The Four Stages of the “Guitar Hero face”

Since Jenn and I are now official Guitar Hero addicts (despite the fact that Jenn isn’t too keen on the setlist of Guitar Hero II) I think it’s time I explored the many (four, actually) stages of the “Guitar Hero face”.

“Guitar Hero face” is really just a mutated version of the strain of facial expressions whose lineage can be traced all the way back to Arcade Galaga, The Atari 2600 and “Mario face” from the original NES days.

Still, “Guitar Hero face” presents with a unique set of signs, not the least of which is the possession of a hand-held fake guitar, the Guitar Hero SG controller, but also in four distinct stages.

Now, through the power of the internets and the help of Flickr (thank you, publicly shared photo folks), I bring you:

The Four Stages of the “Guitar Hero face”

Stage I: Shy Participation

This first stage of the “Guitar Hero face” is most often observed in groups and transitions from a form of bemused bewilderment, to mild concentration, to theatrical staging and blatant showmanship and finally on to minimalist cosplay.

Stage II: Stage Presence

This second stage of the “Guitar Hero face” takes two main forms, both pertaining to the irrational delusional that the player is actually performing for an audience.

The two main forms are the aggressive rocker or sneer and the contemplative soloist.

Stage III: Gene Simmons

This third stage (pardon the Boston pun) of the “Guitar Hero face” revolves around various incarnation of Gene Simmons’ tongue and builds upon the Stage Presence faces of Stage II.

Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
Example 4

Stage IV: Rock N Roll Photojournalism

This fourth stage of the “Guitar Hero face” actually deals with the brave souls who took all the photos linked in the post. Their photos range from documentary to artsy, but most finally settle on the soul of Guitar Hero, the Axe itself, the Guitar Hero SG controller,
from sterling, double cutout body to trailing cord.

An offshoot of this fourth stage of the “Guitar Hero face” deals expressly with photos of gamers and their non-guitar controllers.

Of course, some photogs want the limelight. For them there are always booth girls and true rock gods.

For the rest of us? We’ll just keep shreddin’ and taking pics.

My own Guitar Hero II set will appear here soon. Stay ready.

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