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Sci Fi - Blog Posts
WOOOO YEAAAAHHGHGG finally redesigned this silly OC i got a bit ago :D one of my few human characters ksksajsjkak her name's Rosabelle!
i tried to lean more into the sci-fi jester vibe i got from the original design, also made her skin darker for more contrast + i think it looks nice with that light pink. rly like her now :o)
Suspension of Disbelief in Sci-Fi
The problem with learning anything of significance about history, geography, linguistics, biology and psychology is that it really interferes with the suspension of disbelief you need to enjoy science fiction. Humans are so complicated and so different depending on their culture and region, their language and the time period they exist in that all the alien species that are introduced always seem overly simplified. Not to mention how diverse the planet is depending on where it is, the alien planets are also overly simplified. The thing of it is, I really like sci-fi, I just want more thought given to diversity of alien species and planets.
OMG THIS. THIS IS WHAT I’VE BEEN SAYING.
I’ve been ranting about this to all of my friends and family and they always dismiss it but I think that there is something to unlock here!!!
In a world where world peace/hunger/poverty/etc was SOLVED and now the earths biggest issues are intergalactic communications and exploration… what happens to art? Or more specifically, pop culture?
Okay tbh, I was gonna keep on talking but the post I’m reblogging says jt all really lmao.
My one problem with Star Trek is that no one is ever consuming contemporary media. As in media that's contemporary for their time period. Everyone is always reading old novels and practicing classical music. They study Klingon Opera or read old Cardassian mysteries. No one is ever like really into obscure Klingon Nightcore. Nobody is reading shitty Ferengi pulp novels. There's no kids media of any kind. Where is space Sesame Street or junior novels about gaining superpowers from a warp core accident? What about comic books? Nobody is playing crappy indy holodeck games. It's always some recreation of a historical battle or just lounging in a mud pit at some alien spa. Someone give me angsty Bajoran protest music. I need some rebellious teens producing the worst most cacophonous death metal techno that they recorded in an empty cargo bay. I need contemporary pop culture in Star Trek.
HEADCANNON!!!! im sorry im sorry im sorry but the resemblance is crazy 😭😭😭
Honestly, I don't blame her for wanting to get off this god-forsaken wet rock.
I like to think Zaphod thinks he's the main character, blissfully unaware that it's actually the generic brown-haired Earth guy.
The genderless urge to dress as a sci-fi vagabond who’s wearing a really weird poncho and a belt.
Anyways anyone have tips or stores for sci-fi fashion
Bless the Maker and all His Water. Bless the coming and going of Him, May His passing cleanse the world.
🧿
A scif-fi design? From me?? Is this anything?
Commission for Raptary on FA.
A small group of rogues gets abducted by the capital's soldiers. When they arrive at the capital they are separated. They have all been given chip implants for control.
Katsuki Bakugou is taken to the arena for entertainment while his lover, Izuku Midoriya, is taken somewhere else.
After one of Katsuki's battle he is knocked out with the chip. He wakes up to find Izuku sitting next to him. He goes to embrace him but the chip shocks him. Izuku looks sad and says “the emperor personally took him for his appearance and had code added in so no one could touch him”. Katsuki was angry but knew he could do anything to stop it, even if the love of his life was being treated like an object.
Izuku informs Katsuki that if he can get on the emperor's good side then maybe his chip could be removed. Katsuki questions why Izuku still has one but is told 'so it can keep Izuku attached to the code, to track him and to keep him from escaping'. The emperor can't afford to lose his prize.
Katsuki is able to get close to the emperor until he learns the truth. He was only kept around to ensure Izuku's happiness. Which is why the code for contact was released from him, to make Izuku happier.
I have this idea to add but not sure how so it’s just a note. (The emperor is planning on changing Izuku genetic makeup so that Izuku is capable of having a child. His diet is strict so he is ready for the surgery and he will be fertile)
Info About This Blog (I guess; Still Under Construction till further notice)
Hello! You can call me Abyss, welcome to my blog, I'm into a lot of stuff (Ex: anime, cartoons, TV shows)
This Blog might have some multi fandom content depending on which my brain is stuck on.
Im kinda new to tumblr so I'll try my best to get use to this and I'll try and learn how to function on this platform.
Animes/TV Shows/Cartoons/Movies that I like:
One Piece
Demon Slayer: Kimestu No Yaiba
Atla (Avatar The Last Airbender)
The Owl House
LMK (Lego Monkie Kid)
Ninjago
Ever After High
Troll Hunters
Nezha (2019)
New Gods: Nezha Reborn
The Land Before Time
Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse (+Across the Spiderverse)
Nimona
Over The Moon
Ultraman Rising
(Note: I know that literally half of these shows are for kids, but I grew up with some of them)
Webtoons that I have seen/read:
High Class Homos
Castle Swimmer
Realta
Grand Ma
Unwritten Death
How A Goddess Wins Over Tigers
And They Were MerMates
Hooked on Chthonics
Hades: I'm the End
Hades and Persephone
Bugtopia
Cinderella Boy
Love Me To Death
Horror Movies That I have Seen
Scream (1996)
The Texas Chainsaw Masscure (2022)
Quiet Place i & ii
The Silence
Tim Burton's Movies (And Series) That I have Seen
The Corpse Bride
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Frankenweenie
Wendell and Wild
Coraline
Edward Scissorhand
Planet of the Apes
Dark Shadows
Wednesday
Alice in Wonderland & Alice Through the Looking Glass
Sci-Fi
Planet of the Apes (Rise, Dawn, and War)
Avatar i & Avatar ii: Way of the Water
Musicals
EPIC: The Musical
(Cover art by @twigoffir)
🪐🤖 Ephemeridia Galactica Zine RELEASE 🤖🪐
Ephemeridia Galactica is a free digital zine, dedicated to the works of Isaac Asimov, from the standalone short stories and novels, to the Foundation and Robot Series, and all in between!
The fanzine is now available for download, and includes:
A high resolution PDF
50+ pages of art and writing, from 19 contributors
Digital merch (icons and stickers)
➡️ Download the zine here! ⬅️
We’re so excited to finally share this with you! We hope you enjoy the works from our wonderful contributors 💫
Please reblog, and share this zine with your fellow fans! Thank you to our contributors and supporters - for keeping the fandom, and the love for Asimov's works alive 🌟
Self-reblog because YAY my fan-made eng subs for the entire first season of Cyberfarm (Кибердеревня) are finally finished! Feel free to use them for any entertainment purposes whatsoever - you don’t even have to credit me! Just spread the word and reblog this post to share this series with your friends and mutuals :]
Finally decided to make a masterpost for a little passion project I’ve been working on as of lately - fanmade English subs for a Russian series I enjoyed a lot more than I expected to! I’ll try my best to update this post with new translations weekly, but, for now - have the first seven episodes of the show :]
Cyberfarm is a series about two ex business partners - Konstantin Baragosin, who continued their corporate business, and Nikolai Kulibin, who made a small village on Mars, became a farmer, and lives a peaceful life there…a life that starts crumbling down after years later old friends meet again, to share out a piece of land they both need. Of course it doesn’t lead to anything good, and in mere seconds Kolya loses his home while Kostya loses…well, everything. Now, these two have no choice, but to forget their old grudges and help each other out, making friends and foes along their way.
• SEASON 1 EPISODES 1&2 [ENG SUBS]
• SEASON 1 EPISODE 3 [ENG SUBS]
• SEASON 1 EPISODE 4 [ENG SUBS]
• SEASON 1 EPISODE 5 [ENG SUBS]
• SEASON 1 EPISODE 6 [ENG SUBS]
• SEASON 1 EPISODE 7 [ENG SUBS]
• SEASON 1 EPISODE 8 [ENG SUBS]
• SEASON 1 EPISODE 9 [ENG SUBS]
• SEASON 1 EPISODE 10 [EMG SUBS]
My silly ass made subs for the first two episodes in Power Director, but the rest of the episodes have subs that you can turn on by pressing CC button and choosing "English" in that Google Doc I gave you a link to
Finally decided to make a masterpost for a little passion project I’ve been working on as of lately - fanmade English subs for a Russian series I enjoyed a lot more than I expected to!
Cyberfarm is a series about two ex business partners - Konstantin Baragosin, who continued their corporate business, and Nikolai Kulibin, who made a small village on Mars, became a farmer, and lives a peaceful life there…a life that starts crumbling down after years later old friends meet again, to share out a piece of land they both need. Of course it doesn’t lead to anything good, and in mere seconds Kolya loses his home while Kostya loses…well, everything. Now, these two have no choice, but to forget their old grudges and help each other out, making friends and foes along their way.
• SEASON 1 EPISODES 1&2 [ENG SUBS]
• SEASON 1 EPISODE 3 [ENG SUBS]
• SEASON 1 EPISODE 4 [ENG SUBS]
• SEASON 1 EPISODE 5 [ENG SUBS]
• SEASON 1 EPISODE 6 [ENG SUBS]
• SEASON 1 EPISODE 7 [ENG SUBS]
• SEASON 1 EPISODE 8 [ENG SUBS]
• SEASON 1 EPISODE 9 [ENG SUBS]
• SEASON 1 EPISODE 10 [ENG SUBS]
My silly ass made subs for the first two episodes in Power Director, but the rest of the episodes have subs that you can turn on by pressing CC button and choosing "English" in that Google Doc I gave you a link to
there was an urge to draw Filipiniana sci-fi clothes
I realized I’ve never posted a full-body draft of these clothes before *o*
If you've never given horror fiction podcasts a try...here is my list. Perfect in the dark!
Reposting from this beautiful podcast post on reddit
All credit goes to u/Tinnis_
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As we come into October, you might want to check out some Horror fiction audio podcasts!
Narrated or dramatized fictional stories between 20 mins to an hour, released for free either weekly or more intermittently.
Includes both standalone short story anthologies or continuous series.
Full list below, sorted A-Z, with genre/format notes and show descriptions.
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My personal top suggestions would be:
Short stories: Pseudopod; Knifepoint Horror; Nightmare Magazine; Tales to Terrify
Series: The White Vault; The Magnus Archives
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If new to podcasts, I would recommend using (free): Podcast Addict (Android); Overcast (iOS)
Feel free to share your own favorite shows or specific episodes.
Enjoy!
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Alice isn't dead - sci-fi / horror, series
A truck driver searches across America for the wife she had long assumed was dead. In the course of her search, she will encounter not-quite-human serial murderers, towns literally lost in time, and a conspiracy that goes way beyond one missing woman.
Chilling Tales for Dark Nights - horror, standalone
Chilling Tales for Dark Nights is a horror fiction anthology podcast, with each weekly episode featuring several creepy tales from talented authors, brought to life by professional voice actors, and accompanied by SFX and music. ('Simply Scary Podcasts' network)
Dark Dice - horror / fantasy, series, rpg
Dark Dice is a horror actual-play D&D podcast that uses immersive soundscapes to create an added layer of immersion. Six travelers embark on a journey into the ruinous domain of the nameless god. They will never be the same again. (Features the initial six voice cast from 'The White Vault')
Darkest Night - horror, series
Darkest Night is a binaural audio drama that places you, the listener, at the center of a recovered memory that sounds as though it’s happening around you in real time. Each chapter delves into the last memories of the recently deceased, slowly revealing a horrifying master plan. Who is weaving this master conspiracy, and what is their ultimate goal?
Down Below the Reservoir - horror, standalone
A horror podcast series from creator & writer Graham Tugwell.
Hellfire Fables - horror, arcing, series
A weekly fictional adventure into the weird, tragic, and obscene.
Horror Hill - horror, standalone
A multiple story, horror-themed audio storytelling podcast, spun off from Chilling Tales for Dark Nights and its popular YouTube channel of the same name. The show stars voice actor / illustrator Jason Hill, and the hand-picked work of dozens of accomplished independent and previously-published contributing authors. ('Simply Scary Podcasts' network)
King Falls AM - sci-fi / horror, series
King Falls AM centers on a lonely little mountain town's late-night AM talk radio show and its paranormal, peculiar happenings and inhabitants.
Knifepoint Horror - horror, standalone
Tales of supernatural suspense by Soren Narnia.
Nightlight - horror, standalone
Creepy stories with full audio production written by Black writers and performed by Black actors. So scary it’ll make you want to leave your night light on.
Nightmare magazine - horror, standalone
Edited by bestselling, award-winning anthologist John Joseph Adams, NIGHTMARE is a digital magazine of horror and dark fantasy. In its pages, you will find all kinds of horror and dark fantasy, from zombie stories and haunted house tales, to visceral psychological horror. Every month NIGHTMARE will bring you a mix of original fiction and reprints, and featuring a variety of authors: from the bestsellers and award-winners you already know to the best new voices you haven't heard of yet. When you read NIGHTMARE, it is our hope that you'll see where horror comes from, where it is now, and where it's going. The NIGHTMARE podcast, produced by Grammy Award-winning narrator and producer Stefan Rudnicki of Skyboat Media, is presented twice a month, featuring original audio fiction and classic reprints.
Nocturnal transmissions - horror, standalone
NOCTURNAL TRANSMISSIONS is a fortnightly podcast featuring inspired performances of short horror stories, both old and new, by voice artist Kristin Holland. Short stories and mutterings from the wrong side of midnight.
Old Gods of Appalachia - horror, arcing series
In the mountains of central Appalachia, blood runs as deep as these hollers and just as dark. Since before our kind knew these hills, hearts of unknowable hunger and madness have slumbered beneath them. These are the oldest mountains in the world. How dare we think we can break the skin of a god and dig out its heart without bringing forth blood and darkness? Old Gods of Appalachia is a horror-anthology podcast set in the shadows of an Alternate Appalachia, a place where digging too deep into the mines was just the first mistake.
On a Dark, Cold Night - horror, standalone
On a Dark, Cold Night is the ideal podcast for horror-lovers with insomnia; a creepy friend to tell you bedtime/ghost stories. The podcast involves Your Narrator telling you a spine-chilling yet soothing ghost story every week. Launched in January, 2018, the show is written, performed and produced by Kristen Zaza.
On the Threshold - sci-fi / horror, arcing series
Human understanding of the cosmos is like a tiny, flickering candle. This podcast follows Phil Glazer as he chases down accounts of those who have wandered to the edge of the candlelight, and becomes drawn ever further into the shadows himself.
Pseudopod - horror, standalone
You’ve found the world’s premier horror fiction podcast. For over a decade, Pseudopod has been bringing you the best short horror in audio form, to take with you anywhere. We pay our authors professional rates for original fiction and we reach more people every week than any other short fiction horror market. (Backlog feeds https://redd.it/hx5tp2)
Scary Stories Told in the Dark - horror, standalone
A multiple story, horror-themed audio storytelling podcast, spun off from Chilling Tales for Dark Nights and its popular YouTube channel of the same name. The show features master storyteller Otis Jiry, often whimsically referred to by his fans as "The White Morgan Freeman," and the work of dozens of independent and previously-published contributing authors. ('Simply Scary Podcasts' network)
Shadows at the Door - horror, standalone
From Shadows at the Door Publishing comes a chilling new podcast, bringing to life a collection of macabre tales and spirited debate. Drawing on the haunted landscapes of classic folk horror, the podcast lifts the veil on some of your favourite ghost stories, and presents new fables throughout a series of macabre audio dramas. Shadows at the Door: The Podcast artfully showcases the unsettling, the unearthly, and the uncanny, with new tellings of beloved ghost stories, and spectral yarns created exclusively for the podcast by some of the most exciting writers in modern horror. Join presenter Mark Nixon and voice actor David Ault as they bring you ghoulish dramatisations, and discuss what makes the ghost story such a powerful, enduring force in cultures around the world.
Sibling Horror - horror, standalone
Short horror stories written by The Fradd Siblings (Emma and Matt Fradd). A big thanks to Soren Narnia of Knifepoint Horror who inspired us to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) (Read by Kifepoint Horror's Soren Narnia)
Tales To Terrify - horror, standalone
Welcome to Tales to Terrify, a weekly horror fiction podcast that gets under your skin, lays eggs and hatches writhing baby horrors nursed on your darkest fears. We're unique in our simplicity, bringing pure tales of terror to your ears audiobook-style – unadulterated and unadorned.
The Dark verse - horror, standalone
Short stories of occult, metaphysical, and fantastical horror that will follow you to the visions of your sleep.
The Drabblecast - sci-fi / fantasy / horror, standalone
The Drabblecast is a weekly audio fiction magazine that offers strange stories for strange listeners.
The Hidden Frequencies - sci-fi / horror, standalone
Love the Twilight Zone and Tales from the Darkside? You'll enjoy this science fiction horror anthology of audio dramas.
The Liberty podcast - sci-fi / horror, series & standalones
Welcome to the world of Liberty – serialized sci-fi tales told audio drama podcasts. For centuries the colony of Atrius has been cut off from humanity and endured generations of civil war. What remains is a gleaming city and beyond its walls, a lawless expanse known as the Fringe.
The Lost Cat podcast - horror, standalone
The entirely true adventures I have had while trying to find my cat.
The Magnus archives - horror with arcing series
“Make your statement, face your fear.” A weekly horror fiction podcast examining what lurks in the archives of the Magnus Institute, an organisation dedicated to researching the esoteric and the weird. Join Jonathan Sims as he explores the archive, but be be warned, as he looks into its depths something starts to look back… New episodes every Thursday produced by Rusty Quill, featuring guest actors, short stories, serial plots and more.
The Mistholme Museum of Mystery, Morbidity, and Mortality - scifi / horror, arcing series
Human understanding of the cosmos is like a tiny, flickering candle. This podcast follows Phil Glazer as he chases down accounts of those who have wandered to the edge of the candlelight, and becomes drawn ever further into the shadows himself.
The Night Bulletin - horror, standalone
The Night Bulletin is a monthly podcast featuring original short stories written and narrated by author TF Ahmad.
The NoSleep Podcast - horror, standalone
The NoSleep Podcast is a multi-award winning anthology series of original horror stories, with rich atmospheric music to enhance the frightening tales.
The Other Stories - sci-fi / horror, standalone
These aren't the stories your mother used to tell you ... no, these are The Other Stories. The Other Stories is a weekly short story podcast. A modern take on The Twilight Zone, Tales From The Crypt, or The Outer Limits. Sci-Fi, Horror, Thriller, WTF stories delivered right to your podcast feed every Monday morning.
The White Vault - horror, series
Explore the far reaches of the world’s horrors in the audio drama podcast The White Vault. Follow the collected records of a repair team sent to Outpost Fristed in the vast white wastes of Svalbard and unravel what lies waiting in the ice below. This Fool and Scholar production is intended for mature audiences.
The Wicked Library - horror, standalone
The Wicked Library is a Parsec Award winning show featuring horror fiction stories from upcoming, new, independent and bestselling authors. Our Tales of terror are read by Host / Producer, Daniel Foytik and other popular voice actors and feature custom music to bring the stories to life. Each episode features the work of some of the best voices in independent horror fiction. Authors of all types have contributed stories, like Jessica McHugh, KB Goddard, C. Bryan Brown, Stephanie Wytovich, and bestselling authors like Neil Gaiman and Owl Goingback.
Twilight Zone Radio Dramas - sci-fi / fantasy / horror, standalone
All 176 episodes of the Twilight Zone Radio Dramas which were produced and aired on radio during the 2000's. Each episode presents a stand-alone story in which characters find themselves dealing with often disturbing or unusual events, an experience described as entering "the Twilight Zone," often with a surprise ending and a moral. Although predominantly science-fiction, the show's paranormal and Kafkaesque events leaned the show towards fantasy and horror. The phrase “twilight zone,” inspired by the series, is used to describe surreal experiences.
Uncanny County - sci-fi / horror, standalone
Mystical truck drivers. Robots gone haywire. Killer clown demons. And pie. So. Much. Pie. This quirky, darkly comic, Southwestern-flavored anthology brings you a new paranormal audio play every month. Sit back, open your ears, and hold on tight. Because you're about to take a quick detour...through Uncanny County.
Welcome to Nightvale - sci-fi / horror, series
WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE is a twice-monthly podcast in the style of community updates for the small desert town of Night Vale, featuring local weather, news, announcements from the Sheriff's Secret Police, mysterious lights in the night sky, dark hooded figures with unknowable powers, and cultural events. Turn on your radio and hide.
Well told tales - sci-fi / horror, standalone
Every Monday, the Well Told Tales podcast brings you an original short story — either sci-fi, horror or hardboiled. Think of them as audiobooks, only shorter — 15 to 35 minutes, the perfect length for your commute, workout, whatever. And did we mention they’re FREE?
Westside Fairytales - horror, standalone
Books that kill whomever reads them, strange dolls that bring death wherever they go, and tales from men and women driven to the edge by madness, poverty, and guilt. These strange and varied stories are guaranteed to stay with you long after you've finished listening. New episodes the first Friday of every month.
Wrong Station - horror, standalone
"Come on in, have a seat. It's been a while since I've seen you. There's this story I've been dying to tell you. Maybe you'll find it interesting..." The Wrong Station is a radio horror series in the tradition of Quiet Please and Lights Out, created by Alexander Saxton and Anthony Botelho.
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From my larger cross genre google sheet list, which also includes Sci-Fi & Fantasy specific suggestions and subtabs for genre & format sorting too.
Audio fiction podcast list (horror, sci-fi, fantasy)
some more doodles of Lily and her alien companion
was feeling very sad today so I did these to cheer myself up a bit
yknow what fuck it i made a lil comic
dont worry they're space roommates
Last night I had a dream about an alien woman that looked kinda like this, so I've made some doodles
Last night I had a dream about an alien woman that looked kinda like this, so I've made some doodles
Today I watched a two-part episode of Stargate called The Fourth Horseman. It was so terrifyingly close to modern 2020 and COVID-19 that I almost cried. The worst part about sci-fi is that sometimes it actually can predict the future. Kind of like how the the Expanse covers a lot of politics that our modern world is heading into.
How The Nocturnal Bottleneck and Nipples Make Us Human
Almost every post here considers what humans do have, really. It’s a little tiring; realistically every world has its harsh environments and vicious species and a sophont to match. We probably wouldn’t be unique for our adaptability or our persistence or even adrenaline
But our evolution is fucked up as hell, to put it lightly.
Mammals went through what’s been dubbed the nocturnal bottleneck essentially since the start of the mesozoic right up until the Cretaceous ended the archosaur’s exclusive hold over the daylight. We lost a lot of things from every mammal spending most of its time in either a cramped, suffocating burrow or scrounging around in the faint hours of nighttime. Our blood cells lost their nuclei to hold more oxygen while we spent time deep underground, we lost protections against ultraviolet rays in our skin and eyes, we can’t even repair our own DNA using the light of the sun. Most aliens probably wouldn’t have such traits unless their evolution followed a very similar path to ours. They’d be able to see ultraviolet and wouldn’t have to worry about sunburn and all the wonderful privileges essentially all fish, birds, amphibians, and reptiles enjoy as we speak.
There’s also what we gained from spending so much time in the dark.
Brown fat is only found in mammals, it’s a special type of fat which bear cells with several oil droplets and are utterly jammed with mitochondria. This lets it make heat, a lot of it, fast. We don’t even need to shiver to induce this heat generation from brown adipose tissue - factor in our downright hyperactive mitochondria, and we can warm up quickly. Sure, it doesn’t have too much use in adult humans, but it keeps our infants warm and still provides a little boost the whole run we have in this universe.
Unless aliens also went through a time where their small ancestors had to face cold nights, they’d have to produce heat the old fashioned way when chilled. Aliens might have to shiver the whole time they’re in a cold room while the human watches in confusion, quite literally unshaken, and wonders if the room is a lot colder than the thermostat set to 60 says. The aliens stare at their companion in confusion, it’s just a normal temperature to shiver at after all, how is the human sitting so still?
Our small ancestors spending all their time out foraging at night is also why we have such a good sense of touch, smell, and hearing. They were more important senses than vision (we’re lucky to have even redeveloped basic color vision, frankly) at the time and place and simply ended up continuing to serve us well. Birds and reptiles rarely have acute senses of smell and the latter especially are lucky to have acute hearing, and birds rarely have impeccable hearing themselves either. Our skin is free of scales and honed to sensitivity, and our external ears and complicated ear bones provide an immense range of hearing (from 20 all the way to 17,000 hertz!).
Aliens might not be able to pin down the chirp of a cricket or the light click of a lock being picked. The human might be the only one on board a ship that can pick out the finer sounds of the engine’s constant thrum and know the critical difference between when everything is fine and when something is wrong. The human could probably pick out the sounds of an approaching enemy’s careless footsteps - they’re only as light enough for *them* to stop hearing them, after all - and be the one to see the horrified expression (well, more on that later) on their face when we get the drop on them in spite of their perceived stealth.
But perhaps the most versatile, convoluted, amazing, and utterly unique trait we have is right on your face this instant. Lips.
Lips in most animals are a simple seal to hold in the mouth’s moisture and protect the teeth, even if they’re supple they’re NEVER muscular except in mammals, and we have only one thing to thank for it; milk and nipples. Lips evolved exclusively to allow babies to suckle, it required a vacuum to be created in the mouth, and with no other animal having anything like a nipple it never happened in other animals. Many animals make milk, to be frank, but no other animal has nipples.
Your cheeks and lips are a marvel among tetrapods, no other animal can suck like mammals can. Aliens wouldn’t have straws or even be able to sip from the edge of a glass, they’d have to have a proboscis or simply tilt the whole thing back. Aliens likely won’t have woodwind instruments or balloons you can blow into. We take so much about our lips for granted. Hell, our muscular faces are vital for expressions, we’re probably absolute facial contortionists among a cast of creatures with mandibles and beaks and expressionless scaly maws. Aliens might find us ridiculously easy to read, if anything, compared to their own kind (all the better to deceive them) - or perhaps they’d find us hard to decipher anyways, with our lack of color-changing skin or erectable crests of bright feathers. Baring teeth might not be seen as a sign of aggression in most of the universe, smiling would be all too distinctly human.
Perhaps with how infectious we are sometimes, that’s what we’d contribute to the universe; others might have to make do with opening their mouths just enough to show their teeth or splaying their innumerable mouthparts with just the right curve, but perhaps we’d teach the galaxy to smile, one ally at a time.
Wouldn’t that be amazing?