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The Face
aka: Team Face

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"Hold your fire!... Daniel... Do you think you could find a language that could tell these people we're human like they are... and that we're friendly?"
Jack O'Neill, Stargate SG-1

In a team character dynamic, this person is the Face of the team and they are the one you want doing the talking. They are charming, socially savvy, and otherwise know how to get things done with words. At worst they will be the least dysfunctional team member. While they might be The Leader for this reason, it might also be that they are mistaken for being in charge simply because they are the most vocal. This is the super trope for the characters that could fit in that role.

They could be The Heart of the group and thus its moral compass. They could be The Mentor if they're more into guiding and teaching. They could be the Tagalong Kid if younger and perhaps less mature but possessing certain insight. They could be more feminine because everyone knows Women Are Wiser, and her girly clothing will contrast with the men. Together with The Big Guy and The Sneaky Guy, they round off the Combat, Diplomacy, Stealth trio. In a Talker and Doer duo, they constitute the former half.

In an action-oriented series, their role could be Mission Control so they can do their social thing without being on the front lines. Their special abilities include Talking Your Way Out, Talking the Monster to Death and Break Them by Talking. If they have Personality Powers, they will also likely manifest as Psychic Powers: Telepathy, The Empath etc.

Sub-tropes include:

  • Cunning Linguist if they cross over to the Omniglot.
  • The Heart: The one to talk things out peacefully and talk team members out of something dangerous.
  • Team Mom or Team Dad: Guidance, support, praise, discipline, etc.
  • The Social Expert is the most likely one on this list to exploit their social skills for their own purpose but also to support the team's purpose.

Not to be confused with the wrestling term Face. The name originates from the "The A-Team", an 80s TV show that features a character nicknamed "The Faceman", who is a suave, smooth-talking con man. The co-creator of the show claims "faceman" was a popular slang term used to refer to attractive male students during his high school years. It is often referenced in the tradition of Dungeons & Dragons where a character in a Player Party would be the face of the group: they have stats and skill sets based on talking and resolving conflicts without fighting.

Examples:

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    Anime & Manga 
  • Cardcaptor Sakura: Tomoyo interacts with everyone and contrasts them with her Muggleness. She's also emotional support for Sakura, and Syaoran too after he calms down.
  • Witch Hunter Robin: Chief Inspector Shintar Kosaka represents the STNJ to other organizatons and passes on the office's reports to the parent organization, SOLOMON. He has a lot of friends in the police department and all he has to do is call one of them to get info on suspects.
  • In Delicious in Dungeon, Kabru is always the one who deals with anyone his party meets. As he's both The Charmer and The Social Expert, this is pretty logical.
  • Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's sets up contrasts between Shamal and her fellow Belkan knights: the most feminine, the one who can't cook, the Team Mom. She's also Mission Control because her magic is focused on communication and teleportation.
  • One would think Maia was the Face in Daphne in the Brilliant Blue, being the friendly and helpful Chick she is, but it's actually Shizuka with the social network.
  • Baccano!: Luck does most of the talking and business for the Gandor family. His friendship with Firo is also the reason the Gandors have a good relationship with the Martillo Family. His brothers are either too quiet or too aggressive for such a responsibility.
  • Crest of the Stars deconstructs this trope with how Jinto feels about being forced into this role. Because he seems to get along with everyone (perhaps because he wasn't born into Abh society like everyone else) he has to act as a go-between both within the Basroil's crew and with other soldiers. This means shouldering everyone's emotional baggage and translating for the one receiving the message.
  • Science Ninja Team Gatchaman: Jinpei, the only child on the team, certainly has a way with other children.
  • Code Geass: Kaguya invokes the trope in her bid for Zero's hand in marriage. "You'll need a public face, right?"
  • Rock from Black Lagoon. He isn't much for violence like Revy and Dutch are, but he makes up for it by being the Lagoon Company's negotiator. He's also the most idealistic of the crew.
  • Hajime Ichinose couples this function with The Heart in Gatchaman Crowds. It is at her suggestion that the Gatchaman team reveal themselves to the world at large and she soon becomes the group's PR face. In Insight, Paiman serves as the one who delivers official statements while O.D. becomes part of a television show.
  • Lacus Clyne from Mobile Suit Gundam SEED and Destiny immediately becomes the face of pretty much every organization and faction she joins (the Clyne Faction, the Three-Ship Alliance, the entirety of ZAFT in the Destiny finale), thanks to her oratory skills, impeccable reputation, and good looks. Because of this, the second season's antagonist recognizes her, rather than a bunch of super-powered mecha pilots and political extremists as the greatest threat to his plans.
  • In The Seven Deadly Sins, the Sins look terrifying and have a (not entirely unjustified) bad reputation, so it's usually the human Elizabeth's job to ask people questions and explain the Sins' quest.
  • Rebuild World:
    • As far as The Squad of Private Military Contractors Akira works with goes, Elena is generally this, trusted by her Heterosexual Life-Partner The Big Girl Sara for it in their daily life as well. Elena is also usually The Leader and always The Smart Girl of said teams.
      • Carol, being a Femme Fatale, basically helps Elena negotiate contracts as she’s better at negotiations than her. Although she’s no slouch in combat.
    • With regard to much of the protagonist Akira’s daily life, he basically pushes every social task he can onto Sheryl, who's perpetually indebted (and a Dogged Nice Girl) to him. Sheryl is a dedicated Guile Hero, and Supporting Leader of the Hunter Gang the two build in the slums, with a special talent for charming information out of hunters.
    • When Akira reaches level 50 in the Hunter's Office, he gets Hikaru assigned as essentially his talent agent and general liaison with the Corporate Government, which she takes to the point of being his physical proxy at points out of fear of Akira going on a rampage.

    Comic Books 
  • Archie Comics: Veronica Lodge. Her skills are mostly social instead of practical, but she contributes by being the only one with unlimited wealth and resources.
  • Among not just the Batfamily, but the entire DCU, Nightwing. He is friends with every hero in the universe, able to call on help from anyone from the Justice League, Teen Titans, and anyone else who knows him, even those on Oa and in Hell. He's even teamed up with his enemies, just because he asked nicely.
  • Superman is this in the Justice League as highlighted in Grant Morrison's JLA: New World Order. After The Team realizes that fire is the key to defeating the Martians, he makes a TV announcement telling the people of Earth to all light matches, cigarette lighters, etc.
  • Wonder Woman (1987): After Ares' Hazy-Feel Turn he has Harmonia represent him at meetings of the Olympians and when he wants to aid the Amazons, because she is much better at getting along with people than him or the others allied with him. Also he can't really stand any Olympians besides Aphrodite anyway.
  • During Joss Whedon's run on Astonishing X-Men, Cyclops brought Kitty Pryde onto the team for largely this purpose, as she was the most personable member of the team, and the most human in appearance (Cyclops forced to hide his eyes behind shades, Beast being blue and leonine, Emma Frost being a former criminal and Wolvering being, well, Wolverine). Years later, Storm convinced Kitty to become the team's leader during the X-Men: Gold era for much the same reason. As leader of the X-Men, Kitty appeared before Congress and on TV talk shows to promote mutant/human coexistence.

    Fan Works 
  • Better Bones AU:
    • While Tigerstar is the leader of the Dark Forest cats during their plan to overthrow their leadership and take over as the dominant afterlife, it's Hawkfrost who acts as the diplomat able to accomplish the near-impossible task of uniting the Dark Forest cats with wildly differing ideologies towards a common goal.
    • Bumble serves as this for ancient ThunderClan, with her outgoing and warm personality and knowledge of three languages allowing her to create diplomatic relations with other groups effectively.
  • The Night Unfurls: When she isn't fulfilling her duties as healer, Lily serves as the affable presence among the five hunters. Especially so when one is a mute, another is a Nervous Wreck, and the other two (The Leader included) are blunt to a fault. If there is anyone who can manage the social elements for The Team (e.g. mediating, relaying, etc.), that's Lily.
  • In The Power of Seven, Susan Bones appears to be adopting this role for the harem, given her political experience and social status as the last heir to the Bones family, such as acting as the Rules Lawyer to find loopholes to justify Harry's actions to wizarding society beyond 'saving his life'.
  • Much like her role in Dragon Age: Inquisition, Josephine serves this function for the eponymous school in Skyhold Academy Yearbook. Her position is so unique that it doesn't really have a name; she's a combination of deputy headmistress, guidance counselor, treasurer, and public relations expert. Much of the ongoing work to find both funds and students for the school falls on her desk.

    Film 
  • Galaxy Quest: Parodied like everything else in the movie. The fact that Gwen has no technical specialty is lampshaded: Her 'social skills' amount to "repeating everything the computer says." And two other things.
  • Ghostbusters (1984): Janine is the receptionist for the four man organization; a notably interpersonal role. One scene in the movie has her trying to convince a customer of their professionalism.
  • Mystery Men has two versions:
    • The Sphinx is The Mentor who guides everyone.
    • The Invisible Boy is more or less a Tagalong Kid, and until the climax his only contribution is networking and idealism.
  • Loki was the face of Thor's group of warriors before his Face–Heel Turn. The others remark on his silver tongue and he's the one who did the talking in Laufey's court.
  • Maddie Bowen in Blood Diamond is able to help negotiate everyone through situations that would require a lot of risky trickery. This includes pretending to interview a soldier guarding equipment so Danny can sneak behind him, and stopping a group of bandits simply by asking them if they'd like their pictures taken. Fridge Brilliance says she would be expected to have some PR skills as a journalist.
  • As an ad agency boss turned Army PR agent, Major William Cage from Edge of Tomorrow not only acts as international liaison between forces, but when paired with the Full Metal Bitch, is the one that gets to know others and recruit people to their side. However this is also Character Development as when the movie starts he's a shallow and insincere PR officer who tries to blackmail a general into keeping him off the frontline and gets sent there as a grunt instead.
  • Justice League (2017). Bruce Wayne/Batman is trying to recruit superheroes for the League, but knows that his stoic nature tends to grate on people, so he'd rather Diana Prince take on the role — she's beautiful, charming, and her superhero persona is inspirational in a way that the Dark Knight of Gotham is not. The movie opens with Superman giving an impromptu 'interview' for some children, showing how much better he was at this trope.

    Literature 
  • Haruhi Suzumiya:
    • Haruhi herself; always out to promote the SOS Brigade and Kyon notes that she 'knows how to get answers' peacefully from the apartment keeper during the investigation of Asakura's disapperance. In practice the trope is inverted as she either steamrolls people with blackmail or her personality if she's not outright ignoring them.
    • Asakura is a very nice and helpful Class Representative when she doesn't have a knife.
  • In the H.I.V.E. Series, Lucy Dexter gradually takes over this role, primarily because of her Compelling Voice. With such a talented person on your team, why wouldn't you want them to do the talking?
  • Going Postal: Moist for the Post Office staff. It's what Vetinari hired him for. Stanley's considered weird even by other pin collectors, and Groat is... eccentric. Moist, however, is a con man, so he knows how to sell an idea.
  • Sir Dinadin from Arthurian Legend. He doesn't like fighting and thinks Courtly Love is a waste of time. The other things he's noted for is good humor and being more sociable than his fellows: he's the only one that can recognize all of them by their face in addition to their shield crest. This ability is naturally helpful for knights who otherwise might not recognize their own king.
  • Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
    • Dolores Umbridge exploited this trope. She doesn't want Hogwarts students trained in offensive magic so she fills the Defense Against the Dark Arts class with lessons like 'negiotation' and 'non-retaliation' on the premise that these skills are just as important for future Auror teams as curses and counter-curses. While this might not sound like a bad idea, the fact that she is imposing these restrictions while a wizarding civil war is brewing in the background make it clear that, in this case, being The Face is less useful than knowing how to defend yourself from homicidal lunatics. It's also clear from what happens a couple of books later that she's deliberately watering down the students' skill-set so that they'll be less of a threat to face when there's a coup.
    • Hermione Granger frequently acts as such, which comes in handy when dealing with older and arrogant wizards since she is also The Smart Guy.
  • Xuanzang of Journey to the West does all the talking with muggles etc because he is a courteous monk and his companions are scary-looking (and in Wukong's case, very rude) demons.
  • Strickland is this in Kill Decision, though he becomes painfully aware that he doesn't have the same tech-savvy as the rest of his team.
  • Perhaps unsurprisingly, Garik "Face" Loran of the X-Wing Series's Wraith Squadron serves as the squad's general-purpose fast-talker and people person. Even when he becomes The Captain, he prefers to handle things like recruitment and dealing with bystanders himself.
  • The Executioner. In the Heroes "R" Us group Able Team, Rosario "The Politician" Blancanales earned his nickname from his ability to fulfill this trope.
  • Piper in The Heroes of Olympus has "being charming" as a superpower, and can persuade people to do things they're dead-set against. Deconstructed in that she isn't comfortable being the team's "pretty face" while others handle the combat stuff, so she's involved in battle a lot more as the series progresses.

    Live-Action TV 
  • Angel has Cordelia play this role for Team Angel. She's the secretary for Angel's detective biz but she can't even use the phone properly. On the other hand, she's the only link to the people he really needs to be in touch with.
  • The A-Team: Not surprisingly, Face fulfills this role by procuring rides and equipment for the team. You need a towtruck/limo/cab company? The Faceman can get that for you with some smooth moves and a silver tongue. He once even procured a expensive luxury car in the jungles of Vietnam. How did he do it? Professional secret.
  • Better Call Saul: Howard Hamlin's role at Hamlin, Hamlin and McGill. He isn't a skilled litigator but he's the one the partners turn to when they need someone to don a smart suit and charm a potential client over an expensive lunch:
    Jimmy McGill: You're a shitty lawyer, Howard. But you're a great salesman. So get out there and sell.
    Howard Hamlin: Fuck you, Jimmy.
    Jimmy McGill: There you go. Use that.
  • The Big Bang Theory: In the first couple of seasons, Penny served as this because, besides being the only female lead, she was the only one of the five who not a socially incompetent nerd.
  • The core cast of Bones is four "Squints" and a smooth talking FBI agent. While the former collects and analyzes evidence in private the latter's gathering information from people related to the Crime of the Week and interrogating suspects.
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Xander is The Heart and lacks the supernatural powers of his teammates, but is best friends with Buffy and Willow to the end. His storylines tends to revolve around interpersonal relationships, and, as the most consistent of the Scooby Gang, he interacts with everyone.
  • Community: reluctant Team Dad Jeff Winger tends to be saddled with whatever talking and negotiating needs to be done since he's a former lawyer who's skilled at coming up with awesome speeches off the cuff.
  • The Doctor's companions often serve as this on Doctor Who, given that the main character is a Large Ham, Cloudcuckoolander, Gibbering Genius, and Socially Awkward Hero (to varying degrees in varying incarnations), while the companions are The Watson and usually have better understanding of human social norms (since they're usually human).
  • Firefly:
    • Officially, Inara's role on the ship is to use her social contacts to "open doors that would otherwise be closed" to a group like Captain Mal and the crew.
    • Jayne, but in a different way. His official job title on the ship is "Public Relations" and considering the Serenity's relations with the public this usually means hurting people... or on the rare occasions when things don't go off the rails, standing around looking hard and deterring anyone from starting trouble.
    • Simon's knowledge of the Alliance, politeness, and ability to be diplomatic also count.
  • House - Cameron is The Heart variety. She goes out of her way to 'get to know' the patients, as opposed to the other members of her department who more or less don't care and only ask for diagnostics information.
  • The IT Crowd: Jen is the socially capable Nerd Nanny for the IT Department. She has no computer skills but, unlike the rest of the cast, she has social skills.
  • Dennis from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is this, relative to the rest of the group. He frequently proves himself to be the only member of the group who can function in certain social situations, though he is hardly a social person.
  • Kamen Rider Fourze: As club president of the Kamen Rider Club, Miu's is level headed in a crisis, and unlike the others who have their own quirks, she gives an air of respectability to the club.
  • In the game world of Level Up, the Never Fail guild lets Wyat do all the talking with other players because he's The Charmer. In the real world, however, he's a dork and Lyle's the one with school-wide friends.
  • Sophie, the grifter from Leverage. She stands out as the stable and emotionally competent one of the group (though she does have her own issues), and her job goes beyond manipulation and grifting. She's usually the one next to Nate talking to the clients, and she's the one reassuring them, not just asking for the facts. When she leaves, each member of the team separately calls her for advice, either on how to deal with the con, or on personal issues.
    "We trust Nate to run the con. We trust you to keep us safe."
  • The Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nóg: Deirdre is the only female of five knights, and also the only one to regularly do more than fight. When making alliances who is the local head man going to listen to: The thief, the druid apprentice, the princes from the Land of Never-Heard-Of-It, or the local princess?
  • NCIS Abby, though crossed with The Smart Guy, is the cutie who interacts with all four of Gibbs' group.
  • Leslie is this in Parks and Recreation, which is part of the reason why she takes on a leadership role, despite Ron technically being her boss. Leslie is almost always the one giving speeches and for good reason. If she delegates to Tom or Ron, the speeches are either shameless self-promotion (Tom) or blunt dismissals (Ron).
  • Person of Interest: Finch, lacking martial arts or gun play skills, frequently serves to socialize with whatever person he and Reese have to protect that episode.
  • Power Rangers Mystic Force
    • Subverts this trope with Xander, who thinks of himself as The Charmer. "Plan Xander" never works, and the Rangers have to bust out the weapons.
    • Madison has more success but doesn't feel any better about it.
  • Power Rangers RPM: Ziggy can barely fight, but he gets along well with everyone; even forming his closest bonds with brooding rebel Dillon and, eventually, Broken Bird Dr. K.
  • In Primeval Jenny Lewis fills this role only in season 2. She is hired to act as the team's liason with the public and essentially come up with cover stories for them.
  • Most of the main cast of Scorpion are socially-incompetent geniuses, except for two: their government liaison, Agent Gallo, and a waitress named Paige, whom they met in the first episode when they had to commandeer use of the diner she was working in (It Makes Sense in Context). Her ability to work with their quirks in stressful situations led to her being hired specifically for this trope. Tellingly, in the first-season finale, attempting to take charge of the situation without Gallo's authority or Paige's people skills ends with Toby and Happy getting arrested.
  • Second Chance (2016): Mary for her twin brother Otto. It's public knowledge that Otto is behind the technology of Looking Glass, but Mary is the CEO of the company.
  • Carl is the liason of Special Unit 2 to the link underworld. He's not personable or friendly to say the least but he does have useful connections and considering other links want nothing to do with SU 2 he's a step up.
  • Daniel from Stargate SG-1, is the Team's diplomat. He's the one putting the polite and peaceful foot forward in negotiations. It was his idea to find enemies of the Goa'uld and create a box containing information about Earth and SG-1 to give to such aliens if they found them. Jack references this trope by calling Daniel SG-1's 'Voice' and cueing him when he should do his thing: "Daniel, you're up."
  • White Collar: As a sometimes reformed, highly charismatic thief and con artist, Neal Caffrey is the one who tends to have any role involving persuasion of a target, whether for operations with the FBI (where he's a CI), or as part of a con with his friends.

    Music 
  • In most pop/rock bands, the lead singer is usually this because they are front and center during performances. In groups with multiple "lead" singers, the most commercially appealing (often the best looking) can be this.
  • If we go by the traditional definition, Roland Orzabal is the frontman of Tears for Fears because he's the main songwriter and the lead vocalist of most of their discography. However, it's the opinion of Ian Stanley (former TFF keyboardist) and Chris Hughes (producer of TFF albums The Hurting and Songs from the Big Chair) in this interview that Curt Smith fulfills the role of The Face for the band, especially during the early part of their career (e.g. only Smith appears the front cover of the 1983 tour program). Moreover, Smith — who is more extroverted and is regarded as being more amiable (and more attractive) by the press than the introverted Orzabal — also dealt with the media more often, magazines occasionally put Smith on the front cover alone (or at least have Smith in focus) even when he and Orzabal were both featured in the interview, plus Smith was the only band member who made a thank you speech at the 1986 BRIT Awards despite Orzabal being present.
    Marc Almond (narrator): As time went on, many saw [Orzabal] as the band's driving force.
    Stanley: Roland was always the sort of brilliance of the group. Curt was the face, definitely.
    Hughes: Curt was very, very good at the being the kind of pop star front, and in the earlier songs, he was fronting the group in a sense.

    Roleplay 
  • In Dino Attack RPG, Dr. Wallace Breen is the Face of XERRD. Despite his scientist background, this was specifically the reason why Dr. Breen was recruited by Dr. Rex, since his true strength lay in his use of rhetoric and he had prior experience as a CEO and a politician.

    Tabletop Games 
  • In Dungeons & Dragons (and by extension, all other RPGs), this character role is known as The Face. Also called "the party face" and "diplomancer". This is the character that handles the public relations for the party. They have skills in Diplomacy and/or Bluff, and only rarely in Sense Motive/Insight. Traditionally, bards, rogues, or paladins fit well in this role (and, surprisingly, sorcerers and warlocks, if only because Diplomacy skills synergize well mechanically with Charisma being the stat that improves their spellcasting). The basic idea is that bards are charming and know to work an audience, rogues are deceptive, and paladins channel the awe/fear of their deity to inspire or intimidate (as the case may be). The next best options are those who, due to their Background or Race, had Proficiency in Charisma based Skills, like Persuasion, Deception, Intimidation, and/or Performance, to say nothing about those whose races had a boost in their Charisma scores. After all, Nobles and Guild Artisans (and Merchants) know how to talk to others, and it seems that, despite their reputation for being bull-headed, Minotaurs are very skillful speakers, also there's a reason that Tieflings are known as silver-tongued devils. Oddly enough, this could possibly lead to someone of an unexpected class, such as a Barbarian, with the right background/race makeup being the party's Face.
  • Call of Cthulhu. The Field Manual of the Theron Marks Society (in the supplement Terror from the Stars) recommended having one of the PCs be a Communication Specialist - a charismatic character who is a good talker. They would have a high Appearance and high percentages in the skills Bargain, Credit Rating, Fast Talk and Persuade.
  • Genius: The Transgression: Scholastics serve this purpose in a Player Party. This is important, since a Genius' ever worsening Science-Related Memetic Disorder causes jabir which makes talking to normal humans rather difficult.
  • Princess: The Hopeful: The Grace will fall into this role in a typical group of Princesses. She is the one whose Calling is to bring people together and inspire them to be better, and she is the one with affinity for Charms related to communication and social connections.
  • Shadowrun: The Face is one of the essential shadowrunner archetypes, alongside the Street Samurai, the Decker and the Mage. Pure Faces tend to dip into both adept powers and bioware, use a lot of Karma/Edge to throw ludicrous amounts of dice at social skill tests (The Pornomancer was named for a third edition Face build that could throw 50+ dice in casual conversation), tend to avoid the heaviest combat and live and die on their ability to contact the right people. Though any character with a high Charisma and Social Skills like Etiquette, Interrogation, Leadership and Negotiation can do in a pinch.
  • Earthdawn. Having a high Charisma is essential for each of the following.
    • The Troubador Discipline was good for this, with Talents like First Impression, Lasting Impression and Haggle.
    • Characters with other Disciplines can fill this role by choosing General Skills such as Acting, Bribery, Conversation, Engaging Banter, Etiquette, Fence, Flirting, Seduction, Streetwise and Trading.
  • In Legend of the Five Rings Courtiers are explicitly designed to play this role, as even though most PCs should have basic social skills to survive Rokugan's complicated system of etiquette and conversation, it helps to have someone who can recruit allies and deal with gossip and slander. In a pinch, Air Shugenjas and more politically oriented Magistrates and Bushi (particularly from the Scorpion or Crane Clans) can fill this role.
  • Warhammer 40,000:
    • T'au expeditions will often have a member of their diplomat caste around that can do all the talking when they have to meet with members of another species.
    • As well as being the de facto leader of the Aeldari faction known as the Ynnari, Yvraine is also their most prominent diplomat, dealing extensively with alien races who could prove useful and spreading the hope of Ynnead, God of Death, to the other Aeldari cultures.
    • There is a branch of the Adeptus Custodes (aka the Emperor's personal bodyguards) that act as the Custodian diplomats on the extremely rare occasions they're needed. Otherwise, the Captain-General of the Custodes is their Face Man, as he is the one who interacts with the High Lords of Terra.
  • In the BattleTech RPG one of the premade character archetypes is called the Faceman, basically a mix between a public relations manager and a lawyer, who works for a mercenary company. While he is next to useless in any fight it is mentioned that merc commands that don't have one of these guys usually go under within a year, often before seeing a single battle, thanks to legal, bureaucratic and monetary issues.
    • The Clans' merchant caste generally plays this role for the Clans who are willing to deal with the Inner Sphere. Merchants still see the Spheroids as destructive primitives but are able put this aside and hide their feelings during negotiations, unlike the other castes (especially the warriors), to score a good deal.
  • Hero System
    • Champions. This type of character would have a high Presence score and skills based on that Characteristic, such as Acting, Bribery, Bureaucratics, Conversation, High Society, Interrogation, Oratory, Persuasion, Seduction, Streetwise and Trading.
    • Danger International. This type of character was called a "Con Man". They were otherwise the same as in Champions.
  • Bleak World has this role going to anyone with a high PR skill, usually looking human rather than monstrous. It is widely agreed that an Intrepid Reporter working for a corporation can simply talk and buy their way through a module.
  • The Slide playbook in Blades in the Dark is inherently geared towards social actions and special abilities, but the Spider can cover for them in a pinch, as well. Generally speaking, the Slide is most at home fast-talking in the moment of a dangerous situation, while the Spider prefers to slowly weave the web of connections behind the scenes.

    Theatre 
  • In the Mrs. Hawking play series, this is Nathaniel's contribution to the team, as it turns out he has a talent for getting people talking and coming up with stories on the fly.
    • Mary occasionally is called upon to do this, such as when she pretended to be the niece of the viceroy of India in Mrs. Hawking, but it is primarily Nathaniel's job.

    Toys 
  • Transformers:
    • From Generation One, Optimus Prime's right hand man Jazz is a friendly, likable sort who gets along well with just about everyone. In cases where he's unsuitable (since he's also the Autobot director of Special Operations), there's also Blaster and Hound, both of whom enjoy Earth's culture and learn a lot about it. Bumblebee, on the other hand, works best as the Face when dealing with younger humans, as in terms of maturity he's closer to their age. One of the Autobots' major advantages on Earth is their large number of demographic-appropriate representatives who are also reasonably responsible individuals and therefore can be trusted with the task; for instance, they can call on Streetwise and Groove for working with police departments, Inferno and Hot Spot for first responders, First Aid and Ratchet to speak with medical personnel, and so forth.
    • The Decepticons have their own Face Man in the form of the Combaticon Swindle. His bio outright states that he'd be able to "sell oil to an Arab sheik", and in The Transformers there's one memorable instance where when the Decepticons needed to negotiate, they immediately called him in. The only problem is Swindle's name isn't for show, and if not closely monitored (i.e. Megatron isn't pointing his fusion cannon right at him) he's prone to prioritising his own benefit over the Decepticons as a whole.

    Video Games 
  • In the 'Subspace Emissary' campaign in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Peach makes herself useful by breaking up fights and turning potential enemies into friends (as well as mysteriously producing cups of tea), in contrast with the Action Girls Samus and Sheik.
  • Emil from NieR, who is also The Heart and a Tagalong Kid, does what he can to keep an upbeat attitude and help his friends get along.
  • Stocke, the protagonist of Radiant Historia starts off as The Stoic, but also starts off with a growing circle of friends who he cares about dearly. He helps his party members through a variety of internal and external conflicts, and is always sensitive to their issues. And at one point, he helps his best friend Rosch and an NPC with relationship advice.
  • In the majority of post-Fallout CRPGs (though, really, this tradition goes all the way back to Ultima), The Face of the Player Party is inevitably the customizable Player Character—if only because no Non-Player Companion can ever strike up a conversation with another NPC on their own. This often has an unfortunate side effect of making Charisma a must-grind stat for any PC not hell-bent on violence—and the Dump Stat for everyone else. Examples include:
    • Planescape: Torment heavily encourages you to give the Nameless One high social and mental scores, because playing him this way leads to a much richer and more nuanced experience.
    • Commander Shepard from the Mass Effect series is this for their party, but in Mass Effect 3, Shepard essentially becomes this for the entire Alliance, as well, as lampshaded by Admiral Hackett.
    • Dragon Age II contains a notable aversion: having Varric Tethras in the active party lets you avoid several big fights by letting him take over the negotiations for you. In fact, Word of God is that the instant you let Varric start talking, he's won. And you know things are really bad if he decides to start shooting instead of trying to talk first. Subverted if you have him and Merrill in the party; in every single one of these situations, she will cluelessly talk the party back into trouble the second he has things settled down.
    • Josephine Montilyet is this in Dragon Age: Inquisition, serving as the ambassador of the newly reformed Inquisition. While Leliana tracks down useful information and Cullen directs the military branch, Josephine is the one who interacts with nobility and Chantry representatives, trying to paint the organization (and the Inquisitor) in the best possible light at all times in order to encourage financial contributions and other forms of support. Being nobility herself helps a lot, since she has the education and the connections to allow her to do what needs to be done.
    • Divinity: Original Sin puts an interesting spin on this trope in its Co-Op Multiplayer: both playable characters (but not the henchmen) have equal rights in dialogue, so both players can make their PC into The Social Expert and run around, talking with NPCs and solving quests, independently of each other. Of course, it is just as possible for one player to be The Face while the other focuses on a different skill set, or for the party to have no Face at all.
  • In Ensemble Stars!, in most cases the face is simply the leader, and thus also the one who makes all the decisions for the unit. However, during the war, fine deliberately chose Tsumugi to be the 'leader' of the unit (even though Eichi was the one actually controlling things), because he seemed down to earth, friendly, and approachable, while the rest of the unit were elites, and they wanted the unit to feel relatable to ordinary people. It also had the added benefit of making him seem responsible for fine's actions to the general public, making him an easy scapegoat.
  • Persona 5: Continuing through Ann Takamaki's Level-Up at Intimacy 5 side-quest allows her to smooth over failed negotiations with enemies.
  • Xenoblade Chronicles 2: After joining the party, Special Inquisitor Mòrag uses political power and connections to cut through a lot of the party's diplomatic problems with ease.

    Visual Novels 
  • In Halloween Otome, the Count fills this roll, seeing as Mr. Wolf is too shy and Mr. Bandages is too cold. Possibly proven during one of their challenges, if chosen for the task.

    Web Comics 
  • El Goonish Shive: Grace tries to be this when dealing with the boar, and fails, which may have been foreshadowed in an early series of gag strips where she fails to negotiate keeping the squirrels out of the bird feeder.
  • The Order of the Stick has Elan the Bard, whose highest stat is his charisma. In the first arc, this was invoked when Roy told Elan to convince a teen goblin to assist them.

    Western Animation 
  • Transformers:
  • Princess Carolyn from Bojack Horseman. Whenever there's some talking, negotiation or dealing the group has to do, she is always at the front, detailing the conditions, the basic requirements and bargaining with the other representatives in order to get the most beneficial deal she can make.
  • Captain Planet: Ma-Ti is the heart variety because no matter where the Planeteers go, he is instantly liked; he can also communicate with animals, knowing how they feel and asking for their help. Kwame, however, is usually the one ending group conflicts.
  • Phineas and Ferb: Phineas is the one talking with whomever the group needs for their latest "Best day ever", from city officials to delivery guys to the Fireside Girls. The best example is persuading Love Handel to reunite for a concert while directing the girls to make a stage. This stands out even more compared with his brother Ferb, who rarely ever talks.
  • My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
    • Fluttershy fills this role for the mane cast but only for non-ponies. Otherwise she's a Shrinking Violet. For example, in Dragonshy Twilight's plan for dealing with a dragon boils down to: 1.) Escort Fluttershy to the dragon's cave and 2.) Have her talk with it.
    • Applejack is this for the Apple Family in Ponyville due to Big Macintosh's quiet demeanor.
    • Rarity fills this role most often amongst the Mane Six, due to being an expert social manipulator. Because of her charm and beauty, others are often compelled to help her and attend to her. This is shown in the series premiere where she chops off part of her own tail to give to a sea dragon who had lost his mustache - knowing the dragon would help them cross the river in return.
  • In Avatar: The Last Airbender, believe it or not, it's Toph Beifong. She is the rudest member of the Gaang, and yet the most social savvy among them. Technically, being the Avatar, it should be Aang at the customs office and the Earth King's birthday, etc.; but she's the one doing the talking. Even though she lived her life secluded and spoiled, without anyone even knowing that she exists (or maybe because of this), she knows how to get things done with words as well as rocks.
  • Peter Venkman in The Real Ghostbusters: Most of the other characters let him do the talking and he seems in charge of public relationships. Of course it helps that he has a big ego and is also The Casanova.
  • In an unsual example of this trope, Eddy is this in Ed, Edd n Eddy, despite being the least liked of the Eds. He's the one who tries to persuade the other kids to try out that episode's scam - Double D is too shy and Ed is too dumb to understand what's happening.
  • Ready Jet Go!: Sydney. She's the resident social expert of the gang, and provides her friends with wisdom and moral support.
  • Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum: Yadina is the resident social expert of the time travel trio, who uses her knowledge to resolve conflicts.

    Real Life 
  • Some would say that Anastas Mikoyan was the most likeable (and stable!) of Stalin's inner circle; a man who went for much more practical (and much less brutal) measures to revive Russia after the Civil War than Stalin. He was also seen as a fairly genteel "traveling salesman" by the West, in comparison to the bombast of those he answered to.
  • Stan Lee was indisputably this for Marvel, even though his position with the company was eventually strictly honorary. This did not sit will with his coworkers like Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby, who felt that their contributions to the comics were being overlooked by the public and they eventually left.
  • Some high intensity team sports (like roller derby, rugby, or hockey) will have a designate "team voice" in play. This is a player who has enough experience to see how the game is progressing and can call out strategy during the game when the players wouldn't be able to consult the coach (or can't hear the coach yelling from the sidelines). It's especially common in amateur sports where teams are made up of players of varying skill and experience levels. Some sports teams will also formalize the role by making one player their official captain, who is not only involved with strategy but may also represent the rest of players to the media and coaching staff.
  • In a production if you visit a set you will likely see someone moving around barking orders and instructions to different departments, handling visitors or coordinating the production assistants. More than likely this is not the Director, but the First Assistant Director (1st AD). The hierarchy is designed so that the Director can be inside their own head and contemplate what is needed when the cameras are rolling, and the First Assistant Directors' job is to relay that to the department heads. While the quality of the final product is often down to the direction, the 1st AD is key to a smooth production.

Alternative Title(s): The Social Guy, Team Face

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