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Times in fiction where humans were special for all the wrong reasons
- Thread starter Slayven
- Start date
In Animorphs, humans were the perfect hosts for the Yeerks because they weren't especially capable (thus reducing the threat of a revolt) but had hands and reproduced quickly and were fairly docile.
It wasn't just the poor eyesight.
It was the fact that humans were less evolved than other species. The eyesight was only part of it
It was the fact that humans were less evolved than other species. The eyesight was only part of it
In Mass Effect 2, Mordin states human's are special because of our genetic diversity. But, that's not true at all.
Yes.
The climax of that movie was the adults trying to rescue an autistic child from the predator because it wanted to take him back to his homeworld to take his autism for himself
Hmm, this is an interesting topic. I'd consider Tolkien's explanation for humans (or MEN) to be special pretty good.
Trying to think of bad examples...
Trying to think of bad examples...
it is not that he was dumb, but since he was his own grandfather, his brain worked different
A tiny amount of humans in Warhammer 40,000 have psychic abilities which manifest in all sorts of ways with the more powerful ones being drafted into the military or even the Inquisition, although some are too dangerous to be kept alive.
The reason they have these powers is because they are able to knowingly or accidentally tap into the power of The Warp.
Problem is, The Warp is the realm of the Chaos gods, and every time they use these Psyker abilities they risk ripping a hole in reality and unleashing daemons on those around them and becoming a demonic entity themselves.
Very special subset of people, tapping into a very dangerous power. Many humans straight up are not aware that Chaos even exists in any form.
The reason they have these powers is because they are able to knowingly or accidentally tap into the power of The Warp.
Problem is, The Warp is the realm of the Chaos gods, and every time they use these Psyker abilities they risk ripping a hole in reality and unleashing daemons on those around them and becoming a demonic entity themselves.
Very special subset of people, tapping into a very dangerous power. Many humans straight up are not aware that Chaos even exists in any form.
I made a thread asking which movie did more damage to their respective monster, Alien Covenant or The Predator. I am still shocked people on ERA consider Covenant did more damage than a movie literally having the concept of "weaponizing autism" taken absolutely seriously.
The autistic kid in the movie is able to use predator technology because he is autistic and the movie treats autism like a super power and the line "some people consider autism to be the next step of human evolution" is uttered by a character, and the Predator thinks the autistic child is a true warrior so he wants to take him back to the predator homeworld so he can extract his spine, inject the spinal fluid into him and gain autism.
Because this movie actually treats autism like a super power.
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Nah, that was just the aliens dying to the common flu because they lacked immunity. Humans weren't exactly special.
I mean sure... but Covenant didn't literally have "weaponizing autism" as a serious plot point.
People constantly go "wait what" when they learn about the stuff in The Predator.
Was it Split?
Because the only reason "the beast" leave her alone is because he sees all her scars...
I actually kind of like the sci-fi idea that viruses are essentially a unique "lifeform" to the planet Earth. Aliens are all "WTF is wrong with your planet? It's literally filled with microscopic creatures that INVADE cells and for them to reproduce more viruses? What hell hole is this?"
Faust, I believe.
...and now we both learned it happened more than once... -_-
Mass Effect's world building and lore is a joke a lot of the time. The Asari are basically an idea any horny teenager with a penchant for scifi would come up with.
I think it might be because Covenant felt like a technically competent movie with story decisions that ruined the mystique of the monster while The Predator felt like a slapped-together fever dream of a movie where Shane Black had to incorporate every insane studio note that came his way.
The Predator was so bad that it was hard to take seriously, at least for me.
Really says something about video game writing that Mass Effect trilogy was seen as some kind of bastion of world building. I love Mass Effect, but a lot of it is B-movie Sci-fi (and that's fantastic by the way, but a lot of times it's also not intentional).
If I'm being blunt this trope is incredibly prevalent in scifi and fantasy fiction and its almost always garbage. There are examples of it being done well but its one of those where the vast majority of examples just kind of treat humanity like a species wide Mary Sue. Oh that ultimate evil that no one has been able to defeat for a thousand years? Humanity got this because they're "special".
Twilight Zone - "The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street"
From Wikipedia: "The scene cuts to a nearby hilltop, where it is revealed the shadow that flew overhead is, indeed, an alien spaceship. Its crew are watching the riot on Maple Street while using a device to manipulate the neighborhood's power. They comment on how simply fiddling with consistency leads people to descend into paranoia and panic, and that this is a pattern that can be exploited. They also discuss their intention to use this strategy to conquer Earth, one neighborhood at a time."
From Wikipedia: "The scene cuts to a nearby hilltop, where it is revealed the shadow that flew overhead is, indeed, an alien spaceship. Its crew are watching the riot on Maple Street while using a device to manipulate the neighborhood's power. They comment on how simply fiddling with consistency leads people to descend into paranoia and panic, and that this is a pattern that can be exploited. They also discuss their intention to use this strategy to conquer Earth, one neighborhood at a time."
See, I don't mind throwing science out the window to have fun. Real life is pretty boring. Yes, I want to hear sound in space and have the equivalent of space magic powers. But, certain particular woefully scientifically inaccurate lore bits are just too much for me and are often hilarious. The human special thing was one of those cases. Alright I get that you want humans to be special somehow, but why explain it in a way that is so clearly scientifically wrong?
The answer is that they clearly didn't research it. 😄
A lot of the scientific inaccuracies in ME are intentional so they can have fun or have sexy blue aliens. But, then there are times when they are actually trying to be "scientific" but then fail because they didn't put in the work.
To me, "human special" is basically just code language for "American Exceptionalism."
I'd say the sexy blue aliens are just as bad as humans are special. The entire idea behind the Asari is incredibly laughable from a science angle on several fronts from being able to breed with creatures that should have entirely different DNA (among other things) to the fact they just so happen to look like really shapely hot humans. This stuff happens all the time in ME.
Yes. So...so fucking stupid. How does that even get past the writers room?
In the Discworld books by Terry Pratchett, humanity's conscious thought and tendency toward imaginative expression offend the Auditors of Reality - beings that ensure things like gravity and entropy function as intended.
As a result, the Auditors are constantly trying to manipulate humanity into destroying itself.
Luckily, we're defended by entities like the personification or Death and his daughter, Susan.
As a result, the Auditors are constantly trying to manipulate humanity into destroying itself.
Luckily, we're defended by entities like the personification or Death and his daughter, Susan.
Again, that's not a problem for me, other than the sexualization part. The Asari are a way to have inter-species breeding without going complete Star Trek where anybody and everybody can breed with any race. Sure, Human and Klingons can have children and Romulans and Klingons and Vulcans and Humans and Humans and Betazoids, etc. Asari basically incorporate the genetic structure of their mates into their onw to create offspring, but those offspring are always Asari.
I've always found it to be a neat little work around in comparison to the Star Trek or Star War approach where everyone can breed with anyone.
Star Trek at least attempts to explain how that's possible with the whole progenitor race. The Asari just feel built to feed into some rather obvious fetishes and everything is crafted around that.
Faust of the Damned.
Also correction, not only was she a rape survivor but an incestuous rape survivor.
A positive one I've always liked is "don't underestimate us earthlings!" from DBZ where the Earth Warriors have an advantage over Freeza's army because they can adjust their power level and it's not an end-all, be-all.
Then Toriyama kind of fucked that up with power levels then becoming literally what the Freeza army treated then like, and Saiyan and other bloodline traits became a big deal.
Then Toriyama kind of fucked that up with power levels then becoming literally what the Freeza army treated then like, and Saiyan and other bloodline traits became a big deal.
Raiden in MGS2, the Patriots chose him because he wouldn't face his past, as a child soldier, and wanted an example of a flawed human to kill Solidus or something..
I guess the Exile in Kotor 2, not really special compared to Darth Raven, the previous protagonist, as the master jedi cut her off from the force for joining Raven in the Mandolorian wars. However wounds in the force are a theme of the story and she's a survivor of the jedi purge.
EDIT sorry read the thread wrong, thought you meant specific characters *facepalm*
I guess the Exile in Kotor 2, not really special compared to Darth Raven, the previous protagonist, as the master jedi cut her off from the force for joining Raven in the Mandolorian wars. However wounds in the force are a theme of the story and she's a survivor of the jedi purge.
EDIT sorry read the thread wrong, thought you meant specific characters *facepalm*
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Not quite. The entire reason Visser One chose a covert operation over open warfare is because humans may invent slowly, but they have an unheard of rate of innovation (she points to how long it took to get to flight, then to how quickly we got from flight to space). As well as the fact that we're absolute maniacs in terms of war making ("They run into the bullets!")
They did try to lampshade that in ME2. There's a bar where you can overhear a conversation between several characters of different species where they all claim that Asari look like attractive women of their own species. The implication being that Asari don't just incidentally look like human women, they're actually projecting some kind of glamour or psychic suggestion so that's how the player character is seeing them.
A cheap retcon, but still an in-universe acknowledgement of the issue.
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Reminds me of this series
An alien federation is sent to judge earth, half of them want to blow up earth because they are scared we would take war out into space, the others want to lock our solar system off from the rest of the universe. Spoilers, a alien scitentist saw this coming and invented TV so slow down our rate of tech advance and give earth a chance in space court.
An alien federation is sent to judge earth, half of them want to blow up earth because they are scared we would take war out into space, the others want to lock our solar system off from the rest of the universe. Spoilers, a alien scitentist saw this coming and invented TV so slow down our rate of tech advance and give earth a chance in space court.
That last one gives me The Mask vibes...Reminds me of this series
An alien federation is sent to judge earth, half of them want to blow up earth because they are scared we would take war out into space, the others want to lock our solar system off from the rest of the universe. Spoilers, a alien scitentist saw this coming and invented TV so slow down our rate of tech advance and give earth a chance in space court.
That Star Trek thread is great.
I like how in Sphere, humans weren't evolved enough to control their inner thoughts and emotions, which is why they weren't ready for the Sphere. Vulcans would have loved it.
I like how in Sphere, humans weren't evolved enough to control their inner thoughts and emotions, which is why they weren't ready for the Sphere. Vulcans would have loved it.
Holy fuck, I remember these. I read just about all of them. Wow that's a blast from the past.Reminds me of this series
An alien federation is sent to judge earth, half of them want to blow up earth because they are scared we would take war out into space, the others want to lock our solar system off from the rest of the universe. Spoilers, a alien scitentist saw this coming and invented TV so slow down our rate of tech advance and give earth a chance in space court.
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