What Measure Is a Humanoid?: Difference between revisions

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This is where there's something romantic going on between a human and something that, for whatever reason, looks equally human but is actually nonhuman (not [[Petting Zoo People]], just a nonhuman that spends most of the time [[Voluntary Shapeshifting|looking human]]). The romance element can be anything from subtext to full blown relationships, and for some reason are never treated as if there's any reason why they should be [[~~Squick|squicky~~]] at all. In fact, in some cases, they actually come across as sweet and touching, and the dominant thought on the readers mind is usually "awww," which probably wouldn't be the case if the nonhuman in question wasn't usually human-shaped.

This is where there's something romantic going on between a human and something that, for whatever reason, looks equally human but is actually nonhuman (not [[Petting Zoo People]], just a nonhuman that spends most of the time [[Voluntary Shapeshifting|looking human]]). The romance element can be anything from subtext to full blown relationships, and for some reason are never treated as if there's any reason why they should be [[squick]]y at all. In fact, in some cases, they actually come across as sweet and touching, and the dominant thought on the readers mind is usually "awww," which probably wouldn't be the case if the nonhuman in question wasn't usually human-shaped.

See also some cases of [[Interspecies Romance]], [[Robosexual]].

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* Also celebrated is ''The Legend of the White Snake'': a snake spirit falls in love with the student Xu-Xian. A [[Knight Templar]] type monk called Fa-Hai intervenes, not because she is evil, but simply because she is non-human. Fa-Hai's meddling did more harm than good.

* In South America there is the legend of the Encantados, pink river dolphins that change into men so they can seduce and/or abduct human women. Unexplained pregnancies? Hey, blame the dolphins. Who ''else'' could be responsible?

* [[Older Than Feudalism]]: Zeus in the Greek Myths, often changed into animals and seduced women. These relationships often produced children who were harassed or even killed by his wife, Hera. Helen of ~~Troy -- the~~ most beautiful woman in the ~~world -- is~~ likely half-swan, since that was the form Zeus took when he raped her mother. Some versions of her birth involve her ''hatching from an egg.''

* [[Older Than Feudalism]]: Zeus in the Greek Myths, often changed into animals and seduced women. These relationships often produced children who were harassed or even killed by his wife, Hera. Helen of Troy—the most beautiful woman in the world—is likely half-swan, since that was the form Zeus took when he raped her mother. Some versions of her birth involve her ''hatching from an egg.''

* Selkies? Swan-maidens?

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* There's another example from the [[Tortall Universe|Trickster duology]] written by [[Tamora Pierce]] - Nawat is a crow who becomes human after falling in love with the protagonist. At first he continues to act somewhat like a crow, but she doesn't start to return his affections until some time later, once he's started to act more human.

* [[Terry Pratchett]], of course, plays with this in [[Discworld]].

** Ludmilla Cake and Lupin in ''[[Discworld/Reaper Man|Reaper Man]]''. She's a human who turns into a [[Wolf Man|Wolf Woman]] at full moon. He's a wolf who turns humanoid at full moon. They apparently have a relationship for one week a month, and the rest of the time Lupin is kind of Ludmilla's mother's pet dog. Which is a lot [[~~Squick|squickier~~]] written like that than it was in the book...

** Ludmilla Cake and Lupin in ''[[Discworld/Reaper Man|Reaper Man]]''. She's a human who turns into a [[Wolf Man|Wolf Woman]] at full moon. He's a wolf who turns humanoid at full moon. They apparently have a relationship for one week a month, and the rest of the time Lupin is kind of Ludmilla's mother's pet dog. Which is a lot [[squick]]ier written like that than it was in the book...

** Another werewolf, Sergeant Angua, has a romantic relationship with Carrot, a human who thinks he's a dwarf. The books mention that relationships between humans and werewolves are usually extremely difficult, but they manage to make it work.

** Inverted ''[[Discworld/The Fifth Elephant|The Fifth Elephant]]'', where a wolf called Gavin (well, he once ate someone named Gavin) is said to have had a very Carrot-like relationship with Angua. The [[Squick]] mitigation comes less from him being a smart wolf, and more Angua not being human all of the time she's with him.

*** That, and the fact that it's implied that Gavin is the descendant of a ~~yennork--a~~ werewolf who isn't able to morph.

*** That, and the fact that it's implied that Gavin is the descendant of a yennork—a werewolf who isn't able to morph.

{{quote|"You see, a yennork would go off and be a human or be a wolf but they'd still be carrying the werewolf...blood, an then they'd marry and have children...or pups...and, well, that's where the fairy-tale monsters come from. People with a ''bit'' of wolf and wolves with that extra capacity for violence that is so very human." She sighed, and glanced momentarily at Gavin.}}

** Nanny Ogg's pet cat Greebo, in ''[[Discworld/Witches Abroad|Witches Abroad]]'', picked up a new skill: he can turn into his human male equivalent, and invokes [[All Girls Want Bad Boys]]. He retained the skill, and uses it again in ''[[Discworld/Maskerade|Maskerade]]''.

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* Numerous relationships between humans and aliens on ''[[Star Trek]].'' Captain Kirk was famous for <s>fucking aliens</s> "<s>going</s> coming where no man has gone before".

** And copied on [[Affectionate Parody]] ''[[Galaxy Quest]]'' with "Jane Doe", who is actually a tentacle monster.

* Both subverted and played straight in ''[[Farscape]]''. John's dad tells Aeryn outright that he isn't bothered by her relationship with John since he doesn't think of her as an alien. However, in the TV program they intercept from Earth later, there is quite a lot of debate over whether or not Aeryn is pregnant with John's child and how [[Squick~~|Squicky~~]] it would be if she was.

* Both subverted and played straight in ''[[Farscape]]''. John's dad tells Aeryn outright that he isn't bothered by her relationship with John since he doesn't think of her as an alien. However, in the TV program they intercept from Earth later, there is quite a lot of debate over whether or not Aeryn is pregnant with John's child and how [[Squick]]y it would be if she was.

* In ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' we have Buffy who has relationships with vampires. And it's an ongoing joke with Xander that demons are attracted to him.

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** Later, poor Beast gets feelings for a cat-girl, who actually turned out to be more cat then girl. Seems mutancy is not just restricted to homo sapiens.

* ''[[XXXenophile]]'' goes out of its way to transform one housecat into a human before getting him involved with a human woman. This may have been more about scale than anything else, given that the same woman gets involved with a shapechanging [[The Fair Folk|Fairie Queen]] that goes much, much further from the typical form factor ''trying'' to [[Squick]] her out.

** This is also the comic which features a human having sex with a centaur several times before the centaur had sex (offscreen) with a ~~horse--the~~ 'curse' of being part horse transferred with sex, so the horse wound up with six legs afterwards.

** This is also the comic which features a human having sex with a centaur several times before the centaur had sex (offscreen) with a horse—the 'curse' of being part horse transferred with sex, so the horse wound up with six legs afterwards.

* [[Tank Girl]] gives us the relationship between the heroine and her [[Kangaroos Represent Australia|mutant kangaroo boyfriend]] Booga. He behaves pretty much like any human, and the issue of their [[Interspecies Romance]] is rarely discussed.