Humanoid Aliens

So close, and yet so far...

"If I saw that situation for real, I'd be an intelligent design creationist, because it's obvious that the intelligent aliens did not evolve from the animal stock on that world."

—Biologist PZ Myers on the Na'vi.

There are Human Aliens which are indistinguishable from humans (at least on the outside appearance). Then there are Rubber Forehead Aliens, which look like humans but with some minor differences.

Then there are Humanoid Aliens that have the general shape of a human, but definitely look nothing like us. Be it a different number of fingers, different skin, feathers, whatever. Only similarity they need is one head, two arms, two legs, and a generally upright stance, tail and/or wings optional. Any further deviation from the humanoid form is likely to result in Starfish Aliens.

Like Human Aliens and Rubber Forehead Aliens, the prevalence of this trope—in live-action TV in particular, though also in movies and comics and other primarily visual media—tends to have a lot to do with the need to create something that human actors can comfortably portray, that human artists can conveniently and quickly draw, and that human viewers/readers can intuitively empathize with. However, theories of convergent evolution (the idea that similar environments facilitate similar patterns of isomorphic development in different species) may make this more of a Justified Trope, at least so far as creating believable situations of dramatic interaction. Given that we've only seen a grand total of one planet with a biosphere and intelligent life, we have no way of knowing how realistic or unrealistic this trope is.

May overlap with Petting Zoo People or Intelligent Gerbils.

Examples of Humanoid Aliens include:

Anime And Manga

• Dragonball Z - The Saiyans could fall into either this or Human Aliens. Aside from them, the vast majority of aliens are in this category. Though most are possessed of unusual height, horns, elongated heads, a tail, etc., a handful are simply human forms with the only deviation being unnaturally-colored skin - Jeice and Sauzaa come to mind.
  • It's been revealed that Jeice and Salza were actually both members of the same species.

Comic Books

• Most aliens in Buck Godot: Zap Gun for Hire fit this trope, although quite many are Starfish Aliens or animal-like (Rubber Forehead Aliens have appeared a few times, but not very often). Some aliens don't quite fit this trope, like the Prime Movers who look like Rubber Forehead Aliens from the waist up, but have several short stubby legs, or the Klegdixal, who have a humanoid body shape but seem to lack legs (or any facial features except eyes, for that matter).

Film

• Many aliens in Star Wars (jointly described as humanoids, in fact). The other common kind is the rubber foreheaded near-humans, who share an ancestry with baseline humans, though there are some genuine examples of Starfish Aliens.
• Alien's Xenomorphs.
  • Even more so, the Predators (Yautja).
• The aliens in District 9 have two legs, one head and two eyes, but that's as much as they have in common with humans. They have four arms including the smaller, almost vestigial arms house in their torso. They largely resemble seven-foot tall humanoid cockroaches, and even their vocal chords are too alien to try to mimic human speech.
• The Na'vi from Avatar are ten-foot-tall, blue-skinned, yellow-eyed, cat-nosed, four-fingered and four-toed (note, however, the titular Half-Human Hybrid Avatars have five), with what is essentially an organic network cable that looks like a braided ponytail.
  • Animals on Pandora are in two main types; four-limbed and six-limbed. Some people claim that there are no other four-limbed animals, but have not checked their facts.
    • Seeing as how the life on Pandora is connected by a 'brain-like' biological network, it's possible that the evolution of life on the planet was guided by this mind. This would also explain why the Na'vi are capable of linking their minds with every other animal, which would require an improbable amount of co-evolution from a Darwinian standpoint. Pandora's biology is not necessarily Earth's biology.
    • They were evolved from the same ancestor as the ape-like Prolemuri which have four partially fused arms with two fingers on each. The Na'vi just had those arms fuse together all the way.
    • That's the explanation Word of God gives, but...if that was the case, then their arms should have looked more like those of chameleons. The form of a particular feature fits its function and evolutionary history after all.
• The title character in Paul.

Literature

• Larry Niven averted this for the most part in his Known Space universe, but used the Kzinti, who are cat people.
• The striivic-na in the Warchild Series have the general shape of humans, plus/minus a few details...
• In Childhood's End, the Overlords superficially look somewhat human, but on closer examination are far more alien.
• Most of the alien races in Revelation Space are Starfish Aliens, but the Amarantin were humanoid birds.
• The Ra'zac of the Inheritance Cycle.
• Molt Brother
• Robert Westall's Urn Burial's Fefethil and Wawaka cat people and dog people, respectively. Starfish Aliens do get a mention, but none appear as characters.
• The Cyberiad had this mocked mercilessly by presenting aliens living on a planet exceedingly uninhabitable by Human standards, one of whom argues that another's idea of water-based life is completely insane, the substances they breathe and their (never explained in detail) adaptations to the environment are the only natural way the life can go.

Live Action TV

• Farscape species with repeat appearances:
  • Hynerians - 2–3 foot tall stumpy limbed frogs with really big eyebrows.
  • Scarrans - Giant lizard men. Range from human but scaly to space tyrannosauruses.
  • The Ancients - Insectoid, but generally look human via Voluntary Shapeshifting. And that's just the ones that have been altered to survive in our dimension; we don't even glimpse what the True Ancients really look like.
  • Diagnosans - Skeleton thin, two slits instead of a nose, and a bulbous head.
• Some aliens in Star Trek, such as the Breen and the Gorn. Most tend to be of the rubber forehead and human variety though.
• Babylon 5 had several, like the Narn and the Pak'Mara.
• In Andromeda, the Than-Thre-Kull and the Magog.
• The various Stargate franchises have mostly Human Aliens, but several species are different:
  • The Asgard are The Greys.
  • The Unas are tribal Lizard Folk.
  • The Ohne are advanced Fish People, as are the catfish-like aliens of Stargate Universe.
  • Jup and Tenat of the Lucian Alliance were the only shown members of an unspecified race who are clearly Rubber Forehead Aliens.
  • The Reol are a race of beige-skinned humanoids with dreads and wrinkly skin who can make you think they're your best friend.
  • The Gadmeer are only shown in an image but appear to be bipeds of either reptilian or insectoid type.
  • The Ursini in Stargate Universe. Despite the name, they don't look at all bear-like.
• Doctor Who
  • Sontarans
  • Ice Warriors
  • Catkind
  • Draconians
  • Ogrons
  • Silents
  • Raxacoricofallapatorians
  • Cheetah People
  • Butterfly People
  • The Moxx of Balhoon
  • The Graske, from the 2005 interactive game Attack of the Graske
  • Daemons
• The Sarah Jane Adventures
  • Raxacoricofallapatorians, Sontarans and Graske, like its parent show Doctor Who
  • Uvodni
  • Groske
  • The Shansheeth
  • Skullions

Tabletop Games

• In Starfire, the various alien species humanity goes to war with include Cat People (the Khanate of Orion), Bird People (the Ophiuchi), Bear People (the Rigellians), and 4-Armed People (the Gorm).

Tabletop RPGs

• The majority of Warhammer 40,000's races are Humanoid Aliens. For example, the Tau are short humanoids with grey-blue skin and hooves, the Orks are large humanoids with green skin and a fungi-based biology and the Kroot are gangly yet disproportionately strong humanoids with avian features and the ability to direct their own evolution. The Eldar, are the most similar looking as their features closely resemble human ones when armoured, but their bodies are almost impossibly thin outside of it. Necrons are formerly biological beings now contained in living metal with a form resembling a skeleton, while some of the more mutated followers of chaos could be considered more humanoid than human.
  • In Xenology, a background book, the dissecting bio-technician notes the remarkable similarity between the major races of the setting, and how several of them seem to have been artificially constructed. Humanity may or may not have been made by the same beings that made the Eldar and the Orks among others, which would explain their gross similarity.
• Dungeons & Dragons got lots and lots of humanoid and near-humanoid critters, some of whom are interbreedable and some are presumed completely unrelated (like Lizard Folk).
  • A borderline example is the Kaorti. Debuting in the third edition Fiend Folio, these Gigeresque humanoids are the result of either humans or elves (depending on the version of the backstory) experimenting with the Far Realm. The "borderline" descriptor is for two reasons: Firstly, the Far Realm is not the same thing as outer space but is rather an incomprehensible plane of existence inspired by Lovecraftian horror. Secondly, while they do appear superficially anthropomorphic, they otherwise resemble the aforementioned xenomorphs and are composed of a strange, toxic resin instead of bone and flesh.
• In Traveller the Aslan and Vargr are four limbed with two limbs for walking and two for grasping. However their appearance also resembles some Terran animals(lions and wolves respectively). In behavior they are roughly comparable to humans-at least enough for them to vaguely comprehend one another.

Video Games

• Achron has the Vecgir, which are roughly a meter taller than the average human and have an extra set of arms and a sort of reptilian appearance. Compared to the other alien race in the game, the Grekim, the Vecgir are downright charming.
• Mass Effect. Turians, Volus, Krogan, Salarians, and Batarians.
  • Add Drell and Vorcha to that list. The former look like humanoid lizards (yet still oddly attractive), while the latter appear as spiny grinning demons.
  • Also asari, quarians and the volus. Probably only technically, for the last one. The Collectors and Protheans as well. And the Geth would count except their bodies aren't actually their forms, merely 'platforms'. Basically, everyone except the Hanar, Elcor and Reapers.
    • Asari are probably a bit too human to make it over the line from Rubber Forehead Aliens: their only non-human (exterior) features are the blue skin and the Alien Hair.
      • It is notable, though, that they have enough combined features that turians and salarians think they resemble their respective species, due to the similarities with their respective alien hairs.
• Some Pokémon.
  • Basically, all Pokemon in the Humanshape egg group, although for some strange reason, Ralts and its evolutions are in the Indeterminate egg group, and Blaziken is in the ground egg group.
    • The egg group has non humanoids like Cacnea in it too.
    • Cacnea evolves into Cacturne, which is vaguely humanoid.
• The majority of the Covenant species in Halo, with the exception of the Hunters, the Engineers, and the drones. The Flood is also an exception, though they aren't part of the Covenant.
  • Halo Legends reveals that the Forerunner also fit this trope.
• Both the Space Pirates and the Chozo from Metroid. The Space Pirates are obviously non-human, but have advanced technology and some kind of language. The extinct Chozo, being also Sufficiently Advanced Aliens, had even more advanced technology (such as Samus' power suit), and some kind of language that despite their technological prowess is mostly found written in stone ruins. Appearance-wise, they resemble an anthropomorphic cross between a manta ray and a parrot on two legs. The Pirates, on the other hand, appear either reptilian or lobster-like, depending on which specific game they're in. The KI Hunter Pirates slip into Big Creepy-Crawlies or Starfish Aliens though.
  • And Gandrayda.
• Tran, Beatmania IIDX's Series Mascot, has white hair, has simpler details than other human characters, sports two light blue pupil-less eyes, and has no other facial features.
• Meteos has a number of these, differentiated by different skin colors or head shapes. An example would be the Geolitians, the starting race who are light blue in skin color and have antennae/horns on the sides of their heads that curve upwards.
• The Iskai from Albion are tall, fast-moving and nimble but frail mammalian humanoids with faces that resemble those of great cats, mostly short hair all over their bodies, tails that can be used to manipulate objects and use weapons, four nipples, a somewhat telepathic forehead organ called a Trii, cat-like feet and on them claws that unlike Earth vertebrate claws are bony and presumably part of their skeletons. They're basically as different as humanoids could be from humans while still unintentionally appearing to be related to them, although those claws would be a little puzzling if they really were.
• The Protoss in StarCraft definitely qualify. They've got the "human" number of heads, arms, legs, and eyes, but they also have digitigrade legs, nerve cords coming out the backs of their heads, and skin (scales?) in a wide variety of cool colors. Also, No Mouth.
  • World of Warcraft 's draenei, which are something of an Expy of the Protoss, are somewhat more human-looking: They look like blue, catfish-whiskered classic demons.
• Star Control has three: Arilou Lalee'lay (The Greys), Syreen (Green-Skinned Space Babe) and Shofixti (upright-walking marsupials). A few others are added in the third game, but "it doesn't exist".

Web Comics

• Most of the alien species seen so far in the webcomic Inhuman are humanoid - it has been mistaken for a Furry comic, to the artist's great annoyance.
• Uryuoms from El Goonish Shive are humanoid shape shifters who in appearance are a mix of Little Green Men and The Greys but as shapeshifters can appear completely human if they have a human form among their personal cache of possible forms.
  • The Lespuko being descendants of Uryuoms, in the default form are also humanoid in build, but can be more animalistic (depending on other parent species).
• The Mentakans in Cwynhild's Loom, as seen in a flashback, are large, purplish humanoids.

Web Original

• The Mercury Men, also called "the first men" in the titular series, are humanoid in appearance, but are taller, thinner and stoop (supposedly because of Earth's greater gravity). They are also composed of Hard Light and apparently have a Third Eye.
• Some xenobiologists argue that convergent evolution to a humanoid form is more likely than Starfish Aliens, according to #1 of Cracked.com's 5 Unrealistic Movie Cliches That Are Scientifically Accurate.

Western Animation

• Nearly every alien Ben can transform into, with the only exception being Wildmutt, Ghostfreak, and technically Four Arms.
  • Alien Force introduces more humanoids alien transformations, but also has quite a few non-humanoids, even Starfish Aliens, such as Brainstorm and Goop. There's also Jetray and Spidermonkey, who aren't a Starfish Aliens, but they aren't humanoid either.
• Quite a few in Futurama. The Decapodians, who are humanoid crustaceans. Kiff's species, Nibblonians, and many other species that were never named.
• The Traags/Draags of Fantastic Planet. Aside from their size, they're essentially hairless, blue-skinned, red-eyed humans.
• The Titans and Nebulans in the Transformers Generation 1 cartoon - both have pointy ears and either blue or green skin. In the comic, however, the Nebulans were indistinguishable from humans.
  • These are more Rubber Forehead Aliens, really. The Transformers themselves, on the other hand, definitely qualify. They're Mechanical Lifeforms, but most have one mode with a humanoid body plan... And some even have more than one, for one reason or another, while others have one and are part of another.
  • Heck, there's even a small handful of Transformers that don't have humanoid robot modes individually, but are still part of a humanoid Combining Mecha.
• Despite not being aliens, Gargoyles fit the humanoid requirement. However, they have tails, wings, and raptor-like feet (as in their ankles point backwards instead of straight down), as well as four fingers and three toes. Not to mention they turn to stone during the day...

Other

• The popular image of The Greys presents them as Little Green Men... only greyer.
• The Reptilians tend to fluctuate between this, Rubber Forehead Aliens, and even less human-like Lizard Folk.