History Main / TokenNonHuman

* ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'' inverts the normal ''Star Wars'' pattern. Among the companions for each player class, humans are usually outnumberd by aliens and droids, even more so if the player character is nonhuman also (and given the plethora of races to choose from, this is true more often than not).

** Trip in ''Series/PowerRangersTimeForce''.

* ''WesternAnimation/InsideJob'' has Myc Celium, a mushroom-like intelligent organism and part of the main cast. Glenn Dolphman may count however he's a human turn into a human-dolphin hybrid by a failed experiment.
* ''WesternAnimation/MenInBlack: The Series'' has The Twins as the Token Aliens of MIB. In the fourth season, sci-fi affirmative action causes MIB to hire an alien field agent and alien scientist.

** ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries'' didn't have to deal with elaborate makeup so it managed to get away from this trope with Lt. M'Ress and Lt. Arex being part of the bridge crew.

** ''Series/ResshaSentaiToQGer'': SixthRanger Akira is a Shadow with human form who joins the heroes.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'': Kimahri.

* The Guild of ''Manga/BungoStrayDogs'' has [[HumanoidAbomination Lovecraft]].

* ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'' has [[RobotGirl Chachamaru]] as the Token Non-Human of Ala Alba.
** [[CuteGhostGirl Sayo]] counts to a certain degree, too. [[HalfHumanHybrid Setsuna]] technically, though it doesn't come up much. Chachamaru is easily the best example, though.

* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebellion'' had Bebe, the only [[spoiler: witch]] who befriended the girls and became part of the team as the mascot; [[spoiler: and now she's human.]]

* Early in ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'', despite several of the other characters having power, [[HumanAlien Karolina Dean]] was the only one that wasn't remotely human (Molly's a human mutant and Old Lace is the TeamPet). For a time she did angst over being an alien, to the point of letting a vampire feed on her.

* In ''Fanfic/{{Empathy}}'', Oh is this to the rest of the Big Hero 9, as the only alien member of the team where the rest all come from Earth (although Baymax is a robot while Riley has empathic abilities).

* ''Film/GalaxyQuest'': In-universe example is Dr. Lazarus (an expy of Mr. Spock from ''Franchise/StarTrek'') in the case of the ShowWithinAShow, in the movie itself the Therbians in general and Laliari in particular became this in "RealLife" for the cast. Ironically Laliari will [[spoiler:not play an alien after she chooses to stay on Earth and is added as a "human" character in the show.]]

** [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent Remus Lupin]] is the Marauders' Token Non-Human (from a certain perspective; werewolves in the Potterverse are essentially humans with a condition rather than a separate species).
** Among the modern-day heroes, there's Hagrid, who's part giant.

* In ''{{Literature/Eden}}'', the shipwrecked human crew more-or-less adopts one of the local inhabitants of the planet they are stranded on.

* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure''

* ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries'' didn't have to deal with elaborate makeup so it managed to get away from this trope with Lt. M'Ress and Lt. Arex being part of the bridge crew.

* ''Series/{{Grimm}}'': Monroe and Rosalee, the two Wesen characters of the show. (Notice that [[spoiler:Renard]] is actually half human and [[spoiler:Adalind]] is no longer Wesen).

* The [[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles Xenoblade Chronicles]] series features [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter Nopons,]] which are egg-shaped, rodent-like creatures with wings on their heads, which they use as arms. Every game in the series has at least one Nopon that at least travels with main gang. [[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1 Xenoblade Chronicles]] and [[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2 Xenoblade Chronicles 2]] have Riki and Tora respectively, who act as main party members. The Future Connected expansion for the first game also has Riki’s kids Nene and Kino, who are also core party members. [[VideoGame/XenobladeChroniclesX Xenoblade Chronicles X]] has Tetsu, who, despite not being a main party member, always accompanies the main gang. [[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3 Xenoblade Chronicles 3]] has Riku and Manana, who, like Tetsu, always accompany the main characters despite not being main party members themselves. However, unlike Tetsu, they will fight alongside the main characters on occasion.

* ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'' has [[RobotGirl Chachamaru]] as the Token Non-Human of Ala Alba.
** [[CuteGhostGirl Sayo]] counts to a certain degree, too. [[HalfHumanHybrid Setsuna]] technically, though it doesn't come up much. Chachamaru is easily the best example, though.
* Mao from ''Anime/DarkerThanBlack''.
* ''Manga/OnePiece'':
** For the Straw Hats: [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter Tony Tony Chopper]], a reindeer who ate the Hito Hito (Human-Human) Fruit, which gives him human-like intelligence and the ability to speak. He's so intelligent, in fact, that he serves as the crew's doctor.
*** [[spoiler:The Straw Hats gain a second one in the Whole Cake Island arc when Jimbei (a Fishman) joins. Jimbei being a Fishman on an (almost) all-human crew is actually an important plot point for him, since his dream is to improve relations between Fishmen and humans]].
** Trafalgar Law's crew also has one: Bepo, a polar bear [[BeastMan Mink]] who basically just looks like a talking polar bear. The rest of Law's crew appears to be made up of humans.
* In ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'', if you look the non-human characters of the [[Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikerS Riot Force 6]] or [[Manga/MagicalRecordLyricalNanohaForce Special Duty Section 6]] with all section members together, they are the minority. But if you exclude all nameless characters, they are the majority in the latter section.
** In ''Manga/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaVivid'', Vivio is the only known Inter-Middle participant who is not actually human. She's a CloneJesus.
* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebellion'' had Bebe, the only [[spoiler: witch]] who befriended the girls and became part of the team as the mascot; [[spoiler: and now she's human.]]
** Kyubey also counts.
* The titular character of ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'' is a blue cat robot from the future who currently lives in present-day Japan where sentient robots have not been invented yet.

* Piccolo, the 7'5" green-skinned Namekian in ''Manga/DragonBall.'' [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed,]] because the Saiyans are HumanAliens whose only distinguishing characteristic from humans are their tails (which are all cut off by the time the Freeza saga starts).

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Film]]

But when you're the author of SpeculativeFiction, authors can make the cast as interesting as they want. Enter the [[TitleDrop Token Non-Human]] to spice things up. He (or she; this is a [[UnisexTropes Unisex Trope]]) could be a RubberForeheadAlien, a RobotBuddy, a FunnyAnimal, a CivilizedAnimal, a PartiallyCivilizedAnimal, or [[HeinzHybrid all of the above at once]], but one thing is for sure. They aren't human.

But when you're the author of SpeculativeFiction, authors can make the cast as interesting as they want. Enter the TokenNonhuman to spice things up. He (or she; this is a [[UnisexTropes Unisex Trope]]) could be a RubberForeheadAlien, a RobotBuddy, a FunnyAnimal, a CivilizedAnimal, a PartiallyCivilizedAnimal, or [[HeinzHybrid all of the above at once]], but one thing is for sure. They aren't human.

A TokenNonhuman is ''not'' the TeamPet -- the team pet is, well, a ''pet'' that belongs to the team, but the TokenNonhuman is a [[FantasticSapientSpeciesTropes sapient]] being who stands on more-or-less equal footing with the humans.

Unlike other token what-have-yous, a token nonhuman is not there to attract a PeripheryDemographic. [[AliensStealCable Probably]]. A TokenNonhuman instead serves the purpose of exploring the possibility of other species with radically different natures from our own, incorporating beings with [[RuleOfCool cool]] [[StockSuperpowersIndex superhuman]] abilities, showing that the main cast is not practicing FantasticRacism, and exploring the question WhatMeasureIsANonhuman. If nothing else, the TokenNonHuman can serve as the AmusingAlien for comic relief.

Because MostWritersAreHuman (to our knowledge), you'll likely not see more than one protagonist who isn't human, hence the "{{Token|Index}}" part of "TokenNonhuman". In live-action works, this is often a matter of budget and practicality; human characters can be portrayed with human actors in regular outfits, whereas non-humans require elaborate costumes and/or special effects to depict them (unless they're HumanAliens). If there ''is'' more than one nonhuman character, you'll most likely see a cast full of nonhumans, with a TokenHuman.

* ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'' has [[RobotGirl Chachamaru]] as the TokenNonhuman of Ala Alba.

** [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent Remus Lupin]] is the Marauders' TokenNonhuman (from a certain perspective; werewolves in the Potterverse are essentially humans with a condition rather than a separate species).

** Firenze the centaur is the TokenNonHuman of the Hogwarts faculty for a while.

** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': Three out of the starring cast of seven or eight were non-human. While the human-looking Deanna Troi (half-Betazoid, half-human) was less obvious, both Worf (Klingon) and Data (android) qualify as Token Nonhumans.

** ''Series/TensouSentaiGoseiger'' has a rather strange example. In this case, the entire team is not human, but rather a race of human-looking angels. But their SixthRanger is from the same race as their mecha are and therefore does not possess a human form. So in this case, it's a token nonhuman looking being in a team of human-looking beings.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'': This trope is averted for the first time since VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII. Or subverted if you look at it from another way: the game could be the first in the series to have no (''technically'') human playable characters, as everyone in the party becomes a [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman L'Cie]]. Which means in the first two chapters of the game [[spoiler:Vanille is the TokenNonHuman in the group]]...

* ''Webcomic/LegostarGalactica'' gives us T.A.G. ([[TokenNonhuman Token Alien]] Guy) who only puts up with being called T.A.G. because of his EmbarrassingFirstName and [[OnlyOneName lack of a last name]], although the cast quickly expanded to include numerous aliens, robots, and the likes, including an air-breathing giant squid and a [[Creator/HPLovecraft Deep One]]

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' has a token non-equine: Spike, the baby dragon.

* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' has Grace Sciuridae who is a Tulougol Seyunolu (Greater Chimera).

* The [[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles Xenoblade Chronicles]] series features [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter Nopons,]] which are egg-shaped, rodent-like creatures with wings on their heads, which they use as arms. Every game in the series has at least one Nopon that at least travels with main gang. [[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1 Xenoblade Chronicles]] and [[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2 Xenoblade Chronicles 2]] have Riki and Tora respectively, who act as main party members. [[VideoGame/XenobladeChroniclesX Xenoblade Chronicles X]] has Tetsu, who, despite not being a main party member, always accompanies the main gang. [[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3 Xenoblade Chronicles 3]] has Riku and Manana, who, like Tetsu, always accompany the main characters despite not being main party members themselves. However, unlike Tetsu, they will fight alongside the main characters on occasion.

** ''Manga/StoneOcean'': The group is joined by Foo Fighters (or F.F. for short) while they are a sentient colony of plankton, they occupy the body of a dead inmate to pass off as human.

** ''Series/PowerRangersSPD'' has Anubis "Doggie" Cruger.
** ''Series/PowerRangersOperationOverdrive'' has Tyzonn an alien rescue worker from Mercury.

* Seven characters make up the Planet Express crew in ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}''. Out of those seven is one robot, one alien, and one mutant. The last of these three is almost completely human save for the lack of a second eye.

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!!Anthropomorphic Animal Examples

[[AC:ComicBooks]]
* ''ComicBook/DoubleJumpers'': In the world of the "Dungeon Lords 2" video game, the [[PlayerCharacter Player Characters]] are Kane, Sela, Mongo, Sebastian, and Pilfer. The first four are humans, while Pilfer is a goblin.

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
* ''Series/RedDwarf'' had the Cat. Arguably, he could also be construed as TeamPet, as he was descended from Lister's cat Frankenstein, but let's count 3 million years of evolution to his credit.
* ''Series/SeaQuestDSV'' had a dolphin that could talk.

[[AC:VideoGames]]
* In ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3'', we have [[VideoGame/{{Darkstalkers}} Felicia]] (she's a fur-covered CatGirl), but she's honestly more Girl than Cat. The trope is played its straightest, however, with the announcement of '''''[[CapcomSequelStagnation Ultimate]]''' Marvel Vs. Capcom 3'' and the inclusion of [[http://ispeakcomics.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/1843398-rocket_raccoon_super.png Rocket Racoon.]]

[[AC:Webcomics]]
* [[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?order=chapters&id=1096 Melodia]] from ''Webcomic/{{Drowtales}}''.
* Uma Quipleure, a cow-like alien from ''Webcomic/EverydayHeroes''.

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'': In Diane's family, a literal BlackSheep functions as this.
* Lieutenant M'Ress and Lieutenant Arex, members of the Enterprise bridge crew in ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries''.
* ''WesternAnimation/SuperWhy'' has Alpha-Pig, who is part of an otherwise human quartet of Super Readers.