History Main / ReptilianConspiracy

* ''[[https://www.facebook.com/lizardpeopleofny/ Lizard People Of New York]]'' {{parodies}} the popular photoblog ''Humans Of New York'' by re-captioning the photos of humans into portraits of shape-shifting Reptilians.
* ''Website/BabylonBee'': Politicians are exempted from COVID lockdown restrictions because [[https://babylonbee.com/news/politicians-officially-exempted-from-lockdown-rules-since-lizard-people-cant-catch-covid their Reptilian nature gives them natural immunity]].

* Website/AboveTopSecret, a large conspiracy site, is a good source for people who believe these creatures exist and are behind global conspiracies.

* This trope is briefly alluded to in the first episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' when Luz's mother is trying to convince her that going to summer camp would be good for her by asking if she has any friend that aren't "imagined, or drawn, or reptilian". [[spoiler:Funnily enough, a shapeshifting snake demon ends up taking Luz's place on Earth only a couple minutes after this conversation takes place, though she's completely benign (even going on to be Luz's adoptive sister) and she's actually [[EscapedFromTheLab an escaped lab experiment]] rather than being part of a conspiracy.]]

* [[Music/BoB B.o.B]]'s 2016 single "Flatline" is an unironic rant about how the Earth is flat attacking Neil [=deGrasse=] Tyson, NASA the Freemasons, and the Jews, as well as touching on this trope.

They may be an AlienInvasion, an [[{{Ultraterrestrials}} ancient race]] from the AgeOfReptiles dwelling BeneathTheEarth or in the HollowEarth (possibly with {{Domesticated|Dinosaurs}} LivingDinosaurs), [[OurDemonsAreDifferent demons]], or AncientAstronauts [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot descended from the dinosaurs living underground]] [[DevilComplex pretending to be demons]]. Often they're here ToServeMan, and they're even more likely than most LizardFolk and SnakePeople to be AlwaysChaoticEvil and to fall under ReptilesAreAbhorrent. They may be, or make, HalfHumanHybrids. Unfortunately, as with a lot of conspiracy theories, this trope has a worrying tendency to veer into antisemitic territory, often at least presenting the Reptilians as SpaceJews, if not outright claiming that [[GreedyJew actual Jews are either the Reptilians themselves]] or their ([[LesCollaborateurs witting]] or {{unwitting|Pawn}}) pawns.

They're typically, although not always, using some sort of HumanDisguise so that TheyLookLikeUsNow — which sometimes becomes [[Administrivia/TropeDecay the only element of this trope present]] if they're not actually hiding. These mean you have a whole race of [[ShapeshiftingTrickster Shapeshifting Tricksters]] using VoluntaryShapeshifting, PsychicPowers, {{Hologram}}s, [[MasterOfIllusion Illusion Magic]], MassHypnosis, {{Glamour}}, GenuineHumanHide, DemonicPossession, a MindControlConspiracy, HypnoticEyes, SubliminalAdvertising, etc. Common tropes here are TheCorruption, ArtificialHybrid or TransformationOfThePossessed (if they convert humans into Reptilians), AppearanceIsInTheEyeOfTheBeholder, WeirdnessCensor, and InvisibleToNormals (for more mental/illusion-based disguises) GlamourFailure, EyesAreMental, or ImmuneToMindControl (TheHero — and the audience — have to identify them somehow), KillAndReplace (an easy way to take over — present in the original King Kull story from 1929), {{Deprogram}} (when it's especially hard to free yourself from their control).

Since this is such a ridiculed real-world conspiracy theory, it may be [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] and [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] to demonstrate how crazy a ConspiracyTheorist character is — and sometimes [[DoubleSubversion doubly subverted]] if TheCuckoolanderWasRight and they really do exist.

The TropeMaker was Creator/RobertEHoward in his {{Literature/Kull}} story "The Shadow Kingdom" for Magazine/WeirdTales in August 1929.

** ''ComicBook/BatmanOdyssey'' has a race of dinosaur-men from the HollowEarth who can pass for human. [[spoiler:Batman's sidekick Primus turn out to be secretly one of them.]]

* ''Film/IronSky'''s sequel, ''Film/IronSkyTheComingRace'', has UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler as a UsefulNotes/TyrannosaurusRex-riding reptilian alien surviving to the present day in the HollowEarth, whose species created humanity in prehistoric times. His brother led the Moon-dwelling Nazis in the first film. The President of the USA is one too.

* The TropeMaker was Creator/RobertEHoward in his Literature/{{Kull}} story "The Shadow Kingdom" for Magazine/WeirdTales in August 1929. These humanoid Serpent-men predate humanity, and go through cycles of taking over human society using their illusions and being forced out when humans discover them.
** They've also made their way into many Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian stories by other authors, which are in the same setting just a little later.
** Since the Conan and Kull stories take place in a prehistoric Franchise/CthulhuMythos, the Serpent-Men have been used in a number of stories by Mythos writers, generally attached to the snake-god Yig.

* Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs' ''Literature/{{Pellucidar}}'' series has what may qualify as an UnbuiltTrope — a telepathic dinosaur-ish GiantFlyer race, the Mahar, descended from pterosaurs and living in the HollowEarth.
* [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] in the SpeculativeDocumentary book ''Literature/AllTomorrows'' by Nemo Ramjet — one of the successors of mankind is a race known as the Saurosapients, which evolved from large lizards brought to a tropical planet by humans. They were once the livestock of a minimally-intelligent species of genetically modified human, who degenerated to become ''their'' livestock after the reptiles out-evolved them. Saurosapients are neither evil nor very human-like in general appearance (more like featherless raptors), but their society grows paranoid that an alien race will wipe them out like the humans before them. [[spoiler:It's presumed that robot humans did wipe them out eventually, along with many other races that ''were'' human-descended.]]

** One issue of ''ComicBook/{{Hellblazer}}'' (during the short-lived run by Creator/WarrenEllis) has John Constantine telling a reporter of the conspiracies in Buckingham Palace before [[spoiler:faking his death at the hands of the conspiracy]]. He suggests that [[WhoShotJFK Kennedy arranged his own assassination]] with TheGreys and the reptilians (with a literal MagicBullet) because he caught his wife getting it on with a snake demon and enjoying it, and that UsefulNotes/TheBritishRoyalFamily are also secretly snake demons and killed Princess Diana because she was secretly impregnated by one of them. In fact [[spoiler:it was all BS intendedto scare the reporter away from a perfectly mundane drug-smuggling operation in the palace.]]

* A ''particuarly'' odd ''Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse'' comic, in TheChristmasAnnual 2019, claimed that Queen Elizabeth II ''was'', in fact, a shapeshifted and carnivorous lizard, but this was ''fine'' and the Doctor was friends with her.

* A ''particuarly'' odd ''Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse" comic, in TheChristmasAnnual 2019, claimed that Queen Elizabeth II ''was'', in fact, a shapeshifted and carnivorous lizard, but this was ''fine'' and the Doctor was friends with her.

TropeMaker was Creator/RobertEHoward in his {{Literature/Kull}} story "The Shadow Kingdom" for Magazine/WeirdTales in August 1929.

They're typically, although not always, using some sort of HumanDisguise so that TheyLookLikeUsNow — which sometimes becomes [[TropeDecay the only element of this trope present]] if they're not actually hiding. These mean you have a whole race of [[ShapeshiftingTrickster Shapeshifting Tricksters]] using VoluntaryShapeshifting, PsychicPowers, {{Hologram}}s, [[MasterOfIllusion Illusion Magic]], MassHypnosis, {{Glamour}}, GenuineHumanHide, DemonicPossession, a MindControlConspiracy, HypnoticEyes, SubliminalAdvertising, etc. Common tropes here are TheCorruption, ArtificialHybrid or TransformationOfThePossessed (if they convert humans into Reptilians), AppearanceIsInTheEyeOfTheBeholder, WeirdnessCensor, and InvisibleToNormals (for more mental/illusion-based disguises) GlamourFailure, EyesAreMental, or ImmuneToMindControl (TheHero — and the audience — have to identify them somehow), KillAndReplace (an easy way to take over — present in the original King Kull story from 1929), {{Deprogram}} (when it's especially hard to free yourself from their control).

** The prequel trilogy revolved around the reptilian [[ProudMerchantRace Neimoidians]] who served as an UnwittingPawn in Darth Sidious' bid for galactic domination, providing the Confederacy of Independent Systems with access to the Trade Federation's vast fleets and droid armies.

** The prequel trilogy revolved around the reptilian [[ProudMerchantRace Neimoidians]] who served as an UnwittingPawn in Darth Sidious' bid for galactic domination, providing the Separatist Alliance its vast droid armies.

* This trope is briefly alluded to in the first episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' when Luz's mother is trying to convince her that going to summer camp would be good for her by asking if she has any friend that aren't "imagined, or drawn, or reptilian". [[spoiler:Funnily enough, a shapeshifting snake demon ends up taking Luz's place on Earth only a couple minutes after this conversation takes place, though she's completely benign (even going on to be Luz's adoptive sister) and she's actually [[EscaptedFromTheLab an escaped lab experiment]] rather than being part of a conspiracy.]]

They may be an AlienInvasion, an [[{{Ultraterrestrials}} ancient race]] dwelling BeneathTheEarth or in the HollowEarth (possibly [[EvolutionaryLevels descended]] from LivingDinosaurs), [[OurDemonsAreDifferent demons]], or AncientAstronauts [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot descended from the dinosaurs living underground]] [[DevilComplex pretending to be demons]]. Often they're here ToServeMan, and they're even more likely than most LizardFolk and SnakePeople to be AlwaysChaoticEvil and to fall under ReptilesAreAbhorrent. They may be, or make, HalfHumanHybrids. Unfortunately, as with a lot of conspiracy theories, this trope has a worrying tendency to veer into antisemitic territory, often at least presenting the Reptilians as SpaceJews, if not outright claiming that [[GreedyJew actual Jews are either the Reptilians themselves]] or their ([[LesCollaborateurs witting]] or {{unwitting|Pawn}}) pawns.

This is an idea that's bounced back and forth between fiction and the fringes of UsefulNotes/ConspiracyTheories for about a century now.

* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', where the Pope is a Reptilian just like in many a conspiracy theory. The difference is that this is known by everyone, to the point of being a variation of [[IsTheAnswerToThisQuestionYes "Is the Pope Catholic?"]], since [[MundaneFantastic aliens are commonplace]].

* ''VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown'' references this trope with the Thin Men, with shades of TheMenInBlack and SlenderManStandIn. They look ''[[HughMann mostly]]'' human, like [[NoodlePeople unnaturally tall, lanky]] men in business suits, but Thin Men have patches of scales visible around their collars and sleeves, and their sunglasses hide slitted reptilian eyes. In their natural forms shown in ''VideoGame/XCOM2'' they're SnakePeople, but their masters have put them through extensive alterations to help them infiltrate Earth during the AlienInvasion. Thin Men gather intelligence, act as clandestine go-betweens for the aliens' ruling Ethereal caste as they pressure Earth's governments to surrender, and perform acts of sabotage. In-game, they tend to show up on [[BenevolentConspiracy Council]] missions to menace a VIP, and despite debuting early in the campaign, Thin Men are quite dangerous thanks to their high accuracy with their light plasma rifles, ability to jump up to seize high ground InASingleBound, and [[SuperSpit poisonous spit]].

* Some of the Ascended in ''TabletopGame/FengShui'' are essentially snakes in human form. Like all transformed animals in this game, they are animals that used magic in order to assume human form, and very much want to ''stay'' human, which is why their AncientConspiracy is dedicated to keeping magic as low as possible, since it is the only way to revert them to their original animal forms, and reversion is generally a one-way trip.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', the Pope is one just like in many a conspiracy theory. The difference is that this is known by everyone, to the point of being a variation of [[IsTheAnswerToThisQuestionYes "Is the Pope Catholic?"]], since [[MundaneFantastic aliens are commonplace]].

They may be an AlienInvasion, an [[{{Ultraterrestrials}} ancient race]] dwelling BeneathTheEarth or in the HollowEarth (possibly [[EvolutionaryLevels descended]] from LivingDinosaurs), [[OurDemonsAreDifferent demons]], or AncientAliens [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot descended from the dinosaurs living underground]] [[DevilComplex pretending to be demons]]. Often they're here ToServeMan, and they're even more likely than most LizardFolk and SnakePeople to be AlwaysChaoticEvil and to fall under ReptilesAreAbhorrent. They may be, or make, HalfHumanHybrids. Unfortunately, as with a lot of conspiracy theories, this trope has a worrying tendency to veer into antisemitic territory, often at least presenting the Reptilians as SpaceJews, if not outright claiming that [[GreedyJew actual Jews are either the Reptilians themselves]] or their ([[LesCollaborateurs witting]] or {{unwitting|Pawn}}) pawns.

* * ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'': Referenced with the "Reptiloid" cosmetic for the Sniper, which exposes green scales and a [[AnimalEyes snake-like eye]] underneath his peeling skin.

-->-- [[ConspiracyTheorist Ronaldo Fryman]], ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'', [[Recap/StevenUniverseS1E31KeepBeachCityWeird "Keep Beach City Weird"]]

* ''Webcomic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal:'' [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/zardax Zardax]] has the titular kind of such a conspiracy in the midst of depression, because for ''all'' they do to undermine democracy, control banks and start wars for their own purposes, Jews still get all the credit instead.

* One of the ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'' movies deal with LizardFolk whose civilization thrives BeneathTheEarth and erase the memories of those who discover them, and are planning to alter history so it's them and not the humans who flourish above ground. The finale of the movie has them agree to stay under the earth because [[DeusExMachina Doraemon's future gadgets]] saved their ancestors from extinction.