History Main / PinocchioSyndrome

** The Cylons designed themselves as (nearly) humans and try to procreate in the human way, rather than building new copies.
** Inverted by Cavil, Cylon Model Number One, who loathes his humanity, [[spoiler: and The Five for making him human]]. He just wants to be a real robot. This was in the fact the entire reason he decided to wipe out humanity.

This is often a goal of [[{{robot}} robots]], [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampires]], [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent werewolves]], and so on. In these circumstances, sometimes a wiser character will be taken in by this trope, but instead make some important logical deductions. Namely, that if you're a robot, you [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots probably already act like a normal human,]] to the point of being able to pass the TuringTest. If you're a vampire or werewolf, you're substantially stronger and [[PunyEarthlings hardier than a typical human]]. Or maybe, in the most extreme cases, you'll become convinced that HumansAreBastards, and you're better off being what you are. As a result, as cool as these "emotion" things may be, it may not be worth being BroughtDownToNormal just to enjoy them. In these cases, the character in question can often be found [[TakeAThirdOption looking for a third option]] that will allow for the best of both worlds.

* [[RobotGirl Chachamaru]] of ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' has been known to angst over whether or not she actually has a soul. [[spoiler: She does. Apparently the rule is that if you're capable of that kind of emotion, you must have a soul. The other fan theory is Negi's strong will and his refusal to take "no" for an answer caused the will of magic to give up and grant her a soul.]]

* ''{{ComicBook/Fables}}''. Many of the non-human characters want to become human simply so they can get out of 'The Farm' (or in the case of Reynard the Fox, seduce Snow White). The Farm is a grand place but a {{gilded cage}} is still a cage. Too bad the magical resources are expensive and limited. What there is tends to be turned towards survival. What's worse is that most of the non-humans are immortal. Hundreds of years have passed by the time the series starts and there is no end in sight. No wonder there was a civil war. Later on, it gets better. And complicated. New lands are accessible for all.
* ''{{ComicBook/BPRD}}'': After the BPRD acquires advanced homunculi bodies, Johann Kraus, who's been an ectoplasm in a containment suit for decades, possesses one to finally feel human sensations again, heading to the closest bar miles away. Which of course means he's not there when the MonsterOfTheWeek attacks, leading to no small amount of anger on both sides.

* Beast in "Literature/BeautyAndTheBeast"

* A lot of Series/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles fan fictions portray [[RobotGirl Cameron]] as an example of this.
* Lyra in the [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic MLP:FIM]] fanfic ''FanFic/{{Anthropology}}'' desperately wants to become a human, even through nopony else has even heard of them. [[spoiler: She gets her wish, and it is revealed [[ChangelingFantasy she wasn't born a pony.]]]]
* [[spoiler: Pauline]] from the ''FanFic/TamersForeverSeries'' desperately wants to be human so that she can be with her master and also for the simple fact that she doesn't have a body that can express her emotions like humans do, meaning that every feeling she has is bottled up inside her without release.
* A significant amount of angst in the ''FanFic/{{Pokeumans}}'' FanVerse has emerged on account of this. Nobody chose or, in many cases, even wants the transformation they experienced, and then the secret war into which it plunges them means YouCantGoHomeAgain. Many characters still want to, and attempts to do so have resulted in everything from hilarity to EveryoneDies.

* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''

* In their current incarnation in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'', there are several Necron who are looking for ways to become mortal again after having survived as robots for a very long time.

* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft''

* A sidequest in ''Videogame/{{Borderlands 2}}'' has you helping out a Loader who wants to become human, but has a rather flawed idea of what that entails. HilarityEnsues.

* In the original ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' trilogy, Cortana generally seems content being an AI. By the time ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}'' rolls around, she shows signs of wanting to be human. This could be caused by the fact that she's entering [[AIIsaCrapshoot rampancy]] which will end with her insanity and death. This statement sums it up best:

* ''Videogame/{{Octodad}}'' is about an octopus attempting to live life as a human and trying to prevent other humans (particularly his wife and kids) from discovering what he is.
* In ''Videogame/{{Ib}}'', the little girl [[spoiler: Mary]] turns out to be [[ArtInitiatesLife one of the paintings come to life in the demented gallery.]] She desperately wants to escape so she can live as a normal human with Ib and Garry and be their friend. [[spoiler: Too bad there's no way she can go about it without Garry getting hurt.]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}'', this is the focus of Curie's personal quest, "Emergent Behavior". Curie wants to become more human because she feels that her robotic nature and lack of "human inspiration" is preventing her from progressing any further in her research. [[spoiler:She becomes "human" by uploading herself into a synth whose memory-wiping procedure failed and left her a vegetable]].

* As with its entry in the 'Comic Books' section above, Grid's appearance as a [[PaletteSwap Premier Skin]] of ComicBook/{{Cyborg}} in ''VideoGame/{{Injustice 2}}'' has it in pursuit of human emotion, though, at the same time, it considers humanity to be beneath it.

* Sora in ''VisualNovel/{{Ever17}}'', complete with its very own reference to the PygmalionPlot. She's a little worse off than many of the characters here: She doesn't even have a body. [[spoiler:No really, she doesn't.]]

* This is the stated goal for most of Organization XIII from ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', although they were humans before losing their hearts. The leader, Xemnas, instead would rather become a "[[AGodAmI great being]]", just like every other incarnation of Xehanort.

** ''VideoGame/Persona5'' has Morgana, a [[FunnyAnimal talking cat]] that is convinced he WasOnceAMan, despite suffering from complete IdentityAmnesia. [[spoiler:As it turns out, Morgana was an AnimalisticAbomination from the start, and eventually comes to terms with his identity. In the ''Royal'' UpdatedRerelease he's given a human body in [[AGodAmI Maruki's false reality]] but rejects it on the grounds that [[MiseryBuildsCharacter his and the others' struggles and experiences made them who they are]].]]

* White Joy in ''WesternAnimation/InsideOut'' only has a shade of this in the film itself (mimicking Riley's ice-skating for one), if her room in the art book is any indication, she wishes she could live the way Riley does, [[MissingMom including having a mom]].

** For all of her vast array of knowledge, there are some things that Cortana will never be able to experience, and now, confronted with her own mortality, she regrets the things she can never have. It's subdued, quiet, and [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/TearJerker/Halo heartbreaking]].

** Not present in the original book, by the way; in that one the Nome King just did it for shits, and also a few giggles.

* In the ''Anime/SailorMoon S'' Movie, after falling in love with a human scientist named Kakeru, [[NonHumanSidekick Luna]] becomes sad knowing that she cannot be with him because she is a cat. She later becomes human for a short time [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy and encourages Kakeru to be with his childhood sweetheart, Himeko, because that is who he truly loves.]]

* ''{{ComicBook/Livewires}}'' subverted this trope -- the protagonist, Stem Cell, was an ArtificialHuman built with all the emotions of a human, who needed to learn to alter those emotions in order to survive.
* ''Comicbook/SwampThing'''s [[SuperHeroOrigin origin]] changed him from a man into a living pile of vegetation, and his main goal was to return to normal. In a twist, when Alan Moore took over the book (in his first major writing gig for [[Franchise/TheDCU DC]]), he took away this motivation with a {{Retcon}} that didn't directly contradict any previous material. Swamp Thing discovered that he was not a man who became a plant monster; he was a mass of plants possessed by the memories and spirit of that man, who was, in fact, dead. Regaining his humanity was then no longer a goal, and he instead became an AnthropomorphicPersonification of nature.
* Comet the Super-Horse from pre-Crisis DC. He was originally a centaur called Biron who wanted to be fully human, unfortunately Circe made a mistake and made him ''fully horse'' instead. The reason he has superpowers is because the spell couldn't be reversed, so Circe gave him superpowers to [[SecondPrize try and make up for it]].

* Subverted in ''TheMightySkullBoyArmy'', Unit 1, a cute, toy-like robot, once voices his hopes to never be a real boy...because he fears puberty, and all those snips and snails...

* [[Literature/TheAdventuresOfPinocchio Pinocchio]], of course.

[[folder:Mythology and Legend]]

* In ''Manga/SazanEyes'', the two main characters want to stop being immortal and become normal humans.

* In ''Videogame/{{Ib}}'', [[spoiler: Mary]] turns out to be one of the paintings of the demented gallery. She wants to escape the gallery so she can live as a normal human. [[spoiler: Too bad there's no right way she can go about it...]]

* Hinted at in the ''VideoGame/MegaManClassic'' series and made obvious in the ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' games. Endings to Mega Man games often showed the hero walking home when he could easily teleport. This seemed to imply he needed time to contemplate the totality and meaning of his adventure. In the ending of ''VideoGame/MegaManX1'', the narration pointed out that X wondered how long he would have to destroy fellow robots before there would be peace. In ''VideoGame/MegaMan7'', [[spoiler:Mega insists he "is more than just a robot" in what was a minor WorldOfCardboardSpeech before the roof caved in and Wily escaped]]. Either way, the main characters of Mega Man consistently flirt with sentience.

* [[Creator/RobinWilliams Andrew]] in ''Film/BicentennialMan''. He's a robot who was accidentally created with a quirk in his hardware that allowed him to feel emotions and learn unlike other robots of his kind. The major plot line involved him wanting to be officially recognized as being human, and involved his many decades of work on inventing artificial organs and other life-sustaining techniques, which he applies to himself in addition to marketing them for general use. In the end, [[spoiler: he's finally recognized by the government as being human, as he dies on his 200th birthday. Having replaced his entire body with his self-invented artificial organs, he has become mortal, a prerequisite for humanity.]]

* Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''Literature/TheBicentennialMan'' is about a robot who, over the course of two hundred years, deliberately becomes more and more human.
** [[spoiler:In the end in order to be recognised as human by the world's government body, he decides that the last most important remaining difference between himself and humanity is that his positronic brain could conceivable keep working for centuries. He then arranges an operation to cut that time down drastically. The World government declares him human shortly afterward.]]

* A sidequest in ''Videogame/{{Borderlands 2}}'' has you helping out a Loader who wants to become human, but has a rather flawed idea of what that entails.

* ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTenseiPersona'':

* Aigis of ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}''. She gradually does become more human as the game goes on in terms of personality.
* Teddie from ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'', even though it's more of a side effect of his deep fear of being left alone again in his case. Like in Aigis' case, his human characteristics grow stronger over the course of the game [[spoiler: and he manages to create himself a rather convincing human body halfway through the game.]]
* Labrys from ''VideoGame/Persona4Arena'', who was deeply traumatized due to her nature as a sentient robot and came to hate her mechanical body.
* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}'' has Morgana, a FunnyAnimal talking cat that is convinced he WasOnceAMan, despite suffering from complete IdentityAmnesia. [[spoiler:As it turns out, Morgana was an AnimalisticAbomination from the start, and eventually comes to terms with his identity.]]

%%* David (Haley Joel Osment) in Creator/StevenSpielberg's ''Film/AIArtificialIntelligence''. {{Anvilicious}}ly, complete with a Blue Fairy. Specifically noted as being so inspired, too.

* David (Haley Joel Osment) in Creator/StevenSpielberg's ''Film/AIArtificialIntelligence''. {{Anvilicious}}ly, complete with a Blue Fairy. Specifically noted as being so inspired, too.

* The entire plot of the ''Disney/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'' revolves around this (featuring the song "When I'm Human").
* Preceding "When I'm Human" by forty-two years is "I Wan'na Be Like You" from ''Disney/TheJungleBook'', sung by an orangutan who wants to become human by acquiring the secret of "man's red fire."
* In ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid'', Ariel has a desire to become human after seeing all the gadgets humans are able to invent, but it gets greater when seeing a handsome prince. Even though her father is strictly against such a dream, she asks help from [[{{Antagonist}} Ursula]], who complies to her wish if she gives up her voice. [[DealWithTheDevil She seals the deal.]]

* Myth/KoreanMythology features a tiger and a bear, who wishes to become humans. The god Hwanung(Heavenly Emperor's son) tells them to eat only garlic and mugwort for 100 days in a dark cave, without seeing sunlight. Tiger gives up, but the bear passes the ordeal and on the 21th day, transforms into a beautiful woman(named Ungnyeo, 'bear-woman'). Ungnyeo marries Hwanung and gives birth to a boy named Dangun-Wanggeom, first king and forefounder of the Korean people.

* Hinted at in the ''VideoGame/MegaManClassic'' series and made obvious in the ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' games. Endings to Mega Man games often showed the hero walking home when he could easily teleport. This seemed to imply he needed time to contemplate the totality and meaning of his adventure. In the ending of ''VideoGame/MegaManX1'', the narration pointed out that X wondered how long he would have to destroy fellow robots before there would be peace. In ''VideoGame/MegaMan7'', [[spoiler:Mega insists he "is more than just a robot" in what was a minor {{world of cardboard speech}} before the roof caved in and Wily escaped]]. Either way, the main characters of Mega Man consistently flirt with sentience.
* In the original ''{{Franchise/Halo}}'' trilogy, Cortana generally seems content being an AI. By the time ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}'' rolls around, she shows signs of wanting to be human. This could be caused by the fact that she's entering [[AIIsaCrapshoot rampancy]] which will end with her insanity and death. This statement sums it up best:

* Spot/Scott in ''WesternAnimation/TeachersPet''.
* The version of VideoGame/MegaManClassic seen in ''WesternAnimation/CaptainNTheGameMaster''. Strangely they have him become a real human at the end of the first season, but this is ignored by everything that came after. He still talks about having mechanical parts and still has all his robotic powers.

The extreme of IJustWantToBeNormal. The character either isn't human to begin with, or WasOnceAMan before being the subject of a BalefulPolymorph {{curse}} or transformed via TheVirus into a monster or otherwise made into something else that is decidedly ''not'' human. Often involving an artificial being such as a robot wanting to be a flesh-and-blood creature -- or at least closer to one in ways it feels are important, like becoming {{creative|Sterility}}.

Whatever the reason, the nonhuman being wants to become human, or in the case of formerly-human beings, they want to be human again. Despite AppliedPhlebotinum and magic being able to do everything else, it seems the power to turn someone into a mortal human being is incredibly rare. In those cases where someone ''does'' get the instant magical cure, they'll often throw it away, saying they want to earn it, or "it's the path, not the destination" (whatever that means), or it will come at a horrendous moral cost. In other words, FailureIsTheOnlyOption, at least until the GrandFinale.

* The evil robot Ultron from ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron''. As if singing [[Disney/{{Pinocchio}} "I've Got No Strings"]] doesn't show he has a Pinocchio fixation, [[spoiler:he tries to transfer himself into a partly biological body (which eventually becomes ComicBook/{{the Vision}}) and eventually goes for a plan where "When the dust settles, the only thing living in this world will be metal."]]

* In ''Webcomic/YokokasQuest'', Mao was a [[HalfHumanHybrid half-]][[WasOnceAMan human]] prior to becoming [[CursedWithAwesome cursed]] as a child, which left him as a [[CatGirl catboy]]. In his efforts to break his curse and become human(ish) again, he's befriended the dangerous spirit Copycat, travelled to the [[TheSpartanWay Darkness Clan]], and risked his life to get stronger by [[GladiatorGames fighting monsters in an arena]] there.