Anthropomorphic Shift: Difference between revisions

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[[File:arthur_9864.png|link=Arthur (Literature)|~~right~~|Left: 1976<br />Right: 1998]]

[[File:arthur_9864.png|link=Arthur (Literature)|frame|Left: 1976<br />Right: 1998]]

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Children's series are ''especially'' prone to this.

Can also be used in reference to when individual characters, rather then an entire setting, gradually become [[Humanity Ensues|more like humans]]; see also [[Feather Fingers]] and [[Non-Mammal Mammaries]]. Compare [[Furries Are Easier to Draw]]. See also [[Furry Confusion]]. Compare and contrast [[Art Evolution]] and [[Most Writers Are Human]]. When the character occasionally slips back to their animalistic behaviors, it could be an example of a [[Furry Reminder]]. When a character constantly shifts back and forth between animalistic animal and humanistic animal, its an [[Anthropomorphic Zig Zag]].

Can also be used in reference to when individual characters, rather then an entire setting, gradually become [[Humanity Ensues|more like humans]]; see also [[Feather Fingers]] and [[Non-Mammal Mammaries]]. Compare [[Furries Are Easier to Draw]]. See also [[Furry Confusion]]. Compare and contrast [[Art Evolution]] and [[Most Writers Are Human]]. When the character occasionally slips back to their animalistic behaviors, it could be an example of a [[Furry Reminder]]. When a character constantly shifts back and forth between animalistic animal and humanistic animal, its an [[Anthropomorphic Zig-Zag]].

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** This is also due to [[Political Correctness Gone Mad]], as author Brian Jacques wanted to remove any traces of religion, including changing the aforementioned St. Ninian's Church to a house with a sign that had read, "This ain't Ninian's". But how do you explain the human-sized farm?

*** Jacques never quite succeeded in explaining why Ninian's house had pews and a lectern, either. And it's hard to remove all traces of religion when the main characters live in an abbey, the leader is an abbot or abbess, and a dozen characters in any given book are called Brother or Sister.

*** Oh, and interestingly enough, [~~http~~:~~//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Ninian~~ St. Ninian] happens to be real.

*** Oh, and interestingly enough, [[wikipedia:Saint Ninian|St. Ninian]] happens to be real.

* As stated elsewhere, ''[[Dinotopia]]'' author/illustrator James Guerney never met an animal-related trope he liked. He strongly dislikes it when animal characters act too human and has [http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2008/02/animal-characters-4-animal-morphism.html written in his blog] about how he himself has has struggled to avoid this. It's worth noting that a few of the spinoff novels and the films have featured animal characters that are indeed anthropomorphic or nearly so. [[Canon Dis Continuity]]? You betcha.

* While mild compared to many examples, in the ''[[Duncton Wood]]'' books, the shift in mole behavior between the first book and its extension to a trilogy, and especially between the first and second trilogies, is quite noticeable.

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* Although they're still nonhumanoid computers, both GLaDOS and the personality cores gained a lot of recognizable human body language between the first ''[[Portal (Video Game)|Portal]]'' and its sequel.

** Which is a damn good trick for a basketball with an implanted flashlight...

* ''Inverted'' in [[Solatorobo]]. [[Tail Concerto]] featured character designs that were more or less animal heads and tails on slightly [[Super Deformed]] human bodies. Solatorobo tends to diversify the body types quite a bit more, with cats getting incredibly slender, borderline digitigrade legs and dogs coming in a wider verity of breeds.

* ''Inverted'' in [[Solatorobo]]. [[Tail Concerto]] featured character designs that were more or less animal heads and tails on slightly [[Super-Deformed]] human bodies. Solatorobo tends to diversify the body types quite a bit more, with cats getting incredibly slender, borderline digitigrade legs and dogs coming in a wider verity of breeds.

== [[Web Comics]] ==

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== [[Web Original]] ==

* The [[Neopets]] website ''started out'' as a Virtual-Pet game where those Neopets acted just like domesticated pets and human owners ''were'' involved... Fast forward and current portrayals of characters now depict most Neopets [[Four Legs Good Two Legs Better|standing bipedal and fully clothed]]- creatures [[Furry Confusion|acting just like humans but with fur]]- and nary a mention of Owners (or requiring any) in sight... Except that ''unlike'' those humans, they all can go ''forever'' [[Wizard Needs Food Badly|without food and drink]].

* The [[Neopets]] website ''started out'' as a Virtual-Pet game where those Neopets acted just like domesticated pets and human owners ''were'' involved... Fast forward and current portrayals of characters now depict most Neopets [[Four Legs Good, Two Legs Better|standing bipedal and fully clothed]]- creatures [[Furry Confusion|acting just like humans but with fur]]- and nary a mention of Owners (or requiring any) in sight... Except that ''unlike'' those humans, they all can go ''forever'' [[Wizard Needs Food Badly|without food and drink]].

** Some human or any amorphous characters (e.g. Edna the Witch, the Island Mystic and at least two shopkeepers Mrs. Worley) mostly became Neopets, making the poor [[The Woobie|Tiki-Tack Man]] the [[Last of His Kind]] in Neopia.

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*** He was even portrayed as a [[Funny Animal]] in the black and white cartoon "Blue Rhythm."

*** Note that Pluto's Scooby-like talking was all in his first year on the screen (''The Moose Hunt'' and ''Mickey Steps Out'', both 1931). There's a later cartoon where he ''thinks'' in a growly voice (''Mickey's Kangaroo'' [1935]), but that doesn't count. It clearly took a little time to determine exactly what Pluto could normally do, but once set, it was permanent.

** Inverted: Pluto and [[Figaro]] ([[Canon Immigrant]] from ''[[Pinocchio (Disney)|Pinocchio]]'') were already "non-anthro" to begin with, but in ''[[Mickey Mouse Clubhouse]]'', they act almost like normal animals. Before that, they were a little more likely to stand [[Four Legs Good Two Legs Better|bipedally]] and use their paws like human hands.

** Inverted: Pluto and [[Figaro]] ([[Canon Immigrant]] from ''[[Pinocchio (Disney)|Pinocchio]]'') were already "non-anthro" to begin with, but in ''[[Mickey Mouse Clubhouse]]'', they act almost like normal animals. Before that, they were a little more likely to stand [[Four Legs Good, Two Legs Better|bipedally]] and use their paws like human hands.

** The only time that Mickey and Minnie ever appeared as full-on rodents, right down to being smaller than their domestic surroundings, was in a cartoon that curiously came ''after'' having been anthropomorphic animals in a few other shorts (''Plane Crazy,'' ''Steamboat Willie,'' etc.). This cartoon is ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66AYGjkN4vE When the Cat's Away]'' (1929). For all the most obvious reasons, this interpretation was never seen again.

** Similarly, Walt Disney's original cartoon star, [[Oswald the Lucky Rabbit]], was more rabbit-like in his earlier shorts. By 1928, however, the only thing that could distinguish him as a rabbit was his ears and tail. Until [[Walter Lantz]] obtained the rights to the character and gave him a design ''[[Subverted|more]]'' rabbit-like than his 1927 appearance ([[They Changed It, Now It Sucks|which is most likely one of the reasons Oswald's popularity plummeted]].) [[Double Subverted|Until Disney bought him in 2006 and gave him back his 1928 look.]]

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* Brian in ''[[Family Guy (Animation)|Family Guy]]'' follows the [[Rule of Funny]]; while usually unclothed except for his dog collar, he normally is a martini-drinking, Prius-driving (the only identifiable car in the series), bipedal urban sophisticate. When he exhibits canine behavior, it's played for laughs. He did, however, sit like a dog and generally acted more canine in the earliest episodes.

* [[Scooby Doo]] was suffering this by the mid-80s. He was seen walking on two legs all the time (it didn't help that his four legged design was not changed) and he was becoming somewhat less of a [[Speech-Impaired Animal]]. It seems to have been reversed beginning with ''[[A Pup Named Scooby Doo]]'' where he became more of a quadruped again.

* Tom of ''[[Tom and Jerry (Animation)|Tom and Jerry]]'' undergoes this. He looked like a real cat in the first short, but over time the change was striking. He [[Four Legs Good Two Legs Better|began to walk upright more and more often]]. Other characters underwent a similar transformation, though Jerry himself changed very little over the course of the series, having always been [[Funny Animal|somewhat anthropomorphic]].

* Tom of ''[[Tom and Jerry (Animation)|Tom and Jerry]]'' undergoes this. He looked like a real cat in the first short, but over time the change was striking. He [[Four Legs Good, Two Legs Better|began to walk upright more and more often]]. Other characters underwent a similar transformation, though Jerry himself changed very little over the course of the series, having always been [[Funny Animal|somewhat anthropomorphic]].

** [[Tom and Jerry (Animation)|Tom and Jerry]] both show an increased manual dexterity and interest in human activities over the years.

* Heck, [[Bugs Bunny]]! Though never really acting consistently rabbit-ish (beyond the carrot addicition, that is), there's a striking difference between the way he's drawn and behaves in the black and white and in color. The Early form has a rabbit shaped head whereas the current one's is more of an anime take on a Persian cat with Buck teeth and long ears. Early Bugs had a big ''tukhus'' and would hop around on all fours from time to time. That never happened once he made the jump to color.

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* The GEICO Gecko. In his early appearances, he was very gecko-like in movement, gripping onto the (full-size) microphone with all four feet to talk into it, walking on all fours, and doing the eyeball-lick maneuver geckos are famous for. By now, his mannerisms are a hundred percent human, despite legs that are too short for it, and the result [[Uncanny Valley|really isn't that cute]].

** This shift coincided with the change from complaining about the name similarity to straight shilling the company, as well as changing to a completely different accent. We can probably safely conclude that the anthro and non-anthro Geckos are actually different characters.

* Many of the early ''[[Transformers]]'' toys were designed as piloted mecha from Japanese toylines like Diaclone. When they were imported to the US, the robots were [[Mechanical Lifeforms|sentient]], and accompanying media and later toys redesigned them to be more humanlike. [[Palette Swap|Ratchet and Ironhide]] are probably the [http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Image:Ratchet-charactermodel.jpg most dramatic example], as a result of having originated as [[Mini Mecha]] that lacked distinct heads.

* Many of the early ''[[Transformers]]'' toys were designed as piloted mecha from Japanese toylines like Diaclone. When they were imported to the US, the robots were [[Mechanical Lifeforms|sentient]], and accompanying media and later toys redesigned them to be more humanlike. [[Palette Swap|Ratchet and Ironhide]] are probably the [http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Image:Ratchet-charactermodel.jpg most dramatic example], as a result of having originated as [[Mini-Mecha]] that lacked distinct heads.

* This actually happened to even us.

* Played straight, then inverted with ''[[Alvin and The Chipmunks]]''. On their first several albums, they looked more (or in the case of the very first album, almost entirely) like real chipmunks, then when the Alvin Show first premiered, they were redesigned to look more like kids, but still retained a few rodent-like features. Then when Alvin and the Chipmunks aired in the 80's they gradually began to look more like regular kids and less like rodents. Then when the movies came out, they went back to looking like real chipmunks, although not as much as on the old albums.

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[[Category:Animal Anthropomorphism Tropes]]

[[Category:Anthropomorphic Shift]]

[[Category:Trope]]