are at least three examples below:
  • Goro Majima has an eyepatch and a goatee, and as mentally fucked up and outright murderous at times as he may be, he's still part of the main hero group.
  • Taiga Saejima has a Bald Head of Toughness, a pair of Big Ol' Eyebrows, and is built like a brick shithouse, yet shows a lot of compassion towards many around him, and shows a hefty amount of remorse when lamenting about the deaths of 18 men in the Ueno Seiwa hit. He didn't even kill them, the guns were loaded with rubber bullets.
  • Osamu Kashiwagi has a Rugged Scar and is one of Kiryu's (and later Ichiban's) biggest allies.
  • Yakuza: Like a Dragon has multiple examples among its cast. Tianyou Zhou dresses the part of a gangster and is a head honcho in Ijincho's Chinese mob, but is a Reasonable Authority Figure who is a firm ally of the heroes. Joon-gi Han dresses in an all black ensemble and has a serious countenance in addition to being the Body Double (and also a Legacy Character) from Yakuza 6, but is a Noble Dragon. Masumi Arakawa, Kasuga's former patriarch, has a Rugged Scar on his cheek, wears a glove to conceal the fact that he committed Yubitsume, and has a reputation that makes him feared and respected in the criminal underworld, but is also a kind man who is A Father to His Men. ...literally, in Kasuga's case.
• Kuro (last name Kiryuu, fittingly) of Ensemble Stars! used to be a delinquent and has the face and build of one. However, he gave up all of that to better take care of his younger sister, and while he looks intimidating, he's actually a very kind and helpful guy. He does have a bit of a complex about his face, though, insisting that I Am Not Pretty and preferring to avoid interacting with the general public out of worry they'd be scared of him.
• Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story
  • The Magical Girl Seika has a bad case of social anxiety, and the face she makes when she's anxious causes other people often mistake Seika to be angry with them. She is painfully aware of this. In reality she is just your average good-hearted magical girl who does care for other people especially her closest friends Leila and Mitoto.
  • Kanae has the look of a delinquent due to her sharp eyes and ear piercings, and her Magical Girl outfit looks like black leather complete with a big pipe for a weapon. But in reality, despite her rough attitude she's a heroic person who fights real delinquents on the regular to help their victims, with her appearance having been an effort to discourage said delinquents from picking fights with her (with mixed results). She was fully willing to make a Heroic Sacrifice to save her best friend Yachiyo from a Witch and even turned it into a Mutual Kill.
• Iron Bull from Dragon Age: Inquisition is huge and intimidating, and indeed a very fierce warrior. But anybody on his good side also knows him to be friendly and generally pretty easy to get along with.
• It's easy to assume that Stratos and Delilah from Bug Fables are going to be villains at first glance, given that the former◊ is a hulking Hercules beetle whose rugged appearance screams "violent thug", and the latter◊ is a sinister-looking mosquito who looks like a textbook example of Dark Is Evil. But they're very kind and easy-going, and prefer to point the player towards powerful enemies while they kick back and relax (they're even known among other explorers as "Team Slacker"). Their optional boss fight does show they're a force to be reckoned with, however.
• Mega Man Battle Network has a fair few, both in Navi and Operator flavors:
  • The Gonkish Dex and Hulk Speaking Gutsman.EXE look like stock shonen bullies, but are actually some of Lan and Megaman.EXE's closest and most loyal friends. Dex is also a devoted older brother to his little brother Chisao.
  • Mr. Match has a Beard of Evil (of the pointy goatee variety) and is an avowed Pyromaniac (the man has set at least four different locations on fire) but turns over a new leaf in 6 and becomes, of all things, a fire safety teacher. He's still crazy Hot-Blooded and a little nuts, but now he genuinely means well. Similarly, Heatman.EXE is one of the most terrifying Navis out there, looking for all the world like a homicidal zippo lighter with flaming eyes and maw, but he's actually quite jovial and friendly, and is the only one of Mr. Match's three Navis to be unabiguously heroic.
  • Raoul and Thunderman.EXE are both tall and imposing figures with stern expressions edging into Perpetual Frowner... while being some of the most noble, honorable, and nicest people in the series. Raoul not only helps Lan when Megaman suffers from a Curse effect that drains his HP over time, but even calls out the responsible party, his own tribe's leader for such underhanded, short-sighted behavior, and refuses to even consider battling Megaman in that condition—not only is it unsporting, he prioritizes helping his friend first over a tainted victory.
  • Knightman.EXE looks like a hulking, unfriendly brute ready to smash at a moment's notice thanks to his giant mace and dark armor... except he's a brave defender and has an innately noble and heroic nature, and is roped into evil acts only because he is steadfastly loyal to his mistress, even when she makes terrible life decisions. When given the opportunity to be a proper hero, he leaps at the chance and proves to be his team's Big Guy.
  • Junkman.EXE doesn't even look like a Navi. Instead, he bears an uncanny resemblance to a broken, shrunken-down Life Virus, and he comes across as bitter and cruel at first after bodyjacking Megaman. Only after his defeat does he admit that he was desperately lonely, and looking for someone to be kind to him. Megaman reaching out and treating him like a fellow Navi, not a monster, is what finally allows him to feel a bit of peace, and his last words are acknowledging that he was glad to have met Megaman, however briefly.
  • Dustman.EXE looks like some sort of stereotypical thug robot from Futurama, between the evil eye shapes and various pointy parts... but he and his operator Mr. Press are nice guys who encourage recycling and help build roads, and Dustman himself actually saves Lan and Megaman once on his own.
  • Dustman's best friend and counterpart Groundman.EXE looks like an evil beartrap-jawed drill-laden take on Guts-Dozer, but is actually also a nice guy who spends most of his time teaching geology and excavation to kids.
• Jaye in Arknights is a placid fishmonger who spends the entire event he debuted in being mistaken for a criminal thanks to Lungmen's fish market generally being known as a front for criminal activity and Jaye's "resting Triad face". And it doesn't stop there — when Hoshiguma recruits him for Rhodes Island, several other Operators think it's just Hoshiguma offloading one of her contacts in the criminal underworld.
• Zig-Zagged with Barret Wallace in Final Fantasy VII Remake: he wears Cool Shades most of the time which, in conjunction with his hardass attitude, makes him look intimidating. Without them, however, he looks more like the kind of man he actually is: a kind-hearted Hunk.
• Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan: Ittetsu, Atsushi and Kai of the Yuuhi Town Ouendan are quite thuggish-looking, but are far from it, since they go around cheering people on to help with their problems.
  • As leader, Kai can be pretty intimidating with his delinquent-esque appearance and scarred face, and tends to take a no-nonsense approach when training his squad. However, it's implied he's not so scary once you get to know him.
• In Triangle Strategy, Rudolph is drawn with a rather severe glare, and, while he is blunt and impatient, he means well enough and has good intentions. Lampshaded by Sycras, who says that Rudolph really isn't a bad guy.
• Ratatan: Based on the Kickstarter description, Harigittan's unapproachable appearance scares potential friends away.
• Baldur's Gate III: Karlach is a Big Red Devil who is covered in so many scars it probably qualifies as Body Horror, whose greatest love in life is hitting things with a very large axe. She is also perpetually upbeat, Endearingly Dorky, and an absolute sweetheart in general.
• Final Fantasy XIV: Male Au Ra all share this problem. Being tall and muscular, with dragon-like features and a bone structure that sets their expression to what other races see as a permanent scowl. In truth their temperament ranges as wide any any other race and the vast majority are good-natured or at least polite. The females have the opposite problem, being predisposed to soft features, big doe eyes, cutesy body language, and being half the height and a third of the mass of their counterparts.
• Bianca in the Spyro the Dragon series was originally designed with a huge glower as her default facial expression, almost always transfixed as a Smug Smiler look. In her first appearance, where she is an antagonist, this was to imply she was a lot meaner than she actually was, though she later proves to be a Guilt-Ridden Accomplice and Heel Face Turns. Subverted with her Reignited Trilogy redesign where her design and expressions are much softer and feminine (though the concept art for the game implies she was to retain this trope normally but with When She Smiles moments).

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