History Main / DittoAliens

* Given a LampshadeHanging in ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'', when a local sapient uses "they all look the same to me" line when referring to the mercenary group, offending the titular character Schlock, who is not even remotely bipedal. Hung with an even larger lampshade in a later strip of the same comic, where the alien members of the mercenary crew are complaining that a group of new recruits are all Terrans, and 'all look the same to them'. Given that at this point in the series history, 'Terrans' includes humans, various sapient varieties of ape (pretty much anything Chimpanzee-sized and larger, up to and including Gorillas), along with sapient '''elephants'''...
** Another time, the Toughs are visiting a space station owned by The Gavs, a single human who was duplicated nearly a billion times by an immense TeleporterAccident. Tagon warns them ahead of time so that they won't get weirded out by the sea of identical-except-for-hairstyle faces. Turns out the Gavs had just perfected a process for remaking themselves into unique individuals, and there was no such sea.
-->'''Chisulo:''' [[LampshadeHanging Yeah, they all look alike to me, but I've got a little bit of a racist streak.]]

* In one ''Webcomic/{{Starslip}}'' strip, when the crew is on Earth, two humans mistake Mr Jinx for their own cirbozoid employees. When Mr Jinx corrects them, one of them haughtily replies that cirbozoids all look the same... followed by a panel showing them standing next to each other, showing them to be nearly identical ([[OnlySixFaces mostly due to the strip's art style]]).

* Thief in ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'' insists that all humans look the same, one of the many expressions of his racism against all non-elf species.
-->'''Thief:''' All humans look alike. Which is to say, ugly.
* In one strip of ''Webcomic/{{Oglaf}}'', humans are considered sexual deviants by other sapient species because their men look like their women. The really unsettling part for them is that [[SexyDimorphism our species looks like]] ''[[SexyDimorphism their]]'' [[SexyDimorphism women too]].
-->'''Mushroom Man:''' ''(Pointing at a picture of a human male)'' They're like blobby chicks you wouldn't fuck!

* In ''Solar Winds'', all the aliens of the nearby warrior race all look the same, as they use the same sprites. However at one point you are disguised as an alien through some CameraSpoofing, and it's explained they merely look identical to your (human) eyes. If you then run into the alien that the spoofed footage is based on, he'll notice immediately that you stole his face and attack you.
* ''VideoGame/StarCraft'': averted with the protoss who have varying facial features, builds, and skin tones, with their coloration varying from pale white to pink to dark purple (except for the Purifiers, who are [[BrainUploading made of grey metal]]). Played straight and justified with the [[HordeOfAlienLocusts zerg]]: every zerg subspecies looks identical to every other member of the subspecies, but that's because they all use the same genetic code and are simply printed from a larva when the hive needs that specific form. Except for the handful of sapient leaders, they're all essentially clones.
* Used throughout ''VideoGame/StarControl'', and [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by the Zoq-Fot-Pik: ''"You must meet with our leaders. They are wiser... more powerful beings! ...They look just like us, though."''

* ''VideoGame/{{Spore}}'', though earlier stages at least have "baby" versions with more exaggerated features. Civ and Space, though? All members of a given species are identical, including the outfits.
* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'': This fantasy series uses the Ditto Aliens trope a lot. When Gorons and non-lethal Zoras were introduced in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'', each had exactly one model to go around -- the only ones who looked any different were the Zora king and princess, and the Gorons' tribe leader. The gorons at least had deviation in size, but it was still the exact same model, just enlarged or shrunken as needed. This is in stark contrast to the Hylians, who ''all'' looked unique.
** This was improved a bit in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'' and ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'' -- the Zora had two different models for standard citizens. A number of relatively important gorons got unique models as well, but the ordinary ones still all looked alike.
** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'', while Hylians and Sheikah all have truly unique models, the Zora, Gorons, Rito, and Gerudo have one basic model for the males and females of their children, adults, and elderly, with the Gerudo also having an extra one for the middle aged characters. Said model is usually made more distinct by changing the color of its skin, its hair style, and/or its wardrobe.

* Inverted in ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'', in which an NPC, Visquis, mistakes FieryRedhead Mira for the PlayerCharacter, claiming "all humans look alike" to him. Possibly also a lampshade hanging, as Visquis is a member of a species that only has a single character model in the game.
* It comes up a few times in ''VisualNovel/HatofulBoyfriend'', though instead of aliens these are birds. The human protagonist notes that she can pick out her [[ChildhoodFriends Childhood Friend]] Ryouta from a crowd of other rock doves seventy percent of the time, but when meeting three new pigeons at once she can't tell them apart. There are also three white fantail pigeons in the cast. In the manga human difficulties in telling them apart are brought up more than once.
* In ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'', it's generally played straight within each individual game, but averted within the franchise as a whole, particular with the Kig-Yar, whom we know consist of at least three different sub-species; the Jackals from the Creator/{{Bungie}}-era games (native to the continent of Ruuht), the Skirmishers from ''VideoGame/HaloReach'' (native to the asteroid colony of T'vao), and the Jackals introduced in ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}'' (native to the continent of Ibie'sh). Additionally, WordOfGod has [[https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/community/bulletins/the-halo-bulletin-knowledge-drop explicitly stated]] that the continually changing physical appearances of the Covenant species between each game all represent equally canon phenotypes.
** There's even a rather clever justification why humans seem to avert this: originally, humanity displayed dozens of different subspecies and variations on par with the physical variety seen among the other alien species (Neanderthals, Denisovans, ''H. floriesensis''/Florians, etc.). Most of these, however, were [[spoiler:present on the Halo targeted by the Didact for composition.]] The few that remained were only enough to preserve Homo Sapiens in the long run.

* All the alien skins in ''VideoGame/StarWarsBattlefront2015'' are identical to a single member of that species, with all the Rodians looking just like Greedo and all the Sullustans having the same face as Nien Nunb. Meanwhile, all those humans running around look different for whatever reason.
* ''VideoGame/MoshiMonsters'': Played straight for the Astro Gremlins, who all look like pointy-eared blue creatures, and inverted for the Zoshlings where each individual one looks different.
* ''VideoGame/{{Pico}}'': Penillians are a hermaphroditic species that use the same character model in both canon and fan games. Some fan games give them a little diversity by including gender differences ([[BizarreSexualDimorphism female anatomy is more prominent on males and vice versa]]), but otherwise leave the similarity intact. This doesn't apply to their {{Human Disguise}}s, which can blend in with the populace seamlessly.
* ''VideoGame/PartTimeUFO'': The humans and other earthly creatures seen throughout the game are drawn distinctly from each other. The same, however, is not true of the aliens:
** The only difference between the two player Jobskis is the color of their respective chassis. A piece of art drawn for Father's Day also showed that Jobski's father looked exactly like them, but with a topknot instead of an antenna.
** Aside from their commander, the [[spoiler:star aliens]] found on the Moon resemble each other.
** The only exception to this rule is Ankh, but she is the only member of her species seen in the game.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': Played with with the Eye Tyrant (Beholder) race. To other races, they all look alike... but to the Beholders, that slight difference in the exact shade of red their skin is or just how long their teeth are that the other races overlook is a sign that the other Beholder is an abomination against nature that must be killed on sight. A Beholder would probably be shocked and disgusted that humans or elves can't tell its purity from the debased nature of the other breeds... if it actually viewed anything that's not a Beholder as anything more than annoying vermin. There is a Beholder goddess that represents the true form of Beholder perfection, and that would be great... except that any Beholder who sees her ''sees her as looking exactly like them''.
* The Tau of ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''. Humans have a lot of trouble telling if a Tau is male or female (the trick is that the nostrils have different shapes), nevermind spotting out individuals.
** Da Orks have this view of humans. Ork hierarchy is based on who is da biggest, meanest Ork around. Some relatively philosophical Orks (and the bar is very low here) wonder how the human chain of command works, since humans are all about the same size as each other. Some crafty Orks have noticed that da 'oomies what give da orders [[BlingOfWar have more shiny bits on deir clothes]]. The main competing theory is dat it's all 'bout [[CommissarCap dem fancy 'ats]].

* In ''TabletopGame/RocketAge'' the Metisians are a race that look incredibly alike due to their only method of reproduction being cloning. Although there are slight variations, only a Metisian could tell them apart, since they are a race of squid-like aliens that look a little like brains in jars.

** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E7TheSensorites "The Sensorites"]], the humans' inability to tell the Sensorites apart inspires one Sensorite to impersonate another with no more disguise than a change of clothes; the imposture fools everyone he meets, including some of his fellow aliens (although he does try to avoid anyone actually personally familiar with the one he's impersonating).
*** That's right, the Sensorites were all physically identical, to the point that even they themselves could not tell each other apart except for their clothing, and not one of them had ever noticed this fact in all the species' long history.

* In ''Superman vs UsefulNotes/MuhammadAli'', the aliens attending Superman and Ali's boxing match insist that Superman keep his costume on instead of changing into boxing trunks. That way, it will be easier to tell them apart.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E89ToServeMan To Serve Man]]", the Kanamits are all identical in appearance. The ambassador has a goatee and white robes to distinguish him from the others.

* ''{{Transformers}}'': Exception -- Due partly to the MerchandiseDriven origins of the franchise, most Transformers look suitably different, have different weapons and abilities, and even those who share an alternate mode may transform differently. A small handful don't even have a humanoid robot mode. It's not uncommon for Transformers to be upgraded into new bodies by any number of means, either, so the trope has arguably been completely reversed here: Not only do they not look identical, sometimes they won't even look like they did last time someone saw them!\\

[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]

* The unnamed "miner" aliens from ''Film/GalaxyQuest'' are a pack of cute, adorable, identical-looking [[spoiler:cannibalistic]] blue-skinned critters.
* ''Franchise/StarWars'' averts it, where most of the alien species with multiple members given screen time are diverse. This includes suits (Twi'leks, Wookiees, Zabraks and Ewoks) and computer generated (such as Gungans and Yoda's people). An exception is the Gungan celebration at the end of ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'', we see a group of absolutely identical CG Gungans dancing in impossible lockstep. Like everything else about the Gungans, it was intended to be funny, but it totally breaks suspension of disbelief.

* People who have Asperger's Syndrome or other forms of autism may have a hard time remembering people by their faces. To them, you can tell them a name, and while they're able to tell you if they've heard it before, they absolutely cannot connect the name to a face or personality unless one, more information about the person is provided, or two, they've been around said person multiple times or have found them especially memorable.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': Played with with the Eye Tyrant (Beholder) race. To other races, they all look alike... but to the Beholders, that slight difference in the exact shade of red their skin is or just how long their teeth are that the other races overlook is a sign that the other Beholder is an abomination against nature that must be killed on sight. A Beholder would probably shocked and disgusted that humans or elves can't tell its purity from the debased nature of the other breeds... if it actually viewed anything that's not a Beholder as anything more than annoying vermin. There is a Beholder goddess that represents the true form of beholder perfection, and that would be great... except that any beholder who sees her ''sees her as looking exactly like them''.

** Da Orks have this view of humans. Ork hierarchy is based on who is da biggest, meanest Ork around. Some relatively philosophical Orks (and the bar is very low here) wonder how the human chain of command works since humans are all about the same size as each other. Some crafty Orks have noticed that da 'oomies what give da orders [[BlingOfWar have more shiny bits on deir clothes]]. The main competing theory is dat it's all 'bout [[CommissarCap dem fancy 'ats]].
* ''TabletopGame/{{Space 1889}}'' weird double inversion. Martians think humans look rather similar, but that is because they have seen only caucasians. Mars has had a global society and easy long-distance travel for millennia so regional differences between Canal Martians are next to non-existent. So Martians who do get to say east asians and black people will be surprised by human diversity and perhaps realize that it is they, the Martians who are similar.
* In ''TabletopGame/RocketAge'' the Metisians are a race that look like incredibly alike due to their only method of reproduction being cloning. Although there are slight variations, only a Metisian could tell them apart, since they are a race of squid-like aliens that look a little like brains in jars.

* The Asgard in ''Series/StargateSG1'' and ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' are all identical, though it is [[JustifiedTrope justified]] by the fact that they are all clones. (In the finale Daniel Jackson says they tell them apart from their voices.) Other alien races such as the Wraith, are similar to one another, but have enough differences between themselves to be unique. The Wraith also have cookie-cutter soldiers, but those are clones.

* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'': In "The Deprogrammers", the Torkor Koltok mentions that humans all look alike to him.

* ''Film/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory:'' The Oompa-Loompas look identical to humans, except for their size, but all of them are played by [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Roy the same actor]], with no attempt to differentiate individuals. The frequent crowd shots thus put them into the UncannyValley.

** The same goes for the [[ProudScholarRaceGuy Vorts]] ([[ContinuitySnarl or Vortians?]]): [[RebelLeader Lard Nar]] has gray skin and "horns" (head tentacles?) that seem to be segmented, while [[ForcedIntoEvil Prisoner 777]] is purple-skinned and his horns are more curved.

* {{Defied}} in ''Literature/{{Seekers}}''. When Ujurak transforms into a seal to talk to some real seals, he thinks they all look the same at first, but then he notices subtle differences between them.

Interesting side note: Some evidence suggests that humans have trouble discerning differences between faces that belong to a group they are unfamiliar with. "They all look the same", therefore, has some basis in fact. This is the basis of the RacialFaceBlindness trope. However, this effect fades with time and exposure to different individuals of said different groups. Therefore, a sheltered Westerner moving to Korea will, after initial difficulty, eventually be able to tell his neighbors apart quite well. One can assume the same would hold true if he moved to Alpha Centauri.

** In one scene in ''The Fellowship of the Ring'', Bilbo is astonished that his elven audience in Rivendell can't tell what parts of a poem he was reading were written by him, and which were written by the Dúnadan[[note]](read: Aragorn)[[/note]]. One elf responds "To sheep other sheep no doubt appear different, or to shepherds. But Mortals have not been our study. We have other business."

** Tash concludes that maybe they're twins. [[spoiler: And as it turns out, that was actually {{Foreshadowing}} for how both were clones of the same Sullustan.]]

* PlayedWith in ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}''--when [[BigBad the future Visser Three]] first manages to [[PuppeteerParasite infest]] [[GeneralRipper Alloran]], [[WideEyedIdealist Elfangor]] realizes that his subordinates won't know ''which'' Andalite he's gotten, so he contacts them and does his best "Evil Overlord" act.

* Lampshaded in ''Series/ThirdRockFromTheSun'' - in an episode where the (alien) family is trying to decide what (human) race they are, it is pointed out that Dick has never noticed that Nina is black, at which point he quips [[InnocentBigot 'you people all look alike to me']].

** Even non-speaking background characters from the minor races were often diverse, although sometimes more due to ArtEvolution (the makeup changing over time). Just for a few examples: Drazi sometimes have spiked cheeks, but many don't, and the scale patterns on their head are different - some even have smooth heads. The Abbai's crest comes in different lengths, and their colour ranges from orange to reddish-pink to beige, with different spot or blotch patterns. The Hyach come in different shades of orange from a near-beige to a near-red, and their scale patterns are different each time (some more pronounced, sometimes extending over the bridge of the nose). Markab sometimes have underbites, sometimes overbites. One of the Brakiri is bald, while most of his race have hair.

* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'': This fantasy series uses the Ditto Aliens trope a lot. When Gorons and non-lethal Zoras were introduced in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'', each had exactly one model to go around - the only ones who looked any different were the Zora king and princess, and the Gorons' tribe leader. The gorons at least had deviation in size, but it was still the exact same model, just enlarged or shrunken as needed. This is in stark contrast to the Hylians, who ''all'' looked unique.

** There's even a rather clever justification why humans seem to avert this: originally, humanity displayed dozens of different subspecies and variations on par with the physical variety seen among the other alien species (Neandethals, Denisovans, Floriesensis/Florians, etc.). Most of these, however, were [[spoiler: present on the Halo targeted by the Didact for composition.]] The few that remained were only enough to preserve Homo Sapiens in the long run.

* {{Averted}} in ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad''--when we finally see more of [[JerkAss Roger]]'s species, they still look like TheGreys but differ a lot in body type.