Why can't I view __proto__ upon object creation?

Question

When I create a blank object:

var o = {};

Why can't I view the '__proto __' object when I create a new object, but I can when I add a function?

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Edit: For completeness, to create a truly blank object (no prototypal linkage), we could do:

var o = Object.create(null);

But for the purposes of the question, I'll use the o = {} syntax.

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Edit 2: This shows the prototype linkage upon a object creation, so the __proto's __ are there but I can't view them in the debugger unless I add a function object.

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Edit 3: It works in Firefox:

Answer 1

Who knows? It appears to be a design decision on the part of the Chrome debugger's implementers. Unless someone here is privy to their decision process, I think this question is off topic.

Perhaps they figured that you didn't need to be able to expand objects unless they have methods.

Both IE and Firefox show the __proto__ property in their console, even on empty objects. If you want to observe object prototypes for learning purposes, perhaps it would be better to do so in one of those browsers.