Sliding Scale of Anthropomorphism: Difference between revisions

Line 20:

** [[Humanoid Female Animal]] - What happens when you combine [[Petting Zoo People]], [[Funny Animal]], or [[Civilized Animal]] with [[Bizarre Sexual Dimorphism]]. The older females will (almost) always be a step or two closer to human than the males are. At the lower end, they may have long hair or [[Non-Mammal Mammaries]]. Where there are bigger differences, they may be a step higher up the scale from males. If a show focuses on [[Funny Animal|Funny Animals]] and/or [[Civilized Animal|Civilized Animals]], expect the female(s) to be [[Petting Zoo People]]. If the main cast are mostly [[Petting Zoo People]] then the girl will be only a [[Little Bit Beastly]] or a borderline [[Little Bit Beastly]]. Cleo the cat from ''[[Heathcliff and The Catillac Cats (Animation)|Heathcliff and The Catillac Cats]]'' is a great example.

** [[Intelligent Gerbil]] - A science-fiction/fantasy method of [[Characterization Tropes|characterization]] for [[Petting Zoo People]], [[Funny Animal|Funny Animals]], and [[Civilized Animal|Civilized Animals]]. These are aliens/fantasy races who are, by amazing coincidence, [[Call a Rabbit A Smeerp|like earth animals]], which is reflected culturally and behaviorally. This is often explained as the result of an "[[Hollywood Evolution|alternate evolutionary path]]" (with the weirdly [[Unfortunate Implications]] that all animals somehow secretly [[Pinocchio Syndrome|want to be human]]).

* Borderline [[Petting Zoo People]] - This is what you get when you combine [[Petting Zoo People]] traits with [[Funny Animal]] traits. Sometimes they will be treated more like [[Funny Animal|Funny Animals]], other times, they will be treated more like [[Petting Zoo People]]. Male animals of this type are often [[Top Heavy Guy|Top Heavy Guys]].

* Borderline [[Petting Zoo People]] - This is what you get when you combine [[Petting Zoo People]] traits with [[Funny Animal]] traits. Sometimes they will be treated more like [[Funny Animal|Funny Animals]], other times, they will be treated more like [[Petting Zoo People]]. Male animals of this type are often [[Top-Heavy Guy|Top Heavy Guys]].

* [[Funny Animal]] - This is where we hit characters who could be human, but [[Furries Are Easier to Draw]]. Generally, the majority or most of their mannerisms are that of a human. In some cases, almost all their mannerisms may be that of a human. Artistically, they are usually bipedal and have hands, but otherwise need not resemble humans at all. [[Mickey Mouse]] is a terrific example. He is a character who has become humanized to the point that you could replace him with a human and the plot would be nearly identical. He always wears clothes, he goes to work and lives in a house, and... [[Furry Confusion|he has a pet dog]]. This term hails from the golden age of comics.

* [[Civilized Animal]] - This is an intermediary stage between animals who talk and animals who might as well be human. They generally have half the mannerisms of of a human and half the mannerisms of the animal. [[Bugs Bunny/Characters|Bugs Bunny]] would be an excellent example: he lives in a hole in the forest and is hunted by Elmer Fudd -- and he stands upright, wears [[White Gloves]], and tries to take vacations to Aruba. Brian the dog in ''[[Family Guy (Animation)|Family Guy]]'' is this trope; he drinks martinis, walks on two legs and goes to college but also barks at people, scratches his butt on the carpet and so forth. Its seminal use in literature is ''[[The Wind in The Willows]]''... Which is itself [[Furry Confusion|rather confusing]] at some points (Toad lives in a splendid old Hall, Mole lives in a hole in the ground). However ''[[The Wind in The Willows]]'' isn't part of the modern canon; it is ''[[The Aesop]]'' on one level, and a satire on another. Mole and Badger live in holes, but they are more like the hobbit houses of Tolkien's Shire than holes in a literal sense. All the animals are the same, human size.

Line 48:

* '''Body Type 4: Borderline [[Petting Zoo People]]:''' Their bodies look partly humanoid and partly like their species, often they have either humanoid legs and non-humanoid torso, a humanoid torso and non-humaniod legs, or look semi-humanoid all over. Like Type 5, they walk on two legs for at least a good part of the time. Also like Type 5, naturally quadrupedal animals can walk on two legs and on all fours equally well, especially if they are of the humanoid torso/non-humaniod legs type or the semi-humanoid all over type. They can have [[Humanlike Foot Anatomy|either digitigrade or plantigrade feet]], and they sometimes have [[Non-Mammal Mammaries|human-like breasts]]. Humanlike, styleable head hair (or head feathers if a bird) is not uncommon to this type.

* '''Body Type 5: [[Funny Animal]]/[[Civilized Animal]] Body Type Animals:''' Like Type 6, they have a body that is generally shaped like that of their respective species, except that they are [[Four Legs Good Two Legs Better|bipedal even if their species is not naturally so]]. They walk on two legs for at least a good part of the time. Naturally quadrupedal animals can walk on two legs just as well as they can on all fours in this form. They can either stand with their legs straight (standard [[Funny Animal]]/[[Civilized Animal]] body type pose), sit up on their haunches (depending on the species in question), or stand with their knuckles on the ground (if a monkey or ape). There is a more anthropomophic variant that has this basic body type, but has human proportioned arms and legs to body. They can have [[Humanlike Foot Anatomy|either digitigrade or plantigrade feet]]. Birds (almost always) have [[Feather Fingers]], and their wings can look completely like wings or look like arms to varying degrees. They very seldomly have [[Non-Mammal Mammaries|human-like breasts]]. [[Funny Animal|Funny Animals]], [[Civilized Animal|Civilized Animals]], and a few [[Largely Normal Animal|Largely Normal Animals]], [[Speech-Impaired Animal|Speech Impaired Animals]], [[Talking Animal|Talking Animals]], and [[Partially-Civilized Animal|Partially Civilized Animals]] are of this body type.

* '''Body Type 5: [[Funny Animal]]/[[Civilized Animal]] Body Type Animals:''' Like Type 6, they have a body that is generally shaped like that of their respective species, except that they are [[Four Legs Good, Two Legs Better|bipedal even if their species is not naturally so]]. They walk on two legs for at least a good part of the time. Naturally quadrupedal animals can walk on two legs just as well as they can on all fours in this form. They can either stand with their legs straight (standard [[Funny Animal]]/[[Civilized Animal]] body type pose), sit up on their haunches (depending on the species in question), or stand with their knuckles on the ground (if a monkey or ape). There is a more anthropomophic variant that has this basic body type, but has human proportioned arms and legs to body. They can have [[Humanlike Foot Anatomy|either digitigrade or plantigrade feet]]. Birds (almost always) have [[Feather Fingers]], and their wings can look completely like wings or look like arms to varying degrees. They very seldomly have [[Non-Mammal Mammaries|human-like breasts]]. [[Funny Animal|Funny Animals]], [[Civilized Animal|Civilized Animals]], and a few [[Largely Normal Animal|Largely Normal Animals]], [[Speech-Impaired Animal|Speech Impaired Animals]], [[Talking Animal|Talking Animals]], and [[Partially-Civilized Animal|Partially Civilized Animals]] are of this body type.

* '''Body Type 6: Animalistic Animals:''' Animals that have the general body shape and proportions like their respective species and move around the way their species would move around in [[Real Life]]. Naturally four-legged animals stay on all fours for the most part; rarely walking on two legs and (usually) not able to walk that way as well as they can on all fours. They can sit up on their haunches (depending on the species in question), stand with their knuckles on the ground (if a monkey or ape), or stand with a typical four-legged stance. Many of them are capable of performing feats that their [[Real Life]] physiology generally wouldn't allow, like grasping objects as if they have opposable thumbs or a prehensile tail and being able to make human-like arm and hand gestures, while others are not. Birds can have [[Feather Fingers]], but their wings have to look completely like wings. The majority of [[Speech-Impaired Animal|Speech Impaired Animals]], [[Talking Animal|Talking Animals]], and [[Partially-Civilized Animal|Partially Civilized Animals]], and most [[Nearly-Normal Animal|Nearly Normal Animals]] are of this body type.

Line 69:

* [[Transplanted Humans]] - These aliens actually ''are'' humans, and they look like humans, and for the most part they act like humans. It's just that some [[Ancient Astronauts]] or somesuch whisked them away from Earth a long time ago. They might have a difference or two, but this is usually explained away as being cultural (if it's a body modification or a way of doing things), genetic engineering, or (if they were transplanted long enough ago) just evolution.

* [[Transhuman Aliens|Transhumans]] - If these characters look just like normal humans, save for a few noticeable physical differences like [[Artificial Limbs|mechanical]] or [[Lego Genetics|biological]] embellishments, it's because they ''are'' normal humans. They're just altered somehow. In older fiction they tend to be involuntarily altered [[Was Once a Man|mooks with sad backstories]], but are becoming increasingly popular as benevolent characters who have [[Cyberpunk|chosen to be altered]] in hard sci-fi (certainly the [[Post Cyber Punk|increasing acceptance]] of body art and modification has something to do with this). The fun part is that they may physically resemble any of the other categories on this page...

* [[Human Aliens]] - Aliens that look just like people. They may look a ''little'' different, they might have [[Bizarre Alien Biology]], or super advanced technology, or some form of superpowers, but no person would be able to tell the difference. [[~~Doctor Who (TV)|~~Doctor Who]] is a good example.

* [[Human Aliens]] - Aliens that look just like people. They may look a ''little'' different, they might have [[Bizarre Alien Biology]], or super advanced technology, or some form of superpowers, but no person would be able to tell the difference. [[Doctor Who]] is a good example.

* [[Rubber Forehead Aliens]] - The human-like extraterrestrial equivalent of [[Humanoid Animals]]. These guys have only one or two major characteristics that makes them different from humans. They might [[Justified Trope|justify]] this by saying that they have a common ancestor with or are somehow descended from humans. This usually comes from [[Coconut Superpowers|budget limitations]], so you are more likely to see this in live action than in animation. Most ''[[Star Trek]]'' races, such as Klingons, are a good example.

** [[Green-Skinned Space Babe]] - Alien as [[Cute Monster Girl]]. She may be slightly physically different from an Earthling.

Line 88:

* Human - What you probably are. Of course, some of you may have a pacemaker or a couple of artificial ribs or something, or even an artificial limb, but when it starts encroaching on the below territory, you get a...

* [[Cyborg]] - Human, but with artificial components - they tend to blend with transhumans above. They can range from relatively small replacement parts (Geordi LaForge's eyes in the ''[[Star Trek the Next Generation]]'' movies) to complete body replacement with few biological components left, with varying degrees of human appearance (from [[Ghost in The Shell|major Motoko Kusanagi]] to ''[[Robo Cop]] 2'').

* [[Ridiculously Human Robots]] - Robots that are unnecessarily human. They're so human, in fact, that it's hard to distinguish them from real humans. Examples include T-800 from ''[[Terminator]]'' series.

* [[Ridiculously-Human Robots]] - Robots that are unnecessarily human. They're so human, in fact, that it's hard to distinguish them from real humans. Examples include T-800 from ''[[Terminator]]'' series.

** [[Robot Kid|Robot Kids]] - Robots that are designed to be children. [[Astro Boy]] is an example.

** [[Robot Girl|Robot Girls]] - Robots with the appearance of a human female.

Line 121:

[[Category:Animal Anthropomorphism Tropes]]

[[Category:Sliding Scale Of Anthropomorphism]]

[[Category:Trope]]