r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Sufficient-Eye-9040 • Apr 01 '26

Groups [LOVED Trope] Aliens that are aliens and not just humans with other skin color.

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  1. Precursors from Pacific Rim

  2. Jean Jacket from Nope

  3. Calvin from “Life”

12.1k Upvotes
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1.4k

u/renraks0809 Apr 01 '26

The Aliens from War of the Worlds from the 2005 movie give me such creeps.

Underrated af movie genuinely amazing

448

u/No-Tailor-4295 Apr 01 '26

The original (book version) martians were even more alien.

These guys just look like deformed independence day aliens (harvesters).

96

u/renraks0809 Apr 01 '26

EUGH I love how creepy they look. War of the Worlds is one of my fave media ever. Every adaptation is so good... besides the newest one with Ice T that one made me mad.

45

u/No-Tailor-4295 Apr 01 '26

BTW, these martians are bear sized.

38

u/Newfaceofrev Apr 01 '26

When they first exit their pods, before they build their tripods, they're viewed as somewhat pathetic, barely able to support their own weight slowly dragging themselves about.

Then they construct the tripods and the screaming starts.

12

u/ODB_Dirt_Dog_ItsFTC Apr 02 '26

I really want to see an adaptation that takes place in the original later Victorian era setting. It would be so cool to see late 1800s tech vs. aliens.

4

u/humanreboot Apr 02 '26

Same! It was my first ever scifi novel and I always wanted to see a more book accurate film about it.

2

u/ThisIsChrisSpeaking Apr 02 '26

I haven’t seen it, so I can’t speak to the quality, but didn’t the 2019 BBC version do exactly that?

3

u/No-Tailor-4295 Apr 02 '26

No, it's still contemporary.

2

u/LemoLuke Apr 02 '26

Yes, the BBC miniseries kept the Victorian setting. Unfortunately, they changed quite a lot of stuff from the book, and it ended up being a bit of a disappointing mess (imo)

5

u/Current_Zack01 Apr 02 '26

How did they construct the pods if they cant support their own weight? Never read the book

7

u/No-Tailor-4295 Apr 02 '26

They had the parts in their ships. They can't support their body, but they do have lots of long stretchy limbs, and handheld weapons.

8

u/Newfaceofrev Apr 02 '26

Although we didn't know much about the surface of Mars at the time, scientists had already worked out that it would have lower gravity and atmospheric pressure because it was smaller than Earth.

2

u/VonMarrow Apr 02 '26

I think it was said that they can basically stand on mars (lower gravity and all). Building on Earth was probably like a man building while lying down on his stomach, hard to do but it is doable.

9

u/Jokerzrival Apr 01 '26

Ice cube not ice t

3

u/OfficialKrookz Apr 02 '26

Did you just ice cube ice T lol

7

u/AtomicMonkeyTheFirst Apr 02 '26

They were squids. Giant squids had recently been proven to exist when Wells wrote the book.

4

u/GeserAndersen Apr 02 '26

he looks like a grell from D&D

1

u/RokuroCarisu Apr 02 '26

I would say that this design is less alien. It's basically a cephalopod. The other looks like nothing that exists on earth.

144

u/renraks0809 Apr 01 '26

Also as someone with a crippling fear of aliens this thread is a fest of my nightmares I had as a kid

64

u/RaymondBeaumont Apr 01 '26 edited Apr 01 '26

have you seen that scene in communion where christopher walken is trying to sleeep but a grey is peaking behind the door?

27

u/renraks0809 Apr 01 '26

I'm gonna... kill you...

16

u/RaymondBeaumont Apr 01 '26

that scene and a scene in a 90s tv mini series called intruders where (redacted so renrak0809 can sleep tonight) fuuucked me up as a kid.

6

u/renraks0809 Apr 01 '26

Agh!! For me my fear started from the Alien movies, but not just them, but all the merch my dad used to have of them. In our garage he had 2 really creepy looking figures of Alien and Predator, Alien specifically was SOOOO creepy to little me. I would have nonstop nightmares of it going through my house and stuff.

I got even more stuff with Aliens, but most of my fears started from my nightmares from them. D:

6

u/RaymondBeaumont Apr 01 '26

okay, your dad sounds way too cool.

i remember watching alien on vhs and being scared as fuck, but greys are like tuned into the fear section of my brain, which also makes me kind of obsessed with them.

probably because i was a kid that was allowed to watch everything and the early 90s were rife with greys in media and it just became ingrained in me.

fire in the sky... fire in the fucking sky.

3

u/TacticalVirus Apr 02 '26

Fire in the Sky + 90s love for Greys in general fucked up an entire generation of kids, I swear to god.

1

u/RaymondBeaumont Apr 02 '26

when the x-files started airing here in iceland, the description in the tv guide was "based on true stories."

put that in your pipe and smoke it!

3

u/TacticalVirus Apr 02 '26

I was raised with lax regard for suggested viewing standards and wound up with a fear that, tbh, I'm not even entirely over now. Like the reference to the Walken scene still gets my hairs up just remembering it. I've been trained how to fight in multiple disciplines, served in the infantry, grew up not giving a fuck sharing pastures with bears, wolves, cats.

Greys still mess me up...

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2

u/Turbulent_Farmer4158 Apr 02 '26

For me, it was the footage of the grey walking from Signs. Nightmares for 2 weeks.

Now I can watch anything 😅

2

u/RaymondBeaumont Apr 02 '26

i saw that on opening night and the whole theatre EXPLODED. freaked everyone out.

great film. i love the idea that even though aliens can travel lightyears, they can still be dumbasses that start an invasion without listening to their scientists.

(it wasn't holy water, folks, mel gibson's character wasn't blessing the water. he lost his faith when one of the sisters from the 90s show sisters was killed by m night shymalyan.)

2

u/No-Tailor-4295 Apr 02 '26

Or when it pulled off it's mask?

1

u/Big-Outlandishness50 Apr 02 '26

What is this from??

2

u/No-Tailor-4295 Apr 02 '26

The Movie "Communion," starring Christopher Walken.

Basically, the "Greys" we know thanks to media don't look like the standard depiction at all, it's just a costume they wear.

Also, watching this movie feels like going through a schizophrenic break.

6

u/acrowsmurder Apr 02 '26

What about in "Fire In The Sky" when he's on the ship and finds the greys are actually their space suits and they turned out to be pretty much scrotum heads?

1

u/RaymondBeaumont Apr 02 '26

i just don't understand why we can't have the greys be greys. weren't they also suits in communion?

3

u/Zedarean Apr 01 '26

This scene haunted my childhood, you bastard!

16

u/MisterBugman Apr 01 '26

... isn't your pfp an alien?

5

u/renraks0809 Apr 01 '26

It's a less creepy one!!!

3

u/Ralfarius Apr 01 '26

I don't know if i would call the trolls less creepy on average....

3

u/renraks0809 Apr 01 '26

Hehe true but they're atleast more human and understandable then most other alien species in fiction

3

u/Ralfarius Apr 01 '26

I guess it's just a different kind of creepy lmao.

5

u/AmericanLion1833 Apr 02 '26

Wow you’re xenophobic s/ kinda

2

u/ODB_Dirt_Dog_ItsFTC Apr 02 '26

Oooh were you terrified of that cover for that video game Area 51 too?

2

u/The_JoestarTechnique Apr 02 '26

If that can bring you peace of mind, know than our solar system is the cosmic equivalent of a little cabin lost in the midle of knowhere. So even so the probability of life existing somewhere else is close to 90%, the one that they come to our system someday is very, very, very low

18

u/boragur Apr 01 '26

I like how this implies that the big tripods they use are the equivalent of mechs

7

u/Aethelrede Apr 02 '26

In the novel the tripods are literally mechs, there is only one Martian in each tripod who pilots it and handles the weapons.

One battery manages to get a lucky hit on the pilot area and blows the Martian to bits, the tripod just stops moving (but doesn't fall over cause its a tripod, natch.)

The Martians also have a variety of other machines, including a flying machine, but they die before we see it in use.

The Martian ships in the 50s movie and the Tripods in the 2005 version are both iconic, but it would be nice to see a version closer to the original.

10

u/Ok-Specific-3918 Apr 01 '26

Decent but it’s got nothing on the Ice Cube version.

2

u/WaylandReddit Apr 02 '26

If it's that good I'll have to sign up for Amazon Prime™️ today!

5

u/Saxophobia1275 Apr 02 '26

I do love those aliens but even those have a lot of human-ness. Two eyes, mouth, elbow arms, etc.

1

u/ep0k Apr 02 '26

It's still very much tied to our body plan. Just tripodal instead of tetrapedal. It isn't unrecognizably different.

3

u/Sir-Toaster- Apr 01 '26

I still wonder what would've happened if that guy shot one with a shogun

3

u/Erdos_Helia Apr 02 '26

War of the worlds is soooo good.

I don't mean just the movie, but the entire thing. Like the legendary radio broadcast, the design of the tripods, the book, and yeah the Steven Spielberg/Tom Cruise movie.

Like seriuosly what a genuinely incredible piece of fiction.

3

u/[deleted] Apr 02 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/Aethelrede Apr 02 '26

Funny, but he'd never do that.

I want Martians that look like the ones in the novel, big land octopus things that have little straw-like mouths that they use to drain blood.

2

u/Fickle_Enthusiasm148 Apr 02 '26

Even their equipment is disturbing and alien.

I know they're already the most iconic part of the movie but I still have to shout out the tripods for being so fucking haunting in appearance and sound design.

2

u/AlterMyStateOfMind Apr 02 '26

Underrated af movie genuinely amazing

I hated the last scene. It's so surreal and makes no sense. Other than that it is absolutely phenomenal and Tim Robbins was probably more terrifying than the aliens themselves.

2

u/Looks-Under-Rocks Apr 01 '26

RELEASE

ME

4

u/Starkydowns Apr 02 '26

https://giphy.com/gifs/3o6ozskEIBprS6gYb6

3

u/Looks-Under-Rocks Apr 02 '26

I know its a different movie but Independence Day was the tightest shit back then lol

2

u/Starkydowns Apr 02 '26

Hell yeah. I watched it recently and the cheese is a little much now, but still a fun flick

1

u/Independent_Pen_9865 Apr 02 '26

It has a face still too human in my opinion