"Slightly Off" Traits For Possibly Not Quite Human Characters

A tendency to, while conversing, respond with either too much of a delay or not enough of one.

Turning their head completely when they look at something (Whereas humans tend to keep their heads relatively stationary, moving their eyes around.)

Unusual eye-contact habits (Looking above someone's head, not breaking eye contact (It depends on the human culture, of course, but in a lot of them, it's impolite to make eye contact for too long. Try it sometime), that sort of thing.)

Never eating or using the lavatory around others.

Being a pustulant, slithering blob with squirming flesh made up of some self-luminescent material that grows sensory organs as required whilst it and also eats people. Tekeli-li~

edited 13th Apr '14 11:13:17 PM by Rem

No fluidity to their movements, as though animated poorly.

Occasionally 'skipping' a part of a movement, as though a cell or two was cut out of the film you're watching. (Alternately: strobe light movement.)

Missing any one of the following: happiness, anger, love, sadness.

Limbs occasionally change length, by a couple of centimeters or so.

Parts of their body or clothes sometimes drip off, without affecting how the remaining parts look.

Doesn't open their mouth to speak. (As with cats, they normally only open their mouths to get a better grasp on what they're smelling.) Still speaks.

They sometimes makes sounds, with their mouths, that sound like computer keys (say, from the mid-90s) being used rapidly.

Extra digits that aren't always there.

Can turn their head 270 degrees instead of the usual 180.

Extendable neck. (Not quite to the Japanese Youkai extent.)

Mouth can open quite a bit wider than normal. Think Glasgow Grin, but with more teeth.

Things occasionally appear in their hands when they bring them from behind their backs, that are simply too big to have hidden on their person.

Skin color changes slightly, either at will or due to ambient lighting.

Hair that grows in sudden and immediate spurts.

Hair that occasionally doesn't obey the laws of physics, without gel.

Able to carry out a silent conversation with a cat.

Two or more tongues. Barbs optional.

Constantly emitting a low-decibel high-hertz whine.

Limbs and digits occasionally move as though they only have two joints (instead of the usual three).

Can pull a Stealth Hi/Bye in broad daylight.

Speaks thirty languages; sounds, intones, and pronounces like Larry The Cable Guy in all of them. (With respect to Gabriel Iglesias.)

Can play two parts at once on a stringed musical instrument.

Looks like Keith Moon (or Animal) even after 'cleaning up'.

Floats a millimeter off the ground at all times.

Perfect skin looking like photoshop work.

When climbing out of a low area over a ledge, they continue to walk on all fours for a few steps .

( Once again something that I sometimes actually do.)

Always moist. Even after several hours in the desert with insufficient/no hydration.

Sunlight reflects differently or unusually off of them. Only sunlight, not artificial light (or vice-versa).

They look to their wrist as though checking their watch, even though they aren't wearing one, and can tell the time that way.

Despite having a human sense of public decency, they act as though they are wearing one layer of clothing less than they actually are.

Scaly tongue.

Chilicera-that is, articulated teeth, like spiders or scorpions.

Radio static when they're speaking, like they're on a walkie-talkie or cheap cellphone, despite communicating in person.

edited 9th Jun '14 2:25:47 AM by dvorak

They don't tan brown like us, instead they turn orange like a cheap fake spray tan.

They can be up to three inches taller when they wake up in the morning compared with when they go to bed.

Have a lower or higher density than us.

Have a high active metabolism and a considerably slower resting metabolism.

edited 8th Jun '14 10:52:04 PM by m8e

Whenever they get agitated, a sort of frantic whispering or muttering can be heard. The sound seems to have no source, and is in no known language.

When they walk or stand, their arms always remain down by their side. When they sit, they always sit bolt upright with both hands on their lap and both feet flat on the floor, looking straight ahead.

They don't use or don't know how to use common utensils like forks or spoons. They only eat food with their hands.

Before replying to something, they stare off into the distance briefly as though listening to an invisible radio.

They don't look directly at you, rather they always seem to be looking at something just over your shoulder.

They only eat or drink one thing, and are never seen without it.

Rather than breathing in and out, they only seem to breathe in.

When speaking, they avoid using a particular sound, like "f" or "th". Normally they avoid using particular words, but occasionally they will slip up and substitute a different sound for that particular letter or omit it altogether.

Or, as The Strain made me notice, they simply don't breathe. It's fascinating how such a small change enhanced the inhuman trait of a character.

Voice pronounces each word as if it was saying it alone making sentences have no flow.

When having been in a conversation absolutely insists on keeping it's original topic to the point of begging and crying.

Can recite whole novels word-for-word but if you ask anything about the characters or plot they are unable to answer, they only know the words, not the story.

All body hair the exact same length. Eyebrows and all.

Skin colour slightly off, a weird murky combination of the mean of all humanity.

Clothes that look like what people wear on TV rather then in real life.

Animal traits:

• A character's body language is one of Cats Are Mean, Big Bad Ass Bird Of Prey, Ominous Owl, Angry Guard Dog, Creepy Centipedes, Savage Wolves, Reptiles Are Abhorrent, Everythings Squishier With Cephalopods, Creepy Cockroach, Creepy Crows and Killer Gorilla.
  • bonus points if the character (a la Galaxy Quest) moves in such a way to imply that they are an inveterbrate (insect, cephalopod, spider etc).

• What the Hell Is That Accent? bleeds into their voice sounding wrong, like when a parrot or dog imitates speech.

• A character hisses, purrs or makes noises that imply that their instincts are showing.

• Panting, weird grooming or other habits that indicate Bizarre Alien Biology.
  • A shapeshifter mimicing clothes would react to heat, cold, pain on their "outfit" just as if it was skin, Glamor Failure. Double if they produce a yelp, whine or some other non-human sound in pain.

• The character reacts to high frequency sounds, reacts as if they can see more colors and shapes than a human would (the reason cats "stare" into the darkness? They can see shadows and shapes we can't. Now imagine "Aunt Rita from Cardiff" doing the same).

• Evil-Detecting Dog: Animals (especially domesticated prey animals like rabbits, cows and horses) react to the character as if he/she/it was a dangerous predator. And the character responds in kind.

edited 4th Aug '14 2:17:44 PM by TairaMai

Changing colours nearly cartoonishly: strong blushes, discernible shades of blue/green/gray when feeling cold/nauseous/ill, etc.

Hair can only grow up to a few inches long; strong whorls on each temple lift sufficiently long hair into a vaguely horn-like shape.

Blue- or green-eye-effect instead of red-eye-effect (due to differently coloured insides of eyes).

Slightly longer and thinner tongue.

• Always wears gloves and shoes even indoors.
• Never seen without some piece of fancy jewelry that "sparkles" even when there is little light.
• Character fits the "stereotype" of gender roles: a male is hyper-masculine, a female is ultra-feminine. It's as if they learned gender roles of media and popular culture and are reading off a script or breifing.

For characters others suspect Came Back Wrong:

• They remember dates and events but nothing emotional. Instead of saying "My first kiss was magical/sexy/wild/etc" they say things like "I was kissed on the third of August, it was a Tuesday."
• They bluff their way when talking to friends and family, again, like they are reading off a script.
• Strange cravings that are totally off kilter: they are caught eating drywall, spoiled food, plastics etc.
• Animals Hate Him: the family pet can't stand the character at all. Even if it's a fish.
• Avoids direct sunlight, stays indoors or can't seem to get enough sun, despite staying pale.

(Maybe too subtle.)

• Can go a lot longer than most people without blinking.
• Never seems to move their eyes to look around; just turn their head.
• Does the weird bobby chicken head thing.
• I have no idea how you would show either of these; but can sense magnetic fields/detect when something bad is going to happen.
• Very good sense of smell/hearing/sight.
• Has more webbing than most people between their digits (spread your hand out; it's there!).
• Has a slightly forked/longer, noodlier tongue than normal.

edited 7th Aug '14 10:50:28 PM by RiverWhiteWolf

They never walk: they just happen to stand a way off from where you saw them last.

They eat whole fruits, peel and all.

Their clothes never change.

They never show fear or surprise.

When they are hurt they never flinch, they simply destroy whatever did it.

They have no form of depth perception and are constantly nearly getting run over by cars.

They only speak when spoken too.

Their skin tone seems to change at random. One minute they're pale, another they're tanned, another they're reddish. Sometimes there's a combination of tone on their face.

No matter the ambient lighting conditions, they always seem to be bathed in a strange colored light, as if somebody always has a dim spotlight on them.

They occasionally whistle or hum, but it's always either tuneless or a single tone.

Sometimes you catch them talking to themselves, but rather than stop or seem embarrassed, they keep on muttering while staring straight at you.

The Observers in Fringe are also a good resource.

edited 8th Aug '14 11:30:03 AM by Lawyerdude

Once in a blue moon, out the corner of one's eye, they look like an image of themselves in a broken mirror-multiple and/or distorted facial features, etc. Only for the briefest of instants, and look normal when viewed directly.

Their hair colours and eye colours are unnatural for the race they otherwise resemble.

edited 12th Aug '14 11:07:11 PM by ironcommando

They complain that the bats around at night have annoying voices.

I have a list of these kinds of traits somewhere... I'm going to have to go find it later and share some and add to it from this thread.

A few that I can remember (all mostly visual) -

• Low skin reactivity. They may hug themselves for warmth, but their hair doesn't stand on end or form goosebumps, for instance, nor do they sweat in heat.
• No earholes.
• Walks with a bounce, as though their heels never quite touch the ground.
• Skin texture is off. Too stretchy, or taut, or rough, or thin.
• Skin appearance is not the appropriate level of translucence; either too opaque, or a little too diaphanous.
• Muscles do not bulge and straighten appropriately to limb motion; perhaps not at all.
• The tendons on the back of the hands and above the heels do not exist.

I think slightly off skin is a good one, but it's situational based on the type of "almost human" you're going for. If they are an alien shape shifter or homunculus, skin might be thin and taut with over-pronounced and irregular veins. A human like robot would ve more likely to have overly smooth skin, with either no bodily hair or artificial hair that would not grow or behave like human hair when wet, hot or cold.

Also some basic instincts May be lacking, especially with a robot, such as not flinching when something stops short of hitting them, or forgetting to eat or sleep if they need to without being prompted.

Here's the rest of my list of Uncanny Valley traits:

• Eyes
  • Bloodshot whites
  • Slit pupils
  • Dilated pupils
  • Double/triple pupils
  • Eye scars
  • Hourglass (frog) pupils
  • No eyebrows
  • Offset eyes - too high or too low on the face, asymmetric, etc
  • Size mismatch
  • Strabismus
  • Unblinking
  • Unusually large
  • W (cuttlefish) pupils
  • Widely-spaced eyes
• Mouth
  • Centipede tongue
  • Cheshire smile
  • Leech tongue
  • Long tongue
  • No lips
  • Pharyngeal jaws
  • Plate teeth
  • Unmoving mouth
• Hands and arms
  • Boneless
  • Extra fingers/thumbs
  • Extra knuckles
  • Reflective/luminescent veins
  • Long arms
  • Long thin fingers
  • Pronounced tendons
  • Retractable claws
• Skin
  • Flexible, but acts brittle when injured, cracking instead of forming cuts or bruises
• Processes
  • Clothing does not blow in wind
  • Does not turn to face something that has caught its attention or someone it talks to
  • Falls flaccid when unconscious or distracted
  • Forgets to do anything with hands
  • Forgets to inflect
  • Gaze comes out to meet yours when you lock eyes, and chases yours back into your head
  • Gaze does not come out to meet yours when you lock eyes
  • No body language
  • No breathing
  • Skin acts like water balloon - squishes out of the way, bulging out somewhere else
  • Smells like hospital
  • Tongue does not move when speaking
  • Unnaturally flexible / abnormal joint rotation
• Misc
  • It talks and converses as if completely unaware of its own physical actions; not interrupted by heavy breathing during strenuous activity, for instance.
  • You don't feel its gaze when it stares at you, but you do have the sensation of being watched from somewhere else.

A good example of this is the Mystery Man from LostHighway.

edited 24th Sep '14 3:43:23 PM by LogoP

They often seem to get their face stuck for a minute or so whenever they make an exaggerated expression.