Ferengi redesign
Ferengi are a smaller species, not generally getting over 5’6”, but have long digitigrade legs. Their three-toed feet have slight webbing between the toes, and they’ll often ‘sit’ on their lower legs (it looks hilarious but that’s beside the point). The Ferengi body plan isn’t great for walking around, and the most efficient method of locomotion is an easy hop-lope, which is good for getting around patches of swampland without falling into a mire (not that they have to do that anymore, but hey, that’s what evolved).
Ferengi have small eyes, and their eyesight’s not fantastic (probably why they like such bold patterns), and their sense of smell is average, but their hearing is fantastic. Ferengis’ ears are immobile, but they have highly mobile necks and can turn their head around pinpoints sounds, much like an owl. It’s freaky. The shape of the ears funnels sound, and also help keep most of the rain out. The shape of the ears is variable, and the size is greatly dependent on the nutrients the fetus receives through the parent during gestation. The size of a child’s ears determine their gender designation and thus their treatment in Ferengi society. This is usually established at birth, but reassessed at 4-5 years old (it can be reassessed at any time and enough money will get you whatever designation you or your parents want)—but that’s a whole social thing and I’m not getting into that right now.
When they’re born, Ferengi skulls are mostly cartilage, because a hard skull would be even more difficult to birth. They’re born with folded ears, which are unfolded for measurement but don’t unfold on their own for several weeks. Ferengi have only one sex, and all Ferengi are capable of carrying and siring offspring—they’ve evolved so that a pair would each carry a child, but that very rarely happens in current Ferengi society due to rigid gender roles.
Ferengi don’t have any hair, and they like their skin to be a bit moist if they’re off-world. On Ferenginar it’s going to be moist anyway so they don’t even think about it, but Ferengi abroad will notice that they feel a bit scratchy and tired. This can be alleviated with a daily steamy shower/bath/etc. or a damp cloth worn about the neck or head.
Ferengi have a venomous spur, a modified carpal bone that delivers a toxin that’s non-fatal to pretty much everything but the large insects they like to eat. Some Ferengi dishes consist of a single huge, live, bug which is killed and eaten by the diner using the spur. Homeworld Ferengi are mainly insectivorous, and they get away with being much larger than Terran insectivores by eating massive insects (or insect equivalents. They’re close enough). To aid in crunching bugs, Ferengi have sharp, pointed teeth. They also tend to have high, nasal voices, and shriek horribly when they get upset or feel threatened.
(i haven’t gone too far into thinking about the social aspects of Ferengi society but i’m interested in how the redesign could interact with the canon mores and culture. Canon Ferengi society has rigid gender roles but a contrasting fluidity of presentation, as demonstrated by the ease with which Quark and Pel present as different genders. I’m also interested in how the redesign could possibly expand on the kinds of presented genders and their roles in society [i.e. a business owner like Quark differs from a civil servant like Brunt]. Redesign Ferengi culture is something I’ll keep thinking about.)
(it looks like they just have a tiny dick it’s not what it seems i swear)
I know the penis comment is a total aside, but I can’t help but remark on it anyway, because I am filled with useless trivia.
Among most terrestrial animals, the penis is very small when not actively engaged in sexual activity, and is often hidden or retractable. Even during sexual activity, most animals have relatively small penises compared to their overall body mass. Humans are the odd ones out both in terms of having large, non-retractable penises flopping about when not in use, and in terms of having cartoonishly huge penises for a mammal.
Seriously - in terms of penis-size-to-body-mass ratio, humans have gorillas, horses, elephants and even whales beat handily. It’s actually kind of grotesque. It’s been theorised that the reason for this is that, among our early hominid ancestors, the penis was adapted for the purpose of sexual display, and experienced runaway selection favouring large, ostentatious members, much like the tail of a peacock - and like the peacock’s tail, there’s absolutely no functional reason for it to be as large as it is.
The upshot is that an alien species probably isn’t going to be endowed in a similar fashion, especially if they have some other body feature that fills the “sexual display” role instead. This is particularly relevant with respect to the Ferengi, because we already have a canonical answer with respect to what body part plays that role: the ears.
TL/DR version: it makes total sense that Ferengi would have tiny dicks, because their evolutionary history selected a different body part for sexual display. Huge, showy human-style dongs would thus serve no purpose.
