History Main / ScaledUp

* In ''Literature/Animorphs'', the second to final book, The Answer, sees Jake morphing an anaconda on the cover. He uses it to convince the Taxxons to turn on their Yeerk overlord and go nothlit.

* [[BigBad Yasha]] from CuteyHoney turns into a giant monstrous lamia in her final battle against Honey. She puts up a decent fight due to her impenetrable scales, but [[spoiler:it turns out gravity combined with the spikes at the bottom of Yasha's lair are enough to tear through her scales.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheReturnOfHanuman'', Rahu and Ketu's henchmen turns into their true forms; which are dragon-like creatures, in order to snatch Rahu and Ketu's snake staff from Maruti. They failed because Maruti tricked them and eventually their necks gets twisted and tied up.

** Averted in ''Disney/AladdinTheReturnOfJafar'', the ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts'' games, and in some of the storybooks however, where he is instead either fought as a human, or immediately goes straight to becoming a genie.
* An unintentional example in ''BartokTheMagnificent'': the villainess is turned into a dragon after downing a potion.

* In ''TheReturnOfHanuman'', Rahu and Ketu's henchmen turns into their true forms; which are dragon-like creatures, in order to snatch Rahu and Ketu's snake staff from Maruti. They failed because Maruti tricked them and eventually their necks gets twisted and tied up.

* Although ''ThePrincessAndTheFrog'' does a good job at subverting the ReptilesAreAbhorrent trope, even going as far as to feature a benevolent snake as the pet of the BigGood and a happy-go-lucky alligator as one of the main protagonists, [[BigBad Dr. Facilier]]'s LivingShadow briefly turns into a snake during the "[[VillainSong Friends on the Other Side]]" scene. Since ''Princess'' is from the same directors as Aladdin, this may have been a nod to Jafar.

* ''{{Enchanted}}'': Narissa pulls a Maleficent-crossed-with-''Film/KingKong'' when she turns into a dragon, [[JamesBondage kidnaps Robert]], and climbs a skyscraper during a thunderstorm. Bad idea. The result is impressive, though.

* The universe of Steven Erikson and Ian Cameron Esslemont, best known from the ''MalazanBookOfTheFallen'' books, features the Soletaken, who can change ("veer") from humanoid to beast form. Some Soletaken veer into draconean ''[sic]'' form, which is powerful, but somehow never seems to really work out in the story. Examples:

A [[SubTrope specific variant]] of OneWingedAngel. [[IThoughtItMeant If you're looking for]] video game characters being shown as grotesquely oversized compared to their surroundings on an overview map, that's over at UnitsNotToScale.

* The MacGuffin in ''Franchise/TombRaider 2'' was a magical dagger that would turn those who stabbed themselves through the heart with it into a dragon. Having said dagger removed would kill them. In the intro, the ancient emperor who originally owned the dagger is killed when he gets too close to a wounded monk, while the BigBad of the game is killed when Lara shoots him a bunch of times, then pulls out the dagger.

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 from Literature/TheBible (most famously the serpent in the Garden of Eden), NorseMythology, and there's {{Orochi}} in Japanese mythology. 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.

* [[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.

* In ''{{Berserk}}'', the Apostle form of the Baron of Koka Castle is a disturbingly Freudian snake-monster who actually manages to land a few good hits on Guts ([[MadeOfIron although, pretty much every Apostle lands many good hits on him]]). He still doesn't last very long though, due to Guts unloading his ArmCannon right into the Baron's face and then hacking him in half in one blow with the [[{{BFS}} Dragon Slayer]].

* In the series finale of ''CodenameKidsNextDoor'', Father transforms into a giant, black dragon. Still gets knocked into a pit, but unlike most examples, doesn't die.

* A bizarre example in many ways, the traditional [[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.

* Mister Monday transforms into a giant snake in the first book of the ''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]].

* Protagonist example: This is how [[spoiler:[[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 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 [[TanksForNothing tank.]] [[CurbStompBattle Rea]][[CrowningMomentOfAwesome lly!]]]]

* 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]].

* Although ''ThePrincessAndTheFrog'' does a good job at subverting the ReptilesAreAbhorrent trope, even going as far as to feature a benevolent snake as the pet of the BigGood, [[BigBad Dr. Facilier]]'s LivingShadow briefly turns into a snake during the "[[VillainSong Friends on the Other Side]]" scene. Since ''Princess'' is from the same directors as Aladdin, this may have been a nod to Jafar.

* In the climax of [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 TMNT: The Lost Episodes]], the True Shredder demon transforms into a dragon to gain an advantage over the Turtles... At least, until the Turtles ''also'' transform into dragons. Because magic.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Faria}}'', after the BigBad's first form is defeated, he uses the powers of the King's scrolls to transfer his soul into a dragon that [[TheNightThatNeverEnds blocks the sun from the world]].

* In ''VideoGame/{{Faria}}'', after the BigBad's first form is defeated, he uses the powers of the King's scrolls to transfer his soul into a dragon that [[TheNightThatNeverEnds ‎blocks the sun from the world]].

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII2'', the BigBad Caius Ballad has the ability to become his [[SummonMagic Eidolon]] [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Bahamut]], a process that is normally fatal but doesn't bother him at all because he is [[PerfectImmortality immortal]]. As the FinalBoss he
becomes a different more powerful dragon and summons two more to aid him for good measure.

* In Mystaria: The Realms of Lore, one character, Ashe, can change into a dragon at will. While he doesn't have quite the variety of abilities as a dragon as he does while human, he's so ridiculously powerful as a dragon that there's almost literally no reason not to be a dragon at all times.
* In Franchise/TheElderScrolls lore, the Ka Po'Tun, [[PettingZooPeople a race of humanoid tigers]], ultimately desire to become dragons. Their emperor, Tosh Raka the tiger-dragon, is the first and only one to succeed.
* In ''GuitarHero: Warriors of Rock'', this is Casey Lynch's powered-up form.

* In the PS1 strategy RPG Saiyuki: The Journey West, one of the characters is a dragon princess who can transform into her true form in combat. One of the other playable characters can turn into a monstrous turtle in the same way. (And if fish scales count, yet another of the playable characters transforms into a fish monster) On the villain's side, there's a dragon queen and a snake man, who you fight in both forms in separate battles.
* In VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII2 the BigBad Caius Ballad has the ability to become his [[SummonMagic Eidolon]] [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Bahamut]], a process that is normally fatal but doesn't bother him at all because he is [[PerfectImmortality immortal]]. As the FinalBoss he becomes a different more powerful dragon and summons two more to aid him for good measure.

* In ''ChinesePaladin 3'', one of the heroines turns into a snake to get an extra edge in combat.

* Freddy in ''Comicbook/NightmaresOnElmStreet'' appears as a dragon to Alice in the [[Literature/AliceInWonderland Wonderland]] dreamscape. He carries the form to the climactic confrontation.