History Main / MonstrosityEqualsWeakness

* Manga/MyHeroAcademia:

** At the start of the manga, Hollows are pretty much non-human looking and a single one can be beaten easily. Once [[spoiler:Aizen]] upgraded them to Arrancar, which are basically humanoid hollows, the real trouble started for the soul reapers. [[note]]To elaborate on this, Isshin and Urahara commented after the former killed an Arrancarized Grand Fisher that his Reiatsu, while still above the incomplete Arrancars, was still rather murky, and that [[spoiler:Aizen]] would create complete Arrancars to send them to the frontlines, thus indicating this is the first time Soul Society ever fought complete Arrancars[[/note]].

* "Manga/MyHeroAcademia":
** Tomura Shigaraki's initial form after activating his [[BodyHorror singularity powers]] is a gigantic mass of fingers growing from where his left arm used to be. While effective and allowing him to hold his own while outnumbered and [[De-Power stripped of his quirks]] it ultimately renders him a gigantic target without access to his HealingFactor, and the accumulated damage eventually forces him to shift into his second form, a hulking humanoid figure with [[Bio-Armor organic armor]] and incredible physical strength. This itself renders him too slow to keep up with Izuku Midoriya's [[SuperSpeed Gearshift]] so he discards it for his final form: His original appearance.
*** [[Spoiler: Later as he undergoes his VillainousBreakdown he once again uses his mutations in a desperate attempt to protect himself from Izuku, ultimately failing]]
** [[spoiler: In the midst of his VillainousBreakdown All For One, his [[DeadlyUpgrade fatal]] HourOfPower almost up, resorts to using [[AllYourPowersCombined every quirk he has simultaneously]], transforming him into a massive hulking EldritchAbomination in a desperate attempt to reach Tomura Shigaraki and cement his GrandTheftMe on his former student. While possessing immense raw power, it also makes him a massive target for Bakugo's Explosions, which combined with his collapsing control over his power leads to him helplessly flailing as he is blown apart faster than his HealingFactor can regenerate him until he is [[DeathByDeaging reverted into an infant from its side effects.]]]]

** At the start of the manga, Hollows are pretty much non-human looking and a single one can be beaten easily. Once [[spoiler:Aizen]] upgraded them to Arrancar, which are basically humanoid hollows, the real trouble started for the soul reapers [[note]]Isshin and Urahara comment after the former killed an Arrancarized Grand Fisher that this is the first time soul reapers have faced complete Arrancars[[/note]].

** More typically used in the Yorknew City arc, when it came to the Phantom Troupe (people with little strange about their appearance but their outfits) fighting the Shadow Beasts (weird monster people, except one guy who was just fat and ugly): when one member of the Phantom Troupe fought 4 Shadow Beasts, [[ConservationOfNinjutsu he killed all four]] though he was only able to recover from his injuries thanks to his allies assistance. When the other six Shadow Beast attacked five Phantom Troupe members, they were able to non-fatally incapacitate one but got killed by the other four without beating a single one of them.

** At the start of the manga, Hollows are pretty much non-human looking and a single one can be beaten easily. Once [[spoiler:Aizen]] upgraded them to Arrancar, which are basically humanoid hollows, the real trouble started for the soul reapers. [[note]]Isshin and Urahara comment after the former killed an Arrancarized Grand FIsher that this is the first time soul reapers have faced complete Arrancars[[/note]].

** At the start of the manga, Hollows are pretty much non-human looking and a single one can be beaten easily. Once [[spoiler:Aizen]] upgraded them to Arrancar, which are basically humanoid hollows, the real trouble started for the soul reapers.
** Menos do this on their own. The massive Gillian are the weakest, and look like gigantic Grim Reapers. Adjucas are significantly stronger, smaller and usually animal or plant like in their appearance. Vasto Lordes are strong enough to beat Captains, and they're human-sized and supposedly look human as well.
** Isshin explicitly claims in one scene that his opponent taking on the form of a building-sized monstrosity was actually an indication that the guy couldn't control his power, noting that part of being able to achieve control is learning to "compress" your strength. This also manifests in his son Ichigo, whose sword goes from a {{BFS}} taller than he is to a somewhat smaller but still oversized sword to a katana with an unusual design over the course of Soul Society.

* In ''Series/Charmed1998'', upper-level demons can, and nearly always do, take human forms. Monstrous demons are only minor antagonists or minions, while main antagonists ([[FaceHeelRevolvingDoor Cole when he's evil]], the Triad, the Source, Zankou) appear as humans.

* [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig-zagged]] somewhat by the minions of the Darkness in ''TabletopGame/PrincessTheHopeful''.

* At the start of ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' Hollows are pretty much non-human looking and a single one can be beaten easily. Once [[spoiler:Aizen]] upgraded them to Arrancar, which are basically humanoid hollows, the real trouble started for the soul reapers.
** Menos do this on their own. The massive Gillian are the weakest, and look like sky-scraper versions of normal hollows. Adjucas are significantly stronger, smaller and usually animal or plant like in their appearance. Vasto Lordes are strong enough to beat Captains, and they're human-sized and supposedly look human as well.

** Then there's [[spoiler:Awakened Garou]], who's decent into further monstrosity does force Saitama to fight more and more seriously, but a combination of being unfamiliar with how their [[spoiler:new inhuman body]] works and relying on more brutish strength against... well, [[WorldsStrongestMan Saitama]], leads to their fight ending much sooner than how it started.

* While the demon forms of Elvis, Shannon, and Belze are nothing to sneeze at, it's Azel and the BonusBoss Evil Gene who are the most difficult bosses in ''VideoGame/GodHand'', mostly due to their speed and ability to dodge your attacks, even while you're using the God Hand.

* ''VideoGame/GuruminAMonstrousAdventure'' for the PC and PSP plays this straight most of the time, as each boss is usually smaller than the last. The first three bosses Bob, Mosby and Roger are all relatively large (after transforming), and then you get to the fourth boss who transforms... into you. She suddenly has a ton of moments where she can block your attacks and counter with quick moves, whereas the first three are all a case of "Hit them when you get a good opening". The fifth boss is once again a giant monster, but you soon find that he's a complete joke and was only setting up for the real boss -- the Phantom Prince, who's roughly the same height as Parin. The trope's subverted as the final boss [[spoiler:is the large and powerful Tokaron, the legendary dragon]]. But he's not the strongest enemy, actually. It's really the BonusBoss, Blackbean: Prince of Destruction. He's the smallest boss in the game, coming up to about the same size as the game's standard {{Mook}}, roughly half of Parin's height.

* In ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsThirdEdition'', there are rules for allowing players to play monstrous beings like dragons, giants, and all manner of other terrors. However, the way the game compensates for your monstrous traits is to give you level adjustment (you are counted as higher-level for the purposes of XP gain) and/or racial hit dice (EmptyLevels in whatever kind of monstrous being you're playing). This means that you take a fairly significant hit in terms of your actual class levels, and consequently, any level adjustment higher than 1 or 2 will almost always make a character borderline unusable. This means that players almost always favor races close in power and ability to baseline humans, and stronger beings tend to need variant rules like LA buyoff to be competitive.

** [[spoiler:Toguro is notably the exception to the rule, the closer he gets to full power, the more monstrous and inhuman looking he becomes. Which makes sense, as he is originally a human who became a demon in the pursuit of strength]]

This is mostly due to the fact that writers seem to think viewers associate monstrous figures with being strong but mindless and stupid, and thus use less monstrous forms for more effective villains. Even if that villain has a monstrous final form, he will usually be seen in his humanoid form for most of the time, his other form essentially existing only as [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman an excuse to allow them to die]]. This may also be because humanoid villains become characters with distinct personalities, while the more monstrous ones are less versatile outside a fight. Thus, they tend to be {{Mooks}}, MonsterOfTheWeek or the OneWingedAngel form of a villain who appears humanoid for most of the series. Often justified in-story by the notion that the inhuman beings prefer to seem human for whatever reason, and that the more powerful or skilled ones can do so more successfully.

* This happens quite often in the newer ''Franchise/KamenRider'' series. All the bad guys will be monsters, and usually each will be animal-themed. However, the monsters-of-the-day will be monstrous beastmen, while the higher-ranking ones look more like humans in animal-themed armor.

** With the exception of dragons, the strongest bosses in ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' are generally humanoid, while the weaker ones are more overtly monstrous. Compare the [[WarmUpBoss Asylum Demon]] to the first game's FinalBoss, [[spoiler: Gwyn, Lord of Cinder]], for instance. Another good example is Vordt and the Dancer in ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'': both underwent horrible transformations due to Pontiff Sulyvahn's sorcery, but the Dancer resembles a (very large and deformed) human while Vordt is both larger/bulkier and takes on dog-like qualities. The Dancer has multiple times Vordt's health and damage output, on top of being much faster. This also applies to different forms of the same enemy -- [[spoiler: Gundyr's]] [[LovecraftianSuperpower Abyss-corrupted]] HumanoidAbomination form when you first fight them is a pushover compared to their regular form that you fight later, and [[spoiler: Slave Knight Gael]] gets more dangerous when he stops fighting like a mad beast (complete with growling and moving on all fours) and starts fighting like a swordsman.