History Main / AllGenesAreCodominant

* In HarryPotter, this appears to be J. K. Rowling's approach with the half-giant Hagrid. Normal giants are 20-25 feet tall, with extremely large bodies, and are not as intelligent as wizards. Hagrid is "Twice as tall as a normal man, and five times as wide," and [[BoisterousBruiser somewhat]] [[DumbIsGood bumbling]].
** Justified in that human height depends on multiple genes that dominate unpredictably; thus human height varies continuously rather than discretely, and offspring normally have a height between their parents'. If a human and a giant crossbred, some of the giant's "tall" alleles would dominate, as would some of the human's "short" ones. The real question is how the two could produce viable offspring at all.
*** With the exception of size, there doesn't appear to be any drastic differences between humans and giants. Giants might be a HumanSubspecies, in which case producing viable offspring is not much of a stretch (wolves and dogs, for instance, can produce viable offspring).
** Madame Maxime is also half-giant, and, while she's the same size as Hagrid, she is very intelligent. The bumbling would appear to just be Hagrid's personality.

* Dungeons and Dragons does this with many races and monsters. 3rd and 3.5's Half-Orcs and Half-Elves were both fairly infamous for being weaker than either parent race in terms of stats and racial abilities. In 4E, they abandoned the idea of half-elves being "halfway to an elf," so to speak, and expanded on the idea that they were inherently versatile ([[AcceptableBreaksFromReality which makes a lot less sense, but works a lot better]]).

* Pretty well averted in ''{{Farscape}}]] by Scorpius. Scorpius looks like something intermediate between a Scarran and a Sebacean, but his two halves are at war with each other, since Scarrans produce excess body heat naturally and Sebaceans are very intolerant of heat, entering a coma-like state when their internal body temperature (which they cannot regulate) gets too high. Scorpius compensates for this disability with an internal cooling apparatus. Scorpius also possesses an ability due to his hybrid nature that is unique to him and not present in either of his parents' species: he can see heat patterns and detect when a being is lying. Interestingly, Scorpius's appearance is similar to the more humanoid, upper-caste Scarrans.

* {{Dhampyr}}s in ''{{Durarara}}'' appear to work this way, if [[spoiler:Ruri Hirijibe]] is anything to go by. Being quarter-vampire, [[spoiler:she]] has more common vampiric traits and weaknesses in a diluted form (for example, [[spoiler:she]] hates direct sunlight and garlic, possesses a moderate level of SuperStrength, [[HealingFactor heals noticeably faster than normal]], and has a thing for rare meat with a high iron content).

* {{Dhampyr}}s in ''{{Durarara}}'' appear to work this way, if [[spoiler:Ruri Hirijibe]] is anything to go by. Being quarter-vampire, [[spoiler:she]] has more common vampiric traits and weaknesses in a diluted form (for example, [[spoiler:she]] hates direct sunlight, possesses a moderate level of SuperStrength, [[HealingFactor heals noticeably faster than normal]], and has a thing for rare meat with a high iron content).

* Subverted in [[WorldOfWarcraft]], as a Half-Draenei Half-Orc (which, evolutionarily speaking makes NO sense) will show that Draenei genes are almost all recessive save for the eyes.

* One allele is dominant, and the other is recessive, so [[CaptainObvious the offspring will display the trait that the dominant gene codes for]]. (Brown-eyed daddy and blue-eyed mommy makes brown-eyed baby.)
** UNLESS the brown-eyed daddy was heterozygous for the brown-eyed gene. If B means brown eye pigment and b means no brown eye pigment, and brown is dominant, either Bb or BB will make a brown-eyed person, but only bb will mean blue eyes. BB x bb = Bb 100% of the time, but Bb x bb can = bb 50% of the time. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punnett_square Punnett squares]] know all.

* Notably averted in the case of Spock, who is pretty much indistinguishable from full-blooded Vulcans.
** To humans, that is. I'm fairly sure Vulcans can tell the difference.

[[folder:TableTopGames]]
* Dungeons and Dragons does this with many races and monsters. 3rd and 3.5's Half-Orcs and Half-Elves were both fairly infamous for being weaker than either parent race in terms of stats and racial abilities.
** In 4E, they abandoned the idea of half-elves being "halfway to an elf," so to speak, and expanded on the idea that they were inherently versatile ([[AcceptableBreaksFromReality which makes a lot less sense, but works a lot better]]).
*** One could, in fact, see half-elves' constitution bonus as a result of hybrid vigour. Actually, that's about the only way it makes sense, as neither humans nor elves have a bonus to constitution, and 3rd Edition's elves actually had a penalty.

*** Squibs also have some abilities that regular Muggles do not, such as being able to see places which are hidden to Muggles (such as Hogwarts), or using certain magical objects.

*** Magic can't be recessive because if a pure muggle and anybody with magic always produce magical children (with the exception of the Squib mutation). Clearly, magic isn't wholly genetic.

* In ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration,'' Deanna Troi has a (telepathic) Betazoid mother and a (non-telepathic) human father, and is herself empathic: she can sense emotions psychically but not read individual thoughts ([[DependingOnTheWriter usually]]).

** UNLESS the brown-eyed daddy was heterozygous for the brown-eyed gene. If B means brown and b means blue, and brown is dominant, either Bb or BB will make a brown-eyed person, but only bb will mean blue eyes. BB x bb = Bb 100% of the time, but Bb x bb can = bb 50% of the time. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punnett_square Punnett squares]] know all.

* ''DragonHalf'': The daughter of a dragon and a human was a CuteMonsterGirl with horns, wings, and fire breath.
** Let's not forget about the simply ''inhuman'' physical strength and agility.

** So he's a reverse werewolf that turns into a human based on the moon...

*** It's explained that how a halfbreed appears is really luck of the draw. Jinenji's father was a bishonen if you've ever seen one, yet their kid is more ugly than a [[StarWars Hutt]] with his face caved in. Some come out to be beautiful and humanlike, others come out horrifying.

** [[{{Squick}} Engorgio Charm?]]
*** Don't you mean [[FetishFuel Engorgio Charm?]]

*** Meanwhile, a strange trait pops up in pureblooded families every once in awhile, which results in the occasional Squib child, like Argus Filch or Arabella Figg. This seems to just be a rather rare and unlucky condition. However, Rowling has mentioned something to the effect that Muggleborn witches and wizards could in fact be born from Squib ancestors, suggesting that the same strange quirk that causes loss of magic in some babies also causes the magic gene to reactivate in their effectively muggle descendants. (Or that magic is recessive and that squibs just got unlucky mutations on those genes, WordOfGod to the contrary [[YouFailBiologyForever notwithstanding]].)

** Also known as a Zonkey, Donbra, Zeedonk, Zebrinny, and Debra.
*** The standard for making [[PortmanteauCoupleName portmanteau hybrid names]] is to use the father's species first (unless there's a non-portmanteau name already in use).

*** Ligers are an example of getting all of the strengths, because they are larger (often as large as both parents put together) and stronger than either parent and the largest big cat on Earth. Tiglons are generally about the same size as their parent species, and less likely to survive birth, but they are not, by any means, small. However, in both cases they are often sterile and second-generation hybrids are rare.
**** Males are sterile, females are generally fertile.

*** Meanwhile, a strange recessive trait pops up in pureblooded families every once in awhile, which results in the occasional Squib child, like Argus Filch or Arabella Figg. This seems to just be a rather rare and unlucky condition. However, Rowling has mentioned something to the effect that Muggleborn witches and wizards could in fact be born from Squib ancestors, suggesting that the same strange quirk that causes loss of magic in some babies also causes the magic gene to reactivate in their effectively muggle descendants.