History Main / MetalMuncher

* ''VideoGame/KanColle'': By the nature of things, characters are usually depicted as straight-out eating bauxite, which is one of the resources in the game. Especially Akagi, who is depicted as usually [[BigEater devouring your bauxite supplies]].

** AD&D 1st Edition ''Fiend Folio'': The khargra is a monster from the Elemental Plane of Earth. It normally "swims" through solid rock looking for metal ores to consume. If it encounters creatures with metal items (e.g. armor and weapons), it will leap out of the surrounding rock and bite the items in an attempt to eat them.
** AD&D 2[[superscript:nd]] Edition ''Monstrous Manual'': Xarens are stony {{Elemental Embodiment}}s whose primary diet is metals, unlike their close relatives the Xorn, who prefer unrefined minerals and gems. They're [[NonMaliciousMonster not hostile]], but, unfortunately for adventurers, enchanted metals like magical weapons and armour are especially delicious to them.
** 1[[superscript:st]] Edition AD&D ''Monster Manual''. The Xorn is a creature from the Elemental Plane of Earth that can smell metals up to 20 feet away. If it encounters PlayerCharacters who are carrying metal (copper, silver, gold and so on), it will demand that they hand over the metal(s) so it can eat them. It will try to take the metals by force if the characters refuse.
** ''Magazine/{{Dragon}}'' magazine #53 "Dragon's Bestiary". The creature known as the argas can improve its armor class by eating certain metals. Iron, mithril and adamantite improve armor class ''to'' AC 2, -1 and -3, respectively. Eating silver or gold improves armor class ''by'' one or two points, respectively. An argas can receive the benefit from each metal only once, so the best armor class one can have is -6 (after eating adamantite, silver and gold).

* In ''Manga/FairyTail'': Dragon Slayers can, in addition to normal food, consume the element that makes up their magic to quickly restore their magical power and sometimes as a substitute for normal meals. This trope thus comes into play for Gajeel Redfox, the Iron Dragon Slayer, who is often seen eating from a bowl of nuts and bolts during his downtime.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'': Furnace rhinos were created by the Primordial Autochthon to be living refineries for useful metals, and fulfill their purpose by consuming ores and scrap metal, purifying them internally and depositing the resulting materials in their bodies -- regular metals make up their hide, while the magical materials form their horns.

* In ''Anime/DragonBallGT'', Pan's RobotBuddy, Giru, eats metal and anything made of metal, including the Dragon Radar.

* In ''Franchise/OnePiece'' Wapol is capable of eating metal ([[ExtremeOmnivore among other things..]]) and even merging with it courtesy of the Baku-Baku no Mi/Munch-Munch Fruit.

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'': On [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] Krypton, there were a race of beasts known as metal-eaters. They were popular attractions at the Kryptonian zoos, with children bringing sacks of scrap metal to feed them. They were kept in their cages with glass bars. [[FridgeLogic (Why couldn't fangs strong enough to crush metal be able to break glass?)]]

* In ''Manga/FairyTail'': Dragon Slayers can, in addition to normal food, consume the element that makes up their magic to quickly restore their magical power and sometimes as a substitute for normal meals. This trope thus comes into play for Kurogane Gajeel, the Iron Dragon Slayer, who is often seen eating from a bowl of nuts and bolts during his downtime.

Such metal-eating creatures often present a unique threat to many of the constituent parts of human civilization compared to other entities with strange diets. After all, automobiles, I-beams, electrical wires, and computers all need metal to manufacture, so a monster that devours such objects can throw people's lives into disarray even if the people themselves are unharmed. Heroes can also find it difficult to fight [[MooksAteMyEquipment monsters that can eat their weapons and armor]]. At other times, however, metal-eating organisms can be beneficial to humans, such as by recycling or refining the metals through digesting and expelling them in a way that can be gathered. There's also an occasional overlap with NuclearNasty; radioactive elements such as uranium and plutonium are metals, and irradiated monsters are likely to seek out such substances for a meal. Hard science fiction likes to make these creatures ExtremophileLifeforms, though more fantastical works tend to just depict a creature that resembles those in real life aside from the metal eating.

It is common for the metal eaters to be creatures predominantly made of metal themselves, usually with some kind of SculptedPhysique. It is also a common trait among robots, in lieu of them needing just electricity and factory-made replacement parts like in real life. A meal for these characters may consist of PaletteSwappedAlienFood with a metallic color and texture, oftentimes with visible seams and rivets to emphasize that it is made from metal. And sometimes, the eater is actually a human or humanlike character who chows down on metal in order to be more "macho".

* In ''Manga/FairyTail'': Dragon Slayers can, in addition to normal food, consume the element that makes up their magic to quickly restore their magical power and sometimes as a substitute for normal meals. This trope thus comes into play for Gajeel, the Iron Dragon Slayer, who is often seen eating from a bowl of nuts and bolts during his downtime.

* ''VideoGame/KantaiCollection'': By the nature of things, characters are usually depicted as straight-out eating bauxite, which is one of the resources in the game. Especially Akagi, who is depicted as usually [[BigEater devouring your bauxite supplies]].

* In ''Franchise/OnePiece'' Wapol is capable of eating metal ([[ExtremeOmnivore among other things..]]) and even merging with it courtesy of the Baku-Baku no Mi/Munch-Munch Fruit.
* ''Anime/CasshernSins'' features numerous examples of what would best be described as Robo-cannibalism. The only people still alive are all robots in various forms who all fear the inevitability of death as their metal bodies eventually break down and rust away. Casshern himself is seemingly immortal, and is subject to numerous people who desperately want to eat him in hopes of gaining that immortality. Throughout the series are are many rumors of similar robots who claim to be immortal, and at some point or another meet their end and are ravenously devoured by the hopeless masses.

* On [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Krypton]] there were a race of beasts known as metal-eaters. They were popular attractions at the Kryptonian zoos, with children bringing sacks of scrap metal to feed them. They were kept in their cages with glass bars. [[FridgeLogic (Why couldn't fangs strong enough to crush metal be able to break glass?)]]

* ''Redeye'': There's a goat that feeds exclusively on metal, preferably tin cans.

Such metal-eating creatures often present a unique threat to many of the constituent parts of human civilization compared to other entities with strange diets. After all, automobiles, I-beams, electrical wires, and computers all need metal to manufacture, so a monster that devours such objects can throw people's lives into disarray even if the people themselves are unharmed. Heroes can also find it difficult to fight monsters that are able to eat their weapons and armor. At other times, however, metal-eating organisms can be beneficial to humans, such as by recycling or refining the metals through digesting and expelling them in a way that can be gathered. There's also an occasional overlap with NuclearNasty; radioactive elements such as uranium and plutonium are metals, and irradiated monsters are likely to seek out such substances for a meal. Hard science fiction likes to make these creatures ExtremophileLifeforms, though more fantastical works tend to just depict a creature that resembles those in real life aside from the metal eating.

->''"It's about fifty or sixty feet high, and it only eats metal."''
-->-- '''Hogarth Hughes''', ''WesternAnimation/TheIronGiant''

** As mentioned above in the Anime section, Meltan dissolves and consumes metal for energy, [[ImAHumanitarian including other Meltan]]. While that sounds horrific on paper, it's actually how they reincarnate into Melmetal, which disintegrates into Meltan when it dies.

* On ''Website/{{Neopets}}'', some food you can give the pets contains metal, such as nuts and bolts. These are said to be palatable but unpopular for most of the pets, except the robots.

Such metal-eating creatures often present a unique threat to many of the constituent parts of human civilization compared to other entities with strange diets. After all, automobiles, I-beams, electrical wires, and computers all need metal to manufacture, so a monster that devours such objects can throw people's lives into disarray even if the people themselves are unharmed. Heroes can also find it difficult to fight monsters that are able to eat their weapons and armor. At other times, however, metal-eating organisms can be beneficial to humans, such as by recycling/refining the metals through digesting and expelling them. There's also an occasional overlap with NuclearNasty; radioactive elements such as uranium and plutonium are metals, and irradiated monsters are likely to seek out such substances for a meal. Hard science fiction likes to make these creatures ExtremophileLifeforms, though more fantastical works tend to just depict a creature that resembles those in real life aside from the metal eating.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

** As mentioned above in the Anime section, Meltan dissolves and consumes metal for energy.

* ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle'': In one story arc of , our heroes are menaced by Metal Munching Moon Mice, large robotic rodents sent by Boris to eat the nation's TV antennas.

One of the easiest ways to portray an organism as different from humans is to give it radically different dietary needs. And one of the easiest ways to do that is to have the organism consume metal. Now, while in real life humans and other carbon-based organisms need to consume trace amounts of metals to stay healthy (for example, the iron found in green vegetables is necessary for the production of metalloproteins like hemoglobin), this trope is about creatures that consume pure, refined metal for food. So a person eating the aforementioned green vegetables would not be an example, but a monster eating a steel sword would be.

One of the easiest ways to portray an organism as different from humans and other similar carbon-based lifeforms is to give it radically different dietary needs. And one of the easiest ways to do that is to have the organism consume metal. Now, while in real life humans and other carbon-based organisms need to consume trace amounts of metals to stay healthy (for example, the iron found in green vegetables is necessary for the production of metalloproteins like hemoglobin), this trope is about creatures that consume pure, refined metal for food. So a person eating the aforementioned green vegetables would not be an example, but a monster eating a steel sword would be.