History Main / BeastWithAHumanFace

* The fourth boss of ''VideoGame/{{Contra}}: Shattered Soldier'' [[https://youtu.be/g8Rdsqx34fE?t=158 is one of these]]. Appropriately enough, it's called Jinmen-gyo, which is Japanese for "human-faced fish".

* In ''Anime/PrincessMononoke'', the Shishigami (Forest Spirit) takes the form of a stag with a human face.

* A number of {{Robeast}}s in the works of Creator/GoNagai and Creator/KenIshikawa have a fully expressive human face in addition to their monstrous one, which is shown or implied to belong to [[WasOnceAMan their original form]].
** ''Manga/DemonLordDante'': The eponymous giant demon has Ryo embedded in its forehead, with only his eyes and nose visible (or in remakes, his upper body).
** ''Anime/MazingerZ'': The Mechanical Beast [[AdaptationNameChange Danube α1/Rhine X1]] bears a female human face on its chest, which becomes animate when it fuses with its "brain" [[RobotGirl Lorelei]].
** ''Anime/GreatMazinger'': Most of the Warrior Beasts, created by fusing a living warrior's brain into a monstrous cyborg body, have the warrior's original head visible somewhere on their body. For their enemies, this is a welcome exploitable weakpoint.
** ''Manga/GetterRobo G'': The Hyakki Beast Maoki is a CombiningMecha formed from a large number of {{Cyborg}} gang members. Their leader Ryuji [[LeaderFormsTheHead forms part of the head]] in order to control their combined form, with his human face visible.
** In ''Anime/DevilmanCrybaby'', Moyuru Koda's Devilman form is an enormous bull with an EyelessFace and his original human face in the middle of his forehead. His human face is always the one that speaks when he's in this form.

** In ''Superman'' (Vol. 1) #138, the titular character comes across a whale that for some reason has the face of Lois Lane. It's unnerving to say the least.

** ''[[ComicBook/Supergirl2005 Rock On!]]'' has the Empathousaur, an underground giant reptile who turns its head into ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'s father's to enervate her during one fight.
* ''ComicBook/CreatureFeature'' brings us Curtis's dog in the first issue. Erik is quick to let it be known how he feels about this.
* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: When Keith Griggs is stumbling through the jungle the first sign that his already gone sideways mission is about to go really bad is when he notices that a scorpion has a human face. This is because Circe has set up shop nearby and is turning the men in the area into animals and monsters.
* ''ComicBook/XMen'': In ''ComicBook/XTremeXMen2012'', the eponymous team finds an AlternateUniverse version of [[Characters/MarvelComicsProfessorX Charles Xavier]] that somehow became an Acanti SpaceWhale that still has his human face. Unfortunately, he's also being used as a psychic weapon by the alien Brood that has infested his body.

* Statues of quadrupeds with human heads and wings show up in the UnderwaterRuins of the {{kaiju}}-worshipping ancient civilization in ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'', invoking [[MesopotamianMonstrosity some of the oldest real human civilizations to emphasize the age and mystery of the Titans]].
* ''Film/InvasionOfTheBodySnatchers1978'' had the rather infamous messed-up duplication of a homeless man and his dog, resulting in a Great Dane with the homeless man's face.
* Plenty of examples of [[WasOnceAMan unnaturally-mutated people]] who retain a human face on a monstrous body can be found in the horror genre, particularly in BodyHorror films like ''Film/FromBeyond'' or ''Film/Leviathan1989''.

* Lisa in ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreetPart2FreddysRevenge'' comes across [[http://www.1nsan3.com/Reviews/Pics/mov_elm2_7.jpg two]] [[http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BuRgJj0DCj0/TmAvttgENaI/AAAAAAAACkU/ZjXVr7_86cE/s1600/nightmare2.jpg dogs]] with human faces when she goes to the Freddy's former workplace to find her possessed boyfriend Jesse. A spin-off comics reveals one of them is named "[[Creator/WesCraven Wes]]".

* Vampire Vlad in ''Film/WhatWeDoInTheShadows'' just hasn't been the same since he lost his fight with The Beast - he used to be able to change into any animal, but now he never gets the faces right. Specifically, he turns into a black cat with a tiny human face.

* Theodore Roethke's poem "The Bat":
-->''For something is amiss or out of place\\
When mice with wings can wear a human face.''

** ''Literature/TheDreamsInTheWitchHouse'' has the familiar Brown Jenkin, [[AnimalisticAbomination supposedly]] [[YouDirtyRat a rat]] with a very-humanoid face that speaks every language known to man. It isn't described how humanoid his face is, just that it resembles a human's.
** In ''Literature/TheDunwichHorror'', the eponymous horror, once revealed, is shown to be a gigantic vaguely egg-shaped tentacled multi-legged EldritchAbomination with a distinctively yard width-long human face that resembles [[spoiler: the Whateleys]].
* Creator/RobertEHoward's Franchise/{{Conan|TheBarbarian}} story ''Literature/TheGodInTheBowl'' ends with Conan confronting the eponymous God, which turns out to be a giant snake with an inhumanly-beautiful human head.
* The front covers of a few ''Literature/{{Goosebumps}}'' books will depict the characters in this manner, notably Gary having a bee's body in ''Literature/WhyImAfraidOfBees'' and Crystal becoming a chicken-headed girl in ''Literature/ChickenChicken''. Both instances turns out to be cases of CoversAlwaysLie though, since neither books have their main characters in this state throughout the story.
* During the final part of the Triwizard Tournament in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire,'' Harry must solve the riddle of a sphinx, which is described as being basically a large cat with a beautiful woman's head.
* At the end of ''Literature/TheHungerGames'', the Capitol releases Muttations, wolf-looking creatures with the faces of the dead tributes who try to kill the remaining kids in the arena.
* ''Literature/ManAfterManAnAnthropologyOfTheFuture'' features some non-sapient human subspecies that are more animal-like than human. While some of these subspecies are simply ape-like creatures with human faces, some however have bodies so drastically different that the only way to tell that they are human subspecies are the human faces that they still retain. A prime example of this is the horse-like creature on the book's very cover.
* In the ''Literature/TortallUniverse'', one species of immortals released from the Divine Realms in ''Literature/TheImmortals'' are spidrens--giant spiders with human heads. They cause a lot of trouble in [[Literature/ProtectorOfTheSmall the subsequent quartet]].
* In ''Literature/VenissUnderground'', some of the genetically engineered "Living Art" creations in Quin's Shanghai Circus include small monkeys with the faces of human women. His secret underground lair is also guarded by packs of dogs with human faces.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': Yeth hounds resemble large dogs with the faces of ugly, distorted humanoids.

* ''TabletopGame/WerewolfTheApocalypse'' has an NPC named Passer. He's a ''metis'', the result of a forbidden relationship between two Garou. All ''metis'' have a deformity; his is that, no matter what form he takes, his face is still human. This makes him unnerving in some forms and a downright monstrosity in his wolf form.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}}'', a number of the angels have human faces that aren't exactly situated properly or in places where they should belong. Noteworthy is Fortitudo, a gigantic two headed angelic dragon whose torso is dominated by an upside down human face.

* The fourth boss of ''VideoGame/{{Contra}}: Shattered Soldier'' [[https://youtu.be/g8Rdsqx34fE?t=158 is one of these]]. Appropriately enough it's called Jinmen-gyo, which is Japanese for "human-faced fish".
* In ''[[VideoGame/CrisisCore Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII]]'', both Genesis and Angeal command inhuman looking monsters that possess the human face of one or the other.
* ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsI'' has the Cragspiders, giant, semi-flying arachnids with humanoid arms and shoulders, a bulb-like protrusion resembling a human head, and the ability to cast [[PlayingWithFire pyromancy]] in the form of flaming breath, unlike every other enemy in Blighttown which usually prefer [[UniversalPoison poison or toxic]]. It's possible that they are the mature spawn of Chaos Witch Quelagg, another more-complete hybrid of human[[labelnote:*]](or [[HumanAliens Lord, Giant, or whatever-the-Sisters-of-Chaos-are]])[[/labelnote]] and spider who is also a master of pyromancy herself.
* ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'' has the Demon of Song, a gigantic frog-like demon which has a human corpse-like face [[NestedMouths nested inside its frog mouth]] alongside two skeletal arms.
* ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'' has the Locust Priests, [[BigCreepyCrawlies giant locusts]] with noseless human faces, said to have been born in the Abyss itself in order to proselytize about its virtues, which their faces were probably meant to help with. However, their insatiable hunger means they usually end up eating potential converts.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'': The Lesser Chimera, Gorgimera, and Chimera Brain enemies look like cockatrices with human heads. According to the bestiary, this is because they were respectively cockatrices used in magical experiments, mages who possessed cockatrices to escape their natural deaths, and people who were afflicted with a ForcedTransformation.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'':
** Barthandelus the fal'Cie changes forms but the basic setup of his body is the same. He can be best described as gigantic turret-like torso with an oversized human-like head in the middle and several smaller human faces on his shoulders.
** There is also the other fal'Cie Orphan. Its first form resembles a gigantic stone knife-like monolith made up of a representation of a family. The right side of it is a mural-like body of a female angel with a human-like face. The left side of it too is similar except that it is more demonic in design and made from Barthandelus' remains complete with his middle human-like face. In the middle of Orphan is a child-like face.
** Orphan's second form is a tiny human child-like face in a halo-like wheel. When staggered, it resembles more like an angel in structure but not exactly right. It still retains its human child-like face on an otherwise otherworldly body.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'':
** Two of the bosses in [[spoiler:Amaurot]] have this design. The [[spoiler:Terminus Bellwether]] is a giant version of the Lesser Chimera from ''Final Fantasy XII'' and [[spoiler:Therion]] is a quadrupedal, vaguely mechanical AnimalisticAbomination with four human faces.
** One of the bosses in ''Endwalker'' is Ra-la, a quadrupedal, reptilian creature with an elven-looking face. With these features, Ra-La resembles a draconic sphinx or lamassu with enormous EarWings.
* Grima from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' may seems to be a demonic dragon at face value. However, doing enough damage to [[spoiler:his Avatar from the doomed future]] cause Grima's mask to fall apart to reveal a human face. [[spoiler:''VideoGame/FireEmblemEchoesShadowsOfValentia'' would reveal that his creator, Forneus, gave it his blood that allow Grima to grow, implying that it gain its human-like face from Forneus. It is also supported in the [[AllAccordingToTheManual Valentia Accordion]] as it was originally a human fetus before gaining dragon-like appearances]].
* ''[[VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic Might & Magic: Heroes VI]]'': Lamasu are monsters with humanoid heads, bat wings and leonine bodies, the result of an experiment in which humans were [[AWizardDidIt magically cross-bred]] with [[MixAndMatchCritters manticores]].
* Specimen 7 from ''VideoGame/InPursuitOfGreed'' is a feral, otherwise animalistic {{mutant}} monster, save for his face. It turns out he WasOnceAMan until a malfunctioning birthing tank mishap turns him into the creature he is, with his face being the sole human features he retains.

* ''VideoGame/{{Miitopia}}'': [[ExaggeratedTrope Taken to ridiculous proportions]], where every enemy in the game has Mii facial features. This goes from butterflies to gryffons to ''giant spiders''. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]], since the main story of the game deals with a dark lord [[FaceStealer stealing the Miis' faces]] to place them on monsters.
* ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'': The Ravager beasts appear to have faces similar to their {{ambiguously human}} Illager masters, right down to the GagNose.

* Shadow Yukiko in ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'' looks like a large red bird with Yukiko's head. This is a literalization of how she feels trapped - "a bird in a GildedCage".
* Many demons in the ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' / ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'' series fit this trope:
** [[http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110724033554/megamitensei/images/d/d1/383.jpg Kingu]] is a dragon-thing with a face.
** [[http://oyster.ignimgs.com/mediawiki/apis.ign.com/shin-megami-tensei-persona-3/c/c1/Untitled_(7).png Legion]] consists of several red human faces with tentacles.
** [[http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20080709040708/megamitensei/images/1/1c/GangaSMT.jpg Ganga]] is a snake with a portion of a torso as well as a human head.
** [[http://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/square_small/4/48222/1839912-vasuki.png Vasuki]] is a snake with [[MultiArmedAndDangerous six arms]] and a human like face.
** [[http://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/original/4/48222/1839905-285px_shikome2.jpg Yomotsu-Hitomi]] has a creepy human-like face.
** [[http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090902204458/megamitensei/images/2/22/Empusa.jpg Empusa]] has a dog body too.

* Japanese obscure SurrealHumor game ''Segare Ijiri'' has Kudan, Segare's companion which is a man-headed cow youkai.
* ''VideoGame/TheSimpsonsTappedOut'' had the Homer Dog available during the Every Man's Dream Promotional event in September-October 2015 . It's a normal dog that has an uncanny resemblance to the family's patriarch.

* The Japanese iPhone/Android game ''[[https://itunes.apple.com/jp/app/うまのプリンスさま/id1072084001?mt=8 My Horse Prince]]'' (''[[PunBasedTitle Uma]] [[ParodyNames no]] [[VisualNovel/UtaNoPrinceSama Prince-sama]]'' in Japanese) is a DatingSim/animal-care game about the budding relationship between a {{Bishonen}}-headed horse named Yuuma and a human woman named Umako.
* ''VideoGame/VagrantStory'' [[http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/4867/ depicts]] harpies as flightless birds with a pattern resembling a human face on their chests.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' brings back these Harpies in its Return to Ivalice raid series.

* The turtles in ''VisualNovel/SpiritHunterNG's'' Urashima Lake are possessed by the spirits of various dead fetuses, which mold their shells to resemble a human baby face. This is in reference to the turtle that appears in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urashima_Tar%C5%8D Urashima Taro's]] tale.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUuvHPr4BGk&t=2s Meeting the Felinids]], a short by [=BruvaAlfabusa=] of WebAnimation/IfTheEmperorHadATextToSpeechDevice fame and arguably taking place in the same universe, has a group of imperials landing on the planet Carlos [=McConnell=] ([[https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Carlos_McConnell not making this up]]) to establish official relations with the titular cat-like [[HumanSubSpecies abhumans]]... Only to discover, [[UncannyValley to their horror]], that they're this trope instead of the sexy {{Cat Girl}}s they expected.

* The titular creature of ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' episode "The Butterfly" is an even stranger variation than usual: it's a butterfly with a series of ''[[MediumBlending live-action]]'' photographs of a human's face ([[CreatorCameo that of one of the show's crew]]) that changes as the butterfly changes expression.

* Being a pony-centric show, ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' evokes this with pony-faced beasts. A sphinx (wings, lion body, pony's head) appears in the season 7 finale, and of course, there's Discord, who is described as having "the head of a pony and a [[MixAndMatchCritter body made up of all sorts of things]]".
* The ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "I'm Your Biggest Fanatic", has a jellyfish scientist called Dr. [[PunnyName Manowar]] who was stung by a monstrous jellyfish called "Big Lenny" ''and lived''. "Big Lenny" is a large purple-red jellyfish with a face that resembles a scowling mask and kills fish with its sting save for the aforementioned doctor.
* On ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'', Star and Marco once went to a dimension of cats with human faces. We're shown Star getting one of the cats' attention, followed by it turning around and telling her to look away in a deep voice.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012'' episode "The Manhattan Project'', April and Casey encounter giant worms brought from Dimension X, and are freaked out by a baby worm that has a human baby's face.

* ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'' has the Locust Priests, [[BigCreepyCrawlies giant locusts]] with noseless human faces, said to have been born in the Abyss itself.

* In ''ComicBook/SecretSix'' when the Six go to Hell, Catman finds his father, whose fate is to be tied to a tree and killed, devoured and shat out again every day by Catman's mother (who his father murdered), who takes the form of a lioness with her human face. Surprisingly, this isn't her punishment -- being able to do this for eternity is her ''heaven.''
* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':
** In ''Superman Vol 1 138'', the titular character comes across a whale which for some reason has the face of Lois Lane. It's unnerving to say the least.

** "[[ComicBook/Supergirl2005 Rock On!]]" has the Empathousaur, an underground giant reptile who turns its head into ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'s father's to enervate her during one fight.

* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: When Keith Griggs is stumbling through the jungle the first sign that his already gone sideways mission is about to go really bad is when he notices that a scorpion has a human face. This is because ComicBook/{{Circe}} has set up shop nearby and is turning the men in the area into animals and monsters.
* In ''COmicBook/XTremeXMen2012'', the eponymous team find an AlternateUniverse version of [[Characters/MarvelComicsProfessorX Charles Xavier]] that somehow became an Acanti SpaceWhale that still has his human face. Unfortunately, he's also being used as a psychic weapon by the alien Brood that have infested his body.

* A nonhuman example occurs in ''WebOriginal/HamstersParadise''. The desert falcyons are a species of large predatory bat-like animals that convergently evolved a head similar to a canine. This has an UncannyValley effect on the drysanders, a desert living culture of the sapient dog-like northhounds, not helped by the fact that the falcyons will sometimes hunt drysander pups. This has resulted in the drysanders viewing them as child snatching monsters with the faces of people in their stories.

* In Colombian mythology, there are stories of a creature called [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Hombre_Caim%C3%A1n "Hombre Caimán"]] (Alligator man), who is mostly described as having the head and arms of a human and the body of an alligator. Depending on the version though, he can be portrayed either this way or as a full-fledged [[LizardFolk reptilian humanoid]].

* Robert E Howard's Conan story ''Literature/TheGodInTheBowl'' ends with Conan confronting the eponymous God, which turns out to be a giant snake with an inhumanly-beautiful human head.

* Robert E Howard's Conan story ''Literature/TheGodInTheBowl'' ends with Conan confronting the eponymous God, which turns out to be a giant snake with a human head.

* ''Literature/DeathtrapDungeon'' ends the adventure with it's last boss being a [[OurManticoresAreSpinier Manticore]], and unlike previous lion-headed manticores seen throughout the franchise, this one have an old man's head on it's animal body.

* Art/{{Great Sphinx of Giza}}: It draws from Myth/EgyptianMythology, so it's a rather cartoonish lion body with the face of an Egyptian human of AmbigiousGender. It wears pharaoh regalia on its head, too.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* ''Manga/{{Toriko}}'' has the Hanya Panda, a giant panda monster with a markings on its chest and belly that resembles an angry human face. There is also the Tounyuudou, monsters based on the wanyuudou {{youkai}} of Japanese mythology that resemble gigantic disembodied human heads situated on top of flaming cart wheels.

* ''Film/InvasionOfTheBodySnatchers1978'' had the rather infamous messed-up duplication of a homeless man and his dog, resulting in a Great Dane with the homeless man's face.

* The ''Literature/BookOfRevelation'' contains descriptions of locusts who have the bodies of lions, tails of scorpions, and faces of men (which incidentally makes them resemble [[OurManticoresAreSpinier manticores]]). As well, the cherubs (not to be confused with putti, winged babies of Renaissance art) are said to have the face of a man as well as those of an ox, lion, and eagle. While most angels looked like [[AluminumChristmasTrees winged humans]], there are some types that look like borderline {{Eldritch Abomination}}s.

* In the second volume of ''COmicBook/XTremeXMen'', the eponymous team find an alternate universe Xavier that somehow became an Acanti SpaceWhale that still has his human face. Unfortunately, he's being used as a psychic weapon by the Brood that have infested his body.

* Leonine Whale (Medieval European legends): A scaled Lion-like creature with a human face. [[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant Has nothing to do with whales]].

Sometimes a property of MixAndMatchCritters. When the creature's face actually ''belonged'' to some other human character, see FaceStealer. For humans with animal appaearances and traits, see BeastMan. For inanimate objects with human faces, see ItKindOfLooksLikeAFace. For specific beasts (traditionally) like this, see OurSphinxesAreDifferent, OurManticoresAreSpinier and SheduAndLammasu.

* ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'' has the return of everyone's favorite DirtyCoward, Patches. Here he is turning into a Nightmare Apostle/Black Widow, a giant spider. All that's left of his human form is his head and his intellect. As before he will send the player on a dangerous quest to find something and stab them in the back if they survive. If the player can beat him in a fight Patches submits and becomes a merchant to the player.
** Also, the games poster-beast Darkbeast Paarl is a giant, electrical, skeletal, hairy werewolf-beast which dashes around on all fours. Despite this, the most unnerving thing about it is that its empty skull face is mostly human, lacking a muzzle or even beastlike fangs.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'': The Lesser Chimera, Gorgimera, and Chirmera Brain enemies look like cockatrices with human heads. According to the bestiary, this is because they were respectively cockatrices used in magical experiments, mages who possessed cockatrices to escape their natural deaths, and people who were afflicted with a BalefulPolymorph curse.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Blobfish typically look like fish in their natural environment. However, when taken out, their low-density flesh droops down and give it a very fat ugly big-nosed big-lipped human-like face.
* Heike crabs (''Heikea japonica'') have markings on their shells resembling human faces and are not eaten for this reason. The legend from which they get their name is that these crabs contain the spirits of the samurai who threw themselves into the sea when the Taira were defeated at Dan-no-ura, a [[Memes/VideoGames famous battle which actually took place in ancient Japan]].
* The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTVwgvqhwn8 Human-faced Carp]] is a type of hybrid breed specifically to have what looks like a human face. What look like human eyes are actually the fish's nostrils.
* The Pacu, a large pirahna relative, has eerily human-like teeth which are mainly used for crushing nuts. Same goes for the sheepshead, ''Archosargus probatocephalus''. The deep-sea squid ''Promachoteuthis sulcus'' has lips which also bear a strange resemblance to human teeth.
* In most Mexican and Latin American amusement parks, it is common to find [[TheFreakshow freak shows]] whose main attractions are creatures with human faces but the body of an animal, such as [[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BI6COreCYAAHMsN.jpg alligator women]]. Being cheap freak shows, these are all fake.
* [[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/46/6d/12/466d12fcea77e2f2254337f6494de44b.jpg The man-faced stink bug]] has markings on its back that coincidentally resemble a human face, similar to Heike's crabs. It's been likened to a grumpy uncle.
[[/folder]]

* German veterinarian and author George Simon Winter von Adlersflügel[[note]]The last portion of his name means [[AwesomeMcCoolName "of Eagle Wings"]][[/note]] wrote about an alleged human-headed foal, first described by Ambroise Paré in the 1500s, and provided an illustration of the handsome-faced "centaur" with his long flowing locks.

* ''VideoGame/{{Miitopia}}'': [[UpToEleven Taken to ridiculous proportions]], where every enemy in the game has Mii facial features. This goes from butterflies to gryffons to ''giant spiders''. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]], since the main story of the game deals with a dark lord [[FaceStealer stealing the Miis' faces]] to place them on monsters.