History Main / LittleGreenManInACan

* The Skakoans from "Star Wars" are required to wear a full body environmental suit as they live on a planet with a high pressure atmosphere. Going to a 'normal' planet unaided would cause explosive decompression, like bringing a deep sea fish up to the surface.

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[[quoteright:300:[[Series/DoctorWho http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Dalek_9471.jpg]]]]
[-[[caption-width-right:300:Bet you'd be a raging psycho too if you were [[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Dalek_innards_6622.jpg stuck in a giant saltshaker]] all the time.]]-]

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 butts from the elements.

The great thing is that because 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.

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

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!!Examples:

[[AC:Film]]
* 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.
* The Mondoshawan from ''TheFifthElement'' have really big waddling rears with tiny dog-like heads that give them a very odd Humpty Dumpty appearance.
* The aliens from ''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 WillSmith's character knocked one out with one punch.
* The Skakoans from "Star Wars" are required to wear a full body environmental suit as they live on a planet with a high pressure atmosphere. Going to a 'normal' planet unaided would cause explosive decompression, like bringing a deep sea fish up to the surface.

[[AC: Literature]]
* [[TheDragon The One]] from ''Literature/LastLegionary'' is a mutated human with stunted limbs, wearing a massive golden exoskeleton that turns him into TheJuggernaut.
* 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)

[[AC:Live Action TV]]
* The Daleks (pictured above) from ''Series/DoctorWho'', though their suits aren't so much suits as little tanks in which utterly feeble bodies reside.
** The Ice Warriors, too: their big, hulking bodies are stated to be biomechanical spacesuits in their debut story.
* The Vorlons from ''BabylonFive'', who not only need a completely alien atmosphere but also have their own reasons for wanting to hide their true appearance. Comes complete with NeglectfulPrecursor behaviour.
** They don't actually need that atmosphere, they just use it to discourage visitors.
** The Gaim from the same series wear encounter suits that resemble humanoids in gas masks. Underneath, the 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.
* In ''StargateAtlantis'', the team encounters a group of aliens who kidnap Daniel (who's in the galaxy visiting) and Rodney. It's eventually revealed that [[spoiler:they're a group of rogue Asgard who have taken the degenerative cloning problem into their own hands]] and are using man-sized suits to exist on a poisonous planet with no stargate as a means of staying hidden.
* The Breen of ''StarTrek'', who first appeared on-screen in ''[[StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'', come from a much more frigid environment than most humanoids and need environmental suits to interact with other races face-to-face.
** Though according to Weyoun, their planet is actually quite mild. It's also said that if you saw a Breen in the flesh, it'd turn you to stone. However, ''this'' is also clearly a lie, as Kira manages to steal one of their uniforms without any ill effects.

[[AC:Tabletop Games]]
* Most Tau warriors from ''{{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.
** Also, [[FunetikAksent Ork Killa Kanz]], which are literally [[OurGoblinsAreDifferent little green men]] in [[TinCanRobot cans]].

[[AC:Video Games]]
* The Quarians from ''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 Gypsies]] 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.
* The Unggoy (aka Grunts) from ''{{Halo}}''. They are most often seen with [[GasMaskMooks masks on]], large tanks on their backs. (They breathe methane on their home planet, and carry it with them much like divers and astronauts.) Some higher-ranking Grunts may also have other armor on in addition to the methane tank, or the tank and mask may look different (as with the Heretic Grunts.)
* The Meklar from ''VideoGame/MasterOfOrion'' were originally this. As the series progressed, they gradually became {{Cyborg}}s, then full-on MechanicalLifeforms.

[[AC: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 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.

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* [[TheDragon The One]] from ''LastLegionary'' is a mutated human with stunted limbs, wearing a massive golden exoskeleton that turns him into TheJuggernaut.

* The Creapii from TerryPratchett's ''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)

The great thing is that because 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 PowerArmour and similar things.

* In ''StargateAtlantis'', the team encounters a group of aliens who kidnap Daniel (who's in the galaxy visiting) and Rodney. It's eventually revealed that [[spoiler:They're a group of rogue Asgard who have taken the degenerative cloning problem into their own hands]] and are using man-sized suits to exist on a poisonous planet with no stargate as a means of staying hidden.
* The Breen of ''StarTrek'', who first appeared on-screen in ''DeepSpaceNine'', come from a much more frigid environment than most humanoids and need environmental suits to interact with other races face-to-face.

** The Gaim from the same series wear encounter suits that resemble humanoids in gas masks. Underneath, the are [[TakeOurWordForIt apparently]] insectoid and 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.

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

* The Daleks from ''Series/DoctorWho'', though their suits aren't so much suits as little tanks in which utterly feeble bodies reside.
* The Vorlons from ''BabylonFive'' (pictured above) who not only need a completely alien atmosphere but also have their own reasons for wanting to hide their true appearance. Comes complete with NeglectfulPrecursor behaviour.

[[quoteright:300:[[DoctorWho http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Dalek_9471.jpg]]]]

* The Daleks from ''DoctorWho'', though their suits aren't so much suits as little tanks in which utterly feeble bodies reside.

[-[[caption-width:300:Bet you'd be a raging psycho too if you were [[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Dalek_innards_6622.jpg stuck in a giant saltshaker]] all the time.]]-]

[[quoteright:299:[[BabylonFive http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/encounter_suited_butts_9358.jpg]]]]

** Also, Ork Killa Kanz, which are literally [[OurGoblinsAreDifferent little green men]] in [[TinCanRobot cans]].

* Sam Starfall from ''{{Freefall}}''. He wears an environment suit, but we've never seen his actual form. It's implied that it's 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.

* Most Tau warriors from ''{{Warhammer 40000}}''. However, they can breathe our atmosphere unprotected.
** Also, not to be confused with Ork Killa Kanz, which are literally [[OurGoblinsAreDifferent little green men]] in cans.

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

The great thing is that because 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 PowerArmour and similar things. May overlap at times with MobileSuitHuman if the "can" is human shaped.

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

* The Daleks from ''DoctorWho'' qualify, though their suits aren't so much suits as little tanks in which utterly feeble bodies reside.

!! Examples:

* The Vorlons from ''BabylonFive'' (pictured above) who not only need a completely alien atmosphere but also have their own reasons for wanting to hide their true appearance. Comes complete with NeglectfulPrecursor behaviour.

* Sam Starfall from ''{{Freefall}}''. He wears an environment suit, but we've never seen his actual form. It's implied that it's 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.
* The Quarians from ''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 Gypsies]] 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".
* The Daleks from ''DoctorWho'' qualify, though their suits aren't so much suits as little tanks in which utterly feeble bodies reside.

* The Unggoy (aka Grunts) from ''{{Halo}}''. They are most often seen with [[GasMaskMooks masks on]], large tanks on their backs. (They breathe methane on their home planet, and carry it with them much like divers and astronauts.) Some higher-ranking Grunts may also have other armor on in addition to the methane tank, or the tank and mask may look different (as with the Heretic Grunts.)
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