Siege's (and other War Walkers') faces...

[biostem]

I've included 2 images below.  What I'm wondering is whether Siege's, (and the other War Walkers') face is the central panel, (blue arrow), or the 2 more triangular side panels, (red arrows), or some combination thereof...

 

 

 

EDIT:  Heck, the more I look at it, now I'm wondering if his "eyes" could be the 3 horizontal lines above the central panel, (kind of like a knight's helm)...

Edited November 23, 2022 by biostem

[twozerofoxtrot]

They are phased radar array panels.

[Snarky]

I hate to break it to you but Siege doesn’t have a face. He is just a giant dick.

[nihilii]

Oh no... It's the cyberdemon's eyes debate all over again, isn't it. 😂

I'm fond of the idea it is a knight's helm. Fits with the medieval theme and all.

[tidge]

He's clearly from the Jim Henson Workshop:

 

[Snarky]

Seriously though.  I read a study (no way to cite, decades ago, and my memory is going to butcher the details) that the closer a construct (robot android) gets to human the more humans “like” it.  Until a certain magic point where humans think it is creepy as hell.  This Siege construct is still just a toy like creature suited for making a childs toy

 

One of the reasons I avoid certain designs when constructing my robotic NPCs (one of my themes) is the lack of eyes.  And no smooth way to cram them on.  Bunker shield and Bot shield can solve a lot of that but do not look right with many helmets due to fit or obvious difference in texture and in effect look slapped on instead of integrated. 
 

Whoever designed Siege did a pretty good job but decided to go for a very basic noggin with some panels that may be radar arrays, access plates, or a spot to write random notes while working in the lab

[Jiro Ito]

4 hours ago, nihilii said:

Oh no... It's the cyberdemon's eyes debate all over again, isn't it. 😂

I'm fond of the idea it is a knight's helm. Fits with the medieval theme and all.

 

More of a minotaur

 

As for Siege, I'm gonna say angry Cyclops.  It's a Romulus plot!

[Psyonico]

2 hours ago, Snarky said:

Seriously though.  I read a study (no way to cite, decades ago, and my memory is going to butcher the details) that the closer a construct (robot android) gets to human the more humans “like” it.  Until a certain magic point where humans think it is creepy as hell.

Are you talking about the uncanny valley?

[Techwright]

21 minutes ago, Psyonico said:

Are you talking about the uncanny valley?

He is.

 

Siege, or any other android, needs no face or even head.  The sensors that act as eyes could be installed anywhere and not look like eyes.  As Snarky points out, humans crave that interaction, and therefore build a head or face.  I actually prefer faceless in a villain robot precisely for that reason: the inability to read gesture or emotion, the anonymity is unsettling.  It's like Star Trek's Borg: they were far more terrifying when they didn't have a queen, but were a swarm working to an unseen hive mind.  A queen (or spokesborg Locutus) gave them a face, a head, something we could kill.  If Seige had been constructed without a head and plate for a face, he'd have been far more unsettling, even terrifying.  We'd lose that sense that if you hit the face, if you destroy the head, you defeat the enemy.  Without it we're left guessing where to strike.

Edited November 23, 2022 by Techwright

[Zhym]

2 hours ago, Techwright said:

He is.

 

Siege, or any other android, needs no face or even head.  The sensors that act as eyes could be installed anywhere and not look like eyes.  As Snarky points out, humans crave that interaction, and therefore build a head or face.  I actually prefer faceless in a villain robot precisely for that reason: the inability to read gesture or emotion, the anonymity is unsettling.  It's like Star Trek's Borg: they were far more terrifying when they didn't have a queen, but were a swarm working to an unseen hive mind.  A queen (or spokesborg Locutus) gave them a face, a head, something we could kill.  If Seige had been constructed without a head and plate for a face, he'd have been far more unsettling, even terrifying.  We'd lose that sense that if you hit the face, if you destroy the head, you defeat the enemy.  Without it we're left guessing where to strike.

By that (sound) logic, there would be a tactical advantage to a War Walker having what looks like a "face" or a "head" but which contains no vital equipment.  It might fool an attacker into thinking the head is a weak spot and thus wasting attacks that might have been targeted at more truly sensitive areas.

[Techwright]

4 hours ago, Zhym said:

By that (sound) logic, there would be a tactical advantage to a War Walker having what looks like a "face" or a "head" but which contains no vital equipment.  It might fool an attacker into thinking the head is a weak spot and thus wasting attacks that might have been targeted at more truly sensitive areas.

Have you ever seen Bablyon 5/Crusade's "A Call To Arms" TV movie?  That's exactly the tactic the villains used when sending their death machine towards earth.  They created a dummy core towards the center of their machine, something they knew humans would shoot at due to its centrality, and hid the real brains of the device in a node off to one side of the doomsday machine. 

[MistressOhm]

"I was lucky that thing had knees."

 

"That was not his knee."  (agonized groan in background)