History Main / AnthropomorphicZigZag

* All of the Secret Garden residents from ''FatherOfThePride'' walk on four feet while proforming on stage or around humans, then walk around on two when talking by themselves.

* ''LooneyTunes'' regular Sylvester is notable for being a normal, [[TheVoiceless voiceless]] cat, a CivilizedAnimal, or a full-blown standard FunnyAnimal depending on the cartoon. He's also the only one of several more obscure LooneyTunes cats to do so.

* ''AlvinAndTheChipmunks'': Alvin, Simon, and Theodore all started out as actual chipmunks, but in [[TheAlvinShow the first cartoon series]] they all started to [[FunnyAnimal look less like chipmunks]], and in [[WesternAnimation/AlvinAndTheChipmunks the second cartoon series]] they all [[PettingZooPeople looked even less like chipmunks]]. However, in [[Film/AlvinandtheChipmunks their first live action movie]], they all started to [[CivilizedAnimal look like chipmunks again]], although not as much as they did on the original covers.

* CourageTheCowardlyDog flips-flops between a SpeechImpairedAnimal around his owners, Eustace and Muriel, to being a full-on TalkingAnimal around anyone else (human or otherwise) and to the audience.

** When WileECoyote has The Roadrunner as his adversary, he's mute and orders things from ACMEProducts. When he's paired opposite BugsBunny, he's an erudite CivilizedAnimal GadgeteerGenius.

* Tom, Jerry, and Spike from ''TomAndJerry''

** There are many examples of ''LooneyTunes'' pet animal characters who are somewhat like this, including:

** Another ''LooneyTunes'' example is [[OneFroggyEvening Michigan J. Frog]] who goes back and forth between being an ordinary frog to a singing and dancing frog.

* Furrball from ''TinyToonAdventures'' is usually portrayed as an NearlyNormalAnimal cat, but he kept weaving back and forth between a normal cat and a FunnyAnimal depending on the cartoon. He would even switch between [[FourLegsGoodTwoLegsBetter walking on two legs and walking on four legs]].

** ChipAndDale are {{Funny Animal}}s in the ''KingdomHearts'' video game series, but are {{Civilized Animal}}s otherwise.
* ''{{Thundercats}}'' had the snarfs, who would switch between walking on two legs and walking on all four at times (and occasionally standing on their tails). Even Lion-O got in on it once, dropping down on all fours to get some extra speed to run away from some lava.
* ''AlvinAndTheChipmunks'': Alvin, Simon, and Theodore all started out as actual chipmunks, but in the first cartoon series they all started to [[FunnyAnimal look less like chipmunks]], and in the second cartoon series they all [[PettingZooPeople looked even less like chipmunks]]. However, in [[Film/AlvinandtheChipmunks their first live action movie]], they all started to [[CivilizedAnimal look like chipmunks again]], although not as much as they did on the original covers.

* The animals in ''{{Barnyard}}'' and ''BackAtTheBarnyard'' [[FourLegsGoodTwoLegsBetter walk on two legs]], talk and partake in "human" activities, but when humans/a human show/shows up, the animals switch to a four-legged stance (except the birds, which are two-legged by default) and act like normal animals.
* [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] by Perry the Platypus on PhineasAndFerb. Around his owners he's a mindless domestic pet that "doesn't do much". In reality he's a super-capable secret agent that fights to save the world from evil. He still can't talk, though.

** Ponies in general have always been like this. It especially shows in ''MyLittlePonyTales'' where one moment they could be running on four legs and another they can be standing up on two legs without an issue. Even G4 has this, with the ponies using their hooves as hands and moving around like humans when needed.

* Background character [[FanNickname Heartstrings]] in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' is like this more than anypony else.

** And yes, like the ''Toy Story'' example above, they too have exceptions: [[spoiler: Except it's not the three gargoyls we're accustomed to that break their own rules, but rather an unnamed fourth gargoyle that comes to life to finish off Frollo at the end of the film.]]

FurryReminder is a related trope.

[[AC:Western Animation]]

* The electrical appliances from ''TheBraveLittleToaster'', who can actually make their faces disappear whenever they've been spotted by humans.

* ''{{Mother 3}}'': Boney has to impersonate a kid to get into Club Titiboo, so Lucas dresses him up with a shirt and cap and he walks on hind legs for the remainder of the chapter (but quickly switching back to all-fours when they're in the wilderness again).

* FelixTheCat. From 1919 through the mid-1950s, stories alternated between showing Felix as either a TalkingAnimal pet in a human home or a FunnyAnimal master of his own house. Only with the Trans-Lux TV series was Felix established as a FunnyAnimal for good.

* ''FamilyGuy'' has Brian Griffin, who started as a talking dog, but through the course of the series, [[AnthropomorphicShift he has become more and more human]]. Although every once in a while, you're reminded that he still is a dog.

* Background character [[FanNickname Heartstrings]] in ''MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' is like this more than anypony else.

* Rita the CivilizedAnimal cat from ''{{Animaniacs}}'' with a lot of TalkingAnimal moments would switch between [[FourLegsGoodTwoLegsBetter walking on two legs and walking on four legs]]. In a few {{cameo}}s and possibly in part of "Kiki's Kitten", she is shown as a FunnyAnimal, and in a {{cameo}} in "The Return of The Great Wakkorotti," she is even [[FullyDressedCartoonAnimal fully-dressed]].

* Plato from ''[[BookOfVirtues Adventures from the Book of Virtues]]'' would often go back and forth [[FourLegsGoodTwoLegsBetter between all fours and two legs]].

* [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'' with Florence, who can run on all fours, but usually doesn't because it gets her hands dirty.
* Mind you, this trope [[IThoughtItMeant has nothing to do with]] the webcomic known as ''SabrinaOnline'', which is a furry webcomic with a main character named Zig Zag, 3/4ths skunk.

* {{Garfield}} goes back and forth, but has noticeably become bipedal. The other cats can [[RunningOnAllFours switch between the]] [[FourLegsGoodTwoLegsBettertwo stances as well]].

* The lawn ornaments from ''GnomeoandJuliet''.
* In {{Mannequin}}, Roxie (a mannequin which comes to life [[MST3KMantra apparently because of a time travel expiriment]]) can only be seen in her animated form by the man who built her. If someone else enters the room, peeks into the window, etc., she's instantly frozen until they go away.

* ''ThunderCats'' had the snarfs, who would switch between walking on two legs and walking on all four at times (and occasionally standing on their tails). Even Lion-O got in on it once, dropping down on all fours to get some extra speed to run away from some lava.

* EekTheCat is a {{Talking Animal}}/{{Funny Animal}} that often partakes in human activities, but is also a pet cat and cannot speak to his owners, although he appears to be able to speak to other human characters.

Please don't list any examples who are [[TheMasquerade putting on a masquerade]] who are service animals, barnyard animals or livestock, circus animals, zoo animals, lab animals, or pets.

* {{Garfield}} goes back and forth, but has noticeably become bipedal.

* ''LooneyTunes'' regular Sylvester is notable for being a normal, [[TheVoiceless voiceless]] cat, a CivilizedAnimal, or a full-blown standard FunnyAnimal depending on the cartoon. He's also the only one of several more obscure LooneyTunes cats to do so.

This trope is by no means restricted to animals.

* Otis, Abby, Bessie, and the other cows from ''{{Barnyard}}'' and ''BackAtTheBarnyard'' have real looking front hooves when masquerading as ordinary cows in front of the farmer, but change into prehensile black mitts when bipedal.

** Otis, Abby, Bessie, and the other cows from ''{{Barnyard}}'' and ''BackAtTheBarnyard'' have real looking front hooves when masquerading as ordinary cows in front of the farmer, but change into prehensile black mitts when bipedal.

** Chicken Boo is an NearlyNormalAnimal, but when he puts on a PaperThinDisguise, he becomes kind of a FunnyAnimal.

* ''PhineasAndFerb'': Perry the platypus is just an ordinary pet platypus. He lays around the house and doesn't do anything, while everyone's looking. Otherwise, he puts on a fedora and goes by Agent P, an anthropomorphic platypus with a high level of intelligence.
* The entire premise of ''WesternAnimation/TeachersPet''. Spot is an ordinary housedog, but puts on clothes and goes to school posing as a boy.
* The ''WonderPets'' are ordinary classroom pets, until school ends, and they put on capes, fly in a flying ship and rescue baby animals.

* EekTheCat is a {{Talking Animal}}/{{Funny Animal}} that often partakes in human activities, but is also a pet cat and cannot speak to his owners, although he appears to be able to speak to other human characters.

* The animals in ''{{Barnyard}}'' and ''BackAtTheBarnyard'' [[FourLegsGoodTwoLegsBetter walk on two legs]], talk and partake in "human" activities, but when humans/a human show/shows up, the animals switch to a four-legged stance (except the birds, which are two-legged by default) and act like normal animals.
** Extremely apparent when concerning Otis, Abby, Bessie, and the other cows, who have real looking front hooves when masquerading as ordinary cows in front of the farmer, but change into prehensile black mitts when bipedal.

* The animals in ''FatherOfThePride'' are normally {{Funny Animal}}s, but switch to being {{Nearly Normal Animal}}s around humans.