Housepets!

So after seeing Sofia for these past few comics, I can't help but ponder something...

What are the rules for anthropomorphization (god, I hope I spelled that right) in this world?

I mean, dogs, cats, ferrets, skunks, raccoons, opossums, they all stand up right, have opposable thumbs, and plantigrade legs.

But then you have ungulates like camels and horses who, intelligence and speech aside, don't show any signs of anthro-ness or kangaroos like Bruce and Roosevelt who, as far as I can tell, are also largely unchanged from their real-world counterparts.

Don't know, Jag, but i'd speculate that it's trying to balance reality and fantasy. Dogs, cats, mice, birds, ferals like Ink, Cory, and Jessica can transformed in bipeds comfortably, and the size ratios (except for the mice) are not too far varied. Thus Peanut, Grape, Zachary, King, Bailey, Keene, and humans can interact without the challenge of too large or too small. With horses, cows, camels, deer, having them walk erect would also require anatomical adjustments that might be destorting beyond the "rules of Housepets! realism". They'd be pretty bulky - like the Bear - and hard to fI t into a panel. There's a darker issue, too..

Except for Zach Rabbit, most of the characters are carnivores. Kinda hard t o have a deer character with the Wolf Pack massacring ungulates on a weekly schedule. Zootopia dances around the same issue. Peanut, for example, tells the horse on Uncle Reuben's Farm, "You all look so delicious!". To which the horses nonchalantly reply, "Yeah, we get that a lot."

My thoughts, anyhow. Regards.

If I had to guess, only some animals are anthro, whereas others aren't. I doubt there's anthro and normal counterparts of the same species.

I don't think it has anything to do with predator/prey. there are TONS of humanized prey animals in the Forrest, Zach met them at one point, and as far as i remember only the deer was unaltered, and we already know rabbits, mice, and rats are humanized, and grape is still prone to eating mice that get in her way.

all of those humanized are mammals with Digitigrade or Plantigrade legs, none of them have Unguligrade legs. We've also never seen a single proper Digitigrade mammal that wasn't humanized.

Agreed, Buster, in that none of the animals are "dumb" (that is, speechless animals); in fact, except for Sophie, they all speak English or else a tongue conveniently translated for us. When Bino is trying to become a Spot, he and the hawk he lands on immediately understand each other. As to prey and predator undercurrents, the wolves and their culinary conversations carry that load - enthusiastically. Other wise, since Grape stomped and swallowed Karl-Marx Faust mouse pretty early in the epic, I don't believe we've had any casualties to natural dining urges.

But, remember, after Zach is introduced to all the ferals, his memorable, somewhat chilling benediction to them is "I hope you don't get eaten!" Similarly, there are pet animals and working animals. Just as in Animal Farm, so in Housepets society. "All pigs are created equal, but some are more equal than others." Even in speech, there are strata in humanization. C.S. Lewis in his Narnia stories raised "talking animals" to the status of full humanity; animals who can't talk can be hunted, killed, and eaten. In BabGardens, except for Karishad ... who is truly in a class by himself ... ferals do not seem to talk to or in the presence of humans. Does that make them less human than pets ... or certain other domesticated animals, again, like Sophie?

I'm probably over thinking the question. I don't think it's a rule Rick keeps in a thick manual beside the coffee pot. It's still a good question. Regards.

Well, Jess has spoken to humans twice; the limerick guy and a random dude at the fair. In real life, feral animals tend to avoid human contact to begin with. Grape and Max did have a little talk as to who would get a dead bird they found, only for the bird to retort that he wasn't dead. And then he got stomped. Managed to survive that, too. No word on if he was eaten. Fido also threatened to drop Spo off on a cat he knew wouldn't be so kind to him early on. Rabbit-hunting is even mentioned by Jack at the Wolves Christmas party when King proposed to Bailey.

The normal food chain is still there, it's just that all the animals are sentient. Except maybe cows, bugs, and fish. No word on those. This is just normal for them.

I think I saw on Facebook that Rick did consider making the horses anthropomorphic as well, but dropped the idea. I can't recall his exact words, something along the lines of "too weird even for that world?"

probably because it brings to mind those ridiculous rubber horse mask guy pictures/videos from seven years ago.

Oh, wow, that old?

Anyway, I think we can currently generalize that ungulates are their normal selves in this universe.

Is the limerick a feral?

...that might not be inaccurate.

Well, that was easy.

Staples XD

I'd have a more sophisticated response but it's kinda late, the oat bag's ready, and typing on a keyboard is just so inept with hooves. Regards.

Buster wrote: all of those humanized are mammals with Digitigrade or Plantigrade legs, none of them have Unguligrade legs. We've also never seen a single proper Digitigrade mammal that wasn't humanized.

Squirrel on the first panel. Check and mate.

both leg types can sit that way. that doesn't prove anything.

SuperStar wrote:

Buster wrote: all of those humanized are mammals with Digitigrade or Plantigrade legs, none of them have Unguligrade legs. We've also never seen a single proper Digitigrade mammal that wasn't humanized.

Squirrel on the first panel. Check and mate.

Closer inspection of said species:

Tri-ped? Hmmmm?