History Main / ScaledUp

A [[SubTrope specific variant]] of OneWingedAngel.

[[caption-width-right:279:"A ''[[AnimalMotifs snake]]'', am I? Perhaps you'd like to see how ''{{sssssnake|Talk}}like I can be!''"]]

* 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.

* At first, Thulsa Doom of the first ''Film/{{Conan the Barbarian|1982}}'' movie seems to be doing this for no reason at all, but then subverts the expectations of the audience by fleeing through a hole in the wall made for a snake and getting to safety. (It's also in keeping with his character so far as he seems to have a thing for snakes: his religion worships them, he has a pet snake that Conan kills, he has ''[[TrickArrow snake arrows]]''... no, really.)

** 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 the ''Literature/ChroniclesOfPrydain'', when EvilOverlord Arawn, (based on the Celtic God of the Dead, who shares the name), master of terrible armies and incomprehensible BlackMagic is finally confronted face to face, he promptly turns into a serpent and dies within a paragraph or two, managing only to kill the slightly less evil queen before falling to everyone's favorite assistant pig keeper.

* In ''Literature/TheDeathGateCycle'', the ultimate evil beings are {{shape shift|ing}}ers that like to take the form of [[OurDragonsAreDifferent giant dragon-snakes]], probably meant to resemble wingless Chinese dragons with a more snakelike head. In a final confrontation with the heroes one of them reverts into this shape, growing too large, and his head hits the roof of the room they're in, which is inscribed with death runes, thus killing him.

** A ''protagonist'' [[SuperMode turns into a dragon]] during TheSiege in the sixth book. He kicks a lot of ass (mostly off-screen, but considering what he's facing it's still badass). It's only a partial success because he ends up missing in action. The seventh book reveal why: [[spoiler:he was defeated and captured by a dragon. A "one person in the entire series has defeated one in battle" dragon]].

* In the ''KingdomHearts'' games Maleficent turns into a dragon at times of danger. She promptly gets smacked down by [[KidHero a preteen kid]] [[ImprobableWeaponUser wielding a giant key]].

* In Part 7 of ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure'', there is a Stand called "Scary Monsters" that allows its user, Diego Brando, to transform himself and anyone he injures into dinosaurs.

* In the Robbie Williams music video "Radio" - Robbie becomes something like this at the very end.

* In the 4th edition of ''DungeonsAndDragons'' A druid can take the Paragon path of coiled serpent, where you have the ability to scale up. what you do with this ability and whether you die or not is at the player's (or more realistically, the DM's) discretion.
** Inverted by an NPC from the ''Carnival'' {{Ravenloft}} supplement, a snake familiar who had a HeelFaceTurn and abandoned her evil master after he turned her into an elf.

*** TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}} on the other hand gives you a much more versatile spell Form of the Dragon, three variations for Medium, Large, and Giant dragons with the user choosing which dragon to turn into. [[InTheBlood Draconic]] [[HeroicLineage Sorcerors]] get access to all three versions as bloodline spells.
* In ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'' the Followers of Set, one of the 13 main clans, has an entire set of powers related to becoming a snake, called Serpentis. The 1st power lets you immobilize someone with your gaze, the 2nd grows a razor sharp tongue to use as a weapon, the 3rd gives you armored scales, and the 4th turns you into a giant cobra.
* ''TabletopGame/WerewolfTheApocalypse'' has a double-helping of this trope: the 1st Edition Player's Guide introduced us to the Mokole, a race of were-dinosaurs/crocodiles whose relationship to the sun is similar to the wolves' relationship to the moon, and several years later, White Wolf released the Breed Book: Nagah, detailing a predominantly Asian and Middle-Eastern race of were-snakes who functioned primarily as assassins.
* ''{{Exalted}}'': The [[OneWingedAngel real form]] of the Unconquered Sun (the de-facto and [[CelestialBureaucracy de-jure]] BigGood of the settings) is a gigantic golden dragon with tons of HP and an attack that does [[WaveMotionGun unlimited points of damage]].

* Averted in ''HarryPotterAndTheMethodsOfRationality''; Quirrell's own EvilOverlordList advises becoming an animagus, and his animagus form just happens to be a snake. There is, after all, a world of difference between 'turn into a snake to fight the heroes' and 'develop the option of a different form which may or may not have advantages over a human one, particularly when no-one knows you have it'. Far from 'never helping', Quirrell's snake form is extremely useful over the course of the story - among other things it allows him to talk in perfect secrecy with Parselmouth Harry.

* In the video for the game ''VideoGame/DragonStrike'', as well as its tie-in Marvel comic, Teraptus turns into the giant dragon Darkfyre.

*** {[TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}} on the other hand gives you a much more versatile spell Form of the Dragon, three variations for Medium, Large, and Giant dragons with the user choosing which dragon to turn into. [[InTheBlood Draconic Sorcerors]] get access to all three versions as bloodline spells.

* In the ''OmegaMen'' comic book, turning into a giant snake was Demonia's only real superpower. It did, however, make her quite tough in a fight.

* The MarvelComics character Moondragon, who despite her name was a human with psychic powers and {{Arrogant Kung Fu|Guy}}, turned into a literal dragon to save the day, and was "killed" (the whole {{Energy Being|s}} part) by Ultron, an evil robot that looks liked a KnightInShiningArmor.
* The MarvelComics FearItself crossover ended with the [[BigBad Serpent]], a humanoid Asgardian god whose name is more of a nickname/title due to his nature, abandoning his human form and all if its powers to turn into a giant snake that is easily sliced up by [[TheMightyThor Thor]] for no apparent reason.
* ''TheIncredibles'' comic arc, ''City of Incredibles'' has Shifty taking on the form of a dragon after having his shapeshifting powers enhanced by a superpower virus, only to be taken down by the family after they powered up on the same disease.

* Orochimaru from ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' probably takes inspiration from his namesake {{Orochi}} and does this in the series. [[spoiler:He gets taken out by a certain IneffectualLoner after said loner's FaceHeelTurn]]. Lame-n noodles, especially since it means he can't perform any of the jutsu that were his goal in life to learn. Though [[spoiler:his chances as a snake were probably better than a drugged-up old man who was near-dying, and he apparently didn't have a choice in the matter]].

* 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. Beyond lame.

* At first, Thulsa Doom of the first ''Film/{{Conan the Barbarian|1982}}'' movie seems to be doing this for no reason at all, but then subverts the expectations of the audience by fleeing through a hole in the wall made for a snake and getting to safety. (It's also in keeping with his character so far as he seems to have a thing for snakes: his religion worships them, he has a pet snake that Conan kills, he has ''[[TrickArrow snake arrows]]''... no, really.) Thus, not lame.

** 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. Lame. 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 the ''Literature/ChroniclesOfPrydain'', when EvilOverlord Arawn, (based on the Celtic God of the Dead, who shares the name), master of terrible armies and incomprehensible BlackMagic is finally confronted face to face, he promptly turns into a serpent and dies within a paragraph or two, managing only to kill the slightly less evil queen before falling to everyone's favorite assistant pig keeper. Lame.

* In ''Literature/TheDeathGateCycle'', the ultimate evil beings are {{shape shift|ing}}ers that like to take the form of [[OurDragonsAreDifferent giant dragon-snakes]], probably meant to resemble wingless Chinese dragons with a more snakelike head. In a final confrontation with the heroes one of them reverts into this shape, growing too large, and his head hits the roof of the room they're in, which is inscribed with death runes, thus killing him. ''Uber'' Lame.

** A ''protagonist'' [[SuperMode turns into a dragon]] during TheSiege in the sixth book. He kicks a lot of ass (mostly off-screen, but considering what he's facing it's still badass). It's only a partial success because he ends up missing in action. The seventh book reveal why: [[spoiler:he was defeated and captured by a real dragon. And not the lame kind mentioned above, a "one person in the entire series has defeated one in battle" dragon]].

* In the ''KingdomHearts'' games Maleficent turns into a dragon at times of danger. She promptly gets smacked down by [[KidHero a preteen kid]] [[ImprobableWeaponUser wielding a giant key]]. [[OverusedRunningGag Lame to the power of]] [[ShapedLikeItself lame]].

* In ''OnePiece'', Boa Marigold and Boa Sandersonia turn into half snakes. They do pretty well against Luffy until he stops holding back...

* Chuubo, the titular character of ChuubosMarvelousWishGrantingEngine, has the ability to turn into a giant 108-meter snake at will. The name of that power? "It Probably Wouldn't Help." Sure enough, there is an actual law of physics in that game (backed by the rules) which states that turning into a snake cannot help you.

* Dragons in ''Comicbook/GoldDigger'' all have the ability to [[VoluntaryShapeshifting disguise themselves as humans,]] and several dragon characters have in fact been [[ModeLock Mode Locked]] in human form. Generally the dragon population is divided on the opinion of whether a race of talking mammals like humans is adorable ("They're like little talking bunnies! I want to play at being a bunny too!") or disgusting ("They're like little talking rats!").

* The Dragonlord Chronicles books from ''{{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.]]

** Also, many types of D&D dragons are depicted as being able to [[VoluntaryShapeshifting shapeshift]] into human form. Some even fall in love with humans.

* Dragons in ''Comicbook/GoldDigger'' all have the ability to [[VoluntaryShapeshifting disguise themselves as humans,]] and several dragon characters have in fact been [[ModeLock Mode Locked]] in human form. Generally the dragon population is divided on the opinion of whether a race of talking mammals like humans is adorable ("They're like little talking bunnies! I want to play at being a bunny too!") or disgusting ("They're like little talking rats!").

* The Dragonlord Chronicles books from ''{{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.]]

** Also, D&D dragons have often been depicted as being able to [[VoluntaryShapeshifting shapeshift]] into human form, and even interbreed with humans.

* Dragons in ''Comicbook/GoldDigger'' all have the ability to [[VoluntaryShapeshifting disguise themselves as humans,]] and several dragon characters have in fact been [[ModeLock Mode Locked]] in human form. Generally the dragon population is divided on the opinion of whether a race of talking mammals like humans is adorable ("They're like little talking bunnies! I want to play at being a bunny too!") or disgusting ("They're like little talking rats!").

* The Dragonlord Chronicles books from ''{{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.]]

* Dragons in ''Comicbook/GoldDigger'' all have the ability to [[VoluntaryShapeshifting disguise themselves as humans,]] and several dragon characters have in fact been [[ModeLock Mode Locked]] in human form. Generally the dragon population is divided on the opinion of whether a race of talking mammals like humans is adorable ("They're like little talking bunnies! I want to play at being a bunny too!") or disgusting ("They're like little talking rats!").

* The Dragonlord Chronicles books from ''{{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.]]

* Dragons in ''Comicbook/GoldDigger'' all have the ability to disguise themselves as humans, and several dragon characters have in fact been [[ModeLock Mode Locked]] in human form. Generally the dragon population is divided on the opinion of whether a race of talking mammals is adorable ("They're like little talking bunnies!") or disgusting ("They're like little talking rats!").

* The Dragonlord Chronicles books from ''{{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.]]

* The Dragonlord Chronicles books from ''{{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 reveal that [[spoiler: the hero Teldin is a descendent of the [[PhysicalGod dragons' gods,]] and he becomes one himself.]]

* The Dragonlord Chronicles books from ''{{Mystara}}'' eventually reveal that [[spoiler: Teldin is a descendent of the [[PhysicalGod dragons' gods,]] and he becomes one himself.]]