Line #59 Main/OctopoidAliens


1	%%
2	%%
3	%%
4	%%
5	%%
6	%% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks!
7	%%
8	%%
9	%%
10	%%
11	%%
12	%%
13	%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1463253178078530900
14	%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.
15	%%
16	[[quoteright:299:[[Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds1898 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/paul2cc2.png]]]]
17	[[caption-width-right:299:[[Music/AbbeyRoad I'd like to be / Turning to flee / From an octopus's spaceship / on the Earth]]]]
18
19	A subset of StarfishAliens, and a popular form for aliens to take in fiction. Octopuses and other cephalopods are highly intelligent animals, but their evolutionary history is very different from us humans and our fellow vertebrates, and correspondingly they come off as "alien" to many people already. So why not use them as the basis for an actual sapient alien species?
20
21	This kind of alien is especially popular in Japan (particularly of the [[{{Martians}} Martian variety]]), replacing the LittleGreenMen and TheGreys that are often seen as the archetypical aliens in American media. Japan's take on the concept usually has them with large octopus, squid or jellyfish-like {{Cephalothorax}} bodies, long tentacles usually used to stand or to hold things, and a [[FunnelMouthedCephalopod funnel-shaped mouth]].
22
23	[[Creator/HPLovecraft Lovecraftian]]-inspired {{Eldritch Abomination}}s often fall into this role, with giant tentacles (often of the octopus variety) sometimes being all you can see of the creature.
24
25	See also {{Cthulhumanoid}}. Very much often overlaps with TentacledTerror.
26
27	----
28
29	!!Examples
30
31	[[foldercontrol]]
32
33	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
34	* ''Manga/AssassinationClassroom'': Koro-sensei is initially thought to be one of these, [[spoiler:before it's revealed that he's an artificial being created on Earth, and that his octopus form isn't even his real form]].
35	* ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'': The king of the galaxy is basically an octopus wearing a crown. Interestingly, one of his tentacles is a penis, just like real-life octopuses, something Goku learns after [[GreetingGestureConfusion trying to shake his "hand"]].
36	* ''Anime/GoGoAckman'': Two Martian octopuses appear as easily-killed villains, and one later makes a quick cameo in ''Anime/DragonBallZ''.
37	* ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'': When [[spoiler:Chao Lingshen]] reveals that she's a Martian, everyone present reacts by imagining her as one of these.
38	* ''Anime/PuniPuniPoemy'': K [[TomatoInTheMirror eventually discovers that he and his family are these]] (despite the fact that his parents don't even bother to disguise themselves, he goes to school in a UFO, and is even wearing a fake human body over his tentacles.)
39	[[/folder]]
40
41	[[folder:Comic Books]]
42	%%* ''ComicBook/DoctorStrange'': [[EldritchAbomination Shuma-Gorath]] is a Western example, though he's been [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff very popular in Japan]] due to his appearances in the ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom'' series.%%And he's an example how?
43	* ''ComicBook/SuperboyAndTheRavers'': Shaar Q's race are essentially built like oddly shaped head/bodies with octopus-like siphons and a mass of smaller tentacles and one large one, though they move like SnakePeople, slithering along on their large main tentacle.
44	[[/folder]]
45
46	[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
47	* ''WesternAnimation/Home2015'': The Boov have multiple short tentacles in place of humanoid legs, an ability to change color that's often [[LivingMoodRing dictated by their emotions]] and an elongated pair of siphons called "nostricles" sprouting from the tops of their heads. The [[WesternAnimation/HomeAdventuresWithTipAndOh follow-up series]] establishes other octopoid traits like having multiple hearts, being cold-blooded and their heads being capable of inflation through their nostricles like a mantle.
48	* ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch'': Pleakley, the one-eyed alien, has two arms, three legs, and a long, skinny torso that has a flimsy octopus-like quality to it. His design, however, is more comical than truly alien.
49	* ''WesternAnimation/MonstersVsAliens'': Gallaxhar is an evil extraterrestrial with octopus-like tentacles instead of legs and a large head shaped like a cephalopod's body.
50	* ''WesternAnimation/TitanAE'': Cale Tucker gets a serving of alien spaghetti and meatballs in the scrapyard's commissary: the spaghetti resembles boiled kelp, and the meatballs are small creatures that once had tentacles, but these were obviously chopped off. Despite this handicap, they hop around madly on Cale's plate, perhaps sensing their impending doom.
51	[[/folder]]
52
53	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
54	* ''Film/{{Arrival}}'': The heptapods are very similar to giant octopus aliens, of course except that they have seven tentacles.
55	* ''Film/BattleLosAngeles'': Although the aliens look vaguely humanoid, this is only because they have a humanoid cybernetic frame that their bodies are wrapped around that lets them function on land. When their frames are damaged, their bodies are left immobilized on land and they resemble octopus-like creatures. They also seem to be far more at home in aquatic environments, even preferring to deploy their control systems inside the sewers of Los Angeles instead of on the surface.
56	* ''Film/GalaxyQuest'': The Thermians have this as their default form, but [[AFormYouAreComfortableWith they disguise themselves as humans so that the main cast will understand them.]]
57	* ''[[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 Godzilla: King of the Monsters]]'': [[Characters/MonsterVerseKingGhidorah King Ghidorah]], who is an alien unlike the other {{Kaiju}}. He [[DraconicAbomination doesn't look the part]], but the director says that his biology is based on that of an octopus: he can regenerate severed heads and necks from the stumps, and he has a non-centralized nervous system wherein his neurons are scattered throughout his body nstead of being focused solely in his brains. Not unlike an octopus' tentacles, in this version, Ghidorah's three heads [[MultipleHeadCase have independent personalities]].
58	* ''Film/MenInBlack'': J helps an alien to deliver a baby. During the process he is attacked by several tentacles, and when the mother finally gives birth to the baby, it looked like [[TheGreys a grey]] and squid hybrid.
59	-->'''K''': ''(to the baby's father)'' Congratulations, Reg. It's a... squid.
60	* The Mon Calamari of ''Franchise/StarWars'' are basically octopi with humanoid bodies. They share their planet with the Cthulhu-esque Quarren as well.
61	[[/folder]]
62
63	[[folder:Literature]]
64	* ''Literature/AlienInASmallTown'': All Jan have at least two tentacles, but members of the the [[HiveCasteSystem Warrior Caste]] have six.
65	* ''Literature/{{Armada}}'': The Sobrukai are a race of aliens resembling squids and the antagonists of the FictionalVideoGame. They reside in an underwater base on another planet.
66	* ''Literature/BruceCovillesBookOf Aliens'': The methane-breathing Veeblezanians from ''Brian and the Aliens'' (who are described as having long tentacles and look a lot like octopi in the illustration), and the octoblob (which gets its name from its octopus-like appearance) from ''The Buddy System''.
67	* ''Literature/TheCrewOfTheCopperColoredCupids'': The Wellsians are, as their name not-so-subtly suggests, versions of H. G. Wells's Martians (their name comes from the name they give their own planet, "Wellsia"). They are frequently described as "vampire octopuses", but look somewhat less like cephalopods than Wells's originals: their flesh is chalk-white, their tentacles are numerous and uneven (with some forking once or even twice like roots), and instead of beaks, they have almost human-like faces.
68	* ''Franchise/CthulhuMythos'': Creator/HPLovecraft may be the TropeCodifier with the description of the Great Old Ones and related creatures in his stories. Many of them involve tentacles of some kind, and his most famous character, Cthulhu explicitly has a face that resembles an octopus, albeit crossed with a [[SkullForAHead human skull]].
69	%%* ''Literature/RamaII'': The Octospiders.
70	* ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds1898'' is probably the TropeMaker, as the Martian invaders are described as cephalopod-like creatures the size of bears who move around on land with their tentacles. Apparently, Wells came up with the idea by postulating that as the Martians advanced technologically, more and more of their bodies became useless and atrophied away, with the only parts preserved being their brains, their eyes and their hands (the "guide and teacher of the brain"). By the time they invade Earth, they're essentially reduced down to a head and a few manipulative tentacles. Oddly the creature redesigns for most of its adaptations (little creatures with multi-colored eyes in [[Film/TheWarOfTheWorlds1953 the 1953 version]] and three-legged [[TheGreys Greys]] in [[Film/WarOfTheWorlds2005 the 2005 version]]) actually seem ''less'' exotic by comparison.
71	[[/folder]]
72
73	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
74	* The Pak'ma'ra in ''Series/BabylonFive'' have cephalopoid heads atop humanoid bodies, making them resemble some images of Cthulhu. Despite this, however, they're very friendly and peaceful.
75	* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
76	** The Daleks' outer shells are essentially [[PoweredArmor war machines]] functioning as life-support/transportation devices, but on the comparatively rare occasions the actual dalek creatures inside them are shown, they are usually shown as jellyfish-like blobs in the original, and many-tentacled brains with a single eye in the reboot.
77	** The Ood appear as humanoids with a bundle of tentacles in place of a mouth, with a small forward brain they hold in their hands alongside a hind brain inside their heads and a giant central brain binding together the entire species. Although the complex social order created by the resulting HiveMind can prove [[BlueAndOrangeMorality incomprehensible]] or even openly hostile to others, they are discovered to actually be quite [[SubvertedTrope trope-subvertingly benevolent]] once [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters humans stop enslaving all of them.]]
78	* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'': The extra-dimensional alien encountered by Crichton in "Through the Looking Glass" resembles a cephalopod dwelling in a strange non-aquatic medium.
79	* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'':
80	** "[[Recap/TheOuterLimits1995S2E10WorldsApart Worlds Apart]]": Shortly after his ship crashlands on another planet, the astronaut Lt. Christopher Lindy's inflatable raft is attacked by a giant alien squid.
81	** "[[Recap/TheOuterLimits1995S3E7TheCamp The Camp]]": The Commandant keeps a sharrak, an alien creature resembling a giant squid that can split its tentacles in two, at the titular concentration camp. On occasion, he feeds disruptive prisoners to it. The sharrak is itself a food source as the New Masters consider it a delicacy.
82	* ''Series/ResidentAlien'': Harry, or rather the alien who took his identity, is revealed to be distantly related to cephalopods. His head does kind of evoke an octopus-like look. And he can communicate with the octopus he dubs “42”.
83	* ''Series/SesameStreet'': The Yip-yips are like benign, childishly curious versions of Wells's Martians.
84	* The monster in the ''Series/Space1999'' episode "Dragon's Domain" definitely qualifies, with its collection of tentacles that it uses to pull victims to it.
85	* ''Series/UltraSeven'': Chibu ([[SpellMyNameWithAnS sometimes Chibull]]) sorta looks like a [[BrainMonster giant brain]] with tentacles and a face. As his appearance suggests, he doesn't have a lot of fighting prowess, but he is definitely one of Seven's more cunning foes. Another alien of Chibu's species named Exceller appears as the BigBad of ''Series/UltramanGinga S''.
86	[[/folder]]
87
88	[[folder:Podcasts]]
89	* ''Podcast/TheAdventureZoneBalance'': [[spoiler: the voidfish came from another reality with the Starblaster crew.]]
90	[[/folder]]
91
92	[[folder:Religion and Mythology]]
93	* The Hawaiian creation myth posits that our universe is created and destroyed in cycles, and that octopuses are the sole survivors of the universe that existed before the current one.
94	[[/folder]]
95
96	[[folder:Video Games]]
97	* ''VideoGame/DukeNukem'': Octobrains (octopus-like alien brains with tentacles) are regular enemies in the games.
98	* ''VideoGame/EccoTheDolphin'' has the alien Vortex, who in the case of the drones have this look, with big heads and numerous tentacles and limbs beneath.
99	* ''VideoGame/TheFermiParadox'': The alien species known as the Frenner are described by the game as squid creatures, but their tentacles are more similar to that of octopi. Regardless of which Earth species they more closely resemble, they qualify.
100	* ''VideoGame/FZero'': Octoman is a variation on the concept due to actually having a torso.
101	* ''VideoGame/GalMetal'' has the octopus-looking Octoid aliens.
102	* ''VideoGame/{{Insaniquarium}}'': The Psychosquid takes this trope rather literally: it's a red alien that looks almost exactly like an octopus, only with less tentacles and more weapons.
103	* ''VideoGame/JamestownLegendOfTheLostColony'': Mars' native civilisation is a race of floating betentacled creatures of varying size.
104	* ''VideoGame/MetalSlug'': The Mars People are (mostly) green octopoids that stand on their tentacles while wielding rayguns. They also occasionally curl up to float through the air.
105	* ''VideoGame/{{Miitopia}}'': The Alien enemies look a ''lot'' like octopuses. ''Laser gun-wielding octopuses''.
106	* ''VideoGame/{{MOTHER}}'': Mooks are a race of aliens with octopus-like bodies.
107	* ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'': The first of the [[ThinDimensionalBarrier Ultra Beasts]], Nihilego, is designed to evoke the stereotypical Japanese "jellyfish alien", but the positioning of its tentacles [[HumanoidAbomination also causes it to resemble]] a long-haired girl [[TheBlank with no face]]. [[spoiler:They are implied to be one of the more common inhabitants of Ultra Space.]]
108	* ''VideoGame/{{Rama}}'': The Octospiders, so-named for being cephalopods with hair similar to a spider. They also communicate through [[StarfishLanguage colored light patterns]], being deaf.
109	* ''VideoGame/RhythmHeaven Megamix'': The aliens in the "First Contact" mini-game are jellyfish-like creatures.
110	* ''Videogame/SpaceInvaders'': According to Website/TheOtherWiki, designs of the enemy aliens were based on the octopus-like ones from ''Film/TheWarOfTheWorlds'' as well as in squids and crabs.
111	* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'':
112	** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'' introduces the Octoombas (alien Goombas) and some of their cousins, such as the [[CallASmeerpARabbit Octopuses]] (big brown Octoombas with tentacles), as common {{Mooks}}, as well as the King Kaliente boss, who's a giant FunnelMouthedOctopus. ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2'' adds another boss, Prince Pikante, to the list.
113	** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioOdyssey'' has Astro-Lanceurs, helmet-wearing octopuses found in the [[spoiler:Moon Kingdom]].
114	* ''[[VideoGame/StarControl Star Control: Origins]]'' has the Mu'Kay, who are actually quite friendly (unless you're fish, in which case they utterly hate you). They're your second likeliest ally in the game. One of their ship types, the Grasper, actually looks like a giant metal squid that attacks with its tentacles and expels caustic ink out the back.
115	* There's a series of virtual pet games on Android and iOS called ''Moy'' by Frojo Apps, where you take care of a cuter version of this trope (much like ''VideoGame/{{Pou}}'').
116	[[/folder]]
117
118	[[folder:Webcomics]]
119	* ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'': Sam Starfall is implied to look like an octopus or squid wrapped around a stick figure artificial skeleton under the environment suit that protects him from Earth-like atmospheres, and humans from going insane from looking at him.
120	[[/folder]]
121
122	[[folder:Western Animation]]
123	* ''WesternAnimation/ChipNDaleRescueRangers'': The urfburgles from "Dale Beside Himself" are small, have four or five tentacles and a single eye. They're TooDumbToLive, and both look and act like living jelly. The spacefaring aliens that come to Earth consume them alive and whole as a snack, though Ditz tends to make a meal of these junk food critters.
124	* ''WesternAnimation/FairlyOddParents'': The [[ProudWarriorRaceguy Yugopotamians]] look like octopuses with faces and exposed brains.
125	* ''WesternAnimation/FourEyes'': Emma's true form is a pink, cephalopod-like alien with four eyes and three hair-like strands on either side of her head.
126	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': The Decapodians are an alien race with traits of various aquatic animals; while primarily based crabs and lobsters, they also have cephalopod traits such as oral tentacles and ink glands in their armpits.
127	* ''WesternAnimation/JamiesGotTentacles'': When not wearing his human disguise, Jamie looks much like a squid with dark green skin, four oval eyes and at least seven tentacles.
128	* ''WesternAnimation/MiloMurphysLaw'': The [[DescriptivelyNamedSpecies Octalians]] are an AmazingTechnicolorPopulation of [[VoluntaryShapeshifter shapeshifting]] alien octopuses with four tentacles for arms and four tentacles for legs. They intially seem villainous, but their goal from abducting Milo is actually to [[spoiler:save their world from a MurphysLaw storm]]. Meanwhile, [[HumansThroughAlienEyes they believe humans spit acid and wrap Octalians into cocoons to feed them to their grubs]].
129	* ''WesternAnimation/MyDadTheBountyHunter'': Glorlox, a rival bounty hunter to the title character, has teal skin and his face has four tentacles and an octopus beak.
130	* ''WesternAnimation/ThePenguinsOfMadagascar'': There are giant space squids from Mars. At least some of them want to invade the Earth and/or steal its most advanced technology, [[spoiler: such as Kowalski's robotic hand.]]
131	* ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' featured a tentacle monster like this in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igfP0eD5sFk one of its sketches]].
132	* ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'': One very briefly shows up in an episode to return Earl the dog to the Bigheads after Ed launches him into space.
133	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': The aliens Kang and Kodos are green with helmets and have squid-like bodies and tentacles.
134	[[/folder]]
135
136	[[folder:Real Life]]
137	* Octopuses themselves are incredibly intelligent, displaying advanced problem solving skills and even tool use. However, octopuses (and all other molluscs) are on a completely different evolutionary lineage from humans (and all other vertebrates), with our latest common ancestor having lived in the Precambrian era some 600 million years ago. (We're more closely related to starfish than to octopuses, and you basically have to get to sponges and jellyfish to find animal groups we're ''less'' closely related to.) As a result, octopus intelligence evolved along completely different lines than that of vertebrates such as mammals and birds. In fact, many regard them as the best example we currently have of an "alien" intelligence on Earth, and many speculative evolution pieces have posited them as the group most likely to gain full sapience, with ''or'' without humans in the picture.
138	[[/folder]]
139

Context Main / OctopoidAliens