History Main / LovecraftianSuperPower

* ''[[Literature/TheCircleOpens Magic Steps]'' has "unmagic", a form of magic that revolves around [[PowerOfTheVoid the absence of everything else: light, life, existence, true magic, and so on]]. Just having it used on or near you will gradually eat away your mind and leave you an EmptyShell unless you're carefully cleansed of the traces, and when Sandry has to actually spin it to make the net for the Dihanurs it gives her waking nightmares and very nearly drives her mad.

* Creator/ShinyaTsukamoto's films often use this; most obviously his ''Tetsuo'' films, where the main protagonists ([[MindScrew well, as far as they can be identified as such]]) invariably end up sprouting/fusing with various pieces of metal and machine, becoming hideous Creator/HRGiger-esque biomechanical monstrosities.

* ComicBook/NewMutants has the Project Purgatory arc which introduces the Inferno Babies, the latent mutant infants used during ''{{Comicbook/Inferno}}'' to open a portal to Limbo over Manhattan. Some of them have monstrous mutations fitting the hostile environment they were raised in; Scab's blood becomes body armor, Maw is covered in fanged mouths and Alex is a BlobMonster.

** Narratively speaking, StarPower is considered to be unnatural. Makes sense, for only those who [[spoiler:delve into the [[ThingsManIsNotMeantToKnow Eldritch Truth]]]] can utilise it. It speaks volumes when even the most skilled of arcane/magic users, like [[LadyOfBlackMagic Olga]], [[{{Seers}} Celestine]], and [[EvilSorcerer Shamuhaza]], are not shown to fire streams of starlight. Kyril, from his experience in [[VideoGame/BloodBorne Yharnam]], states that he had seen a few creatures that are able to fire starlight, like the [[MythologyGag Celestial Emissary]]. Therefore, he deduced that something or someone related to the Healing Church's research had somehow ended up here.

* Nero Chaos in ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'' is a magus whose entire body consists of the loosely drafted together biomass of 666 wild animals, beasts and legendary monsters that he can either send out in their true form or, more in tune with this trope, use partially, such as generating black tentacles, fangs, claws and such out of his flesh.

* [[EldritchAbomination Awakened Beings]] in ''Manga/{{Claymore}}'' tend to start sprouting tentacles to rip people apart with. That's [[UpToEleven only the beginning]] of the BodyHorror here, though...

* ComicBook/GenerationX foe Emplate had mouths on his hands that let him cannibalize mutant bone marrow. In the BadFuture that ComicBook/{{Bishop}} came from, Emplate's powers had become contagious and vampiric "emplates" were a constant danger even though the original had apparently been killed.

* Milder example in ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'': ComicBook/TheThing looks like a giant rock hulk. This produces plenty of angst for Ben Grimm, and the fact that other people in the Marvel Universe have been mutated in much worse ways isn't exactly a great consolation.

** Most noticeable is ComicBook/{{Carnage}}, a psychopathic serial killer whose symbiote tends to turn into a cloud of barbed tentacles whenever it feels like it. Also, the reason his suit is red is that it's made up of the ComicBook/{{Venom}} symbiote mixed with Cletus Kasady's blood.

* The Comicbook/IncredibleHulk is one of the most prominent examples of this trope. And perhaps one of the tamest. At least Bruce maintains a totally humanoid form. There are a number of gamma mutates who aren't ''nearly'' so lucky...

* The Creator/DCComics {{Elseworld}} ''Franchise/{{Batman}}: The Doom that Came to Gotham'' is a Cthulhu/Batman mashup that presents Penguin, Mr Freeze, Poison Ivy, Two-Face and ultimately [[spoiler:Batman himself]] as this. In particular, Harvey's scarred side becomes a flesh-portal to Lovecraftian dimensions, while his normal side is still capable of carrying on a conversation.

* ''ComicBook/RobinSeries'': Tim stumbles across a strange thing in the Appalachian mountains that can retain human form by linking itself to a human who in turn is granted immortality through regeneration while near them but loses their ability to speak and has their memories and sense of self altered. If their linked human is killed they revert into a mass of fleshy tentacles interspersed with giant mouths and eyes and kill everyone around them until they form a new link and make a new human form for themselves.

* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5571816/15/Win-Some-Lose-Some Blood and Venom]]'' has Naruto taking PoisonousPerson UpToEleven. His saliva is poisonous (he can change the poison but has to flush his venom sac a few times to prevent cross contamination), he bleeds hydrofluoric acid, sweats nitroglycerine, and pees cyanide. What really sells it however is how Naruto replenishes his fluids from spitting poison or bleeding acid. He manipulates his spilled blood and that of others, causing it to flow into any open wounds on his body as well as his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose. Kiba mentions that he hasn't been able to sleep alone ever since seeing Naruto use an Exploding Blood Clone to take out a group of bandits then absorb their blood.

** [[spoiler: Taken UpToEleven in ''[[Recap/TriptychContinuumGlimmer Glimmer]]''. The story does a very good job of conveying the utter, sanity-destroying ''wrongness'' of Starlight's mark amputation, and the horror of having your soul torn out and a gaping hole left in its place.]]

* ''Literture/TheBehemoth'' features [[TheSymbiote symbiotes]] that [[TheCorruption corrupt and empower]] people who are [[CursedWithAwesome lucky]] enough to have one. They grant [[BodyHorror horrific]] [[SuperMode transformations]] that are themed after parts of the body -- the hero has [[BloodyMurder armor made out of coagulated blood]], another is a WingedHumanoid with a carapace made of [[SkeletonsInTheCoatCloset his own bones]], and that's not even counting the [[KrakenAndLeviathan Leviathan made out of human fat.]]

* Ben Hargreeves from ''Series/TheUmbrellaAcademy'' possesses a portal in his stomach through which he can summon eldritch tentacles. He's not fond of this.

* The novel and webtoon Literature/SoloLeveling has the main character Sung Jin-Woo gain the power of the shadow monarch which gives him explicit control over the dead. He's effectively a {{Necromancer}} and can raise any magical being that has mana. But unlike the traditional version of a necromancer, he calls up the dead as shadows that have a physical presence but is also an example of CastingAShadow as they can hide in people's shadows and he can see through their eyes. The Summons are also not just shells or shadows of the person they were but the actual souls and spirits of the original bound to Sung Jin-Woo and not only that but they find HappinessInSlavery as every shadow brought back by him is filled with the overwhelming desire to serve him and feels happiness simply by serving him.

* The warp-spasm of Cuchulainn from Myth/CelticMythology is all this. Think the ComicBook/IncredibleHulk, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuchulainn#The_Cattle_Raid_of_Cooley only uglier]].

* ''Webcomic/{{Redd}}'' has [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Esmerelda Bizarre]], who pretty much has the works: Worships an EldritchAbomination called the Flesh God, has [[AndIMustScream thousands of tiny screaming faces]] of long-dead HumanResources sacrificed to him long ago [[http://www.bumrushcomics.com/?comic=chapter55 on her arms,]] the ability to summon CombatTentacles, [[EyesDoNotBelongThere Eyes That Do Not Belong There]], MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily provided by TooManyMouths, [[BackFromTheDead raising the dead,]] yadda yadda yadda... [[DarkIsNotEvil but she's a]] [[PerkyGoth pretty nice girl!]] She's even a bit of CombatMedic at IBISEC.

** [[spoiler:Aizen during his fight vs Ichigo gets a gruesome transformation with the skin of his face ''splits'' in half]]

* In ''Literature/{{Pathfinder}}'', [[TheHero Rigg]] bonds with a [[PuppeteerParasite Facemask]]. A [[MentalFusion successful]] [[FusionDance bonding]] can benefit both parties, however there is a very high chance of ending up as a MeatPuppet. As a result of a successful bonding Rigg (who was WeakButSkilled until this point) becomes [[StoryBreakerPower REALLY]] over powered.

* The Wyrm Master from ''[[VideoGame/NexusWar Nexus Clash]]'' is a demon that has witnessed the thoughts of Tholaghru, a festering pain-ridden botched deity-golem that was a failed experiment by the setting's squabbling gods who managed to claw its way onto the pantheon itself. The Wyrm Master's BodyHorror summoning powers are its attempts to share these revelations with you.

** Unlike most eldritch beings seen in the Codexverse, Moon Ray Vaughoof/Prince Canticum Lunae Cahaya is unique in that his very nature is connected to certain astral/cosmic/planetary planes, making him go through three cycles of death, reincarnation, and life in an endless loop while giving him three portfolios associated with each 'cycle'. His domain of Cycles in particular gives him the ability to sense, create, and manipulate cycles, as well as other powers similar to those of [[ControlFreak High King Ragnarøkkr]]. However, he is vastly inexperienced in comparison and generally uses them for benevolent purposes.

* In ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' [[spoiler:certain humans have the power to transform into Titans]]. It's implied that the main difference between them and [[spoiler:the other Titans]] is that they can ''control'' their power.

Where StockSuperpowers make reality cry and sometimes meet BodyHorror.

* The miniseries ''ComicBook/{{North 40}}'' deals with what happens when some kid reads the TomeOfEldritchLore in a small town's library, triggering a MassSuperEmpoweringEvent of this type. The lucky ones get more or less StockSuperpowers like invulnerability, super-strength, and [[AnimalEyeSpy the ability to see through an animal's eyes]]. The ''other'' ones, however, get the ability to make [[HumanResources man-powered]] killing machines, see through any photograph of themselves with their "new eyes" (which [[EyeScream look like fanged maws]]), or just plain all purpose BodyHorror of various and sundry varieties.

* In ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', the 9th Espada Aaronerio's Resurreccion form turns him into a gigantic EldritchAbomination-like tentacled mass, with the upper half of his still human-sized humanoid body on top of it.

* For Manga/OnePiece, we have [[MsFanservice Nico]] [[BadassBookworm Robin]]. It is very easy to forget that such a pretty woman consistently uses her powers to '''break the spines of her enemies.''' What are those powers, exactly? [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower Sprouting bodyparts out of anywhere.]] However, unlike most other examples, we do not [[{{Squick}} squirm in agony]] when she uses her powers, but instead ''[[CatharsisFactor relish]]'' when the [[TakeThatScrappy bastards get what's coming for them.]] And as an added bonus, she's a part of the Straw Hat Pirates.

* The novel and webtoon Literature/SoloLeveling has the main character Sung Jin-Woo gain the power of the shadow monarch which gives him explicit control over the dead. He's effectively TheNecromancer and can raise any magical being that has mana. But unlike the traditional version of a necromancer, he calls up the dead as shadows that have a physical presence but is also an example of CastingAShadow as they can hide in people's shadows and he can see through their eyes. The Summons are also not just shells or shadows of the person they were but the actual souls and spirits of the original bound to Sung Jin-Woo and not only that but they find HappinessInSlavery as every shadow brought back by him is filled with the overwhelming desire to serve him and feels happiness simply by serving him.

** The Pillar Men from ''[[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency Battle Tendency]]'' are BodyHorror incarnate. Specific powers vary depending on the person, but they're all shown to be able to contort their bodies far beyond anything the most flexible, double-jointed human could even hope to do, and even crush their own skeletons into dust to slip through tiny spaces (fortunately, they also have an extremely powerful HealingFactor to undo it) and can effortlessly absorb any living thing into their bodies simply by touching them. More specific powers include burrowing inside other people's bodies and [[PeoplePuppets controlling them]], extending their ribcages to impale opponents, sprouting chainsaw arm blades, rotating their arms like drills fast enough to create powerful whirlwinds and firing RazorWind from holes in their bodies, and prehensile blood vessels that can inject literally boiling hot blood into people. When one Pillar Man is seemingly killed, his brain is able to escape his body and seize control of another person [[spoiler:and when their leader, Kars, is transformed by the Stone Mask, he gains CompleteImmortality and the power to transform any part of his body into any animal, even when said parts aren't connected to his body (for example, he grows bird wings and fires razor sharp feathers at Joseph. The feathers then transform into piranhas to continue attacking him)]].

** The ninja Pain has a lot of these. First of all, his ability to posses and use the bodies of dead people as if they were his own. Next, each body has its own unique ability. The Shurando body that Pain uses can read peoples minds by [[YourSoulIsMine ripping out their souls]] which can kill them. The Jingokudo body can summon the king of hell which is a large demonic head that uses mouth tentacles to connect to a living person and if they lie, their life-force is drained and the target dies. The real big one is Gedo or "Outer Path" which allows pain to not only manipulate the forces of life and death by resurrecting people, but he can resurrect thousands of people at once.
* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' gives us a nice helping of this with [[EldritchAbomination the Angels]], but especially [[TheVirus Bardiel and Armisael]], though [[FusionDance Israfel's]] dance of death is also pretty bad. And, ahem, the entirety of the Instrumentality. Unit 01's [[spoiler:[[AppendageAssimilation stealing Zeruel's arm to use for itself]]]] also counts.
* For Manga/OnePiece, we have [[MsFanservice Nico]] [[BadassBookworm Robin]]. It is very easy to forget that such a pretty woman ''consistently'' uses her powers to '''[[BodyHorror break the spines of her enemies.]]''' What are those powers, exactly? [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower Sprouting bodyparts out of anywhere.]] However, unlike most other examples, we do not [[{{Squick}} squirm in agony]] when she uses her powers, but instead ''[[CatharsisFactor relish]]'' when the [[TakeThatScrappy bastards get what's coming for them.]] And as an added bonus, she's a part of the Straw Hat Pirates.

* ''Manga/SgtFrog'': Subverted, as [[spoiler:Alisa's assumed to have this ability at first, but it's really due to her "Daddy", a shapeshifting symbiote that lives on her head]].

* ''Fanfic/AncientSins'': as part of her [[NextTierPowerUp power upgrade]], equine Rarity gains the ability to [[MakingASplash control water]], which comes with the perk of controling any water adjacent fluid. This can range from posions, sweat, spit, and even blood.

A subtrope of BadPowersBadPeople (usually), possibly because MagicIsEvil. Alternatively, this can overlap with BadPowersGoodPeople, though less frequently. May be a useful side-effect of TheVirus or TheCorruption. Often manifests as CombatTentacles, [[YouAreWhoYouEat cannibalistic]] and [[BodyHorror horrific]] ShapeShifting (sometimes [[PartialTransformation partial shapeshifting]]), BloodyMurder, or a BeeBeeGun, and is likely [[PowerIncontinence not quite controllable]]. Can overlap with OneWingedAngel, PowerUpgradingDeformation and ShapeShifterMashup, and usually counts as a {{supertrope}} of SpiderLimbs and, on a sillier note, {{Fartillery}}. Related to EldritchTransformation, which is often one-and-done and involuntary by comparison.

** The Pillar Men from ''Manga/BattleTendency'' are BodyHorror incarnate. Specific powers vary depending on the person, but they're all shown to be able to contort their bodies far beyond anything the most flexible, double-jointed human could even hope to do, and even crush their own skeletons into dust to slip through tiny spaces (fortunately, they also have an extremely powerful HealingFactor to undo it) and can effortlessly absorb any living thing into their bodies simply by touching them. More specific powers include burrowing inside other people's bodies and [[PeoplePuppets controlling them]], extending their ribcages to impale opponents, sprouting chainsaw arm blades, rotating their arms like drills fast enough to create powerful whirlwinds and firing RazorWind from holes in their bodies, and prehensile blood vessels that can inject literally boiling hot blood into people. When one Pillar Man is seemingly killed, his brain is able to escape his body and seize control of another person [[spoiler:and when their leader, Kars, is transformed by the Stone Mask, he gains CompleteImmortality and the power to transform any part of his body into any animal, even when said parts aren't connected to his body (for example, he grows bird wings and fires razor sharp feathers at Joseph. The feathers then transform into piranhas to continue attacking him)]].
** There's also the vampires ([[spoiler:originally created from humans by the Pillar Men with the Stone Mask ''as a food source'']]), and their [[OurZombiesAreDifferent zombie minions]] who get instances of this, such as being able to contort and warp their bodies in numerous freakish ways; one of them has a nest of venomous snakes in his head, another uses [[PrehensileHair his hair as a weapon]], and ''Manga/{{Phantom Blood}}'''s BigBad Dio can ''[[EyeScream split open his eyes]] with a thought to shoot out the liquid inside with the power and accuracy of a sniper rifle''.
** And from ''Manga/StardustCrusaders'' onward, several Stands have those types of powers (such as a minuscule Stand that enters your brain through the ear canal and wreaks havoc on your nervous system or turns its victims into PeoplePuppets, or one that manifests as a pustulant, tumorous growth either on its wielder ([[spoiler:which covers them from head to toe and can be altered to make them look like a completely different person]]) or their enemy (where it grows into a grotesque homunculus/conjoined twin who then tries its damnedest to murder its host body). Those two examples are just two from early in the first arc to use Stands, and since the freakiness of said Stands only escalates in latter arcs... It's that kind of series.

** Elder Toguro has the power to manipulate his physical form. This allows him to form his body into any weapon imaginable, travel unseen through the ground by liquefying his body, avoid fatal injuries by shifting his organs around, reattach severed limbs, regenerate from any non-fatal wound, and so on. [[spoiler:Later on his body mutates to the point where he becomes truly immortal, unable to die of age due to being a demon, and being able to regenerate from anything ''including'' injuries to the heart or brain and obliteration]].

** A one-shot Morlock was named [=MeMe=]. He absorbs people into himself physically to get bigger and stronger; at any given point, screaming humans melted into him and each other will be wriggling around on his body, with the limbs and faces of his less-intact victims jutting out every which way. As they shift and more are added, he never looks exactly the same in any two panels.

* ComicBook/NewMutants has the Project Purgatory arc which introduces the Inferno Babies, the latent mutant infants used during [[{{Comicbook/Inferno}} Inferno]] to open a portal to Limbo over Manhattan. Some of them have monstrous mutations fitting the hostile environment they were raised in; Scab's blood becomes body armor, Maw is covered in fanged mouths and Alex is a BlobMonster.

* Milder example in ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'': The Thing looks like a giant rock hulk. This produces plenty of angst for Ben Grimm, and the fact that other people in the Marvel Universe have been mutated in much worse ways isn't exactly a great consolation.

** Of course, in the ''VideoGame/SpiderManWebOfShadows'' videogame, Spider-Man's old "Black Suit" symbiote also has the potential to turn into this, if you buy all its upgrades. Waves of writhing, black tentacles covering half a city block is just the beginning...

* The Creator/DCComics {{Elseworld}} ''Comicbook/{{Batman}}: The Doom that Came to Gotham'' is a Cthulhu/Batman mashup that presents Penguin, Mr Freeze, Poison Ivy, Two-Face and ultimately [[spoiler:Batman himself]] as this. In particular, Harvey's scarred side becomes a flesh-portal to Lovecraftian dimensions, while his normal side is still capable of carrying on a conversation.

* In ''Cave Story Versus I M Meen'', the [[spoiler:TrueFinalBoss]], Website/DeviantArt, has the ability to transform into horrifying representations of his own fetishes. First, he transforms into a Main/GiantFootOfStomping as a huge swarm of flying vaginas appears in the upper part of the enormous room. Then, he [[SuperGenderBender gender-bends himself]] into a morbidly obese floating woman with a circle of eight giant, lethal, fat-dripping donuts flying around her. Finally, last but not least, four of her protective donuts suddenly grow huge amounts of mold as she sends out an array of giant blood-stained used condoms for the hero to stand on as ''[[TurnsRed her stomach explodes violently and gorily from overinflation, turning the vaginas into pus-oozing, tainted-blood-squirting blue waffles and prompting a bunch of naked anthropomorphic flies to crawl inside her body and feast on her endlessly regenerating entrails.]]'' NauseaFuel at its finest.

** Perhaps the biggest example is ''Her'' from ''Triptych'' itself. ''She'' is an unstable hybrid of the three pony tribes, and slowly changes from one to another. And as she changes, her body reshapes itself: ''her'' horn tears out through the skin and then recedes again, ribs ''break'' to accomodate unfolding wings, muscles tear and flesh reshapes. Worse, her mark actually ''rotates'' to reflect these changes, something so unnatural that it acts as a BrownNote to pony witnesses.
** Other works in the series mention Kalziver's Severance, a spell that can very briefly cut the connection between pony and mark. The spell is referred to as "magical blasphemy", and using it causes excrutiating agony from forcing magic to do something that fundamentally is not supposed to be possible.

** And all of the above are contrasted with the powers of the "hybrids", [[spoiler: ponies who have been infused with another tribe's essence and often develop unusual powers as a result. These are often bizzare (one hybrid can rewind time for weather systems, another is a pegasus who can work with unicorn {{Magitek}} but not ''pegasus'' {{Magitek}}, and of course Pinkie Pie is Pinkie Pie), but even the oddest lack the innate sanity-destroying ''wrongness'' of the other effects on this list.]]

*** Leotho is a boy with a [[InvoluntaryShapeshifter ravenous beast form]]. He works for Carrion in return for the antidote, which he needs continual doses of to remain human.

* In Season 3 episode "Earshot", [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Buffy]] fears she might get a Lovecraftian superpower after touching demon blood. Instead she got PsychicPowers, though with great power came great [[BlessedWithSuck suckiness]] that nearly sent her insane.

* The world of ''Podcast/TheMagnusArchives'' is inhabited by the Powers, fourteen [[EldritchAbomination eldritch gods]] based on humanity's [[PrimalFear primal fears]]. Becoming an avatar of one of the Powers grants you powerful supernatural abilities, but also makes you increasingly inhuman, both in nature and in appearance. [[spoiler:Even the heroes aren't exempt from this once they start serving the Powers. Jon, an avatar of the Beholding, gains a CompellingVoice and limited omniscience at the expense of an increasingly insatiable HorrorHunger and [[EyesDoNotBelongThere eyes where eyes should not belong]]]].

** The augmentations which initates of the [[SpaceMarine Adeptus Astartes]] receive also count. Some of them just make the guy physically superior to an ordinary human, such as a secondary heart to aid with blood circulation, organs which drastically improve vision, smell/taste, and hearing, and specialized organs which filter out inhaled poison and ingested poison (this one also gives them superhuman alcohol tolerance). However, there are also weird ones, such as the Betcher's Gland, which allows the Space Marine to spit acid, and the Omophagea, which connects the stomach to the nervous system in such a way that the Space Marine can learn from his food.

* In ''TabletopGame/CthulhuTech'', Tagers and their Nyarlathotep-worshiping counterparts, the Dhohanoids, manifest a Manga/{{Guyver}}-style ability to transform into [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations.]]

* ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'':
** The Las Plagas parasites usually spawn such mutations in those they infect. Even villains who don't go full-on OneWingedAngel tend to have giant claws (Krauser) and CombatTentacles (Saddler before fully transforming).
** The T Virus usually just creates zombies, but properly treated, victims can be turned into boss monsters such as the Tyrant and the Nemesis. The point of the virus was to mass-produce these guys--the zombies and most everything else are the result of accidents.
** The G Virus gives you a healing factor, claws and CombatTentacles at the cost of your higher brain functions. You also end up degrading into a giant, cancerous mass over time. Lovely.
** As Albert Wesker, who himself gained quite a few of these powers, revealed, this was the ultimate intention of the Uroburos plague; to transform select humans into superpowered monsters and kill all others.
** Alexia in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilCodeVeronica'' has similar superpowers as a result of the Veronica-T virus.
** The specialized variant of the C-Virus can give one unique powers for each individual, with varying results though always having a downside in compensation.
* The hero of {{FPS}} ''VideoGame/TheDarkness'', Jackie Estacado, sprouts a pair of snapping serpentine demon-heads from his shoulders, as well as producing dark tentacles to impale foes and destroy walls as needed.

* Similarly to ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' and ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'', ''VideoGame/AncientDomainsOfMystery'' features various "corruptions" that you eventually gain after enough exposure to the forces of Chaos (from traps and Chaos beings, but also simply being deep in a dungeon). These most commonly take the form of Lovecraftian superpowers - although as "superpowers", they're mostly examples of BlessedWithSuck. Also similarly to the ''Warhammer'' games, taking enough corruption will turn you into a "writhing mass of primal Chaos".
* ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}'' has the main character capable of significantly altering his own body, allowing him to grow everything from claws to CombatTentacles to better destroy absolutely everything around him... or he can ''eat someone'' to steal their appearance and blend into a crowd. Combine this with SuperStrength, SuperSpeed, and NighInvulnerability, and you've got one very scary VillainProtagonist on your hands.
* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'' has The Pain, who is technically covered in hornets. He attacks by spitting hornets that burrow into Snake's flesh unless removed.
* Yuri and other Harmonixers (except Shania) in ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts'' fuse with various demons, in ways that cause their bodies visible pain and take a toll on their minds. The villains tend to be even more so.

* Saki of ''VideoGame/SinAndPunishment'', as a result of absorbing [[MysteriousWaif Achi's]] blood ([[spoiler:she turns out to be an EldritchAbomination, incidentally]]), gains the ability to transform into a really scary-looking {{Kaiju}} that can teleport, shoot giant lasers out of its claws, and grow to such immense size that it is fully capable of battling ''entire planets''. As long as he's paired with Airan, he can control it. [[SuperpoweredEvilSide If not...]] [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt it's not pretty.]] After it activates, even in his human form, he has disturbing looking patches of alien flesh on his body.
* The ''Videogame/SoulSeries'' has a couple of examples. The various forms of Nightmare have a [[RedRightHand horribly disfigured and mutated arm]], and Abyss, the ultimate form of Zasalamel...[[BodyHorror yeah.]]
* In the [[VideoGame/ScottPilgrim Scott Pilgrim video game]], Todd has [[http://paulrobertson.mechafetus.com/toddingram_freakout_a.gif this attack]]. It's a ShoutOut to ''Manga/{{Akira}}''. [[BodyHorror Is there any wonder?]]
* ''Videogame/BaldursGate''. In Shadows of Amn, the main character eventually gains the power to transform into the Slayer, a giant demonic creature with huge claws that's nearly unstoppable. Unfortunately, there are [[BlessedWithSuck side effects]].
* ''Franchise/DeadSpace'': Unitologists believe that the power of the Marker will allow them to become a new, immortal form of life... [[GoneHorriblyRight and they're not wrong]]. It just so happens that this "immortality" involves losing your mind and having your body transmuted into a specifically-formed zombie with no purpose than to harvest biological matter to propagate your species.
* Some lucky Infected in ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'' gain considerable powers, at the expense of their... human appearance. May not apply because you can't "choose" to become a special infected, but the theory is there anyway.
* Being what amounts to a [[CuteMonsterGirl cute little girl with an eldritch tentacled horror attached to her back]], ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea 4| A Promise Unforgotten}}'''s Desco naturally comes with quite a few of these.

* ''VideoGame/{{Skullgirls}}'':
** Ms. Fortune. Her power comes from her undying body and nigh-infinite HealingFactor, allowing for such things as using HighPressureBlood for propulsion and ensnaring her opponents in her own muscle fibers.
** Painwheel. Her powers come from severe and [[PlayingWithSyringes unwanted]] bioaugmentation that required [[http://wiki.shoryuken.com/images/d/d5/SG_Painwheel_portrait.jpg major disfigurement]]. Many of her attacks involve spikes tearing through her skin, and/or severe, painful contortions.
** Eliza. She replaced her ''entire skeletal system'' with a power-granting parasite, and the rest of her "body", save for her brain and possibly some other organs, is just [[ThePowerOfBlood blood shapeshifted into a human-looking form]]. She's [[ShapeshifterWeapon constantly shapeshifting to attack]], with grotesque results.
** Double, sort of. She is an EldritchAbomination. In battle, she doesn't use much of this: she's a {{Voluntary Shapeshift|ing}}er with the ability to assume the form of any of the other fighters and use their powers in battle. [[CutscenePowerToTheMax She makes up for it in cutscenes]].
* A more subtle example are the deformed, EldritchAbomination-worshipping swampfolk and tribals in the ''VideoGame/Fallout3'' DLC ''Point Lookout'', which, while they don't have tentacles or other Lovecraftian appendages, do have [[MadeOfIron superhuman durability]] and [[AWizardDidIt magical]] [[ArmorPiercingAttack armor-ignoring weapons]].
* The Flood in ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'', once they've infected an organic body, have the ability to morph it into various shapes to aid in combat, most commonly sprouting CombatTentacles and spikes. At a certain point they start developing Pure Forms: Flood creatures built out of a mishmash of organic material which can shift forms fairly drastically to fit into a variety of situations, from aptly named [[TheJuggernaut Tank Forms]], to the intermediary [[LightningBruiser Stalker Forms]], to the [[SpikeShooter Ranged Form]].

* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'':
** In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'', the BigBad is Dagoth Ur, a PhysicalGod DeityOfHumanOrigin who gained his power by tapping into the [[CosmicKeystone Heart]] of a [[GodIsDead "dead" god]]. Aside from his CompleteImmortality [[spoiler:(at least until his connection to the Heart is severed)]], he also gains the power to create and spread the [[ViralTransformation Corprus]] [[MysticalPlague Disease]], a form of TheCorruption which turns sufferers into Dagoth's mindless, BodyHorror, HumanoidAbomination, PlagueZombie minions.
** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'':
*** Peryite, the [[OurGodsAreDifferent Daedric Prince]] of [[{{Plaguemaster}} Pestilence]] and Tasks, offers a quest to kill the leader of a group of his rogue followers who have been "[[BlessedWithSuck blessed]]" with a particular MysticalPlague. One of the effects of the plague gives the suffers a weaponized version of ''projectile vomiting''. Before going rogue, Peryite intended to have these followers spread the plague to the entire world.
*** In the ''Dragonborn'' DLC, the [[PlayerCharacter Dragonborn]] has to defeat EvilCounterpart BigBad Miraak, who also happens to be the champion of Hermaeus Mora, the Daedric Prince of [[TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow Knowledge]] and the only Daedric Prince who doesn't bother using AFormYouAreComfortableWith (preferring to appear as a true EldritchAbomination). After defeating Miraak, [[spoiler:Mora proclaims the Dragonborn to be [[YouKillItYouBoughtIt his new champion]]]]. He grants a set of tentacle-tastic armor, a staff and sword which wriggle and drip slime, and the unholy ability to summon pools of necrotic darkness, tentacles, and floating eyes.
* The Terror Mask in ''VideoGame/{{Splatterhouse}}'' gives its wearer this along with a HealingFactor in addition to making them a hulking giant in the remake. Rick is able to protrude bones from his body and sharpen them into blades, or open his chest to siphon blood from his enemies.
* ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'' has a few enemies that are the result of this. [[DownloadableContent The Old Hunters]] introduced the means for the player to do it as well, using the Milkweed Rune (an item gained from the mind of a woman who experimented on herself until her head was so bloated with fluid that it was all that was left from her) combined with the [[CombatTentacles Kos Parasite]] (a creature from the carcass of an EldritchAbomination. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TR9uxl90F0g The end result looks like this]]. One of the weirder things about it is how the dodge animation is changed to make it look as though the Hunter is being [[PeoplePuppets dragged around by their tentacles]].
* From the same developer as ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'' comes ''VideoGame/DarkSouls3'' with its Pus of Man enemies - creatures that appear as typical undead shamblers but then metamorphose into hideous, oily-black masses.
* The ''Whispers of the Old Gods'' expansion in ''VideoGame/HearthstoneHeroesOfWarcraft'' added a lot of new cards that represent pre-existing cards - even Legendaries - imbued with the Old God's power, tentacles and all. Effects range from [[https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Mukla,_Tyrant_of_the_Vale King Mukla]] giving ''you'' Bananas instead of to the opponent, or the [[https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Twisted_Worgen Twisted Worgan]]'s single extra point of Attack.
* ''VideoGame/DarkestDungeon''
** The cultists, more specifically those residing in the titular location, gain boons as terribly effective as they are nasty to see. Some are so distorted that they lose their Human typing, and become Eldritch-Beast.
--> '''The Ancestor''': The creature's blessings are as repulsive as they are robust.
** On the player's side, the Occultist has access to summonable CombatTentacles, as well as a variety of curses and debuffs. It's heavily implied these powers come from a DealWithTheDevil.
** The Abomination has an eldritch creature bound within him, allowing him to half-transform to spew corrosive bile, and also turn into a skinless werewolf creature to maul your enemies. This is understandably stressful for everyone nearby.

* The Foreigner Servants from ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'' are mostly historical figures [[TouchedByVorlons who made contact with]] [[EldritchAbomination beings lurking in a higher realm]] who inspired Creator/HPLovecraft's various works. Foreigners have a relatively normal stage with the power granted to them by the Outer Gods restrained and a more eldritch stage with a darker palette and far more disturbing attacks.
** [[spoiler:Abigail Williams]] at first appears to be a normal twelve-year-old girl but it's revealed that [[spoiler:she was modified into becoming the host of Yog-Sothoth and became its Silver Key, with a literal keyhole growing on her forehead. This transforms her from a little girl to someone with the power to bring in Yog-Sothoth's tentacles into our world as she pleases, summon butterflies out of nowhere, and tap into an unearthly light for attacks. In the climax of the story she debuted, her power goes out of control, creating a dimensional breach into the universe for the Outer Gods to come through and only the protagonists beating the god inside her back into dormancy allows her to reassert control over herself. She also should've died after the protagonists resolved the crisis but her newfound temporal and spatial powers from tapping into Yog-Sothoth allow her to simply ignore that and carry on.]]
** Katsuhika Hokusai made contact with Cthulhu and the artwork he and Oei reproduce [[AlienGeometries contains the]] [[BrownNote madness of Cthulhu]], creating a disorienting dissonance (their version of Mount Fuji in this form erupts from the sky and the Great Wave off Kanagawa[[note]]Which is also implied to actually be depicting the waters over Ry'leh[[/note]] is blood-red).
** Yang Guifei has a connection to a being that seems to be a combination of Cthuga and Formalhaut and is implied to have been twisted into a catalyst for said being due to her devotion to her Emperor.
** Subverted with certain ones such as Mysterious Heroine XX, whose status as a Foreigner is due to her being an alien from another dimension, and [[LightNovel/FateRequiem Voyager]], who's the AnthropomorphicPersonification of the Voyager I satellite.

* Megaera in ''VideoGame/GodOfWarAscension'' has a four SpiderLimbs and can secrete [[PuppeteerParasite parasites]] from her chest that burrow underneath the skin of any living creatures. Once infected, these beings will grow into more [[BodyHorror twisted and horrific forms]] outside of anything seen in Greek myth and more like a sci-fi horror alien.
* ''VideoGame/TalesOfMajEyal'' has squicky powers for a number of classes. The Rot skill tree for Reavers revolves around infesting yourself with carrion worms. Oozemancers are druid-like defenders of nature, but the aspect of nature they emulate is oozes, slime molds, and fungi, giving them talents like Mitosis and Indiscernible Anatomy. The classes from the ''Forbidden Cults'' DLC are naturally chock-full of Lovecraftian powers, with the Writhing One focusing on summoning horror-type monsters and mutating themself into one, while the Cultist of Entropy uses spells that crack open reality and harrow the minds of their enemies.
* A minor example in ''VideoGame/BorderlandsThePreSequel'': [[spoiler:the Eye of Helios, a massive laser weapon in Hyperion's space station, is actually the eye of the Destroyer, the EldritchAbomination FinalBoss of [[VideoGame/Borderlands1 the first game]].]]
* ''VideoGame/Borderlands2'''s Krieg is a raging berserker whose entire powerset revolves around these. He can light himself on fire for significant power-ups, goes into a frenzy as he spills his enemies' blood, and grows more powerful from his own pain. When backed into a corner he can transform into a monstrous SuperMode that allows him to go on a near-unstoppable rampage. Even his basic playstyle, which revolves around esposing yourself to as much danger as possible and getting right up in the enemy's face, is completely unlike any other charater. He's easily the most bizarre PC in the series.
* ''VideoGame/{{Sundered}}'': If Eshe uses the Elder Shards, the Shining Trapezohedron will corrupt her abilities into nightmarish versions of her regular powers -- like sprouting bat-like wings to fly or arachnoid legs to climb.

* In the Bad End of ''VisualNovel/SpiritHunterNG'', [[spoiler:a mysterious voice transforms Akira into something non-human to free him from the guilt of his companions' deaths. When he's next seen, he has a long tentacle for an arm and glowing red eyes.]]

* The Infernomancer from ''Webcomic/DominicDeegan'' fits this trope, best seen [[http://www.dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2008-11-09 here]] and [[http://www.dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2008-11-10 here.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'': [[BigBad Aku]] inherited it from [[EldritchAbomination the Black Mass]]. Any kind of body horror, physical manipulation, shapeshifting, and dark magic is at his disposal as he is the [[GodOfEvil embodiment of evil]]. [[spoiler:The bit of himself he gave to the Cult of Aku, when drunk by the High Priestess, caused her to become pregnant and give birth to seven daughters, all of which carried Aku's essence inside him. Aku is able to take direct control of them and, by adding some more of his power, turn them into {{Humanoid Abomination}}s]].

* In ''Manga/BungouStrayDogs'' H.P Lovecraft's ability allows him to generate and create tentacles. [[spoiler:It gets even more, Lovecraftian, when you realize that not only is he BASED off of the original Lovecraft, but his ability is one that is odd, even among people who can [[HealingFactor heal you when you're half-dead]], [[{{Animorphsim}} turn into a white tiger]] and [[ClothingCombat turn a cloak into an omnivorous beast capable of eating space]]. Not only that, but someone who can [[PowerNullifier cancel abilities and makes them defunct for a period of time]], can't cancel Lovecraft's ability. He also transforms into an actual monster.]]

* The novel and webtoon Literature/SoloLeveling has the main character Sung Jin-Woo gain the power of the shadow monarch which gives him explicit control over the dead. He's effectively TheNecromancer and can raise any magical being that has mana. But unlike the traditional version of a necromancer, he calls up the dead as shadows that have a physical presence but is also an example of ShadowPower as they can hide in people's shadows and he can see through their eyes. The Summons are also not just shells or shadows of the person they were but the actual souls and spirits of the original bound to Sung Jin-Woo and not only that but they find HappinessInSlavery as every shadow brought back by him is filled with the overwhelming desire to serve him and feels happiness simply by serving him.

* You can learn the Celtic "warp-spasm" in ''TabletopGame/{{Scion}}''. The picture that accompanies it shows someone in the middle stages of transformation, and it isn't pretty (he's effectively turning into a mutant crow).
* One of the many consequences of taking high levels of Taint in Creator/WhiteWolf's ''TabletopGame/{{Aberrant}}''. Low-level aberrations might include glowing eyes or bulging muscles, while the higher levels of aberration include becoming too hideous to view or having an entire vestigial body. By the time of ''TabletopGame/{{Trinity}}'', set in Aberrant's future, as far as most people are concerned, all Aberrants are mutated, twisted freaks... though as the game goes on, it's revealed there are a good number who still look pretty human.

** Subverted with certain ones such as Mysterious Heroine XX, whose status as a Foreigner is due to her being an alien from another dimension as well as [[Lightnovel/FateReqiuem Voyager]], who's the AnthropomorphicPersonification of the Voyager I satellite.

* The Foreigner Servants from ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'' are historical figures [[TouchedByVorlons who made contact with]] [[EldritchAbomination beings lurking in a higher realm]] who inspired Creator/HPLovecraft's various works. Foreigners have a relatively normal stage with the power granted to them by the Outer Gods restrained and a more eldritch stage with a darker palette and far more disturbing attacks.

** Katsuhika Hokusai made contact with Cthulhu and the artwork he and Ou'i reproduce [[AlienGeometries contains the]] [[BrownNote madness of Cthulhu]], creating a disorienting dissonance (their version of Mount Fuji in this form erupts from the sky and the Great Wave off Kanagawa[[note]]Which is also implied to actually be depicting the waters over Ry'leh[[/note]] is blood-red).

[[folder:Korean Manwa]]
* The novel and webtoon Literature/SoloLeveling has the main character Sung Jin-Woo gain the power of the shadow monarch which gives him explicit control over the dead. He's effectively TheNecromancer and can raise any magical being that has mana. But unlike the traditional version of a necromancer, he calls up the dead as shadows that have a physical presence but is also an example of ShadowPower as they can hide in people's shadows and he can see through their eyes. The Summons are also not just shells or shadows of the person they were but the actual souls and spirits of the original bound to Sung Jin-Woo and not only that but they find HappinessInSlavery as every shadow brought back by him is filled with the overwhelming desire to serve him and feels happiness simply by serving him.
[[/folder]]