Faceless Goons: Subverting the Trope.

So, what's a trope, you ask? Well, its a literary device. More broadly, tropes are "devices and conventions that a writer can reasonably rely on as being present in the audience members' minds and expectations." They can be thought of as fictional stereotypes of people, places, things, pretty much anything.

Examples? When an evil villain takes the time to explain how his fiendish plot will work. That's a trope called "Evil Gloating", standard fare in any Bond movie. It's stupid, right? But it serves a purpose. It's a contrivance that allows the story to play out a certain way.

How about in every Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme movie, the hero encounters death at every turn, but against all odds, is unhurt? That trope is called Plot Armor.

I'm sure you're wondering what this has to do with gear fetish. I'll bring your attention to one particular trope: Faceless Goons or more accurately, Gas Mask Mook. Star Wars' Stormtroopers and Halo's Spartans (such as Master Chief) are examples of the Faceless Goons trope. The British SAS, and their tinted S10 gas masks are a prime example of the Gas Mask Mook.

Longshot as "The Chief"

I find this trope to often be very sexy, in the visual sense. Guys in gas masks, helmets, tinted goggles, etc. The examples of this trope are everywhere in the gear fetish scene. I love gas masks, and part of that is because of the bad-ass anonymity that it provides, as well as the alien and, indeed, dehumanizing quality that it imparts. There is a sense of dangerousness and a lack of limits. When I wear my full gear, I feel that I am, at least in part, role playing a character.

And although I enjoy this trope, I often hate this trope. Because when it's used, the hot gear wearing guys (usually) die. Why is it that in so many movies and video games, the cannon fodder are depicted as faceless masses? It's simple: so you don't feel bad when the hero (sometimes you) kills them all. That way, you don't think of them as people. And yet, this does not work on me. Perhaps it's because I find them so often sexy, that I can empathize with them, despite their dehumanization. They are still people, behind that armor, behind that mask. I know, I am one.

And so, as much as I love the liberating and powerful feeling of anonymity, I also love to subvert it. I buck the established norm for Gas Mask Mooks. Faceless Goons have a bad reputation, not that it's completely undeserved. But I'm different. I'm bad-ass, but I'm the good guy. I look cold, but I'm warm and fuzzy. I'll kick your ass, but I'd also like to fuck it.

It should come as no surprise to us perverts, that the perversion of this trope is equally as sexy as the trope itself.

The teddy bear, not so much.
 

Snuggable tactical decoy.