![]() A person without a face is dehumanized and treated as expendable by way of the Faceless Goons trope, which is no good for a character whom you want the audience to care about. A fully enclosed or visored helmet can be an even bigger problem because people are good at recognizing faces, and associate faces with having individuality and personhood. Hairstyles can be important for identifying a character in a crowd, especially in animated works with Only Six Faces. Even an open-faced helmet will at least obscure a character's hair. In visual media this is usually the creators bowing to Rule of Perception and Shoot the Money. So why does a character who has access to a helmet rarely use it? In modern ranged combat you have to expose your head every time you peek out of your trench or foxhole, and all kinds of debris and shrapnel from explosions might fall on your head. In an ancient shield formation, your large shield would usually protect your torso but leave your head sticking over the top, thus inviting the slings, arrows, swords, and spears of the enemy. In Real Life the helmet is the most important piece of personal armor ever invented besides the shield, since the skull and brain are highly vulnerable to all kinds of weapon blows and projectiles. In any work where a hero wears armor, whether powered or otherwise, the helmet is rarely worn, even in combat. ![]()
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May 2023
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