Snowy
Interspecies Romance? (Also you should probably drop this kind of thing at Trope Finder next time)
edited 18th Feb '18 3:51:07 PM by stargirl93
Oh, I didn't know it was an actual trope, I was more looking for a name for the problem itself, the observation that dragons and donkeys typically don't mix, and figuring out how they would mix is a challenge.
EDIT: See, I thought Interspecies Romance was something more like "Aliens and humans breeding." Because it's understood that humans and aliens are a different "species." But in Petting Zoo Peopleland, a fox and a panther aren't really a different "species" even though they kinda are? For the most part, they might as well be the same "species." It's just the logic of that comes into question when they wanna procreate.
edited 18th Feb '18 4:08:25 PM by Kaljinyu
No, the other one.
Isn't it similar to how humans, elves, orcs, and other fantasy "races" are sometimes considered different species, but usually being able to interbreed? Overall in fiction, it's surprisingly rare that different sentient species are completely incompatible, even if they're from different galaxies or dimensions. Or perhaps I should say it's surprisingly common that they aren't?
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Most works I have seen just treats actual Petting-Zoo People as the same species just their ears and tail are traits like eye colors and bloodtypes.
This usually comes up in such cases: Gender Equals Breed
Is this a point of furry philosophy that's come up?
Take a setting with Petting Zoo People. Maybe a Lylat System or an Elwood City or a Neopia. These People, are essentially persons. And persons fall in love. And maybe have sex. And maybe produce offspring. So what happens if Arthur and Sue Ellen wanna make a baby?
Do they just not get to? Because that's no fun. Here on our human Earth it's already enough of a hassle that some couple can't breed due to, like, being the same sex or something of that nature. But in Elwood City, you might be incompatible with not just half of the people in the world, but a vast majority of people, and you can only be with other aardvarks. In an offspring-producing kind of way.
Or maybe they do get to. But then what happens? As far as the show itself is concerned, this isn't really explored because it isn't actually necessary to the show/story. Arthur's parents are aardvarks because Arthur is an aardvark. Sue Ellen's family is cats because Sue Ellen is a cat. Surely at some point in the history of this world a cat and an aardvark have loved one another, right? Probably, but it's not relevant to the show.
Sometimes they do explore this, like in dream sequences. And what happens is, the kids are miniature versions of their parents, usually a balance of the two. Like maybe Arthur and Sue Ellen produce a cat son and an aardvark daughter. But they're both mammals, that's easy. What if, say, a cat wanted to make it with a bird? Or a snake? Or a fish???
There are many ways to approach this, but I'm wondering, is there a name for this particular issue? This problem that people try to come up with solutions/addressings to? Is this the right forum for this?