History Main / HumanOutsideAlienInside

[[folder:Web Original]]

* ''Website/SCPFoundation'': [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-1709 SCP-1709]] was once a normal human, but now has hardly any internal organs, which have instead been replaced with [[{{Squick}} fetuses]]. She coughs up one of them when she wants to talk.

* On ''WesternAnimation/Ben10'', Osmosians look externally like humans, but have the ability to absorb matter and energy, as well as minor degrees of super strength and durability, which increases when they do. Though to them, pure energy is a GRatedDrug that drives them insane if they absorb too much of it (though this is reversed if the energy is discharged). Also, Osmosians can live much longer than humans and those who live for hundreds of years grow horns. Of course to be fair, in ''[[WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse Omniverse]]'' we find out that [[spoiler:"Osmosians" look as human as they do because they ''are'' humans, just mutated a bit, and Aggregor, the only member of the "species" to have horns was artificially created.]]
* On ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'', despite the fact that Zim can pass as human with only a minimal disguise (though that's really more due to how stupid humans are) it's implied that Irkens have none of the same internal organs as human beings. They do, however, possess a master organ called a squeedlyspooch around where humans have stomachs [[note]]In a DVD commentary, series creator Jhonen Vasquez stated that it carries out all body functions[[/note]]. The episode "Dark Harvest" revolves around this: Zim, in an effort to perfect his human disguise, crams his body full of stolen organs, including six hearts and spleens in three different colors. Irkens (or perhaps just Zim) also have allergies to some very common items... like water (possibly just polluted water), meat, and barbecue sauce.
* Most aliens in ''WesternAnimation/MenInBlack'' are StarfishAliens, but Jeeb's unnamed species is identical to humans in every aspect other than their ability to regenerate any wound including the destruction of the head, so long as they have oxygen.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': "The Intruder" reveals that aside from having pointed ears, witches also differ from humans by having a "bile sac" attached to their heart that lets them channel magical power. "Separate Tides" also reveals that a lot of their food is undigestable for humans.

* Inverted in the 2003 ''[[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' series, Baxter Stockman and Oroku Saki [[spoiler:a.k.a. The Shredder]] see a thermal camera image of the Turtles, which looks roughly like a human being's heat signature - only humanoid-turtle shaped. They also sweat. This implies that they have a human-like metabolism. They seem to be Turtle Outside, Human Inside. They also have a full set of teeth, and eat human foods. If you have a turtle, don't give it pizza or Chinese food unless it too is a humanoid mutant -- it's not good for them.

* In an early episode of ''Series/RedDwarf'' (which, in fact, is entirely devoid of actual aliens):
-->'''Rimmer''': Lister, just because they're aliens, doesn't mean they don't have to go to the little boy's room. Of course, they probably do something weird and alien-esque, like it comes out the top of their head, or something.\\
'''Lister''': Well, I wouldn't wanna sit behind one in a cinema!
** Despite the Cat appearing to be mostly humanoid aside from his obvious feline teeth, he is said to have six nipples, colour-coded organs, and his heartbeat performs its own rumba, making it "much cooler" than a human's.
** Also inverted in the episode "DNA". They encounter a three-headed, very alien-looking corpse, but said corpse has a wallet containing credit cards and [[{{Zeerust}} a video club membership card]]. The corpse is a human who over-used a machine that messes with the subject's DNA while - somehow - leaving the mind and personality intact. So Alien Outside, Human Inside.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E90TheFugitive The Fugitive]]", Ben belongs to a race of shapeshifters but their [[ShapeShifterDefaultForm default form]] is entirely human.

** The [[StarfishAliens cephalopodic]] Thermians use holographic projectors to {{Cosplay}} as human. When one of the humans, Fred, [[InterspeciesRomance falls in love with a Thermian]] she deactivates her holoprojector, and they proceed to do ''something'' that makes PluckyComicRelief dude Guy exclaim, "Oh, ''[[SickAndWrong that's not right!]]''"
** Played with in the Thermians' sincere but stomach-churning attempts to accommodate the perceived needs of "fellow extraterrestrial" Dr. Lazarus, who is actually a [[RubberForeheadAlien human actor]]. A deleted scene on the DVD has a Thermian showing "Dr. Lazarus" to his quarters, where there is a large bathroom equipped with bizarre fixtures. "You're very... complicated," the Thermian explains.
* ''Film/{{Star Trek VI|The Undiscovered Country}}'', after a "welcome fight" that Kirk has with another Rura Penthe prisoner:

'''Martia:''' That was ''not'' his knee. ''[Kirk does a DoubleTake]'' Not ''everyone'' keeps their genitals in the same place, Captain.\\

* In ''Film/MyFavoriteMartian'' it is made clear that the Martian gum only changes the '''outward appearance''' of whoever is chewing it, leaving any major organs or other special biological properties (such as Martin's three stomachs and the "Martian Depression") intact.
* The aliens in the comedy ''Film/WhatPlanetAreYouFrom?'' are just like humans, with only two differences: 1) everyone in their society is male; 2) their bodies can produce shafts of light.
* ''Film/MenInBlack''
** A literal example of human outside and alien inside are the Arquillians; diminute aliens inside human body suits.
** Kay shows Jay that aliens do exists by blowing up a Pawn Shop Owner's head. The alien looks exactly as a human but his head regenerates. (In the animated series this is expanded as the ability to regenerate the entire body).
* Played with in Franchise/{{Tron}}. Programs and [[Film/TronLegacy Isos]] resemble humans. Even more specifically for Programs is that they sometimes are a doppelganger for the human who coded them. But when they are wounded, it looks like hunks carved out of their bodies, scars resemble dead pixels on a monitor, and serious or lethal wounds cause them to shatter like safety glass instead of bleed. They feed by drinking energy, and it's implied that their [[TronLines circuitry]] is very sensitive.

* Inversion: In ''March Upcountry'' by Creator/DavidWeber and Creator/JohnRingo, aliens poison the food of a squad of human soldiers and try to blackmail them with the antidote. Not only is the poison tasteless to the aliens but strongly flavoured to the soldiers, it also turns out to not affect humans. In a further inversion, the human's doctor discovers another poison (an obvious expy of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugu fugu venom]]) can be used to produce the several nutrients the humans need for their own health but they hadn't been able to find up to that point in the planet's flora and fauna; and just in time, as their reserve of supplement pills were running out.
** Their gender also causes confusion. The 'males' are smaller and act as MisterSeahorse carrying the young to term. The 'females' are larger and have a [[GagPenis very pronounced ovapositor]]. Consequently the gender responsibilities in the society are switched relative to human society. When they figure this out the humans get very confused before eventually deciding to keep calling the females males and males female to avoid confusion.
* Another inversion occurs in Creator/JosephaSherman's novel ''Literature/AStrangeAndAncientName'', where iron is deadly to elves and the tiniest scratch means certain doom. When the half-human prince gets stabbed by an iron weapon, the kingdom goes into mourning, waiting out his long and painful death. Until the (human) love interest points out in a rage that maybe his despised heritage makes him less susceptible to the effect, and the healers decide to actually ''try'' to help him.
* The ''Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse'' often describes the unusual biology of aliens. In the films, the details of a species are rarely gone into in any depth.
** A bit of bizarre alien psychology: Thakwaash, a horseheaded species of humanoids, easily and healthily form multiple personalities, to the point where they are "We" and not "I." Runt from the ''Literature/XWingSeries'' washed out into Wraith Squadron because his incoherent, borderline suicidal "pilot mind" wouldn't obey orders and in simulators tended to get killed.
** Twi'leks, those very humanlike aliens with odd-colored pigmentation and a pair of braintails instead of hair. The braintails are mobile enough that they are used in a low-grade StarfishLanguage (in practice, they use them in conjunction with spoken language, adding nuances that humans and other species that lack such appendages are incapable of replicating) and in some adaptations seem to be prehensile, and they actually do have some brain tissue in them. Aayla Secura, after going completely amnesiac thanks to a Dark Jedi, has her memory restored later when someone does something to her braintails. Twi'leks can survive losing part or all of a braintail, but this is really painful and depending on how much is lost, is like a lobotomy.
** ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear: Eaten Alive'' has Enzeen, blue-skinned humanoids with spikes for hair, which seem like perfectly respectable RubberForeheadAliens... [[spoiler: but are actually symbiote/parasites there to attract offworld visitors who are then [[QuicksandSucks eaten by the planet]]. The Enzeen feed by thrusting their hollow tongues into the soil where people have died and sucking nutrients up.]] It's speculated that they didn't evolve like that but were designed for this purpose.
* The aliens from Neal Stephenson's ''Literature/{{Anathem}}'' cannot metabolize food from the planet in which the story is set, and can only marginally breathe the air. [[spoiler:And this isn't primarily because they respirate something besides oxygen, or because the foods they eat aren't composed principally of sugar, protein and fat, but rather because they're from a different universe where the atoms are shaped slightly differently.]]
* The ''Literature/{{Xenogenesis}}'' series goes at length to describe just how inhuman the Oankali are to humans. For starters, they see, smell, and hear through hair-like tendrils all over their body. One that's met early on was bred specifically to look human...meaning that those tendrils are in the spots normally occupied by the eyes, ears and nose. And let's not even get started on how they [[HalfHumanHybrid mate]].
** They're also three-gendered...and the third gender has a second, boneless pair of arms...[[BizarreSexualDimorphism and that's just the most externally obvious and least bizarre trait]].
* In Zenna Henderson's sadly-underrated short story ''Subcommittee'', Earth is invaded by fuzzy, [[AmazingTechnicolorPopulation brightly-hued]] HumanoidAliens. After a huge war in space, representatives from each side begin peace talks. The humans are appalled when the aliens appear to be asking for all of Earth's oceans. Naturally, [[spoiler: it's the wives of two of the chief negotiators, plus their adorable sons, who discover the truth that leads to peace. It turns out that the aliens have become infertile due to lack of a vital nutrient...which is revealed to be ''salt''.]]
* The classic Creator/LSpragueDeCamp short story ''Nothing in the Rules'' has a mermaid who gets drunk on ''fresh water'', which would be fine if the protagonists hadn't just entered her into a ''swimming meet'' (hence the title)
* S.L. Viehl's ''Literature/{{Stardoc}}'' series thrives on this. Just to give a relatively tame example: Jorenians (large, [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe attractive, blue-skinned humanoids]] who can actually [[HalfHumanHybrid interbreed with humans]]) have [[AlienBlood green blood]], twelve-chambered hearts, retractable claws, compartmentalized stomachs, and an unusually large and complex spleen (which is a vital organ to the species).
* A large part of ''Extraterrestrial Sex Fetish'' by Supervert.

-->'''Me:''' May I touch that?
-->'''Alien:''' That is not an erogenous zone. It is a separate corporeal being that has been attached to my body for six hundred years.
-->'''Me:''' It's cute. I wonder if it would let me have sex with it.
-->'''Alien:''' That's exactly what I said six hundred years ago.
* In Creator/SergeyLukyanenko's ''LordFromPlanetEarth'' trilogy, the entire galaxy is populated by HumanAliens, many of which look nearly indistinguishable from humans. In fact, the main character (a human) meets and later marries a woman from planet Tar, who easily passes for an Earthling. Other races have slight differences in external features, but may have radical differences internally. For example, Palians look like pale humans with elongated canines and yellowy eyes. They also exclusively consume blood and are sensitive to certain radiation emitted by yellow dwarf stars. Their visits to Earth resulted in the [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampire]] myths. Another race has blue skin and is a lot less sensitive to extreme temperatures. The author explains it all with {{Panspermia}}, as all races in the galaxy but one are a product of seeding their homeworlds by the aptly-named [[{{Precursors}} Seeders]]. The various internal differences are simply the result of the same [=DNA=] evolving differently due to the various environments present on each planet. In fact, this forms the main plotline of the trilogy.
* A fairly subtle example: In the ''Literature/ConfederationOfValor'' series, [[OurElvesAreDifferent Taykans]] become mature physically, sexually, and (to a limited extent, at least) socially long before they become fertile.
* In ''Literature/TheAlienSeries'', Alpha Centaurion may look human, but their internal organs are radically different. For one thing, they have two hearts.
* Most of the Marra encountered in ''Literature/TheMadnessSeason'' like to disguise themselves as human. Though this is mostly because the hero tends to visit human colonies rather than those of other intelligent species. They may superficially seem human but an FMRI shows some major differences.
* ''Literature/StarTrekNovelVerse''
** The ''Literature/StarfleetCorpsOfEngineers'' stories do this while fleshing out the Ardanans, who were established in ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' as looking just like humans (as did many of the series' aliens). The SCE stories describe the Ardanan brain and demonstrate that its structure and chemistry is very different from that of humans; this becomes a plot point.
** ''Literature/ASingularDestiny'' mentions that Zaldans (who look human other than their webbed hands) have a different internal layout.
** A multiple-personalitied alien race are described by Diane Duane in ''Literature/SpocksWorld''; they have "octocameral" brains, so they have eight personalities each.
* It's not really gone into much, but this is the case for Red Martians (and presumably the other three humanoid Martian races) in ''Literature/JohnCarterOfMars'' - though they [[HumanAliens look superficially human]], they reproduce by laying eggs, live for hundreds (potentially ''thousands'') of years, can survive extended periods without food or water (handy for living on what's largely a desert planet) and, in TheFilmOfTheBook, have [[AlienBlood bright blue blood]]. Oddly, this somehow does not prevent John Carter and Red Martian princess Dejah Thoris from having [[HalfHumanHybrid two kids]].
* The Pack and Ontongard (as well as the titular character) from the Literature/UkiahOregon series look human to all casual inspections, but the fact that their spilled blood/removed flesh turns into animals and runs away kind of gives the game away to any kind of medical inspection.
* ''{{Literature/Everworld}}'': The heroes get to see a satyr chopped in half. Nothing drops out, and his body is basically described as containing vague shapes instead of actual guts. The satyr himself doesn't seem too offput by the experience, he's last heard complaining that all the wine is just falling out of him, while the lower half follows the heroes and is eventually bartered for entry into the fairy's stronghold.
* In ''City of a Thousand Suns'' by Creator/SamuelRDelany, an alien is described as looking exactly like a human woman, but "[i]nternal examination and genetic analysis would prove her a bisexual species of moss."
* In one ''Literature/{{Goosebumps}}'' book, the main character's dad is replaced by a PlantPerson who looks exactly like him on the outside (even more so once the original grows leaves in place of hair), but bleeds green blood. When he's killed at the end, he doesn't have any recognizable human organs inside.

* ''Literature/TheMachineriesOfEmpire'': The clone of [[spoiler:Shuos Jedao]] turns out to be [[spoiler:a [[LivingShip voidmoth]]]] [[ArtificialHuman grown into human form]] -- human enough on the outside to [[TomatoInTheMirror fool even himself]], but a mass of [[HealingFactor infinitely-regenerating]] tentacles underneath. When a grenade blast strips the skin away, he's a writhing humanoid outline of solid shadow.

* The classic L. Sprague [=DeCamp=] short story ''Nothing in the Rules'' has a mermaid who gets drunk on ''fresh water'', which would be fine if the protagonists hadn't just entered her into a ''swimming meet'' (hence the title)

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' has many species that qualify for this trope, looking generally human while explicitly not actually human. Author Howard Tayler loves to [[ShownTheirWork describe the details]] in {{footnote|Fever}}s for the strip.
** One of the more obvious examples among the regular cast is Lt. Ebbirnoth, who has one large eyeball where one would find a head on a human. This becomes a plot point during the first Credomar story, where a human sniper targets this eyeball thinking that doing so would actually damage the brain, which for Ebby's race, called Uniocs, is actually located in their pelvis.

* In ''Webcomic/{{Drowtales}}'' the Fae (drow, light elves, drowussu etc) are more biologically different than their humanoid appearance would suggest. They key to this is mana; the energy they generate, absorb and manipulate. It is the source behind their comparative resistance to, and lack of, diseases (they are not completely immune though). It is also what keeps them young and in a healthy condition, provided there are enough of them to generate a surplus of mana. Young drow age about half the rate of humans physically, but only lag behind 2 years mentally (a drow who is 30 would look 15 physically but be about 28 mentally). If they live with enough other fae they will stop aging at about 60 (the equivalent of a 30-year old human). They still need to eat and drink, but less so than a human of comparative size would and their bodies does not store fat they way a human body does. Their nature means that they also can "starve" even when they have plenty of food and drink - if they are alone. If that happens they will start to suffer from mana deprivation and starts to age much like a human would. They also get high on chocolate and the like.
* Happens a few times with Aylee in ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'', though it's usually overshadowed by her more overtly alien features. When she first arrives on Earth, she has a hard time remembering that humans need to [[http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=980223 sleep and breathe occasionally]]. During one of her transformations she also develops an [[http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=000609 entirely potato based diet]].

* ''Webcomic/{{Selkie}}'' has some odd dietary requirements and needs to wash her gills out regularly. She's also apparently ectothermic, despite [[WordOfGod the author]] stating that adult females of her species have mammary glands. The fans have gotten up in arms trying to figure her out.
** Technically, there is nothing stopping an ectothermic animal from also having mammary glands. It's just that in real life, that is a trait exclusive to mammals, which are all endothermic (Altough there are species of fish that secrete slimy "milk" on their skin to serve as food for their offspring).

--> '''Jean''': "Do you even know what a mammal ''is?''

-->'''Edwin:''' [after getting stabbed] It's...It's '''ok...'''\\
'''Edwin:''' Vampire biology...different from human. Heart and lungs...actually in head.\\

** The superheroine Tennyo. Something like ''anti-matter'' is in some of her cells, and she's fine with that. Her DNA is utterly non-human and isn't even in a helix. Her regenerative powers are so high that her bodily fluids are bio-hazards.

** [[spoiler:Adira Tal]] is ''literally'' human on the outside and alien on the outside: [[spoiler:they're a regular human from Earth, but they're hosting a Trill symbiont, implanted in an emergency so it could survive.]]

* ComicBook/{{Superman}} has many {{hand wave}}s for his many powers, but the main thing to consider is his Kryptonian ability to [[EyeBeams emit microwave radiation]] and [[{{Flight}} levitate]], all from exposure to [[ThePowerOfTheSun higher-energy solar radiation]].

** The trolls look like [[RubberForeheadAliens humans with gray skin and horns]], but references are made them having insect-like physiology, and young trolls look like grubs. Individuals can have blood of almost any color of the rainbow (in fact, blood color is the basis of their caste system). We're not given much detail about their reproduction, but the act involves filling pails with genetic material--and individual trolls are required to fill pails with two different partners: a pairing based on mutual love ''and'' a pairing based on mutual hate. [[CatchPhrase Troll biology sure is weird!]]

* Celty in ''{{LightNovel/Durarara}}'' has most of the same organs as a human, but they're vestigial and nonfunctional (to the bewilderment of a character who vivisects her).

* [[TheHero Rimuru Tempest]] of ''LightNovel/ThatTimeIGotReincarnatedAsASlime'' has the ability to transform into anyone he's absorbed via "Mimicry" and his ShapeshifterDefaultForm is a human form, but he's still a [[CuteSlimeMook slime]] at the end. On the rare occasions he's taken direct physical damage, his skin was torn to reveal the blue slime underneath. It's implied he ''could'' take the mimicry even further to transform even his internals to that of his target, but there's just no practical reason to do so.

** Defied when Matsuri is cloned and Reo tries to identify which is the original with a medical exam, but she's surprised to find both are human on the inside as well. Kanade points out that, while Suzu's [[SelfDuplication omokage]] is MadeOfBologna, they can be made anatomically accurate even on the inside--though further tests suggests neither is an omokage either.

-->-- ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', "The Disease"

** Defied when Matsuri is cloned and Reo tries to identify which is the original with a medical exam, but she's surprised to find both are human on the inside as well. Kanade points out that, while Suzu's [[SelfDuplication omokage]] is MadeOfBologna, they can be made anatomically accurate even on the inside--though it turns out the Matsuri clone isn't an omokage either.

** Defied when Matsuri is cloned and Reo tries to identify which is the original with a medical exam, but she's surprised to find both are human on the inside as well. Kanade points out that, while Suzu's [[SelfDuplication omokage]] is MadeOfBologna, they can be made anatomically accurate even on the inside.

* ''Manga/AyakashiTriangle'': While working their way up the BishonenLine, jinyo go from [[HumanoidAbomination pitch-black humanoids]] to completely human-looking, but the latter form appears to be only skin-deep. Whenever injured, their human-like flesh cracks like stone to show the same blackness beneath.

* There is only one known alien race in ''Series/TimeTrax'', and they are shown and mentioned in only one episode. The Procardians appear to be your usual HumanAliens without any extenal differences, but have a number of biological oddities about them. They can glow and levitate like the aliens in ''Film/{{Cocoon}}''. Their voices sound ''very'' odd to the point where their vocal cords are incapable of producing human speech (and vice versa), although one attempts to say "Thank you" at one point and it sounds a little like UsefulNotes/HekenKeller. They age in stages, meaning they can look exactly the same for several years before metamorphosing into an older equivalent. Since the change is so sudden, it can be difficult to recognize the same Procardian after one such change. Another bizarre feature is their equivalent to our fight-or-flight response to threat. They raise their arms in a combat-like stance, which fires an energy bolt at the threat. The effect of the bolt (on human, at least) is a coma-like state, which can be "cured" with shock therapy. This reaction is instinctive, as they have no adrenalin. Oh yeah, they also don't wear clothes.

* There is only one known alien race in ''Series/TimeTrax'', and they are shown and mentioned in only one episode. The Procardians appear to be your usual HumanAliens without any extenal differences, but have a number of biological oddities about them. They can glow and levitate like the aliens in ''Film/{{Cocoon}}''. Their voices sound ''very'' odd to the point where their vocal cords are incapable of producing human speech (and vice versa), although one attempts to say "Thank you" at one point and it sounds a little HelenKeller. They age in stages, meaning they can look exactly the same for several years before metamorphosing into an older equivalent. Since the change is so sudden, it can be difficult to recognize the same Procardian after one such change. Another bizarre feature is their equivalent to our fight-or-flight response to threat. They raise their arms in a combat-like stance, which fires an energy bolt at the threat. The effect of the bolt (on human, at least) is a coma-like state, which can be "cured" with shock therapy. This reaction is instinctive, as they have no adrenalin. Oh yeah, they also don't wear clothes.

*** In an earlier episode, the Doctor mutters about his different biochemistry to avoid being injected with an antibiotic cocktail by [[HotScientist Liz Shaw]], who promptly overrules him. He doesn't suffer any apparent ill effects.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-1709 SCP-1709]] was once a normal human, but now has hardly any internal organs, which have instead been replaced with [[{{Squick}} fetuses]]. She coughs up one of them when she wants to talk.

This not only applies to physical organs, but biochemistry as well. [[AlienBlood Funny colors of blood]], [[WeaksauceWeakness odd]] [[EasilyThwartedAlienInvasion allergies]], complicated [[BizarreAlienReproduction mating rituals]] ([[ExoticEquipment or mating organs]]), BizarreSexualDimorphism, [[AlienLunch funky dietary requirements]] (or [[AlienCatnip intoxicants]]) or [[SolidGoldPoop interesting bowel movements]] are all common. Sometimes even their minds are [[HiveMind totally]] [[MindHive different]], making communication with them [[StarfishLanguage problematic]].

* ''Series/MyHero'' did a fair number of jokes revolving around the quirks of Ultronian anatomy, ranging from "unpleasant reactions to everyday chemicals" to "blue urine" to "unpredictable bouts of coma".

-->-- ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' ("The Disease")

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Film]]

** Played with in the Thermians' sincere but stomach-churning attempts to accomadate the preceived needs of "fellow extraterrestrial" Dr. Lazarus, who is actually a [[RubberForeheadAlien human actor]]. A deleted scene on the DVD has a Thermian showing "Dr. Lazarus" to his quarters, where there is a large bathroom equipped with bizarre fixtures. "You're very... complicated," the Thermian explains.

-->'''Kirk''': I was lucky that thing had knees!
-->'''Martia''': That was ''not'' his knee. ''(Kirk does a DoubleTake)'' Not ''everyone'' keeps their genitals in the same place, Captain.
-->'''Kirk''': Anything '''you''' wanna tell me?
-->'''Martia''': ''(smirks and puffs on a cigar)''

[[folder:Myth]]

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'':

* ''{{Franchise/Extrapower}}'': Some of the alien characters look indistinguishable from humans, apart from maybe the [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe green skin]] of the Shakun people. Typically the biological differences never come up, but it becomes a dramatic point in ''[[VideoGame/ExtrapowerAttackOfDarkforce Attack of Darkforce]]'' when Daitoku Igor needs to have a mind control device surgically removed from his head. With the medical staff that the SPICA mercenary group has on hand, it'd be easy enough if he were human. But as a human-looking alien, they don't know enough about his biology to be able to safely begin operating.

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* On ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}'', Osmosians look externally like humans, but have the ability to absorb matter and energy, as well as minor degrees of super strength and durability, which increases when they do. Though to them, pure energy is a GRatedDrug that drives them insane if they absorb too much of it (though this is reversed if the energy is discharged). Also, Osmosians can live much longer than humans and those who live for hundreds of years grow horns. Of course to be fair, in ''[[WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse Omniverse]]'' we find out that [[spoiler:"Osmosians" look as human as they do because they ''are'' humans, just mutated a bit, and Aggregor, the only member of the "species" to have horns was artificially created.]]

** In the first chapter of Dracula storyline (Anime episode: "What A Dracula"), it reveal that the Oni can't stand the smell of garlic and are repulsed by those who've eaten it. Ataru explicitly compares Lum to Dracula after proving that, yes, his garlic-scented breath does act like tear gas on her, going so far as to jokingly try and ward her off with a cross after pointing out she hates garlic, has fangs, and bites his neck/sucks his blood.