Standard "Cool X" ZCE/gushing check for Cool Mask.
The problem with the trope is that it has a misleading name which made tropers mistake it for any mask that's cool, which is obviously chairs. The trope is about a mask indicating a character's badass nature, which is why Mask Power is a redirect. This wick check has been adopted by selkies.
57/57 wicks checked.
- Quick wick results:
- 35/57 or 61% are "character wears a mask" or just a cool mask.
- 5/57 or 9% are plot-relevant examples of masks that don't fit other tropes.
- 12/57 or 21% are the trope mentioned in name only without much context and other examples.
- 3/57 or 5% are misuse.
- Solutions:
- Cut. There aren't enough examples of the correct usage of the trope to salvage this.
- Or disambiguate between Coat, Hat, Mask, Mask of Confidence, Mask of Power, and possibly other tropes.
- Yard the "a mask has some sort of plot relevance" concept.
open/close all folders
Just looks cool/or "X wears a mask" ZCE + contextless potholes (37/57)
- Anime.Brigadoon Marin And Melan: Melan and the Gun-Swordsmen have retractable face-guards for battle.
- Anime.Last Hope 2018: Fong, Mr. Gold's bodyguard, has one that covers half-his face.
- Anime.Raideen: In Malevolent Masked Men: Sharkin wore a cool mask.
- Anime.Yu Gi Oh Bonds Beyond Time: Paradox's mask. It gets even gets Glowing Eyes of Doom at one point.
- AudioPlay.The New Century Multiverse:
- Hrao wears one as part of her armor.
- Miguel gets one in the form of a mongoose mask sized for a cub.
- Blog.Care For A Cuppa: Aly has her very own Majora's Mask which may also be a Slenderman-deterrent.
- ButHeSoundsHandsome.Video Games: It's not shown in any of the games, but King Dedede from the Kirby franchise speaks very highly of his alter ego, Masked Dedede, in a Tweet
that's in character as him. - Characters.A Demon Among Devils: (Metatron, in Minato's folder), The only face he has.
- Characters.Air Gear The Sleeping Forest: (Gabishi), He wears a nifty skull mask.
- Characters.Astral Chain: (Kyle), Kyle's digital mask shifts with his facial expression.
- Characters.BNA Brand New Animal: (Boris), He wears a wolf mask that covers the top of his face.
- Characters.Battle B Daman: (Armada, in the Others' folder), Wears one when impersonating Sigma.
- Characters.Black And Bruised: (El Luchador), Justified seeing that his Superhero outfit is based on Masked Luchadors.
- Characters.Bringer: (Sabanto), Has one that features a single, large eye with multiple pupils.
- Characters.Cage Of Eden: (Hades), It's just a cheap souvenir from Guam, but he makes it work.
- Characters.Chain Chronicle Archers: (Faceless), Along with the attire, it makes Faceless looks like a harlequin-style assassin. You can see the face behind it at the end of her final character quest.
- Characters.Compass Attackers: Wears a fox mask with her default outfit, though it is switched out for a gas mask in her ":::Demon Slayer Garments::: Silver Narcissus" outfit.
- Characters.Conan The Barbarian: He is even called "the Veiled One".
- Characters.Fire Emblem Heroes Midgard: Mr. Fanservice: He's mysterious, good-looking (as far as the Cool Mask allows one to see), and his Clothing Damage reveals that he has a very well-toned figure. Said Clothing Damage, the most revealing in the game, became so well-appreciated that his Fire Emblem Cipher card was given a shirtless variation based on it.
- Characters.Innocent: (Zero Sanson), The iron mask that Zero wears, ever since they're an infant, resembles a knight's helmet.
- Characters.Kingdom Mougou Army: (Ousen), His helmet is adorned with one, and he's not once seen without it.
- Characters.Latias Journey: (Gardevoir), Wears a sweet mask.
- Magical Diary: (Suki), The Wolf Hall version wears purple glasses that resemble a superhero mask.
- Characters.Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Conflict Of Interest: A Guy Fawkes mask that she never takes off, ever.
- Characters.Rank 10 YGO: (Malefic), Well...it looked intimidating, but Malefic Rata isn't exactly 'cool'.
- Characters.Seven Samurai 20 XX: Her only discernible trait is a massive tusked mask covering her entire head.
- Characters.Sin Kids AU: Has a nice collection of custom made coughing masks.
- Characters.The Belgariad Villains: (Torak), Wears a steel mask to hide his maiming. All of his followers wear one too.
- Characters.The Law Of Ueki: (Ogre), And we never get to see what's under it either.
- Characters.Tokyo Xanadu: (Rem, in the Other Characters' folder), Rem carries a fox mask with her. And when she wears it, she can transform into the Five-Tailed Fox Greed.
- Characters.Venus Blood Ragnarok: (Heimdall, in the Unknown Forces folder), Is constantly seen wearing a dark mask that covers her eyes and hides her identity.
- ComicBook.Diablo Chile:
- /Evil Mask: His signature red mask that makes him look like a devil.
- Red Is Violent: Mostly distinguished by his red devil mask and sometimes by a red gauntlets he wears.
- DreamSMP.Tropes 0 To G:
- Dream is often depicted in fanon to wear a White Mask of Doom with his signature smiley face on it, to the point that Dream eventually confirms that his character does wear a mask.
- Dream's Distaff Counterpart, Girl Dream (or Mamacita), is also depicted to wear a white mask with a smiley face on it, though there's plenty of indication she's more benevolent than her male counterpart.
- Ponk wears a mask with red, yellow and black stripes that covers most of his face.
- Fanfic.GRAE Series: Kita’s Shrouded Fox mask adds a level of mystery to the swordswoman. [[spoiler: Additionally, Ember and Pierce's Burgundy Bandit and Ace of Spades masks shown during the fall of Beacon fit this trope.]]
- More Teeth than the Osmond Family: Tokyo Ghoul: Noro has a Cool Mask with an enormous toothy smile, and Combat Tentacles with mouths that are either this or a Lamprey Mouth. Either way, that's a lot of teeth that want to eat everything in sight.
- Webcomic.Man Of Skull: Skull's mask is, well, a skull
- WesternAnimation.Legend Of The Dragon: Xuan Chi always wears a red and white mask. He has appeared without it, however.
Plot-relevance not covered by other tropes (5/57)
- Characters.A Court Of Thorns And Roses: Part of the curse on him makes him and his entire court unable to remove the masks they wore at a masquerade fifty years before. His is gold with emeralds embedded into it.
- Characters.Warhammer The Empire:
- Body Horror: When he was younger, an explosion caused by an accident during his experiments either turned his body into gold or horrifically burnt off his flesh. Whatever the case, Balthasar hasn't been seen without his Cool Mask since.
- Wears an ornate mask of solid gold over his head, which is speculated to conceal rather grisly deformities.
- Fanfic.The Stars Will Aid Their Escape: Herald wears one — which is a good thing, because seeing his true face drives the viewer insane. [[spoiler:Which is what he does to Twilight.]]
- Literature.Overlord 2012: Momonga uses a mask to hide his skeletal face (along with gloves to conceal his bony fingers) when he realizes that his being a horrifying lich is not exactly convenient for making the humans trust him.
- MemeticBadass.Video Games: Ace Attorney: The real reason for Godot's Cool Mask is that he can shoot lasers from his eyes. Eat your heart out, Cyclops.
Trope mentioned in name only/other (12/57)
- Badass Longcoat: Cool Shades are a nice accessory, as are tacking on some Signature Headgear and a Cool Mask to achieve the Coat, Hat, Mask Effect.
- Badass Longcoat: From YuYu Hakusho Hiei the Swordsman's jacket is a cross-breed of a longcoat and a Badass Long Robe.
- Karasu rocks the trench coat and Cool Mask look.
- In Tokyo Ghoul, Kaneki Ken wears a medical eyepatch to conceal his oft-uncontrolled Kakugan. After the time skip and his descent into Anti-Hero territory, he starts wearing an eyepatch with a stylized Centipede embroidered on it. His Cool Mask is designed with an eyepatch covering his normal eye, resulting in him gaining the alias "Eyepatch".
- Friend of Masked Self: Doesn't literally require a Cool Mask, although it's a lot harder to pull off if the hero doesn't wear one.
- Mask of Confidence: Always a Cool Mask by default.
- Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Susabi and Tamamo no Mae from Onmyoji. The latter's case is made even more evident when he loses his Cool Mask. Ichimokuren also becomes one when his skin is applied, though he's not as tall as Susabi.
- Characters.Record Of Ragnarok The Heavens: Sports an extremely intimidating mask that helps build him up. unsure what "builds him up" entails
- Characters.The Wall Will Fall: ZCE commented out.
- Characters.White Knight Chronicles: (Adolmaea, in the Knights' folder), It's unique Transformation Trinket is a mask. — I don't get it
- Psychic Strangle: In Android Karenina, Alexei Karenin — egged on by his Face — inflicts this on his wife during their nastiest argument; for good measure, he actively slams her into the ceiling while doing so. unsure what Face is
- Manhwa.Shin Angyo Onshi: Won Sul. [[spoiler: Turns out it is necessary.]] would be plot-relevant with more context
- VideoGame.Knight Club: ZCE commented out.
Misuse (3/57)
- Disguise Tropes: A person wears a mask to conceal their identity.
- Analysis.OOC Is Serious Business: The Cool Mask wearer suddenly removes it; one normally in makeup being without also fits this.
- Characters.Sally Face: (Sally), Well, it's a prosthetic face, but it could count as a mask. — Shoehorned
