Topic: Unalias tankmorph

The bulk update request #12500 is pending approval.

remove alias tankmorph (0) -> living_tank (238)
remove alias tank_morph (0) -> living_tank (238)

Reason: Tankmorphs are different from tank_humanoids the same way anthros are different from humanoids, or aeromorphs are not aircraft_humanoids, and not the same thing as living_aircraft (see topic #46539)

Followup:

imply tankmorph -> living_tank
alias tank_morph -> tankmorph 

How so? humanoids are either human+something extra, or non-animal human-like creatures. *morph is another term for being human-like, so a tankmorph is a human-like tank, and a tank isn't animal-based. So a human-like tank would be a tank humanoid.

watsit said:
How so? humanoids are either human+something extra, or non-animal human-like creatures. *morph is another term for being human-like, so a tankmorph is a human-like tank, and a tank isn't animal-based. So a human-like tank would be a tank humanoid.

waydence said:
tank_humanoid is human(oid) with tank bits, similar to humanoid catgirls

What makes that a tank? Looks like a metal army-themed robot. Adding tank bits to it would make it more like the second, a human-like creature with tank bits.

watsit said:
What makes that a tank? Looks like a metal army-themed robot. Adding tank bits to it would make it more like the second, a human-like creature with tank bits.

Right, suboptimal example. Changed it to a better one. + In all pictures that I've seen, the difference never gets as significant as between anthro and humanoid, it's just mainly the head.

waydence said:
Right, suboptimal example. Changed it to a better one. + In all pictures that I've seen, the difference never gets as significant as between anthro and humanoid, it's just mainly the head.

Yeah, I think I'd classify those as different styles of humanoid, but still humanoid. Whether the cannon bit is placed as the head, or placed on the back, it's just two interpretations a human-like tank creature.

I can understand the feeling of humanoid being a bit too all-encompassing (I'd really like to be able to separate stuff like
post #5920315
from
post #5932274
for instance), but I think there'd need to be an overhaul to the humanoid tag in general to make distinctions like these.

watsit said:
How so? humanoids are either human+something extra, or non-animal human-like creatures. *morph is another term for being human-like, so a tankmorph is a human-like tank, and a tank isn't animal-based. So a human-like tank would be a tank humanoid.

Morph don't imply anything human: it is defined as a distinct species issue from interbreeding organisms. For our usage, it means the almost the same as hybrid.

bleakdragoon said:
Morph don't imply anything human: it is defined as a distinct species issue from interbreeding organisms. For our usage, it means the almost the same as hybrid.

hybrid on its own doesn't make sense without more than one thing being hybridized. A "tank hybrid" is incomplete without saying what it's a hybrid with, and we avoid specific tags for individual species being hybridized. We don't have cat_hybrid or foxmorph tags, for example.

In the context of this site, *morph means something being given a more human-like form, that is, it's hybridized with a human; see pokemorph and digimorph (which are much broader classifications than individual species, so get a pass to the above restriction). e6 is no stranger to having tags that are more specific than the dictionary definition, just like the anthro[pomoprhic] tag being for a non-feral non-humanoid animal person, despite the word really meaning to give human-like attributes to a non-human thing (Simba's canonical form and Thomas the Tank Engine are both anthro, but we don't tag them as such). And if a "tankmorph" is a tank hybridized with a human as with other *morph tags, that would make it a tank_humanoid since it's not an animal to be classified as anthro.

At best I can see keeping living_tank separate as a means to hybridize it with other non-human creatures, like a dog creature that's also a tank being a canine + hybrid + living_tank, or for when it still retains its usual shape (maybe with a face, eyes and/or a mouth) while depicted as an autonomous being. But tankmorph itself means a human-like tank, a tank_humanoid, so this unalias should only go through if it's being aliased to that. Having it stay separate and imply living_tank makes it a duplicate of tank_humanoid, which will only serve to create confusion as to which tag to use.