History Main / StarfishAliens

* The xenomorphs from the ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' film series seemed surprisingly human for the first two films, considering [[BodyHorror their life cycle]]. In ''Film/{{Alien 3}}'', however, we see what happens when one hatches from a dog...and it looks like a dog. The second ''Film/AlienVsPredator'' film features a xenomorph that hatched from a Predator. While it was still humanoid, it was significantly larger than the common human-hatched xenomorphs and had additional physical characteristics modeled after the Predators, such as a set of four mandibles around its mouth and head appendages that resembled a Predator's trademark dreadlocks. This implies that a xenomorph's physical characteristics are based on the species it hatched from and [[FridgeHorror the common humanoid xenomorphs are only what they look like when they incubate in a human]]. We've never seen their native form. This would seem to raise questions about the humanoid-but-fifteen-feet-tall Queen, [[FridgeBrilliance until you recall the Space Jockey from the first movie]], which might explain [[FridgeLogic why his ship was full of eggs when the species reproduces like ants]]. This was confirmed in ''{{Film/Prometheus}}'', which reveals [[spoiler:the modern Xenomorph to be the result of a "goo"-infected human impregnating a woman, with the resulting creature then impregnating an Engineer]]. The chain of DNA is still ongoing; since the Xenomorphs evolved through artificial means, their genes are apparently still co-dominant with other lifeforms.

* The last book of the "HisDarkMaterials" trilogy had a species from an [[AlternateHistory alternate version of the Earth]] called the "Mulefa" who have a diamond shaped skeletal structure instead of a spine. They also evolved to have elephant like trunks and the hooks on their feet to allow the use of what are essentially giant pea pods as wheels on their front and rear legs, since the viewpoint character for this subplot notes that it's impossible for a species to evolve wheel-like appendages. (If this is hard to visualize, [[http://bookpolygamist.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/mulefa_from_the_amber_spyglass_by_3djinn.jpg here]].)

* In David Gerrold's "TheWarAgainstTheChtorr" novels, mysterious plants animals and viruses from another planet are choking out and dominating the Earth's own ecology. The only reason humans call them "Chtorrans" is because that's how we perceive the sound made by the most dangerous of the new ecology: The giant furry man-eating gastropedes. The protagonist experiences quite a bit of this mysterious new ecology firsthand, including a "storm" of fibrous spores that covers part of California in what looks like 15 feet of cotton candy.

* The [[Creator/HPLovecraft Migou]] from ''CthulhuTech''. Semi-fungoid, hyperintelligent insects who don't feel human emotions...except, of course, for the "fear-born genocidal hatred of anything that looks like it could be half as advanced as they are" part. Actually, scratch that. It's an insult to [[HumansAreBastards human assholes]] everywhere.
* ''{{GURPS}}: Space'' spends quite some time on how to design really weird aliens. The starfishiest designs are the various "exotica" such as living nebulae or sentient magnetic fields.

* ''EclipsePhase'' features the Factors, sentient creatures that evolved from something resembling slime mold. It also features the Exhumans, humans who have effectively turned ''themselves'' into StarfishAliens through radical modifications.

* ''TeenagersFromOuterSpace'' divides aliens into [[RubberForeheadAliens Near Humans]], Not Very Near Humans, and [[StarfishAliens Real Weirdies]].
* Flumphs in the ''{{Pathfinder}}'' setting are silly-looking intelligent floating jellyfish monsters from the Dark Tapestry (outer space, with CosmicHorrorStory influences). Unlike many Dark Tapestry creatures, flumphs are friendly to terrestrial life.

* The [[TheKingdom Boron]] of the ''VideoGame/{{X}} X-Universe]]'' look like RubberForeheadAliens over comms, [[SubvertedTrope but you only see them from the neck up]]. They actually look like [[http://www.egosoft.com/x/xnews/gfx/22_concept_boron.jpg this]]. They're an aquatic species that evolved on an ocean world with an ammonia atmosphere, and have three genders. Meanwhile the Kha'ak are so alien that the Commonwealth races are physically incapable of communicating with them. They're BeePeople that have characteristics of both birds and insects, are roughly 75 centimeters in size, and communicate by gestures and pheromones.

* In AlastairReynolds' RevelationSpace universe, every alien is a Starfish Alien. The Pattern Jugglers are semi-sentient algae-like aliens that inhabit water worlds, and function like a living library. The Grubs are grublike aliens that hide between solar systems in tiny ships to avoid extinction by the Inhibitors. The Inhibitors are 'post-sentient' TranshumanAliens which wipe out all space faring races [[spoiler: in order to save the galaxy during the Andromeda galaxy collision in a few billion years.]]

* MassEffect has a number of unusual alien species that cover the whole range from slightly strange to completely bizare.
** The Hanar look something like dog-sized pink jellyfish with seven feet long tentacles, speak through bioluminescence(using TranslatorMicrobes to communical with other species), and have the tendency to refer to themselves as "This one" (because to the hanar, using ones name in public is egotistical).

** The Geth look humanoid in shape, but that is because they were designed to work in homes, factories, military installations, and hospitals made for the humanoid Quarians who build them. However, the bodies are actually just mobile server platforms for the actual Geth, which are relatively simple computer programs that can move between platforms at will. An average platform houses a few hundred of these runtimes, making every Geth a MindHive.

[[caption-width-right:306:[[http://www.michaeldashow.com/zoom/zoom_sockpuppet.html Possibly the friendliest way these things can go.]]]]

** On the edge between Starfish Aliens and EldritchAbominations lies the Thorian. Described as a plant, it resembles more a giant growth of fungus that has lived for thousands of years and can use its spores to take telepathic control of other creatures and even produce crude humanoid spawns to defend it. As it can absorb the memories of creatures it consumes, it has seemingly limitless knowledge about the galaxy.

* The Creapii in Terry Pratchett's ''TheDarkSideOfTheSun'', which are "sexless, octopoid", need a lot of heat to survive, and travel around in small egg-shaped exoskeletons when they want to interact with humans. They're good at that. And a [[GeniusLoci rather hospitable]] [[ThatsNoMoon planetoid-sized]] semiconductor-based brain, with proportional intellect, multitasking ability and energy supply. [[spoiler: And of course, there are the Jokers.]]

** ''Strata'' by the same author references this - though the protagonist's alien friends are civilized, and can speak English, they are still ''alien'' no matter how familiar they look.

* ''Literature/TheBible'' describes angels as having bizarre appearances or as being easily mistaken for {{human| aliens}}s, never anywhere in between. The former cases (eye covered wheels being among the most mundane) are apparently horrific [[spoiler:they introduce themselves with "be not afraid".]] Some having hundreds of hands along with multiple layers of heads, speaking fire, talking winds, "electric coloured" lights or beings so bright they have to be covered with multiple pairs of wings to prevent Earthly onlookers from dieing.

* ''Literature/TheBible'' describes angels as having bizare appearances (eye covered wheels being among the most mundane) or as being easily mistaken for {{human| aliens}}s, never anywhere in between. The former cases are apparently horrific [[spoiler:they introduce themselves with "be not afraid".]] Some having hundreds of hands along with multiple layers of heads, bright bodies they have to cover with multiple pairs of wings to prevent from killing the onlookers or flaming forms that sear all materials around them out of existence.

** The 3.5 Edition supplement "Lords of Madness" describes aliens of forms various and sundry. These include: the Aboleth, piscine catfish/eel/squid spawn of the Far Realm with GeneticMemory; Illithidae, a genus of creatures related to the iconic mind flayers, a group that includes gigantic, pulsing, psionic brains and the deceptively innocuous mind flayer larvae; Tsochari, a parasitic lifeform from a cold and distant planet who enter and control the bodies and minds of spellcasters for some sinister purpose; the Silthilar, an ancient race of wizard-scientists who have transformed themselves into hive-minded swarms in response to a particularly virulent magical plague; and the Beholderkin, insane round levitating spheres with [[EyesDoNotBelongThere many eyes in disturbing places]].

** That giant space slug that ate the Millenium Falcon in "The Empire Strikes Back?" Xenobiologists believe the [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Exogorth Exogorth]] was once the dominant life form in the galaxy and that the ones they see today are the last remnants of this once-great race. No one has any clue where they came from or what happened to cause them to fall. To quote Arkoh Adasca:--->"They're the last remnant of a species that predates history--an unlikely being, if ever there was one. No one knows how or why they evolved—just that we have found a number of them in the galaxy, going about their business... Time has no meaning for such a creature... We thought for a time that they might have once been plentiful in the galaxy—and the ones we find now are the only ones left."

** ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear'' has a ''planet'' that somehow, thanks to mad science, is alive and [[QuicksandSucks eats people]]. [[NewJediOrder Elsewhere]] there's another living planet, but D'vouran is much less human, for lack of a better word, than Zonoma Sekot. It never communicates in words, but seems to have a degree of intelligence- it takes prey slowly and carefully, [[{{Gaslighting}} hides evidence]] so they won't be spooked, and supports the [[TheSymbiote symbiotic/parasitic Enzeen]] so that they'll do whatever they can to induce more people to visit and stay.

See also BizarreAlienBiology, StarfishRobots, and OurMonstersAreWeird. Compare EldritchAbomination (both tropes have some overlap). For the first time mentioned in Creator/HPLovecraft's ''Literature/AtTheMountainsOfMadness'', written in 1931. Here the author directly describes the Old Ones as "starfish aliens."

** In the later light novels, another entity similar to the Data Overmind is introduced, the Sky Canopy Domain/Macrospatial Quantum Cosmic Existence. While having a similar non-corporeal, [[RealityWarper reality warping]] nature as the Data Overmind, its mindsets and motivations are so different they are alien ''even to the Overmind itself''. They are so alien to each other that despite knowing of each other for millennia they are totally unable to communicate, and the little contact the two entities have had is through a coincidental meeting of Yuki and Kuyo Suo on Earth, the latter being the Domain's human interface, and one much worse at fitting in (read: ''autistic'') than any of the Overmind's.

** Though depending on which interpretation you take, they might just be Starfish Kaijuu since their technically not Foreign to the Earth itself. Depending on your interpretation of course.

* [[spoiler:[[CuteIsEvil Kyubey]]]] in ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica''. The [[spoiler:RidiculouslyCuteCritter]] appearance hides a possibly [[HiveMind hive-minded]], EldritchAbomination-type being capable of creating a new body out of thin air if one is killed. It's also completely incapable of emotion and has no understanding of human [[LackOfEmpathy empathy]] or [[BlueAndOrangeMorality morality]], to the point where it thinks it's odd that people get upset about [[spoiler:having their soul ripped out of their body without their knowledge]].
** Or about [[spoiler:being doomed to become one of the very {{Eldritch Abomination}}s that they fight]], all so that its race can [[spoiler:try to avert the heat death of the universe]].

** And now there is [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1701 SCP-1701]], a race of sentient naturally-occurring ''nuclear reactors'' with a [[FirstContactMath mathematic language]] whose society primarily consisted of philosophical debates. Somewhat subverted as said reactors evolved and went extinct [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_nuclear_fission_reactor here on earth]] many millenia ago.

* ''StarControl 2'' is absolutely crammed full of these species: the Slylandro (gas giant dwelling bubbles), the Umgah (blobs with various tentacles, mouths and eyes scattered about), the Ur-Quan (Giant tentacled space centipedes), the Talking Pets[[spoiler:/Dnyarri]] (sentient psychic frogs), the [[BigCreepyCrawlies Ilwrath]] (giant spiders), the Chenjesu (silicon-based crystalline lifeforms), the Zoq-Fot-Pik (Three allied races who resemble a mutant houseplant, a purple clam, and a blue radiator), the Mycon (fungus), the [[PlantAliens Supox]], the Spathi (one eyed clamlike mollusks)... and most especially those happy *[[StarfishLanguage campers]]* , the Orz (tentacled parrotfish), who, it is hinted, are the *fingers* of an EldritchAbomination. Most of the aliens are humanoid enough in ''psychology'' to communicate with, at least -- except the [[StarfishLanguage Orz]] and the Mycon. The Mycon's case isn't funny, though. Except for the Hippie Mycon from SC3, [[FanonDiscontinuity which never happened.]]

* ''StarControl 2'' is absolutely crammed full of these species: the Slylandro (gas giant dwelling bubbles), the Umgah (blobs with various tentacles, mouths and eyes scattered about), the Ur-Quan (Giant tentacled space centipedes), the Talking Pets[[spoiler:/Dnyarri (sentient psychic frogs)]], the [[BigCreepyCrawlies Ilwrath]], the Chenjesu (silicon-based lifeforms), the Zoq-Fot-Pik (Three allied races who resemble a mutant houseplant, a purple clam, and a blue radiator), the Mycon (fungus), the [[PlantAliens Supox]], the Spathi (one eyed clamlike mollusks)... and most especially those happy *[[StarfishLanguage campers]]* , the Orz (tentacled parrotfish), who, it is hinted, are the *fingers* of an EldritchAbomination. Most of the aliens are humanoid enough in ''psychology'' to communicate with, at least -- except the [[StarfishLanguage Orz]] and the Mycon. The Mycon's case isn't funny, though. Except for the Hippie Mycon from SC3, [[FanonDiscontinuity which never happened.]]

* The [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien Data Overmind]] in ''SuzumiyaHaruhi'' is some kind of non-corporeal, out-of-phase "data-lifeform" [[hottip:*: it's a concept based on an old theory that states that in its most basic form, the entire Universe is merely quantifiable information that can be [[RealityWarper manipulated]]; the Overmind is supposed to be a gestalt consciousness born of that information]]. What exactly it/they is/are, or how it/they think/thinks is never really explained, instead we get a lot of TechnoBabble. Important to know is that its/their mind vastly differs from that of humans and that it/they does/do not communicate through language and therefore created the [[ArtificialHuman Interfaces]] (Yuki, [[spoiler:Asakura]], [[spoiler:Kimidori]]) as its/their mediums. It appears that the entity/entities has/have different "voices" in itself with different opinions. The majority of them wishes to maintain the status quo and observe Haruhi safely. Oh, and they can [[RealityWarper hack reality]]. Playing up on their godlike nature, in one short story Kyon is contacted by an old school acquaintance who had fallen in love with Yuki at first sight and now worships the ground she stands on. It turns out that [[spoiler:he had the minor power to see her connection to the IDE which consequently overloaded his brain, [[ThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow as no mere mortal could possibly comprehend its true form]].]]