Mix-and-Match Critters: Difference between revisions

A common way of making monsters or fantastic creatures is to simply take existing animals and combine their parts. For instance, the Chimera (lion head, goat body, snake tail) or the [[Minotaur]] ([[Horned Humanoid|bull head]], human body -- a [[Half-Human Hybrid]]). Also common is to simply take an existing animal and vary it a simple way -- [[Pegasus]] is a horse, but with wings, hippocampi have the heads and front bodies of horses but the tails of fish, etc.

 

 

== Sub Tropes Include: ==

* Also from [[The DCU]], Ultraa, the Multi-Alien. Four alien races have rayguns designed to [[You Will Be Assimilated|turn unsuspecting people into members of their race]]. Ultraa gets hit by all four at once.

* If [[Everything's Worse With Bears]] and [[Everything's Even Worse With Sharks]], then it's hard to imagine just [[Up to Eleven|how appalling]] things are with [http://theygotmixedup.blogspot.com/ Sea Bear and Grizzly Shark]!

 

 

** Of course, most of the "Zoo Too" creatures being referred to have names already associated with existing animals, such as [[Hurricane of Puns|the tiger-shark, sheep-dog, horse-fly, cat-fish, bull-frog and the plot-important]] {{spoiler|spider-monkey}}. And these were created by ''accident''. Whatever you say, Romero.

* The Beast in Disney's ''[[Beauty and The Beast (Disney)|Beauty and The Beast]]'' has the mane of a lion, the beard and head of a buffalo, the brows of a gorilla, the eyes of a human, the tusks of a wild boar, the body of a bear, and the hind legs and tail of a wolf.

* ''[[Q the Winged Serpent]]'' has the head of a vulture, feathered wings, a snake-like tail, and four limbs sort of like an iguana. On top of that, Q is meant to be the dragon-god Quetzelcoatl... and doesn't really look like him either.

* One of Flint's failed inventions on ''[[Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs]]'' is the pigeonrat.

* ''[[Merlin (TV)|Merlin]]'' has featured a hippogriph. This one didn't appear though.

{{quote| '''Arthur:''' It is said to have the body of a lion, the wings of an eagle and [[Blatant Lies|the... face of a... bear]].}}

* Alluded to on ''[[Degrassi the Next Generation]]'': Marco thinks bees are "like flying death monkeys".

* ''[[Power Rangers]]'' has had a few, since because of the rubber suit, all of them have to be humanoid. Most notable is one in the first season, right after Tommy joined, that was part turtle and part...''traffic light''?

** As for fire, animals instinctively fear fire. Humans have largely conquered that fear by conquering fire, but it still crept into the subconscious.

* Many works of fantasy using these exact same mythological creatures.

* The Peluda was a dragon from France that had the head, neck, and tail of a snake, the body of a green porcupine, and the feet of a turtle. Much nastier than it sounds - it could breathe acid and fire, its quills were toxic and could be flicked at prey, had a special taste for [[Distressed Damsel|young women]] and children and the only way to kill it was [[Weaksauce Weakness|cutting off its tail]].

* The Egyptian gods are often depicted as humans with animal heads.

* [[Older Than Dirt]]: The earliest civilizations, such as Sumer, the Indus Valley, Minoan Crete, and [[Ancient Egypt]], had various mix-and-match beasts such as griffins, lamassu, leogryphs, serpopards, sirrush, and winged snakes. The early Sumerians had [[Our Mermaids Are Different|gods that were part man and part fish]]. And some sculptures found in villages older than the first cities also reflect this motif.

* The alicorn, pegasus crossed with unicorn, goes back to ancient Greek descriptions of "Ethiopian Pegasoi."

* The Shedu / Lamassu of ancient Sumeria were heavenly protective deities with the head of a man or woman, wings, and the body of bull or lion and were seen as servants of higher gods and protectors of households. Historians believe they later had a large influence on the creation of the lore about the sphinx, Arabian Djinn, Judeo-Christian Angels (particularly the Cherubs), and the worldwide practice of placing gargoyles on buildings. Also, one of Gilgamesh's greatest feats was defeating Isthar's pet Shedu.

* From the [[The Bible|Book of Revelation]], chapter 13:1 "And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. 2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority."

** A [[Prestige Class]], the Master Transmogrifier in 3.5 can do this, combining the traits of at least two creatures when using a polymorph or shapechange spell, such as combining a squid's tentacles with a dragon.

* The [[Fighting Fantasy]] gamebook ''Citadel of Chaos'' featured two monsters: one with a wolf's head and an ape's body, the other precisely the reverse.

** The Phelddagrif, mind, is a ''deliberate'' in-joke. Its name is an anagram of {{spoiler|'Garfield, Ph. D.' after the creator of Magic}}. That said, Magic has played with the 'build your own creature from individual parts' concept from time to time -- the chimeras from ''Visions'' come to mind, for one.

*** This is actually the point of auras and equipment, but auras have the unfortunate card disadvantage, in that, yes, putting Holy Strength on your Benalish Hero takes its toughness up to three, but a Lightning Bolt (which does three damage) will kill it and your Holy Strength, whereas if you'd played (say) another creature, you'd still have a creature.

** ''Magic'' also has pegasi, merfolk, human/elephant loxodons, human/lion leonin, human/tiger nacatl (nacatli?), human/bird aven (and [[Winged Humanoid]] angels), werewolves (which are a major race in Innistrad), and, anything in Phyrexia, such as Tsabo's spidery cybernetic legs. When Phyrexia is done, [[Body Horror|you will be an example as well]].

* In ''[[Exalted]]'', this is the ''least'' of the weirdness you'll find in [[World of Chaos|the Wyld]].

* What happens when you stick an [[Eldritch Abomination]] and a [[Pokémon]] together? ''[[Pokethulhu]]''!

*** Paradeinonychus (''Deinonychus'' + ''Parasaurolophus'')

*** Tanaconda (''Tanystropheus'' + anaconda)

*** And the impressively ridiculous "Ultimasaurus", which is essentially the most fearsome parts of every nonhuman ''[[Jurassic Park]]'' resident combined. The toy was never produced, but fanart of the critter can be seen in Iririv's gallery below and [http://fav.me/d2np75e here].

** Finally, someone was nice enough to devote [http://iririv.deviantart.com/art/Chaos-effect-collection-144644233 a deviantART page] to the overlooked toy series.

** Neutral and Dark "Run Type" Chao resemble Sonic and Shadow respectively, with blue or black striped head spines. Also, it's possible to make one look like freakin' CHAOS.

* The ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' series also has Fang the sniper (aka Nack the Weasel), who is a purple-furred bounty hunter and is (in Japan anyway) half weasel, and half wolf. He is sometimes referred to as a "weasel-wolf" by fans.

* The online game Dragonfable inflicted the Dreaded Chickencow upon the world. Head, wings, breast, and front legs of a chicken, hindquarters of a cow; all of which adds up to the meat industries' dreams manifested in flesh.

* ''[[Dungeon of Doom]]'' gives us Alligogs (alligator-frogs) and Lizzogs (lizard-frogs).

* ''Triquetra Cats'' takes this trope to the extreme with Splio Beasts -- animals which are ultimately the genetic crossbreed of every known member of the animal kingdom all mixed into one.

* In ''[[Irritability]]'', Exoth keeps a stock of modular chimaera parts in one of his labs that can just be snapped together.

* ''[[8-Bit Theater (Webcomic)|Eight Bit Theater]]'': [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2004/04/10/episode-406-and-badger-snakes/ I'm sorry, no I won't take it. If we accept orc zombies, then we open the gate to all kinds of crap. What's next? Centaur dragons? How about demon fairies? Maybe buffalo elves? Heck, why not whale vultures?]

** And as the title suggests: [[Weebl and Bob|Badger-Snakes]]?

* ''[[Homestuck]]'': [[Mook|Mooks]] encountered in the Medium (imps, ogres, basilisks, etc) assume various combinations of features (and included powers) from the players' prototyped sprites when they enter; in the kids' session it's a mix of harlequin outfits from Nannaquin, wings and a sword from Seppukrow, cat features and tentacles from Jaspers, dog features and various levels of [[Reality Warper]] powers from Becquerel. The royalty of Prospit and Derse take on all the prototyped features at once through their [[Requisite Royal Regalia]], and any Prospitian or Dersite can use said regalia. This is taken to an extreme in the [[Troll|trolls]]' session when they accumulate ''twelve'' separate prototype features including some nearly gamebreaking psychic abilities that made the Black King almost unbeatable.

* Spontaneous Combustion has Swift, Gabriella, and the recently announced "badger-squirrels" that are all animal combinations. Swift is a variety of fast creatures (cats and rodents can be seen) and Gabriella is an amoeba-girl (and an oxymoron).

* Speaks with Monsters answers the question "what do griffons (half-eagle, half-lion) eat?" with pescazelles, half-trout, half-gazelle.

* The [[SCP Foundation (Wiki)|SCP Foundation]] has carefully secured [http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-889 this former barn]. It can even create mix-and-match ''plant life''.

* It's very common to find people on ''[[Pokémon]]'' forums and art sites who like to do "Pokémon sprite splices", in which two or more Pokémon sprites are taken and edited to create a hybrid of said Pokémon. These splices range from ANYTHING to Pikquaza, to Eevedactyl to Mewgong to Bulbatres.

* The [[Super Mario Galaxy (Video Game)|Dino Pirahna]] in Episode 8 of [[Bowsers Kingdom]] is the offspring of Steve the Pirhana Plant and a [[Super Mario World (Video Game)|Dino Rhino]].

* Most, if not all, of the animals in [[The 99 Rooms]].

** Koala-Sheep. Basically, adorable falls of fluff that make great pillows.

** Ostrich-Horses seem to be the main means of travel before the invention of air-balloon and cars.

*** The fact that they're given portmanteau names implies that there are (or were) "pure" versions of all the animals mentioned (not just the bear), although they seem to be relatively rare or even extinct. There's a bit of [[Fridge Logic]] when you wonder how the hell they knew that a platypus ''isn't'' a [[Mix and Match Critter]].

*** [[Cute Kitten|Regular cats]] appear to be quite common and socially accepted.

*** Wan Shi Tong also transforms into a Owl-dragon hybrid when he's pissed.

*** Altogether, this has led to some [[Wild Mass Guessing]] theories that the Avatar-verse is actually Earth or a human space colony in the far future. The animals are results of genetic experimentation, as could bending, with aid from magic. People have then extrapolated that said colony had problems with [[The End of the World As We Know It]]; after the holocaust, people rebuilt, and memories of Asian culture and the old 'pure' forms of animals gave the world the show has today.

** Korra uses a comparison to a "weasel-snake" as an insult.

* ''[[Biker Mice From Mars]]'' has Fred the mutant, who has a duck's foot, a bear's foot, a human arm for his right arm, an octopus tentacle for his left arm and three eyes.

** They were an entire sub-group when it came to the toyline. There were some weird combinations, but Injector took the cake as a lionfish/hornet. Injector is also one of the most ''notirous'' shelfwarmers of all time.

* ''[[South Park]]'' has done it several times, including the half-squirrel half-chicken, Scuzzlebutt (looks like Beast but has Patrick Duffy for a leg among other things...) and ManBearPig (although ManBearPig is supposedly fiction created by [[Strawman Political|Al Gore]]).

** Played straight in one [[Treehouse of Horror]] episode where Homer gets turned into a bizarre creature with a fish's head, a donkey's ears, a pair of brooms for hands, and a chicken's body.

* Most of the jokes on [[Tex Avery]]'s ''The Farm of Tomorrow'' consist of bizarre cross-breeding experiments such as an ostrich with a chicken (for bigger drumsticks), a duck with a banana (you peel the feathers off instead of plucking) and a dove with a high chair (a stool pigeon).

** She used her knowledge of genetics to create a cat-snake, rabbit-rhino, chicken and pig men, a lobster dog, a poodle-gorilla, a naked-mole man (from Rufus and Mr. Barkin), and supervillain Monkeyfist.

** If you look closely, you can see she wears an otter-fly brooch on the front of her top, one of her favorite cuddle-buddies.

* In the ''[[Sushi Pack]]'' episode "Near Miss", Paradoxter, himself a man-ox of unknown origin, creates the Animixter Ray that combines two animals into one amalgam. The animals all go back to normal once it is broken, though.

** Funny, that sounds an awful lot like a plot by Dr. Nimnul in ''[[Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers (Animation)|Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers]]''...

* ''[[The Life and Times of Juniper Lee]]'' has an episode dedicated to Juniper meeting a bat-otter.

* This trope is exemplified by Disney's [[The Wuzzles]].

** Speaking of the Greeks, in the unknown land, anything goes. People with dogs' heads, people walking on their hands...

* It was believed for a long time that African and Asian elephants couldn't interbreed. This was proved wrong by the rather unexpected pregnancy of an Asian female in a zoo where the only males were the African variety. The resulting offspring, born in 1978, had physical traits of both varieties, but unfortunately died of septicaema aged 12 days.

** But let's start on the ligers' less fictious claims to awesomeness: mane (the beard of the animal kingdom), golden striped color scheme, being [[Gentle Giant|twice the size of a tiger, and gentle demeanor]].

* Kirk Cameron's fictitious "Crocoduck", which he believes [[Strawman Political|scientists believe]] would be the [[Artistic License Biology|ultimate proof of evolution]].

** Hmm.... snout filled with nasty teeth and a long, powerful tail, but at the same time bipedal and feathers? Wait, we have something like that. It's called a ''dinosaur'' (more specifically, a theropod, and if you want to get really specific, only maniraptoran theropods have vaned feathers).

** Also cheekily, the gag Golden Crocoduck Award is now granted to whichever creationist whackjob is caught on film making the year's stupidest argument against evolution.

* Some biologists hypothesize that some animals that undergo metamorphosis do so due to hybridization in their evolutionary past eg. [http://www.americanscientist.org/my_amsci/restricted.aspx?act=pdf&id=13825705089663 Luidia sarsi] a "jellyfish" that becomes a starfish.

** And camel-llamas (camas)

** And beefalo - part buffalo, part domestic cow.

* The Charles R. Knight reconstruction of the dinosaur Agathaumas (now suspected to be the misidentified remains of another dinosaur) mashed the spiked frill of Styracosaurus with the three horns of Triceratops, despite the only fossil evidence being of the dinosaur's rear end.

** On a similar note, the popular depiction of pterosaurs as some sort of [http://pterosaur.net/myths.php crazy hybrid between Pteranodon and Ramphorhynchus].

* [http://www.cracked.com/funny-5588-hybrid-animals/ Cracked comes to the rescue again] with various bizarre and scary hybrids.

* The Okapi; one of the few remaining giraffes that doesn't look like the tall blondes one thinksof when one hears the word. It has the body of a horse, the legs of a zebra, and the horns of a giraffe...

* Clarus the Dogcow, mascot of the [[Apple Macintosh]]. "Moof!"

* North American folklore has the jackalope, a jackrabbit with antelope horns.

* One well-known optical illusion depicts a creature that alternately resembles a duck or a rabbit, depending on whether you think of the long, paired structures on its head as a bill or as ears.

* Looking closer at a [http://blog.webosaurs.com/2010/11/18/weekly-dino-fact-mighty-mosasaur/ mososaur], this troper thinks someone finally managed to take the badass qualities of a shark and a crocodile and combine into one badass dominant marine predator of the Cretacious period.

* The extinct glyptodont species, [http://iririv.deviantart.com/art/Doedicurus-clavicaudatus-133480077 Doedicurus clavicaudatus] look like if someone took an ankylosaurus and an armadillo (already two awesome animals by themselves) and combined them into an even more awesome one.

* This trope is not [[Speculative Fiction]] at all, for horticulture: many plants for sale in nurseries and garden supply stores are actually a product of grafting, as when a beautiful-but-frail rosebush is fused to a hardy-but-unattractive rootstock.

[[Category:Index of Fictional Creatures]]

[[Category:Mix And Match Critters]]