History Main / MonsterModesty

'''Patrick:''' What are you talking about? He walks around, he wears pants.\\

* For Dr. Manhattan of ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'', the level of clothing he wears at a given point of time indicates his growing detachment from humanity. At first, he continues to appear fully dressed after his transformation. But as time goes on, he pares down the uniform more and more until it's barely there at all (just speedos, then literally nothing). (His last TV appearance creates a capsule version of this, going from a rather smart suit on the set to pretty much nothing after his abrupt departure cuts his last ties to Earth.)

** [[ZigZaggedTrope Zig-Zagged: some aliens like [[MagmaMan Heatblast]] and [[PlantAliens Wildvine]] wore nothing more than the Omnitrix symbol, while others like [[MultiArmedAndDangerous Four Arms]] and [[TheGreys Grey Matter]] wore a suit patterned like Ben's shirt. Some even had ''natural markings'' like Ben's shirt, such as [[PinballProjectile Cannonbolt]].

* Certain ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' (Machoke is a good example) have clothing, even when found in the wild. Arceus only knows where they get it.

* Another DCUniverse example, TheSpectre, who is a ghost in a green cloak and matching shorts. In ''ComicBook/KingdomCome'', he was hinted to only be wearing the cloak, as several of his poses had him holding the cloak as if covering up his lower body.

** Strangely, Bender suddenly seems to feel the need to cover up in any situation where a human would, such as getting out of a bathtub, or sitting in a steam room. On at least one of these occasions, his towel has fallen... exposing nothing, lampshading just how ridiculous it is for him to be using one in the first place.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Averted with real world monstrous animals (bears, rhinos, sharks, etc.). While they're not wearing shorts, most predators do not have noticeable genitalia, so there's no real need for modesty. It's either retracted, covered in fur, or small enough to be ignored. People forget that humans have a dis-proportionally large penis as compared to other predators. So when artists and authors started making humanoid monsters, old timey morality standards required them to draw them covered up.
[[/folder]]

* Completely averted with The Thing in ''Film/FantasticFour2015''. Unlike his comic book counterpart, he wears nothing and has [[NonhumansLackAttributes nothing to hide]].

* Completely averted with The Thing in ''Film/FantasticFour2015''. Unlike his comic book counterpart, he wears nothing and has [[BarbieDollAnatomy nothing to hide]].

* ''{ComicBook/{Wildguard}}'' featured the massive rock-man Crag Langley among the contestants vying for a spot on the titular team. Crag doesn't wear a shirt because the large. craggy protrusions on his back would make doing so look really stupid. He ''does'', however, wear pants and boots.

->'''Sean:''' Look, Wolfman doesn't go to work, he's not like a "guy."
->'''Patrick:''' What are you talking about? He walks around, he wears pants.
->'''Sean:''' He had to wear pants. See, those movies were made in the 40's! He had to wear 'em so you wouldn't see his... wolf-[[GetTheeToANunnery dork.]]
->'''Patrick:''' Wolf dork?

[[folder:Anime]]
* Despite being an [[AnimatedArmor animated suit of armor]], [[Manga/FullmetalAlchemist Alphonse Elric]] wears a loincloth to cover where his private parts would be were he human. (Though later he puts that spot to good use as a hiding place.)

[[folder:Comicbooks]]
* The Thing from the ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' is a prime example. He was turned into a monster and was traditionally disgusted with his appearance. Despite this, he often just wears blue underpants.
** There was a time (circa issues 290-300) when the Thing wore a full FF body suit and a helmet to hide his shame.
*** The helmet was to help him heal after a set-to with Wolverine, who took a swipe at Thing's face during a fight over who would take Johnny Storm into custody.
** More recently he's been wearing pants, but still no shirt.
** In the a recent reboot of the team, after the Human Torch was believed dead, as the Future Foundation he's taken to [[http://www.petpeoplesplace.com/petstore/pet-image-large/ff-fantastic-four-variant-1-djurdjevis-gatefold-cover_140537862800.jpg actually wearing a full uniform.]]
** At various points he's also been seen in a tank top, especially during his stint as a wrestler. The amount of clothing he's wearing at any given time probably has to do with the artist's deadlines as much as anything else.

* In ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'', ComicBook/{{Cyborg}} doesn't wear anything. He used to wear a jump suit hoodie with the hood up but Beast Boy convinced him he looks better [[HoYay wearing nothing]].
** In Cyborg's case, though, half his body is robotic and [[BlessedWithSuck he has nothing left to show]].
* The Beast from ''ComicBook/{{X-Men}}'' is another fine example. He started off looking reasonably normal. During this time, he was covered up almost completely. Once he turned into a furry monster, he stripped down to underwear. This is especially odd since the character is a very educated, polite individual who would normally be the type to dress in a dignified manner.
** Hank explained at least once, though it may not have been fully serious (or even canonical), that he dresses the way he does because all that fur got downright HOT when all covered up. When he DOES get fully dressed, he's about as dapper as a bulky, stocky man with bright blue fur all over his body can be.
** Another interesting case from the ''Franchise/{{X-Men}}'' is Colossus. He is normal looking but can turn himself into a metal humanoid. Usually, he wears very little, showing off his metallic form. In his earlier appearances, MarvelComics editors felt it was unacceptable to have a half-naked man but it was fine if he was made of metal at the time. Because of this, Colossus was shown in full-glory while in his metal form but when it came time to change back into a human, the bare parts of his costume were colored blue. This mandate didn't last long, though.
* The [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk Hulk]] often just sports a pair of pants. When Hulk gets a bump in intelligence he often starts wearing clothes. For example, when grey Hulk was thought to be dead and was free from transforming back into Bruce he lived a more normal life and developed a taste for tailored suits.
** SheHulk likewise wears very revealing clothes with a combination of this trope and FanService.
* During MarvelComics' monster-era, many of the monsters would wear a pair of underpants. They ranged from giant space dragons such as ''Fin Fang Foom'' to radioactive creations. The non-sentient monsters didn't make much sense, considering they shouldn't know enough to have any modesty while the intelligent monsters should be a bit more selective in what they wear. Case in point, the aforementioned Fin Fang Foom, a giant alien dragon that is from such an advanced race that... they are apparently okay with walking around in underwear.
** Fin Fang Foom occasionally appears without the shorts, and [[http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/Foom%205.JPG may not even need them]].
** There is also the question as to how they found [[FridgeLogic giant pairs of underwear.]]
* ComicBook/{{Hellboy}} wears little more than a [[NoShirtLongJacket long coat]] and brown shorts with a UtilityBelt.
** The animated and [[Film/{{Hellboy}} live action]] versions of him gave him long pants, boots (the comic version had hooves), and sometimes even a shirt.
** Spoofed in ComicBook/{{BPRD}}: When he was introduced, Ben Daimio insisted on having [[OurHomunculiAreDifferent Roger]] wearing pants. But after actually seeing (a very proud) Roger wearing them, Ben told him to take the pants off again because he looked ridiculous.
* The Absorbing Man from ''{{Thor}}'' can morph his body into anything he touches (if he touches steel, then his body turns to steel). For whatever reason, he often goes shirtless.
** [[WildMassGuessing Maybe]] so he doesn't [[PowerIncontinence accidentally turn into cloth?]]
* Pip the Troll from MarvelComics' '''Infinity Watch''' usually just wore a loincloth: attire usually suited for savages.
** In fact, many characters on that team had pretty {{Stripperiffic}} costumes. They were all aliens, genetic creations, or otherwise metahuman. The guy in the background of [[http://i.annihil.us/u/prod/marvel//universe3zx/images/thumb/f/fb/IWatch.jpg/406px-IWatch.jpg this]] picture wore a cape but also ran around in underwear at different points in his career.

* Marrina from ''ComicBook/AlphaFlight'' and Namorita from ''NewWarriors'' are both FishPeople who wear {{Stripperific}} bikinis.
* Mephisto, also from MarvelComics, is an odd EldritchAbomination example of this trope. He's the MU's version of Satan but he often wears a loincloth and cape with nothing else.
* MartianManhunter wears a cape, underwear, and a weird x-shape vest that barely covers his chest. Not only is he highly intelligent, he is also a ShapeShifter so he could very easily form a nice suit if he wanted to.
** [[FridgeBrilliance On the other hand]], maybe the shape-shifting just makes the Martians indifferent to anything related to physical appearance, clothes/nudity included?
*** Or he wears the uniform of a Manhunter (police officer) as seen in the 1998 MartianManhunter series

* Another DCUniverse example, TheSpectre, who is a ghost in a green cloak and matching shorts.
** In ''ComicBook/KingdomCome'', he was hinted to only be wearing the cloak, as several of his poses had him holding the cloak as if covering up his lower body.
* The [[FishPeople Croccos]] from ''ComicStrip/ThePhantom'' wear loincloths (and are either a SingleGenderSpecies or an aversion of NonMammalMammaries). Since they live in the ocean, one wonders where do they get the cloth.

* ''{{Wildguard}}'' featured the massive rock-man Crag Langley among the contestants vying for a spot on the titular team. Crag doesn't wear a shirt because the large. craggy protrusions on his back would make doing so look really stupid. He ''does'', however, wear pants and boots.
* Inverted in ''ComicBook/AtomicRobo:'' the titular RidiculouslyHumanRobot always wears full pants and usually wears a shirt and sometimes a hat because it helps him fit in better (or as he puts it "I wear pants because it's the law").
* Tigra is a CatGirl who usually walks around in just a bikini. Like in the Beast example above, it's been explained that having fur all over your body makes any other style of clothing both impractical and overbearingly hot - and since she's now operating out of Los Angeles, it'd just make things worse.

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
* The Beast in ''Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast'' wears only pants and a cape. As the story progresses he wears more clothes and WordOfGod said that if Belle had never showed up eventually he would have stopped wearing clothes entirely.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' [[AllTrollsAreDifferent trolls]] (except [[CowboyCop Detritus]], who wears a Watch uniform, and [[TheDon Chrysophrase]], who wears a suit) mostly just wear a loincloth "to conceal whatever it was that trolls found it necessary to conceal."
** Golems usually avert this (some have been painted to resemble clothes, but in any case [[NonhumansLackAttributes they lack attributes]]), but ''Discworld/GoingPostal'' has Gladys the Post Office golem, who wears a dress ( and is called Gladys) because Miss Maccalariat objected to a "male" golem cleaning the ladies' restrooms.
* [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] in ''Literature/TheBartimaeusTrilogy''. Bartimaeus appears to Kitty in a monstrous, demonic form in order to intimidate her... and Kitty tells him to put some pants on. Bartimaeus is baffled by this, as he's never bothered with clothes in that form and didn't think they would go with it very well. Kitty recommends Lederhosen.
** Then again, when he's in human form he apparently just wears a loincloth if he can get away with it, so maybe spirits just have different standards in general.

[[folder:Videogames]]

* Goro and Kintaro from ''MortalKombat'' both wear black briefs, though there have been more substantial variations on their costumes over the years.
** This was blue for Goro and red for Kintaro, at least in the comics and novelizations, but obviously black in the video games. After adding a loincloth to Kintaro's design (he's still wearing the black briefs beneath it) in ''VideoGame/MortalKombatArmageddon'', they seem to have followed this pattern with Goro in MK 9, adding a loincloth and various accessories (wristbands, etc) to Goro's outfit.
** Not to mention Sheeva, who's a female Shokan, who wears a {{Stripperific}} outfit. This is the source of more attention from fans than a four-armed muscular brawler would suggest.
* The later ''VideoGame/{{Geneforge}}'' games lampshade this--thahds don't care whether or not they're clothed, and the Shapers that made them are too familiar with thahd anatomy to be concerned about the subject, but thahds that are around outsiders must wear loincloths to avoid "offending delicate sensibilities."
* Blanka from the ''StreetFighter'' series wears torn brown trousers, showing off his bulky, green, orange-haired physique.
* The [[PigMan Seeq]] from the ''IvaliceAlliance'' often wear just loincloths instead of pants and when they wear shirts they cover very little. Somewhat odd when compared to other races such as the Moogle, Bangaa, Garif, and Nu Mou who are fully or mostly clothed. It is justified for the Seeq since they are basically a race of obese pig men, thus most clothing would not fit them.

* ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' has the Capra Demon, an [[ThatOneBoss infamously savage]] creature resembling a twelve-foot-tall human with a goat skull for a face. It inexplicably wears a tattered pair of pants. This is made even more odd by its similarly-built cousin, the Taurus Demon, being an example of NonhumansLackAttributes (as befits the story given by the game of where all the world's demons came from).

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* Combined with DefeatByModesty in ''{{Exiern}}'' when the protagonist inflicts ClothingDamage on a woman who is [[WasOnceAMan transforming into a dragon]] it triggers her human social conditioning and she flees after using her [[HandOrObjectUnderwear hands]] to protect her [[NonMammalMammaries soon-to-be-irrelevant modesty.]]
* In ''{{Goblins}}'', some of the characters, particularly the monsters released from the dungeon in Brassmoon City fit this trope

* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' are certainly intelligent, but apparently don't feel the need to wear anything more than loincloths.
** It's specifically mentioned that Gargoyles don't share all their values with humans, and heavily implied that they cover up as much as they do so as not to creep their human friends out. At least, the ones from 10th century Scotland are like that, gargoyle tribes from other areas (and times) have varying levels of dress.
*** Interestingly, the main cast's elderly member is significantly more dressed than the others. Out of universe, a potbellied, beige-skinned old man would look stranger in a loincloth than the others. In-universe, he could use an extra layer of leather for protection since he's not as agile as he used to be.
**** That, and who wants to see a fat old guy gliding around dressed like that?
* [[ZigZaggedTrope Zig Zagged]] in ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}'', where some aliens like [[MagmaMan Heatblast]] and [[PlantAliens Wildvine]] wore nothing more than the Omnitrix symbol, while others like [[MultiArmedAndDangerous Four Arms]] and [[TheGreys Grey Matter]] wore a suit patterned like Ben's shirt. Some even had ''natural markings'' like Ben's shirt, such as [[PinballProjectile Cannonbolt]].

*** And ''then'' in ''WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse'', it's Zig Zagged yet again with aliens such as [[GemstoneAssault Diamondhead]] and Four Arms sporting uniforms based on 16-year-old Ben's shirt, and other less humanoid aliens such as [[EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs Humongousaur]] and [[BigfootSasquatchAndYeti Shocksquatch]] sporting [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Thing-esque shorts]] while aliens like Heatblast and [[BuiltWithLego Bloxx]] go around with nothing on them. Meanwhile, [[EnergyAbsorption Feedback]], like Cannonbolt, is naturally colored like 11-year-old Ben's shirt.

* Strangely, Bender from WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} suddenly seems to feel the need to cover up in any situation where a human would, such as getting out of a bathtub, or sitting in a steam room. On at least one of these occasions, his towel has fallen...exposing nothing, lampshading just how ridiculous it is for him to be using one in the first place.
-->'''Amy:''' ''(Noticing Bender's wearing super-tight speedoes)'' Uck.... They don't leave much to the imagination."
-->'''Hermes:''' Actually, on a robot they kind of do.

[[folder:Other]]
* Averted with the initial design of The Annoying Thing, also known as Crazy Frog. It appeared in ads and music videos sporting ambiguous genitalia which, after complaint, were eventually censored (with pixelation or black bars) in many locales and later removed from the design completely.
[[/folder]]

* ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' has the Capra Demon. A demon that resembles human with a skull for a face. It inexplicably wears pants. In the UpdatedRerelease, there are plant monsters that also wear pants for some reason.
* Dimetrodon is a superhero/ humanoid dinosaur wear nothing but short pants in ''VideoGame/LegacyOfHeroes''.

[[caption-width-right:350:...even though he has [[CantHaveSexEver absolutely no genitals whatsoever.]][[note]]And he shops from the same tailor [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Bruce Banner]] does.[[/note]]]]

*** Averted/Justified in [[Film/{{X-Men}} the movie]], where he is in a suit half the time, fitting his status as a high-ranking politician, and when he gets into his X-uniform, his open jacket is justified with something along the lines of "I can't believe this used to fit me".

*** Justified in that, who wouldn't want to show off if they were that ripped? In fact, as recently as Creator/JossWhedon's run when his powers are off his costume has become as FemaleGaze friendly as it should logically be.
* The [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk Hulk]] often just sports a pair of pants.
** To be specific, it's the savage green Hulk who usually just wears pants. When Hulk gets a bump in intelligence he often starts wearing clothes. For example, when grey Hulk was thought to be dead and was free from transforming back into Bruce he lived a more normal life and developed a taste for tailored suits.

Contrast with ExposedExtraterrestrials and NonhumansLackAttributes.

** In the more recent [[spoiler: post death of Human Torch]] reboot of the team as the Future Foundation he's taken to [[http://www.petpeoplesplace.com/petstore/pet-image-large/ff-fantastic-four-variant-1-djurdjevis-gatefold-cover_140537862800.jpg actually wearing a full uniform.]]

* [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] in ''TheBartimaeusTrilogy''. Bartimaeus appears to Kitty in a monstrous, demonic form in order to intimidate her . . . and Kitty tells him to put some pants on. Bartimaeus is baffled by this, as he's never bothered with clothes in that form and didn't think they would go with it very well. Kitty recommends Lederhosen.

[[caption-width-right:350:...even though he has [[CantHaveSexEver absolutely no genitals whatsoever.]][[note]]And he shops from the same tailor [[ComicBook/TheIncreibleHulk Bruce Banner]] does.[[/note]]]]

[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/FantasticFour http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thingrs2_5930.gif]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350: Hey Ben, put some pants on will ya?]]