unfortunate realization: i am exactly the type of person who could see a picture of Clark Kent next to a picture of Superman and not put together that they are the same person. A college friend showed me a pic of him in highschool and it could have been a completely different person. A half decent fake mustache would work on me. My coworker shaved his beard and for a solid fifteen seconds I had no idea who he was. As a child, my uncle changed his facial hair and I spent that Christmas trying to subtly figure out who the new guy was. It's not that i'm like actually medically face blind, but it is something that takes a few introductions to stick in my head. Conversely, I sometimes miss obvious similarities. People say my mom and my aunt and I look alike and I'm all ????
Which explains why I gravitate to animation over live action. Animation by its nature allows more variation in 2D, especially in the wilder color schemes of anime. But something about the way a screen takes the depth out of a real face is a struggle for me. The Hollywood Chris or Toms? Could maybe get fifty-fifty in a line up if they weren't in a costume I'm familiar with. Genuinely did not pick up on Agent Coulson being in all the early Avengers movies at first, I though it was a placeholder name for SHIELD guy in a suit. Genuinly saw the Indiana Jones movies the first time and could not line up Harrison Ford dressed as a professor and Indiana Jones climbing through tombs. Also did not initially realize he was Han Solo.
With TV, I need at least four episodes before I can be trusted to get faces right. DMBJ is fantastic even with actors changing, the main trio: the big guy, the nerd, the babyface in all black. Guardian: excellent costuming did a lot of work for me and the scenes where the twin was pretending to be Shen Wei? that acting was so fucking good, even I got the vibes. Cop drama? there's always an old guy, a young guy, and a girl. If there's any more than that all bets are off. I survived early seasons of NCIS because Abby is fully goth, even with the labcoat. Numb3rs was fantastic but if Charlie and Don had the same haircut I would not have made it.