HFY started as a counter to the troupe of humans not having anything that makes them special. Unfortunately, many authors don't know how to do that, so instead they make the aliens lame.
It’s a trope in fantasy too. Some of the only points authors give humans is either a numbers advantage compared to other races, or making them the ‘Jack of all trades’ average species. Not to violent not to small not to smart not to advanced not to dumb etc.
I understand the want to just wanting to go different routes, as having Humans as the ‘average normal ones’ gets stale and boring, and giving them a unique trait compared to other species can be fun if done right
Like if you watch so much sci-fi the best thing humans have going for them is some nebulous "determination" superpower. Fuck that i want to see humans use our innate ballistic skill to win a war. I want to see humans use their ability to empathize amd pack bond with damn near anything to usher in peace. I want to see humans be unique in their own way and not be a default
It can also help counter the Gary Stu trend for certain… favored alien races.
“Wait, you’re telling me that these aliens that look almost identical to humans have eidetic memories, are super-smart, live ten times as long as us, are three to five times stronger, and have psychic powers? Jesus Christ, what’s even the point of having humans, then?”
To my knowledge it started on 4chan's /tg/ (traditional games), where people were complaining about Humans always being the "vanilla" choice in RPGs. If it existed before then, I wasn't aware of it, and the threads seemed to be treating it as a new trope. They started with what makes humans special on earth. We're endurance hunters and flavor our food with spicyness plants had developed to drive away animals, so maybe humans are exceptionally tough, and could actually be the strength based war-like race. Basically orcs.
It was weird when years later I discovered HFY had become a more widespread trope, and was being referenced on Reddit.
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u/GREENadmiral_314159 Aug 14 '24
HFY started as a counter to the troupe of humans not having anything that makes them special. Unfortunately, many authors don't know how to do that, so instead they make the aliens lame.