Horse of a Different Color: Difference between revisions

 

{{examples}}

=== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ===

* Horseclaws are giant flightless birds used as rides in ''[[Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind]]'' (and inspired the above-mentioned chocobos).

 

 

* In ''[[Ragnarok Online]]'', the standard animal of monture are giant birds called Pecos, not unlike Chocobos. They are limited on use to one class job, however (even if the things are also in the wild and can be captured as mascots).

** Although with third jobs, Wargs, Griffons and the dragon-like Ferus are now both also fair game.

* Blood Elves in ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' ride flightless, vaguely ostrich-like birds called Hawkstriders. Often [[Fan Nickname|referred to as Chocobos]] by fans.

** Gnomes get ''robotic'' ostriches called Mechanostriders.

 

 

* Strangely, the [[Pokémon]] Dodrio—based off of ostriches—can learn Fly in the games. The anime makes a clever justification when Falkner's Dodrio makes a leap that makes it look like it ''is'' flying, though the birds are usually ridden as land mounts when seen.

** The character Yellow of the ''[[Pokémon Special]]'' manga is fourteen years old, but she is small enough to ride Dodrio's unevolved (juvenile) form, Doduo.

** [http://awkwardzombie.com/index.php?page=0&comic=030711 Mystery of flight also solved for Doduo!]

* There are undead units in ''[[Battle for Wesnoth]]'' which ride skeletal 'chocobones' which are a clear parody of the Final Fantasy birds.

 

 

=== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ===

* Chiyo-chan in ''[[Azumanga Daioh]]'' is so small, she can comfortably ride Mr. Tadakichi, a Great Pyrenees, to [[Tall, Dark and Bishoujo|Sakaki's]] envy.

 

 

* In ''[[World of Warcraft]]'', orcs ride giant wolves, trolls ride giant raptors, and night elves ride giant felines.

** And to continue this, dwarves ride large rams, draenei ride elephant-like creatures known as elekk, the [[The Undead|Forsaken]] ride skeletal horses, and the tauren ride ''dinosaurs''!

 

 

 

=== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ===

* The Skybax Riders of ''[[Dinotopia]]'', who train and fly on huge Pterosaurs, rest very proudly in the realm of the [[Rule of Cool]].

* ''[[Inheritance Trilogy]]''

** Speaking of [[Discworld]], herons and buzzards qualify as "giant flying steeds" if you're a gnome.

** And one of the Nac Mac Feegle has a hawk as his steed of choice.

* The tarns (large flying birds used as steeds) of John Norman's ''[[Gor]]'' novels.

* In ''[[The Hobbit]]'' and ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', giant eagles have been known to give people rides. Notable example, Gandalf's escape from the tower of Orthanc.

* ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'': There are a number of different breeds of winged horses (based in part on the legend of Pegasus and Bellerophon), according to ''[[Word of God|Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them]]''. Hogwarts employs thestrals, probably the ''least'' horse-like breed.

 

 

* Most flying mounts in ''[[World of Warcraft]]''. Gryphons, Wyverns, Phoenixes, Dragons of many kinds, too much to list.

 

* Balkoth, leader of the Death Faction in ''Lords of Magic'', rides a giant bat.

 

 

=== Western Animation ===

 

 

 

=== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ===

* The ''[[Dying Earth]]'' setting of [[Jack Vance]] featured "oasts", huge humanlike primates whose riders sat on their shoulders. On at least one occasion, the hero Guyal was chased by a mounted troop on these creepy things.

 

* The MMOG ''[[Ultima Online]]'' has an array to choose from. Bipedal dinosaurs without front arms called ostards, llamas, ki-rins, and giant beetles are among the choices.

* [[Gaia Online]] has a few mount options, mostly from the Wild Things set. The Roc is pretty obviously a chocobo knockoff, and the other Wild Things are a wolf (Fenrir) and a tiger (Khan). In addition, the Fallen Wish item has a serpentine dragon that you can ride, and the Kelp o' the Loch gave you a proper horse... as well as a hobby horse.

** The third-party D&D setting book ''Nyambe: African Adventures'' follows the lead of the ''[[Saga of the Exiles]]'' and includes chalicothere mounts. Here, however, it's clearly stated that they require special saddles.

* Likewise, ''[[Rifts]]'' features just about everything, from [[Cool Horse]]s to Dinosaurs to giant beetle-like monsters to bears and even giant chickens (Fun Fact: Cossacks refuse to ride the giant chickens). Plus [[Mechanical Horse|Robot and Cybernetic horses]]. ''Magic'' robot horses, too. Some species, such as Psi-Ponies and Blood Lizards, can even be chosen as player characters.

* ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' has tons of these: cyber-horses, boars, cyber-boars, giant lizards, daemons that look like weird worms, flies or metal rhinos...

** Space Wolves sometimes ride Fenrisian Wolves.

** The Kroot ride raptor-like Knarloc, sometimes Great Knarloc and Krootox (knuckle-walking devolved Kroot the size of a rhinoceros). In the latter two cases the mount also carries on its shoulders a heavy gun (or a huge crossbow with explosive arrows).

** The Orks have squiggoths - much like squigs (that are made mostly of toothy maw and viciousness), but large enough to ride... in a howdah.

* In ''Warzone'', some human soldiers ride on horse-sized bipedal dinosaurs/lizards in the jungles of Venus.

 

=== Toys ===

* ''[[Girl Genius]]'', thanks to all the [[Mad Scientist]]s, has all sorts of this: wagons drawn by [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070316 horse-headed men]; the [[Dark Action Girl]] jaegermonster Jenka rides a [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070326 red grizzly bear construct named Füst]; cavalry troops on the beetlesque [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070105 Hoomhoffers] used by Baron Wulfenbach and [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20141121 House Valois]; then there are [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20110523 Drakken Horses], and other weird constructs, up to and including [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20120813 flying apes].

** And the Geisterdamen have [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20050321 giant riding spiders] (those things seem to be much smarter than the garden variety, and at least comparable to horse - they learn useful tricks and actively help the riders), good for the "Wastelands", [[Absurdly Spacious Sewer]]s, [[Roof Hopping|roofs]]... and [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20060710 a whole menagerie of other creepy stuff].

* In ''[[Looking for Group]]'' (loosely based on ''[[World of Warcraft]]''), one of the characters, Richard, is turned into an infant temporally and uses a bunny as a mount.

* In ''[[Rice Boy]]'', the Frog-men use giant lizards. Maquìn has a horse-like creature that's able to contract its entire body into its cubical head.

* The Denizens ([[Living Shadow]] minions) in ''[[Sequential Art (webcomic)|Sequential Art]]'' [http://www.collectedcurios.com/sequentialart.php?s=383 tried] to ride a ''platypus'' for fun.

* ''[[Erfworld]]'' is home to a broad variety of mounts, including spidews, dwagons, gwiffons, unipegataurs, megalogwiffs, tankeroos (kangaroo-shaped cloth golems), elephant-shaped cloth golems, and a glass golem which appears to actually be in the form of a horse.

* ''[[Uncreation]]'' features the centitrains, which are giant centipedes that (unsurprisingly) function as trains. They even have the ability to seperate like train carriages - by ''ripping themselves in half'' and then regenerating a new head out of the wound.

* In the world of ''[[Drowtales]]'' it's actually pretty rare to see a regular horse, and the 9 Great Clans seem to prefer using their clan's symbol as a mount. To count it off:

** [http://www.thebeastlegion.com/issue-07-page-17-lift-off/ Brilight] is a soul beast that belongs to Master Surya & can fly as well as track the Beast Transfers.

** [http://www.thebeastlegion.com/issue-01-page-28on-the-verge-of-battle/ Dragos's giant Shadow Beast] that makes a small apperance in issues 1 & 2.

 

=== Web Original ===

* Dogs are used for pulling light carts or, particularly, sleds. (e.g. sled dogs such as Huskies) for both recreation and working purposes. Dog carts were once common due to dogs being cheaper to care for then horses but were outlawed in some areas due to [[Animal Wrongs Group|somewhat misplaced animal welfare concerns]].

* Zebras have been trained to pull carriages or let people ride them before, but it is not as practical as horses because of their temperament and lesser speed and endurance.

* Yaks.

* And donkeys of course.

** Mules and hinnies each technically fulfill half of this trope.

 

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]

[[Category:Pet and Animal Companion Tropes]]

[[Category:Cool Horse]]

[[Category:The Utterly and Completely Definitive Guide to Cool]]