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1[[quoteright:299:[[Film/ShinGodzilla https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shingoji1_9.jpg]]]]
2[[caption-width-right:299:Godzilla laughs in the face of your "tanks and missiles".]]
3%%
4Let's face it -- things that are bigger than us are scary, and not just because of their size. A large part of the fear invoked by gigantic things is that while they could crush you where you stand, [[PunyEarthlings puny little you]] likely couldn't even scratch them. It seems that we instinctively know that the bigger something becomes, the harder it is to hurt. And in fictionland, things can get [[SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale very, very big.]]
5
6After decades of {{Kaiju}} movies have shown fruitless bombings of {{Franchise/Godzilla}} and his ilk, viewers seem conditioned to accept that any giant monster or robot is [[ImmuneToBullets completely immune to conventional weaponry]]. This can be a problem for filmmakers, either making the military in their films [[IdiotBall look stupid]] for [[ArmiesAreUseless even being there]] or destroying the audience's SuspensionOfDisbelief when FiveRoundsRapid ''[[{{Anticlimax}} actually]] [[RealityIsUnrealistic works]].'' Not much can be done about this. It would seem that audiences like to see a [[TennisBoss more]] [[YourMindMakesItReal creative]] [[CosmicKeystone method]] for destroying the monster than MoreDakka or StuffBlowingUp.
7
8There are a few ways to overcome this, including a {{Superweapon}}, DepletedPhlebotinumShells and (inexplicably) attaching the very same weapons to another giant robot or monster. On the other hand, simply laying out poisoned bait for these critters and letting their appetites do them in will [[JustEatGilligan never]], ''ever'' occur to anyone[[note]]except in ''Film/GameraVsGyaos'', where it ''almost'' worked.[[/note]].
9
10This trope is a staple of the SuperRobotGenre and RealRobotGenre, since it justifies the existence of HumongousMecha: if normal weapons can't hurt the Giant Bad Guy, you need a Giant Good Guy.
11
12Contrast the SquareCubeLaw, which suggests larger things should actually be ''weaker''. However, assuming that the Square Cube Law is in effect, and the creature still doesn't collapse and die, then this trope is justified because the creature [[RequiredSecondaryPowers needs to be massively strong and durable]] to withstand their own weight and move with any reasonable efficiency (indeed, beyond a certain size, the body would have to incorporate substances stronger and more durable than anything that exists in real animals). For example, a human scaled-up by merely twice his own height would weigh eight times more. The strength necessary to move his own body weight as fast as a normal man would make him incredibly overpowered versus normal-sized opponents.
13
14It's also TruthInTelevision in the sense that a massive difference in size between two animals can render the smaller animal [[PunchPunchPunchUhOh largely incapable of meaningfully harming the larger one]] (such as an ant biting a human or a human punching an elephant) without injecting venom, [[AttackItsWeakPoint attacking a vulnerable area]], using a powerful weapon (such as a gun), or otherwise attacking with something other than its own strength (or having [[ZergRush a few dozen friends]] help). In real-life ecosystems, simply being very, very large has proven an entirely viable defense mechanism, evident in both prehistoric sauropods and modern-day elephants and large whales.
15
16----
17!!Examples:
18[[foldercontrol]]
19
20[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
21* ''Anime/DoraemonNobitasLittleSpaceWar'' have the gang in Planet Pirika, a world inhabited by {{Lilliputians}}, where they blend in by shrinking themselves via the [[ShrinkRay shrink light]]. But they're later captured alive by the PCIA dictatorship led by Colonel Dracorl, sentenced to be ShotAtDawn... only for the light's effect to wear off, turning them back to their regular sizes. They then effortlessly tears the PCIA army a new hole while shrugging off rifles and cannons, though Nobita in giant form does feel momentary pain when [[ShotInTheAss some of the PCIA soldiers shot him in the rump]].
22* ''Anime/MazingerZ'' and its sequels (''Anime/GreatMazinger'' and ''Anime/UFORoboGrendizer'') played this trope straight. Combat jets, tanks, missiles... could not even scratch the armor of a {{Robeast}}, and it could only be defeated by a similarly giant weapon. It is subverted with the {{FemBot}}s, though, since Aphrodite A, Diana A and Venus A could be easily defeated, and Aphrodite A could be briefly deterred by an army of {{Mooks}} using conventional weapons.
23** Subverted when Kouji destroyed one of the [[{{Robeast}} Mechanical Monsters]] of Archduke Gorgon using landmines -even though it was supposed to be stronger than [[BigBad Dr. Hell]]'s Mechanical Monsters!-.
24* ''[[Anime/{{Gigantor}} Tetsujin28-Go]]'', the first HumongousMecha played this trope completely straight. It was intended to be Japan's ultimate weapon during World War II. Since that war was over before the robot was finished, Tetsujin is used to fight mostly criminals and terrorists.
25* ''Manga/GetterRobo'' (that battled giant cybernetic DINOSAURS), ''Anime/{{Raideen}}'', the ''Anime/RobotRomanceTrilogy'' -''Anime/CombattlerV'', ''Anime/VoltesV'' (it was supported by the army, but conventional weapons were never strong enough to battle Boazanian's Slave Beasts), ''Anime/{{Daimos}}''-, ''Anime/{{Zambot3}}'', ''Anime/{{Daitarn3}}''... conventional weapons can not touch any of them.
26* In ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'', the HumongousMecha are shown to be vulnerable to concentrated small-arms fire (something that [[BadassNormal Yoko]] uses to her advantage on a number of occasions). This hasn't stopped some viewers from asking, "Why are they shooting at the robots when they know it won't do any good?" later on.
27* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'': They try bullets, missiles, and clean nukes on the angels; but [[spoiler:[[AssimilationPlot part of]]]] the reason the Evas exist is that the Angels are protected by a force field (they call it an AT field) that only the Evas can cancel out with their own AT fields. Though there are cases where science fiction-based weapons '''do''' defeat them.
28* The trope is averted in ''Anime/{{Macross}}'' for both the Zentraedi and their battle pods. While ''Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross'' shows that Zentradi (at least those of Bretai's type) are powerful enough to dismember GiantMecha with their bare hands, human weaponry or Zentradi weapons wielded by humans can take them down in an instant.
29* ''Anime/GiantRobo'' takes place in a world where 'Experts' have various superpowers and can duke it out with each other, to the detriment of the landscape. But with a title like ''that'', guess where the ''real'' force is. The show mostly plays it straight - Giant ''does'' equal Invincible, unless you're [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique prepared to die soon afterwards]].
30* ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' is all over the place with this trope. The Universal Century series have anti-Mobile Suit infantry tactics being reasonably effective while armies in the Alternate Universes generally don't field infantry against Mobile Suits at all. However, one of the series' major conceits is that Mobile Suits can effortlessly take down battleships and Mobile Armors hundreds of times larger than themselves--roughly a scaled-up equivalent of a properly-equipped infantryman bringing down a tank.
31* ''Anime/ScienceNinjaTeamGatchaman'' subverts the trope. You only needed the Gatchaman team -a FiveManBand of teenagers with a CoolAirship-to take on a HumongousMecha and destroy it.
32* Played with in ''Manga/OnePiece''. While more powerful characters tend to be bigger, giants are easily taken down by the more powerful characters. One subversion is Oars Jr, who, though he could take cannonballs with ease and smash through smaller giants (wrap your brain around that), all it meant for the truly powerful characters was that he presented a bigger target.
33* Zigzagged in ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist''. Envy's [[OneWingedAngel gigantic true form]] is the biggest creature in the series, and focuses more on brute strength than speed. This makes him more than a match for Ed, Ling, and on other characters who are completely unprepared for his transformation. Later when he uses this against [[PlayingWithFire Roy Mustang]], Roy simply flash-fries him over and over, pointing out that all Envy did was give him a bigger target. It also didn't help that they were fighting in an enclosed space that took away any maneuverability Envy might've had elsewhere.
34* Subverted in ''Manga/AttackOnTitan''. Titans are actually [[MadeOfPlasticine very fragile]], and not only do conventional weapons damage them without issue, they're also prone to injuring themselves by accident. The problem is that they FeelNoPain (unless you stab them in the eyes) and have an incredibly powerful HealingFactor, with only [[AttackItsWeakPoint one possible way]] to put them down for good. It makes killing one a very difficult and dangerous proposition.
35* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'':
36** Averted with Mt. Lady. Not only can a strong enough opponent take her down while she's in her giant form [[spoiler:as All For One does]], but due to not being able to include any padding or armor in her costume since nothing that would provide meaningful protection could stretch to fit both of her sizes, she has to be careful about just stepping on things as well; When she goes to stomp the front of a villain hideout, she has to wear a flatbed truck as an makeshift shoe to avoid hurting her foot on the debris.
37** Played straight, however, by Gigantomachia, who not only naturally possesses incredible SuperToughness alongside his giant size, as he gets bigger the longer a fight goes on he becomes ''even more unstoppable'' partially thanks to his FeelNoPain Quirk and partially because [[HeroicSpirit he converts his own morale and loyalty into physical power]].
38* Subverted in ''Anime/DeadEndAdventure'': there are two giants among the participants, and are among the first to be eliminated from the race.
39[[/folder]]
40
41[[folder: Comic Books]]
42* ''ComicBook/XMen'': [[Characters/XMenSentinels Sentinels]] aren't invincible (yet), but they are built exceptionally tough because their intended targets can [[Characters/MarvelComicsCyclops shatter you with a glance]], [[ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} cut anything]], [[Characters/MarvelComicsStorm throw lightning]], [[Characters/MarvelComicsMagneto bend steel with a thought]] or just [[Characters/MarvelComicsJeanGrey treat matter like tinker-toys]]. As a consequence, we don't often (if ever) see conventional arms used against them.
43* ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'' takes great joy in {{avert|edTrope}}ing this as part of its more "realistic" take on superheroes. Giant-Man (non-combatant Hank Pym) is nothing more than an oversized, unskilled, still-entirely-squishy human who is ''repeatedly'' curb-stomped by his [[BadassNormal opponents]] or even just [[EpicFail inconveniently placed obstacles]]. The ''entire concept'' is jettisoned as a useless gimmick for a superhero, and instead gets used for [[MundaneUtility cleanup and construction.]]
44* ''ComicBook/AlanFord'': Averted in the (anti?) climax of ''Sun, sky, air and...'': when the villain, Gim, dives in the size-increasing powder and emerges from the ocean as a 50 foot tall giant to kill the heroes, but Minuette swiftly kills him with a single shot of a harpoon gun to the heart.
45* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':
46** ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} has occasionally faced up to giant monsters and robots that were tough enough to resist her attacks.
47** In ''ComicBook/Batgirl2009'' she tells a friend about it.
48--->'''ComicBook/{{Batgirl}}:''' I thought only the green stuff could hurt your... is "kind" offensive at all?\
49'''Supergirl:''' Depends on which one of us you ask. And it isn't just Kryptonite. There's all kinds of little hiccups. Magic. Electricity. Sometimes robots, if they're big enough.
50** Played straight in ''ComicBook/{{Bizarrogirl}}''. Supergirl usually is more than capable of dealing with monsters, but the moonsized [[PlanetEater Godship]] is too tough to be punched out and strong enough to smash her away. It easily withstands the assault of an army of Bizarro clones and finally the heroes have to resort to power up Bizarrogirl's petrifying vision to merely freeze it.
51** In an early story, Superman had some difficulty when he once fought an alien giant robot. It was as strong and invulnerable as he was, so whenever Supes and the alien robot traded punches neither was hurt. The robot then used its superior to size to grab Superman and stuff him inside a compartment within. Superman eventually escapes and defeats the robot by dismantling it at the joints.
52** Played straight in ''ComicBook/TheUnknownSupergirl'': The Infinite Monster is so big that its head touches the upper atmosphere, and its already extra-tough body is protected by a personal force field. It cannot be harmed by the army or the local superheroes, and Kara's godlike strength is not enough to even ''move'' it. Finally, she resorts to building a changing-size ray and shrinking it down to miniature size to defeat it.
53** Subverted in ''ComicBook/TheKillersOfKrypton'' when [[BigBad Empress Gandelo]] makes herself giant to fight Supergirl. She would be a formidable opponent against anybody else, but her greatly magnified strength is still insufficient to overpower a Kryptonian. All in all, she just made herself a giant ''target'', and impossible to miss.
54[[/folder]]
55
56[[folder: Comic Strips ]]
57* ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'':
58** Parodied by one of the final unpublished strips, available in ''Last Chapter And Worse''. A man is interviewed after taking down a Godzilla-like monster with his shotgun. "Well, I seen all the commotion, with that there monster destroyin' half the city and whatnot, and I says to myself 'Hell! Why don't someone just shoot the varmint?'"
59** Also averted in one depicting a massive, slain mastodon, [[AchillesHeel with a minuscule arrow in its buttock]].
60--->'''Caveman:''' Maybe we should write that spot down.
61[[/folder]]
62
63[[folder: Fan Works (''Neon Genesis Evangelion'')]]
64Seeing how this trope is crucial to the series, it's only natural that it shows up in fan fiction.
65
66* ''Fanfic/ACrownOfStars'': Asuka Langley Sohryu pilots a [[TransformingMecha Star Strider]], a flying robot just as tall as the Statue of Liberty. When she fights tanks and foot troops... You can guess the result.
67* ''Fanfic/AdviceAndTrust'': Regular army forces do nothing against Evas or Angels. During the battle against Leliel land tropes surround the Angel to let Nerv apply pressure. One of the BridgeBunnies asks if they are useful and Misato notes disdainfully that Leliel is intimidated by their presence not at all.
68* ''Fanfic/TheChildOfLove'': After the Angel War Shinji and Asuka are cajoled into taking part in peace-keeping missions. They don't want to kill anyone but Misato assures them the only thing they have to do is show up and scare them because everyone knows giant robots are invincible.
69* ''Fanfic/ChildrenOfAnElderGod'': Since the enemies in this story are {{Eldritch Abomination}}s of the Franchise/CthulhuMythos, conventional weaponry, tanks, fighter jets, missiles, nukes... are predictably useless, and they can only be found using bio-mechanical giant super robots which are, in fact, cloned {{Eldritch Abomination}}s.
70* ''Fanfic/DoingItRightThisTime'': In the first story draft, an Admiral complains about using giant robots to fight monsters. Asuka quickly points out a HumongousMecha is the only thing has worked so far with {{Robeast}}s and {{Kaiju}}s.
71-->''"There's got to be a better way of doing this," he grumbled to himself, in the mistaken belief that Asuka's English was anything but impeccable. "I mean, giant robots for heaven's sake!"''\
72''"Technically the Evangelions are cyborgs. And you could well be right, but so far we've killed three more Angels than any other weapon of man's devising."''\
73''The man scowled, but conceded the point.''
74* ''Fanfic/HailToTheKingThuktunFlishithy'': Subverted. Initially it is played straight: when the [[HumongousMecha Evangelions]], the {{Kaiju}} and the [[EldritchAbomination Angels]] come to blows the army of the Evangelion universe could stay in home for all the good its presence will do. However, the Godzilla universe army has decades of experience dealing with giant, superpowerful and nearly invulnerable monsters, and they are at least capable to provide cover fire, distract or slightly weaken the enemy.
75* ''Fanfic/{{HERZ}}'': The narration blatantly points out that HERZ is still invincible because... well... giant robots.
76-->''Despite of the loss of much of NERV's old autonomy, HERZ was still greatly feared. Exclusive control of Unit 01 and the remaining Eva-05 series meant that she could defeat any conventional armed force on the field.''
77* ''Fanfic/LastChildOfKrypton'': Subverted. Yes, the regular army is useless against Angels or Evangelions... but when (human-sized) Shinji [[spoiler:a. k. a. Franchise/{{Superman}}]] comes along, being giant only means that you are a giant ''target''.
78* ''Fanfic/OnceMoreWithFeeling'': After Shinji got fed up with an admiral dissing the Evangelions, Shinji narrates his first engagement and points out that the HumongousMecha is the only thing can damage an Angel because conventional weaponry is useless.
79-->''"Well Sir, I have, so has the First Child and I'm sure very shortly, so too will have the Second [...] In my first engagement, I went up against an Angel that chewed through a Tank Battalion in four minutes flat, destroyed three dozen aircraft and took more firepower then this entire battle group could dish out, right up to the use of Strategic scale N2 weapons. The UN and JSSDF threw everything they had at it and barely slowed it down at the cost of over a thousand lives and half a billion US dollars. [...] With the greatest of respect, Sir, [...] the twin of that toy you are transporting took out that Angel in sixty three seconds, with no civilian casualties, no military casualties and minimal collateral damage to the city it was fighting in."
80* ''Fanfic/TheOneILoveIs'': Although he hates fighting, Shinji gets forced to pilot a giant robot because there is nothing else that can damage the [[{{Robeast}} Angels]], and he is the only one who can pilot Unit 01.
81* ''Fanfic/ScarTissue'': Ritsuko notes in one scene that they can not beat one of their giant robots with anything other than another giant robot.
82* ''Fanfic/TheSecondTry'': Conventional weaponry does nothing to Evas or Angels. When the army assaulted the Geofront Asuka's HumongousMecha destroyed foot troops, entire tank battallions, [=VTOLs=] with insulting easiness whereas Shinji's giant robot protected her power cord with an impregnable barrier that no projectile could pierce through. It went on until the army gave up and deployed Seele's HumongousMecha. Shortly before Asuka had said that the soldiers were not the real problem (since their enemy were the MP-Evas).
83* ''Fanfic/SOE2LoneHeirOfKrypton'': Subverted. The regular army is useless when it is time to fight [[{{Robeast}} Angels]] or even [[HumongousMecha Evas]]. No weapon of theirs can damage them. However, Asuka--who in this setting is ''Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}''--can fight them more effectively with her bare hands than with a giant robot despite of being an average-sized human. In fact she manages [[spoiler:taking Armisael down and surviving, something no Eva could do]].
84* ''Fanfic/ThousandShinji'': Subverted. The army is mostly useless against the Angels, but some troops were capable to assist Shinji by providing cover fire to distract Ramiel.
85* ''Fanfic/NeonGenesisEvangelionGenocide'': As soon as new humongous [[EldritchAbomination Angels]] show up, it's made clear that the army keeps being helpless against them, and the Evas must be deployed again.
86[[/folder]]
87
88[[folder: Fan Works (Other)]]
89* ''Fanfic/BattleFantasiaProject'': Justified in the remake. When the Nightmare Factory deploys a {{Kaiju}}, it's quickly pointed out that [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve magic tends to make beliefs real or more probable]], and as it happened in Japan the Kaijuu was effectively invincible unless fought by a PhysicalGod, someone with divine-inspired powers, or something equally large (it was taken down by the [[WesternAnimation/MegasXLR Megas]]).
90* ''Fanfic/MesozoicEffect'': Averted. Larger dinosaur breeds are typically used as long-range support units specifically because they ''aren't'' invulnerable, and their large size just makes them sitting ducks for the high power kinetic weapons of the Franchise/MassEffect universe. When they do fight up close, they wear large suits of PoweredArmor that generally turn them into MiniMecha, complete with arsenals of weapons and gadgets. Even with these upgrades, they still aren't as durable as tanks and typically have to rely on their superior mobility to stay alive.
91* ''Fanfic/WonderfulMazinja'': When a house-sized tank attacks the main character's super-hero team, Taylor and her teammates manage to destroy it... but they needed to use giant weapons to do so.
92* ''Fanfic/TheBridge'' plays it completely straight on the Terran side, where only high-end mecha or extremely rare superweapons have any effect on kaiju and it usually took one of the more heroic kaiju to save the day. On the Equestrian side, it flip-flops. Bladed weaponry is obviously useless and magic blasts from an extremely powerful unicorn-like Starlight Glimmer might just get a kaiju's attention; but WordOfGod and demonstration show more powerful artifacts like the Crystal heart and potent alicorn magic can do some damage.
93* {{Discussed|Trope}} in ''Fanfic/TheDilgarWar'', where a few characters talk about the latest ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' movie and one of them mentions an easy way to deal with it: [[OrbitalBombardment a single railgun shot from an orbiting starship]].
94* In ''ComicBook/{{Shazam}}'' fanfiction ''Fanfic/HereThereBeMonsters'', the combined power of the Canadian and USA armies cannot slow down, let alone hurt, two enlarged Captain Marvel's villains: the fifty-foot Red Crusher and ten-foot Mister Atom.
95-->One of their foemen was human, or appeared to be, if one could discount his fifty-foot height. […]\
96Beside him, much slighter in height but not in menace, stood a figure off of an old science fiction pulp cover, brought to life: Mr. Atom. A gleaming, metal, atomic-powered robot who had turned on its creator and sought to destroy the human race, with only Captain Marvel to stop him. […]\
97The two of them were advancing towards a mass of soldiers and tanks before them. They looked about as concerned as a football player stepping on a mass of roaches.
98* ''Fanfic/AHollowInEquestria'' plays with this trope when the first antagonist is a dragon. Its scaly hide offers superb protection against everything the ponies throw at it, such as large boulders, magical energy blasts, and even Rainbow Dash's Sonic Rainboom. But against Ulquiorra it has no protection and is vulnerable to the resulting beatdown it suffers.
99[[/folder]]
100
101[[folder: Film]]
102* This could be the reason dinosaurs in the first two ''Franchise/JurassicPark'' movies appear to be bullet-proof. (Though granted, we puny humans rarely get a chance to even try shooting.) They don't seem to be ''completely'' invincible. After all, the hunters in ''[[Film/TheLostWorldJurassicPark the second film]]'' are able to catch them in large numbers, and it is implied that the head hunter's elephant gun would have worked on a UsefulNotes/TyrannosaurusRex had the [[DesignatedHero environmental terrorist]] not stolen his ammo. Also, there's the instant death coral poison gun that got [[TooDumbToLive tangled in some cargo netting.]]
103** The ''Spinosaurus'' from ''Film/JurassicParkIII'' both may have tanked shots from an anti-tank rifle and definitely tanked a bite to the neck from a subadult ''T. rex''. [[spoiler:However, as it was likely a prototype hybrid dinosaur, this may be somewhat justified.]]
104** In the [[Film/JurassicWorld fourth movie]] this is zigzagged. The pterosaurs are each taken down by one shot, but it can be assumed it's because they're not really that big[[note]]and, being {{Giant Flyer}}s, they're also more lightweight and built for speed rather than strength, so this may also be a case of FragileSpeedster and/or GlassCannon[[/note]]. Meanwhile the ''[[BigBad Indominus rex]]'' barely seems to notice when she's being shot at and shrugs off a barrage of machine-gun and rifle fire throughout the movie. She does improvise some quick evasive maneuvers when subjected to fire from a helicopter-mounted minigun, though, and is successfully driven away with a rocket launcher. The ''Indominus'' however, appears to have been specifically engineered to be as tough as possible, shrugging off multiple bites to the neck from [[spoiler:Rexie and even the ''Mosasaurus''; it took being drowned by the ''Mosasaurus'' to eventually kill her]].
105* ''Film/TransformersFilmSeries'':
106** One of the (many) common complaints against Creator/MichaelBay's [[Film/TransformersRevengeOfTheFallen second film]] is the presence of human soldiers with rifles during the battle. It seems that they're only there because Bay wants to see their bodies pinwheel through the air from explosions. Never mind that we see [[BigBad Megatron]] himself driven back by concentrated fire from the fleshlings.
107** By [[Film/TransformersDarkOfTheMoon the third film]], they have learned to take down Cybertronians with ''assault rifles''. Granted, those rifles are firing armor-piercing rounds, but they are shown to be training in tactics specifically designed against large robotic opponents, such as dropping from above, [[EyeScream going for the eyes]], and blowing their feet up with specialized explosives (size means less when you're flat on the ground). They still drop like flies, especially when the Decepticons bring out the disintegrator guns, but are able to take down a number of enemy 'bots including [[spoiler:Shockwave]].
108*** All of this is justified though. The first movie revealed that humans discovered just what type of man-made weapon was capable of injuring a Cybertronian, and actively made that the standard-issue ammo for all soldiers in the following films.
109* In ''Film/{{Cloverfield}}'', WordOfGod tells us that the traditionally unstoppable monster [[spoiler:was killed by the "Hammerdown Protocol"]], although one wonders what effect it would have on it's [[Film/{{TheCloverfieldParadox}} mother]].
110* Every ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' movie ever.[[note]]Except [[Film/Godzilla1998 one]]. [[InNameOnly Depending on]] [[BrokenBase who you ask.]][[/note]] (In the [[Film/Godzilla1954 original]], the "Oxygen Destroyer" kills Godzilla. Still, it's not a conventional weapon, but a 'superscience' type. The [=SuperX=] in much later films has some effect.)
111** ''Film/GodzillaVsDestoroyah'' subverts this. Turns out that too much radiation ''can'' kill Godzilla. The downside is that it'll cause him to go into a meltdown and destroy the world. Granted, nuking Godzilla is a bad idea in the first place since it'll make him larger and more powerful before it has any fatal effects.
112** Subverted in ''[[Film/GodzillaMothraKingGhidorahGiantMonstersAllOutAttack GMK]]''. Godzilla is defeated after [[spoiler:swallowing a submarine that uses high-powered torpedoes to drill a hole through his chest allowing said submarine to escape, and causing Godzilla to explode by his thermonuclear breath tearing him apart from the inside out via said hole]]. It doesn't kill him, per se, but at least he's been [[spoiler:reduced to a disembodied heart]].
113** In ''Film/GodzillaFinalWars'', fans had every reason to expect invincible kaiju. Ryuhei Kitamura attempted to overcome this trope with superhuman mutants and flying battlecruisers with lasers.
114** Part of the reason for the hate for the first American ''Film/{{Godzilla 1998}}'' movie is that this is averted. While Godzilla[[note]]and despite his InNameOnly reputation and the Toho ruling that in all future appearances [[RetCon this creature is officially renamed "Zilla,"]] legally the one in this movie ''is'' Godzilla[[/note]] is pretty much immune to small arms fire, big guns and bombs are able to hurt him, and late in the movie he is injured and eventually killed by conventional weaponry. ''Gamera'' director Shusuke Kaneko is quoted as saying "Americans seem unable to accept a creature that cannot be put down by their arms." Thankfully for fans, this would be fixed in [[WesternAnimation/GodzillaTheSeries the animated spinoff,]] see WesternAnimation below.
115** Brought back full-force in ''Film/{{Godzilla 2014}}''. The [=MUTOs=] and Godzilla [[ImmuneToBullets shrug off all bullets,]] tank rounds, and sea-to-ground missiles, though rifles successfully distract the [=MUTOs=] more than once. It is confirmed in the movie that Godzilla can survive point-blank nuclear explosions in the kiloton range, though they have no idea what megaton-level explosions will do. However, the nuclear initiation that the movie shows targeting Godzilla is known to us as the Castle Bravo test, which is famous not only for being one of the first multimegaton tests, but for unfortunately exceeding expectations- the expected 4-8 megaton explosion was roughly 15 megatons. No nuke in the current arsenal is capable of that [[note]][[ArtisticLicenseHistory This particular variation appears to be based on only fixating on what can be done with today's "cool DARPA technology" and not considering other factors; while the know-how exists, the political will doesn't]][[/note]].
116** Also subverted in ''Film/ShinGodzilla''. After the weapons used by the Japanese military don't even scratch Godzilla, US bombers hit him with [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massive_Ordnance_Penetrator GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs]]. These actually do injure Godzilla, blowing off chunks of his spinal plates and spilling a lot of blood, but this leads to Godzilla's first use of its atomic breath. Between its various forms, this leads to all the bombers being taken out, most of the Japanese Cabinet being killed in one hit, and the complete destruction of a huge section of Tokyo. To top everything off, Godzilla heals the damage and starts taking out anything airborne that approaches him, even while dormant.
117* Averted with ''Film/{{Rodan}}''. Both monsters die in a volcano while the JSDF bombs them with an airstrike.
118* ZigZaggingTrope in the '90s ''Film/{{Gamera}}'' trilogy. Gamera is shot down from flight by anti-air missiles, but they don't seem to actually hurt him all that much, at most seeming to startle or annoy him when it comes to damage. In the same movie, Gyaos also gets bombarded with missiles and the most it does it wake it up. While Legion appears to be much tougher than both of them, firing at her weakest area, specifically the joints on her small claws, allow them to weaken her force field. Iris, however, plays this completely straight, as nothing Gamera or the JSDF throw at it can so much as make it flinch. It takes Gamera literally ''punching'' a hole in Iris with a MegatonPunch made of explosive fire to kill it.
119* ''Franchise/KingKong'':
120** Averted in ''Film/KingKong1933''. Kong is gradually shot down by biplanes (Helicopter gunships in the [[Film/KingKong1976 1976 remake]]), and slowly dies from shot after shot.
121** Zigzagged in ''Film/KingKong2005''. The largest animals on Skull Island, the ''Brontosauruses'', avert this trope; Thompson fire is enough to penetrate their unarmored hides and bring them down. The ''Piranhadon'' from the deleted scenes isn't visibly harmed by Thomspon fire, but it's enough to deter it. Kong himself shrugs off small arms fire and tanks bites from ''V. rexes'', though he's brought down by repeated biplane gunfire in the climax and captured with a chloroform bottle to the face. The ''V. rexes'' themselves are ImmuneToBullets in [[VideoGame/PeterJacksonsKingKong the game]], and tank several impacts that likely would have killed a ''T. rex'' in reality. It should be noted that both Kong and the ''V. rexes'', whose species were fierce rivals, were perfectly capable of killing each other.
122** Played straight in ''Film/KongSkullIsland'', where King Kong takes out a full squadron of helicopter gunships, though he does bleed a bit and his palm shows scars from their rotors. The ''small'' Skullcrawler shrugs off several small arms and even a flamethrower and is only killed when a gas vent is set on fire under it. [[spoiler:The big one survives even Kong cutting its throat open with a ship's propeller and it takes him ripping its guts out through its mouth to kill it.]]
123** Taken even further in the sequel, Film/GodzillaVsKong, where at one point the big ape travels to the center of the Earth through a gravitational anomaly described by one character as equivalent to "A whole planet's worth of gravity pushing on you all at once." While that may be... [[ArtisticLicensePhysics pretty nonsensical,]] it is true that the pressure as one approaches the Earth's core reaches in excess of ''[[https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/core/ 3.5 million]] times sea level,'' and needless to say, anything that could survive that kind of pressure would have absolutely nothing to fear from any Earthly weapon. For reference, the peak blast pressure of an atomic explosion is [[https://www.atomicarchive.com/science/effects/overpressure.html around 65psi,]] already more than enough to destroy any structure in the blast radius. Our favorite monkey survived the equivalent of ''[[BeyondTheImpossible 50,750,000psi]]'' without so much as ''breaking a sweat.''
124* Downplayed in ''Film/PacificRim'': the {{Kaiju}} aren't ''entirely'' immune to conventional tanks and bombers, but are so resistant to them it takes days of constant attacks just to kill one, all while the things tear the hell out of cities. The collective world community agreed to [[NuclearWeaponsTaboo stop using nuclear weapons on the Kaiju]], because even though they work, doing it over and over again was far more destructive to the planet and humanity in the short run. The point of [[HumongousMecha Jaegers]] isn't just to kill the things, but to kill them ''quickly''; preferably before they even reach the coast. The Kaiju eventually built a nuke-proof variant anyway.
125** There is also the issue that Kaiju blood is highly toxic so a slowy bleeding out Kaiju on a days long rampage can poison a much larger area and be harder to contain and clean up than one killed swiftly upon being detected.
126* Justified in ''Film/IndependenceDayResurgence'' by having the giant Queen Alien have its own individual forcefield.
127* In ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'', [[spoiler:[[Film/AntMan1 Giant-Man]] is seemingly impervious to both Iron Man and War Machine's artillery, though to be fair, they were not trying to use lethal shots. It takes a combination of "[[Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack really old movie]]" tactics and a wrecking ball-like slam from a superdense Vision to knock him down]]. Especially odd since Ant-Man's powers are explicitly stated to change his size but not his mass, meaning when he's small he's a PintSizedPowerhouse, with the strength and weight of a grown man concentrated into the size of an ant, which means that conversely he should have roughly the strength of tissue paper at 60 feet tall. In practice, his powers mostly alternate between RuleOfCool and RuleOfFunny.
128** In ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', he easily takes out two leviathans (one in the [[FunnyBackgroundEvent background even!]]), something the Hulk and Thor had to struggle with briefly in ''Film/TheAvengers2012''. He also kills [[TheBrute Cull Obsidian]] very easily and [[AccidentalMurder presumably accidentally]], a foe the Avengers had to struggle a lot against in ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', even after [[AnArmAndALeg chopping off his arm]]. In fact, the movie is forced to write him off by giving him a different mission in order to justify him not directly fighting [[Characters/MCUThanos Thanos]] in the end.
129** This trait is played with in ''Film/AntManAndTheWaspQuantumania'', but with a twist: [[spoiler: During the final assault on BigBad Kang's citadel]], Scott shrugs off artillery and laser fire like he's Franchise/{{Godzilla}}, smashing tanks underfoot and swatting planes out of the sky. However, given this whole scene plays out [[spoiler: in the [[RecursiveReality Quantum Realm,]]]] the question remains whether he was ''actually'' giant, or just ''slightly less microscopic'' than his surroundings.
130* A very literal example in ''Film/BigAssSpider'', with the eponymous menace, upon reaching Kaiju size, being immune to gunfire and even [[spoiler: surviving a direct missile strike]]. Meanwhile, [[spoiler: its newly-hatched (small) offspring prove to be susceptible to being shot]].
131* A number of ''Franchise/StarTrek'' films seem to love this trope:
132** In ''Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome'', the alien "whale probe" that arrives at Earth is gargantuan and disables every spaceborne or technological object in its path. Multiple Starfleet vessels and their crews are shown dealing with the aftermath of an encounter with the Probe before it reaches Earth and starts manipulating weather across the entire planet.
133** In ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact'', the Borg cube that supplies an ActionPrologue manages to get the better of an assembled fleet of Federation vessels in a running firefight straight to Earth. Subverted, though, as the ''Enterprise''-E officers note that the cube sustained heavy damage to its outer hull, and it is promptly destroyed as soon as the entire battle group targets their weapons on a single vulnerable spot.
134** ''Film/StarTrekNemesis'' introduces the ''Scimitar'', a Reman-built Romulan uber-warbird that's essentially TheJuggernaut with a huge array of weapons up to and including lethal thalaron radiation, multiple-layered shields that still work while cloaked, and a CloakingDevice that is said to be perfectly effective. Everything the ''Enterprise''-E and two arriving Romulan vessels manage to throw at it only manages to disable the cloaking system and brings the ''Scimitar'''s shields down to ''[[NoSell seventy percent]]'' strength. It takes RammingAlwaysWorks to do any lasting damage, and [[spoiler:detonating the thalaron generator to actually blow it up from the inside]].
135** ''Film/StarTrek2009'' brings us [[BigBad Nero]]'s ship, the ''Narada'', which is said to have originally been a Romulan mining vessel before apparently being heavily augmented and thrown back from the 24th to the 23rd century. Nero and his crew make short work of an entire Starfleet squadron sent to intercept them at the planet Vulcan, and back when they first arrived, George Kirk and the crew of the ''Kelvin'' were so thoroughly outmatched that the crew were forced into escape craft right away and Kirk had to buy them time to flee by ramming the ''Narada''. A single salvo from Nero's ship is enough to nearly collapse the alternate-timeline ''Enterprise'''s shields, and another volley would have made them share the RedshirtArmy's fate. Eventually, it takes [[spoiler:an artificially-generated ''black hole'' to finally take Nero and his ship down for good]].
136** The followup to the 2009 film, ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'', has the ''Vengeance'', a huge warship built in secret looking like a dark ''Constitution''-class vessel. It utterly outclasses the ''Enterprise'' in every way, and the protagonist vessel doesn't even get to fire a shot as its weapons are taken out within seconds of the ''Vengeance'' even engaging. In this case, [[spoiler:seventy-two internally detonating torpedoes are necessary to take the ''Vengeance'' down, and even then, Khan retains enough ability to control the ship to deliberately crash it into San Francisco at Starfleet Headquarters]].
137** And then ''Film/StarTrekBeyond'' (sensing a theme with Creator/JJAbrams-led films?) has the alien warlord Krall and his vast swarm of robotic attack craft left over on the planet Altamid. When the swarm reaches the ''Enterprise'' they destroy the ship in moments, and would have [[spoiler:done the same to the starbase ''Yorktown'' if the main cast hadn't figured out a way to jam the drones' communications frequencies to cause them to crash into one another in a chain-reaction]].
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141[[folder: Literature ]]
142* Averted in ''Literature/TheScar'', where the gargantuan avanc slowly succumbs to infection after it gets injured by the grindylow. We don't actually see what weapons they'd used to damage it, but the lakeful of pus it emits while ailing is a definite sign that it's the infection, not the wounds themselves, that proves fatal.
143* Averted in ''Shadow's Fall'', where the "unpowered" retired super hero Lester Gold takes on a T-Rex by tricking it into swallowing a grenade, leading to YourHeadAsplode. Played straight with the Great Wurm, Cromm Cruach.
144* This is certainly the characters' initial reaction to the skyscraper-sized vordbulks in ''First Lord's Fury'', the final book of Jim Butcher's ''Literature/CodexAlera'', but then a few bright sparks work out [[AttackItsWeakPoint their weak points]]...
145* Averted in Taylor Anderson's ''Literature/{{Destroyermen}}'' series, where the alternate Earth features many extant dinosaurs and other giant creatures (such as Mountain Fish, which are enormous whale-like creatures that eat ships for breakfast). Enough bullets, especially firing at eyes or opened mouths, will bring down any creature. Hell, several times, attempts to ''scare off'' a Mountain Fish resulted in their accidental death. Turns out it can't handle a depth charge very well. In fact, one of the main characters, a BoisterousBruiser named Dennis Silva, turns a Japanese anti-aircraft gun into a {{BFG}} musket he calls the Doom Whomper, designed specifically to hunt the allosaur-like superlizards but doubling as a sniper rifle in a pinch.
146* Zigzagged in the ''Literature/NemesisSaga''. The natural black armor on the kaiju protects them from anything the military throws at them, including a M.O.A.B.. However, their armor is not completely impenetrable and if removed, their soft, pale skin underneath is susceptible to conventional military fire.
147* This is more or less true of all the creatures in ''Literature/KaijuRisingAgeOfMonsters'' with only the occasional HumongousMecha being able to scratch them. Given this is a horror anthology, even that isn't necessarily going to work all the time.
148* ''Literature/TheWarAgainstTheChtorr''. The Enterprise fish can mass over a million tons and requires a tactical nuclear weapon to destroy. Justified when it's revealed the 'fish' is actually a large number of symbiotic creatures joined together.
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152* The ''Franchise/UltraSeries'' sees this a lot. The defense teams always attacks the MonsterOfTheWeek with a huge variety of weapons and technology, from ray guns and high-tech jet fighters, but typically only the Ultras can actually defeat the monster. However, it has been averted on a few occasions, where the team is able to kill or seriously injure a {{kaiju}} with their weaponry. It takes circumstances, (often) special one-of-a-kind weaponry, and ''a lot'' of hard work, but the human teams ''are'' capable of protecting Earth on their own. Not to mention that it's even better when the teams and Ultras cooperate.
153* A lot of Japanese {{Toku}}satsu shows play this fairly straight, pretty much following the examples of ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' and ''Series/{{Ultraman}}''. In fact, anytime a human-scale character offs a building-sized one, it's likely to be a [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome CMOA]] of some sort.
154* In ''Franchise/PowerRangers,'' if you don't have a HumongousMecha, you should basically run. It's ''exceedingly'' rare that the most godlike weapons used at human scale can scratch the monster after MakeMyMonsterGrow ensues. And yes, it ''is'' freaking awesome and remembered forever when a Ranger manages to avert this. (As you can imagine, of the three times it happens, once it was [[LawOfChromaticSuperiority a Red Ranger]], once it was a SixthRanger, and once it was [[MemeticBadass Tommy]].)
155* Played straight in ''Series/TerraNova''. Even dinosaurs that are only slightly larger than people shrug off small arms like they're nothing. Even the mounted wave cannons on the walls of the compound only repel a ten foot tall dinosaur.
156* In ''Series/PrehistoricPlanet'', extremely large animals are virtually immune to attack and shrug off any hits they actually take. The ''Kaikaifilu'' in "Coasts", in particular, is more ''annoyed'' by the plesiosaurs attacking it than actually hurt. In fact, when the narration shows off a herd of ''Alamosaurus'', the narration explicitly points out that no predator alive would dare to hunt a fully-grown one in good health--to the point that the scene focuses on the fact that one of them has [[LifeWillKillYou actually lived long enough to die of old age]]. Subverted, however, with a male ''Mosasaurus'' and a male ''Dreadnoughtus'', as both face the one thing that there size doesn't defend against -- [[BehemothBattle another member of their own species]].
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160* Japanese professional wrestling enforces this trope every time two wrestlers from different weigh classes face off. Unless it is a special title match or the weight difference is actually very small, it's just not considered adequate to book the smaller to win. For thar reason, superheavyweights like Wrestling/{{Akebono}}, Wrestling/GiantSilva and [[Wrestling/MattBloom Giant Bernard]] were usually booked to be unstoppable in singles matches except against exceptionally strong opponents (often fellow giants) and/or reigning champions.
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164* ''Roleplay/DestroyTheGodmodder'' follows this sometimes, and other times throws this out the window. It all depends on if said giant beastie is the godmodder's or something one of the players summoned.
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167[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]
168* Averted in ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}''. Whenever a single giant monster appears, the players tend to take it out with a single shot to the eye. Creatures that big tend to have eyes that are easy to hit, and damage multiplier tends to make even a T-Rex go down in one or two hits.
169* In ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', bigger monsters tend to be tougher, but not necessarily ''because'' they're bigger. Bigger monsters are also bigger targets.[[note]]in some editions, -1 AC for being one size category above Medium (e.g. most humanoids), and doubling with each subsequent category.[[/note]]
170** The Titanic template[[note]]templates modify the 'base creature' they are applied to -- Titanic is designed to make a medium-sized or smaller animal into a gargantuan-sized animal[[/note]] is a downplayed version of this trope -- it is entirely possible to kill Titanic creatures using ordinary weapons, but they have a lot more hit points than the base animal, and a lot of natural armor (meaning that, due to what AC and Touch AC represents, they are a lot easier to hit, but roughly as easy to somewhat harder to hit well enough to actually do any damage).
171** Averted with 5th edition's Enlarge spell: It increases the target's size, weight and damage, but doesn't make the target any easier to damage (and conversely for Reduce) since being easier to hit is offset by having thicker skin/armor to penetrate.
172* Played mostly straight in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''. Big monstrous creatures like [[BeastOfBattle Squiggoths]] or the larger [[HordeOfAlienLocusts Tyranid]] bio-forms (to say nothing of [[HumongousMecha Titans]]) have such a high Toughness or Armor Value that most standard infantry weapons are incapable of dealing damage to them. That said, even basic infantry squads can purchase a specialist weapon like a missile launcher or meltagun, so such big, nasty, expensive units ignore infantry at their peril. Furthermore, certain units fire special poisoned rounds that are effective against any creature regardless of Toughness, while sniper rifles have a similar rule representing how their wielders are able to target weak points.
173* Averted in ''TabletopGame/BattleTech''. [[HumongousMecha BattleMechs]] may be the more-or-less official "kings of the battlefield" and heavier designs are tougher than lighter ones, but they're still only glorified ''tanks'' on legs and remain vulnerable to lucky hits and cumulative damage from even 31st-century infantry weapons assuming the infantry can live long enough to get into range and exchange fire with them for a while. (Urban combat in particular can become a legitimate nightmare for them.)
174** ''Battle Tech'' is an interesting reversal, actually - instead of making the mechs tougher than conventional tanks, they made the tanks weaker. For one thing, tanks are smaller targets, but no more difficult to hit than a 'mech. For another, although the mechs are depicted as having more exposed or lightly armored parts, the odds of a critical hit are higher versus a tank than a mech.
175* The ''Mecha vs Kaiju'' FATE rules offer several different forms of this. The simplest is to simply assume that the giant monsters and giant mechs are completely impervious to anything smaller. A more complicated version has a system of six scales ranging from "Human" to "Astronomical" (with even Franchise/{{Godzilla}} not being "Astronomical" at his biggest), and every difference in scale lets the larger party replace one of the FUDGE dice with a standard D6, meaning that a weak Towering kaiju is effectively rolling an average of 7 higher than an infantryman, and 3.5 higher than a tank (switching from dice that range from -1 to +1 to dice that start at +1 and get higher is very strong in FATE). It does try and balance this out a tiny bit by preventing any kaiju without the Bug Stomp stunt from directly engaging a specific puny mortal.
176* ''TabletopGame/TheDresdenFiles'' RPG has a power available called "Hulking Size," which, while it doesn't make the creature invincible, does give it two extra stress boxes, meaning it can take more damage before it's wounded -- the normal max is 4 without outright [[MadeOfIron toughness powers]]. Given this is for creatures the size of a small house, the main downside of the power is it gives any enemy a +1 to hit it when size is a factor.
177* Ultimately subverted in ''TabletopGame/{{Champions}}'': while bigger [=PCs=] and [=NPCs=] get harder and harder to take down (especially when [=PCs=] take "{{Nigh Invulnerab|ility}}le") they ''will'' fall eventually. It's more about players not having to spend sessions trying to grind down one giant and to keep a sense of danger when a giant PC fights.
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181* ''VideoGame/MechAssault'' and ''VideoGame/TheIncredibleHulkUltimateDestruction'' both have harmless infantry enemies. The former is excused in that they're members of a fanatical cult who aren't afraid to die. The latter are member of the US army, but they'll try to avoid the Hulk...for the most part. If he gets close enough, they'll try rifle-butting him, which works about as well as you'd expect.
182** ''VideoGame/MechAssault'' and the ''VideoGame/{{Mechwarrior}}'' series it spun off from actually zigzag quite a bit with this trope. FiveRoundsRapid can't do much to even a scout Mech barring ''extremely'' extended attrition but a single properly placed satchel charge can bring even a hulking Assault-class machine down and clan [[PoweredArmor Elementals]] (or IS Battle Armor) can take down ''several'' Mechs alone if the wearer is skillful.
183** The effective variant tends to rely more on [[AttackItsWeakPoint damaging a vulnerable spot]] via HumongousMecha {{Kneecapping}}. Most of the games where non-PoweredArmor-wearing troops fire infantry-scale weapons at 'Mechs don't include this tactic, and examples such as ''Mechwarrior 3'' messily demonstrate why an average human shouldn't be anywhere ''remotely'' near a 'Mech.
184* The ''VideoGame/{{Earth Defense Force|2017}}'' series gleefully averts and inverts this. You play as a wimpy looking guy in a baggy jumpsuit who is tasked with killing swarms of giant bugs, towering mechs, kaiju, flying saucers, and walking fortresses. On foot. With conventional weaponry like assault rifles and shotguns. And it works!
185* The ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'' series averts this trope in its later monster hunts.
186* Played almost entirely straight in the opening sequence of ''VideoGame/DinoCrisis 2'', where David scores a direct headshot on a rampaging T-Rex with an RPG, which was developed to destroy enemy vehicles, tanks and fortified emplacements (all things presumably sturdier than a dinosaur skull). This does result in the Rex [[EyeScream losing an eye]], but it quickly recovers and keeps chasing the heroes like nothing happened. Later averted when Dylan dispatches the even bigger Giganotosaurus (which itself dispatched the aforementioned Rex) by activating a KillSat, but then, the satellite's beam is powerful enough to not only [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill vaporize the Giganotosaurus, but also burn a massively deep crater into the ground underneath it]]. As you can infer from the above, none of the weapons he or Regina carry have any appreciable effect on either of these dinos (though Regina does temporarily stun the latter at one point by luring its face into jets of intense flame).
187* In the ''VideoGame/DragonBallZBudokaiTenkaichi'' series, giant characters will not flinch at most smaller characters' punches and almost all rush moves will ricochet off them before they can do anything. This means characters like Hercule and Videl are almost completely helpless against them.
188** Also somewhat averted in that while they don't flinch to attacks, they can still ultimately be defeated by the smaller fighters, including the aforementioned Hercule and Videl.
189* Generally averted in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft''. Giants are met pretty often and while they usually can easily stomp a lone adventurer of an appropriate level, the tactics for taking them down is to bring friends and kick it's ass as a team (of varying sizes). Your human- (or dwarf- or even a gnome- or a goblin-) sized 'tank' will weather the giant's stomping as well as he does normal-scale enemies'. Only few quests are centered on driving or riding another giant and wrestling the monster giants on their own scale - and in these cases the trope often plays in your favour in regards to normal scaled monsters.
190* ''VideoGame/AsurasWrath'':
191** Subverted when the first boss, Wyzen, grows to the size of a planet, then tries to [[FingerPokeOfDoom poke]] the man-sized Asura to death. Asura blows him up, and he is posthumously mocked by his allies for thinking it would work.
192** Played with during the final battle with Gohma Vlitra [[spoiler:in its planet-sized {{Orochi}} form]]. At first, Asura and Yasha are unable to do lasting damage to Vlitra...until Mithra gives them both a recharge and EleventhHourSuperpower to even the odds. [[spoiler:Even then, they recognize attacking the planet-sized monstrosity means nothing if they don't kill the beast's core at the center of the planet]].
193** Played with during the FinalBattle between [[spoiler:Asura and Chakravartin, as the former grows bigger than the planet himself, but this just means he actually has a chance of countering the ''planets and stars'' Chakravartin starts chucking at him and he can die from them. Chakravartin, meanwhile, is so huge (as in, he's attracting ''galaxies'' towards him), that Asura can't actually destroy this form and he needs to get inside it to confront Chakravartin directly (now both of them at a much more reasonable human sizes)]].
194* ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBros'' introduces the Mega Mushroom, which transforms Mario (an unarmored guy who can die very quickly) into an invincible, screen-filling giant who plows through anything in his path. Some bosses can at least manage to bounce Mario off of them if he walks into them, but if he stomps on them, it's an OHKO.
195* ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'' has the Mega Star, which similarly makes the user giant and invincible, but also turns them into an 8-bit sprite.
196** The power-up is amusingly turned against you by a savvy Koopa Troopa in a secret room in world 3-1. However, it ends up being a subversion as despite its ridiculous size, the Koopa is just as frail as ever and can be eliminated with a single hit of almost any manner of attack.
197* Averted by giant Transformers Omega Supreme and Trypticon in ''VideoGame/TransformersWarForCybertron'', who despite their massive size advantages can be defeated by conventional Transformers. Played straight by Metroplex in [[VideoGame/TransformersFallOfCybertron sequel]] who is only once slowed by enemy assault (knocked out after taking a direct hit from a building-sized artillery piece -- he's no worse for wear afterwards).
198* Averted in the ''VideoGame/{{Rampage}}'' series where the player-controlled monsters are vulnerable to, not only missiles but small arms fire. Of course it can take a lot to kill them depending on the player.
199* In the ''VideoGame/ClashOfClans'' commercials, the Giants are portrayed as being colossal guys who laugh as cannonballs, arrows, and mortar shells bounce off of their skin. [[GameplayAndStorySegregation In the game]], they are only about three times bigger than a Barbarian and are just [[SuperToughness very tough]], not [[NighInvulnerability invincible]].
200* Technically averted, but played straight in any practical sense in the "Hoth" level of ''VideoGame/ShadowsOfTheEmpire''. While you certainly ''can'' take a full AT-AT down with your blasters, it will take a really, really long time. Using your harpoon and tow cable to go for the legs is not only much faster and easier, but infinitely cooler.
201* ''VideoGame/HenryStickminSeries'', in ''Stealing the Diamond'', growing to huge proportions using a Growth Mushroom from Super Mario also renders Henry bulletproof. Downplayed since a cannonball does manage to take him down.
202* One level in ''VideoGame/HeartOfTheSwarm'' sends an endless wave of Gorgon-pattern battlecruisers at your base. They're so huge they're entirely invincible (your units can't even attack it), and must instead be brought down by activating dormant Scourge nests (the Scourge are flying suicide bombers), and even then the nests are expended after one shot.
203* ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheUnwoundFuture'': The giant [[spoiler:machine Clive had made to destroy London]] is treated like this trope, but it ends up defeated pretty easily with some puzzles and a cutscene. (That's not a spoiler to anyone who knows what game this is.)
204* In ''VideoGame/GigaBash'', when a character activates his/her "S-Class" SuperMode, they don't take damage from normal-sized characters. Instead, getting hit charges the opponent's meter faster, giving them an opportunity to activate their own "S-Class" mode and make it a fair fight.
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207[[folder: Webcomics]]
208* ''Webcomic/TuesdayTitans'': ''Averted hard''. The Titans are unquestionably impressive creatures and just as hardy and powerful as their stature would imply, but the ''sheer'', ''unyielding'' '''''force''''' they face oftentimes dwarfs them.
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212* This trope is extensively used in macrophile stories. Some stories, artwork, etc. do try and avert it, though they just as often run afoul of the SquareCubeLaw. Most handwave it or ignore the issue entirely for the sake of RuleOfSexy.
213* Averted in ''Literature/TheSalvationWar'', where despite both the Demons and Angels being much larger than humans, they go down easily due to modern weaponry.
214* ''{{Literature/Worm}}'': the only way to fight an [[{{Kaiju}} Endbringer]] is to throw hundreds of [[SuperHero capes]] at it at the same time. No gun, explosive, nuclear bomb or other human weaponry can harm it, save for AppliedPhlebotinum. Fenja and Menja, Kaiser's two henchwomen, are a much more literal example. They can increase their physical size, and cause all damage to them to scale inversely to their size--the bigger they get, the less hard they get hit.
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217[[folder: Western Animation ]]
218* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' plays with this one: they accidentally awaken a giant Kaiju monster (it specifically happens in Japan, so it's a clear parody). The monster stomps all over a variety of superheroes and small superweapons and isn't defeated until they assemble a giant Anime/{{Voltron}}-esque robot. Though that was supposed to be an Aesop about family togetherness more than giant robots.
219* ''WesternAnimation/ReBoot'', episode "Nullzilla" - which played off kaiju and mecha movies. The monster had to be stopped by creating a CombiningMecha.
220* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' "Treehouse of Horror VI", [[AttackOfTheKillerWhatever giant advertising mascots go on a rampage]]. Predictably, conventional weapons are useless, but it turns out that [[YourMindMakesItReal our attention makes them real]] and they'll [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly keel over]] if we just don't look.
221* If it comes to that, even ''baby'' dinosaurs in ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime'' are harder than rocks of the same size. Although maybe it's more that those are some really sissy rocks.
222* In ''WesternAnimation/MonstersVsAliens'', the army throws its entire arsenal at the giant alien robot without leaving so much as a scratch. And even after that, the President shoots a few rounds at it, just to show that he's a brave president. It is then that they decide to [[SummonBiggerFish sic the monsters at it]], but even ''they'' have a hard time defeating it. Considering that even the largest of the "monsters", {{Gi|antWoman}}normica, is still tiny compared to the robot, this is justified.
223* ''WesternAnimation/MyLifeAsATeenageRobot'' has Armagedroid, an older HumongousMecha designed by Dr. Wakeman, which fits this trope to a T. There are a couple of other [[MonsterOfTheWeek giant-sized threats]] throughout the show, but Jenny is able to beat them with some sort of force.
224* Despite the aversion in the American ''Godzilla'' film, ''WesternAnimation/GodzillaTheSeries'' plays this straight. Godzilla in this series, is now capable of taking multiple hits from human ''AND'' alien weaponry. Not only him, but the [[MonsterOfTheWeek other monsters that appeared in the series]]. The only time they would die is by Godzilla or the Leviathan alien's weapons. And fighting each other.
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227[[folder: Real Life ]]
228* As previously mentioned, the SquareCubeLaw means that any real giant creature would need to be extremely strong and durable to hold its body up. If such a monster ''was'' weak enough to be hurt by conventional weapons, it would be squashed by its own mass before we'd need to fire a shot. If you ever do [[TemptingFate meet a kaiju IRL]] and it hasn't collapsed into jelly, you can safely assume this trope is in effect.
229* Considering a simple hunting rifle can bring down an elephant, this is definitely not TruthInTelevision, even in the rare cases there are big things to shoot at.
230** With a much more relative definition of "giant", this applies to all macroscopic life. Nearly anything can be taken down by an infection by much smaller organisms (such as bacteria or viruses). That said, this is mostly due to their ability to reproduce to absolutely huge numbers in a very short time, and even then most infections can be dealt with by the immune system alone in a healthy adult.
231** They are resistant to many small arms fire, that is what [[{{BFG}} elephant guns]] are for.
232*** Elephant guns aren't strictly necessary for elephant hunting. In the olden days of unregulated slaughter for ivory many an elephant was killed with the lowly 7x57mm hunting cartridge, today now mostly used (at least in the United States) to bring down the relatively tiny whitetail deer. The main advantage of said "elephant guns" was that they could bring down very large game more quickly and more reliably. You could kill an elephant with a 9mm pistol if you had to, but it'd take a while (not as in shooting it until it dies video game style, but rather in waiting for it to bleed out, or with less severe injuries, wait for an infection to develop, since a small cartridge would have a hard time piercing the skull or penetrating to an internal organ). A more powerful firearm has the advantage of being able to bring forth a quicker death from farther away (which helps considering that said elephant may be trying to kill you), but once it dies, dead is dead one way or another.
233** Whales can be killed with a simple harpoon, but it is not as easy as it seems as they need to nail it at the right spot to make it effective. Then came grenade harpoons.
234*** The old harpoons of both early whaling ships and pre-Industrial hunters such as the Inuit did not deal the whale a mortal wound. What worked was the droge, aka drug or drugg, a giant, very buoyant device attached to the harpoon. When the whale dove, it would fight any droges attached to it until it tired, was dragged to the surface, and they're finished.
235*** Whales are a straight example of this trope. Harpoons were not typically used to kill at all, they were used to anchor the boat to the whale so the whale couldn't escape; the kill usually came from repeated stabs with a whaling spear, and could take an hour or several hours even after stabbing the whale for it to die, as the massive reservoir of blood causes the whale to take some time to expire.
236* RealLife massive vehicles of both civilian and military types are largely immune to or not significantly compromised by most small-arms fire, which is the reason that specialized anti-vehicle and anti-material weapons (which often have firepower on the same scale as the vehicles themselves) exist. Giant aircraft are slightly more susceptible due to the mechanical balancing act that keeps them aloft but a platoon of infantry would still need a ''lot'' of lucky assault rifle shots to down a heavy bomber if it somehow came within range.
237** And even with weapons designed to take out such vehicles, size benefits durability. Weapons that would reduce a tank to burned-out scrap metal will mostly just poke a hole in most warships, and even among warships aircraft carriers are both the largest and most durable. Soviet anti-carrier missiles were universally colossal weapons, not only to achieve the range and speed asked of them, but because they needed to carry very large warheads to put carriers out of action.
238* The biggest of dinosaurs are thought to have adhered to this trope at least somewhat. At their adult size, animals like ''Argentinosaurus'' would likely have had little to fear from predators, and the few predators that could fight them still had to be careful and couldn't guarantee that their attacks would be effective. In essentially a RealLife lampshading of this trope, one sauropod closely related to ''Argentinosaurus'' was named ''Dreadnoughtus'', which translates to "Fears Nothing".
239** The largest examples of extant life have little in the way of natural predators besides technology-equipped humans or fights within their own species. Adult whales will sometimes be attacked by orcas, but deaths are very rare. Elephants, rhinos, and hippos are basically immune to the teeth and claws of every predator in Africa. Adult polar bears are pretty much unchallenged on land in the Arctic.
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