History Main / TheyLookLikeUsNow

* The formless JAM in ''Franchise/SentouYouseiYukikaze''. In the anime, they start by copying Earth's technology (namely weapons and aircraft) before later moving onto human beings themselves. As it turns out, this is how [[spoiler:the JAM see Rei and Yukikaze]].

* Inverted in ''Film/District9'', when the young alien remarks that [[spoiler:Wikus, in the process of transforming into an alien]], "looks the same" as him. Also a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming.

* In ''VideoGame/Fallout4'', the Institute having reached a point in its work on autonomous androids that their current Generation Three Synths are functionally human, to the point the only way you can tell if someone is a Synth is to kill them.

Which is what they just figured out: they look like us now.

->'''Kyle Reese''': The 600 series had rubber skin. We spotted them easy, but these are new. They look human... sweat, bad breath, everything. Very hard to spot. I had to wait till he moved on you before I could zero him.\\
'''Sarah Connor''': Look... I am not stupid, you know. They cannot make things like that yet.\\
'''Kyle Reese''': Not yet. Not for about 40 years.

Expect small groups to [[ParanoiaFuel tear each other apart over mutual accusations of alien-ness]]... just what TheMole wants. For a measure of {{irony}}, the aliens infiltrating humanity to rip it apart from the inside may discover that HumanityIsInfectious... and not in a ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'' sense.

Contrast AFormYouAreComfortableWith, which doesn't involve the aliens deceiving us into mistaking them for humans; and HumanAliens in which the aliens just happened to look like us to begin with. Compare TheVirus. SisterTrope to PuppeteerParasite. A rich source of ParanoiaFuel.

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* In Creator/{{Vathara}}'s ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2698347/1/Walk-Through-the-Valley Walk Through the Valley]]'' has a rare heroic version. Hiko's people, the Confederacy, are at war with TheFederation, which insists on tearing its women and children screaming from their homes, battering them and turning them over to the [[HumanSubSpecies merrows]] for a form of MindRape called conditioning, which [[GettingSmiliesPaintedOnYourSoul leaves you]] [[HappinessInSlavery happy to do and be whatever the Federation wants you to be]]. It's implied that it leaves you without compassion. The reason they take slaves is to restore the genetic diversity they lost when they became chronically inbred because they were such a small, isolated population. They tell themselves that these gene donors are willing. They also do it to Confederate soldiers, who are dropped back into the units they were pulled from to wreak havoc on their comrades. The only way to prevent yourself from becoming conditioned is to temporarily become a LittleBitBeastly with the help of LegoGenetics, which entails government-approved DNA sequences and extremely complicated life-support equipment that no one uses for anything else. Using claws, etc., means modifying the brain. Ensuring that alterants know when to use them means adding instincts from the species used as a source of DNA. This makes alterants easy to spot, no matter how well the alterations are hidden. They cannot make alterants in mind only; volunteers go mad in weeks. This is where the ookamimoya alterants come in. The ''ookamimoya'' are a species of [[{{EMP}} EM]]-sensitive, lupine predators that live very long lives, have few offspring, which they cherish, a pack with which they share a PsychicLink, extreme distrust of outsiders, incredibly durable bodies, InnateNightVision, AlienHair in the form of sensory tendrils with which they pick up emotions and which move on their own; pelt tendrils that don't; and hidden claws. Ookamimoya ''alterants'' will have sensory tendrils on the scalp the thickness of human hair, eyebrows and eyelashes with tendencies of both pelt and sensory tendrils, zero hair or not-hair elsewhere, KaleidoscopeEyes with exotic colors that shift to golden/amber at night/low light conditions, the ability to sense ''ki'', lack of aging, hidden claws and a strong killer instinct that drive them to kill the conditioned.

* In the 1970s, the ''[[ComicBook/TheAvengers Avengers]]'' storyline ''ComicBook/TheKreeSkrullWar'' featured a major panic over this, which (among other things) led to the formation of the [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything Special Committee on Alien Activities]]. Ironically, it was not the shapeshifting Skrulls who were the main target, but their enemies the Kree--Who could still infiltrate Earth in human guise, because they were HumanAliens.

[[caption-width-right:319:Zentraedi spies [[RealMenWearPink blending]] in [[HumansThroughAlienEyes seamlessly]] and [[{{Crossdresser}} without]] [[CrossCulturalKerfluffle drawing attention.]]]]

->'''Kyle Reese:''' The 600 series had rubber skin. We spotted them easy, but these are new. They look human... sweat, bad breath, everything. Very hard to spot. I had to wait till he moved on you before I could zero him.\\
'''Sarah Connor:''' Look... I am not stupid, you know. They cannot make things like that yet.\\
'''Kyle Reese:''' Not yet. Not for about 40 years.

* Inverted in ''Film/District9'', when the young alien remarks that [[spoiler:Wikus, in the process of transforming into an alien,]] "looks the same" as him. Also a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming.

** ''Series/{{Galactica 1980}}'' beats them by twenty-odd years by having human-form cylon robots in the episode "The Night The Cylons Landed". However, the ones on the reimagined series are completely human looking, down to having [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots a reproductive system.]]

* In ''VideoGame/CityOfVillains'' you can contact Kelly Uqua, who is working for [[MegaCorp Crey Industries]]. There's a nasty rumor floating around that the real Uqua is dead, and a Rikti alien can alter its form to match hers. Kelly wants you to enter one of Crey's warehouses and delete this report. Kelly also occasionally slips into the Rikti's VerbalTic while talking to you. A separate ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'' mission has you finding a Rikti who was posing as Kelly, whose [[GlamourFailure transformation machinery has broken down.]]

** The Mi-Go can surgically modify themselves to fit inside a "human suit" and masquerade as people.
** The said 'suits' are made by hollowing out a human body, by the way.

* In {{Traveller}} there is an interesting twist. When the Terrans meet the Vilani they learn that they actually ''are'' human. Of course that does [[HumansAreBastards not necessarily make the meeting pleasant]].

* Every alien except Cole and Zin on ''Tracker''

->'''Kyle Reese:''' The 600 series had rubber skin. We spotted them easy, but these are new. They look human... sweat, bad breath, everything. Very hard to spot. I had to wait till he moved on you before I could zero him.
->'''Sarah Connor:''' Look... I am not stupid, you know. They cannot make things like that yet.
->'''Kyle Reese:''' Not yet. Not for about 40 years.

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

* The formless JAM in ''Franchise/SentouYouseiYukikaze''. In the anime, they start by copying Earth's technology (namely weapons and aircraft) before later moving onto human beings themselves.
** As it turns out, this is how [[spoiler:the JAM see Rei and Yukikaze]].

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

* This has always been the approach of the [[VoluntaryShapeshifting Skrulls]], the antagonistic alien race found in MarvelComics, but most of all in the ComicBook/SecretInvasion CrisisCrossover.
** Also, the now-gone [[ComicBook/RomSpaceknight Dire Wraiths]].

** the special "The End of the World" shows that one of them, [[ShoutOut Kravenn the Hunter]] infiltrated the Xerbian government and was decisive in the vote that made the Xerbians [[WeComeInPeaceShootToKill temporarily deactivate their orbital defences as a sign of peace (the Evronians invaded in that precise moment and overran the planet in a few scant days)]]. The same soldier, who also has a tracking superpower, continues infiltrating Xerbian pockets of resistance in the (failed) attempt to capture a member of the government, going as far as jumping on one of the three evacuation ships;

[[folder: Fan Works]]

[[folder: Film ]]

* ''[[TransformersFilmSeries Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen]]'' got a good amount of drama out of having the Decepticon "Alice" who could pose as a human. As if paranoia about everyday vehicles and devices wasn't enough.
** ''{{Transformers}}'' in general is clearly in the same spirit. While most Transformers disguise themselves as vehicles rather than people, the principle is the same... Any car on the road or plane in the sky could be a robot in disguise. One of them could be in your driveway ''right now''. And that's just the rank and file; it's been shown that they've branched out and there are Transformers who are capable of becoming all sorts of things you might have ''inside'' the house as well, like a camera, a microscope, a wristwatch, or a computer not terribly different from the one you're looking at right now. That monitor you're staring into? It could be ''staring back''.
* Inverted in ''Film/{{District 9}}'', when the young alien remarks that [[spoiler:Wikus, in the process of transforming into an alien,]] "looks the same" as him. Also a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming.

[[folder: Literature ]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* In ''VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown'' the Thin Man alien units would count as this. Their disguise is pulled off pretty good as well... thin men! Until they pull out their alien weaponry and start doing back-flips in business suits that is. Also their eyes if studied are reptilian in nature. Which would explain why they wear dark glasses. The bases of their necks are also scaled, implying that only the always visible parts are human in appearance, although this isn't stated ingame.
** ADVENT troopers from ''VideoGame/{{XCOM2}}'' look human enough until you remove their faceplate as happens during a cutscene and during any AlienAutopsy you perform on them. Then again, ADVENT troopers are peacekeeping forces and only need to look human enough to not be scary to the human populace while still being armored and armed well enough to keep order in the the VichyEarth regime. Faceless, on the other hand, are straight up ShapeShifter that pose as civilians to ambush your troops while they are trying to rescue them (if they are aligned with LaResistance), or avoid them (if they are aligned with ADVENT, since the GullibleLemmings they are will alert the authority if they see heavily armed [[YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters terrorists]] walking around, but usually aren't attentive enough to pose a threat to the squad).

[[folder: Web Comics ]]

* ''PartiallyClips'' parodied this [[http://www.partiallyclips.com/index.php?id=1633 once]].

* ''TomTerrific'': The story arc "Million Manfred Mystery" dealt with some impressionable aliens who mistake Mighty Manfred the Wonder Dog to be Tom (he's wearing Tom's funnel cap while he's off at the store), so they make a plan sheet of Manfred and the entire alien race duplicate themselves as Manfred. The base reason is that Tom is so likeable that the aliens want to be just like him so Earth people will like them as well.

* In ''KeroroGunsou'', higher-ranked Keronian platoons are authorized to use technology that lets them mimic humans almost perfectly. Unfortunately for Keroro, his Rank F squad is forced to rely on a set of [[PaperThinDisguise dubious robotic suits]].

** ''{{Transformers}}'' in general is clearly in the same spirit. While most Transformers disguise themselves as vehicles rather than people,, the principle is the same... Any car on the road or plane in the sky could be a robot in disguise. One of them could be in your driveway ''right now''. And that's just the rank and file; it's been shown that they've branched out and there are Transformers who are capable of becoming all sorts of things you might have ''inside'' the house as well, like a camera, a microscope, a wristwatch, or a computer not terribly different from the one you're looking at right now. That monitor you're staring into? It could be ''staring back''.

* ''[[TransformersFilmSeries Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen]]'' got a good amount of drama out of having a Decepticon who could pose as a human. As if paranoia about everyday vehicles and devices wasn't enough.

* {{Witch|Species}}es in Creator/RoaldDahl's ''Literature/TheWitches'' have learned to conceal their physical peculiarities to look like ordinary women, but there are still a few [[RedRightHand telltale signs]] including oddly colored eyes, oversized nostrils, blue saliva, and gloves to cover their claws.