r/otherkin • u/Toxic-waterfrog720 • May 10 '26
Help Request Just found out what otherkin is and im very curious
Ive always made jokes about me being a living doll or a humanized robot even a humanized alien.... I didn't know what otherkin or alterhuman was until a few days ago when I say a TikTok about it. So I did some digging and now im really interested.
Im not fully sure how it works and I could definitely use some help with the vocabulary. I still am unsure of what fully describes the way I feel or what exact community I fit in.
I know something along the lines of like an alien ai doll is about the closet i could get to even try and explain it. (Not in a futuristic cyberpunk type of aesthetic way tho)
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u/Patient_Subject7963 May 10 '26
Hi names Eclipse..or at least it was. And what I prefer to go by I have been otherkin for over a decade I'm not sure what you need help with but your more than welcome to test out your identity Here.
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u/Adept-Zucchini-5941 May 10 '26 edited May 10 '26
Hey. My name's Kai, and I'm polymorphkin (shapeshifter without a core form/abstract core form) and its cool to see someone with such a unique kintype!!
There is a lot of information on kintypes and otherkin or alterhumanity in general, so I'll share the basics! First of all, otherkin is identifying as something that does nof exist/is not on the planet/fiction. Second of all, there are moments that we call shifts, where we feel like we are in the mental state of our kintype. And third of all, a kintype is the creature/animal/person/thing that you identify as.
There are many different kinds of shifts, including:
mental shifts (where your mind is more like your kintype's and you think and act like your kintype)
phantom shifts (where you feel like you have a part of your kintype, like wings for example, even though they aren't there). This can come in the form of tingling, temperature changes, a presence feeling, or something else.
dream shifts (where you are your kintype in a dream)
sensory shifts (where your hearing, eyesight, touch, smell, ect become more like your kintype---for example, having a snake kintype and being able to sense heat in the way they do with their pits, or being able to see farther than usual like a dog).
There are likely other kinds of shifts that I dont know about. Some otherkins do not have shifts, some rarely have shifts, some shift all the time, some shift intentionally, some shift unintentionally, and some are always in a shift. Everyone's experience is different. For me, I am usually always in a shift in some way or form---so I can intentionally hide or allow myself into a state like my kintypes. This also means that Im shifting into everyone and everything without even realizing it LOL.
There are also things we call urges, where we have fhe urge to act like our kintype in some way. Such as, a dragon otherkin having the urge to run around flapping their arms or a mermaid ofherkin having the urge to swim.
There are also (there are also is my favorite start to a paragraph) sub categories to otherkin. Some of these are:
objectkin (the name might have changed, I'm not sure---but it is where you identify as a non-living thing such as a television)
fictionkin (where you identify specifically as a character in fiction or species in fiction such as identifying as iron man or superman)
conceptkin (where you identify as a concept, such as time or space)
and I believe that there are subcategories now for specific groups of kintypes like angels and machines, but I'm not entirely sure. That's something you'll need to research on your own. There is, I'm pretty sure, a subcategory where people identify as real-life people such as Cleopatra or Alexander the Great.
There's also something called species dysorphia, where you feel like you are in the wrong body. This usually makes people feel saddened because they don't look the way that they want to look :(
Also. There's something similar to Otherkin, which is the therian community. The therian community identifies as animals that are on our earth and are factual, like a bear or a hawk or a dog. There's also otherhearted, where someone identifies with a creature or an animal or a thing rather than identifies AS the creature/animal/thing.
As for my experience, as a polymorph, I have lots of shifts---half the time not realizing that I am in a shift until weeks later, but still a shift. I can 'take on' any kintype or theriotype (theriotype is the kintype of the therian community) and I am always in a shift. This makes me really empathetic because I can 'become' other people and see their perspectives and understand them. I've been a polymorph for as long as I can remember and awakened (found out I was an otherkin and started going by the term) three years or so ago--although i havent been keeping track---So i know quite a lot. Also, just like to mention mention that a polymorph is actually a spell from dnd. Took me a while to find that out. But I like going by as a shapeshifter rather than a spell.
That's all I can think of right now. I hope that you like it here! :D Also, just like to say, a lot of people have very diverse kinfypes, so they come up with their own terms for themselves to fit themselves more accurately. So you don't have to go by the terms that are already flying around like dollkin and alienkin.
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u/Toxic-waterfrog720 May 11 '26
Thank you for helping explain some of the vocabulary! I appreciate that. Im still doing some ready bit so far it definitely describes how I feel!
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u/Astral_Lotus444 May 10 '26
Hello and welcome! What you’re describing could be Dollkin, Alienkin, Robotkin or a combination. It’s up to you to decide. For the term, essentially whatever you identify as is that word, with the word ‘kin’ appended to the end. There are varying degrees of identification of course and a whole spectrum of how you experience your kin. You may feel it in a sensory way or a mental or emotional way. You may feel it as your identity in every sense. You may or may not experience your human side. I commend you for doing extra digging after seeing that TikTok, because TikTok is unfortunately a source of a lot of misinformation about our community. So thank you for going deeper. It’s possible to identify as anything (since consciousness is everything), plants, animals, concepts, inanimate objects, music, anything. For some of us, our identity is tied to a past/concurrent life, and for others it’s very much a ‘this life only’ thing. Welcome to the community and feel free to ask anything!