I'd like to get an opinion on a design for an alien race of mine. They're reptilian and have split into one civilization, one villainous and one heroic and the villainous ones suffer from a mutation. There is a trope called the "Good Lips, Evil Jaws" trope, where the mouths of heroic characters have lips, but the mouths of villainous characters have exposed teeth (like crocodiles). My ideas are; both the mutated and the non-mutated to have exposed teeth naturally, the heroic non-mutated ones have lips (like lizards) and the mutated ones have exposed teeth (like a vicious visual indicator and a by-product of the mutation). I was thinking giving them both exposed teeth to play with a "don't judge a book by it's cover" message, but I'd like to gain some more perspective on this. Thoughts?
So, is evilness a direct consequence of the mutation or is it more of a culturally trained kind of evil?
I'm so lost. Villains = Exposed Teeth Heroes = Good Lips Natural state for both = Exposed Teeth? Mutation = Exposed Teeth....? If the original state of both populations was Exposed Teeth, wouldn't Good Lips be the mutation? I've clearly parsed something wrong here. 'Splain me, Lucy. At this point, without further clarification, the only thing I can add is that stickie-outie croc teeth as a symbol for villains feels rather on the nose.