History Main / EvolutionaryRetCon

** The Klingons in the original ''Series/{{Star Trek|The Original Series}}'' series were basically swarthy HumanAliens, but advances in make-up technology allowed them to become one of the best (and most believable) examples of RubberForeheadAliens. This example is notable in that Creator/GeneRoddenberry always claimed that the "new" Klingons were how they would have looked back in the 1960s if it had been possible at the time - he considered the new Klingon look to be how the old ones ''always'' did but [[DirectLineToTheAuthor there just wasn't the budget to show it]]. (The original Trek often didn't have the budget even when it had the means. Why'd the old-school Romulans wear helmets? Easier than making custom pointy ears for everyone - which is also why several Vulcans wore the same helmets in "Amok Time"!) In-universe, the difference didn't exist until attention was called to it in an episode where the ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' crew went to the past. Then ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' comes along, with pre-TOS Klingons looking like the "new" ones! Yes, we ''do'' at long last get an explanation. None for Romulans (see below) though.

** Romulans had the same make-up as Vulcans in TOS and some early TNG. In later seasons of TNG and all following series, they have a distinctive V-shaped ridge on their foreheads. However it seems that this retcon did not apply to all: there are later examples of Vulcans and Romulans passing as each other, suggesting there are minorities among both who look like the other. Which makes sense, since biologically they're the same race.

-->--''The USS Make Shit Up'', '''{{Music/Voltaire}}'''

* By the third entry in Creator/PeterJackson's ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' series, he'd decided he wasn't a fan of the "witch noses" on certain orcs in the previous films. As a result, none of ''Return of the King'''s orcs sported long, pointy noses.

** The Klingons in the original ''Series/{{Star Trek|The Original Series}}'' series were basically swarthy HumanAliens, but advances in make-up technology allowed them to become one of the best (and most believable) examples of RubberForeheadAliens. This example is notable in that Creator/GeneRoddenberry always claimed that the "new" Klingons were how they would have looked back in the 1960s if it had been possible at the time - he considered the new Klingon look to be how the old ones ''always'' did but [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis there just wasn't the budget to show it]]. (The original Trek often didn't have the budget even when it had the means. Why'd the old-school Romulans wear helmets? Easier than making custom pointy ears for everyone - which is also why several Vulcans wore the same helmets in "Amok Time"!) In-universe, the difference didn't exist until attention was called to it in an episode where the ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' crew went to the past. Then ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' comes along, with pre-TOS Klingons looking like the "new" ones! Yes, we ''do'' at long last get an explanation. None for Romulans (see below) though.

* Generally, early characters costumes will be retconned to be more realistic and sensible in favor of the bright colored spandex and cuffed buccaneer-style boots look. Superhero costumes historically appeared to draw inspiration from the form-fitting costumes worn by gymnasts, circus strongmen, and acrobats. While such outfits are sound for strictly athletic purposes, they provide little in the form of body protection. In more modern times, costumes will be more functional and less like costumes. Footwear will be sturdy and made for rough use. The actual reason that comic book characters wore so much spandex is that artists found the human figure easier to draw nude than with clothes. Drawing the nude figure is a basic skill drilled into the artists early on. Drawing clothing and folds in cloth may take much longer to master and render. These points are especially significant since comic book artists often had to produce completed art much faster than they do now. They simply did not have the time or resources to create elaborate highly detailed costumes, especially when they knew that much of their fine detail would be lost during image reduction as well as in the cheap printing processes of the time. The reason for the bright colors, of course, was that until recently, comic books were printed in four colors (the CYMK color model). Also, in most cases, black was neccesarily substituted with blue; black would appear too flat in print. SpiderMan's costume, for instance, was originally intended to be red and black, not red and blue.

** The original Daleks were clunky and, because they were mounted on tricycles, had difficulty with rough terrain. [[WeaksauceWeakness And stairs? Forget about it.]] [[spoiler: Until their very last appearance, anyway - but they couldn't fire at the same time until the new series.]] CGI allows the new series to feature flying Daleks who are capable of traversing stairs and ''interstellar space'' without trouble. Heck of an upgrade there.
** The Cybermen are famous for their repeated redesigns, which are fairly plausible in a species whose whole concept is ruthless self-augmentation. The major shifts are from the original "Tenth Planet" look with visible human body parts to the all-metal appearance of their second story "The Moonbase"; the shift to the "square-headed" silhouette in "The Invasion"; and the "baggy" eighties look from "Earthshock". But practically every story saw some tweaking to the design. The 21st-century series introduced another, even more robot-like look, and there was then a further redesign in the Moffat era to remove the "Cybus" branding that marked the Davies-era Cybermen as alternate-universe. The Moffat-era design was stated by the designers to be a CallBack to this: the Cybermen never remain the same for too long. [[CatchPhrase Upgrade in progress]]!

** Confusing matters further is yet another new Klingon look appearing in ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'', which looks nothing like the TOS style and only partly like the now-familiar style from every other series.

[[caption-width-right:350:On the left, Commander Kor in "[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Errand of Mercy]]". On the right, Commander Kor in "[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Sword of Kahless]]", twenty-five years later (105 in-universe).]]

** Another ''Series/DoctorWho'' example: the Macra. Old series Macra look like [[http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q55/ashtonlamont/mo_ma01_Macra_400.jpg this]]. New series Macra look like [[http://www.sylvestermccoy.com/newdoctorwho/gridlock/macra.jpg this]]. This is explained by there being 5 billion years between them, during which time they have evolved from intelligent beings with a huge empire into mindless creatures living on the poisonous fumes of the New New York motorway.

** Trills are kind of a reverse example by ''Star Trek'' standards: they first appeared in the TNG episode ''The Chase'' as a [[RubberForeheadAliens Rubber Forehead Alien]]. By the time they reappeared in DS9, they lost the forehead and had spots, being less complicated and arguably something TOS could have done (all done because they had StatuesqueStunner Terry Farrell play the Trill in question and thought the original make-up took away from her looks).

** Brutes have cycled back and forth between various combinations of hairy, shaven, naked, and armored, likely as a response to available graphics technology. Interestingly, they started off as hairy in ''VideoGame/{{Halo 2}}'', became shaved in subsequent games, and came back even more hairy in ''[[VideoGameRemake Halo 2: Anniversary]]''. One trend that ''has'' stayed consistent is their faces becoming ever more ape-like as their snouts and noses have become less and less pronounced, to the point where their faces are currently almost flat.

* ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'', more than 10 years since the original ''VideoGame/DeusEx'', has mechanical augmentations that are significantly more advanced and useful than the un-lifelike ones in ''Deus Ex''. The excuse is that this is right before a great collapse which occurs prior to the beginning of ''Deus Ex'' and before the rise of nano augmentations.

* In the first ''{{VideoGame/Metroid}}'', due to graphical limitations, Kraid and Ridley are both the same size as Samus. By the time ''Super Metroid'' came around, Kraid was two rooms high, and Ridley was at least three times the size of Samus. ''Zero Mission'' retcons the ''Super'' design into canon.

** Throughout the ''Videogame/MetroidPrime'' series, the Space Pirate models vary greatly, gaining a separating lower jaw and going from two to four eyes. Partially justified as the Pirates are genetically altering their troops (with varying levels of success) to enable them to conquer the galaxy.

* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series has surprisingly averted this for the most part, despite major overhauls to the graphics with each new game release. Most of the races and creatures that appear in each game have kept the same look, with only improvements in the ''quality'' of their appearance, not to the appearance itself. One area where it has been played entirely straight has been with the [[LizardFolk Argonian]] race. [[http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Arena:Argonian#Argonian Arena]] displayed them as gray skinned humanoids. Two games later, [[http://www.uesp.net/wiki/File:MW-npc-Big_Head.jpg Morrowind]] turned them into bird-legged, iguana-looking people. [[http://www.uesp.net/wiki/File:OB-npc-Amusei.jpg Oblivion]] returned them to more traditionally bipedal dinosaur-looking people. Finally, [[http://www.uesp.net/wiki/File:SR-race-Argonian.jpg Skyrim]] has them looking like, well, traditionally bipedal iguana-looking people (they use the same model as other races, apart from the lizard head and tail). This evolution is ostensibly justified in-universe by the fact the Argonians worship the "Hist," a race of sentient trees in their homeland of Argonia (or "Black Marsh"). Hatchling Argonians drink the sap from the Hist that changes them physically. After the events of the [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion Crisis]], it is believed that the Hist have been strengthening the Argonians, turning them into more formidable warriors over time.
** A lesser example would be the Khajiit, another beastmen race In [[http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Arena:Races#Khajiit Arena]] and [[http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Daggerfall:Races#Khajiit Daggerfall]] they were a race of hardy and fair-skinned men that hardly (if at all) resemble their supposed feline ancestors while ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind'' [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion through]] ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' they're BeastFolk that resemble humanoid tigers. The {{retcon}} here isn't that they turned into different forms like the Argonians but rather it's a part of their biology; by the waxing and waning of the two moons Masser and Secunda, the children born to a Kahjiit can look like a small house cat to a fair-skinned man to a cat-man to a feline big enough to be ridden as a beast of battle.

** The Klingons in the original ''Series/{{Star Trek|The Original Series}}'' series were basically swarthy HumanAliens, but advances in make-up technology allowed them to become one of the best (and most believable) examples of RubberForeheadAliens. This example is notable in that GeneRoddenberry always claimed that the "new" Klingons were how they would have looked back in the 1960s if it had been possible at the time - he considered the new Klingon look to be how the old ones ''always'' did but [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis there just wasn't the budget to show it]]. (The original Trek often didn't have the budget even when it had the means. Why'd the old-school Romulans wear helmets? Easier than making custom pointy ears for everyone - which is also why several Vulcans wore the same helmets in "Amok Time"!) In-universe, the difference didn't exist until attention was called to it in an episode where the ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' crew went to the past. Then ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' comes along, with pre-TOS Klingons looking like the "new" ones! Yes, we ''do'' at long last get an explanation. None for Romulans (see below) though.

[[caption-width-right:350:On the left, Commander Kor in "[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Errand of Mercy]]". On the right, Commander Kor in "[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Sword of Kahless]]", twenty-five years later.]]

** Romulans had the same make-up as Vulcans in TOS and some early TNG. In later seasons of TNG and all following series, they have a distinctive V-shaped ridge on their foreheads. However it seems that this retcon did not apply to all: there are later examples of Vulcans and Romulans passing as each other, suggesting there are minorities among both who look like the other.

* The Covenant from the ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' series have become more life-like and more scary-looking as computer animation technology has improved. Elites became stouter with more practical looking armor, Grunts more reptilian and red-eyed, and Brutes from hairy unarmored giants to weaker, armored, and shaven fellows. Their designs most deviated in ''VideoGame/HaloReach'', where the Elites' armor became very ornate and alien while the Brutes turned more ape-like, though still shaven.

** ComicBook/CaptainAmerica's original costume was what appeared to be the traditional spandex tights with buccaneer boots. Retcons of his 1940s adventures have reimagined the costume as a more sturdy militaristic outfit with pouches and hard protective headwear in place of a cowl and sensible combat boots in place of red buccaneer boots.

* The Klingons in the original ''Series/{{Star Trek|The Original Series}}'' series were basically swarthy HumanAliens, but advances in make-up technology allowed them to become one of the best (and most believable) examples of RubberForeheadAliens. This example is notable in that GeneRoddenberry always claimed that the "new" Klingons were how they would have looked back in the 1960s if it had been possible at the time - he considered the new Klingon look to be how the old ones ''always'' did but [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis there just wasn't the budget to show it]]. (The original Trek often didn't have the budget even when it had the means. Why'd the old-school Romulans wear helmets? Easier than making custom pointy ears for everyone - which is also why several Vulcans wore the same helmets in "Amok Time"!) In-universe, the difference didn't exist until attention was called to it in an episode where the ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' crew went to the past. Then ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' comes along, with pre-TOS Klingons looking like the "new" ones! Yes, we ''do'' at long last get an explanation. None for Romulans (see below) though.
** It's worth pointing out that Worf's make-up alone improved significantly after the first season or two.
*** Both the Worf and Data makeups not only got better looking as the series progressed, they also became substantially quicker. Everyone was happier with the later makeup call for the two characters.
** ''Trek'''s Borg also received an upgrade in ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact'', losing the chalk-white skin in favor of glistening, apparently decaying flesh. They were given more implants on their bodies, and their ships were redesigned.
*** They also got a major design change between their first and second appearances. The second features a much more modular design to how the prosthetics were done, allowing more drones to be made up than the individual custom jobs used in the first appearance. The chalk-white skin was largely to save on labor in makeup, and techniques using quick airbrushing allowed the hard bits (like deeply shadowed eyes) to be done fast by a small number of highly trained makeup people after more generally trained ones did the bulk of it, again so that more drones could be made up.

*** In the new movie series -- which ''isn't'' a {{Reboot}} ([[spoiler:It's an AlternateUniverse created by villains from the TrekVerse as we know it [[AlternateHistory mucking about with history]]. It's not out of continuity any more than the classic MirrorUniverse episodes.]]) -- ''all'' the Romulans we see are smooth-headed. The Klingons keep their forehead ridges, but are now ''bald,'' resulting in a very different feel.

** This possible justification is backed up by the fact that the Khajiit, who otherwise had the same development as the Argonians (with cats instead of lizards) actually ''did'' get a more-or-less official explanation involving physical differences between breeds (each individual's appearance is based on the phases of the [[AlienSky moons]] under which they are born).

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** {{Captain America}}'s original costume was what appeared to be the traditional spandex tights with buccaneer boots. Retcons of his 1940s adventures have reimagined the costume as a more sturdy militaristic outfit with pouches and hard protective headwear in place of a cowl and sensible combat boots in place of red buccaneer boots.

->''"What's up with these Klingons?\\

But now the look like heavy metal rockers from the dead\\
With leather boots and frizzy hair and lobsters on their heads"''

** Another ''Series/DoctorWho'' example: the Macra. Old series Macra look like [[http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q55/ashtonlamont/mo_ma01_Macra_400.jpg this]]. New series Macra look like [[http://www.sylvestermccoy.com/newdoctorwho/gridlock/macra.jpg this]].

* Practically every memorable demon in the ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' series was completely redesigned for ''Doom3''. Most of these redesigns made the demons appear much scarier and more formidable opponents for the player. The original imp, for example, was a large, brown creature with spikes on its shoulders that would slowly advance towards the player while hurling fireballs at them. The new imp is a slimmer grey creature with no spikes and ten eyes on its head that is capable of climbing walls and has incredible jumping ability that allows it to clear the distance across an entire room in a single leap and generally attacks with a much more aggressive style.

** The hurlocks have also changed, appearing a few shades lighter, smoother-skinned, and with blunter teeth in the sequel.