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[[Voluntary Shapeshifting]] is a really powerful and useful ability for a character to have. But occasionally they run into a problem of logistics (other than the [[Shapeshifter Baggage|usual]] [[Magic Pants|ones]]); how do they get the information to change shape? Sometimes it is enough just to look or touch whatever the character wants to change into.
Other times, ''nastier'' things have to be done. Some face
Named for [[One-Scene Wonder]] Koh of ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]''.
Occasionally an application of [[Cannibalism Superpower]] in which case its [[You Are Who You Eat]], although skinning the target is just as common. See [[Kill and Replace]], which is what this trope often leads to.
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* Chriopterans in ''[[Blood
* In ''[[Inuyasha]]'', one of Naraku's henchmen was a faceless man who wore the faces of people he'd killed.
* Orochimaru from ''[[Naruto]]'' does this early on during the chunin exams to a team of Grass Village genin. He and his underlings literally take the faces from the victims either while or after killing them and wear them as disguises. However, after that instance the technique is never used again. This could be explained by the fact that there are other (less drastic) ways to copy someone's appearance. Like E-Ranked technique every Academy Student is supposed to know.
** Zetsu can mimic the chakra of people he transforms into, but he needs to take some chakra first
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* Hanzo in ''[[Ultimate Muscle]]'' slices the faces off his defeated opponents.
* In ''[[Nurarihyon no Mago]]'', Rikuo fights a guy who cuts off girls' faces.
* Etzali (Unabara Mitsuki) of ''Toaru Majutsu no Index''.
== Comic Books ==
* The Chameleon from ''[[Spider-Man]]'' comics. Usually he uses a special gas to make a mask out of his target's skin, but some continuities have him actually eat the target.
* The Chitauri in Marvel's ''[[The Ultimates]]'' needed to consume a human to take their shape.
* The [[Marvel Universe]] also has the Dire Wraiths.
* An obscure ''[[Iron Man]]'' villain was a Japanese demon called the Face Thief, who was exactly that.
* Another comic-book example: the Warwolves, creatures from Marvel's ''[[Excalibur (Comic Book)|Excalibur]]'' series, could drain a living target's life force and then assume its form by wearing the empty skin that remained.
* Orlando, a minor demon from ''[[The Invisibles]]'' series skinned his victims' faces off and, pretending to be them, went on to kill their relatives.
* Everyman in ''[[
* Mazikeen in ''[[Lucifer (
** The Jin en Mok in ''[[Lucifer (
* Skulljacket was a one-shot villain from ''[[Spider-Man]]'', using former-Soviet technology. He mimicked appearance by means of holograms, but could copy enough of a person's memories for a better-quality impersonation by taking a small sample of flesh ([[Hand Wave|getting the memory info from RNA]]), usually leaving victims rubbing an aching neck. After taking on a police detective's semblance, he made a snide, mock-sympathetic remark implying that the memory absorption told him the detective's grown son was homosexual and dad was having trouble dealing with it. Skulljacket typically left those he mimicked alive, so they could take the fall for any crimes he committed wearing their appearance.
* The female Dire Wraiths introduced in ''[[ROM Spaceknight]]'' didn't need to kill, but by sucking out the target's brain would also gain access to their memories, making impersonation easier.
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* The Zandozan assassin in ''[[The Last Starfighter]]''
* The Djinn from the first, third, and fourth ''[[Wishmaster]]'' movies. In the second he used the same human form he had in the first, a corpse from the morgue. In the third and fourth it gets worse as he skins living people, a hapless college professor and a lawyer played by [[Hey, It's That Guy!|Michael Trucco]], respectively.
* The gingerbread... thing in ''[[The Brothers Grimm (film)|The Brothers Grimm]]'' only got a face after she stole that of a girl, leaving her with a [[The Blank|blank face]].
* Pavi Largo in ''[[Repo! The Genetic Opera]]'', a vain playboy whose own face was scarred horribly by some unseen accident, and who now wears the skinned-off flesh of women's faces bolted over his mutilated flesh like masks. (It's implied that he takes them from women he rapes- and that he possibly even stole them as trophies anyway even before he was disfigured. After all, we see a picture of him with a normal face cutting away a dead woman's skin in an alley...)
* In ''[[Silence of the Lambs]],'' Hannibal Lecter {{spoiler|breaks out of a [[Cardboard Prison]], kills a guard, cuts of his face and wears it like a mask, so that he can [[Playing Possum|play possum]] and pose as the guard in order to escape while being taken to the hospital.}}
* A literal double example, done with surgery and much [[Squick]], in ''[[Face Off]]''.
* [[The Texas Chainsaw Massacre|Leatherface]]
* Lazlo Soot does this in ''[[Smokin Aces]]'' and in ''Smokin' Aces 2''
* The T1000 in ''[[Terminator]] 2''
{{quote|
'''John:''' Great. And what happens to her?
'''Terminator:''' Typically, the subject being copied is terminated. }}
* Leonard from ''Mask Maker''.
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* In the seventh ''[[Harry Potter]]'' book, Nagini the [[Reptiles Are Abhorrent|snake]] ([[Big Bad|Voldemort's]] familiar) impersonates an old woman by hiding inside her corpse.
* The changeling demon from the [[Shannara|High Druid of Shannara]] trilogy takes forms this way, by literally wearing the skin of the person it is impersonating.
* The Kandra in the [[Mistborn]] series. To take a person's form they have to consume their bones and use those as a skeletal structure and an imprint for their flesh to imitate.
* Legion, [[The Mole]] in ''[[The Banned and the Banished]]'', turns into any animal he wears the skin of. It isn't that disgusting until he kills and skins a friendly [[Shape Shifter]] . . .
* The creatures in ''[[The Apocalypse Door]]'' by James D. Macdonald remove and wear the face of the person they're imitating. They also apparently take part of the brain, giving them access to the person's memories.
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* The Skinwalker from the pilot of the ''[[Dresden Files]]'' TV show.
* In an episode of ''[[The Mighty Boosh]]'' Vince starts to tell a story about his childhood about an ape who needed to steal a man's face to be king, or something... it ends on a sort-of cliffhanger as Vince (in the story) falls asleep, leaving him susceptible to the ape's intent, but obviously the adult Vince telling the story has a face, so to an extent it's obvious how it ends.
* Accidental usage. There was a character in ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' who had the ability to mimic people with just a small physical sample for their DNA. Then Sylar met him, stole his ability and became a Face Stealer in his own right.
* The Slitheen in ''[[Doctor Who]]'' kill humans and fashion their skins into alien-tech disguise suits.
** The Weeping Angels might be an auditory example. They can steal people's vocal cords and impersonate the victim over a telephone or walkie-talkie.
* The Shapeshifters on ''[[Fringe]]'' are a [[Squick]]-y example of this, as the transformation looks exceedingly painful, requires that the victim be dead, and involves a three-pronged metal thing jammed into the roof of their mouth. The second group of shapeshifters from the fourth season require an even more nightmarish and biological [[Body Horror]] to take their victims' form.
* In the fourth season of ''[[True Blood]]'', we learn that [[Shapeshifting|shapeshifters]] can take the form of humans only if they have killed a member of their immediate family.
** One episode of ''[[Are You Afraid of the Dark?]]'' invokes this with an ancient woman who traps young girls and steals their faces in order to retain her youth. She stores their faces in a book, and uses the featureless girls as masked servants.
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== Music Videos ==
* A literal Face Stealer (similar to the ''Avatar: The Last Airbender'' example below) appears in "Maskara" by Filipino band [[The Eraserheads]].
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* The Ganabe in ''Chill''.
* In ''[[Legend of the Five Rings]]'' there is a species of all-female troll-like monsters who pretend to be human women by killing them and wearing their skin (the illusion holds as long as the skin is more or less fresh.)
* The Lunars from ''[[Exalted]]'' all have a spirit animal they can shapeshift into at will, but can also assume the form of any creature whose heart blood they consume following a ritualistic hunt. And yes, this applies to humans, as well.
== Video Games ==
* Alex Mercer from ''[[Prototype (video game)|Prototype]]'' eats people and uses this so often he starts [[Body Surf|body surfing]].
* In ''[[Thief]] III'' {{spoiler|this is how Gamall, the main antagonist infiltrates the Keepers.}} This involves skinning people, so it's a very literal example.
* In ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask]]'', the three transformation masks are actually made from the [[Our Souls Are Different|souls of dead characters]] - or possibly a manifestation of their [[Ghostly Goals]], the game isn't exactly clear about the mechanics. Regardless, the character has to die in order for you to get their mask.
** Note that you get the mask by playing the [[Magic Music|Song of Healing]], implying that the mask-transformation process is in some way beneficial to the soul of the departed.
* In the N64/PSX ''[[Mission: Impossible]]'' game, the Face Maker not only duplicates people's faces, but their clothing as well.
* Doopliss in ''[[Paper Mario:
* The Spy in ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'', upon getting a [[Back Stab]] with the "Your Eternal Reward" knife, instantly disguises as the person he stabbed.
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* In canon, it is unclear how Decoy Octopus of ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' impersonates people so perfectly, but we know it involves exchanging his blood for theirs. ''[[The Last Days of Foxhound]]'' explains that he can take the appearance of anyone whose blood he drinks. He spends most of that series using the form of a dead villain, just because there was a lot of blood left over.
* Reynardine of ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]'' fame is an inversion, with a little bit of [[Body Snatcher]]; he can take the form of anything with eyes, but they don't die until he ''leaves'' that form.
* [[Rumors of War]] features a
== Web Original ==
* ''[[The Face Thief]]'' features a supernatural face-stealing monster in a [[Film Noir]] setting.
== Western Animation ==
* One of the latter appearances of Sideshow Bob on ''[[The Simpsons]]'' has him surgically trade faces with his cellmate in order to escape from jail.
** One episode has Chief Wiggum taking a count of various prisoners and asks about the whereabouts of a guy who eats people and steals their faces. The guy, who is totally normal looking, cheerfully indicates his presence.
* Koh, [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|The Face Stealer]] in ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'', is the [[Trope Namer]]. This centipede-like [[Eldritch Abomination]] takes the faces of people and animals who show any facial expression in front of him, whilst keeping the appearances around to use as masks. And even worse, ''[[And I Must Scream|his victims don't die]]''
* According to the [[Cartoon Network]] version of ''[[MAD]]'', [[Megan Fox]] got her looks by stealing [[Kristen Stewart]]'s hair, [[Scarlett Johansson]]'s eyes, and [[Angelina Jolie]]'s lips. Before this, [[A Worldwide Punomenon|she was an actual fox]].
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