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Rubber Forehead Aliens: Difference between revisions
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== Anime and Manga ==
* The [[Crest of the Stars|Abh]] were distinguished by their blue hair though some of them also had pointy ears.
** This one ''does'' get [[Justified Trope|justified]], though, in that the Abh are in fact ''genetically altered humans'', who even call their stellar nation the "Humankind Empire Abh" (or a variant, [[Spell My Name with an "S"|depending on how you translate it]]); the Abh see themselves as basically humans with a few different traits, while their (non-modded) enemies tend to see them as vile aliens, wholly different from humanity. One of the narrative thrusts of the work is examining just how human they really are - or aren't.
* The [[Outlaw Star|Ctarl Ctarl]] essentially [[Catgirl|Cat Girls]] from space.
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* The movie ''Trail of the Screaming Forehead'' takes this to the logical extreme. The aliens ''are'' foreheads that attach themselves to humans. The movie is pure, high quality B grade.
* ''[[The Fifth Element]]'' has a variety of particularly tacky examples. The alien opera-singer sort of looked like a hybrid between an [[Mass Effect|Asari]], a [[Star Wars|Twi'lek]] and a [[Alien (franchise)|Xenomorph]].
* The ''[[Battlefield Earth (film)|Battlefield Earth]]'' film featured the Psychlos, whose main distinguishing features were that they were big, had eyebrows that joined their hair, high foreheads, and dreadlocks.
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* Played with in [[Alastair Reynolds]] novel ''[[House of Suns]]''; All of the civilizations in the Milky Way originally came from Earth, but over millions years (the novel is in 6.3 million AD) they have diverged somewhat. One of the characters seen in the story has a elephant-like trunk, and other humans are mentioned as having scales or full body hair.
* ''[[Star Wars]]'' has a ''lot'' of humanoid aliens, most of which find the nitrogen/oxygen atmosphere found on human-inhabited planets tolerable, if not comfortable (there are of course exceptions to this rule, such as the Kel Dor, who must wear goggles and breather masks at all times on human-habitable worlds). There are also, however, several non-humanoids, including a handful of insectoids, a lobster-like species, more than a few quadrapeds or hexapeds... and one that looks like nothing so much as a floating brain. The most human-like aliens are called [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Near-Human near-human], and are considered to have descended from humans (the blue-skinned, red-eyed but otherwise human Chiss are a typical example).
** [[New Jedi Order|The Yuuzhan Vong]] basically look like big, muscle-y humans with a few deliberate errors- their skin tones are varying shades of grey rather than brown, they have talons instead of fingernails, their foreheads are prominent and sloped, and their hair is almost always black when they're not bald (which is more common among them than it is among humans). Artists also commonly depict them with pointed ears, though this is never described i the novels. Of course, since they treat ritualized [[Body Horror]] as a mark of high status, the higher-ranked a Vong is, the less humanoid they usually look.
* The Psychlos in the book version of ''[[Battlefield Earth]]'' are vaguely-described, but come across as big, hairy humans, save for inexplicable "eyebones" and "mouthbones" instead of eyelids or lips.
* [[Justified Trope]] in ''[[Anathem]]'': the Urnudans, Latierrans etc are {{spoiler|humans from [[The Multiverse|the universe next door]].}}
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*** Straczynski had a lot of fun with this concerning the Centauri: when they made first contact with Earth, they actually claimed that Earth was a long-lost colony, due to the external similarities between the two species! Once the humans gave the Centauri a physical, however...
*** It is suggested at many points in the series that there are many less humanoid aliens both in the galaxy and on the station, but that they don't interact with the humanoid races as much.
** The episode "There All the Honor Lies" lampshades and inverts this trope: an official Babylon 5 gift shop is opened in the station, and they sell very high quality alien species masks but also ''human'' masks for aliens to wear!
* ''[[The Twilight Zone]]'' episode titled "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up". The setting of this episode is a rural restaurant. During the 25 minute episode, we wonder which one among a group of people is the alien. It turns out, we were seeing the alien all along, and that there were two of them. One alien has an extra arm (this one is from Mars). The other one has a third eye (he's from Venus).
* Most "aliens" in the [[Stargate Verse]] are just humans, [[Transplanted Humans|transported]] from Earth in antiquity. But of those that don't, some - particularly other species used as hosts by the Goa'uld - still fit this Trope. The Unas are just Humans with Scales, for example.
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* The Coneheads from ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' were conceived as a parody of the '50s B-movie Rubber Forehead Alien.
* Played straight in '' [[Hyperdrive]]''.
* Some of the aliens in ''[[Doctor Who]]'' fit in this category. According to ''The Writer's Tale'', the aliens that were to become the [[Doctor Who/Recap/NS/
== Tabletop Games ==
* In ''[[Warhammer 40000]]'' the Eldar straddle the line between this and [[Humanoid Aliens]]. They are thin, graceful, pointy-eared ([[Our Elves Are Different|Elf]] [[Expy|expies]] [[In Space]]!), but their body structure is much more lithe and spindly.
** The in-universe setting book Xenology references this; while the Eldar and Tau, and to a lesser extent the Orks, look outwardly like slightly modified humans inside the races are nothing alike. The Tech-Priest doing the dissections is extremely confused by this, especially since his other subjects aren't remotely humanoid.
* ''Space [[Munchkin]] the RPG'' parodies this trope with the "Bumpy Headed Alien" racial choice. You choose, among other things, your facial bumps, the [[Planet of Hats|concept your entire species is devoted to]], and the one aspect of human culture your species doesn't understand ("we do not have a word for this thing you call 'hygiene'")
* ''[[Teenagers From Outer Space]]'' divides aliens into [[Rubber Forehead Aliens|Near Humans]], Not Very Near Humans, and [[Starfish Aliens|Real Weirdies]].
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* Subverted in ''[[Phantasy Star]]'' with Newmans/Numans, and later Beasts in Phantasy Star Universe. Sure, they look human enough, save for their ears and (in the case of Beasts) their harelips and eyes ... but they aren't actually aliens at all. They're actually genetically engineered ''humans.''
** Played straight, though: The three planets' humanoid species are Parmanian/Palmanian (humans), Motavian ([[Humanoid Aliens|furred, beaked humanoids]]), and Dezolisian/Dezorisian ([[Rubber Forehead Aliens]] with green skin).
* ''[[Mass Effect]]'': Asari fit the trope perfectly, being [[Green-Skinned Space Babe|blue-skinned alien space babes]]. Although their tentacles are actually on the ''back'' of their heads, where a human would have hair. It should be noted that, while they wear the same armor as humans in-game, ''every'' race sees them as their equivalent of [[Green-Skinned Space Babe|blue-skinned alien space babes]] except possibly the Krogan, who still see them as attractive.
** In ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'', if a male Shepard romanced Tali and {{spoiler|saved the quarian fleet}}, Tali will leave a photo of herself without mask or helmet on his nightstand. It turns out that {{spoiler|were it not for the skin markings, the three-fingered hands, and the avian legs, she could pass for human.}}
** On the technical side, the developers of Mass Effect admit that their alien designs were limited to bipeds with human proportions because of the Unreal engine's combat system. In fact, even the tridactyl, digitigrade Turians are still built on a human skeleton.
* In the ''[[Star Ocean]]'' games, Nedians and Expellians are identical to humans, while Roakians all have tails (and there are "Lesser Fellpool" who are more similar to cats, including [[Catgirl|cat ears]]. Interestingly, Roddick makes sure the Earthlings know that they're related to cats rather than monkeys, seeming to indicate that they descended from them. The third game introduced a bunch more alien species, some of which are humanoid dolphins, dwarves and such, others of which look practically identical to humans.
* Miriam in ''[[Shining Force]] Feather'' might be a living [[Lampshade Hanging]]. She meets our protagonists and is immediately amazed, as she hasn't ever seen a human before. Never mind that Miriam is an elf, and that the only difference between her and Jin are her pointy ears, slanted eyes, and skinnier build. One scene later, she meets Alfin and is equally wowed, as she's never seen a Core Unit before, despite that Core Units are... [[Ridiculously-Human Robots]]. Meanwhile, she meets all the varieties of [[Petting Zoo People]] with no more than [[Genki Girl|chipper enthusiasm]].
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== Webcomics ==
* [[[Subverted]] in ''[[Freefall]]'': Sam Starfall ''looks'' humanoid, but it's really a suit to let him operate in an Earth-like environment. We don't get to see his true appearance, but it involves tentacles, and humans apparently find it disgusting.
* The [[All Trolls Are Different|trolls]] in ''[[Homestuck]]'' make reference to a ''lot'' of [[Bizarre Alien Biology]] endemic to their species, like "chitinous windholes", "auricular sponge clots", "porous cranial plates", and various colors of blood, but outwardly just look like grey-skinned humans with [[Eyes of Gold|yellow-orange eyes]], horns, and fangs.
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