Optimus Prime's Faceplate

[Tiby]

This has been bothering me for a while now.

There may be something in the comics/cartoons/Japanese series/other obscure place that explains it, but here is a thought I have had.

Masks are traditionally used to portray characters that cannot be trusted or are evil. Examples are ninjas, Darth Vader, Phantom of the Opera, Cobra Commander.

However, in the TF universe, we have the opposite! G1 Optimus Prime has no face but an all-enveloping helmet, while Megatron has a very expressive, open face.

It is not until Beast Wars and later that we see a mouth on Optimus, and pupils in his eyes! Prior to that, and still in many incaranations (War Within etc), he appears to be completely anonymous.

Now I know that the G1 characters had more to do with choosing an alt mode to suit the leader, but I realised I always saw G1 Optimus as something of a mystery.

He is generally painted (in all incarnations) as a hero and martyr, ready to sacrifice himself for the common good. However, the G1 style Optimi are generally limited in characterisation. Now I can't remember all of the comics I have read over the years, but a common theme with Optimus is to die for the good of all and to lead with unquestioned confidence (other than when he was just starting out in the job).

The much-maligned Rodimus Prime at least had some flaws in his character, which carried over to the Optimus Primals and their in depth characterisations. These characters also had open faces that are easier to identify with.

Ever wondered why Nemesis Prime / Scourge / black Prime whatever always looks so evil when the only change is the colour?

I just thought I needed to get this down in writing.

[Sam]

An interesting post. I never related the mask thing to ninjas and villains. I just thought having the mask was normal because it's like another type of "robot mouth", if that makes sense.

And I think characters such as Nemesis Prime would have looked evil regardless of the mask or not, because they were coloured darker (i.e. if another robot with a mouth instead of a mask was in a colour such as black, because it would look "evil" as well ?).

(please note the question mark at the end of my post as well, indicating uncertainty)

[SofaMan]

It's a very worthwhile and interesting point you raise. My feeling, based on the limited research I have read on the subject, is that we 'read' expressions on humanoid robots quite differently to how we read it on human or near-human faces.

One example is C-3PO from Star Wars - Even though his face is completely expressionless, and his body language extremely limited, we identify with him through the ways in which he is similar to us - he has arms, legs, eyes, voice, etc. Apparently though, once a human likeness gets to about 90% or so accuracy, we focus on the differences. This is borne out by research that found people tended to react poorly to the human characters in the Final Fantasy movie, and also to the Jennifer Garner animations in the Alias XBox game. People apparently found themselves getting vaguely unsettled, since it was almost like watching animated corpses rather than real people, as there were key aspects of body language that were unconsciously anticipated but absent.

In a humanoid robot that is still significantly different from a human, we automatically disregard the body language cues we would expect in a human. We respond to a masked robot face differently to a masked human face, because our unconscious expectations are different.

I read this research a couple of years ago, and I wish I could find the original article detailing it.

[GoktimusPrime]

It's true that Prime's face plate does make him emotionally less emotive - and for that reason I can totally understand why the Beast Wars and movie animators went for mouthes on Optimus Primal and movie Prime. A Transfan in the States who works with differently-abled children was telling me that last Halloween he wore the Optimus Prime voice changer helmet, but had to cut out the entire face-mask because the children would get frightened if they couldn't see his face.

Having a more exposed face does make people feel more at ease because it allows you to be better identified. The salute was born in feudal European battle where knights would lift up the visor on their helmets to expose and show their face so that others could identify friend or foe.

http://www.mwart.com/images/p/Helmets_The_Knights_Burgonet_Helm_8114_342.jpghttp ://www.usnavybootcamp.com/images/salute.jpg

Ninja obviously obscured their face to hide their identity as guerilla fighters and assassins, but mecha (let's remember that in Diaclone Battle Convoy was a piloted mecha) such as Optimus Prime and Gundams - being piloted by "heroic" characters, had heads that were made to resemble Kabuto (Samurai helmets). Even Michael Bay stated that he wanted Optimus Prime's helmet to have a samurai aesthetic to it - and even hired a Japanese animator to design the look and transformation for Optimus Prime; so hence the paradox of being non-emotive yet noble.

Samurai in Yoroi (armour) with full Kabuto (helmet)
http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en-commons/thumb/2/2c/250px-Samurai.jpg

The heads on many 'heroic' Japanese mecha like Gundam were inspired by Samurai Kabuto
http://www.ahchi.net/picture/HiNewGundamHead135s.jpg

...as was the head of Optimus Prime http://static.rcgroups.com/forums/customavatars/avatar127520_1.gif

Having said that the design can equally be menacing too. A simply repaint as Black Convoy/Nemesis Prime suddenly looks sinister, and Darth Vader's helmet was also based on the Samurai Kabuto (although blended with WWII Nazi helmet for that extra touch of nastiness! ;))

http://yodasdatapad.com/livingroom/funstuff/downloads/avatars/vader4.jpg

Of course, a Samurai could be either a noble hero or terrifying villain depending on whether they were on your side or not! ;D

Video: The Ikeda-ya Incident (July 8, 1864) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ByVpashAtU)
Parental Advisory: Video contains animated violence

[Saintly]

a very interesting read.. but i've got nothing to add :)

[springah]

a very interesting read.. but i've got nothing to add :)

Same! But agreed, heaps interesting. I think I might of liked Primals mask better tho.. does that make me bad? :)

[kup]

From the point of view of the TF Universe, G1 Prime's face plate is well his face! Its no different than Wheelhack's mouth or Hound's. You remove the plate of a Transformers and it will be like removing his face! (done already in G1 comics :P)

Later on Beast Wars, I believe it to be the first 'official' rendering of an Optimus with a mouth (not counting early storybooks and the like). Before that the face plate was not a plate at all but his own face. Since BW there has been a need to show Prime with a mouth for some reason. It makes sense in Beast Wars as the animation was not sophisticated enough to have someone with a face plate emote satisfactorilly and storywise, Primal is a completly separate character to G1 Prime despite both sharing the same 'first name'; but the mouth has been pushed on every thing else since, including the movie and very 'in your face' in Animated.

I personally don't mind it if done right (BW, Cybertron) but when it goes over the top when Optimu's face looses any sense of recognizability, it annoys me a bit but I can see passed it.
________
APV (http://www.suzuki-tech.com/wiki/Suzuki_APV)

[i_amtrunks]

Apparently though, once a human likeness gets to about 90% or so accuracy, we focus on the differences. This is borne out by research that found people tended to react poorly to the human characters in the Final Fantasy movie, and also to the Jennifer Garner animations in the Alias XBox game. People apparently found themselves getting vaguely unsettled, since it was almost like watching animated corpses rather than real people, as there were key aspects of body language that were unconsciously anticipated but absent.

In a humanoid robot that is still significantly different from a human, we automatically disregard the body language cues we would expect in a human. We respond to a masked robot face differently to a masked human face, because our unconscious expectations are different.

I read this research a couple of years ago, and I wish I could find the original article detailing it.

I had to study it for Uni, something that was actually interesting for a change.

It's also why Director Robert Zemeckis went for all motion capture in Polar Express, giving 3d models "true" human motion lessens the "unsettling" feeling many people get when watching realistic human CG models.

Pixar did similar research (but more children in the studies) and got the exact same conclusion, so instead of going realistic (like they easily could) they have gone for a more cartoony approach, and I don't think anyone here can say they made a wrong decision! :D

I never really made to assumption that a hidden face = untrustworthy when I was younger, but it is certainly a well made point.

Only thing is we can be conditioned to change our natural perceptions (especially when young), I like many other prefer my Prime with a faceplate!