History Main / BizarreAlienLimbs

* The aliens from Spielberg's [[Film/WarOfTheWorlds War of the Worlds]] provide the page image, featuring three legs and two arms, evoking the tripod fighting machines they pilot.

** [[FusionDance Gem fusions]] often have [[MultiArmedAndDangerous extras pairs of arms]]. Smoky Quartz, the fusion of [[spoiler:[[HalfHumanHybrid Steven]] and Amethyst]], has one regular arm and one arm that branches into two at the elbow. Conversely, a fusion of two Jades is seen that has two pairs of upper arms that merge into a single forearm (with a [[ExtraDigits six-fingered hand]]).

** [[FusionDance Gem fusions]] often have [[MultiArmedAndDangerous extras pairs of arms]]. Smoky Quartz, the fusion of [[spoiler:[[HalfHumanHybrid Steven]] and Amethyst]], has one regular arm and one arm that branches into two at the elbow. Conversely, a fusion of two Jades is seen that has two pairs upper arms each merging into a single forearm (with a [[ExtraDigits six-fingered hand]]).

** [[FusionDance Gem fusions]] often have [[MultiArmedAndDangerous extras pairs of arms]]. Smoky Quartz, the fusion of [[spoiler:[[HalfHumanHybrid Steven]] and Amethyst]], has one regular arm and one arm that branches into two at the elbow. Conversely, a fusion of two Jades is seen that has two pairs upper arms each merging into a single forearm.

** [[FusionDance Gem fusions]] often have [[MultiArmedAndDangerous extras pairs of arms]]. Smoky Quartz, the fusion of [[spoiler:[[HalfHumanHybrid Steven]] and Amethyst]], has one regular arm and one arm that branches into two at the elbow.

* The Centauri in the ''Series/Babylon5'' have six prehensile penises, of all things, at least one of which is over five feet long. This is revealed when someone spots a card cheat using it to take cards off the deck by reaching under and across the table.

* Single-celled organisms mostly use pseudopods.

* Most Arthropods use both their legs and mandibles for manipulation.

** When Peridot is introduce, her fingers seem to be [[FloatingLimbs free-floating]] cylinders with [[SwissArmyAppendage a large variety of strange functions]]. [[SubvertedTrope It turns out]] these are just [[ProstheticLimbReveal prosthetics]], beneath which her real hands are essentially the same as a human's.

* Implied for some of the aliens in ''VideoGame/Stellaris'', as most are based on real animals that are known for this trope (see the RealLife section below).

For other types of strange appendages, see ArtificialLimbs and CombatTentacles. Subtrope of BizarreAlienBiology; may be a sister trope to BizarreAlienLocomotion, if legs are involved. May result in OperatorIncompatibility for other species.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Film]]

* In Creator/AlanDeanFoster's ''Literature/HumanxCommonwealth'' novels, the [[InsectoidAliens Thranx]] have 'truhands' at the end of their praying mantis-style forelimbs. They look like four tendrils about five inches long coming out of the end of the limb. Also, their second pair of limbs (out of four) end in pincerlike 'foothands' which can do duty as either kind of limb.

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* Lieutenant Arex, a bridge officer aboard the Enterprise in ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries'', has a third arm extending from his breastbone and a third leg between the other two. During "The Eye Of The Beholder," the away team on Lactra 7 is captured by gastropod aliens, which have one elephant-like appendage with three or four tendril fingers. The aliens put the away team in a zoo, because they regard humans as dumb animals.

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** Smoky Quartz has one regular arm and one arm that branches into two at the elbow.

* The Centauri in the ''Series/Babylon5'' have a prehensile penis, of all things, which is over five feet long. This is revealed when someone spots a card cheat using it to take cards off the deck by reaching under and across the table.

For other types of strange appendages, see ArtificialLimbs and CombatTentacles. Subtrope of BizarreAlienBiology and sister trope to BizarreAlienLocomotion. May result in OperatorIncompatibility for other species.

* Lieutenant Arex, a bridge officer aboard the Enterprise in \'\'WesternAnimation/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries\'\', has a third arm extending from his breastbone and a third leg between the other two. During \"The Eye Of The Beholder,\" the away team on Lactra 7 is captured by gastropod aliens, which have one elephant-like appendage with three or four tendril fingers. The aliens put the away team in a zoo, because they regard humans as dumb animals.

* In \'\'Manga/ElfenLied\'\' the Diclonii look like humans but also possess a number of invisible (to anyone but themselves and the audience) \"hands\" called \"vectors\" that can extend for several meters and slice human flesh with ease. They are not exactly aliens but their origins are never quite elaborated upon.

* The aliens in \'\'Film/{{Battleship}}\'\' have hands that are apparently four opposing fingers. Also their feet appear to be similar to dogs\' or cats\' feet, in that they appear to walk on their toes.

* The mulefa in \'\'Literature/HisDarkMaterials\'\' have a single two-fingered trunk. Since even simple tasks, like tying a knot, require more than one individual, it strengthens the community\'s bond. They also have legs adapted to use a kind of giant disk-shaped seedpod as wheels.
* Martians in Creator/RobertAHeinlein\'s \'\'Literature/DoubleStar\'\' were mushroom-shaped entities capable of forming tentacle-like pseudopods.
* The fithp from \'\'Literature/{{Footfall}}\'\' have twin elephant trunks that split into four little tentacles each.
* In Creator/AlanDeanFoster\'s \'\'Literature/HumanxCommonwealth\'\' novels, the [[InsectoidAliens Thranx]] have \'truhands\' at the end of their praying mantis-style forelimbs. They look like four tentacles about five inches long coming out of the end of the limb. Also, their second pair of limbs (out of four) end in pincerlike \'foothands\' which can do duty as either kind of limb.
* \'\'Literature/KnownSpace\'\': Puppeteers use their two heads as hands. The heads\' lips are made of little fingerlike tentacles. In effect, this means that puppeteers can see and taste with their hands.
* In Creator/DavidBrin\'s \'\'Literature/{{Uplift}}\'\' series, the g\'Keks are a semi-artificial, gene-engineered species that actually have biological wheels.
* In \'\'[[Literature/{{Animorphs}} The Andalite Chronicles]]\'\' the future Visser Three turns up at one point with a pair of semi-sapient aliens with biological wheels instead of legs. Elfangor, the POV character, is dumbfounded.

* The Malcorians in the \'\'Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration\'\' episode \"First Contact\" had fused phalanges with suction cups. Benzites from the same series had four opposing thumbs- two on each hand. The Traveler also had oddly-shaped hands, possessing fewer and larger fingers than humans.

* The hanar in \'\'Franchise/MassEffect\'\' are essentially sapient jellyfish that can live on land. As such they have tentacles instead of legs, which is one of the reasons none of them ever move from place to place in game: the game engine is optimized for humanoid locomotion.
* In the \'\'VideoGame/{{X}}-Universe\'\' the [[TheKingdom Boron]] are a race of squid-like aliens that have tentacles instead of legs. In the {{novelization}} of [[VideoGame/XBeyondTheFrontier the first game]] this causes a [[ProudMerchantRace Teladi]] doing a salvage operation on a wrecked Boron space station a few problems, since [[OperatorIncompatibility the computer terminals were designed for soft tentacles instead of lizard-like claws]].

* The wyverns from \'\'Webcomic/DarkWings\'\' have two little claws on their wing joints that act as crude hands.
* Bleen from \'\'Webcomic/{{Vexxarr}}\'\' have six thin tentacles sprouting from just under their heads.
* \'\'Webcomic/SchlockMercenary\'\':

* Elephants\' trunks are a good example of a functional \"arm\" that evolved non-homologously to primates\' arms.

This trope is when a non-human being has an unusual type of limb that does duty as a hand or foot. Or even as other things. Tentacles, prehensile tongues, pseudopods... you name it, somebody\'s written about it.

!!RollingUpdates