Cartoon Creature: Difference between revisions

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{{trope}}
[[File:cheburashka.jpg|link=Cheburashka|frame|We're guessing... Koala Monkey?]]
{{quote|Am I a mouse, a dog, or a bear? All you need to know is that... I'm the principal!!
|Nezu|[[My Hero Academia]]}}
 
NonhumanA '''Cartoon Creature''' is a drawn or animated charactersnonhuman character of ambiguous species.
{{quote|''"No! What '''are''' you kidses? Look at you! With those ears and those tails... That's not normal! I mean what '''are''' you?"''|'''Dr. Scratchensniff''' - "What We Are", ''[[Animaniacs]]''}}
 
{{quote|''"Wow, it's a kitty-dog!"''|'''Tyrell''', upon meeting Sveta, ''[[Golden Sun: Dark Dawn]]''}}
 
Nonhuman drawn or animated characters of ambiguous species.
 
There are several cartoon characters who are certainly not human. However, they are also clearly not any species of readily identifiable animal either. Some of them appear to be [[Mix-and-Match Critters]]. They don't really have a species, they're just... [[Generic Cuteness|cute]].
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{{examples}}
== [[Advertising]] ==
* One of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvNyqU5DArw&feature=player_detailpage#t=17s the Sci-fi Channel's ads] featured a woman playing with her [[Ridiculously Cute Critter|pet]]. Said pet—presumably extraterrestrial—had a vaguely Chihuahua-like overall appearance, large batlike ears, huge expressive eyes, an extremely long striped tufted tail, and a long forked tongue that it used to daintily touch the tongue of its owner.
 
 
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
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* Viral the beastman in ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]''. While the Beastmen generals have much more recognisable [[Animal Motifs]] (gorilla, scorpion, peacock/owl, armadillo), he looks like a human with shark teeth and paws.
** He's called "A shark with cat genetics". So I assume he's some sort of [[Mix and Match Critter]].
* Many ''[[Digimon]]'' are cleary examples of this trope in action. There's some who look like [http://jbchost.com.br/henshin/imgmat/2009/08/10_digimon_5.jpg animals or plants]{{Dead link}}, there's some who look like [http://i38.tinypic.com/2lia79z.jpg humans], some who look like [http://www.majhost.com/gallery/IppoDigimon/image/imperiomaquinas.jpg objects or machines]{{Dead link}} and we have stuff like [http://lh6.ggpht.com/_zVgnlumM0qM/S70WMlRuiII/AAAAAAAABIY/fVK1pFso2gI/korosuno.jpg these.]
* Kyubey from ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'' has a tail like a ferret or fox, but a head more like that of a cat, only with an extra pair of ears. According to [[Word of God]], he was designed without any real animal in mind.
* Yusuke's spirit beast in ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'', [http://images.wikia.com/yuyuhakusho/images/2/2d/Puu.jpg Puu].
* Q-chan from ''[[Pet Shop of Horrors]]'' is some sort of rabbit-devil creature with a cream-coloured pear-shaped body and rabbit ears, little white horns, black bat wings, a black devil tail, and black duck feet. [[Unusually Uninteresting Sight|No-one ever really asks what he is.]]
* Ryo-Ohki from the various series in the ''[[Tenchi Muyo!]]'' franchise appears to be a rabbit-cat hybrid, meowing and devouring carrots; the fandom in fact routinely refers to her as a "cabbit". She has a pass, though, in that she's an genetically-engineered organism that's ''also a starship''. And a four-year-old girl. And a suit of powered armor. Depending on the continuity.
 
 
== [[Comic Books]] ==
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** Well, Grimer started out as an expy of Grima Wormtongue from "Lord of the Rings", so...magically corrupted human?
* [[The Smurfs]] are close to being an [[Ur Example]].
 
 
== [[Eastern Animation]] ==
* [[Cheburashka]] from Russian cartoons, pictured above. He appears to be part teddy bear, part koala, and part monkey. Cheburashka is the name of his species they agreed on. Originally his name was translated into English as "Topple". Cheburashka, according to the book is "a funny little creature, unknown to science, who lives in the tropical forest". Some people say that he reminds lorids.
 
 
== [[Literature]] ==
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* The main character of [[Jungledyret Hugo]] (which was originally a children's book, and then a movie)
 
== [[Live -Action TV]] ==
 
* Several [[The Muppet Show|Muppets]], most notably the [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|"Anything" and "Whatnot" Muppets]]. There are also specific characters, like Scooter, Beauregard, and Gonzo the Great, whothe last of which was revealed to be an {{spoiler|an alien}} in ''[[Muppets from Space]]''. Gonzo was defined as a "Weirdo" in ''[[Muppet Babies]]'', and a ".... whatever" in most of his other appearances. Kermit once described him as [[Dissimile|"sort of like a chicken, but not really."]]
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* Several [[The Muppet Show|Muppets]], most notably the [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|"Anything" and "Whatnot" Muppets]]. There are also specific characters, like Scooter, Beauregard, and Gonzo the Great, who was revealed to be an {{spoiler|alien}} in ''[[Muppets from Space]]''. Gonzo was defined as a "Weirdo" in ''[[Muppet Babies]]'', and a ".... whatever" in most of his other appearances. Kermit once described him as [[Dissimile|"sort of like a chicken, but not really."]]
** In [[Jim Henson]]'s early 1950s shows, ''all'' the puppets were fairly abstract. Even Kermit (one of his earliest characters) was only declared to be a frog in the mid-60s, and only consistently one following his role as [[The Narrator]] of ''[[The Frog Prince]]'' in 1971.
** ''[[Sesame Street]]'''s Anythings are kind of like cartoon humans. ''[[The Muppet Show]]''{{'}}s Whatnots tended to look like [[Fraggle Rock|Fraggles]].
** Fraggles themselves, as well as Doozers and Gorgs. And all the other weird stuff that lives down there.
 
== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==
 
== [[Mythology And Religion]] ==
* The god Set in ancient Egyptian religion has the head of a unknown and mysterious creature that resembles a composite of an aardvark, a donkey, and a jackal. Modern Egyptologists usually refer to it as the "Set animal", "Typhonic beast", or "sha".
** A few theorize that the head isn't an aardvark, but rather some species of gar or other pointy-faced carnivorous fish; whatever they are, they were the ones that ate Osiris' willie when Set cut him up and threw him in the Nile. It can't just be a fish, though, since statues show it as some sort of emaciated hyena-looking thing.
 
 
== Newspaper Comics ==
* ''[[Krazy Kat]]''. (S)he even fits the [[Ambiguous Gender]] Trope. (S)he may be the inspiration for Yakko, Wakko, and Dot from ''[[Animaniacs]]'', and Mooch from [[Mutts]].
* Mooch from ''[[Mutts]]'' [[media:mooch.gif|looks rather like]] [[media:untitled 1.png|Yakko Warner]] from ''[[Animaniacs]]'', except with smaller, more pointed ears, a bigger nose, and without the cheek tufts and tan colored pants. The resemblance would be even more noticeable if Mooch were drawn in the same style Yakko is drawn, or if Yakko were drawn in the same style Mooch is drawn.
* [[wikipedia:Eugene the Jeep|Eugene the Jeep]] from ''[[Popeye]]'' comics looks like a dog sized, yellow, spotted, ambiguous looking cat-thing with a big, lightbulb-looking nose. Meanwhile, the animated cartoons define him as some sort of dog.
 
== [[Oral Tradition]], [[Folklore]], [[Myth and Legend]] ==
* The god Set in ancient Egyptian religion has the head of a unknown and mysterious creature that resembles a composite of an aardvark, a donkey, and a jackal. Modern Egyptologists usually refer to it as the "Set animal", "Typhonic beast", or "sha".
** A few theorize that the head isn't an aardvark, but rather some species of gar or other pointy-faced carnivorous fish; whatever they are, they were the ones that ate Osiris' willie when Set cut him up and threw him in the Nile. It can't just be a fish, though, since statues show it as some sort of emaciated hyena-looking thing.
 
== [[Video Games]] ==
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* Many ''[[Monster Rancher]]'' characters fit the bill. Many are based off plants, inanimate objects, mythological creatures, and animals (albeit rather loosely with most examples).
* Nobody can figure out what kind of animal ''[[Ardy Lightfoot]]'' is supposed to be, although "fox cat" is the best guess.
 
 
== [[Web Comics]] ==
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* Keith, and Basitins in general, from ''[[Twokinds]]'' is a good example.
* Molly and Snookums from ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]].''
 
 
== [[Web Original]] ==
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** Not quite- they're actually based on Mab, a [[Catgirl]].
* Vatsy the catlike character of [[Vatsy and Bruno]] is a borderline case.
 
 
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Nergal from ''[[The Grim Adventures of Billy and& Mandy]]'' is supposed to be a demon. The name is taken from Sumerian (I believe) mythology, and medieval demonologists placed "Nergal" as the head of Hell's secret police.
* The Warners in ''[[Animaniacs]]''. Although often referred to as "puppy-children," they insist that they aren't puppies. They even have a song about it. The page quote is what starts the Warners singing about what they are. In case you're wondering, they're {{spoiler|cute!}} ''Animaniacs'' [[Word of God|creator Tom Ruegger confirmed in an interview that their species is]] ''[[Canis Latinicus|Cartoonus characterus]]''.
** During the production process, they started out as ducks. But everyone thought they looked too much like three miniature versions of Plucky Duck from ''[[Tiny Toon Adventures]]''. So they added noses, doggy ears, and kitty cat tails.
* Bosko and Honey from ''[[Tiny Toon Adventures]]'', who were antecedents to the Warners of ''[[Animaniacs]]''. He's a living blot of ink as shown in his premier "Bosko, the Talk-Ink Kid", and was vague enough that the creators were asked, at least once, what he was supposed to be. [[media:11.jpg|They look like either dogs, cats, or rabbits.]]
** The ''[[Tiny Toon Adventures]]'' redesign came about because the [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/Hold_Anything.jpg original design]{{Dead link}} of Bosko and Honey owed a great deal to [[Uncle Tomfoolery|blackface caricature]]—when the characters' creators transferred to MGM, they were [http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_cywg7wzfIBs/R78HknVsDiI/AAAAAAAADgI/UmqN90c9e_g/s1600-h/boskohoneycolor.jpg redesigned] to look unmistakably like caricatured black children. Redesigning the characters to resemble the Warners was a less problematic option.
* Most of the characters in ''[[Arthur (animation)|Arthur]]'' are borderline cases; you have to take [[Word of God|Marc Brown's word for it]] what specific species they are meant to be. Really, can anyone tell, at first glance, that Arthur is an Aardvark? In the first books he ''did'' [http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0316111937.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg look like an aardvark], but then [[Art Evolution]] happened. The cartoon uses the newer and more well known style, of course.
* [[Goofy]] could be accused of this. To quote ''[[Stand by Me]]'': "If [[Mickey Mouse|Mickey's a mouse]], [[Donald Duck|Donald's a duck]] and Pluto's a dog, [[Furry Confusion|what does that make Goofy?]]" Goofy's name was originally Dippy Dawg, so "anthropomorphic dog" (as opposed to a pet dog like [[Pluto the Pup]]) is probably correct.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Cartoon Creature{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Alliterative Trope Titles]]
[[Category:Animal Tropes]]
[[Category:Cartoon Characters]]
[[Category:Alliterative Trope Titles]]
[[Category:Cartoon Creature]]