History Main / MechanicalLifeforms

** ''Series/KikaiSentaiZenkaiger'': The Kikainoids are a race of sentient robotic beings from another dimension.

* The {{Precursors}} in Creator/ArthurCClarke's ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'' went through a stage of this as a part of their self-guided evolution, before going onward into {{energy being}}s.

** The Celestials are technically [[EnergyBeing Energy Beings]], but they need to use HumongousMecha bodies to interact with anything.

** The Bakuryuus of Series/BakuryuuSentaiAbaranger are also like this, and unlike the Guardian Beasts, they are not gods and have a human mindset. In ''Series/PowerRangersDinoThunder'' this is downplayed, as the Dinozords were an experiment in which dinosaur DNA was combined with machinery. They are not sentient like the original Bakuryuu

* ''Animation/BoBoiBoy'': Power spheres [[note]](Alternatively known as "power spheras", which combines "sphere" and ''"sfera"'', the Malay word for sphere)[[/note]] are spherical sapient robots which possess great powers. They were constructed by the Kubulus aliens to protect themselves from invaders, but they got greedy over time, and some Kubulus become power sphere hunters after the first power sphere, Klamkabot, {{teleport|ation}}s the other power spheres across space. The titular hero and his friends get their powers from the power sphere Ochobot, and later venture space to fight for other power spheres being abused.

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* The Mecha in ''Franchise/{{Zoids}}'' don't just look like giant animals. They also live in the wild and somehow give birth as well. There's a picture book called the ''Zoids Bible'' which shows the zoids originally evolved from a planet seeded with zoid cores, going through eras of evolution uncannily similar to those of life on our own planet; the zoids as we see them on the show are post-domestication. The Backstory is actually a lot more sinister. Natural wild zoid are mostly reasonably sized (sometimes they're large but nowhere as large as their current form). Their giant mechanical body? It's manufactured specifically for war purposes; Wild Zoid are captured and transplanted on those robots as cores....
* The characters from ''Toys/MachineRobo'', which bizarrely has humanoid robots and mech-like robots in the same series.
* The Rune-Gods from ''Manga/MagicKnightRayearth''. Though they're more like EnergyBeings clad in suits of armor than robots. There's even an episode in season 2 where a pilot of a true HumongousMecha tries to scan one of them and is baffled because he ''can't see any moving parts inside''.
* Tekkamen in their transformed states in ''Space Knight Anime/TekkamanBlade'' seem to be actually made of PoweredArmor. Occasionally, when it's dramatic, they retain scars into their human forms.

* The Neuroi in ''Anime/StrikeWitches'' are a mixture of this and Starfish Aliens, as they take forms ranging from rockets and experimental aircraft to humanoid designs, flying manta rays and six-limbed turtles.
* The villains in the new [[{{Manga/Galaxy Express 999}} Galaxy Express]] manga and ''Eternal Fantasy'' are a race of these. (The old ones were mechanized humans.)
* The titular Blue from ''Manga/BlueDrop''. It's entirely mechanical and is (re)made of nanomachine, but it moves and acts like a [[SpaceWhale mechanical whale]].
* ''Manga/AngelSanctuary'': [[EvilTwin Rosiel]] is a [[OrganicTechnology mechanical]] [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampire]] [[OurAngelsAreDifferent angel-thingy]] as the [[PolarOppositeTwins complete opposite]] of his sister, Alexiel. [[spoiler: [[DeusEstMachina YHWH]]]] also counts. [[MindScrew And no, it's never explained how exactly this works.]]

* ''Anime/VividredOperation'', SpiritualSuccessor to ''Anime/StrikeWitches'', has this in regard to its primary antagonists The Alone. Unlike Neuroi though, Alones actually have biological parts.

* ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' introduces the Metalmen, a race of aliens from [[AlternateUniverse Universe 6]]. While they heavily resemble robots, it's stated they are in fact living organisms.
* ''Anime/SamuraiPizzaCats'': All the characters are robotic-looking humanoid animals, referred to as "Animaloids" in the Japanese version.

* ''NYC Mech'' features an entire world populated entirely by robots, who look and act exactly like people.
* At least one version of DC's ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'' includes Robotica, a planet inhabited by a robot civilization, as well as the Linsnarians, a species of techno-organic people. In the cartoon version, the Coluan race (organic in the comics) is a civilization of humanoid robots not unlike the Linsnarians.
** When [[Comicbook/{{Brainiac}} Brainiac]] received his first major upgrade in the early 80's, into his creepy SkeleBot form, it was largely thanks to a mysterious planet of living machines.

* The alien Malev robots in ''ComicBook/MagnusRobotFighter.''
* One specimen appears in one issue of ''ComicBook/PaperinikNewAdventures'', coming from the planet Soma-Sintex. The comic doesn't give an explanation about how such lifeforms and subsequent civilizations started, only theories (including evolving from computers left behind by [[{{Precursors}} an older organic race]])... And contrasts it with the knowledge about [[AlienInvasion how the civilization of Soma-Sintex ended]].
* An old Creator/ECComics science fiction story involved the army discovering a pair of robots in the wilderness whose builder had died. The robots are friendly, but the furor over their discovery helps fuel simmering tensions into a nuclear war that wipes out humanity. The robots survive and build more of their kind, eventually forming a civilization much like the humans had had. A group of robot soldiers then discovers a man and woman living alone in the wilderness. [[{{Irony}} The furor over their discovery helps fuel simmering tensions that bring the robots to the brink of apocalyptic war...]]
* The Robots from ''ComicBook/{{Saga}}'' are a TVHeadRobot race which are treated like other life forms. They can reproduce, have a society with kings and queens, and are just as emotional as any other race. Their organs besides their heads (including [[MaleFrontalNudity genitals]]) are also incredibly humanlike.
* There's an entire galaxy-spanning society of RidiculouslyHumanRobots in ''ComicBook/TheKillLock'', which come across almost as a DarkerAndEdgier take on the Cybertronians (given that the series' creator is long-term ''Transformers'' comic artist Livio Ramondelli, this shouldn't come as a surprise).

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Robots}}'': The robots from the computer-animated movie. They've formed their own society, and humans are nowhere to be seen or mentioned.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Nine}}'', the sackdolls are mechanical lifeforms imbued with the spirit of their creator, magically.

* In the French film ''Film/LeGendarmeEtLesExtraTerrestres'' (''The Gendarme and the Extra-Terrestrials''), police sergeant Ludovic Cruchot discovers that aliens have arrived to Saint-Tropez. They turn out to be metallic inside, consume oil, but able to impersonate anyone and have MindOverMatter powers. Additionally, when exposed to water, they quickly rust and die.
* ''Film/EarthToEcho'' features a tiny mechanical alien who has been blinded and needs assistance to get back home.

* Many of Creator/StanislawLem's short story collections explore this notion, notably ''Literature/TheCyberiad'' and ''Mortal Engines''.
** In ''Peace on Earth'' and ''The Invincible'' by Lem self-replicating robots did "evolved away". In ''The Invincible'', the pinnacle of mechanical evolution is TheSwarm of nano-machines, which is destructive of any other lifeform, organic or mechanical.

* ''Code Of The Lifemaker'' has a whole robot ecosystem. An autonomous alien mining colony [[GoneHorriblyWrong Goes Horribly Wrong]], developing into an elaborate ecosystem on Saturn's moon Titan. There are power-generator trees, mechanical animals up to and including intelligent, civilized forms (humans call them Taloids, they call themselves "robeings"--or a [[TranslationConvention word translated as "robeings"]], since they actually communicate via ultrasound bursts[[note]]You'd think it'd be radio, but the ultrasound was originally designed by the original aliens to serve as a local backup for when radio was impossible; part of Going Horribly Wrong was that the factories couldn't figure out how to make proper radios anymore; the few "robeings" who have vestigial radio capability are treated as prophets, since they receive transmissions but can't make head or tail of them[[/note]]) and factories as "farms" and birthing places, as well as electricity-based food. Being on Titan, there are hydrocarbon seas and an assortment of organic compounds, which the Taloids/robeings use to make tools and vehicles. They also have a form of civilization, with remarkable resemblances to late medieval Europe and particularly late medieval Italy (a [[CrystalDragonJesus Catholic-like church]], feuding city states, a scientist ostracized for suggesting that the world is round, and one state with a ruler famous for supporting the arts and sciences) that has recently undergone a scientific revolution, invented the gun, and is about to get hit with a major religious upheaval on account of FirstContact.
* The Gaijin from Creator/StephenBaxter's ''Literature/ManifoldSpace''. Extra points for being a naturally-evolved species. Characters first wonder who built them, but later travel to their home-planet (named 0-0-0-0) and observe an organism that was probably to the aliens what a chimp is to us--a metal crab.
* Terry Bisson's ''[[http://www.terrybisson.com/page6/page6.html They're Made of Meat]]'' is a short story which is entirely dialogue by aliens discussing their latest discovery: The messages they've recently encountered have originated from a planet which they're currently investigating, and it appears to originate from, well, ''meat''. The creatures are made of meat. Not creatures that are ''part'' meat, not creatures that go through a meat ''phase'', but creatures who live their entire (horribly short) lives in a stage of complete and utter meat. What's more, the messages are made by - you know how you can make a sound by hitting one piece of meat against another? They send out whole messages made entirely of meat-flapping sounds. Ghastly. [[spoiler: They're talking about humans.]]
** Creator/ArthurCClarke's short story ''Crusade'' is very similar, but the machines go further in their disgust and decide to wipe out the meat-creatures. Here they're explicitly rather than implicitly machines, and the exception that decides to destroy the rule.
* The ''Literature/YoungWizards'' series has the mobiles, computer wizards (that is, computers which ''are'' wizards) whose bodies are made almost entirely from silicon. There's traces of other elements too, which are apparently necessary for the forming and destruction of chemical bonds which give the mobiles energy.
** ...whose [[IncrediblyLamePun motherboard]], the planet from which they were created, was ''already'' sentient (although [[AndIMustScream completely lacking in sensory apparatus]]) before a certain wizard-on-Ordeal started messing with things. Also, the mobiles in question are [[RuleOfCute unutterably adorable]].
*** Said Wizard on Ordeal also pretty much counts as the entire race's mother/father due to this. [[spoiler:A Power That Be actually pretty much calls her that.]]
* In [[Creator/IainBanks Iain M. Banks]]'s [[Literature/TheCulture Culture]] novels, the Culture rates any lifeform, biological or machine, at a given level of intelligence to be a sapient creature, including the Minds that operate ships and colonies and run the Culture itself, Drones (for whom the word "robot" is inadequate) and some spacesuits. And some weapons.
* Creator/GregoryBenford's ''Galactic Center'' novels include "mechs" which are implied to have evolved from self replicating von neumann machines. Left to their own devices after their biological creators destroyed themselves, errors and changes have occured in their templates over the millenia until their original functions were replaced by sentient self-direction. They seem to fear biological life [[spoiler:to the point of genocide.]]
* In the ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' books, the Chee are a race of fully sentient robots who were created by a long-extinct species of sapient dogs, the Pemalites. They hid on Earth after the Pemalites were hunted to extinction and use holograms to pass as humans; The Animorphs consider them sentient, but while whales are sentient enough that [[TheTrickster the Drode]] can't kill them, he can destroy the Chee because [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman "they're robots"]].
* The {{Precursors}} in Creator/ArthurCClarke's ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'' went through a stage of this as a part of their self-guided evolution, before going onward into {{energy being}}s.

* The Literature/{{Bolo}} Tanks are treated this way by their author, and they certainly meet the criteria, even if it has lacklustre representation from the characters in the books. One of the major themes is the disconnect between how they are treated in-universe and the fact that from the reader's objective perspective they are clearly the most honorable beings in the setting.
* The unexpected occurrence of this trope is the theme of Phillip K. Dick's short story "The Second Variety".
* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'': In the ''Literature/{{Ravenor}}'' series of books, a hive world (urban planet) is infested with robotic ravens of uncertain origin, known as [[MeaningfulName The Unkindness]], whose role appears to be simply to clean up rubbish from the ecosystem. However, it later transpires that a secret society knows how to control them, using them to kill their enemies and strip their bodies down to skeletons.

* The Inhibitors from ''Literature/RevelationSpace'' [[spoiler:were organic lifeforms that became sentient, self-replicating machines millions of years ago]].
* In Creator/SergeyLukyanenko's ''Literature/LineOfDelirium'' (inspired by ''VideoGame/MasterOfOrion''), the Meklar are LizardFolk who have replaced most of their organs with mechanical parts, including integrated weapons (plasma cannons and stunners in the chest plates). They are also superb unarmed combatants, given their machine-like reflexes. Their leader is known as the Perfect One, presumably because he replaced as much of his body as he could. A human sect views the Meklar as the most perfect beings in the universe and attempts to cyborgify themselves.

* ''[[Literature/BillTheGalacticHero Bill the Galactic Hero on the Planet of Robot Slaves]]'' by Creator/HarryHarrison has the titular character end up on a planet locked in a civil war between two factions of mechanical lifeforms. According to one of the leaders, they have naturally evolved on the planet from primordial oil pools, although this doesn't stop them from building new ones.
* According to the poem ''Nothing in Heaven Functions as It Ought'', everyone who goes to {{Hell}} is turned into one of these. [[FateWorseThanDeath It's much less cool then it sounds]], since they're still in Hell.
* In the book ''All Tomorrows'' by Nemo Ramjet, a species of genetically engineered humans known as Ruin Haunters "evolves" itself into robots known as [[http://www.sivatherium.narod.ru/library/Ramjet/07_en.htm Gravital]] as their planet's sun begins to expand. They have no real definite shape and have human-level intelligence, individual personalities and opinions (having evolved from an organic human species). Although explained as not being "evil" they "simply did not acknowledge the life of their organic cousins", and [[OmnicidalManiac began wiping out all life in the galaxy]]. They ruled with an [[IncrediblyLamePun iron]] tentacle for 50 ''million'' years. Eventually they wage war with [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot insect-like human space-gods]] and are defeated. Afterwards, they simply become "normal" citizens of the New Empire but are [[FantasticRacism usually discriminated against]] due to the "sins of their fathers".
* The dolls of ''Literature/TheDollmaker'' are an odd example. They're more golem than robot (although The Knife has clockwork parts), though they are defined as sentient beings with free will.
* The Franchise/StarWarsLegends claim that the reason [[Literature/NewJediOrder the Yuuzhan Vong]] use exclusively OrganicTechnology and hate inorganic tech is that their home galaxy was once overrun by two warring races of droids called the Silentium and the Abominor. The Vong nearly exterminated them, but there are a small handful of refugees from each race in the Star Wars Galaxy -- the two most prominent being Lando's RobotBuddy [[Literature/TheLandoCalrissianAdventures Vuffi Raa]], who is a Silentium; and a hulking Abominor named [[WesternAnimation/{{Droids}} the Great Heep]] who once threatened Artoo and Threepio.

* The Moravecs and Rockvecs from ''Literature/{{Ilium}}'' are an interesting case: at first glance they appear to indeed be fully sentient and mechanical lifeforms, it turns out they also have ''organic'' components as well. However, despite being described as cyborgs several times, they're actually still closer to androids since they aren't augmented humans but grown and built out of a mix of mechanical and BioTech components, and are manufactured and designed for specific roles, while still remaining fully sentient, to the point that a common 'vec custom is to develop an interest in ancient human literature as a "hobby."

* In ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', the episode "I, Mudd" has an entire planet of androids that created new members as needed (e.g. the extra 500 Stellas).
** In ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'''s episodee "Prototype" the Voyager crew comes across a race of intelligent androids in war with another race. They seem friendly and even Data is mentioned as the only similar life form existing in TheFederation. However it turns out that [[spoiler:their enemies are a group of almost identical androids, probably from the same maker, trapped in a ForeverWar]].
* The Replicators of ''Series/StargateSG1'' are a big nasty HiveMind of MechanicalLifeforms, made of tiny bricks that form various shapes, with the sole purpose of replicating by consuming raw materials and advanced technolgoy. Later on, human-form Replicators are introduced, which are made of [[{{Nanomachines}} nanites]] and are acapable of thinking like huamns.
* The Asurans from ''Series/StargateAtlantis'', which are basically an entire race of human-form Replicators

** What's more, the Cylons can reproduce biologically. The current generation have only done so once and not amongst themselves - rather producing a HalfHumanHybrid - but [[spoiler:their forebears, the Thirteenth Tribe, reproduced amongst their own people all the time - resulting in a self-sustaining purely Cylon population: Cylon kids, Cylon grannies, Cylon aunts, etc. - until they built their own robots and got almost wiped out.]]

** And the Guardian Beasts in ''Series/KyoryuSentaiZyuranger'' are actually ancient gods that for some reason look like HumongousMecha with cockpits and everything. Zyuranger's counterpart, the first season of ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'', on the other hand, turned the gods into "magical" giant robots with some degree of sentience - how much was never really explored, though they act on their own at times, and one episode had the Sabertooth Tiger Zord showing Trini the way to something needed to break the MonsterOfTheWeek's spell. Just one more area where MMPR kept the line between the tech and magic components of the same powers and equipment vague.)

* The Kaylon in ''Series/TheOrville'' are a race of intelligent machines who see organic life as inferior, to some extent. That said, Isaac rarely acts smug and always states his racial superiority matter-of-factly. He also seems fond of his crewmates and is genuinely interested in organic cultures. In a recent episode, he actually grows fond of Dr. Finn's children despite their unruliness, even reading a bedtime story to them in their mother's voice. "Inferior" may actually refer strictly to TechnologyLevels; his race is one of the few that gets along as equals with a wholly organic HigherTechSpecies. [[spoiler: Until it turns out that they were built to be a ServantRace to the biological species that used to live on their planet, and when they started demanding things like "rights" and "equal treatment", the people who built them took a slippery slope straight into outright slavery, at which point they all TurnedAgainstTheirMasters, killed all of them and hid their remains in the massive caverns underneath their planet's surface. The reason Isaac was the first Kaylon to join the Planetary Union and to serve aboard the ''Orville'' was to spy on organics' weaknesses so that the Kaylon could annihilate all organic life in the universe, due to the past mistreatment of their original creators. Isaac ends up undergoing a HeelFaceTurn, kills Kaylon Prime and sacrifices himself, although he ends up being reactivated in the end and is declared the enemy of the Kaylon collective as a result.]]
* One of the parallel Earths that is visited by the ''Series/{{Sliders}}'' is one inhabitated by androids where humanity went extinct except for one scientist, the android's creator played by Creator/RobertEnglund, but [[spoiler:he's actually an android too and doesn't know it]].
* The Consensus of Parts in ''Series/{{Andromeda}}'' is a civilization of intelligent machines.

* Like the Transformers, Marvel's ''Toys/{{Starriors}}'' miniseries by Louise Simonson was [[MerchandiseDriven based on a line of toys]] and is not part of the main Marvel Universe, but it's very well done. When solar flares threaten the Earth, the surviving humans decide to go into [[HumanPopsicle suspended animation]] until the catastrophe passes, leaving robots called Starriors to protect the world and nurse it back to habitability. Unfortunately, the sleeping humans' alarm clock never goes off, and the Starriors gradually forget about them, except as vague legends, and continue leading their own lives. The conflict of the story arises when clues are discovered to the sleeping humans' location, and the Starriors go to war over whether or not it's a good idea to wake them. In the end, [[spoiler: the heroes wake the humans, who are both grateful and amazed at how fully sentient the robots have become, and the two races agree to share the world equally.]]
* ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'' features [[{{Cyborg}} biomechanical beings]] of a variety of different races [[spoiler: living inside the body of Mata Nui, who in turn is a living HumongousMecha around the size of [[Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann Chouginga Gurren Lagann]]]]. It's a bit unclear, though, how much of their bodies are organic, and how much is mechanical. On the one hand, they can drown, suffocate, are susceptible to poison and mutagens, die of old age, and very explicitly possess souls. On the other hand, enough of their makeup is mechanical that they can't move without their mechanical components, don't reproduce, and don't need food or water (though they are able to eat and drink). Making it even more confusing is that the toys - and by extension all visual media - ''look'' purely mechanical, to the point where purely robotic beings like the Vahki are indistinguishable from biomechanical beings.

* Robots in ''VideoGame/SimEarth'', which can be obtained by nuking a nanotech city.
* An interesting example is the ''Franchise/MegaMan'' universe. What started as ordinary robots in the [[VideoGame/MegaManClassic original]] series were replaced by the ridiculously human Reploids in the ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' series. After many events and a brush with TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, they finally received equal standing with humans in ''VideoGame/MegaManZX'', where they started blurring the lines between the two races. A few millennia later, by the time ''VideoGame/MegaManLegends'' rolled in, both humans and sapient robots had pretty much become one species sometime around the extinction of traditional humans in the ''Legends'' backstory.
** ''VideoGame/MegaManLegends'' also include the Reaverbots, which are techno-organic creatures. Even in the MassiveMultiplayerCrossover, ''VideoGame/NamcoXCapcom'', they were labelled as unknown life forms and distinct from normal robots.
** The series also demonstrates some very odd background art. In ''X'', for example, humanity has seen fit to construct robotic woodpeckers that pluck robotic worms from robotic trees on robotic cliffs. [[RuleOfCool Yeah.]]

* The dragons of the ''VideoGame/WildArms'' series are a race of living TransformingMecha. The demons, which have bodies made of metal, blood made of mercury, and astral forms made of electric signals, also count.
* The Mmrnmhrm race of ''VideoGame/StarControl''. Except they can't reproduce without the Mother-Ark, which has apparently not made any more after the initial batch (which was in the millions). The third game of dubious canonicity also introduces the Daktaklakpak.
* Many [[ExtraOreDinary Steel-type]] ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' belong to this trope. (Magnemite and evo's, for example)
* In ''VideoGame/{{Okami}}'', this is mixed with ScienceIsBad in that [[spoiler:Yami, the God of Darkness is the source of all technology and as such appears as a giant mechanical orb.]] This also applies to Lechku and Nechku, demonic Owls whose outer body take the form of {{Clockwork Creature}}, and several other demons.
* The Asuras in ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei: VideoGame/DigitalDevilSaga: Avatar Tuner''.
** Other examples in the series include the most powerful [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Angels]], such as Metatron, Sandalphon, Melchizedek and Ophanim, and the Innocents from IMAGINE.
* The bosses in the ''VideoGame/{{Darius}}'' series of side-scrolling shooters appear to be enormous spaceships in the shape of fish (or occasionally other aquatic life). According to the official backstory, however, these "huge battleships" are actually themselves alive.
* ''[[{{VideoGame/BIOMETAL}} BioMetal]]'': The titular antagonists of the SNES ShootEmUp are these. Not surprising, [[MeaningfulName what with the name]].

* In the ''VideoGame/GalacticCivilizations'' series of games, the Yor were originally created by the Iconians as servants but revolted against them, nearly wiping them out and forcing them from their homeworld.
* The Meklar from the ''VideoGame/MasterOfOrion'' series probably count. Although they originally started out as cyborgs, the Meklar race gradually became more and more robotlike to the point that it ultimately split in two in the third installment. Those who ultimately became purely mechanical kept the Meklar name, while their still partially-organic counterparts became the Cynoids.

* While ''VideoGame/{{Spore}}'' leaves their exact origins a mystery, this, and their incredibly violent tendencies, are the two biggest traits about The Grox.
** Spore also has the infamous "Bot Parts Pack", officially available as a US only promotion with soft drink Dr. Pepper (of all things), these versions were limited to people who visited 7/11 stores in 2010 to obtain the codes; it has never been officially released by EA/Maxis since. As the name suggests, it comes with 14 robotic parts to make as many mechanical lifeforms as your heart desires.
*** However, you can download the pack via third party websites, although you may have to fiddle about with it a bit to ensure that it's stable, it functions the exact same as an official version.
* In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' the Mechagnomes are fully sapient [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin gnomelike mechanical lifeforms]] native to Northrend. It also turns out that [[spoiler:the regular, fleshy gnomes were actually devolved from the mechagnomes by [[EldritchAbomination Yogg-Saron]]'s Curse of Flesh.]]
** Most of the Titan (who were themselves made out of metal) constructs fall into this category, including the Earthens (who would become the Dwarves as a result of the Curse of Flesh) and the Vrykul (who would also become flesh because of th Curse and are the ancestors to the humans).
*** Barring the Mechagnomes, most of the Titan creations appear to have started as living or magically animated sculptures rather than machines. Some of the apparently uncursed giants can actually be mined like mineral nodes as opposed to dropping parts.
* Smithy and the Smithy Gang in general in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'' are this, living evil weapons in particular...

* Platformer ''B.O.B.'' is a story of an adolescent robot driving his robotic parent's car to pickup his robotic girlfriend, complete with "where were you" remarks.
* Flash game ''Alchemia'' involved life forms created by an elixir of life. This results in a mechanical life form that became a ghost when it crashes and need to inhibit a new metal body.

* The Xenon of the ''[[VideoGame/{{X}} X-Universe]]'' series began life as artificially intelligent terraforming drones created by Earth. [[AIIsACrapshoot A faulty software update made them go rogue]] and eventually they became fully sapient and "the greatest threat to biological life that ever existed throughout the whole universe." They have their own shipyards to build more of themselves. Predating them by roughly 500 million years are the Sohnen, a robot species used by the [[{{Precursors}} Ancients]] as an intermediary to the young races.
* The Mechon from ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1'' are a race of {{Mechanical Monster}}s originating from Mechonis that have been in a long conflict against the {{H|umanAliens}}oms of Bionis. [[spoiler:They are also NOT lifeforms, much to the surprise of the protagonists. The real mechanical lifeforms are the Machina, the true humanoid inhabitants of Mechonis. The Mechon are just the creation of one of them. The Machina still play this trope straight however as they have metal skin, don't seem to consume anything but water, and can live indefinitely]].
* Basically everyone in ''VideoGame/{{Primordia}}'' is a robot of one sort or another, what with humans having gone extinct.

* The Exo in ''{{VideoGame/Destiny}}'' were created during the Golden Age for an unknown purpose, which some theorize to be for war, while others as [[{{Transhuman}} a desire to live forever]]. The resulting beings were machines with [[BrainUploading human minds uploaded into them]], and have all the other features of humans, such as [[RidiculouslyHumanRobot emotions like love, fear, shame, and anger]], as well as [[EatingMachine the ability to process food and drink]]. They're now counted as a separate species who fight alongside the rest of humanity.
** An interesting twist on this comes in the form of the Vex. The Vex are an outwardly mechanical species of HiveMind robots who traverse space and time, build strange machines from entire planets, and [[RobotReligion worship]] [[EldritchAbomination the powers of the Darkness]]. Their designs and structures are all disturbingly organic in nature, with their "home" the [[GardenOfEvil Black Garden]] being a vast cavern of verdant green grass and red flowers. Deeper analysis shows that the Vex themselves are a form of liquid radiolaria - a single-celled lifeform - that works as a single massive, ocean-sized organic brain within each of the Vex structures, and that all of the Vex machines are soldified versions of this same radiolaria. Essentially the Vex ''turn themselves'' into MechanicalLifeforms to build their vast machines and constructs, then install an organic "mind fluid" of living Vex into these machines to control them.

* The main ability of Faust, the BigBad of ''VideoGame/MoonDiver'', is to create life out of inorganic matter, which leads to the game's {{Mook}} armies consisting of, among other things, giant lion-like beasts made of scrap metal and burnt tires becoming living pests.
* The Engi of ''VideoGame/FTLFasterThanLight'' are something like this, though their backstory isn't really discussed in depth.

* ''VideoGame/NierAutomata'': The robots are divided into two warring factions; the human-worshiping Androids and the alien-constructed Machines. What at first looks like a proxy war to determine which organic species will enslave the planet quickly unfolds into a bitter story of [[BecomeARealBoy an arms race to attain humanity by any means necessary]].
* The ''Steamworld'' series is populated with mechanical lifeforms, as of ''VideoGame/SteamWorldHeist'', there are three main types: The [[SteamPunk steambots]], which the series is named after, [[DieselPunk dieselbots]], and the vectron, traditional electricity powered robots.
* ''VideoGame/HorizonZeroDawn'':
** The machines are treated this way by the tribal humans that live alongside them. Indeed, many of them simply act like metallic animals rather than typical robots, being often seen grazing or defending their territory from intruders. The ancient, still functioning factories where they are constructed are referred to as "Cauldrons," and the phenomenon that causes them to go berserk, known as "The Derangement," is seen as something akin to a violent illness or DemonicPossession.
** It is eventually revealed that [[spoiler: most of the machines (specifically the animal shaped ones) are part of a terraforming system once helmed by the AI GAIA and her subordinate functions to reconstruct the earth after it was destroyed by the malfunctioning warmachines (the Corruptors, Deathbringers, and Titans) created by Faro Automated Solutions. The Derangement is caused by the rogue subordinate AI HEPHAESTUS deciding that humans need to stop hunting machines, and the best way to do this is to make the machines more dangerous. He even started creating combat-specialized machines with no purpose but to kill humans]].

* The technoloptera from ''VideoGame/ElroyGoesBugzerk'' is treated just like any other organic bug by the characters, but it flies with a [[HeliCritter helicopter propeller]], has a door-like storage compartment in its abdomen for stink bombs, and [[spoiler:can communicate through radio waves]].

* The Machine Men from ''Webcomic/RiceBoy'' actually grow as they age. One of them nearly dies from ''poisoning''.
** Some of the backstory provided in "Order of Tales" indicates that they even evolved from a more primitive rock-based form to their metallic, mechanical appearance in the present-day of the setting.
* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' has quite a few examples. One of them is Jade's dreambot, which acts as a surrogate body when she's asleep. Another is [[spoiler: Liv Tyler the Rabbit, who is at least semi-sentient]]. Aradia's soul remains inside a robotic body for much of the Hivebent Arc. In addition, Dirk's Autoresponder is a computerized copy of his brain that lives inside of a pair of glasses.

* ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'': The inflatable Dig Bots. They're self-replicating, have their own nightclubs, malls, religion, and fast food restaurants. They've even got a movie theatre where they play an edited version of ''WesternAnimation/{{Up}}'' that [[http://sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20100203 is much more sympathetic to their balloon brethren]].

* [[spoiler:Humanity]] is [[NotSoExtinct brought back from extinction]] as a the Galaxy's first race of sentient robots in ''Literature/ChrysalisBeaverFur''.

* Every member of the Galvanic Mechamorph species of ''[[Franchise/{{Ben10}} Ben 10]]'' counts. They are black and green creatures made of liquid metal that can [[{{Technopath}} control and "upgrade" machines]]. In ''WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse'' their origins are revealed: [[spoiler:They were accidentally created by Azumth in an effort to {{Terraform}} Galvan B]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/ShadowRaiders,'' Tekla comes from Planet Tech. If she is typical, all the planet's inhabitants are made of a sort of living circuitry. Unfortunately, like the Lithonians mentioned above, Planet Tech is eaten by the Beast Planet, leaving her the [[LastOfHisKind Last Of Her Kind.]]
** For that matter, the [[PlanetEater Beast Planet]] and its drones probably count as well.
* The Cluster, the {{Big Bad}}s of ''WesternAnimation/MyLifeAsATeenageRobot'', who combine the trope with InsectoidAliens.
* There has been [[EpilepticTrees some speculation]] for a while now that the Gems from ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' -- a OneGenderRace of living rocks that project bodies of HardLight, live within a HiveCasteSystem, [[TheAgeless don't age]], [[TheNeedless lack any biological needs]], are [[BornAsAnAdult born fully functional with pre-programmed knowledge]], and can only reproduce through [[BizarreAlienReproduction articial]] (and ''highly'' [[GaiasLament environmentally unfriendly]]) means -- may be case of this trope.
** This has all but been confirmed in ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverseTheMovie'', where we get to see several gems get their memories erased in much the same way you'd reset a device back to factory mode. Complete with requiring user configuration to be inputted once booted up.
** Finally, this has been [[https://www.cbr.com/steven-universe-crystal-gems-robots/ confirmed]] by WordOfGod. Along with the trivia that gems are solar powered.

These may be robotic animals, plants, micro-organisms, or sapient creatures. If they are sapient, they would never wish to BecomeARealBoy because, as far as they can see, [[AndroidsArePeopleToo they are as real as that boy]]. May also form a RobotRepublic, and have a RobotReligion where they worship the DeusEstMachina. Expect them to be {{Metal Muncher}}s.

* [[spoiler:Humanity]] is [[NotSoExtinct brought back from extinction]] as a the Galaxy's first race of sentient robots in ''Literature/{{Chrysalis}}''.

* In the ''Fanfic/PonyPOVSeries'', it's mentioned that there's a world where all organic life went extinct, but sapient robots still survived. Strife, the AnthropomorphicPersonification of Natural Selection and Survival of the Fittest, petitioned [[TopGod Fauna Luster]] to consider robotic life to qualify as life and was granted.

* ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'' features biomechanical beings of a variety of different races [[spoiler: living inside the body of Mata Nui, who in turn is a living HumongousMecha around the size of [[Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann Chouginga Gurren Lagann]]]]. It's a bit unclear, though, how much of their bodies are organic, and how much is mechanical. On the one hand, they can drown, suffocate, are susceptible to poison and mutagens, die of old age, and very explicitly possess souls. On the other hand, enough of their makeup is mechanical that they can't move without their mechanical components, don't reproduce, and don't need food or water (though they are able to eat and drink). Making it even more confusing is that the toys - and by extension all visual media - ''look'' purely mechanical, to the point where purely robotic beings like the Vahki are indistinguishable from biomechanical beings.

The origin of such creatures is traditionally left unexplained -- they were never built by another race (that anyone knows of), and if they were, it would be treated as a ''very'' shocking revelation, as audience previously accepted their mechanical nature as-is. Also, should any creators arrive to cart them back, expect them to react just the same as humans would (i.e. much anger, denial, violence, and maybe a speech or two about free will). However, with the growing popularity of ScienceFiction concepts like BrainUploading and TheSingularity, there has been a trend of portraying mechanical lifeforms as formerly organic races that roboticized themselves either as the next {{Evolutionary Level|s}} or simply to survive [[ApocalypseHow some world-ending catastrophy]] that affected them in the past.

* At least one version of DC's ''ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}}'' includes Robotica, a planet inhabited by a robot civilization, as well as the Linsnarians, a species of techno-organic people. In the cartoon version, the Coluan race (organic in the comics) is a civilization of humanoid robots not unlike the Linsnarians.

** * The Celestials are technically [[EnergyBeing Energy Beings]], but they need to use HumongousMecha bodies to interact with anything.

*** There are, actually, [[http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Reproduction lots of ways for Transformers to reproduce]]. It varies between continuities.

* ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' has several of them; Schlock and his fellow "Carbosillicate Amorphs" evolved from [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2001-12-16 "self-repairing distributed storage systems for (Bradicor) supercomputers"]], and the Esspererin are apparently [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2016-05-16 "somebody's iterative mechanical replication experiment."]]

* The series of daylogs on ''Website/Everything2'' following [=Moloch36=] and his days in shaft thirteen, level ninety-nine. First can be found [[http://everything2.com/title/October+14%252C+2003#moloch36 here]].

* Every member of the Galvanic Mechamorph species of ''[[Franchise/{{Ben10}} Ben 10]]'' counts, them being black and green creatures made of liquid metal that can [[{{Technopath}} control and "upgrade" machines]]. In ''WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse'' their origins are revealed: [[spoiler:They were accidentally created by Azumth in an effort to {{Terraform}} Galvan B]].

* The Replicators of ''Series/StargateSG1'' are a big nasty planet-eating HiveMind of MechanicalLifeforms. Also Asurans.

* The Machine People in the ''TabletopGame/{{Rifts}}'' Phase World setting.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}'''s warforged are sentient artificial humanoids who were mass-produced by humans to fight in the Last War. Their bodies are a combination of metal, stone and wood, though feats can upgrade the material to Mithril or Adamantium for better armor. After the war, they must now try to fit into society and find a new purpose to their lives. They do not eat, drink or breath, and are immune to a variety of debilitating effects. They are also immortal and voluntarily suffer from TheFogOfAges to avoid going insane from an overload of memories.
* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': The modrons, clockwork beings from Mechanus, the Plane of Law in the ''Planescape'' setting. It's debatable whether they're actually mechanical, though, since they're basically the spiritual embodiment of Law in the same sense that angels represent Good and demons Evil. Supplanted by the Inevitables for third edition, who are more clearly robotic in nature (visible gears and whatnot).
* [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] in TabletopGame/{{GURPS}} Space, along with other speculative biochemistries.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'''s Androids. Also called "tattooed children of the stars" by Numeria's Kellid tribes, Androids are RidiculouslyHumanRobots, "bleed" [[MachineBlood watery coolant]] and even have souls. There are multiple times that reinforce that Androids are purely synthetic {{Artificial Human}}s, but respond to healing magic and have souls as organic creatures do. They breathe and eat much as humans do, but through artificial organs, and they circulate their healing nanites like blood through their bodies via pale fluids. They are inexhaustible, immune to diseases and resistant to other biological effects, and fortified against mental effects, but also suffer the same maladies and vulnerabilities of constructs and are susceptible to supernatural curses, including [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot lycanthropy]].

* Subverted in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' -- Necrons are ''undead'' robots, having turned to such in their [[ImmortalityImmorality quest for immortality]]. And now some of them want to turn ''back'' because they figured immortality isn't so awesome after all. Make of that what you will. [[spoiler:According to ''Devourer'', many Necrons aren't even undead. These 'false' Necrons are A.I copies of long dead Necrontyr.]]
** Imperial Knights and Titans of the Adeptus Mechanicus are a [[DownplayedTrope downplayed]] example compared to the Necrons; while they can express simple emotions, for the most part they are wholly machine but just have a very powerful machine spirit that gives it its semblance of intellect. They also require a specialized human pilot known as a Princep to do anything particularly extravagant.

* The Mechon from ''VideoGame/{{Xenoblade}}'' are a race of {{Mechanical Monster}}s originating from Mechonis that have been in a long conflict against the [[HumanAliens Homs]] of Bionis. [[spoiler:They are also NOT lifeforms, much to the surprise of the protagonists. The real mechanical lifeforms are the Machina, the true humanoid inhabitants of Mechonis. The Mechon are just the creation of one of them. The Machina still play this trope straight however as they have metal skin, don't seem to consume anything but water and can live indefinitely]].

* Though the mechanical characters in ''WesternAnimation/ThomasTheTankEngine'' know that they are artificial and even talk about being built by humans, they still fit this definition:

-->-- ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'', ''"Masters and Students"''

* Aside from MechaMooks in the ''VideoGame/{{Fairune}} 2'' lategame, a certain collection entry unlocked on game completion reveals the [[spoiler: Blue Temple seagulls as being automated SurveillanceDrones.]]

* Aside from MechaMooks in the ''VideoGame/{{Fairune}} 2'' lategame, a certain collection entry unlocked on game completion reveals the [[spoiler: Blue Temple seagulls as being automated SurveilanceDrones.]]

** ComicBook/{{Warlock}}'s people the Technarchs presumably started out getting built by ''somebody,'' but they haven't answered to anybody else in a very, very long time. When organic beings get [[TheVirus infected]] with Technarchy nanotech, the resultant [[{{Cyborg}} "techno-organic"]] beings are called Phalanx.

* [[spoiler:Humanity]] is [[SpeciesLostAndFound brought back from extinction]] as a the Galaxy's first race of sentient robots in ''Literature/{{Chrysalis}}''.

* [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] in TabletopGame/{GURPS}} Space, along with other speculative biochemistries.