History Main / LittleGreenManInACan

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}}: Minion is an alien fish who operates out of a MobileFishbowl, which is itself placed on top of a bulky gorilla-like mech body.

It's something that tends to happen with particularly advanced mentor-like alien species, [[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens Sufficiently Advanced]] AncientAstronauts and the like. You don't want to be something as uninspiring as a RubberForeheadAlien nor something as unphysical as an EnergyBeing while also maintaining some sense of secrecy and wonderment, so you take the "astronaut" idea and run with it. The aliens end up wearing large all-enclosing hazmat-like encounter suits that shield their frail physical selves from the elements.

The great thing is that because [[ObscuredSpecialEffects you don't know what their encounter-suited butts look like, they could be anything]]! The variety of abnormal suit shapes that can be worn by a performer is also greater than the variety possible with rubber faces. PeopleInRubberSuits still need the full detail and design of a whole new species, while this trope leaves things to the imagination. A permanent life in an encounter suit can also be justified a lot more than {{Humanoid Alien}}s: they have BizarreAlienBiology that can't stand our atmosphere, they're physically very frail by comparison, so it works like PoweredArmour and similar things.

** The Daleks (pictured above), though their suits aren't so much suits as little tanks in which utterly feeble bodies reside. In the Seventh Doctor's words, they're not so much little green men as "little green blobs in bonded polycarbide armour." This [[DependingOnTheWriter varies with the story]]; in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E2TheDaleks The Daleks]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS2E7TheSpaceMuseum The Space Museum]]", and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E2TheWitchsFamiliar The Witch's Familiar]]", it's such a simple mechanical device that a humanoid pilot can climb in and drive it around, while "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E2IntoTheDalek Into the Dalek]]" (a season before the latter) depicts the suit as a fully-integrated cybernetic system that artificially manipulates the organic part to prevent it turning against its programming.

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* ''Fanfic/RocketshipVoyager''. The Caretaker moves about his space station in a small [[FlyingSaucer discoid hover-craft]], ringed with waldo-operated manipulators and enclosed in a sealed dome to preserve his atmosphere.

* The aliens from ''Film/IndependenceDay''. The suit itself is explained as being some kind of organic technology and indeed the helmet portion looks like it's a solid external skull. This makes it retrospectively more badass that Creator/WillSmith's character knocked one out with one punch.

* Krang in ''FIlm/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesOutOfTheShadows'' is basically a brain with a face and tentacles who lives in a bulky set of PoweredArmor.
** This also applies to his animated incarnation as well.
* The aliens in ''Film/EarthVsTheFlyingSaucers'' fit this trope to a T. They wear bulky PoweredArmor while being little green men (well, [[TheGreys little GREY men]], but that's black and white film for you).

* The Creapii from Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Literature/TheDarkSideOfTheSun'' are always encountered in tentacled, ovoid environmental suits. Not because they're too frail to survive the kinds of atmospheres the other sentient species use, but because their natural habitat is the photospheres and upper corona of ''stars'' (with a class system based on how hot their home star is). Their true form is said to be spiral-shaped, with the result that their mythology anthropomorphised the galaxy as a giant Creap.

* Most Tau warriors from ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'', with suits ranging from ordinary armour to PowerArmour to MiniMecha, although [[HelmetsAreHardlyHeroic their spiritual leaders go bareheaded]]. They can all breathe our atmosphere unprotected, however.

* The quarians from ''Franchise/MassEffect'' wear them to protect their absent immune systems from having to deal with normal environment. From a more {{Doylist}} viewpoint, it helps make the Romani FantasyCounterpartCulture seem more hidden and closed off from the other races. Only a borderline example, however, because the space suits are fairly form-fitting and the quarians themselves seem to be, more or less, humanoid. It's possible to see a photo of Tali, a major quarian character, with her mask off in the third game if you play her romance, and she looks [[spoiler: like a normal human with white irises, although her limbs and hands are quite different]].

* The Meklar from ''VideoGame/MasterOfOrion'' were originally this. As the series progressed, they gradually became {{Cyborg}}s, then full-on MechanicalLifeforms.

* The Andromedons from ''VideoGame/{{XCOM 2}}'' wear encounter suits to maintain the weapons-grade acidic environment they need to survive in. If you kill an Andromedon, it isn’t the end of their threat, as the ruptured suit reactivates on its own and tries to smash your troops while leaking acid everywhere.
* The K'Tang from ''VideoGame/StarControl 3'' are basically grubs with a major inferiority complex. So they talk big and wear giant suits of power armor to compensate.
* The evil Skedar in ''VideoGame/PerfectDark''. We never see their tiny true forms, but only the bipedal, roughly human-sized exosuits they use to get around and fight.

[[folder:Web Original]]
* In ''WebVideo/WorldsGreatestAdventures'', the Martians appear to be this — Cassius clearly is, at least.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'': One of the title characters in [[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS2E17BountyHunters "Bounty Hunters"]], Seripas, turned out to be a small alien in PoweredArmor.
* Turns up often in the ''WesternAnimation/MenInBlack'' cartoon. Crosses over with MobileSuitHuman. In one episode, there was even a [[MatryoshkaObject Russian Nesting Doll]] of them-a little green man piloting an android, who himself was a robot piloted by a little BLUE man!

* The UrExample is probably the Martians from ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds1898''. They're actually fairly big, but [[{{Lightworlder}} ill-suited to Earth's stronger gravity]] and have a hard time getting around on their own. Therefore, most of the invasion is enacted through their "Fighting-Machines", a force of enormous mechanical tripods.

[[caption-width-right:340:''[[AC:[[CatchPhrase Exterminate!]]'']]]]

-->-- ''Series/DoctorWho'', [[Recap/DoctorWhoS25E1RemembranceOfTheDaleks "Remembrance of the Daleks"]]

[[folder:Film – Live-Action]]

* The UrExample is probably the Martians from ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds''. They're actually fairly big, but [[LightWorlder ill-suited to Earth's stronger gravity]] and have a hard time getting around on their own. Therefore, most of the invasion is enacted through their "Fighting-Machines", a force of enormous mechanical tripods.

** The Vorlons, who tell the Earth Alliance they need a completely alien atmosphere but also have their own reasons for wanting to hide their true appearance. Kosh tells Sheridan that if he left his encounter suit he would be recognized by everyone. Later in the series it's revealed that they don't actually need that atmosphere and can function perfectly well in a standard atmosphere. When Kosh leaves his encounter suit to save Sheridan's life he is indeed recognized by everyone. The Vorlon behavior comes complete with NeglectfulPrecursor behaviour.
** The series finale shows that in the distant future humans become like this too, though they don't need to; they probably took a lesson from the Vorlons about the advantages of standing around being cryptic when dealing with younger races.
** The Gaim wear encounter suits that resemble humanoids in gas masks. Underneath, they are insectoid and [[TakeOurWordForIt apparently]] far from humanoid. The suit serves both as environmental protection and a translator/speaker unit, as the Gaim are incapable of vocalizing most species' languages.
*** As a hivemind species, Gaim units are genetically engineered by their queen for specific tasks. Thus the Gaim ambassadors and traders seen on Babylon 5, needing to interact with the mostly-humanoid races, are more humanoid than typical for their species - even being granted a degree of autonomy and individuality.

** The Daleks (pictured above), though their suits aren't so much suits as little tanks in which utterly feeble bodies reside. In the Seventh Doctor's words, they're not so much little green men as "little green blobs in bonded polycarbide armour." This [[DependingOnTheWriter varies with the story]]; in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E2TheDaleks "The Daleks"]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS2E7TheSpaceMuseum "The Space Museum"]], and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E2TheWitchsFamiliar "The Witch's Familiar"]], it's such a simple mechanical device that a humanoid pilot could climb in and drive it around, while [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E2IntoTheDalek "Into the Dalek"]] a season before the latter depicts the suit as a fully-integrated cybernetic system that artificially manipulates the organic part to prevent it turning against its programming.
** The Ice Warriors, too: their big, hulking bodies are stated to be biomechanical spacesuits in their debut story. Though in a later episode it turns out that Ice Warriors are anything but frail outside of their suits; they stay in the suits primarily for cultural reasons related to honour, and also because their military prefers MightyGlacier to FragileSpeedster.
** The Krotons are an especially [[OurMonstersAreWeird weird]] variant, even by ''Doctor Who'' standards – they are a form of semi-living crystal dependent on their TinCanRobot suits to have useful physical form. They need to breathe from a "polarised centrifuge" to remain in this living state, but the closest thing to an actual death they have is just "exhaustion", which is when their crystals revert to a simple (gaseous) state, and which is apparently temporary. In the ''Literature/EighthDoctorAdventures'', the Krotons' implied ability to inhabit any machine is made explicit when it is revealed they are able to possess Dalek ships.
** The Delegate from Arcturus in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS9E2TheCurseOfPeladon "The Curse of Peladon"]] is dependent on a huge black life support system out of which only his head is visible, enclosed in a solid clear dome that constantly spurts fluid. Some of his technology includes a sensor array, without which he becomes comatose, and a 'helium regenerator' which sabotaging would make the easiest way to kill him. Due to how much it restricts his movement and capacity for doing anything, he crosses over into EvilCripple.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

** The Vorlons, who not only need a completely alien atmosphere but also have their own reasons for wanting to hide their true appearance. (Later in the series it's implied that they don't actually need that atmosphere, they just use it to discourage visitors.) Comes complete with NeglectfulPrecursor behaviour.

** The Daleks (pictured above), though their suits aren't so much suits as little tanks in which utterly feeble bodies reside. In the Seventh Doctor's words, they're not so much little green men as "little green blobs in bonded polycarbide armour." This [[DependingOnTheWriter varies with the story]]; in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E2IntoTheDalek "Into the Dalek"]] the suit was a fully-integrated cybernetic system that artificially manipulated the organic part to prevent it turning against its programming, but [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E2TheWitchsFamiliar "The Witch's Familiar"]] a season later made it such a simple mechanical device that a human pilot could climb in and drive it around.

* The Andromedons from ''VideoGame/{{XCOM 2}}'' wear encounter suits to maintain the weapons-grade acidic environment they need to survive in.

** The Daleks (pictured above), though their suits aren't so much suits as little tanks in which utterly feeble bodies reside. In the Seventh Doctor's words, they're not so much little green men as "little green blobs in bonded polycarbide armour." This varies with the story; in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E2IntoTheDalek "Into the Dalek"]] the suit was a fully-integrated cybernetic system that artificially manipulated the organic part to prevent it turning against its programming, but [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E2TheWitchsFamiliar "The Witch's Familiar"]] a season later made it such a simple mechanical device that a human pilot could climb in and drive it around.

* The quarians from ''Franchise/MassEffect'' wear them to protect their absent immune systems from having to deal with normal environment. From a more {{Doylist}} viewpoint, it helps make the [[SpaceJews Space Romani]] seem more hidden and closed off from the other races.
** Quarian spacesuits don't really leave much to the imagination, but the volus from the same series could look like anything under their bulky (or not?) suits. They even seem to have completely robotic "hands".
** You can just barely see hints of Tali's face through her helmet... but they're so vague that they do little more than establish that it has a human-like configuration. It's possible to see a photo of her with her mask off in the third game if she's romanced, and she looks [[spoiler: like a normal human with white irises, although her limbs and hands are quite different]].
** The [[ProudMerchantRace volus]] also wear suits, because they suffer from ExplosiveDecompression and breathing problems outside their native high-pressure and ammonia-heavy atmosphere.

* ''VideoGame/{{Destiny}}'': [[HiveMind The Vex]] are an interesting take on this trope. Its bipedal members encountered throughout the game aseem entirely robotic in appearance, possessing a glowing white core on their abdomens that explode into milky fluid when destroyed. Said fluid, however, is not MachineBlood, but what the Vex actually ''[[BizarreAlienBiology are]]'': a colony of microscopic, hyperintelligent protozoa in a nutrient soup.

* The Emperor of the Arquillian Galaxy from ''Film/MenInBlack'', of course. He's the classic [[LittleGreenMen Little Green Man]] in a can... disguised as an [[MobileSuitHuman elderly Eastern European]] jeweler.

[[folder: Web Original]]
* In ''WebVideo/WorldsGreatestAdventures'', the Martians appear to be this — Cassius clearly is, at least.

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* Sam Starfall from ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}''. He wears an environment suit, but we've never seen his actual form. It's implied that it's [[BrownNote so horrible that it destroys the minds of anyone who sees it]]. Also, his suit is deliberately designed to be cute, as a means of distracting people so he can steal from them.

* ''VideoGame/Destiny'': [[HiveMind The Vex]] are an interesting take on this trope. Its bipedal members encountered throughout the game aseem entirely robotic in appearance, possessing a glowing white core on their abdomens that explode into milky fluid when destroyed. Said fluid, however, is not MachineBlood, but what the Vex actually ''[[BizarreAlienBiology are]]'': a colony of microscopic, hyperintelligent protozoa in a nutrient soup.

May overlap at times with MobileSuitHuman if the "can" is human shaped. Contrast with ExposedExtraterrestrials.

* The aliens in ''Film/EarthVsTheFlyingSaucers'' fit this trope as well as a hole in a certain spooky fault line. They wear bulky PoweredArmor while being little green men.