Line #16 Main/MaskOfConfidence


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3	%% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks!
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6	->'''Bertie Wooster:''' And he was attending that fancy-dress ball, mark you--not, like every other well-bred Englishman, as a Pierrot, but as Mephistopheles--this involving, as I need scarcely stress, not only scarlet tights but a pretty frightful false beard... "And why not as a Pierrot?" I said, taking up the point which had struck me before. "Why this break with a grand old tradition?"\
7	'''Gussie Fink-Nottle:''' He particularly wanted me to go as Mephistopheles... Jeeves is a great believer in the moral effect of clothes. He thinks I might be emboldened in a striking costume like this. He said a Pirate Chief would be just as good.
8	-->-- ''Literature/RightHoJeeves''
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10	MaskOfPower needn't be magical: all it needs to do is to cover your face. The symbolism noted under that trope, of taking a new face and thus becoming a new person, works especially strong here, and there is no magical effect involved whatsoever: the wearer becomes more powerful and confident simply because of the psychological effect.
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12	Always a CoolMask by default. Compare BeneathTheMask and MagicFeather. SplitPersonality, SecretIdentityIdentity, and WhatYouAreInTheDark are often related. Not to be confused with InferioritySuperiorityComplex, which about unconfident characters who pretend they are confident.
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15	!!Examples:
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17	[[foldercontrol]]
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19	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
20	* Mamoru in ''Anime/FafnerInTheAzureDeadAggressor'' wears a Goubain mask when piloting his Fafner, which makes him act more HotBlooded.
21	* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', after leaving the Straw Hat Crew, Usopp develops an alternate identity of Sogeking, so that he might still help to save his companion without betraying his true identity to the rest of the crew and let them know that he did not leave (it doesn't work, but that's beside the point). The mask included in the costume is nothing but a common carnival souvenir but "Sogeking" is drawn out once again in a future battle and grants Usopp enough confidence to win.
22	* ''Manga/SketDance'': Daimon Akitoshi is a shy and timid guy who tends to overthink things and is very considerate. When he puts on his mask to become Enigman, he becomes a LargeHam.
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25	[[folder:Comic Books]]
26	* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': One story established that ComicBook/{{Mysterio}} has severe confidence issues when not wearing his helmet, to such a point that he is too cowardly to speak to a woman he is attracted to ''over the phone'' without donning the mask.
27	[[/folder]]
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29	[[folder:Fanfiction]]
30	* ''Fanfic/TheAdventuresOfPantheraNoire'': As Panthera, Juleka is almost unrecognizable, becoming a flirty, quick-witted sass master. Ironically, her mask actually makes her insecurities in her normal life worse as it leads her to believe that Rose is in love with ''Panthera'' and not the real her.
31	[[/folder]]
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33	[[folder:Film]]
34	* ''Film/TheMask'' revolves around an actual MaskOfPower that grants the shy, lovesick Stanley Ipkiss an absurd level of confidence (and RealityWarper powers) as the title character, but when he asks an anthropologist for more information about the artifact, he doesn't believe it's magic and instead [[LampshadeHanging brings up]] the psychological effect of wearing a mask!
35	* In ''Franchise/StarWars'', the villainous Kylo Ren is a much darker take on this. When he's wearing a black, voice-altering mask (deliberately designed after Darth Vader's), he comes off as more cold, menacing, and controlled. When the mask's off, he is a lot more awkward and emotional to the point where it's implied part of the reason he wears the mask is to hide his true feelings. Case in point, his master Snoke contemptuously tells him to "take that ridiculous thing off".
36	[[/folder]]
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38	[[folder:Literature]]
39	* {{Literature/Discworld}}: In ''Literature/{{Maskerade}}'', no one suspects that [[spoiler:Walter Plinge]] could be the Phantom, because without the mask he acts like an altogether different person. When Granny and Agnes give him an "invisible mask" to face [[spoiler: Salzella]] at the climax, he retains the confidence and poise of his alter ego.
40	* The self-help book ''Goodbye Shy'', which is about beating shyness, recounts an anecdote of a young boy who was painfully shy in public to the point of never speaking or interacting with anyone until he was allowed to wear a mask to school one day. In an instant, he loudly declared himself to be "Nobody", and became gregarious and friendly. As this became his new normal, he made lots of friends and stopped needing the mask.
41	* ''Literature/JeevesAndWooster'': In ''Literature/RightHoJeeves'', Jeeves invokes this trope advising Gussie Fink-Nottle, who CanNotSpitItOut to Madeline Basset, to get a pirate costume or a Mephisthopeles costume to a costume ball Madeline has invited Gussie. We will never know if it would have worked because Gussie [[TooIncompetentToOperateABlanket gives the taxi the wrong address and his costume has no pockets where to save money and he expends the night at jail]].
42	%%* The hunters' warpaint in ''Literature/LordOfTheFlies''.
43	* In ''Literature/{{Masques}}'', Aralorn's friend Wolf wears a mask. His face is heavily scarred, but apart from that [[spoiler:he looks exactly like his evil father, so he really needs a new face.]]
44	* The titular item in ''Literature/TheStragglersMask'', when given to the LovableCoward Peal and told that it's magic, allows him to stand tall and perform actual heroic deeds. How much of it is this trope, how much MagicFeather, and how much [[MaskOfPower actually magical]], is left ambiguous to the very end.
45	[[/folder]]
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47	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
48	* ''Series/TheBennyHillShow'', "In Boutique Mask Dance." Benny goes to a mask boutique, tries to flirt with the shopgirl who rejects him. He puts a handsome mask on and she's falling all over herself, but he plays hard to get. Then he takes the mask off momentarily and puts it back on, but puts on a female mask by mistake, so now the shopgirl doesn't care for him. He's confused. Then a man enters the shop, sees this beautiful girl (Benny), and tries to woo her.
49	* The Red Hood's mask in ''Series/{{Gotham}}'' is basically just some ragged red cloth, yet whoever wears it becomes a confident, dangerous villain.
50	* Nonsuperhero example in ''Series/TheMaskedSinger'', which naturally requires all of its contestants to be hidden via masks and costumes, as guessing them is the whole point of the show. Many singers have commented on how liberating it is to perform anonymously and get away from their existing reputations.
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53	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
54	* In ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'' Alessio Rinaldi AKA the Peacock Prince has found himself with a rather problematic case of this: as the Malkavian Prince of Ravenna, he's more than capable of dealing with all the problems that governance throws at him - but only once he dons his mask of peacock feathers. Without it, he's frail, meek, and incapable of dealing with his station as prince... and worse still, the Peacock Prince has actually begun to develop into an independent personality in its own right.
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57	[[folder:Toys]]
58	* ''Toys/PlushieDreadfuls'': The NPD bunny is a plain brown bunny wearing a shiny gold crown that's described on the website page as fake; the intention is to reassure NPD sufferers they're good enough, because the bunny is cute enough not to need any crown at all.
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61	[[folder:Video Games]]
62	* Murakumo from ''VideoGame/SenranKagura'': While wearing the Hanyaa mask, she acts cool, stoic, and talks with a deep, tough-sounding voice. Without it, she turns into a ShrinkingViolet with an incredibly timid voice who's too nervous to form complete sentences.
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65	[[folder:Web Comics]]
66	* ''Webcomic/{{Flipside}}'': Maytag is outgoing and freethinking when in her jester outfit, and extremely shy and neurotic without it. [[spoiler:{{Subverted\|Trope}} when the shy personality turns out also to be an act -- she's really an analytical EmotionlessGirl who struggles to relate to people without putting on an act.]]
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69	[[folder:Western Animation]]
70	* Hunter from ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' comes across as incredibly cocky when he's in uniform as [[TheDragon the Golden Guard]], but losing his mask gives way to the insecure and awkward teenager underneath. [[spoiler:He even lampshades this in "Thanks to Them", when he notes to Luz how he never used to be scared back when he was the Golden Guard, leading Luz to try and invoke the effect by giving him a Halloween mask that bears a superficial resemblance to his old mask.]]
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73	[[folder:Real Life]]
74	* People are known to act as a much less 'filtered' and 'conformed' version of themselves when wearing a mask of some sort. This is particularly true when said mask is [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_disinhibition_effect the internet]]. Of course, this means that people who suppress their natural nastiness [[InternetJerk will unleash it online]].
75	[[/folder]]

Context Main / MaskOfConfidence