The classic
Disney cartoon universe has traditionally hosted two types of animals. The first type includes human-like animals such as Goofy and Mickey Mouse who wear clothes, pay taxes, and speak in some kind of coherent human language. The other type more closely resembles actual animals — Pluto, for example, runs around naked, eats whatever he happens to find laying on the floor, and sniffs the crotches of random strangers, just like your average real-world dog (
Goofy, on the other hand, only pulls that shit in fanfic).
In many cartoon or comic settings one will often find that the characters are
anthropomorphic animals. The audience tends to accept this without question — until non-humanlike animals appear in the same continuity. Fortunately the audience doesn't
usually have a big problem with this.
Things get unquestionably weird when non-humanlike specimens of the
same species of animals the main characters are based upon are shown existing in the setting alongside them.
Some Furry Fiction
Hand Waves this by explaining that their
very humanoid characters have a science-fiction basis. They may be mutants or
visiting aliens or something. Perhaps they are normal animals who
evolved into a humanlike form after gaining intelligence (so any non-anthros would be their equivalents to chimps or something). This explanation is generally fine as long as there are
actual humans forming the rest of the cast. If there aren't
any humans around — or if there's no explanation given at all — expect the wave of
unsettling implications to hit you soon. The sight of a talking dog-man owning a
pet dog (or of a chicken-man
eating fried chicken) is pretty strange.
Very often crosses over with
Carnivore Confusion,
Furry Denial, and occasionally with
What Measure Is a Non-Cute? and
No Cartoon Fish. See also
Anthropomorphic Shift and
Feather Fingers. See
Animal Gender Bender and
Ass in a Lion Skin for a whole new level of confusion. Very often happens because
Most Writers Are Human and
Furries Are Easier to Draw.
Example subpages
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Collectibles
- Minotaurs are especially prone to weirdness (see also Non-Mammal Mammaries and the World of Warcraft examples below). The Kystonia line of collectible figures has two characters named Moplos and Mos
. Moplos is a Minotaur-like creature. Mos is his "pack animal" who looks eerily like a non-anthro bovine. Now, the literature assures us that they are very different species — but they look darn near identical except for the fact that one of them walks like a man and the other is on all fours. The mind cannot help but go down some very scary paths here...
- Enjoy a new level of Furry Confusion with this collection of all-animal Nativity sets (horrible Geocities-era web design in that link; you may have to scroll down). The very sight of Moose-Jesus is a good indication of why Brian Jaques ignores this issue entirely.
- This has to have something to do with Christian Furries, who probably warrant a mention on this page anyway.
- Here is one to mull over — iconic cute mascot Hello Kitty has a pet cat named Charmmy Kitty. It doesn't help that if it weren't for her tufts of fur and non-anthro body, she would look exactly like her owner.
Fan Works
- In Turnabout Storm, Rarity and Pinkie get quite puzzled when Phoenix Wright tells them that the ponies in his world are not as nearly as talkative, intelligent and not-stinky as the ones in Equestria. There goes Rarity and her new transdimensional clients.
- In the same vein, Becoming Ponies inevitably has people turned ponies meeting actual horses. The incidents are... weird, to say the least.
Music
- This Music Video.
- K-9 Corp's Dog Talk uses the aforementioned Goofy confusion in a seriously squicky way. It doesn't help that it's an Ear Worm.
- Rathergood tends to use anthro cats as performers in their music videos. So in "When I Had a Cold" the anthro cat performer sings that he "snotted and snotted all over my cat", which is illustrated as an ordinary, non-anthro kitten.
- The video for Goldfrapp's Strict Machine has men with dog heads pasted over their heads. At the end of the video, they are shown walking normal dogs.
Tabletop Games
- Ironclaw and sister game Jadeclaw try to sidestep the issue by invoking Reptiles Are Abhorrent. The setting is full of anthropomorphic animal races. So what do the noble horse knights ride? Giant lizards. What are those animals people eat like chickens? Uh... winged lizards.
- Averted in World Tree, due to the conspicuous absence of any "real" animals matching the Prime races.
- The leonin Ajani Goldmane of Magic: The Gathering is vexed in Alara Unbroken when he visits Bant and sees the leotau the knights use as their steeds. They look a lot like his own race, but they're non-sentient.
Toys
- Hello Kitty has a cat called Charmy Kitty[1]
- Plant example in Monster High: Venus Mc Flttrap 's pet is a plant that isn't humanoid but clearly not a normal plant either.
- Sylvanian Families is a franchise consisting of Petting Zoo People. They go to school, get jobs as doctors, drive old-fashioned motorcycles and... run farms. They can go show-jumping, drive horse-driven carts, and dress up as other animals. But the most worrying exclusive official site products are a hamburger resturant and a hamburger wagon. To quote the official babble...
Official Babble: No fast food rubbish here! All the meals on offer at the Sylvanian Hamburger Restaurant are top quality, healthy, locally sourced products! If you're in a hurry, the restaurant even has a take-away window that you can drive up to!
Official Babble: The Hamburger Wagon has fold out counters and fold out rooftop seating area. Comes with lots of hamburgers, hotdogs, sandwiches, rolls, drinks and other accessories.
