History Main / ScaledUp

** A Mythic Zoan branch of the Snake-Snake Fruit tree, the [[{{Orochi}} Yamato-No-Orochi Model]], turns up in the Wano arc. [[spoiler:Fittingly, it's been consumed by the evil Shogun of Wano, Kozuki Orochi... although he's so pathatic that he's a complete waste of the fruit's powers. The main purpose of it turns out to be allowing 7 different people who have good reason to want Orochi dead to get their own turns at decapitating him before he dies for good]].

** A Mythic Zoan branch of the Snake-Snake Fruit tree, the [[{{Orochi}} Yamato-No-Orochi Model]], turns up in the Wano arc. [[spoiler:Fittingly, it's been consumed by the evil Shogun of Wano, Kozuki Orochi... although he's so pathatic that he's a complete waste of the fruit's powers]].

** Kaido himself has the ability to transform into a massive Eastern dragon. [[spoiler:Ironically, it turns out ''his'' fruit is classified as a Mythic Zoan model of the '''Fish-Fish Fruit'''!]]

* [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek]] [[OlderThanFeudalism mythology]] example: the river god Achelous turns into a serpent to fight Hercules for the hand of a princess called Deianeira. He loses, and in one version Hercules rips off one of his horns, which was used by the nymphs to make the Horn of Plenty.
* A bizarre example in many ways, the traditional [[Myth/ChineseMythology Chinese]] fairy tale Legend of the White Snake has Madame White Snake forcibly morphed into her original form when she is captured by the monk Fa Hai.

* In ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'', Sauron at one point becomes a snake in an effort to defeat Huan, the Hound of Valinor. And no, it wasn't any more successful than any of the other forms he tried.
* ''Literature/{{Narnia}}'' has this happen a couple of times:
** The Lady of the Green Kirtle does this in ''Literature/TheSilverChair''. Lewis was definitely being symbolic in this case, but it's still a dumb move, especially when confronted by a [[LawfulStupidChaoticStupid Stupid Good]] hero who WouldntHitAGirl but has no problem cutting a giant serpent in half (especially when the snake attacks him physically, instead of magically -- perhaps she had no more magic up her sleeve?). The same villainess apparently used her serpent form to assassinate the queen of Narnia, some years previously and had pulled it off without a hitch, though.

There's probably something [[FauxSymbolism symbolic]] about the tendencies of a villain to turn into a snake. In the West, there is a strong established symbolism for snakes as symbols of evil from Literature/TheBible (most famously the serpent in the Garden of Eden) and Myth/NorseMythology, and there's {{Orochi}} in Myth/JapaneseMythology. Adding onto this, there is the fact that when walking in the wild, it's generally not a good idea to stop and pet a snake.

* ''Manga/TalesOfWeddings'' has a heroic example in Saphir, who once used the Ring of Water to transform herself into an enormous dragon and devour the kraken that was menacing her friends.

* ''Machinima/GamingAllStars'': Reptilian transformations featured in this series include the dragon-like [[spoiler:[[VideoGame/SonicHeroes Metal Overlord]]]] in ''The Ultimate Crossover'' and ''Remastered'', and [[VideoGame/MediEvilResurrection Zarok’s serpent phase]] in ''2''.

** The ''Eventide'' set gave us [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=405388 Snakeform]], which has the (temporary) [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin obvious effect]] on the affected creature...which in the process [[BalefulPolymorph loses all its special abilities for the duration and generally becomes much weaker as well.]] So you obviously shouldn't be using it on ''your'' creatures...

** The Flame Dragons in TLA were [[spoiler:{{Baleful Polymorph}}ed Agatio and Karst, as the Wise One wanted to keep them from being the ones to restore Alchemy. The Wise One was successful. [[AlasPoorVillain Agatio and Karst were not]].]]

* The Master briefly turns into a sort of gelatinous cobra thing in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' MadeForTVMovie, and proceeded to slither down a man's throat to [[BodySnatcher possess him]]. On that note, in the "Kinda" serial of the 5th Doctor's reign, "The Mara" reveals its long-awaited true form to be a giant, laughable blow-up snake, which flails about for a few minutes before being defeated.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'':
** Boa Marigold and Boa Sandersonia turn into half snakes (a King Cobra hybrid and an Anaconda hybrid, respectively). They fare pretty well against Luffy…up until the point where he [[LetsGetDangerous stops holding back]].
** Momonosuke can turn into an Eastern dragon thanks to his devil fruit.
** The Wano Country arc reveals that [[spoiler:Kaido "of The Beasts", one of the Four Emperors,]] apparently has a dragon-model Zoan-type devil fruit, as he appears at the end of Chapter 921 as a truly ''massive'' serpentine dragon.
** Also in the Wano arc, [[spoiler:Shogun Orochi's]] Zoan fruit allows him to turn into an Orochi, with eight writhing, snake heads.

* In [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012 2012 version of]] ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'', [[spoiler:Karai]] winds up mutating into a serpentwoman during season 2. This is an unintentional case, as she fell into a vat filled with mutagen meant for the ''Turtles'', as the Foot Clan was going to forcibly turn them into vipers in a plot to kill their master Splinter. For added irony, [[spoiler:Karai was starting to transition from villain to AntiHero at that point]].

* ''Film/FortySevenRonin'': Mizuki, the witch who serves Lord Kira, is normally a {{Kitsune}}, but in the final battle, she transforms into a dragon to fight Kai.

** Also in the Wano arc, [[spoiler: Shogun Orochi's]] Zoan fruit allows him to turn into an Orochi, with eight writhing, snake heads.

* ''Manga/FairyTail:'' [[SubvertedTrope While it doesn't turn them into dragons,]] first-generation Dragon Slayers are capable of using an advanced magic ability called [[EleventhHourSuperpower Dragon Force,]] which ''immensely'' increases their magic power and gives them visible scales on their bodies. [[TheHero Natsu]] is first seen using it during his fight with [[ArcVillain Jellal,]] and [[spoiler: [[TagalongKid Wendy]] and [[ExtraOredinary Gajeel]] are seen using it against Ezel and Bloodman, respectively.]] However, the Dragon Slayer in question must consume ''A LOT'' of magical energy to enter this state. Second and third-generation Dragon Slayers, like [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Laxus,]] [[ThoseTwoGuys Sting and Rogue,]] are capable of using it at will, but it lacks a lot of "oomph" compared to the real deal.
** [[BigBad Acnologia]] and [[spoiler: [[TheBaroness Irene Belserion,]]]] however, are capable of turning into full-fledged dragons.
** In the sequel series the fifth-generation Dragon Slayers (or [[CannibalismSuperpower Dragon Eaters]]) are introduced, they do have Dragon Force but consider it a DangerousForbiddenTechnique: [[spoiler: they do gain a transformation and an incredibly powerful form, but they slowly and inexorably undergo Dragonization and irreversibly become true dragons.]]

* In ''Manga/SazanEyes'' we have Hua She, a snake demons who spends the entire second series as the human consciousness of the protagonist, Pai. After she sacrifices herself to stop Benares, she undoes the spell and returns being a small harmless snake... only for Parvati to actually give her a human identity which plays a bigger role during the fourth act, Trinetra. Benares himself usually appears as a human (well, a [[EvilIsBigger really big human]]) but when Yakumo tries to seal him away with Genma Hoshin he forcibly assumes his true form: a colossal, mindless wyrm made of brilliant energy. [[spoiler: Benares willingly undergoes a draconic-snakelike transformation for the final battle.]]

* ''ComicBook/LegendsOfBaldursGate'': As befits someone associated with the Cult of the Dragon, [[spoiler: Deniak]] turns into one. It's probably not quite what he was after - he wanted draconic ''power'', not shape.

* Protagonist example: This is how [[spoiler: [[WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles Violet]], [[ShrinkingViolet of all people]]]] gains the power to stop the BigBad in ''Fanfic/RiseOfTheGaleforces''. A surprisingly interesting example in that [[spoiler:Ludlow was the one who gave Violet that power in the first place,]] attempting to turn her into his own personal {{Tykebomb}}. [[TheDragon Velociripper]] makes matters even worse (for the antagonists, anyway) when he gives Vi a dose of his [[DevolutionDevice devolution ray]], momentarily trapping her in her UsefulNotes/TyrannosaurusRex form. Needless to say, she immediately goes on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge, cripples Ripper in single combat, destroys most (if not all) of the villainous forces, and fights the BigBad's {{tank|sForNothing}}. [[CurbStompBattle Really!]]
* ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'' has both heroic and villainous examples. In the former case, Loki transforms into a giant serpent to hold a zombified Kraken still so Thor can get a clean shot in on it. In the latter case, in the sequel, Selene Gallio transforms into a black long wyrm (fire-breathing dragon with no wings), in an attempt to destroy her enemies, getting into a fight with Sue, Harry Dresden's zombie t-rex in the process - Dresden and Wanda actually quote the ''EvilOverlordList'', with Wanda noting that Strange made her memorise it, and speculates that he might well have written it. It doesn't work, as [[spoiler: Wanda Maximoff drops Dresden on her back, he uses his staff as an improvised spear and lightning conductor into her brain]].

* ''FanFic/ThreeSlytherinMarauders'' has a ([[AntiHero anti]])-heroic example when [[spoiler: [[LiteralSplitPersonality Tom Riddle]]]] discovers his animagus form is of a great black dragon.

** ''WesternAnimation/TheSwordInTheStone'': At the beginning of Merlin and Madam Mim's wizard's duel, Mim explicitly forbids turning into dragons. [[LoopholeAbuse She later breaks this rule on a technicality]] in an attempt to beat Merlin by claiming she didn't specify ''purple'' dragons, only to have Merlin go in exactly the opposite direction and turn into a contagious bacterium. He makes her sick, which pushes her to bed rest. She also turns into a crocodile and a rattlesnake earlier in the fight, and Merlin himself started off by transforming into a turtle.

* The titular prince in the ending of ''Film/TheSnakePrince'' reveals his true, OneWingedAngel form at the end of the film, having been exposed to sulphorous smoke - as a giant snake monster. One of the rare non-villainous examples of this trope.
* In the 1973 b-movie ''Film/{{Sssssss}}'', a MadScientist turns his lab assistants into king cobras.

** This also plays into the final book. Rachel has snuck aboard Tom's ship, hoping to defeat his rogue Yeerk army. She [[SuperMode transforms into a Grizzly Bear]] and he sends his minions after her after they have each changed into equally fearsome and tough creatures. Rachel has ''just'' enough of an opportunity during the battle to check on Tom as he hangs back and transforms - into a very small but very poisonous snake. Rachel defeats each of the minions, but his small size and her poor vision makes it difficult for her to track him. [[spoiler:He successfully bites and poisons her, but she (with help) impales him on her claws and then bites him in half. She demorphs, exhausted, and another minion, transformed into a polar bear, kills her with a single blow.]]

** The Lady of the Green Kirtle does this in ''Literature/TheSilverChair''. Lewis was definitely being symbolic in this case, but it's still a dumb move, especially when confronted by a [[LawfulStupidChaoticStupid Stupid Good]] hero who WouldntHitAGirl but has no problem cutting a giant serpent in half (especially when the snake attacks him physically, instead of magically - perhaps she had no more magic up her sleeve?). The same villainess apparently used her serpent form to assassinate the queen of Narnia, some years previously and had pulled it off without a hitch, though.

** Somewhat justified by FridgeLogic, as the chamber the FinalBattle took place in was filled with magical energy that was anathema to the serpent- he was likely dying by inches from the moment he entered it (which he only did out of desperation).

** In book three, ''Literature/MemoriesOfIce'', Anomander Rake --being on the [[CombatPragmatist pragmatic side of things ]] -- veers into a dragon in order to harry a bunch of enemy troops away rather than having to kill them.

* [[spoiler: Mister Monday]] transforms into a giant snake in the first book of the ''Literature/KeysToTheKingdom'' series, He ALMOST succeeds in killing Arthur, until Arthur [[spoiler: gets Suzy to write on him with her fingers and a bottle of ink, causing him to be attacked by hundreds of text-destroying, acid-spitting, Nithling-snakes.]]

* During ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear'', the heroic shapeshifter Hoole has at least two snake forms, one for stealth and the other suitable for combat. Bad things happen more than once when he does, notably while on [[GhostPlanet Kiva]]. He once fights another shapeshifter, [[spoiler: his own clone]], and both take snake forms during their ShapeshifterShowdown. The battle is a draw and ultimately the deciding factor is another character going SpotTheImpostor.
* The Dragonlord Chronicles books from ''TabletopGame/{{Mystara}}'' feature Sir George Kirbey, a seemingly human knight who is actually a sort of small were-dragon called a drake. Further, it is eventually revealed that [[spoiler: the hero Teldin is a descendent of the [[PhysicalGod dragons' gods,]] and he becomes one himself.]]

** Series/KamenRiderKiva had his own heroic example one year earlier - [[SuperMode Emperor Form]]: Flight Style turns him into a winged dragon with an impressive BreathWeapon. There are two accounts of how he got it - in the NonSerialMovie, it's forced on him by the villain, and he's unable to control it until he gets a cooldown-hug from Otoya. He reverts to normal until the villain uses his ''own'' OneWingedAngel form. In the actual series, it's just an extension of Emperor Form that he unlocks late in the series and has no problem controlling.

** More like [[PlayingWithATrope Double Subverted or just Played With]]. Physically, Goa'uld are foot-long, water-dwelling worms with big fangs on a round mouth and a fin or frill below their heads - basically, snakes with SpikesOfVillainy. However, they are also {{Puppeteer Parasite}}s who take over the bodies of humans and other species. However, some Goa'uld ruled over humans as {{God Emperor}}s, most of whom used some kind of totem animal as an icon, and the BigBad for the first several seasons happened to use a snake as his icon. So there's a snake inside a human, whose {{Mooks}} are ordered to dress up as snakes...
* ''Series/OnceUponATime'': As fitting with her original tale, Maleficent can turn into a dragon. [[spoiler: Her daughter]] has the ability, too, though she hasn't quite learned how to control it yet.
* Very rare heroic example: in ''Series/{{Manimal}}'', to get his girlfriend [[WillTheyOrWontThey (?!?)]] out of a [[QuicksandSucks quicksand peril]]. The girl is a bit ophidiophobic, maybe a giraffe would have been a better idea...rats, not enough money for the FX. Played with in another episode: [[spoiler: the snake is actually real and the girl, who played Fearless Snakecharmer, promptly faints when Manimal comes to the scene.]]

** Many yuan-ti can also transform into full-on snakes--though their normal forms are ''already'' [[SnakePeople a mixture of serpentine and human features]], looking progressively snakier as you go up through the FantasticCasteSystem (in an inversion of the BishonenLine).

* ''VideoGame/SimonTheSorcerer''. At one point, you partake in a [[WizardDuel "wizard's duel"]] (read: magical rock-paper-scissors) with a witch. Upon winning three rounds, the witch transforms into a dragon (breaking the rule she set at the start). This is completely ineffective, of course - you just transform into a mouse and escape through the small mouse hole in the wall.

** The Flame Dragons in TLA were [[spoiler: {{Baleful Polymorph}}ed Agatio and Karst, as the Wise One wanted to keep them from being the ones to restore Alchemy. The Wise One was successful. [[AlasPoorVillain Agatio and Karst were not]].]]
** In all these cases, the dragon shape really ''is'' far more powerful (especially in the case of the [[ThatOneBoss Doom Dragon]]), but results in a ''nasty'' case of [[HeroicRROD Antagonist RROD]] when it wears off. A line of Saturos's before his transformation suggests he knew about this [[spoiler: which would explain why he and Menardi were DrivenToSuicide after their defeat as the Fusion Dragon]]. In TLA, everyone who transformed was explicitly stated afterward to be too weak to withstand Mars Lighthouse's environmental hazards [[spoiler: which is how Agatio and Karst died. The heroes' parents were saved by DeusExMachina]].

** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'' contains plenty of ''actual'' dragons, but the only thing that comes close to this trope downplays it. Dragon Aspect is a Shout that -- true to form -- is the SignatureMove of [[EvilCounterpart Miraak]], the BigBad of the ''Dragonborn'' expansion, and [[PlayerCharacter The Last Dragonborn]] can learn it as well. While the user does not literally become a dragon, an ethereal outline of dragon scales and horns does surround them and they gain dragon-like features - a tough hide that boosts armor, a boost to physical strength that empowers melee attacks, higher resistance to fire and frost elemental damage and more powerful Shouts with a shorter cooldown.

* ''Machinima/GamingAllStars'': Reptilian transformations featured in this series include the dragon-like [[spoiler: [[VideoGame/SonicHeroes Metal Overlord]]]] in ''The Ultimate Crossover'' and ''Remastered'', and [[VideoGame/MediEvilResurrection Zarok’s serpent phase]] in ''2''.

* The ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' episode "Splicers" has the villains mix animal DNA with their own. While the lead villain uses DNA from several different animals, he winds up as basically an eight-foot-tall snake [[spoiler: (at least until Terry overloads him with injectors and he [[OneWingedAngel turns into a monster]])]]. He puts up a fairly decent fight against Batman (certainly better than he would have as a human), but still loses in the end.

* A MonsterOfTheWeek from ''Manga/InuYasha'' does this. Notable as he actually put up a pretty decent fight while in humanoid form, (thanks to a magic trident) but got carved up like a Thanksgiving turkey post-transformation.
** That's technically a reversal; said monster was a water snake spirit who stole the trident from the local river goddess, so he didn't change into a snake, he changed ''back'' from his assumed human form.

** The Lady of the Green Kirtle does this in ''The Silver Chair''. Lewis was definitely being symbolic in this case, but it's still a dumb move, especially when confronted by a [[LawfulStupidChaoticStupid Stupid Good]] hero who WouldntHitAGirl but has no problem cutting a giant serpent in half. The same villainess apparently used her serpent form to assassinate the queen of Narnia, some years previously and had pulled it off without a hitch, though.
** In another incident in the same series, a ''protagonist'' is turned into a dragon for being greedy (again, symbolic). This was not as awesome as it seemed since he was apparently an old-style gangly ugly dragon, he had a metal ring digging painfully into his arm the entire time due to his increase in size, he could not talk, and was too big to ride a ship.

* Malchior in ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'', though he didn't so much transform into a dragon as he was transformed back to his real form. It still doesn't help him much (technically he was handing the entire Titan team [[CurbStompBattle their asses]], but it slipped his mind that Raven, the one who unsealed him in the first place due to his manipulations, knew both the spell to put him away again and had the will to do it until she already brought the sealing book up).

* In ''Anime/TheWonderfulWorldOfPussInBoots'', [[BigBad Lucifer the ogre]] shapeshifts into a [[DragonsAreDemonic three-headed dragon]] in an attempt to kill the heroes and impress his [[AndNowYouMustMarryMe forced-fiancée]] Princess Rosa with his sheer power. Unfortunately for him, it doesn't work as she faints at the horrific sight of him. ''But fortunately for him'', he's so powerful that all the heroes can do is run for their lives or else get burned alive by his fire breath.

** In contrast to the above, [[spoiler:Kabuto/[[FanNickname Kabuchimaru]]]] turning into a snake let him escape a trap and kidnap someone on his way out. He later "evolves" this snake form into [[spoiler:an EvilCounterpart to [[TheHero Naruto]]'s [[SuperMode Sage Mode]], changing from a snake to a ''dragon'']].

* The titular prince in the ending of ''Film/TheSnakePrince'' reveals his true, OneWingedAngel form at the end of the film, having been exposed to sulphorous smoke - as a giant snake monster.

** Makuta Miserix had a fondness for reptiles, so he [[{{Shapeshifter}} shapeshifted]] into one whenever a battle broke out.