Man, isn't it just, like, so totally bogus how parents just don't understand?
They don't get our fashion, they don't get our music, and they sure as heck don't get the pressure put on us to fit in! It's like, no, it's not a phase, it's who I am! You do one little thing, like grow an ugly beard and put the skull of a smurf in it and they fly off the handle. They just don't understand. And god forbid you try and execute people in your personal space, it's like MOM GET OUT OF MY ROOM.
Seriously though, this is the definition of edgelord in the mask world, as far as I'm concerned. But even edgelords have their worth, we can't deny that, and even in the case of this edgy as hell mask, there's a lot to admire here, like, for example, how goddamned ridiculous the whole thing is. Even with a concept as visually over the top as this one is, I can't deny that it's certainly got attitude and style and originality. This is like if a fantasy world existed populated entirely by metal bands - ala Jack Black's Brutal Legend - and this was the guy they enlisted to kill imprisoned people for their crimes against metal music.
But what a totally unique concept, right? Take an executioner style mask, and make it metal. Absolutely original, honestly. Much fun as I made of it in the opening, I really do love this thing. Whoever crafted this really took time and care, not just in the idea, but in the design overall. They made sure to give him teeth, they made sure to keep his ears out of the mask he's wearing and they added so many little touches that really bring the whole thing together like the iron grates on the eyes or the skull in the beard. This was made by someone who really knew what it was they wanted to create and then set out to create that exact thing, doing so perfectly.
And there's a lot to be said for this when you compare it to other masks like it. Sure, it's just an executioner mask, and that isn't something totally original. Executioner masks have universally been considered creepy forever, but when put into a new context, it becomes even creepier, and that's added to the fact that they came up with a totally original way to show it. The whole metal aspect helps tremendously, even if the guy underneath is just a human man and not something outstandingly peculiar. Nothing cheapens a creative idea like melding it with a less creative visual design, like this mask that I want to compare it to.
The same sort of idea, really. A slightly creepy executioner style mask, except this time the metal is the helmet, and the face is a skull, and the whole 'let's make this a skull to add spookiness to it' thing just brings it down a lot because what's creepy about our good friend up there is that it isn't out of the ordinary; he's just a guy with a metal executioners mask that's really well designed. This? This is just a skull with a metal helmet on top of it. It isn't badly made, by any means actually, but it's so generic that it doesn't really hold any ground in being original.
This is the same sort of design you'd see in any dozen of cheap fantasy novels from the 70s. It's just an Army of the Undead sort of look, and sure, while it's neat and all, it's something we've seen a million times before, and that makes it so very less interesting.
Two masks, both with sort of the same concept, but both done so very differently. I'm doing this comparison to show you that, even with sort of the same idea, people take very different approaches to the final product, and often times, the road less traveled is the road best traveled, because you get something totally new and awesome out of it. I for one would be honored to have my head lopped out by The Edgycutioner, even if his taste in music is so-so and he hasn't cleaned his room in a year and a half.
The kid's busy, man.
It's a lot of working killing the traitors of your kingdom.
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