Friday, January 25, 2013

Levels of Animal Anthropomorphism


Level #0: Complete natural body type of their species; move completely like their real counterpart; is quadrupedal if a naturally quadrupedal species; have completely natural stance depending on the species; paws and hooves don't have the ability to gesture or grasp things the way human hands can; birds have completely naturalistic wings that gesture like normal bird wings; has facial expressions completely like respective species

Level #1: Complete natural body type of their species; move completely like their real counterpart; is quadrupedal if a naturally quadrupedal species; have completely natural stance depending on the species; paws and hooves don't have the ability to gesture or grasp things the way human hands can; birds have completely naturalistic wings that gesture like normal bird wings; like Level 0 but has the full range of facial expressions that humans have

Level #2: Complete or near complete natural body type of their species; move completely or mostly like their real counterpart; is quadrupedal if a naturally quadrupedal species; rarely walks on two legs in most cases and not able to walk that way as well as they can on all fours; can sit up on their haunches (depending on the species in question), stand with their knuckles on the ground (if a monkey or ape), or stand with a typical natural stance; paws and hooves can have either a full or limited ability to gesture and even grasp things the way human hands can; birds have naturalistic wings that can gesture and even grasp things like human arms and hands

Level #3: Body keeps the basic shape of their respective species despite being bipedal; naturally four-legged animals can walk on two legs as well as they can walk on all fours; can sit up on their haunches (depending on the species in question), stand with their knuckles on the ground (if a monkey or ape), or stand with a typical two-legged stance, whether with bent or straight legs; paws and hooves gesture and grasp things like human hands; birds have either naturalistic or arm-like wings that grasp things and gesture like human arms and hands; seldom has human-like breasts

Level #4: More anthropomorphic variant of Level 3; Body has human-proportioned, but not humanoid arms and legs on a body that otherwise keeps either the basic shape of their respective species or or a basic Level 3 body type; quadrupedal animals can walk on two legs just as well as they can on all fours; stand with their knuckles on the ground (if a monkey or ape), or stand with a typical two-legged stance, whether with bent or straight legs; can either have human-like breasts even if not a mammal or not have them; occasionally has human-like breasts; compromise between Levels 3 and 5

Level #5: Body partly like their respective species and partly humanoid; either humanoid legs and non-humanoid torso, a humanoid torso and non-humaniod legs; or semi-humanoid all over; male ones with a humanoid torso and non-humaniod legs are sometimes have top heavy torsos; quadrupedal animals can walk on two legs just as well as they can on all fours; stand with their knuckles on the ground (if a monkey or ape), or stand with a typical two-legged stance, whether with bent or straight legs; can either have human-like breasts even if not a mammal or not have them; compromise between Levels 4 and 6

Level #6: Looks like the animal's head and tail (where applicable) on a body that looks like a fur, feather, scale, or otherwise animal accented human body; body shape can reflect the animal's species a little, but has to be human-shaped; head that is either completely, largely, or half the shape of that of the respective species; have the muzzle, beak, or bill of their respective species; feet are either plantigrade or digitigrade (or unguligrade if a hoofed animal); feet are normally shaped completely mostly, or largely like that of their species but can be completely, mostly, largely, or partially human-shaped; usually has human-like breasts even if not a mammal

Level #7: More anthropomorphic variant of Level 6; has a mostly or nearly human-shaped head with the animal's ears and full or partial muzzle, beak, or bill; has animal-accented, completely human-shaped hands; completely humanoid body shape; has human-proportioned, plantigrade feet that are either completely, mostly, or largely human-shaped; usually has human-like breasts; compromise between Levels 6 and 8

Level #8: Looks like a animal-accented human face and body frame with the animal's ears, nose, tail (where applicable), markings, and sometimes fur, feathers, or scales; animal's nose on a nearly human-shaped head with little or no semblance of their species' muzzle; completely human hand and foot shape; has the beak or bill respective to their species that is small regardless of their species if a bird; usually has human-like breasts and humanlike hair (or hairlike feathers if a bird)