History Main / AnthropomorphicZigZag

This is like a standard AnthropomorphicShift, except the shift is geared to the role a character has in a work, movie, short, cartoon, or episode. For example, an animal character appears as an NearlyNormalAnimal in one cartoon or episode, but appears as a FunnyAnimal in another.

* Cyrill Proudbottom, Mr. Toad's horse in ''Literature/TheWindInTheWillows'' segment of ''Disney/TheAdventuresOfIchabodAndMrToad''. He is first seen as a TalkingAnimal, pulling Toad's cart and running on all fours. Later, however, he is seen walking on his hind legs, and even dresses as a human being and completely fools a jailer into thinking that he's Toad's grandmother.

* The gargoyles from Disney's ''Disney/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' actually only come to life whenever Quasimodo's around. If Esmeralda/Phoebus/Frollo/etc. is with Quasimodo, then the gargoyles will all still stay put. And yes, like the ''Toy Story'' example below, they too have exceptions: [[spoiler: Except it's not the three gargoyles we're accustomed to who break their own rules, but rather an unnamed fourth gargoyle who comes to life to finish off Frollo at the end of the film.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:You would be angry too if you had to go back to quadrupedalism.]]

** Wilford B. Wolf is a geeky FunnyAnimal, but is a PettingZooPerson when he becomes a handsome werewolf.

* ''Franchise/AlvinAndTheChipmunks'': Alvin, Simon, and Theodore all started out as actual chipmunks, but in [[WesternAnimation/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.

[[caption-width-right:350:Their evolutionary process is rather awkward.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:Their evolutionary process was rather awkward.]]

** WesternAnimation/ChipAndDale are {{Funny Animal}}s in the ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts'' video game series, but are {{Civilized Animal}}s otherwise.

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* The gargoyles from Disney's ''Disney/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' actually only come to life whenever Quasimodo's around. If Esmeralda/Phoebus/Frollo/etc. is with Quasimodo, then the gargoyles will all still stay put.
** And yes, like the ''Toy Story'' example below, they too have exceptions: [[spoiler: Except it's not the three gargoyles we're accustomed to who break their own rules, but rather an unnamed fourth gargoyle who comes to life to finish off Frollo at the end of the film.]]

* In ''Film/{{Mannequin}}'', Emmy (a mannequin which comes to life [[MST3KMantra apparently because of a time travel experiment]]) 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.
* Remy and the other rats from ''WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}}'' can switch between [[FourLegsGoodTwoLegsBetter walking on two legs and walking on four legs]] too. This even has some minor importance in the story--It's noted at the beginning that walking on four legs is the norm, but Remy walks on two to keep his front paws clean. [[spoiler: When the clan rallies to help Remy cook for Anton, Remy insists that they all do the same.]]

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* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' has a variation on this. The question of whether Hobbes is really alive, or just a product of Calvin's imagination, was deliberately avoided. Even when depicted as a "live" tiger, Hobbes' appearance zigzags-- sometimes he'll walk on two legs as a very cartoonish FunnyAnimal, with long arms and stubby legs. This stature is used mainly when he's doing something cerebral, like philosophizing or acting as StraightMan to Calvin's insanity, or else a task that requires manual dexterity, like throwing snowballs. At other times he'll go on all fours, usually for the purpose of pouncing on Calvin, and his body will take on realistic feline proportions.
* The cows of ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'' show us how it's done [[http://www.austintown.k12.oh.us/~aust_tr/homework/quickfiles/Cartoons/17%20cows%20CAR!.bmp here]].
* ComicStrip/{{Garfield}} goes back and forth, but has noticeably become bipedal. The other cats can [[RunningOnAllFours switch between the]] [[FourLegsGoodTwoLegsBetter two stances as well]].
* Snoopy, from ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'', goes back and forth between all fours and walking upright, sometimes within a strip, not necessarily depending on his role, but more on his mood.

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* [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in ''WebComic/{{Freefall}}'' with Florence, who can run on all fours, but usually doesn't because it gets her hands dirty.

* ''WebComic/VGCats'': #343 ("I Am Gross") shows that Leo and Aeris have both a toilet and a litter box. Although Leo doesn't poop in the box anymore. ([[spoiler: [[ZigZaggedTrope Because it's full.]]]])

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Compare AnthropomorphicShift, which is what happens when animal characters in a work become progressively more human-like in appearance and behavior in later installments instead of just going back and forth in anthropomorphism.

This is like a standard AnthropomorphicShift, except the shift is geared to the role or co-star a character is in a work, movie, short, cartoon, or episode. For example, an animal character appears as an NearlyNormalAnimal in one cartoon or episode, but appears as a FunnyAnimal in another.

The difference between a AnthropomorphicShift and an AnthropomorphicZigZag is that the former is what happens when animal and anthropomorphic characters in a work become progressively more human-like in appearance and behavior in later installments. The latter is a shift dependent either on the role or co-star the character has in a work or roles he/she has in a single work or his or her mood, or to live a double life.

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* ''Franchise/DonkeyKong'' constantly switches between having regular gorilla intelligence to human-like intelligence. In the original ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong'' and his guest appearance in ''VideoGame/PunchOut'' (Wii), he appears to be just a gorilla. In the ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'' games (both the original trilogy and ''[[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryReturns Returns]]''[=/=]''[[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryTropicalFreeze Tropical Freeze]]''), he displays more human-like intelligence, but still walks around in all fours like a typical gorilla. In the cartoon and ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong64'', he is now bipedal and displays far more human-like mannerisms. Whenever he is capable of speech and not just random gorilla noises, it can range between HulkSpeak to regular speak. In general, it appears that he becomes more beast-like whenever he is cast in an antagonistic role.

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*** The [[WordOfGod general rule]] is that the hooved animals are the more anthropomorphic, though the exact boundary is somewhat unclear, with pigs and a blink-and-you'll-miss-it deer seeming more like normal animals, while cows and sheep have some brief lines and a pair of goats appear somewhere between the two.

* Any work where animals will [[AnimalTalk communicate in human language whenever left alone, but communicate in animal language when with humans]].

* Mind you, this trope [[IThoughtItMeant has nothing to do with]] the webcomic known as ''WebComic/SabrinaOnline'', which is a furry webcomic with a main character named Zig Zag, 3/4ths skunk.

** Another ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' example is [[OneFroggyEvening Michigan J. Frog]] who goes back and forth between being an ordinary frog to a singing and dancing frog. Justified as that was the gag.

** The whole Kong Family, despite being of the same species, are very inconsistent about how animalistic they can be. Compare the more primal DK and Diddy with, say, SurferDude Funky and HumanoidFemaleAnimal Candy.

* ''Franchise/DonkeyKong'' constantly switches between having regular gorilla intelligence to human-like intelligence. In the original ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong'' and his guest appearance in ''VideoGame/PunchOut'' (Wii), he appears to be just a gorilla. In the ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'' games (both the original trilogy and ''[[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryReturns Returns]]''[=/=]''[[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryTropicalFreeze Tropical Freeze]]''), he displays more human-like intelligence, but still walks around in all fours like a typical gorilla. In the cartoon and ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong64'', he is now bipedal and displays far more human-like mannerisms. Whenever he is capable of speech and not just random gorilla noises, it can range between HulkSpeak to regular speak. In general, it appears that he becomes more beast-like whenever he is cast in an antagonistic role. Diddy also suffers from this to an extent, swinging between chimp to kid who happens to be a chimp.

* ''Franchise/DonkeyKong'' constantly switches between having regular gorilla intelligence to human-like intelligence. In the original ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong'' and his guest appearance in ''VideoGame/PunchOut'' (Wii), he appears to be just a gorilla. In the ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'' games (both the original trilogy and ''[[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryReturns Returns]]''[=/=]''[[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryTropicalFreeze Tropical Freeze]]''), he displays more human-like intelligence, but still walks around in all fours like a typical gorilla. In the cartoon and ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong64'', he is now bipedal and displays far more human-like mannerisms. When he is capable of speech and not just random gorilla noises, it can range between HulkSpeak to regular speak. In general, it appears that he becomes more beast-like whenever he is cast in an antagonistic role. Diddy also suffers from this to an extent, swinging between chimp to kid who happens to be a chimp.

* ''WesternAnimation/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 WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes cats to do so.

* Cyrill Proudbottom, Mr. Toad's horse in the ''Literature/WindInTheWillows'' segment of ''Disney/TheAdventuresOfIchabodAndMrToad''. He is first seen as a TalkingAnimal, pulling Toad's cart and running on all fours. Later, however, he is seen walking on his hind legs, and even dresses as a human being and completely fools a jailer into thinking that he's Toad's grandmother.

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

* This is also true with the Pizza Planet truck from ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'', which was later seen in anthropomorphic form in the {{Pixar}} film ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}''.