TVTropes Now available in the app store!
Open

Follow TV Tropes

Following

Unclear Description: Humanoid Abomination

Go To

Deadlock Clock: Jul 2nd 2013 at 11:59:00 PM
DunDun Wandering... Since: Apr, 2012
Wandering...
#151: Apr 14th 2013 at 6:04:04 PM

Someone started the YKTTW Monstrous Humanoid, which seems to address this TRS issue.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/discussion.php?id=g1fmei6d0q7qt1ig9colck39

I just wanted to know if it was connected to this discussion (and I don't want to go through the 90 replies).

Noaqiyeum we must dissent (it/they) from across the gulf of space (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
we must dissent (it/they)
#152: Apr 14th 2013 at 6:23:08 PM

I launched it, someone else has taken the reins. I'll check in on it...

But the short answer is, yes it was.

edited 14th Apr '13 6:23:40 PM by Noaqiyeum

ERROR: The current state of the world is unacceptable. Save anyway? YES/NO
Arawn444 Since: Jan, 2012
#153: Apr 15th 2013 at 4:55:50 AM

[up] I was the one who added the majority of the examples, most of which were taken from what was removed from this page.

edited 15th Apr '13 4:56:04 AM by Arawn444

MarqFJA The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer from Deserts of the Middle East (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
#154: Apr 18th 2013 at 4:56:06 PM

Question: If a character normally looks perfectly human, has a One-Winged Angel form that is physically an Eldritch Abomination / Humanoid Abomination (i.e. explicitly looks wrong somehow to non-Abominations, whether it's the typical Uncanny Valley kind of wrong or being "too perfect", defies laws of nature in one or more ways, has a tendency to drive people mad if they look at it for too long, etc.), but their mentality/psychology is still recognizably and comprehensibly "human" — if perhaps "distorted" by extreme age and surviving madness-inducing phenomena/entities the hard way — does that count as Humanoid Abomination as redefined now, or is it a Monstrous Humanoid instead?

edited 18th Apr '13 4:56:20 PM by MarqFJA

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
Noaqiyeum we must dissent (it/they) from across the gulf of space (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
MarqFJA The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer from Deserts of the Middle East (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
#156: Apr 18th 2013 at 5:27:05 PM

It's One-Winged Angel as in "this is my true form", and not every One-Winged Angel looks like a horrific, unworldly abomination or drives you mad merely by looking at it.

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
Noaqiyeum we must dissent (it/they) from across the gulf of space (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
we must dissent (it/they)
#157: Apr 18th 2013 at 5:45:21 PM

How many do?

I guess if they're still human on the inside I would post them under Lovecraftian Superpower.

ERROR: The current state of the world is unacceptable. Save anyway? YES/NO
MarqFJA The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer from Deserts of the Middle East (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
Noaqiyeum we must dissent (it/they) from across the gulf of space (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
we must dissent (it/they)
#159: Apr 18th 2013 at 6:17:21 PM

No, what you're describing sounds like it's monstrous at one point and human at another but not both at the same time. Werecreatures aren't being listed on Monstrous Humanoid, I don't think, and that would include wereabominations.

ERROR: The current state of the world is unacceptable. Save anyway? YES/NO
MarqFJA The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer from Deserts of the Middle East (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
#160: Apr 18th 2013 at 7:02:29 PM

Okay, thanks for clearing that up. <moves to Monstrous Humanoid's YKTTW draft>

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
MarqFJA The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer from Deserts of the Middle East (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
#161: Apr 18th 2013 at 9:06:17 PM

You know, this line of discussion had gotten me thinking that there could be merit for making a Physical Abomination trope that covers beings that have all the "physical" wrongness of an Eldritch Abomination / Animalistic Abomination / Humanoid Abomination (physics-defying structure, Brown Note-inducing aspects, that sort of thing), but none of the psychological/mental/behavioral incomprehensibility. IINM a considerable portion of the misuse for Humanoid Abomination falls into that description. What do you think?

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
Noaqiyeum we must dissent (it/they) from across the gulf of space (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
we must dissent (it/they)
#162: Apr 18th 2013 at 10:24:53 PM

I want to say 'please let's not, this is enough as it is'...

Aside from that, though, I think it would end up generally just being redundant to other tropes (You Cannot Grasp the True Form, Lovecraft Lite, Not of This Earth, Brown Note, etc).

ERROR: The current state of the world is unacceptable. Save anyway? YES/NO
MarqFJA The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer from Deserts of the Middle East (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
#163: Apr 19th 2013 at 7:52:53 AM

Wait, let's backtrack a little: Are we following this checklist strictly, or are examples only required to hit some of the points?

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
Arawn444 Since: Jan, 2012
#164: Apr 19th 2013 at 9:30:05 PM

[up] Tropes Are Flexible exists for a reason, does it not? For one, the checklist ignores the existence of Lovecraft Lite. nrjxll said something on Page 5 that I think is quite relevant:

"I just said this in another thread, but I think what fundamentally distinguishes an Eldritch Abomination - or one of its subtropes - is more authorial intent and narrative presentation than it is any specifically delineated list of traits. The whole 'You Must Be At Least This Inhuman To Be On This Page' mentality (man, I'm going to quote that every time this argument happens from now on) is just utterly the wrong approach to take. It's not a hard and fast line. In fact, I think if there's any one source for misuse, it's trying to draw one - it leads people to judge what qualifies on the wrong criteria."

edited 19th Apr '13 11:28:42 PM by Arawn444

MarqFJA The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer from Deserts of the Middle East (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
#165: Apr 20th 2013 at 3:59:37 AM

Okay, then does that mean that you can be an Eldritch Abomination physically (i.e. the whole Brown Note / Alien Geometries stuff and whatnot) without having the mental/psychological traits usually associated with it (i.e. utterly alien or incomprehensible way of thinking, even if capable of approximating human ways of thinking)?

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
Noaqiyeum we must dissent (it/they) from across the gulf of space (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
we must dissent (it/they)
#167: Apr 20th 2013 at 12:50:11 PM

I agree with Arawn.

You could think of it as an Humanoid Abomination is (or includes) an Eldritch Abomination in physically human form, whereas Lovecraftian Superpower is (or includes) an human in physically Eldritch Abomination form.

edited 20th Apr '13 12:55:38 PM by Noaqiyeum

ERROR: The current state of the world is unacceptable. Save anyway? YES/NO
SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#168: Apr 20th 2013 at 12:54:00 PM

edited 20th Apr '13 12:54:08 PM by SeptimusHeap

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Noaqiyeum we must dissent (it/they) from across the gulf of space (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
MarqFJA The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer from Deserts of the Middle East (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
#170: Apr 20th 2013 at 2:01:59 PM

[up][up][up] The problem is that Lovecraftian Superpower defines itself as only "Stock Superpowers meet Body Horror", and Body Horror in and of itself does not involve Brown Note or the like. Maybe it could use some definition expansion?

edited 20th Apr '13 2:02:16 PM by MarqFJA

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
Noaqiyeum we must dissent (it/they) from across the gulf of space (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
MarqFJA The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer from Deserts of the Middle East (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
#172: Apr 20th 2013 at 2:07:48 PM

Right. Should I take it to Trope Description Improvement Drive? Two or more heads are better than none, after all.

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
Noaqiyeum we must dissent (it/they) from across the gulf of space (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
MarqFJA The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer from Deserts of the Middle East (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
#174: Apr 20th 2013 at 2:21:28 PM

Alright. What other tropes besides Brown Note define Eldritch Abominations and other Lovecraftian horrors, BTW?

edited 20th Apr '13 2:22:10 PM by MarqFJA

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
Noaqiyeum we must dissent (it/they) from across the gulf of space (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
we must dissent (it/they)
#175: Apr 20th 2013 at 2:45:20 PM

Or are common traits thereof, you mean? Ummm... Speak of the Devil comes to mind. Reality Warper can be played for it easily, especially when combined with Alien Geometries. Keeper of Forbidden Knowledge, Viral Transformation, possibly Hijacking Cthulhu.

Basically, there are a lot of things on the Stock Superpowers list that can be played as inherently disturbing without involving Body Horror.

edited 20th Apr '13 2:46:31 PM by Noaqiyeum

ERROR: The current state of the world is unacceptable. Save anyway? YES/NO

Total posts: 184
Top