I am not a huge fan of the sci-fi trope of humans as boring or special, which can be troublesome sometimes. Mostly Iβd like if there was more of a pendulum effect instead of aliens being flabbergasted by us all the time or being condescending.
Sure, itβs fun when a tasty human snack is something very poisonous to aliens, but I wanna take that gag about species differences further! Rather than βhar har, the Nonsensoleans canβt eat spicy peppers like us,β and leave it at that, show me the Nonsensoleans being aghast at the things humans eat willingly, but also the humans who found that amusing doing a double take when the Nonsensoleans find the shipβs extremely toxic cleaning supplies, remark on humans keeping βthe spicesβ in weird places, and having a good old fashioned Nonsensolean barbecue, which is so poisonous smelling it is dangerous.
Aliens that are surprised and impressed by the temperature differences humans not only can withstand but willingly subject themselves to, but find subjecting themselves to levels of sensory deprivation humans would consider torture a useful mental exercise.
The βyour species is so weird (admiring, slightly worried)β is so much better when it cuts every which way. Galactic community is full of freaks and nobody is 100% sure what everyone else can do.
