Line #180 Main/HumanAliens


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10	[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/SupermanSmashesTheKlan https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/human_aliens_superman.png]]]]
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12	->'''Amy:''' But you look human.\
13	'''The Doctor:''' No, ''you'' look Time Lord. ''We'' came first.
14	-->-- ''Series/DoctorWho'', "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E2TheBeastBelow The Beast Below]]"
15
16	When a creature from a planet other than Earth looks like a human, sounds like a human, acts somewhat like a human and can easily get confused for a human.
17
18	Their internal physiology [[HumanOutsideAlienInside may well be different]], whether a little or a lot or just none, but otherwise they appear to be the genuine article.
19
20	In-story, this occasionally leads to a {{handwav\|e}}ing story about how all the races have some common ancestor. Other times, it gets {{justified\|Trope}} by using a TransplantedHumans story or the idea that a humanoid form is the natural result of any evolutionary path (HumansAreSpecial [[JustForFun/XMeetsY on]] EvolutionaryLevels).
21
22	Another, more nuanced explanation might simply be one of sampling bias; If the universe is conjectured to have a functionally infinite amount of alien races with a functionally infinite amount of possible anatomies, it is only reasonable to assume that some of these races will have evolved into a human-like form through sheer probability, and given that any aliens who go to the effort of interstellar travel will typically display a vested interest in communicating or even assimilating with any other species they find it would only be natural for them to gravitate towards any species with such similar anatomy. That is to say, human aliens might only form a small minority of the universe's population, however would be overwhelmingly biased towards appearing in stories involving humans in particular.
23
24	Out-of-story, this is often explained either by the fact that there are remarkably few non-humanoids in the Screen Actors' Guild or Creator/{{Equity}}, and by the fact that believable-looking, wildly-different-in-appearance aliens are incompatible with low budgets.
25
26	This trope also covers [[VoluntaryShapeshifting shape-shifters]] who [[CoconutSuperpowers budget-savingly]] stay in human form around humans (though that's sometimes justified as them fitting in with those around them; even humans who know what they are would find a human form to be easier to interact with).
27
28	In 1950s movies, this also could be used as an actual part of the theme of the story, as the idea that these sorts of aliens could pass completely for humans made a rather handy [[RedScare metaphor for Communism]].
29
30	In {{anime}}, on the other hand, the trope is often invoked to show that humans and their alien enemies aren't all that different.
31
32	In stories involving alien {{cyborg}}s, the aliens are often human-looking in their original form, to emphasize that the conflict of the story is between their biological and cybernetic natures, and not mainly about the fact that they are aliens. Examples include the Kaleds and Mondasians, who became [[Series/DoctorWho the Daleks]] and the original [[Series/DoctorWho Cybermen]] respectively, the Galadorians from ''ComicBook/RomSpaceknight,'' the Nebulans from ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers,'' the ''[[WesternAnimation/ChallengeOfTheGobots GoBots]],'' and ''Franchise/StarTrek's'' Borg.[[note]] A notable exception to this rule is the original series version of ''[[Series/BattlestarGalactica1978 Battlestar Galactica's]]'' Cylons. They were a race of LizardFolk before [[{{Transhumanism}} trans-lizardizing]] themselves into killer robots.[[/note]]
33
34	The bottom rung of the [[AlienTropes Alien ladder]], below RubberForeheadAliens and {{Intelligent Gerbil}}s. Note that, for this trope, the alien must be '''visually indistinguishable from a human'''. "Human, but with blue (or purple, orange, [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe green]], etc.) skin" falls under RubberForeheadAliens.[[note]] although sometimes the differences might be so subtle that they blur the line between the two, such as the dark-green facial markings exhibited by the [[Series/DoctorWho Kahler.]][[/note]] Aliens with cultural rather than biological similarities fall under InexplicableCulturalTies.
35
36	Technically there could be another rung below this one on the [[AlienTropes Alien ladder]]: [[HumansAreWhite White Aliens]]. There are many fictional planets where the aliens not only look human, they are all white-looking. This is rife with UnfortunateImplications. The opposite situation, where the alien race is genuinely alien, but they are all African-looking, or Asian-looking, etc., is vanishingly rare (and would probably carry a ''different'' batch of UnfortunateImplications). Naturally, this varies by the location of production: Japanese science fiction has planets full of Japanese-looking aliens, Indian films have Indian-looking aliens, ''Series/DoctorWho'' depicts an entire universe full of [[AliensSpeakingEnglish people with British accents,]] and so on.
37
38	Reasons for using this trope may vary. Sometimes it is a case of the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality, or it may make audience relate to the character better ([[UnfortunateImplications because people aren't going to like a character]] [[ButNotTooForeign who looks, you know, "different"]]) or to have the character live among ordinary humans without undue complications, or to make a [[InterspeciesRomance human-alien romance]] more plausible and less squicky. Or it might just be because they can't afford the makeup and rubber foreheads.
39
40	Contrast with StarfishAliens (where the aliens are nothing like humans), HumanoidAliens (where aliens have a similar shape, but not quite human), AmbiguouslyHuman (where it isn't made clear in-canon whether a culture are human-like aliens or human-descended), AFormYouAreComfortableWith (when gods and other metaphysical beings take human form) and HumanSubspecies (biologically "alien" yet related to humans). In the case one of them had been RaisedByHumans, may lead to HumanAlienDiscovery. HughMann is the PlayedForLaughs version when an obviously nonhuman creature still fools humans in a PaperThinDisguise. Not to be confused with HumanityCameFromSpace, which are actual alien humans from places other than Earth. See AlienAnimals for aliens who look identical to Earth animals.
41
42	----
43	!!Example subpages:
44	[[index]]
45	* HumanAliens/AnimeAndManga
46	* HumanAliens/ComicBooks
47	* HumanAliens/FanWorks
48	* [[HumanAliens/{{Film}} Film – Live-Action]]
49	* HumanAliens/{{Literature}}
50	* HumanAliens/LiveActionTV
51	* HumanAliens/VideoGames
52	* HumanAliens/WesternAnimation
53	[[/index]]
54
55	!!Other examples
56	[[foldercontrol]]
57
58	[[folder:Asian Animation]]
59	* ''Animation/BoBoiBoy'':
60	** The final episodes of the original series reveal that [[spoiler:one of the main cast, Fang]] was a Human Alien all along when Captain Kaizo [[spoiler:(his older brother)]] visits Earth. Their only distinctions from humans are [[spoiler:their red irises and raven-colored spiky hair]]. Gopal and Lieutenant Lahap (Kaizo's lackey) lampshade this:
61	--->'''Gopal:''' Hey, why do you look like a human?\
62	'''Lahap:''' Why do YOU look like an alien?
63	** ''[=BoBoiBoy=] Galaxy'' introduces more human aliens as the main gang take the fight to space. Some introduced in the first season alone are Sai, Shielda and Ramenman, who all appear just as human as the heroes they work with, barring some facial markings (for Sai and Shielda) and a [[ImprobableHairstyle hairdo shaped like a block of noodles (for Ramenman)]].
64	* ''Animation/HappyHeroes'': Certain inhabitants of planets Xing Xing, Gray, etc. (such as Doctor H., Miss Peach, and Big and Little M., to give some examples) look and act so much like humans that they could otherwise easily pass for them if not for the show's space setting.
65	[[/folder]]
66
67	[[folder:Audio Play]]
68	* ''AudioPlay/TheSojourn'' has regular humans, except they aren't from Earth (or even our galaxy, for that matter). They evolved on a planet called Centrum in the Tantalus Cluster. [[spoiler:After jumping to a nebula 3000 light years away, they encounter a species very similar to humans in appearance who call themselves the Advari.]]
69	[[/folder]]
70
71	[[folder:Film -- Animated]]
72	* The sci-fi film ''WesternAnimation/{{Ark}}'' is set in the distant planet of Alcyeon, populated by two different alien races at war, the Ceveans and Storrians, but both races resemble humans, right down to having skin tones resembling earthlings.
73	* [[HeroAntagonist Metro Man]] from ''WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}}'', being an {{expy}} of Franchise/{{Superman}}, fits this trope perfectly.
74	* Disney's 1953 adaptation of ''WesternAnimation/PeterPan'' apparently takes "second star to the right" literally, implying that Neverland is located in a completely different solar system. Despite this, the island is home to a number of groups who look totally to almost human: pirates, Indians, and mermaids (not human, but close enough). Of course -- and [[BellisariosMaxim for good reason]] -- Disney never goes into detail regarding [[FridgeLogic how mere mortals are able to fly to this land without becoming exhausted, dying from old age, or suffocating from lack of oxygen]].
75	[[/folder]]
76
77	[[folder:Music]]
78	* The music video for Hot Chocolate's "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rr9fRIIziXY No Doubt About It]]".
79	* The fictionalised version of Music/{{Rezz}} is a young alien from Neptune with the power of hypnosis through music
80	* Music/{{Vitas}} has been known to invoke this trope in some of his music videos, particularly "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6rxu0lrfxs Blessed Guru]]," and his more well known "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWmfNeLs7fA Seventh Element]]."
81	[[/folder]]
82
83	[[folder:Pinball]]
84	* Technically, everyone except Flash and Dale in ''Pinball/FlashGordon'' qualify for this trope.
85	[[/folder]]
86
87	[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
88	* This is Wrestling/KrisStatlander's gimmick. She is dubbed as "The Galaxy's Greatest Alien" and is billed from [[PartsUnknown the Andromeda Galaxy]], at times even as "recently escaped from {{Area 51}}".
89	[[/folder]]
90
91	[[folder:Radio]]
92	* ''Radio/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy1978'' has several examples, most notably Ford and Zaphod's unnamed species from the Betelgeuse system (the latter's extra head and arm are due to surgery). The only known differences are biological incompatibility with humans and multi-centennial lifespans. This resemblance is explicitly only through human eyes; when the two are with Arthur (a human) other aliens can tell right away that he's a different race and usually assume that he's their pet monkey.
93	** The Asgoths of Kria (writers of the second worst poetry in the universe) are also likely to be this way on account of how precise Douglas Adams tends to be with his language - after all, their poet's small intestine throttled his brain in 'a desperate attempt to save ''humanity'''. In the very next episode, Arthur compliments the 'humanity' of a Vogon poem, which Ford hastily corrects into 'Vogonity', decreasing the likelihood that this was a mistake.
94	** Possibly {{Justified}} by the reveal that Earthmen are a designed species created by aliens... and by the still later reveal that they are in fact descendants of AncientAstronauts from Golgafrincham.
95	[[/folder]]
96
97	[[folder:TabletopGames]]
98	* ''{{TabletopGame/Bulldogs}}'' has the Arsubarans, who are humans with a greater variety of skin, hair and eye colours, and whose early discovery of space travel has led to them spreading across the galaxy faster than any other species.
99	* ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu''. The secretive inhabitants of the subterranean city of K'n-Yan are almost completely indistinguishable from humans.
100	* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}''. Humans, or something close enough to be called Human, apparently evolved on three different worlds, Golarion (the main world of the setting), Earth (visited in ''Reign of Winter''), and Androffa ([[spoiler: the source of the spaceship which crashed in Numeria on Golarion millenia ago.]])
101	* ''Ankur: Kingdom of the Gods''. A scifi rpg based on Sumerian mythology. AncientAstronauts visit Earth and create humans (and other subspecies) as slaves to mine for gold. The aliens look very similar to us because we share two-thirds their dna.
102	* ''TabletopGame/HeroesUnlimited'': You can easily create an alien superhero who looks indistinguishable from an ordinary human.
103	[[/folder]]
104
105	[[folder:Toys]]
106	* ''Franchise/{{Tamagotchi}}'': Most Tamagotchis avert this by being HumanoidAliens at most. However, Rolatchi, who is a Tamagotchi version of the Japanese model Rola, actually does look exactly like a human.
107	[[/folder]]
108
109	[[folder:Visual Novels]]
110	* In ''VisualNovel/MarcoAndTheGalaxyDragon'', Gargouille, Haqua and Pandagraph are aliens from three different species. All three of them look like humans apart from their exotic eye colours. Haqua’s a particularly odd case, as her father Astaroth is a RubberForeheadAlien [[spoiler:and they both come from the Andromeda galaxy]].
111	[[/folder]]
112
113	[[folder:Webcomics]]
114	* ''WebCcomic/AvasDemon:''
115	** The characters span the width and breadth of the aesthetics department: Ava Ire and Maggie Lacivi are officially classified as humans, but the latter has naturally green hair and triangular pupils. Odin Arrowny and his sisters, Crow and Raven, on the other hand, are ''not'' humans, but they are indistinguishable from ones. Gil Marverde is from an aquatic planet but just looks like a blue-skinned human with pointed ears. Erios Nimis, in the meantime, looks like a green-haired human with pointy ears, multi-coloured hair, star-shaped pupils and four arms. The "demons" of the series -- in actuality the spirits of a deity-like race of aliens -- have horns and various other strange anatomical anomalies, but are still {{humanoid\|aliens}}.
116	* ''Webcomic/EerieCuties'': Jeffery, the groundskeeper at [[AllGhoulsSchool Charybdis Heights]] purposely [[http://www.eeriecuties.com/strips-ec/a_little_wuv tries to scare humans away]] and Layla does what she can to [[http://www.eeriecuties.com/strips-ec/sneezeweed scare them off as well.]] Yet, no one finds it strange that there's [[http://www.eeriecuties.com/strips-ec/carefully_hidden a human science teacher]] working at their school... or is she? The cast page even list Proff. Twiggit's species as [[http://www.eeriecuties.com/cast/ "(human?)"]], suggesting she may not be what she appears.
117	* In ''Webcomic/TheEnd'', most aliens are portrayed as being well and truly alien (huge six-eyed birdlike humanoids, UglyCute slug-people, etc.) The Ith, however, stand out.
118	--> '''Henri''': ''Those'' are Ith? You said they were ''similar'' to us.\
119	'''Ethma''': Are they not?\
120	'''Henri''': No! They're ''exactly'' the same!
121	* The Narvans, and the Amazons ''Webcomic/{{Tripp}}'' & co. encounter in their first attempt to vortex-jump.
122	* In ''Sev Trek'', the Enterprise is making FirstContact with the Obscuricons. Kirk asks Spock what type of beings they might be. After long speculation on StarfishAliens types, a human-looking alien beams up instead.
123	-->'''Kirk:''' What were you saying, Spock?\
124	'''Spock:''' I see; [[BoldlyComing you visited this planet too]].
125	* The Franchise/{{Superman}} example is parodied in a (SFW) comic by [[Webcomic/{{Sunstone}} Stjepan]] [[ComicBook/DeathVigil Sejic]], when Lois Lane and Superman prepare to have sex. It's not shown to us, but apparently Kryptonian males aren't identical to human males ''[[ExoticEquipment everywhere.]]''
126	[[/folder]]
127
128	[[folder:Web Original]]
129	* Almost all characters in ''Literature/ChaosFighters'' are this. The exceptions are [[spoiler:Irtial and Muranyl, who are from Earth.]]
130	* In ''WebVideo/{{Dad}}'', It's heavily implied that Dad and his family came from space; not only does he mention he used to live under the "Kepler rays" [[note]] as in the planet Kepler 22b[[/note]] and claims that his family is several eons old. He also tells the viewers to "move [their] human limbs" in "Dad Is On", calls his audience "Earthlings" in "Dad Feels Good", and claims to have "left his planet" in "Dad Bod". [[spoiler:ACT II PART I shows a younger Dad, in an astronaut suit, laying in the desert.]] In spite of this, they all look like ordinary humans, and even manage to pass as such while in public.
131	* [[{{WebAnimation/Hololive}} hololive]]:
132	** [[Characters/HololiveIndonesia Airani Iofifteen]] is described as a breed of aliens who enjoys drawing who entered a Virtual Communication and Designs school in a university on Earth. She resembles a human girl with paint splashes on her body.
133	** [[Characters/HololiveJapanGenerationFive Nene Momosuzu]] is an alien from a planet named [=TaoTao=] who came to Earth to meet new people. She has the most humanlike design out of her generation, which has a snow elf with PointyEars, [[SuccubiAndIncubi a succubus-in-training,]] [[LittleBitBeastly a lion, and a fennec fox clown.]]
134	[[/folder]]
135
136	[[folder:Other]]
137	* According to some UFO enthusiasts, NewAge religions and alleged contactees, some RealLife alien races are human aliens like the Pleiadians, a.k.a. Nordic Aliens.
138	[[/folder]]
139
140	----
141	!!Aversions and subversions
142
143	[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]
144	* Prot in ''Film/KPax'' explains this by saying that it is the most energy-efficient form to take on Earth. Of course, he [[spoiler:may or may not be an alien]].
145	* In the earlier film which might have inspired the novel, an Argentinian production called ''Hombre Mirando al Sudeste'' (''Man Looking Southeast''), Rantes explains to the doctor that though they came in a ship, he and the others are actually physical [[ProjectedMan projections]] from a distant, doomed future on another planet, and that they naturally adapt to whatever the observer [[WeirdnessCensor expects to see]]. Of course, he [[spoiler:may not be an alien, either -- though he does have PsychicPowers, and his equally-alien (?) female friend does leak blue liquid from her mouth when excited]], and then again, he also claims to be a MessianicArchetype... yeah, it's one ''hell'' of a MindScrew.
146	* Subverted with the Ultramen and Ultrawomen of Tsuburaya Productions' Franchise/UltraSeries, and an interesting case given the amount of humanlike alien races encountered by the Ultras over the course of the series! In the lore of the franchise, the Ultras started out looking very much like humans, but after their star died and the Plasma Spark was activated, their species was transformed into the first Ultra Warriors. That being said, most Ultras can 'become' humanlike again via a host or human form, which is vital when operating on planets such as Earth where the atmosphere blocks out the cosmic rays needed to stay at full power.
147	* Both the {{Franchise/Transformers}} & the Brave Series have a weird variation on this, wherein there are several planets besides Cybertron/whatever planet the heroes come from that are inhabited by intelligent TransformingMecha. Sometimes explained as being colonies of the main characters' race, sometimes not. While it may be reasonable to assume that a sufficiently advanced civilization would discard their weak organic bodies for more durable mechanical ones, the whole transforming thing is pushing it. The weirdest example being the Japanese Anime/BeastWarsII series, where there is a planet of highly evolved FunnyAnimal-like aliens who have developed to the point of Trans-funnyanimalism, where they have upgraded themselves with cybernetics. This allows them to turn into humanoid robot forms that look uncannily like the Maximals & Predacons, despite having no prior contact with them, for no apparent reason other than RuleOfCool.
148	* Mostly averted in the ''Franchise/StarWars'' series. It does feature a few human-looking (possibly) aliens. In some cases those may just be human colonies. It also features plenty of RubberForeheadAliens. The long history of humanity in the Star Wars galaxy allows for the possibility of so-called "near-human" races that are evolutionary descendants of mainstream humanity, but which have evolved to adapt to different planetary environments. Then there are also many species that are very non-human-looking. It's a richly diverse galaxy.
149	* Subverted in ''Film/GalaxyQuest,'' as the aliens initially appear human, but are using technology to change their appearance because their true form is... unsettling.
150	* Subverted in the remake of ''Film/TheDayTheEarthStoodStill2008''; Klaatu's human form is implied to have been grown inside his initial containment suit to allow him to be compatible with the Earth's environment. The opening shows a genetic sample being taken from a man (also played by Creator/KeanuReeves), implying that Klaatu's earth form is a clone of that man.
151	* In ''Film/Lifeforce1985'', when the astronauts explore the vampire spaceship they are astonished to discover a humanoid crew in stasis pods. Subverted when it's discovered that they're actually shapeshifting monsters who assumed human form to more easily find and seduce human victims to snack on their LifeEnergy. Their real form is some sort of extraterrestrial, winged bat creature.
152	[[/folder]]
153
154	[[folder:Literature]]
155	* Averted in the novel ''Quest'' by Andreas Eschbach, when it is explained that: 1.All human races originated on earth and just evolved differently due to different environments. 2.All of the galaxy's life originated on one planet and cells of it have been spread by comets.
156	* Averted in the novel ''Transformers: Ghosts of Yesterday'' (a prequel to the film), where Starscream claims that any sufficiently advanced race would naturally build machines that were similar to Cybertronians, as the Decepticons believe that they are the most perfect lifeforms in the galaxy. However, he also may have been simply trying to explain away the fact that the human spaceship ''Ghost 1'' seemed to be built using Cybertronian technology (i.e. that Megatron, the Decepticons' true leader, has been found).
157	* Conspicuously and consciously avoided in Creator/WayneBarlowe's illustrated sci-fi novel ''Literature/{{Expedition}}''. Barlowe, a noted fantastic fiction illustrator who darn well knows his biology, openly despises this trope and so he invented an alien race who is very like humankind in their attitude and culture - [[spoiler: but they look a bit like a cross between a hot air balloon and an [[SpaceWhale airborne octopus]].]]
158	* In Creator/LarryNiven's ''Literature/{{Ringworld}}'' series, and the prequel, ''Literature/{{Protector}}'', there are various humanoid races who all turn out to be [[spoiler:descended from the Pak, the same race of {{Precursors}} who are the ancestors of Earth humans]].
159	* The Martians and Venusians of Creator/SMStirling's ''Literature/TheLordsOfCreation'' novels look human because they are (more or less); the eponymous beings, in prehistoric times, Terraformed Mars and Venus and seeded them with Earth life (repeating the process several times, so that on Venus you have humans sharing the planet with dinosaurs and mammalian megafauna).
160	* The aliens in Robert Zubrin's TheHolyLand consider themselves the humans, and the Earthlings merely 'proto-humans'. Given their superior senses, telepathic ability, superior physiques, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking superlative hygiene]], they're probably right. However, they themselves originated on Earth, about twenty thousand years ago.
161	* ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy1'' has a subversion in the book version with Trillian. When she's introduced, she's built up to be one of these. [[spoiler:She's from Earth.]] There's also a RunningGag that Ford Prefect looks exactly like a human to humans, but to other aliens the species are different enough that his human friend Arthur Dent is repeatedly mistaken for his [[SonOfAnApe pet monkey]]. Golgafrinchans are so close to humans that their colony displacing the cavemen in 2 million BC went unnoticed, even by the higher-dimension beings running the planet.
162	* In the ''Literature/YoungWizards'' series, two of the four alien species involved in the wizardly cultural exchange program look human. And there's a guest appearance by a [[Series/DoctorWho Time Lord]]. A few of the {{Mooks}} are RubberForeheadAliens. All the rest of the aliens are definetly not human, with a few of them being StarfishAliens.
163	** An inversion as well as Roahaun, the [[HumanAliens human alien]] staying at the Callahan house states that he is actually the human and the humans are humanoids.
164	* Some of the ''Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse'' novels have the Doctor come across as mildly not-so-human, to generally creepy effect. Anji seems to be particularly prone to noticing this. In one scene, when he does strike her as a convincing human, she considers him "a fake" and refers to him as "the alien" and "it" before she remembers he is, after all, [[PlatonicLifePartners her friend]] and a nice guy. In another scene, they'd have ''really'' run up the special effects budget if it were TV, just to make people go "[[{{Squick}} Ewwww]]" at the protagonist:
165	-->In [[GentleGiant Hugo]]’s arms, the Doctor hung bonelessly limp, as if he might suddenly flow to the floor in a puddle. Anji had never seen a human body sag like that; no human being had that sort of muscular-skeletal frame. For a frightened instant, she felt more kinship with the man with no limbs[[note]]they're at a sideshow[[/note]] than she did with the Doctor.
166	* Played with in the ''Literature/SectorGeneral'' series. Sure, they have one species of Human Alien, but they have seventy species total, so that is to be expected eventually. There are also species which look nothing like humans but look a lot like each other, inverting the trope. On a more interesting note, every species' language uses a word equivalent to "human" as the species' name for itself, meaning actual ''Homo sapiens'' have to specify "Earth-human" (or their body shape and chemistry classification DBDG, which they share with at least two species of RubberForeheadAliens).
167	* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' pointedly averts this trope. The most humanoid alien ever mentioned in the series is a species of amphibious monkey. Also, the Hork-Bajir feature basically the same head/two arms/two legs body shape, but otherwise go even beyond RubberForeheadAliens (in fact, they more closely resemble dinosaurs). The torsos of Andalites look fairly humanoid, and the head has a RubberForeheadAlien quality to it, but otherwise they are very different (having a basic body structure like a Centaur). Aside from those three, none of the alien races/species portrayed or mentioned in the books look anything even remotely human. Some of them even stray into StarfishAliens territory. Elfangor reflects that humans are the only bipedal species he's ever seen or heard of that can balance without a tail.
168	** Played straight with the Inspector. He is a Yeerk Controller whose host body looks exactly like an Andalite, except it has no tail blade, and moves extremely quickly.
169	** In one book, Aximili lampshades the trope, complaining that Star Trek aliens are completely unrealistic and make no sense. He's particularly confused by Worf (they apparently saw ''Film/StarTrekGenerations''), whom he says resembles an Ongachic female.
170	* {{Discussed\|Trope}} and {{averted\|Trope}} in ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds1898''. The narrator, as well as most others present when the Martians first emerged from their vessel, expected to see "a man", or something near like it, not the TentacledTerror they got.
171	* In ''Literature/ManyWaters,'' Sandy and Dennys spend the first 100 or so pages assuming that they've been teleported to a desert planet with inhabitants who look exactly like AmbiguouslyBrown humans, save that they're only about four feet tall. Eventually they realize that they're still on Earth, [[BibleTimes but shortly before the Biblical flood]].
172	[[/folder]]
173
174	[[folder:Radio]]
175	* Parodied in the ''Captain Kremmen'' radio spoof, when Kremmen first encounters the Thargoids.
176	-->'''Kremmen:''' Except for their large transparent heads, three lips and sixteen nostrils, they looked just like you or I!
177	[[/folder]]
178
179	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
180	* Subverted in ''TabletopGame/CthulhuTech''. The Nazzadi look like RubberForeheadAliens, but that is because they are actually genetically engineered from humans by the very alien [[StarfishAliens Migou]].
181	* ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}'' RolePlayingGame both uses ''and'' subverts this; there are humans and humanoids [[TransplantedHumans spread]] by mysterious {{Precursors}}, and there are StarfishAliens, some of them ''very'' alien.
182	* Eldar from ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' look like humans with pointed ears and angular features in art. However, it's made clear in descriptions that no-one would ever make that mistake in-universe due to the weird boneless way they move, their fingers being compared to writhing worms.
183	[[/folder]]
184
185	[[folder:Video Games]]
186	* ''Franchise/DeadSpace'' has an ironic subversion, since all the Necromorphs are made from human corpses and several of them look pretty damn close to a plain old human. [[spoiler:In the third game, the remains of an alien civilization are discovered (along with some leftover Necromorphs from their civilization), and while they were human''oid'', they didn't look remotely similar to humans at all. And that's not even getting into the Brethren Moons, the creators of the Necromorphs, who are closer to an EldritchAbomination.]]
187	* ''{{VideoGame/Ascendancy}}'' not only does ''not'' have HumanAliens, it doesn't even have humans. ''All'' aliens in the game are StarfishAliens. The most recognizable are the Chamachies, being a race of LizardFolk with chameleon (i.e. turreted) eyes. Then there's a race whose people are made up mostly of a giant eyeball (unsurprisingly, they're called Oculons).
188	* ''VideoGame/TheLastFederation'', like ''{{VideoGame/Ascendancy}}'' above, does not have humans in it. Player character is a hydra looking alien, one alien race is a bug species, one looks like TheGreys, two are robots, one we do not get a good look at all and one looks like a barn owl. The last one looks humanoid, but is red, seems to have a carapace and lacks visible mouth.
189	* ''VideoGame/SchizmMysteriousJourney'', being an FMV game, shows the people of Argilus as mostly speaking in their native language and bearing a triangular marking on their foreheads to show signs of not being human.
190	* The ''[[{{VideoGame/XCOM}} X-COM]]'' series have aliens that attempt to blend in with humans. The Snakemen in the original are...unconvincing, but the [[VideoGame/XcomEnemyUnknown thin men]] are nearly perfect, and wear clothing specifically to cover the areas that don't look human (Specifically, their wrists and neck are greenish, and their eyes are clearly not human).
191	* ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'' has the Isu, a race of god-like beings that created advanced pieces of technology known as the Pieces of Eden. However, they are native to Earth and can interbreed with humans, but as revealed in ''[[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedUnity Unity]]'', they had triple helix DNA which made them a related but distinct species from their creations.
192	* In ''VideoGame/EarthDefenseForce5'', the Colonist alien enemies are described as looking "almost exactly like humans", even though they clearly don't: they are [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever building-sized]] FrogMen.
193	* ''{{VideoGame/Warframe}}'' has the Grineer, Tenno, and Corpus, all of whom are humans with minute differences, but with a subverted variant of the Transplaneted Humans justification, being that they all originated from actual humans long after our multi-planet civilization collapsed; genetically engineered slave races made by the now fallen solar-system spanning empire of the Orokin; the ''original'' humans. In fact, most of the scifi elements in universe are the result of the actions of interstellar humans. Even the BodyHorror inducing zombie parasite [[TheVirus Infested]], breathable atmospheres on planets like Mars and Venus, and [[spoiler:the StarfishAliens from another solar system that are the Sentients]] are human creations. Everything in the setting originated from earth.
194	** [[AmbiguousSituation The Man in the Wall]] may play it straight, though.
195	[[/folder]]
196
197	[[folder:Webcomics]]
198	* ''Webcomic/AlienDice'' has numerous examples of aliens who look similar to humans but with subtle differences, such as exotic HairColors or CuteLittleFangs. It also has a rather interesting subversion when it is [[TheReveal revealed]] that [[spoiler:the reason that the blueskinned Rishan look human is because they '''are''' human, having been created using genetic material taken from Earth humans generations ago]].
199	* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive.'' Aliens and magical beings get around by wearing T-shirts that say "Human" or some such. (''One'' person notices that his coworker is an alien. Her denying it is enough to convince the others, and she and this coworker wind up sending silly notes back and forth to each other about it.) Of course, Uryuoms being natural shapeshifters ''and'' the creators of TransformationRay technology, they could hide by simply becoming human. Of course, [[RuleOfFunny that wouldn't be funny.]]
200	** Two of them hire Ted (seen in a flashback) to design human forms for them, and provide the technology for it - apparently there are legal/political/religious reasons why they can't do it themselves (because it requires the use of object-oriented programming), rather than an inability to do it themselves. Also, once they've been raygunned into humans, they can (implied) shift back and forth freely.
201	** It gets better. Uryuoms don't consider themselves actual aliens--as one of the pair who hired Tedd said, he's a natural-born American! Hence the above argument--the other characters knew she wasn't ''human'', but she's not ''alien''. Wonderful thing, jus soli, eh?
202	* ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob.'' Except for the cameo crossovers with ''Webcomic/{{Melonpool}}, Webcomic/{{Zortic}},'' and ''Zeera the Space Pirate,'' all aliens depicted have been [[StarfishAliens nonhumanoid]] in their true forms--although the Nemesites will typically [[VoluntaryShapeshifting disguise]] themselves as humans when dealing with Earthlings.
203	* The Darnathi in ''Webcomic/IslaAukate'' modified themselves to look human in preparation for an infiltration-type invasion, their natural forms are more reptilian/amphibian. Unfortunately they crashed on an island populated by mythical creatures, so they kind of stand out.
204	[[/folder]]
205
206	[[folder:Western Animation]]
207	* {{Inverted}} [[PlayedForLaughs For Laughs]] in ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim''. [[VillainProtagonist Zim]]'s species, the Irkens, are HumanoidAliens at best, with solid-color eyes, green skin, antennae, and no nose or ears. But with a minimum of effort, nobody notices except for [[HeroAntagonist Dib]].
208	* Captain Crandall of ''WesternAnimation/TeamoSupremo'' claims to be from another planet, despite the fact that he looks too much like his "Earth-mom" to possibly not be her child.
209	* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/MonsterBusterClub''; Cathy seems like a Human Alien at first glance... but various lines indicate that this is just a human disguise like we see on other aliens in the series, and her true form hews closer to the StarfishAliens trope.
210	* ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries'' uses human aliens only for legacy species, illusion casters, and shapechangers. Otherwise, the aliens in the series are very alien indeed, taking full advantage of animation not requiring costly prosthetics or puppetry.
211	* Mostly averted in ''WesternAnimation/MenInBlackTheSeries'' with its StarfishAliens, albeit some examples do exist including Jeeb’s unnamed species (identical to humans save for being green inside and be indestructible) and Aileen’s unnamed species (very similar to humans save for the dark blue skin and the tentacle-like retractile fingers).
212	* ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'' contains a planet called Mertz occupied by superpowered ''Homo sapiens''. However, since Earth in this universe is occupied only by anthropomorphic animals, a visitor from that planet strikes Darkwing as a "bizarre-looking alien monstrosity."
213	* The Bortronians from ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'' look like red-haired humans and can catch and fight off human diseases normally, implying their biology is similar as well.
214	* The ''WesternAnimation/SpacePOP'' girls are mostly human except for pointed ears and colorful skin, and Chamberlin and Captain Hansome look extremely human. While Geela has a more alien design, she also counts compared to other aliens who are clearly nonhuman.
215	* The Alteans in ''WesternAnimation/VoltronLegendaryDefender'' appear mostly human, though have a few differences, such as [[PointyEars pointy elf ears]], small marks of color next to their eyes, and sometimes [[MysticalWhiteHair white hair]].
216	[[/folder]]
217
218	[[folder:Other]]
219	* Some conspiracy theorists believe that an alien/extradimensional evil race called the Reptilians take human appearance.
220	[[/folder]]

Context Main / HumanAliens