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{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* The eponymous [[Digimon]], being data-based lifeforms from a [[Another Dimension|parallel universe]], having so many different forms (raging from angelic to animals to humanoid or even a mixture), [[Evolutionary Levels|and each individual having multiple (and radically) different forms throughout their life cycle]].
* The [[Sufficiently Advanced Alien|Data Overmind]] in ''[[Suzumiya Haruhi]]'' is some kind of non-corporeal, out-of-phase "data-lifeform".<ref>it's a concept based on an old theory that states that in its most basic form, the entire Universe is merely quantifiable information that can be [[Reality Warper|manipulated]]; the Overmind is supposed to be a gestalt consciousness born of that information</ref> What exactly it/they is/are, or how it/they think/thinks is never really explained, instead we get a lot of [[Techno Babble]]. Important to know is that its/their mind vastly differs from that of humans and that it/they does/do not communicate through language and therefore created the [[Artificial Human|Interfaces]] (Yuki, {{spoiler|Asakura}}, {{spoiler|Kimidori}}) as its/their mediums. It appears that the entity/entities has/have different "voices" in itself with different opinions. The majority of them wishes to maintain the status quo and observe Haruhi safely. Oh, and they can [[Reality Warper|hack reality]]. Playing up on their godlike nature, in one short story Kyon is contacted by an old school acquaintance who had fallen in love with Yuki at first sight and now worships the ground she stands on. It turns out that {{spoiler|he had the minor power to see her connection to the IDE which consequently overloaded his brain, [[Things Man Was Not Meant to Know|as no mere mortal could possibly comprehend its true form]].}}
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** And of course, the Quintessons from Generation One, and their Expy Alpha Q from ''[[Transformers Energon]]''.
* All of the Mushi in ''[[Mushishi]]'' are pretty much these.
* The Angels of [[Neon Genesis Evangelion]] appear to be these at first glance... then they turn out to be something else entirely, in good [[Mind Screw|NGE habit]]. While Adam, Lilith and Sachiel are humanoids, the others have some bizarre appearances: Armisael is a double helix-shaped loop that forms into a tentacle; Ramiel is a regular octahedron who does some [https://web.archive.org/web/20120720034949/http://mechafans.com/upload/107-new-ramiel.jpg impossibly] [http://otakuism.animeblogger.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/vlcsnap-194395.jpg cool] shapeshifting; Iruel and Bardiel are sentient nanoviruses; Sahaquiel is... can't describe, just [https://web.archive.org/web/20140601011759/http://www.teamartail.com/anime/images/evangelion/images/sahaquiel001.jpg take a look].
** Though depending on which interpretation you take, they might just be Starfish Kaijuu since their technically not Foreign to the Earth itself. Depending on your interpretation of course.
* ''[[Voices of a Distant Star]]'' - the Tarsians possess a starfish-like structure. In addition, miscommunications between them and humanity is implied to be one of the reasons why humans are fighting a war with them.
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* The Neuroi in ''[[Strike Witches]]''. They're basically [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|soil-eating eusocial biotechnological assimilating planes]].
 
== [[Comic Books]] ==
 
== Comic Books ==
* Bzzd (an insectoid), Medphyll (a plant being), Chaselon (an intelligent crystal), Cario and Dkrtzy RRR (an intelligent ''equation''), and Leezle Pon (a superintelligent smallpox virus) of the ''[[Green Lantern]] Corps''. And Mogo, a [[Genius Loci|sentient planet]]. The Corps was loaded with these in its heyday. Perhaps not surprisingly, [[Alan Moore]] created or utilized most of them, as well as Rot Lop Fan, who, being from a sector of space where no light exists, is under the impression that he is a member of the F-Sharp Bell Corps.
** There was also a race of hivemind spores, and {{spoiler|the Black Mercy, a [[Hive Mind]] Planet/fungus thing that can alter gravity and children and hook up to people and put them in a coma-like state [[Lotus Eater Machine|where they dream their greatest desires as if they are real]].}}
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* In Marvel Comics, the symbiote that makes up half of Venom is basically a black blob of slime. It's rarely depicted as so, however.
 
== [[Film]] ==
 
* ''[[Galaxy Quest]]''{{'}}s Thermians usually look like [[Human Aliens]], but their true form bears a strong resemblance to squids or octopuses. Or octopuses humping squids. [[Squick|Doesn't stop one of the human cast falling in love with one]], with an implication of [[Naughty Tentacles]].
== Film ==
* ''[[Galaxy Quest]]'''s Thermians usually look like [[Human Aliens]], but their true form bears a strong resemblance to squids or octopuses. Or octopuses humping squids. [[Squick|Doesn't stop one of the human cast falling in love with one]], with an implication of [[Naughty Tentacles]].
* Many aliens in the ''[[Men in Black (film)|Men in Black]]'' series, especially background ones.
* ''[[Evolution (film)|Evolution]]'' has a variety of different alien species, most of which fit here.
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* The aliens from ''<nowiki>[[2001: A Space Odyssey]]</nowiki>'' are so alien that they can't even be shown on screen. The novels imply that they started as Starfish Aliens, but later transformed themselves into [[Mechanical Lifeforms]], and eventually into [[Energy Beings]]. The author felt like showing the aliens would inevitably diminish their impact; in a supplementary book called ''Lost Worlds of 2001'', the author records failed experiments with writing about both [[Human Aliens]] and worlds filled with Starfish Aliens, before he finally decided to have the monoliths be the last relics of an unseen, [[Precursors|long ago vanished civilization]].
* The classic [[Tokusatsu]] sci-fi schlockfest ''Warning From Space'' had LITERAL Starfish Aliens. They're [[Genre Savvy|quite aware of this too]], so they [[Voluntary Shapeshifting|transform themselves]] into humans in order to [[A Form You Are Comfortable With|communicate with Earthlings]]. May be a borderline case of this, as they speak Japanese/English from the onset.
* The aliens in ''[[District 9]]'' have [[Humanoid Aliens|two functional arms, two legs and a central head]], but that's about where their resemblance to humans ends. They're all 'worker drones' who, without a queen, have little initiative of their own, with digitigrade limbs, an additional pair of tiny arms on their stomach, chitinous exoskeletons, antennae, claws, mandibles, tentacles, and all number of other insect- or crustacean-like attributes. The human residents of Johannesburg even call them "[[Fantastic Racism|prawns]]". In a deleted scene, it is explained that the prawns have one gender and reproduce asexually. In that scene the humans claim that prawns have no attachment to their offspring, but this is shown to be a lie in the film, one of the many human attributes posessedpossessed by Christopher Johnson.
* ''[[Astro Boy (film)|Astro Boy]]'' has one pop up for Astro to challenge just before the cut to credits, likely as a nod to his alien-fighting ways in the original.
* The Alien invader in ''Panico en el Transiberiano / Horror Express'' is an entity of thought or very mean [[Energy Beings|Energy Being]]. It can take over people's minds—several at a time, be they dead or alive. Those it possesses have their minds cleaned out [[FLCL|by removing the wrinkles in the brain so they can't think]]. The only telltale clue is that those possessed by it eyes glow red in dim light.
* ''[[Red Planet (film)|Red Planet]]'' sorta counts. {{spoiler|Sure, the surprise aliens look very familiar (They closely resemble Earth cockroaches or crickets, but are considerably larger, quite more aggressive, are omnivores (as far as I can remember they tried to eat one of the astronauts as well as eating most of the algae the humans had bombarded Mars with in an attempt to terraform the planet), photosynthesize, have chameleonic abilities and, to top it off. They live on Mars, en-masse!}}
* In the remake of ''[[The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951 film)|The Day the Earth Stood Still]]'', Klaatu noted that he was assuming [[A Form You Are Comfortable With]] to interact with the humans. Upon being asked by the heroine what his true form was, he refused, stating, "[[You Cannot Grasp the True Form|It would only frighten you]]".
* The alien from the low-budget ''Invader'' was distinctly nonhumanoid, even being able to reconfigure its form - not by shapeshifting, but rather by unfolding, extending and withdrawing parts of its body.
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* The alien in ''[[Dark Star]]'', which looks like a beach ball with eyes and feet.
* The titular creatures in the British sci-fi film ''[[Monsters (2010 film)|Monsters]]''(2010).
* Although the most famous aliens (the Na'vi) from [[Avatar (film)|Avatar]] are somewhere between [[Humanoid Aliens]], [[Rubber Forehead Aliens]], and [[Petting Zoo People]], it's explained in the film that Pandora's trees communicate with electrochemical signals through their roots, much like the neurons in a brain...and there are more trees on Pandora than there are neurons in a human brain, effectively making the entire world [[Genius Loci|one huge, superintelligent alien brain]].
* The creatures from ''[[The Abyss]]'' definitely qualify. They're classed as aliens by fans of the film even though they come from underwater instead of outer space (as far as we know). They're certainly strange in appearance and they are able to completely manipulate water - the Director's Cut reveals {{spoiler|they caused the storm on the surface and created tidal waves ready to bury most of the world's cities}} - and in one case one alien creates a huge long strip of solid water and is able to morph it to resemble Lindsey's face.
 
== [[Literature]] ==
 
* [[H. G. Wells]]' ''[[The War of the Worlds (novel)|War of the Worlds]]:''
== Literature ==
* [[H. G. Wells]]' ''[[War of the Worlds]]:''
{{quote|"A big greyish rounded bulk, the size, perhaps, of a bear, was rising slowly and painfully out of the cylinder. As it bulged up and caught the light, it glistened like wet leather. Two large dark-coloured eyes were regarding me steadfastly. The mass that framed them, the head of the thing, was rounded, and had, one might say, a face. There was a mouth under the eyes, the lipless brim of which quivered and panted, and dropped saliva. The whole creature heaved and pulsated convulsively. A lank tentacular appendage gripped the edge of the cylinder, another swayed in the air. Those who have never seen a living Martian can scarcely imagine the strange horror of its appearance. The peculiar V-shaped mouth with its pointed upper lip, the absence of brow ridges, the absence of a chin beneath the wedgelike lower lip, the incessant quivering of this mouth, the Gorgon groups of tentacles, the tumultuous breathing of the lungs in a strange atmosphere, the evident heaviness and painfulness of movement due to the greater gravitational energy of the earth--above all, the extraordinary intensity of the immense eyes--were at once vital, intense, inhuman, crippled and monstrous. There was something fungoid in the oily brown skin, something in the clumsy deliberation of the tedious movements unspeakably nasty. Even at this first encounter, this first glimpse, I was overcome with disgust and dread."}}
** Wells designed his Martians by starting out with a humanoid, then eliminating all organs (limbs, digestive tract, etc) that he felt advanced technology would render useless and/or inefficient. The blood-donor "livestock" the Martians brought along as provisions—having eschewed a digestive tract, the Martians have to feed by direct blood transfusion—had a human-like anatomy.
** This is actually the basis of how Martians (ka-sejin, meaning Mars alien) are usually depicted in Japan. [http://www.bogleech.com/scrapbook/scrapmars.html Some examples here.]
*** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fQaj31Wtko Those guys look familiar...]
** It's entirely possible that the Spider Mastermind from ''[[Doom (series)|Doom]]'' is based on Wells' description of the Martians in the War Of The Worlds books. Nice to see [[Id Software]] has some appreciation for the classics.
* In [[Alastair Reynolds]]' [[Revelation Space]] universe, every alien is a Starfish Alien. The Pattern Jugglers are semi-sentient algae-like aliens that inhabit water worlds, and function like a living library. The Grubs are grublike aliens that hide between solar systems in tiny ships to avoid extinction by the Inhibitors. The Inhibitors are 'post-sentient' [[Transhuman Aliens]] which wipe out all space faring races {{spoiler|in order to save the galaxy during the Andromeda galaxy collision in a few billion years.}}
* The Oankali in Octavia Butler's ''Xenogenesis''/''[[Lilith's Brood]]'' trilogy...''some'' of whom have been genetically altered to be more-or-less humanoid in outline. In their original state, they more closely resemble giant sea cucumbers.
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* The [[All Trolls Are Different|Trolls]] in Pratchett's [[Discworld]] kind of fit, because while they 'look' like [[Humanoid Aliens]] their physiology is mineralogical (is that the word?) rather than biological.
** Geological, I suppose. The troll brains is silicon, so they get stupider in warmer climates, and they view the past as being "in front" of them because you can see it, so people travel backwards through time. It's complicated, [[Rule of Cool|but cool]].
** There's a bit in ''[[Discworld/Lords and Ladies|Lords and Ladies]]'' about how strangely [[The Fair Folk|elves]] perceive the world, apparently via a sensitivity to magnetism.
* Various alien species in [[E. E. "Doc" Smith]]'s ''[[Lensman]]'' series, including but not limited to the Palainians, who lived on Pluto-like planets and had metabolic mechanisms which extended into the fourth dimension in order to work, the Rigellians, who looked like large barrels on legs with 4four multiply-subdivided tentacles equally spaced around them, and the [[Our Dragons Are Different|Eastern dragon-like]] (to an extent - they have an undetermined number of eyes (but more than eight), each of which is on a stalk, among other oddness) Velantians.
** It's emphasized that regardless of their physical form, they're still ''people'' - the Velantian Worsel is one of Kimball Kinnison's best friends. However, the Palainians, while still on the side of Civilization, do have remarkably weird psychologies.
* [[Diane Duane]] loves including this trope in her ''[[Star Trek]]'' novels, adding such members of the ''Enterprise'' crew as giant snowflake-shaped silicon creatures, a bipedal catlike being who doesn't comprehend past tense, two-meter-long lizards, a Starfleet captain who is basically a giant slug, a glass spider with twelve legs who wrote the laws for a universe, and—yes—aand — yes — a Horta lieutenant (basically a sentient lump of rock that looks like a giant pizza). [[The Federation]] gets a lot more multi-cultural when she's writing. And that's just in Starfleet - she ''also'' introduces such species as sentient rocks who can manipulate time, creatures who are basically intelligent amoebae, and trees with a consciousness.
** See also Diane Duane's ''[[Young Wizards]]'' series. The first book involves an intelligent ''stellar body'' and things get crazier from there.
* The novel ''The Leaves of October'' by Don Sakers mostly revolves around a race of sentient, telepathic (but not [[Epileptic Trees|epileptic]]) trees that can influence the evolution of other life forms by blowing themselves up. They can also communicate by altering the coloration of their leaves, which humankind does eventually learn to translate.
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{{quote|"They're the last remnant of a species that predates history--an unlikely being, if ever there was one. No one knows how or why they evolved—just that we have found a number of them in the galaxy, going about their business... Time has no meaning for such a creature... We thought for a time that they might have once been plentiful in the galaxy—and the ones we find now are the only ones left." }}
** Another notable ''Star Wars'' example would be the Shard, a race of sentient, luminescent, immobile crystals that communicate exclusively via some kind of electromagnetic resonance. They grow in clusters and share a kind of group mind, spending their unmoving existence immersed in deep contemplation. However, it's possible for a single Shard to be cut free from its "siblings" and live as an independent organism with a droid body, after which they begin to rapidly develop individuality and more "human"-like personalities.
* The Cheela in ''[[Dragon's Egg|Dragons Egg]],'' by Robert L. Forward: small sentient slugs with twelve eyes on stalks, living on the surface of a neutron star. Their bodies are made of degenerate matter, so despite having about the same mass and physical complexity as a human, they are only about as large as a sesame seed. Because nuclear reactions happen much more quickly than chemical, time passes for them much, much faster than for humans. For all of that, their history and psychology have many similarities to humanity's.
* The [[Slaughterhouse-Five|Tralfamadorians]] from Kurt Vonnegut's works''[[Slaughterhouse-Five]]'' experience time in a non-linear fashion, and as a result have an entirely different concept of literature, which details many unrelated moments, and is ultimately incomprehensible to humans. They're also shaped like plumber's friends topped by hands, each with a single eye in the palm.
* In David Gerrold's "[[The War Against the Chtorr]]" novels, mysterious plants animals and viruses from another planet are choking out and dominating the Earth's own ecology. The only reason humans call them "Chtorrans" is because that's how we perceive the sound made by the most dangerous of the new ecology: The giant furry man-eating gastropedes. The protagonist experiences quite a bit of this mysterious new ecology firsthand, including a "storm" of fibrous spores that covers part of California in what looks like 15 feet of cotton candy.
** Don't forget that the "furry" gastropedes {{spoiler|are not furry at all - the fur is actually a parasitic/symbiotic (depending on your perspective) organism that allows the worms to ''taste'' its surroundings}}.
** It's far more than that: {{spoiler|the symbiont IS''is'' the Chtorran's nervous system -- without it a Chtorran can't even move. And it can infect humans, allowing one to mind-meld with Chtorran ecology}}.
* The ''[[Sector General]]'' novels have an entire alphabetized classification system to describe the tremendous variety of metabolisms, body types, and environments of alien species. And even then, they often run into lifeforms that defy classification.
* Jack L. Chalker's ''[[Well World]]'' series had numerous beings ranging from those that looked like a [[Biological Mashup]] of Earth species (the last set of creators ran out of ideas and cribbed from each other), to the totally alien. The creators of the Universe resembled giant human hearts with tentacles. The Dreel are the [[Hive Mind]] of a sentient disease. The North Zone species ...were far weirder than that.
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** Chalker also has fun with technically non-alien post-humans in the ''Rings of the Masters'' series. A Skynet-like AI has conquered humanity and used genetically modified humans to colonize the galaxy. Even though they are technically human, some of them get very weird, including elk- or cattle-like people that grow horns and become quadrupedal when pregnant to protect their stomachs.
* The aliens from Robert Forward's ''Rocheworld'' series are very nonhuman—the Flouwen are aquatic [[The Blob|blobs]] who love math and surfing and can compress themselves into rocks to think more effectively, the Gummies are elephant-sized five-limbed creatures who put down roots during the dry season and shed an arm during mating, and the "green giants" from the [[Sequelitis|less than spectacular]] "Marooned on Eden" are mobile trees with detachable birds for eyes and racoon-like "gatherers" for hands.
* In [[Stanislaw Lem]]'s ''[[Solaris (1972 film)|Solaris]]'', the eponymous alien is not only a [[Genius Loci|planet]] and a liquid, but also his thoughts are so different from humans', that the scientists investigating it are going crazy. Also, presumably, various phenomena occurring on the planet are its mind processes, leaving the question of how do the scientists not mentally injure the planet by doing research. {{spoiler|It is also possible, that in fact the planet does investigate humans.}}
** In Lem's ''Fiasco'' an interstellar expedition which spares no expense, even causing the break up of a moon of Saturn, goes to another star system to contact a race at a similar technological level than them, but they're so alien that communication is extremely difficult. In fact, by the end of the book, you have a better idea of what the aliens look like ( {{spoiler|living mounds (maybe colonies of insect-like beings)}}), but it's still not completely certain.
*** And the most human-like by Lem would be Starfish Aliens in most other works of fiction. Even when describing Entians who are physiologically like birds, he pays attention to culture differences with humans arising from their spore-like polyfertilization.
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* The alien species in Paul Harland's ''Water to Ice''. Some are so strange and ancient that nobody has a clear idea of what they are at all. The Kysx, for instance, are flying balls of fuel and fire, said to have arrived in spaceships half a meter in diameter and two kilometers long. The Rrith have the body of a ray and communicate by shifting the pattern of the fur on their back. The Ftott are big sponges whose limbs are blades of bone; they "talk" by hacking specific parts off their opponents...
* The [[Sten]] series features occasional wildly nonhumanoid creatures, such as the peaceful race of floating jellyfish, or a ring of sentient polyp creatures that appear to be permanently installed in a ring inside a large Customer Service desk. There's also one ''literal'' example of a Starfish Alien, and it's nightmarish for three reasons: it's as tall as a man, it runs through waist-deep water as quickly as a man can on land, and it's got a thresher maw in in its center. The creature, called a "gurion," is only encountered once in the series but remains one of the most memorable and horrific of all the alien entities Sten fights.
* [[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s ''[[Stranger in Aa Strange Land]]'' is a little vague about the nature of Martians, but they seem to be giant, globe-like fur-covered creatures who have go through a multiple-stage full body metamorphosis several times in life before eventually becoming just disembodied psychic entities. Their mode of thought is so different from that of humans that the Martian-raised protagonist's struggle to understand even the rudiments of human mentality are the nucleus of the book's entire conflict.
** A Martian's life has four stages: egg, nymph, adult, and Old One. All adults are male, all nymphs female: like some Earth fishes and amphibians, all Martians go through both sexes. Competition and rivalry happen solely among nymphs; the adult stage are so pacifist that even an awkward social situation might cause them to discorporate, shedding their bodies and becoming disembodied Old Ones. Oh, and all adults and Old Ones are incredibly powerful telepaths and telekinetics. And cannibals.
* The Masters, the antagonists who drive [[The Tripods]], are tall cone-shaped creatures with three eyes, three legs and three tentacles. Physically they breath thick, green fog, have a low tolerance for ethyl alcohol (which becomes a major plot point later), and an [[Achilles' Heel|extremely sensitive area]] between their respiratory orifice and ingestive orifice, making the lightest brush extremely painful. They breathe a thick, greenish gas that is deadly to humans, bathe in near-boiling water several times a day to keep moist, have their own form of drugs, and seem to have only one disease. Psychologically, they are incapable of lying and cannot grasp the concept of fiction or exaggeration (though at least one of them gains a firm understanding of sarcasm), are incredibly tolerant of hardship and difficulty (to the point of becoming ill if they don't work hard), drink gas bubbles as an intoxicant, and die if they're put in a situation they feel they can't escape from (as one master innately committed suicide when captured by the White Mountain Resistance in ''The Pool of Fire''.)
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** Dukaj's background as a philosophy graduate may be of some importance here.
 
== [[Live -Action TV]] ==
 
== Live Action TV ==
* The blob-like rock-burrowing Horta which appears in the "Devil in the Dark" episode of the [[Star Trek: The Original Series|original]] ''[[Star Trek]]'' series. The episode was written around the already-existing creature-prop, after the operator demonstrated how dramatically effective it could be. The Excalbians from "The Savage Curtain" (different rock monsters), the superheated crystalline Tholians, the huge hundred-tentacled Kelvans in their [[Humanity Ensues|native form]], and the Companion from "[[Star Trek/Recap/S2/E09 Metamorphosis|Metamorphosis]]" (a sentient gas cloud) also apply. And the Medusans: [[Dark Is Not Evil|Friendly Neighborhood]] aliens, who get along fine with human beings as long as the human beings don't accidentally ''look'' at the Medusans and [[Go Mad from the Revelation|go raving mad as a result]].
** The original series introduced the Tholians in ''The Tholian Web''...who were ''so'' strange, while visible only partly through the main viewscreen during negotations, that the writers themselves (like anyone else) couldn't figure out what they actually were implied to be for the better part of 30 years, even while being passingly mentioned once or twice in different series. Only toward the end of ''Enterprise'' did they finally settle on the head being a carapace, and the Tholians as a race of advanced arachnids (only made of crystal). Mention of them in the latter as a major Temporal Cold War power has prompted fans to speculate that they are the among the potential "next great rival"s to the Federation in the 25th century, and that they may be operating on [[Chessmaster]] levels when it comes to their xenopolitical strategy.
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** ''[[Squick|Quivering]]'' purple tubes.
 
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
 
== Tabletop Games ==
* Anything in the "Unknowns" category of [[Mortasheen]] that isn't a flat-out [[Eldritch Abomination]] is this, with the strangest being the Meteor Series, which ''aren't even technically "alive".''
* The Hivers of [[Traveller]] are vaguely starfish-like aliens with nonhuman physiologies, biologies, psychologies, society, and which reproduce by budding. Considered a challenge to role-play. Despite the name, they are not a [[Hive Mind]], nor are they [[Bee People]]. The tag "hivers" was hung on them by a human who thought their buildings looked like beehives.
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* ''[[Teenagers From Outer Space]]'' divides aliens into [[Rubber Forehead Aliens|Near Humans]], Not Very Near Humans, and Real Weirdies.
 
== [[Video Games]] ==
 
== Video Games ==
* ''[[Achron]]'' has the Grekim. A race with 3 genders that by and large resemble giant cyborg squid. Known to be masters of time travel.
* ''[[Star Control]] 2'' is absolutely crammed full of these species: the Slylandro (gas giant dwelling bubbles), the Umgah (blobs with various tentacles, mouths and eyes scattered about), the Ur-Quan (Giant tentacled space centipedes), the Talking Pets{{spoiler|/Dnyarri (sentient psychic frogs)}}, the [[Big Creepy-Crawlies|Ilwrath]], the Chenjesu, the Zoq-Fot-Pik (The resemble a mutant houseplant, a purple clam, and a blue radiator), the Mycon (fungus), the [[Plant Aliens|Supox]], the Spathi (one eyed clamlike mollusks)... and most especially those happy *[[Starfish Language|campers]]* , the Orz (tentacled parrotfish), who, it is hinted, are the *fingers* of an [[Eldritch Abomination]]. Most of the aliens are humanoid enough in ''psychology'' to communicate with, at least—except the [[Starfish Language|Orz]] and the Mycon. The Mycon's case isn't funny, though.
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* The aliens from ''[[Crysis (series)|Crysis]]'' are fluke-like beings with translucent bodies who live in zero gravity, and probably couldn't survive outside of their ship on their own. Their [[Mecha-Mooks]] and [[Powered Armor]] are also distinctly inhuman, resembling the robotic squids from ''[[The Matrix]]'' films rather than the standard bipedal robots.
** In ''Crysis 2'' they are aptly named Cephalopods (or Ceph for short). They now use agile bipedal robots, piloted by a tentacled organic mass on their backs (which may or may not be an actual alien).
* One of the crewmembers in ''[[Unreal (Video Game)|Unreal]] 2: The Awakening'' was an alien whose body was some sort of liquid or energy, and who interacted with everyone using a suit of humanoid-shaped [[Powered Armor]] with a large transparent dome in the chest where his "face" was. With only a tenuous understanding of human culture, he was also the [[Funny Foreigner]].
** Later you visit a ''living'' planet, a planet covered by one giant organism.
* The S'pht from the ''[[Marathon Trilogy|Marathon]]'' games usually fly around in powered armor, but appear to resemble [http://www.eyrie.org/~aerianne/marathon/m2.term1.jpg brains with an eye and arms]. This is because they are all cyborgs from birth, with both the biological and mechanical halves reproducing at once, making them [[Mechanical Lifeforms]] to one degree or another.
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** The [[Zombie Apocalypse|Flood]] and [[Hive Mind|The Gravemind]] also qualify.
*** Pure Forms especially, as they seem to have their own uniquely engineered anatomy, and can change from a spider-like "Stalker" to either the lumbering bear-bug "Tank", or the really odd, bulbous, porcupine-like "Ranged" form.
** The Engineers/Huragok, who resemble large pink tentacled slugs that float above the ground using two gas-bags. Their tentacles have the ability to split into millions of thread-like cilia, which they use to fix or build just about anything. The Engineer equivalantequivalent of sex is a couple (sometimes even three) working together to ''actually build their child''. Their psychology is a little strange too. They don't seem to care if they're helping the humans or the Covenant, so long as they have something to fix.
*** According to the limited edition material for the 'Legendary' version of ''Halo 3'', the Engineers aren't even a naturally occuringoccurring race. They're basically biological robots built by the forerunner. Hence why all they seem to care about is technology, and couldn't care less about any war.
*** There are a few exceptions, though. Lighter Than Some, for instance, had his own unique personality: while still driven to fix everything, he willingly {{spoiler|ignores his commander's will in an attempt to save the humans on Harvest, believing that they should have the same opportunity to "walk the Path"}}
* In ''[[City of Heroes]]'', the playable "Kheldian" aliens are formless energy creatures who can extend their lives by [[Fusion Dance|symbiotically combining]] with other intelligent lifeforms, who gain energy powers and the ability to transform physically into any of the Kheldian's previous hosts. The two alternate forms in game are the "Nova" (a floating tentacled creature) and the "Dwarf" (a huge armor-plated biped). Their [[Evil Counterpart|EvilCounterparts]]s are the Nictus, who are basically vampire Kheldians.
** ApparantlyApparently, turning evil gives the Kheldians powers based around dark energy. [[Dark Is Not Evil|Which do not disapeardisappear if they redeem themselves.]]
* ''[[Free Space]]'' has the Shivans, which can best be described as [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpAcztB2F-Y gigantic five-legged spiders]. Their bizarre shape is apparently due to them having evolved in zero-g: they are incredibly agile and acrobatic in such an environment. The list of strange attributes about them is too long to list here, but it's been stated that they can survive prolonged exposure to vacuum (one cutscene dropped from the game had them jumping out of their ships onto a space station to board it... without any kind of suit). Furthermore, their means of communication is, for most of the games, completely unknown to the Terrans: and since [[Omnicidal Maniac|Shivans seem to exist only to blow up things that are not Shivan]], they were named for Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction.
* ''[[Escape Velocity]] Nova'' has the Wraith, a race of [[Living Ship|living ships]] with an innate cloaking ability, and the Krypt, a mysterious [[Hive Mind]] which considers itself to be the only form of life in the universe.
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* The Einst from the ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' series are a hive mind of creatures that seem to be able to take any form, though they stick to a few specific ones such as skeletal monsters, vines wearing robes, or empty suits of armor. They exist in an alternate universe, only occasionally coming to a world occupied by humans, and most of them can only communicate telepathically to specific people who have a connection with them. (And still... Talk... Like this...) They are, or at least believe themselves to be, the eternal guardians of the multiverse that existed since the dawn of time, and have no personal issue with humanity except that our free will and hotblooded}}ness is slowly eroding away the foundations of the universe.
* Owing to the amazing procedural generation of [[Spore]], a good deal of the species you create or encounter can be this. The most famous Spore creature, the [[Fan Nickname|Willosaur]], is a tripodal reptile/dinosaur-thing with three eyes and a prehensile tail. And that's one of the more normal creatures you'll find.
* The Lumas in the ''[[Super Mario Bros.(franchise)|Mario]]'' series. They aren't exactly as bizzare as others on the list, but they're body shape is literally that of a star. They can be found anywhere and consume peculiar objects called Star Bits.
* The Centaurans in [[OtherSpace]] resemble floating crystalline jellyfish, with radial symmetry, over twenty eyes, telepathic communication, tentacles for manipulation, and a mechanical device to convert air into something breathable. Oh, and they consume any of their race who shows any hint of psychotic thoughts.
* ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess]]'' gives us the Oocca, a bizarre race of beings with small chicken-like bodies, egg-shaped heads with [[Uncanny Valley]]-ish human faces, and [[Multi Boobage|multiple sets of]] [[Non Mammalian Mammaries]] ''(with the nipples showing)''. Not to mention the babies, which appear to be flying eggs with human faces. They're highly intelligent—they created the [http://www.zeldawiki.org/City_in_the_Sky City in the Sky], advanced technology like the [http://www.zeldawiki.org/Sky_Cannon Sky Cannon] and the [http://www.zeldawiki.org/Dominion_Rod Dominion Rod], their own [[Starfish Language]], and apparently even the entire country of Hyrule. They're said to be closer to the gods than the Hylians themselves.
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* The [[The Kingdom|Boron]] of the ''[[X (video game)|X-Universe]]'' look like [[Rubber Forehead Aliens]] over comms, [[Subverted Trope|but you only see them from the neck up]]. They actually look like [http://www.egosoft.com/x/xnews/gfx/22_concept_boron.jpg this]. They're an aquatic species that evolved on an ocean world with an ammonia atmosphere, and have three genders. Meanwhile, the [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens|Paranid]] have three eyes, a crazy religion based on three-dimensionality, multiple genders, and four arms.
 
== [[Web OriginalComics]] ==
 
* The tentacled creatures of ''[[Ghastly Ghastly Comic|Ghastly's Ghastly Comic]]''.
== Webcomics ==
* The tentacled creatures of ''[[Ghastly Ghastly Comic|Ghastly's Ghastly Comic]]''.
* ''[[Freefall]]'' first hinted, and later stated outright, that under his [[Mobile Suit Human]](oid) exterior, Sam Starfall is not remotely humanoid in form.
** It involves lots and lots of tentacles, and makes most humans lose their lunch immediately.
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* ''[[Chainsawsuit]]'' [http://chainsawsuit.com/2008/04/25/strip-357/ demonstrates] some... awkward issues with this.
 
== Western[[Web AnimationOriginal]] ==
* The story ''[[Three Worlds Collide]]'' from the philosophy blog ''Overcoming Bias'' features two alien species designed to be radically different from humans. One of them is sentient silicon-based, and has evolved a reproductive mechanism involving spawning billions of extra young and eating most of them (whilst semi-sentient) - as such their concept of 'good' literally translated as 'eating babies'. The second are powerfully hedonistic [[Naughty Tentacles]] for whom pretty much everything evolutionarily advantageous is extremely pleasurable. They introduce themselves with a video they created featuring themselves in a childbirth-related porn film, repeatedly putting a baby ''[[Squickback|in]]'' [[Squick|to a woman]]; The story deals with the ethics of interaction with these two alien species.
* All ''[[Orion's Arm]]'' aliens, as a rule.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130613135659/http://www.nemoramjet.com/snduterus.html Snaiad] is an ongoing xenobiology project by Nemo Ramjet which covers the biosphere of a fictional extrasolar planet as catalogued by human colonists. A short list of the differences between Snaiadi and Terran vertebrates: Their skeletons are carbon-based rather than calcium based (making fossils rather hard to find, and bones an excellent source of fuel); a portion of their musculature structures are hydraulic instead of contractile, i.e. they push instead of pull; they have two heads, one for eating and one for reproduction; and a number of aquatic species move by way of biological jet engines, a quality they share with Earth octopuses, though still unique as far as vertebrates go. Front legs are optional.
** Unfortunately the main site seems to be defunct these days, but [http://nemo-ramjet.deviantart.com Nemo's Deviantart page] lives on. Enjoy.
* The Fiddlers from ''[[Spots the Space Marine]]''.
* Alpha Centaurians in ''[[The Pentagon War]]'' are shaped like a cross between xorns from [[Dungeons & Dragons]] and R2-D2 from [[Star Wars]]. They have muscle-powered wheels in their feet, a 360 degree eye stalk, and four mouths spaced evenly below and between their four shoulders.
* In ''[[Pay Me, Bug!]]'', Ktk is described as a 2.5 meter hermaphroditic centipede, with three prehensile tails that are ''each'' strong enough to [[Grievous Harm with a Body|wield a person like a club]].
* The [[SCP Foundation]] has [http://scp-wiki.net/scp-328 an alien CD]; based on data retrieved from it, the designers are fundamentally different to humans (for example, taste is their primary sense, and electromagnetism is lethal to them). Also, ''we'' are starfish aliens to ''them''.
* [[Web Original/STRANGERS|S T R A N G E R S]] is a sort of catalog of starfish critters: the eponymous strangers have no bones, brains or other internal organs, yet behave like living things. When dissected, they're revealed to be either hollow or stuffed with random objects and substances, such as calligraphy ink and various trash. [http://strangers.atrocityland.com/ The information page] openly states that no one understands exactly how these creatures work or ''why'' they exist in the first place.
* The invading [[Multiversal Conqueror]]s that prompt the start of the first ''[[Tom Stranger]]'' story are purple, tentacled, blobs immune to radiation with airpower provided by "giant purple pterodactyls, with scramjets for buttholes [that] fart themselves to mach 4 and sexually assault F-22s".
 
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* In ''[[Alienators Evolution Continues]]'', the [[Animated Adaptation]] sequel to the movie ''[[Evolution (film)|Evolution]]'', the Genus aliens become literal starfish-like creatures when hit by a devolution ray.
* ''[[The Transformers (animation)|The Transformers]]'' did this a lot, especially in season three when the focus moved away from Earth. There are the five-faced tentacled Quintessons, the energy-based Tornedron, the living planet of Torkulon and its motley inmates, and in the sequel series ''[[Beast Wars]]'' we got the extradimensional Vok.
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** The anime segment of the Reincarnation episode had a race of mouthless aliens that could only communicate with body language.
* The animated miniseries ''Red Planet'', a [[Inspired By|reworking]] of the [[Robert A. Heinlein]] novel, had "bouncers", sentients the size of soccer balls, and the "locals" of New Aries.
* Though packed with humanoids, ''[[Justice League (animation)|Justice League]]'' and ''Justice League Unlimited'' also showed a few non-humanoid aliens, mainly as background characters.
* ''[[Star Trek: The Animated Series]]'' took advantage of being animated by introducing several non-humanoid aliens:
** Arex, the [[Multi-Armed and Dangerous|three-armed]] Edosian navigator
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** The [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens|Highbreed]] look roughly humanoid, but their inner biology seems ''very'' bizarre.
 
== [[Real Life]] ==
 
== Web Original ==
* The story ''[[Three Worlds Collide]]'' from the philosophy blog ''Overcoming Bias'' features two alien species designed to be radically different from humans. One of them is sentient silicon-based, and has evolved a reproductive mechanism involving spawning billions of extra young and eating most of them (whilst semi-sentient) - as such their concept of 'good' literally translated as 'eating babies'. The second are powerfully hedonistic [[Naughty Tentacles]] for whom pretty much everything evolutionarily advantageous is extremely pleasurable. They introduce themselves with a video they created featuring themselves in a childbirth-related porn film, repeatedly putting a baby ''[[Squickback|in]]'' [[Squick|to a woman]]; The story deals with the ethics of interaction with these two alien species.
* All ''[[Orion's Arm]]'' aliens, as a rule.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130613135659/http://www.nemoramjet.com/snduterus.html Snaiad] is an ongoing xenobiology project by Nemo Ramjet which covers the biosphere of a fictional extrasolar planet as catalogued by human colonists. A short list of the differences between Snaiadi and Terran vertebrates: Their skeletons are carbon-based rather than calcium based (making fossils rather hard to find, and bones an excellent source of fuel); a portion of their musculature structures are hydraulic instead of contractile, i.e. they push instead of pull; they have two heads, one for eating and one for reproduction; and a number of aquatic species move by way of biological jet engines, a quality they share with Earth octopuses, though still unique as far as vertebrates go. Front legs are optional.
** Unfortunately the main site seems to be defunct these days, but [http://nemo-ramjet.deviantart.com Nemo's Deviantart page] lives on. Enjoy.
* The Fiddlers from ''[[Spots the Space Marine]]''.
* Alpha Centaurians in ''[[The Pentagon War]]'' are shaped like a cross between xorns from [[Dungeons & Dragons]] and R2-D2 from [[Star Wars]]. They have muscle-powered wheels in their feet, a 360 degree eye stalk, and four mouths spaced evenly below and between their four shoulders.
* In ''[[Pay Me, Bug!]]'', Ktk is described as a 2.5 meter hermaphroditic centipede, with three prehensile tails that are ''each'' strong enough to [[Grievous Harm with a Body|wield a person like a club]].
* The [[SCP Foundation]] has [http://scp-wiki.net/scp-328 an alien CD]; based on data retrieved from it, the designers are fundamentally different to humans (for example, taste is their primary sense, and electromagnetism is lethal to them). Also, ''we'' are starfish aliens to ''them''.
* [[Web Original/STRANGERS|S T R A N G E R S]] is a sort of catalog of starfish critters: the eponymous strangers have no bones, brains or other internal organs, yet behave like living things. When dissected, they're revealed to be either hollow or stuffed with random objects and substances, such as calligraphy ink and various trash. [http://strangers.atrocityland.com/ The information page] openly states that no one understands exactly how these creatures work or ''why'' they exist in the first place.
 
 
== Real Life ==
* In mental terms, [http://www.rfreitas.com/Astro/Xenopsychology.htm this article] reflects upon the profoundly alien possibilities extrapolated from our own minds, while breaking down each factor that could possibly make alien minds different from human minds.
* Scientist speculate that life may exist on Jupiter's moon Europa where there may be a sea under the ice. If they do, they'll probably live very deep down, surviving off geothermal energy. Thus, they would possibly look similar to Earth's own [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KT1TSbarW1U deep sea creatures].