Basic Trope: A robot character looks and acts exactly like a human.
- Straight: ALI-C3 is a robot who passes almost perfectly for a human at first (and possibly second) glance.
- Exaggerated:
- C3 has the complete outward anatomy of a human, including certain bits that would be completely impractical on a robot.
- C3 has functioning organs and muscles, and can even become pregnant and give birth to a fully human infant which she is able to breastfeed if provided with an input of raw DNA.
- Downplayed:
- C3 may not look human at all, but her personality is almost indistinguishable from a real human.
- C3 looks and feels to the touch like a human, but her personality is distinctly inhuman.
- Justified:
- C3 was built as an experiment into human/robot psychology; she needs to be humanoid in order to get the full human experience. More utilitarian robots in the same universe aren't humanoid at all.
- C3 has an actual human brain.
- C3 is really a human but with a lot of robotic upgrades.
- C3 was intentionally designed to be her creator's human partner/daughter.
- C3 is an infiltrator unit, it needs to appear human enough in order to increase its effectiveness and avoid detection.
- C3 is designed to function as either a Robot Buddy, a Robotic Spouse, or a Robot Kid for infertile/gay/etc. couples.
- C3 was designed to interact with humans on a daily basis in capacities such as a caretaker or guide.
- C3 was designed for disaster relief and rescue, and humans being humans, the rescue team looking like them to the point of sharing their body language and facial expressions makes it easier to communicate information and instructions and reassure civilians, while still being tough as nails, was a major design goal, so for that specific niche, a humanoid frame capable of great strength while being incredibly durable combines the best traits of humans and machine.
- A sense of self is necessary to use Functional Magic, and the easiest way of creating a machine that can use spells is to make it human-like in thought patterns. The human-like body is to allow C3 to do the gestures needed to cast a spell.
- C3 is a human who has undergone a Brain Uploading in a robotic frame to escape a terminal disease.
- Inverted:
- Bob is a human with so many cybernetics grafted onto him that he barely counts as human anymore.
- Bob's species are organic life forms that look like robots.
- Bob the human is so stoic and efficient that people often confuse him for a robot.
- Subverted:
- C3 looks like a human at first, but she still has numerous glitches that keep her from perfectly mirroring human behavior.
- It turns out C3 is actually a cyborg, who had her former human memories removed.
- Double Subverted:
- These glitches mimic real human disorders.
- It turns out no memories were removed, and she was robotic with organic parts grafted on, rather than the other way round.
- Parodied:
- Even C3's creator keeps forgetting that she's not human, which becomes a problem whenever it's time for her maintenance.
- C3 has a body comprised of individual microscopic cellular units and possesses an organic processing device, while internal maintenance is handled by autonomous circulatory systems. This unit is capable of adaptive AI, self-repair, has complete immunity to software viruses, and is even capable of producing a similar unit if provided with compatible genetic information.
Alice: Dad! Quit telling everyone I'm a robot!- The reason why all robots are ridiculously human is a combination of the first users who brought forth massive demand being for robotic prostitutes and economics making it cheaper to make everything based on their chassis.
- Zig Zagged: ???
- Averted: C3 neither looks nor acts quite like a human.
- Enforced:
- "We want to show just how far humans have come in the A.I. department in our show. Let's make one of the actors play a robot."
- C3 is made humanoid in order to make her relatable to the audience.
- Lampshaded: "Query: Exactly what was the point of giving me superfluous traits like emotion?"
- Invoked: C3's creator often feels lonely but has some sort of social disorder that prevents him from going out to make human friends. C3 is created so he could have some real company.
- Exploited:
- C3 is designed to have several of the same fatal flaws as a human (such as needing to breath oxygen), even though such weakness are not necessary for a robot. A villain destroys C3 by exploiting these fatal flaws (such as by suffocating her), rather than by more robot-specific methods of destruction.
- C3 is given emotions so human-like that he is vulnerable to typical emotional manipulation such as seduction, intimidation or blackmail.
- Defied: Bob designs C3 with efficiency, rather than sapience, in mind.
- Discussed:Bob: "ALI-C3... I was wondering, since you act a lot like a human and all, does that mean you're, uh, available?"ALI-C3: "Query: Define 'available'."
- Conversed: "I wonder if robotics is gonna get to that stage in real life."
- Deconstructed:
- Being ridiculously human also means C3 gets none of the fringe benefits of being robotic; no improved strength, no extended lifespan, no super intelligence, no Brain Uploading, no innate tech savvy, no nothing.
- Being ridiculously human means she is prone to the same limitations as humans; she needs to eat, drink, use the bathroom, and is prone to human illnesses.
- C3 doesn't quite fit in with humans, but other robots rejects her as well, being disgusted by her idolatrous chassis. Ultimately, C3 is neither human enough nor robotic enough to fit in anywhere, driving her to depression.
- Reconstructed:
- ...At least, that's how she's forced to seem so people still think she's human.
- But it's not a problem for C3: Having no robotic advantages doesn't prevents her from partying with her friends, play sports, go to a dinner with her lover... or start a family.
- C3 doesn't fit in with pure humans or pure robots, but she and other Ridiculously Human Robots fit into their own niche, alongside cyborgs and other misfits.
- Played For Laughs:C3: "I'm a robot and you only just told me?"
- Played For Drama: C3 is just another person trying to fit in, but finds herself encountering fear and resentment wherever she goes. She can, and does, cry.
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