Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context Main / LovecraftianSuperpower

Go To

1[[quoteright:298:[[TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Wizard_of_yog_sm.jpg]]]]
2[[caption-width-right:298:''[[VideoGame/DarkestDungeon "Behold! The unquenchable fire of the stars!"]]'']]
3
4-> ''Black, inky slime would appear wherever he pointed that brush. And it terrorized the warriors.''\
5''They formed gripping hands, that dragged people into pitch black pools. Or towering spikes, that seemed intent on impaling. Or large, round balls of muck that chased people around. Swallowing whoever they ran over.''\
6''All those who were touched by the ink were left in shivering, quivering, nearly catatonic states. As if their minds couldn't handle whatever it was the slime made them see.''
7-->-- ''Fanfic/TheDragonAndTheButterflyWhiteout'', "[[Recap/TheDragonAndTheButterflyWhiteoutChapter23 Chapter 23: Interrogation Revelation]]"
8
9Where {{Stock Superpowers|Index}} make reality cry and sometimes meet BodyHorror.
10
11Usually, when you gain some special ability, it will manifest in some fairly conventional forms. [[PureEnergy Energy blasts]], PsychicPowers, [[NighInvulnerability steel skin]], [[ElementalPowers control over different forms of matter]] and varieties of FunctionalMagic are all relatively common. Despite how fantastic some of these abilities may be, there is usually an underlying science or logic and at the least it seems normal or standard in the story's setting.
12
13And then there are Lovecraftian superpowers. Now what makes abilities Lovecraftian can vary greatly but for an ability to be Lovecraftian, it usually falls under a few general rules:
14
15# The power in question is [[BadPowersBadPeople used by the bad guys]]. If the power is [[BadPowersGoodPeople used by one of the good guys]], the power is shown to be [[BlessedWithSuck bad or harmful in some way]], be it to [[PowerDegeneration themselves]], [[SuperPowerMeltdown others]], or [[PersonOfMassDestruction the universe in general]].
16# The ability or power must be unique and/or abnormal. It is usually a power that is either not possessed by more than one person, rare, or functions in a fashion that separates it from other standard yet similar abilities. An example would be if the ability to [[{{Intangibility}} phase through matter]] by slipping their molecules through an object as a common ability versus someone who can phase partially out of sync with reality to move through obstacles. Both have the same result, but one is rarer and functions in a different way.
17# The way the character gains the power is usually disturbing, horrible, or unpleasant. While it may not be the process of gaining the power (as some characters are born with their power), the implications and circumstances surrounding the origins of the ability are almost always anything but nice.
18# The powers themselves may or may not produce strange side effects on the user. It usually varies and depends on how the user gains his powers, the user himself or the very nature of the powers themselves. Side effects may range from small to gigantic. For example, the user could develop a [[SuperpoweredEvilSide dark side if the source of his powers is malevolent in nature]] (like BlackMagic, for example).
19# The powers may or may not require [[PowerAtAPrice specific criteria to be fulfilled in order to be gained]]. A price, so to speak. For example, a dark sacrificial ritual must be performed to summon a god that may grant said powers. Another good example would be to make a literal [[DealWithTheDevil deal with a demon]] so that he can give you powers at the cost of your soul.
20# The powers may or may not be [[PowerIncontinence hard to control]] (at first, at least). This makes sense. After all, the user's powers are eldritch and alien in nature, so not only are they hard to understand, but also, nobody's really sure how they work, including the user, which will obviously make it hard for him to use them correctly. Maybe he'll destroy something he doesn't want to destroy by accident? Maybe his powers will have unexpected side-effects on whoever or whatever he uses them on? Maybe his powers will change and become different as time goes on?
21# The last but most important rule is that the ability must clearly be unnatural or deviant in some way. Generally speaking, this means that the ability must in some way go against the internal logic of the story and what should or should not be possible. Emphasis on the word ''should'' because since the ability exists, it's not impossible, just... ''wrong'' somehow.
22
23While the most obvious way a power could be abnormal is if it bends, breaks, or flat-out ignores the laws of science and nature, it may be more subtle. Obviously, being able to bend space would be Lovecraftian but being able to invade someone's dreams would count as well.
24
25For the less lucky, however, such new talents will have a [[{{Squick}} disturbing]] biological component. They find themselves able to sprout [[CombatTentacles thrashing razor-tipped tentacles]], drool [[AcidAttack highly corrosive acid saliva]], or [[SpikeShooter extrude venomous thorns from their flesh]]. Alas, for these people have been BlessedWithSuck[[note]]or CursedWithAwesome[[/note]] and granted a {{squick}}-[[CrunchTastic tastic]] Lovecraftian Superpower.
26
27The important thing to remember is that it doesn't matter whether the abilities have a body horror element to them. While this is the most common and obvious version of a Lovecraftian Superpower, keep in mind the definition of the word "Eldritch" (a word Creator/HPLovecraft seemed to love so much he used it almost like a form of punctuation). Any superpower or ability fitting the definition of eldritch -- uncanny, unearthly, weird; not existing in nature or subject to explanation according to natural laws -- is a Lovecraftian Superpower. In a setting where [[MagicIsEvil magic is unnatural]] (you can only get it by screwing with stuff you really shouldn't), magic would be Lovecraftian. If magic is normal to the setting, then BlackMagic would count as Lovecraftian. Anything supernatural in the setting that would make even the wisest and most sagacious guru say "Holy S#@&! That ain't right!" would count.
28
29Lovecraftian powers generally come in three seperate flavors:
30
31'''Non-Physically Affecting, Horrible Perverting of Nature''': This version is when the power or ability has no physical component but what it does and how it works is horrifying {{Squick}} and in defiance of nature -- for example, [[PowerParasite gaining the abilities of others]] by [[BrainFood eating their brains]] or [[SoulEating their souls]], or being able to [[{{Biomanipulation}} warp, twist, and shape living organic matter like a perverse sculpter]] with the resulting monstrosity still alive and begging for death.
32
33'''Physically Affecting, Non-Perverting of Nature''': The power involves a temporary or permanent shift/change of the physical form that would make most people [[BringMyBrownPants crap themselves in terror]] or make them claw their eyes out. Usually, the shape taken has grotesque features like EyesDoNotBelongThere or TooManyMouths. It could include growing tentacles or claws. The user might develop chitinous armor or become an [[BlobMonster amorphous blob]].
34
35'''Both of the Above''': For the last one, God help your enemies, allies or even the universe. This is a combination of the two whereby the user can twist the laws of nature around them along with their own shape. Very common among those who are an EvilSorcerer or WickedWitch. Not only can they use BlackMagic, which itself is wrong and in defiance of the natural order, they can also [[EldritchTransformation become a monstrosity as from the bowels of hell itself]].
36
37The name originates from classic scifi/horror writer Creator/HPLovecraft, whose characteristic creations often seem equal parts NightmareFuel and biology textbook.
38
39A SubTrope of BadPowersBadPeople (usually), possibly because MagicIsEvil. Alternatively, this can overlap with BadPowersGoodPeople, though less frequently. May be a useful side-effect of TheVirus or TheCorruption. Often manifests as CombatTentacles, [[YouAreWhoYouEat cannibalistic]] and [[BodyHorror horrific]] {{Shapeshifting}} (sometimes [[PartialTransformation partial shapeshifting]]), BloodyMurder, or a BeeBeeGun, and is likely [[PowerIncontinence not quite controllable]]. Can overlap with OneWingedAngel, PowerUpgradingDeformation and ShapeshifterMashup, SpiderLimbs and, on a sillier note, {{Fartillery}}. Related to EldritchTransformation, which is often one-and-done and involuntary by comparison.
40
41----
42!!Examples:
43
44[[foldercontrol]]
45
46
47[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
48[[AC:By author:]]
49* Creator/JunjiIto has blessed many of his characters with these:
50** ''Manga/{{Tomie}}'': The eponymous girl is irresistible to men, to the point her charms drive them to madness and eventually killing and dismembering her. Her body regenerates each time, with each piece growing into another Tomie. And if these parts are grafted to another body, the poor host [[CloneByConversion will slowly mutate into a clone of Tomie.]] Worse still, Tomie has an [[ManipulativeBitch ugly]] [[TheSociopath personality]] for these ugly powers.
51** "Layers of Fear" has sisters Narumi and Reimi Soya, who can regress to their previous ages and back. The catch is that their bodies are composed of layers representing different stages like a tree's rings, and that if too many layers are ripped away, the regeneration will be gruesomely warped.
52** Misaki from the ''Manga/VoicesInTheDark'' story "I Don't Want to Be a Ghost" [[ISeeDeadPeople can see and touch ghosts]]. She also feeds on a spirit's substance, and rips into them like a hungry wolf when she's hungry.
53[[AC:By work:]]
54* In ''Manga/{{Akira}}'', Tetsuo manifests this trope in the Olympic Stadium when Colonel Shikishima tries to neutralize him; the flesh around the stub where Tetsuo's arm was fried off by the orbital laser shoots out in a massive bloody tentacle that attacks the Colonel. But then, later in the scene, Tetsuo gets shot by Kaneda's laser weapon. You see, Tetsuo is in so much pain that this trope suddenly combines with SuperpowerMeltdown. Naturally, Tetsuo's EldritchTransformation is just as bad as you can imagine it.
55%%zce* ''Manga/AngelSanctuary'': So, so much. Rosiel's powers are exclusively this, and a few others get in on the act too.
56* In ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'': The Titans. The more we learn, the more horrible it gets, ''starting'' with misshapen giants who mindlessly attack and eat humans and regenerate from everything except damage to a specific spot. [[spoiler:Titans are actually ''humans'' who manifested the ability to form giant fleshy bodies around themselves from a serum formulated from spinal fluid. The normal titans seen are an intermediary step between humans and Titan Shifters -- humans who have full control over their transformed state and pilot their giant fleshy bodies like the world's most horrifying HumongousMecha -- with the next step being ''eating a previous Shifter alive'' to inherit their power. Full Titan Shifters can also regenerate their human selves, partially transform, and have an ability unique to their Titan Power.]]
57* ''Literature/{{Baccano}}'': Immortals have the power to [[CannibalismSuperpower "devour"]] other immortals, acquiring all of their knowledge all the way down to muscle memory. This process is not pretty.
58* ''Manga/{{Baoh}}'': The titlar Baoh's/Ikuro's attacks are Meltedin Palm Phenomenon[[note]]Ikuro secretes extremely powerful acid from his palms that can melt human flesh as easily as it can melt steel [[/note]], Reskiniharden Saber Phenomenon[[note]]Ikuro's skin extends and hardens into a pair of extremely sharp blades that he can detach and throw [[/note]], Shooting Bees-Stingers Phenomenon[[note]]Ikuro launches hairs that burst into flame when heated by human bodies[[/note]], and Break-Dark-Thunder Phenomenon[[note]]Ikuro creates thousands of volts in his body similar to an electric eel[[/note]].
59* ''{{Manga/Berserk}}'': The Apostles. For [[JackassGenie some reason,]] fulfilling a person's most fervent (often dying) dream always involves turning them into [[WasOnceAMan a Lovecraftian horror.]] Rosine, the DarkMagicalGirl Apostle, partially averts this by being [[KillerRabbit actually kind of cute...]] until the final battle, where she turns into her TRUE form.
60* The Dark Triad in ''Manga/BlackClover'' have this theme. Each of them has an unsettling magic related to the body. Dante uses Body Magic to grotesquely regenerate his flesh to heal himself, Zenon uses Bone Magic that grows sharpened bones out of his body, and Vanica uses Blood Magic to congeal into different forms. Notably, these are their ''natural'' magics and unrelated to the [[PowersViaPossession magics of and granted by their devils]], aside from their devils also giving said magics a boost.
61* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'':
62** The 9th Espada, Aaroniero Arruruerie's [[OneWingedAngel Resurrección]] form turns him into a gigantic EldritchAbomination-like tentacled mass, with the upper half of his still human-sized humanoid body on top of it. It allows him to [[AllYourPowersCombined manifest the abilities of all the Hollows]] he has [[CannibalismSuperpower consumed]] (not that he gets to show it off).
63** During his final fight against Ichigo, [[spoiler:Aizen]] gets a gruesome transformation with the skin of his face ''[[BodyHorror splitting in half]]''. As a sample of his new power, he can launch [[FantasticNuke highly destructive spheres of reishi]] from skulls sitting at the tip of his wings ([[EyesDoNotBelongThere which have large eyes on them, by the way]]), and his [[HealingFactor high-speed regeneration]] manifests as his body literally pulling itself back together.
64** Pernida Parnkgjas is Lovecraftian horror incarnate by virtue of being [[spoiler:[[PiecesOfGod the Soul King's left arm]]]]:
65*** Its Schrift, The Compulsory, allows it to [[BodyHorror extend its nerves and use them to gain control of the bodies of its opponents in order to crush them, twist them or simply tear them to shreds.]] It makes quick work of Kenpachi by crushing his arm and legs without breaking a sweat, and is only stopped from turning him into LudicrousGibs thanks to Mayuri splashing acid on its nerves. This ability affects inorganic matter, too: by embedding its nerves on the ground, [[GeniusLoci Pernida is able to manipulate the environment.]]
66*** Its true power, at its core, is the very concept of UsefulNotes/{{evolution}}: this ranges from [[CannibalismSuperpower absorbing traits of consumed enemies]] (or even those it has simply touched with its nerves) to complete control over its own anatomy, to the point that even if it were torn to shreds, each of its fragments would retain sentience. At one point Pernida rips off several of its own fingers, [[MesACrowd each of which quickly regenerates into a fully grown copy of itself]]. Even [[MadScientist Mayuri]], who is rather infamous for always [[CrazyPrepared having]] or [[AwesomenessByAnalysis coming up with]] a counter for any opponent he faces, has trouble just staying alive while repeatedly failing to damage Pernida in a way that matters, and is ultimately able to kill it by essentially giving it an obscenely powerful form of cancer that kills it before it has the time to adapt.
67* ''Manga/BoboboboBobobo'' is about a guy who can use his hair (including body hair and ''nose hair'') to fight enemies. His siblings can use different hairs to attack: Bebebe-be Be-bebe (Fist of Leg Hair), Bababa-ba Ba-baba (Fist of Chest Hair), Bububu-bu Bu-bubu (Fist of Armpit Hair), and Bibibi-bi Bi-bibi (Fist of Head Hair).
68** Most of Bobobo's fusions share his ability to use their nosehairs as a FinishingMove onto the opponent, save for a few who use eyelashes or do without.
69* In ''Manga/BungouStrayDogs'', H.P Lovecraft's ability allows him to generate and create tentacles. [[spoiler:It gets even more, Lovecraftian, when you realize that not only is he BASED off of the original Lovecraft, but his ability is one that is odd, even among people who can [[HealingFactor heal you when you're half-dead]], [[{{Animorphism}} turn into a white tiger]] and [[ClothingCombat turn a cloak into an omnivorous beast capable of eating space]]. Not only that, but someone who can [[PowerNullifier cancel abilities and makes them defunct for a period of time]], can't cancel Lovecraft's ability. He also transforms into an actual monster.]]
70* [[EldritchAbomination Awakened Beings]] in ''Manga/{{Claymore}}'' tend to start sprouting tentacles to rip people apart with. That's [[ExaggeratedTrope only the beginning]] of the BodyHorror here, though...
71* ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'': Some of the demons and their Blood Demon Arts are fairly grotesque, but the grand prize probably goes to Muzan, who wraps up his part in the first season by sprouting a giant monstrous arm with multiple eyes and a gaping, inhuman mouth, and using it to [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness gruesomely murder most of the remaining Lower Six for shits and giggles]].
72* All the devilmen in ''Franchise/{{Devilman}}'' gain their powers through DemonicPossession and BodyHorror. It gets worse the more a demon takes over a human host or [[MixAndMatchCritters several merge]] into one body.
73* [[TheWoobie Allen Walker]] of ''Manga/DGrayMan'' has a monstrously deformed left arm that can transform itself into a much larger flexible and extendable claw arm, or an uzi/cannon arm. This only gets [[FromBadToWorse worse]] as the series progresses, with Allen's arm transforming into an even more deformed claw, only for him to later be able to remove it from his body and turn it into a sword. And that's just the main character; let's not get started on the various Noahs, Akumas and [[spoiler:Third Exorcists]].
74* Dainsleif in ''Literature/EvenThoughImAFormerNobleAndSingleMother'' is a sword that allows its wielder to absorb the magical energy of those they kill. If it's used on a monster, only a small amount of energy is absorbed and it doesn't qualify for this trope. If it's used on a person, on the other hand, the wielder will absorb much more energy - more than their body can handle, transforming them into a massive multi-limbed monster that spawns more monsters.
75* In ''Manga/FairyTail'', the Strauss siblings' Take Over Magic has traces of this. Lisanna's Animal Soul Take Over is relatively benign, granting her the power to transform her body parts into that of various animals. Elfman's Beast Soul Take Over is a bit freakier, granting him the power to transform his body parts into that of various magical beasts. Mirajane's Satan Soul Take Over grants her the powers and forms of various ''demons''.
76* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'':
77** Gluttony can eat ''[[ExtremeOmnivore anything]]''. In the manga, he can suck people through his BellyMouth into a PocketDimension in his stomach.
78** Envy can turn into a huge green semi-EldritchAbomination covered in [[AndIMustScream the still living]] [[BodyOfBodies bodies of Xerxian humans]].
79** Wrath from [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist2003 the 2003 anime]] can fuse his body with almost any matter.
80* Tetsuya Takahashi in Genkai Level One Kara No Nariagari where is transported to another world against his will to serve as a HumanWeapon to a kingdom. He's discarded as he is only level 1 and his cap is 1. However it turns out that he can gain powers, skills and stat points over time...by absorbing the corpses of once living things. And he does absorb them. He touches them and a vortex seemingly pulls them into his hand like a black hole. He first does this to the corpse of an earth dragon and gets much stronger. Interestingly, his power itself is hinted at to be eldritch and wrong with anyone who has decent senses initially mistaking him for an abomination for a split second.
81* ''Manga/{{Guyver}}'' tends to invoke this trope, especially with the first activation of the eponymous suit.
82* Alucard from ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'' honestly resembles something much more disturbing than a traditional vampire, like a primordial being of chaos that personifies hunger and bloodlust. Appearing as an amorphous blob full of red eyes and sharp teeth, he can turn into an ocean of blood capable of drowning an entire city, its waves made up of wailing human bodies; those engulfed in the ocean wind up impaled on spikes. He carries scores of familiars whose body parts he can materialize into form, like deforming his arm into a snout, which can then ''hold and fire a gun''; these familiars are all individuals he has consumed, and there are ''thousands'' of them.
83** [[spoiler:And Alexander Anderson, once he plunges Helena's Nail into his chest, becomes a creature of endlessly propagating, thorny, strangling vines that cause anything unholy to burst into flame on contact. They can block bullets and ''immediately'' repair any injury Anderson takes, even the severing of his limbs or his entire head getting blown away.]]
84* Mentuthuyopi from ''Manga/HunterXHunter'', one of the elite Chimera Ants, has the ability to mutate his own body. There is seemingly no limit to the number of bodyparts or amount of distortion. He does some really cool stuff with this, too; his period as a centaur-thing was impressive.
85* In ''Manga/{{Inuyasha}}'', this is Naraku's main method of attack.
86* The Fractured Humans from ''Manga/{{Jagaaaaaan}}'', [[PersonalityPowers manifests their psyches]] [[OneWingedAngel through their bodies]] in a morbid display of BodyHorror when triggered, often with lethal results for everyone around them when it happens. That their powers come from frogs merged with their bodies only makes them more disturbing.
87* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'':
88** The Pillar Men from ''[[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency Battle Tendency]]'' take MasterOfYourDomain to BodyHorror incarnate. Specific powers vary depending on the person, but they're all shown to be able to contort their bodies far beyond anything the most flexible, double-jointed human could even hope to do, and even crush their own skeletons into dust to slip through tiny spaces (fortunately, they also have an extremely powerful HealingFactor to undo it) and can effortlessly absorb any living thing into their bodies simply by touching them. More specific powers include burrowing inside other people's bodies and [[PeoplePuppets controlling them]], extending their ribcages to impale opponents, sprouting chainsaw arm blades, rotating their arms like drills fast enough to create powerful whirlwinds and firing RazorWind from holes in their bodies, and prehensile blood vessels that can inject literally boiling hot blood into people. When one Pillar Man is seemingly killed, his brain is able to escape his body and seize control of another person [[spoiler:and when their leader, Kars, is transformed by the Stone Mask, he gains CompleteImmortality and the power to transform any part of his body into any animal, even when said parts aren't connected to his body (for example, he grows bird wings and fires razor sharp feathers at Joseph. The feathers then transform into piranhas to continue attacking him)]].
89** There's also the vampires ([[spoiler:originally created from humans by the Pillar Men with the Stone Mask ''as a food source'']]), and their [[OurZombiesAreDifferent zombie minions]] who get instances of this, such as being able to contort and warp their bodies in numerous freakish ways; one of them has a nest of venomous snakes in his head, another uses [[PrehensileHair his hair as a weapon]], and ''[[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventurePhantomBlood Phantom Blood]]'''s BigBad Dio can ''[[EyeScream split open his eyes]] with a thought to shoot out the liquid inside with the power and accuracy of a sniper rifle''.
90** And from ''[[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Stardust Crusaders]]'' onward, several Stands have those types of powers (such as a minuscule Stand that enters your brain through the ear canal and wreaks havoc on your nervous system or turns its victims into PeoplePuppets, or one that manifests as a pustulant, tumorous growth either on its wielder ([[spoiler:which covers them from head to toe and can be altered to make them look like a completely different person]]) or their enemy (where it grows into a grotesque homunculus/conjoined twin who then tries its damnedest to murder its host body). Those two examples are just two from early in the first arc to use Stands, and since the freakiness of said Stands only escalates in latter arcs... It's that kind of series.
91* In ''Manga/KingOfThorn'', infection by [[TheVirus Medusa]] can grant this to those with [[HeroicWillpower sufficient willpower]]. The good news: you can make all your dreams into reality! The bad news: by having them explode out of your body like chestbursters. BodyHorror doesn't begin to cover it.
92* In ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' several character's Quirks qualify.
93** The most horrific is Seiji Shishikura's "Meatball" Quirk, which allows him to manipulate his flesh and transform people into disgusting meatball blobs.
94** Vlad King, Class 1-B's homeroom teacher has the ability to control his blood.
95** Kinoko Komori has the ability to grow mushrooms on people's skin and even in their throats.
96** Stain's "Bloodcurdle" Quirk has him taste the blood of his victim to paralyze them for a determined period of time.
97** Tatami Nakagame can retract her body inside itself.
98** Tamaki Amajiki can shapeshift based on what he's eaten in the past 24 hours. He can combine traits of what he's eaten into even more nightmarish forms with his "Vast Hybrid" technique.
99** Kuin Hachisuka of ''Manga/MyHeroAcademiaVigilantes'' has a hole in her right eye that houses bees she can control.
100** All For One's PowerParasite ability lets him freely collect, use and bestow any number of Quirks. With it, he can level city blocks by combining an air cannon Quirk, a Quirk that lets his limbs inflate and coil grotesquely like springs, and ''multiple'' Quirks that amplify kinetic energy. His FinishingMove, made up of ''thirteen'' Quirks, swells and mutates his arm so that it's bigger than the entire rest of his body and bristling with mutated flesh. His power is acknowledged as just plain ''[[BadPowersBadPeople evil]]'' InUniverse, and stealing someone's Quirk is invariably traumatic. To top it off, even giving someone a Quirk their body can't handle has the potential to turn them into an EmptyShell.
101* Mushizo of ''Anime/NinjaScroll'' is a deformed hunchback with a hornet's nest growing straight out of his back.
102* A few of the characters from ''Anime/NinjaScrollTheSeries'' are worthy of mention as well, such as a swordsman who has a hideous parasitic worm living in his stomach that attacks and kills anyone that is about to kill its host.
103* Shino and the Aburame clan in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' turn their bodies into living hives for their Kikkai insects, but are portrayed much more sympathetically, and with only a few tiny holes in their cheeks as the only visible indicator of their trait (they wear rather concealing clothing, so any further changes are unseen).
104** The [[BonusMaterial Omake]] at the end of Shippuden episode 110 strongly implies that [[EyeScream his eyes are empty sockets]].
105*** His eyes are [[http://web.archive.org/web/20140603222017/http://images.wikia.com/naruto/images/f/fa/Shino_Eyes.jpg seen from the side]] in episode 149 of Part I. The manga says nothing either way.
106** Heck, a lot of ninjas are like this. Kimimaro's blood limit is to weaponize his ''bones'' stands out as pretty freaky. But then there is any ninja who can use the 2nd level of the curse seal, that transforms their body into some monstrosity. Or Juugo, the original source of the curse seal, whose abilities are basically shifting his body into whatever the situation at hand calls for. Kakuzu passes into this territory as well, given that he is partially made of freely-controllable string and artificially extends his life by using his opponents like organ banks whenever something grows too old to work, plus there's those... ''things'' that he can create out of the string.
107** Orochimaru transformed himself into a humanoid snake-like being who can extend his body to bizarre lengths (including his neck and tongue), puke swords, eat large objects, body surf and do other nightmarish things. [[spoiler:Also, his real form is a big snake made of other snakes with his human head on the end.]]
108** The ninja Pain has a lot of these. First of all, his ability to posses and use the bodies of dead people as if they were his own. Next, each body has its own unique ability. The Shurando body that Pain uses can read peoples minds by [[YourSoulIsMine ripping out their souls]] which can kill them. The Jingokudo body can summon the king of hell which is a large demonic head that uses mouth tentacles to connect to a living person and if they lie, their life-force is drained and the target dies. The real big one is Gedo or "Outer Path" which allows Pain to not only manipulate the forces of life and death by resurrecting people, but he can resurrect thousands of people at once.
109%%* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' gives us a nice helping of this with [[EldritchAbomination the Angels]], but especially [[TheVirus Bardiel and Armisael]], though [[FusionDance Israfel's]] dance of death is also pretty bad. And, ahem, the entirety of the Instrumentality. Unit 01's [[spoiler:[[AppendageAssimilation stealing Zeruel's arm to use for itself]]]] also counts.
110* For ''Manga/OnePiece'', we have [[MsFanservice Nico]] [[BadassBookworm Robin]]. It is very easy to forget that such a pretty woman consistently uses her powers to '''break the spines of her enemies.''' What are those powers, exactly? [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower Sprouting bodyparts out of anywhere.]] However, unlike most other examples, we do not [[{{Squick}} squirm in agony]] when she uses her powers, but instead ''[[CatharsisFactor relish]]'' when the [[TakeThatScrappy bastards get what's coming for them.]] And as an added bonus, she's a part of the Straw Hat Pirates.
111** Of all the Devil Fruit powers that exist, Blackbeard's Dark-Dark Fruit (Yami Yami no Mi) is so far the closest to fit the criteria of Lovecraftian horror. It allows the user to become and manipulate [[CastingAShadow darkness]], but in a way that simulates [[PowerOfTheVoid black holes]], sucking in and crushing everything that comes near it with powerful gravitational force. This essentially makes Blackbeard a walking, '''human black hole'''. Worthy of note is that the ability itself is an abnormality thanks to it having its own peculiar perks that break the usual Devil Fruit rules, such as the lack of NighInvulnerability common for the Logia class it belongs to and the capacity to nullify other Devil Fruit powers.
112* The aliens in ''Manga/{{Parasyte}}'' are worm-like creatures that get into a human's brain through the ears and can transform their hosts bodies to have tentacles ending in sharp blades. Main character Shinichi gets a worm in his hand instead, which allows him to retain his free will and his parasite agrees to help him fight the other worms, since they want him dead too for botching his infestation.
113* Ashitaka in ''Anime/PrincessMononoke'' gets a cursed arm from contact with the tentacle-goop of a demon. It tends to pulse and warp bizarrely, giving him occasional SuperStrength and making his arrows [[OffWithHisHead considerably more lethal]]; he doesn't have much control over it, though, and it's going to kill him eventually if he doesn't find a way to remove the curse.
114* In ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' the character of Pantyhose (yes, really) Tarou is bad enough with his ability to turn into a giant Bull/Yeti-Thing in his first appearance. Just to show how badass (or JerkAss more like) he is, he goes and mutates his body more to add tentacles. Obviously, this is form is based on the ''ushi-oni'' of Japanese myth, but that doesn't make it any less freaky.
115* ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion'' also gives us examples, both with Unit 02's "The Beast" mode, which turns it into a spindly, elongated monster with a huge, grotesque mouth that [[GlasgowGrin opens up halfway down its neck]], and new-Zeruel's literal take on the saying "[[YouAreWhoYouEat you are what you eat]]".
116%%* ''Manga/SgtFrog'': Subverted, as [[spoiler:Alisa's assumed to have this ability at first, but it's really due to her "Daddy", a shapeshifting symbiote that lives on her head]].
117* ''Manga/SoulEater'', being [[CreepyAwesome the kind of manga that it is,]] has several examples of this trope.
118** [[TykeBomb Crona]] has had all [[AmbiguousGender their]] blood drained and replaced with [[PsychoSerum Black Blood]] - as a result they gained the ability to solidify their blood at will, making them near impossible to cut, as well as to control it even when it leaves their body. This means that even if you manage to wound Crona, their spilled drops of blood will just skewer you. This would be just a classic case of BloodyMurder if not for the fact that their blood also serves as the host for [[EquippableAlly Ragnarok,]] a soul-eating liquid parasite that can manifest as a massive HumanoidAbomination [[BodyHorror sprouting out of Crona's spine,]] or as a pitch black longsword fashioned out of Crona's blood that ''[[HellIsThatNoise screams constantly]]'' when Crona is fighting.
119** Snake Witch [[BigBad Medusa]] has her entire body completely stuffed full with writhing magical snakes. She can put these snakes into others' bodies as well through their mouths, where they will serve as a parasitic case of AnimalEyeSpy and [[LudicrousGibs messily tear them apart from the inside out at her command.]] [[spoiler:After she was killed by Dr. Stein during the Kishin's awakening, she managed to pull off a risky magic, turned into a snake and came back in the body of a little girl, whose body she [[BodyHorror invaded]] through the mouth in her snake form.]] Yeah, it's not pretty.
120** While less pronounced than the rest of the examples here, the witch Arachne has her entire body [[TheWormThatWalks composed of millions upon millions of spiders.]]
121** Obviously, the [[HumanoidAbomination Kishin]] [[GreaterScopeVillain Asura]] excels at this. Aside from carrying an aura of all-permeating madness that causes anyone near him to undergo horrifying hallucinations, he wears his own stretched-out skin as a scarf and can use it as CombatTentacles. On top of that he can messily regurgitate a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vajra vajra]] (which he gained by ''eating his [[EquippableAlly Demon Weapon]] alive'') from his throat and use it to fire off a BreathWeapon. He can also regrow lost limbs entirely, a process which is agonizingly painful for him, but he simply ''doesn't care.''
122* In ''Anime/SpeedGrapher'', one of the Euphorics[[note]](people with disturbing sexual fetishes turned into super powers)[[/note]] is a dentist who can make lots of tentacles made out of dental instruments sprout out of his back. Because backs sprouting tentacles and dental tools weren't terrifying enough on their own.
123* All ghouls in ''Manga/TokyoGhoul'' have this to some degree. Their defining trait is the ability to explosively expel a blood-like cellular structure from holes ripped in their back, forming them into a variety of extra body parts such as tentacles or razor wings. More powerful ghouls take it to an even greater extreme, being capable of gruesomely putting themselves back together when sliced, diced, disemboweled, or blown apart. Then there are the Kakuja, ghouls that have mutated as a result of serial cannibalism -- sprouting protective shells or fleshy armor, and generally being driven completely insane by their own powers. The One-Eyed Owl, in particular, displays the ability to form a giant flesh mecha with numerous chattering mouths that carry on disjointed conversations with each other. The Owl explains to a helpless victim that the form a kagune can take is limited only by the user's intelligence and imagination. And few people are as intelligent and creative as [[spoiler:a bestselling author specializing in psychological horror]].
124* ''Manga/{{Variante}}'' has the main character obtain a monstrous arm that can mutate further [[spoiler:(her arm ate a dog)]]. She uses the arm to fight monsters.
125* Almost everyone from the Demon World in ''Anime/WickedCity'' has some kind of Lovecraftian Superpower. Main character Maki's FemmeFatalons is probably the tamest example in the movie, which says something. The only demon whose power doesn't evoke BodyHorror is DirtyOldMan Giuseppe [[spoiler:who wields [[ShockAndAwe lightning]] instead]].
126* Xam'ds in ''Anime/XamdLostMemories''. Even the most subdued use of their powers involves transforming an arm into a grotesque alien appendage or blade.
127* ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'':
128** Elder Toguro has the power to manipulate his physical form. This allows him to form his body into any weapon imaginable, travel unseen through the ground by liquefying his body, avoid fatal injuries by shifting his organs around, reattach severed limbs, regenerate from any non-fatal wound, and so on. [[spoiler:Later on his body mutates to the point where he becomes truly immortal, unable to die of age due to being a demon, and being able to regenerate from anything ''including'' injuries to the heart or brain and obliteration. Since he can't die, he ends up suffering from a FateWorseThanDeath...]]
129** Younger Toguro bulks up as he uses more power. 100% has him going outright OneWingedAngel; his skin turns grey and his body becomes over-muscled to the point of deformity.
130[[/folder]]
131
132[[folder:Comic Books]]
133* ''ComicBook/{{Arawn}}'': After becoming the god of death thanks to the [[ArtifactOfDoom Cauldron of Blood]], Arawn is able to spontaneously summon black tentacles from his body.
134* ''ComicBook/AstroCity'': Both Lord Sovereign and The Pale Rider derive their powers from the dark energy of the {{Eldritch Abomination}}s in the VoidBetweenTheWorlds. Lord Sovereign is able to fire energy blasts and MindControl people, while the Pale Rider is able to [[KillItWithFire incinerate people instantly]].
135* ''Franchise/TheDCU'':
136** In ''ComicBook/AnimalMan2011'', Buddy Baker becomes infused with more power from the Red (the metaphysical manifestation of the Animal Kingdom, and the animal equivalent to the Green from ''ComicBook/SwampThing''), and his power to use animal abilities is morphed into actually physically manifesting animal characteristics. These transformations are [[BodyHorror visceral and not pleasant to look at]].
137** ''ComicBook/BatmanTheDoomThatCameToGotham'' is a Cthulhu/Batman mashup that presents Penguin, Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy, Two-Face and ultimately [[spoiler:Batman himself]] as this. In particular, Harvey's scarred side becomes a flesh-portal to Lovecraftian dimensions, while his normal side is still capable of carrying on a conversation.
138** [[spoiler:The evil Green Martian D'kay D'razz]], introduced in ''ComicBook/BrightestDay'', uses her shapeshifting powers to frightening and effective use via CombatTentacles and ''turning her head into a Venus Flytrap''. Assuming a monstrous form comes naturally to her, since she's a murderous lunatic.
139** Most of the characters from Creator/GrantMorrison's run of ''ComicBook/DoomPatrol''. Perhaps most emblematically, Freak has a parasitic tentacle beast living in her body. While she has total control over its tendrils... ''ick''.
140** The story "The Reaching Hand" from ''Elseworlds 80-Page Giant'' reinvents DC's RubberMan characters as barely-{{Humanoid Abomination}}s.
141** ''ComicBook/GreenLantern'': It's possible that Guy Gardner's [[ShapeshifterWeapon Warrior powers]] weren't supposed to invoke this trope, but the terrible '90s art in his [[NinetiesAntiHero solo series]] makes his transformations deeply {{squick}}y.
142** In ''ComicBook/Robin1993'', Tim stumbles across a strange thing in the Appalachian mountains that can retain human form by linking itself to a human who in turn is granted immortality through regeneration while near them but loses their ability to speak and has their memories and sense of self altered. If their linked human is killed, they revert into a mass of fleshy tentacles interspersed with giant mouths and eyes and kill everyone around them until they form a new link and make a new human form for themselves.
143** Wesley Dodds was the [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] Sandman. When [[ComicBook/TheSandman1989 Dream of the Endless]] was captured, it wreaked havoc on the dream-scape and messed with people's ability to dream or sleep. As the narrator says in ''Sandman'' #1: "The universe knows something's missing and slowly tries to replace it". Dodds became a vessel for a fraction of Dream's essence. What ability did a piece of the lord of dreams grant Dodds? Every night he dreamed of crimes and saw murders and horror with the nightmares continuing until the perpetrator was caught. After that he had no dreams for a few nights, and then the whole thing started all over again. While prophetic dreams don't seem too lovecraftian, keep in mind that Dodds was just a man and shouldn't have had a piece of the Dream-lord's soul inside of him. (The one time they met, in ''ComicBook/SandmanMysteryTheatre'', the notoriously distant Dream showed pity for Dodds and his situation... [[BlueAndOrangeMorality but he's not known to have reclaimed the part of himself Dodds held]], even after being freed; in some continuities, the dreams passed to Dodds' heirs when he died.)
144* The primary antagonists of ''ComicBook/DeathVigil'' are necromancers who shapeshift into and summon {{Eldritch Abomination}}s that have freaky {{eyes|DoNotBelongThere}}, [[CombatTentacles tentacles]], and [[MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily teeth]]. One of the characters on the protagonists' side is Mia, a girl who was bound to a Primordial, an elder Eldritch Abomination. She can assume [[http://nebezial.deviantart.com/art/death-vigil-we-are-beautiful-on-the-ins-oh-454231404 her true, monstrous form]] to better battle necromancers and eat the horrors they summon.
145* ''Franchise/MarvelUniverse'':
146** ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} was an attempt to replicate Wolverine's HealingFactor that went wrong by having Wolverine's DNA injected into him. He had cancer that was killing him already, and they thought the healing factor would cure that. Unfortunately, the healing factor applied to his body ''and'' the cancer cells, so while his superhuman immune system is perfectly capable of killing the cancer, the cancer can recover and mutate just as quickly.
147** In ''ComicBook/TheEternals'', the Celestial experiments on proto-humans that created the eponymous super-race and {{mutants}} also created the Deviants. While the Eternals are superhumans with the ability to manipulate energy, the Deviants look like horrible monsters straight out of Lovecraft's works. Fortunately, [[DarkIsNotEvil most of them aren't that bad]] and just want to live in peace.
148** Milder example in ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'': the Thing looks like a giant rock hulk. This produces plenty of angst for Ben Grimm, and the fact that other people in the Marvel Universe have been mutated in much worse ways isn't exactly a great consolation.
149** The first three issues of ''ComicBook/GenerationHope'' deal with the manifestation of the powers of Kenji Uedo, the fifth new mutant since M-Day. His power is a sort of "techno-organic" shapeshifting, but that doesn't quite convey [[http://marvel.wikia.com/Kenji_Uedo_(Earth-616)/Gallery how very Lovecraftian they can be]] (the first image through the link even looks like an obvious ShoutOut to Tetsuo's transformation in ''Manga/{{Akira}}'' above).
150** ''ComicBook/GenerationX'' foe Emplate has mouths on his hands that let him cannibalize mutant bone marrow. In the BadFuture that Bishop comes from, Emplate's powers have become contagious, and vampiric "emplates" are a constant danger even though the original has apparently been killed.
151** ''Comicbook/GhostRider'' has had a few of these characters over the years, such as the revamped Highwayman, a demonic trucker whose rig is made up of organs from his victims and who survives decapitation by growing fingers from the bottom of his head and scuttling around like a spider.
152** The Bride of Nine Spiders from ''ComicBook/ImmortalIronFist'' can summon hordes of spiders from her chest. [[http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v614/Grey420/link34.jpg This looks even worse than it sounds.]]
153** ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk is one of the most prominent examples of this trope, and perhaps one of the tamest. At least Bruce maintains a totally humanoid form -- there are a number of gamma mutates who aren't ''nearly'' so lucky. ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'' [[CosmicHorrorStory amps up the Lovecraft]], revealing gamma radiation to have [[DoingInTheScientist supernatural aspects]], playing up opportunities for BodyHorror, and giving Bruce ResurrectiveImmortality that sends him to [[{{Hell}} the "below-place"]] while he's dead.
154** ComicBook/TheInhumans are a subspecies of humanity that the Kree genetically modified long ago. Those of Inhuman lineage manifest superpowers when exposed to the Terrigen Mist. The lucky ones retain their human forms after Terrigenesis, or at least something fairly close to human. The unlucky ones [[BodyHorror don't]].
155** The Comicbook/MidnightSons line and the later ''Fearless'' SpinOff of ''Comicbook/FearItself'' both featured the Comicbook/Hydra [[FunWithAcronyms D.O.A. (Department of Occult Armaments)]], whose super-agents all had body horror powers, such as Rotwrap's insect-infested mummified form and Innards's ability to pull out his internal organs and attack others with them.
156** The Project Purgatory arc of ''ComicBook/NewMutants'' introduces the Inferno Babies, the latent mutant infants used during ''ComicBook/Inferno1988'' to open a portal to Limbo over Manhattan. Some of them have monstrous mutations fitting the hostile environment they were raised in; Scab's blood becomes body armor, Maw is covered in fanged mouths, and Alex is a BlobMonster.
157** ''ComicBook/SecretWarriors'' introduced Hive, a {{Cthulhumanoid}} member of the ComicBook/{{Hydra}} inner council who can control others by implanting PuppeteerParasite spawn in their bodies.
158** ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'':
159*** Spider-Man has on at least one occasion [[OneWingedAngel turned into a literal multi-limbed arachnid-humanoid creature]]. Even normal Spider-Man, in those incarnations where the [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything sticky white silk]] he shoots from his hands is organic, arguably counts.
160*** Or the time when he fights Miss Arrow. Or, really, just her entire being. Bonus points for being a Lovecraftian horror in the ''first'' place, madam.
161*** Minor Spidey villain the Squid can grow multiple CombatTentacles and spew black ink from his skin.
162*** Spidey villain the Sandman can sometimes appear like this, as some adaptations have him using [[ElementalShapeshifter his ability]] to reform himself to make an arm come out of his head or other limbs where they just don't belong.
163*** The various symbiotes may as well be parasitic shoggoths, capable of forming tentacles, spines, extra mouths, and other grotesque metamorphoses. Most noticeable is Carnage, a psychopathic serial killer whose symbiote tends to turn into a cloud of barbed tentacles whenever it feels like it. Also, the reason his suit is red is that it's made up of the ComicBook/{{Venom}} symbiote mixed with Cletus Kasady's blood. This is taken to its logical conclusion in ''ComicBook/AbsoluteCarnage'', where Carnage connects to a [[GodOfEvil primordial god of the abyss]]. His powers upgrade to brainwashing unwitting followers by having symbiotic maggots ''burrow into their skin'' and mutate them into multi-limbed symbiote creatures. Going from his old, already-creepy look to an eight-foot-tall skeleton wrapped in a symbiote doesn't help.
164** The whole premise of Comicbook/TerrorInc is his power to engage in AppendageAssimilation, usually by taking pieces directly off of others. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, the character started out as a villain in the AlternateContinuity ''Shadlowine'' comics before being adapted tom the main Marvel Universe.
165** And of course, there are ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}'s [[WolverineClaws claws]], which are bone knives that slice through his forearms and hands every time they extend. [[GoodThingYouCanHeal Good Thing He Can Heal]] indeed. The comics and adaptations [[{{Pun}} make no bones about]] the fact that having metal bonded to your skeleton and blades made of the stuff stuck into your arms is in fact not actually a good thing. Logan's healing factor is all that allowed him to survive having it done to him, and when deprived of it by power-dampening characters or tech, the adamantium in his body starts to poison him; he'd ''die'' without his powers. At least before the bone-claw {{Retcon}}, driving those claws through his forearms and out of the back of his hands without his healing factor is ''insanely'' agonizing -- surgery-without-any-anesthesia agonizing because that's ''kinda what's happening''--- to the point of being in real danger of having a heart attack on the spot. You're expected to kindly ignore all this when he loses his adamantium and writers who don't want to deprive him of his signature weapon say "Oh, he always had 'em, they were just covered with metal." We also learn just how damaging the presence of the adamantium was during this period, though: his healing and animal-based powers were in ''overdrive'' compared to how he normally is; apparently, the overwhelming majority of his mutant might is usually not available to him because it's busy keeping the deleterious effects of the adamantium in him at bay. Even after the bone-claw retcon, it's shown that popping the claws is still very painful. The first time he popped them in ''Origins'', he screams in agony a moment later. By the present day, he's used to the pain. Also, when the bone-claw retcon was first introduced, Wolverine popped his bone claws a few days after Magneto had ripped the adamantium out of his skeleton, which in the process had overloaded his healing factor. Meaning that in addition to the extreme pain, he started ''bleeding profusely'' out of the holes his claws had just created in his hands. When his healing factor is functioning, the wounds from popping his claws just instantly close as soon as he retracted them. With it on the fritz for a while, he treated claws like giant piercings in his hands, and kept them extended for while every day until his body adapted to having six new holes on a permanent basis.
166** ''ComicBook/XMen'':
167*** Predating the Spike below the even more Lovecraftian Marrow, whose bone growths were originally uncontrollable, random, and disfiguring. She would tear them out periodically to use as melee weapons, healing the wounds left behind with her HealingFactor.
168*** As well as the rest of TheMorlocks living in the sewers. Their powers come with varying degrees of deformity built in, often quite hideous in nature. Hence their living in the sewers; they're so obviously mutated that they can't blend in with normal humans.
169*** And then there's Tusk, who predates Marrow but is fairly similar... except that he also has pods on his back from which he can spawn MiniMe versions of himself.
170*** A one-shot Morlock is named [[BodyOfBodies MeMe]]. He absorbs people into himself physically to get bigger and stronger; at any given point, screaming humans melted into him and each other will be wriggling around on his body, with the limbs and faces of his less-intact victims jutting out every which way. As they shift and more are added, he never looks exactly the same in any two panels.
171*** A former X-Man with the charming name of [[XtremeKoolLetterz Maggott]] had two parasitic slugs that ''crawled out of his belly'' and could eat anything. He spent most of his childhood nearly starving to death until his primary digestive system (the slugs) emerged.
172*** Johnny Dee of the 198 isn't a mutant, but his internalized parasitic twin is. It extends poison tentacles from his gut and makes mind-controlling zombie dolls of anyone whose DNA it eats.
173** ''ComicBook/XStatix'': The Spike's mutant ability allows him to fire bone spikes out of his body. His teammate Phat can fill himself up with extradimensional gunk, growing to grotesque proportions but increasing his strength and durability exponentially. One short-lived member of the team, Sluk (and when we say "short lived", we mean "he was already dead when his team was introduced"), has ''creepy [[BuffySpeak tentacle things]]'' growing from his face and tentacular feet and hands. His teammates secretly hate him for a few reasons. One is that he's only handy in close combat situations and it's difficult to get him into the right spots a lot of the time. Another is that he isn't exactly Mr. Personality. Mostly, however, they don't like him because he just looks really, really weird.
174* In ''ComicBook/{{Monstress}}'', anyone whose body is possessed by a [[EldritchAbomination Monstrum]], like [[spoiler:Maika and SinisterMinister the Mother Superior]], can sprout CombatTentacles which are capable of devouring people.
175* ''ComicBook/North40'' deals with what happens when some kid reads the TomeOfEldritchLore in a small town's library, triggering a MassSuperEmpoweringEvent of this type. The lucky ones get superpowers like invulnerability, super-strength, and [[AnimalEyeSpy the ability to see through an animal's eyes]]. The ''other'' ones, however, get the ability to make [[HumanResources man-powered]] killing machines, see through any photograph of themselves with their "new eyes" (which [[EyeScream look like fanged maws]]), or just plain all-purpose BodyHorror of various and sundry varieties.
176* ''ComicBook/{{PS238}}'' has a minor character named [[http://ps238.nodwick.com/comic/2016-06-24/ Necronomik]] on [[MuggleBornOfMages Tyler]]'s parents' SuperTeam. We don't really know his origin or power source, but it clearly has some Lovecraftian angle.
177* ''ComicBook/{{Slaine}}'' being a fusion of Myth/CelticMythology, Creator/RobertEHoward novels and the good old-fashioned, classic ''ComicBook/TwoThousandAD'' punk aesthetic, the eponymous hero (an appropriate fusion of Cuchulainn and Conan with a punk aesthetic) has his "warp-spasm", which causes him to mutate into grotesquely ugly forms while gaining incredible strength, resilience and bloodlust.
178* Creator/TopCowProductions seems to be fond of this, with two parts of their Triarchy -- ''ComicBook/{{Witchblade}}'' and ''ComicBook/TheDarkness'' -- fitting the description. CombatTentacles being just the start for both powers. The third of them, [[LightIsNotGood the Angelus]], is more of a HolyHandGrenade.
179* ''Franchise/TransformersTimelines'': Ramjet was once the most powerful herald of [[SatanicArchetype Unicron]] who employed the reality warping powers bestowed upon him by his master to punish his victims. After Unicron imploded into a grand black hole, Ramjet was trapped in the VoidBetweenTheWorlds where the resident EldritchAbomination tortured him by destroying and recreating his existence for quick laughs until they got bored and dumped him back into his dimension. This horrible experience gave Ramjet powers far greater than the ones he had, to the point that his mere existence can corrupt and twist the reality around him. Unfortunately, this also left him in a perpetual state of being and unbeing, holding himself together through sheer force of will, and pretty much shattered his mind.
180* In ''ComicBook/TheUmbrellaAcademy'', the Horror is pretty much the embodiment of this. He's said to have several monsters hidden under his skin. Whether or not they're from space or another dimension or something else has yet to be stated. However, according to some people in-universe, they're horrible and disgusting.
181[[/folder]]
182
183[[folder:Fan Works]]
184* ''Fanfic/AbraxasHrodvitnon'': The Many (a semi-manmade UndeadAbomination which acts like TheVirus) stands apart from Godzilla, the other Earthborn Titans, and even their genetic source [[DraconicAbomination Ghidorah]] for their abilities to radically reshape and rearrange their own biomass at will, forming natural weapons out of their own bodies a la ''Film/TheThing1982''.
185* In ''Cave Story Versus I M Meen'', the [[spoiler:TrueFinalBoss]], Website/DeviantArt, has the ability to transform into horrifying representations of his own fetishes. First, he transforms into a GiantFootOfStomping as a huge swarm of flying vaginas appears in the upper part of the enormous room. Then, he [[SuperGenderBender gender-bends himself]] into a morbidly obese floating woman with a circle of eight giant, lethal, fat-dripping donuts flying around her. Finally, last but not least, four of her protective donuts suddenly grow huge amounts of mold as she sends out an array of giant blood-stained used condoms for the hero to stand on as ''[[TurnsRed her stomach explodes violently and gorily from overinflation, turning the vaginas into pus-oozing, tainted-blood-squirting blue waffles and prompting a bunch of naked anthropomorphic flies to crawl inside her body and feast on her endlessly regenerating entrails.]]'' NauseaFuel at its finest.
186* In ''Fanfic/ChildrenOfAnElderGod'', the main characters kill cosmic horrors from the Franchise/CthulhuMythos and steal their powers. Some examples:
187** Shinji is capable of creating and controlling insects, spiders and snakes.
188** Rei possesses people (among other things).
189** Touji bends and twists three-dimensional space.
190* ''Fanfic/CodexEquus'': Various eldritch beings, divine or no, have certain powers that defy convention and make reality cry.
191** Unlike most eldritch beings and deities seen in the Codexverse, Moon Ray Vaughoof/Prince Canticum Lunae Cahaya is unique in that his very nature became tied to the four seasons following his [[EldritchTransformation re-Ascension]]. This makes him go through three cycles of death, reincarnation, and life in an endless loop, transforming him into a different god whose nature and powers corresponds with each season (i.e. death = winter; reincarnation = spring and fall; life = summer). Notably, as [[TheOmniscient Kelahiran Semula Cahaya]], his domain of Cycles gives him the ability to sense, create, and manipulate cycles, as well as other powers similar to those of [[ControlFreak High King Ragnarøkkr]]. However, he is vastly inexperienced in comparison and generally uses them for benevolent purposes.
192** As an '[[EldritchAbomination Abyssal One]]', Queen Kthoryu's power is vaguely understood; notably, it is fueled by Dark Mana, which is not Dark Magic, but rather the magical equal of Dark Matter and/or Dark Energy. The nature of Dark Mana is so alien that it is only observable via its passive effects on the things around it. It is still being heavily researched, and it's believed that Dark Mana is the reason why her temple/palace has strange, eldritch qualities. Kthoryu's domain of Dark Energy gives her powerful [[GravityMaster anti-gravity]] abilities, but otherwise the full scope of it is unknown due to difficulty in observing it.
193*** Kthoryu's domains of Primordial Sea and Primal Fear are also Lovecraftian, to a lesser degree. Being a goddess of Primordial Sea means that her powers are 'purer' and more potent compared to normal Sea deities, making her incredibly dangerous. Her domain of Primal Fear generally revolves around thalassophobia, the fear of oceans and/or deep bodies of water, though she is able to invoke other primal fears depending on her targets.
194** Following his transformation into an eldritch Alicorn, Prince Healing Song's [[GodOfLight Light domain]] gains eldritch properties, giving him new abilities such as [[RealityWarper reality-warping]], transmutation, and, notably, seeing other dimensions and planes via light (which he calls the "Light of Dimensions"). His Fear domain, when combined with his Light domain, gives him the ability to inflict existential dread on his opponents and illuminate everything that they fear/hate about themselves.
195* ''Fanfic/DailyEquestriaLifeWithMonsterGirl'':
196** Cerea's plastic practice sword has effectively become this. It is a weapon that destroys magic and wounds the soul itself, made of a substance that exists nowhere else in Menajeria and which only Cerea can safely handle. And at the end of the story, Cerea gains the ability to create or dismiss this weapon as her innate magic.
197** Tirek likewise fits this trope. His ability to drain magic is revealed to be the result of his brother cutting him open and surgically weaving platinum wires through his body and into his bones. This procedure appears to have technically killed him, but it left his soul trapped inside his corpse, able to keep it "alive" and moving by spending magic but still unable to generate magic in any way other than by draining it from those around him.
198* In ''Fanfic/TheDarkBelow'', Izuku's natural quirk takes this to the next level. As do [[spoiler:Todoroki and Tokoyami]]. Their powers are inherently tied to an eldritch dimension known as The Abyss. The main way Izuku in particular access the Abyss? He dies. The first couple chapters have him experimenting with various ways of killing himself to get there. He can also manipulate shadow matter that seems to defy the normal logic of reality and exposure to the Abyss's effects causes him to have an inherent understanding of higher level math and quantum physics. [[spoiler:Those three are more than just tied to the Abyss - they're the gods of it. Yeah, that's right. They are the gods of a dimension filled with creatures that make the idea of the CosmicHorrorStory a joke. Todoroki for the godflame of order, the part of the Abyss we perceive as normal reality, Izuku for the True Dark, where the unspeakable eldritch abominations live, and Tokoyami for disparity, the places where the infinite nothingness and orderly creation meet and intermingle.]]
199* In ''{{Fanfic/Daymare}}'' this becomes Izuku's Quirk, Living Nightmare, which at its most powerful allows him to turn into an EldritchAbomination, leaving destruction in his path. Still, having a terrifying Quirk like this left its mark, with this Izuku being a lot more messed up than his canon counterpart.
200* ''FanFic/ImperfectMetamorphosis'':
201** The resident BlobMonster qualifies. [[spoiler:Rin Satsuki was just a young Kirin with an interesting native power, and gained the power to [[PowerCopying absorb other people and use their abilities in turn]], thanks to Eirin's experiments. At the cost of her own body. It goes without saying that she [[GoneHorriblyWrong really doesn't take that well]].]]
202** In the same fanfic, [[spoiler:Yuuka Kazami is capable of shapeshifting her own body into all kinds of horrid, twisted forms, all with a floral theme. This isn't just vine tentacles and root claws either. She can actually turn herself into Kaiju-sized plant monstrosities and weaponize every single part of her body. This power of Yuuka is justified in that she's actually an [[EldritchAbomination Elder God]], albeit a very weakened one]].
203* ''WebComic/FateGagOrder'''s version of Don Quixote is a Servant who qualifies to be a Foreigner due to being unwittingly tormented by Hastur (The King in Yellow) while he was alive and battling his "Amber Arm" when he was still in a regular class. This doesn't crop up much in either his first and third Ascensions, but it heavily does for [[https://preview.redd.it/vw7oxnirkac61.jpg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e45417b63cb0cd881b59c5b9d8552ac87c58208f his second]] where Hastur's influence is at its strongest, especially when he uses [[https://preview.redd.it/bh1592ujmac61.jpg?width=15189&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b4ace184566ad1b0c2896e92e34a836c4045b9f0 his Noble Phantasm]].
204* ''Fanfic/LeviathanMyHeroAcademia'': Izuku's Quirk is to change into the titular creature, an EldritchAbomination that's almost a hundred meters long, has a dozen limbs and dozens of eyes, breathes lightning, and has a roar that inspires pure terror in anyone who hears it.
205* The Black Beast from ''Fanfic/TheMissingWorlds'' falls under this. He used to be a human warrior who was given a [[BlessedWithSuck blessing]] by his priestess: With each person he killed, he would become stronger. When he passed the limits of strength a human body could support, he began to morph into something monstrous (implied to resemble the Minotaur). Then [[TorchesAndPitchforks a mob of angry villagers]] killed his MoralityChain. By the end of his RoaringRampageOfRevenge, he wasn't even remotely humanoid.
206* ''Fanfic/TheNightUnfurls'' has some examples:
207** As a result of Shamuhaza's, er, "[[PlayingWithSyringes enhancements]]", the Black Dogs now have mutated {{Mooks}} that weaponise their BodyHorror in a variety of ways, from suddenly sprouting CombatTentacles, to distended jaws that can bite off someone's head in one go. Sure, they are EliteMooks, but they don't get these abilities willingly, and they are [[AndIMustScream not having a good time]], '''at all'''.
208** Narratively speaking, StarPower is considered to be unnatural. Makes sense, for only those who [[spoiler:delve into the [[ThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow Eldritch Truth]]]] can utilise it. It speaks volumes when even the most skilled of arcane/magic users, like [[LadyOfBlackMagic Olga]], [[{{Seers}} Celestine]], and [[EvilSorcerer Shamuhaza]], are not shown to fire streams of starlight. Kyril, from his experience in [[VideoGame/BloodBorne Yharnam]], states that he had seen a few creatures that are able to fire starlight, like the [[MythologyGag Celestial Emissary]]. Therefore, he deduced that something or someone related to the Healing Church's research had somehow ended up here.
209** The above is further supported in the remastered version. After Kyril uses A Call Beyond to [[spoiler:[[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill overkill]] Vault]], Olga's narration remarks that this starfire spell is not something she had in her repertoire, doubting whether Celestine would even have something like this in her arsenal.
210** [[spoiler:[[HumanoidAbomination Kyril]]]] is a [[JustifiedTrope justified]] example. Why else would [[spoiler:he be able to sprout out [[TouchTelepathy mind-probing]], [[{{Brainwashing}} mind-controlling]] tendrils [[PartialTransformation out of his arm]]? And that's not getting to the [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm full extent]] of what he can do.]] As for the origin? Well... [[spoiler:he [[EldritchTransformation turned into]] a [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext squid]] (to be precise, an [[EldritchAbomination infant great one]]) after [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu punching out the]] [[VideoGame/BloodBorne Moon Presence]] before the series began.]] Fortunately, [[spoiler:he is able to [[AFormYouAreComfortableWith keep a human form]] and [[VoluntaryTransformation switch to]] his great one form with ease, except that would do [[GoMadFromTheRevelation terrible things]] to anyone and anything around him, so he's not going to do that.]]
211** MindOverMatter. Yes, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin moving things without lifting a finger]]. In another universe, say, a {{Superhero}} setting or a [[Franchise/StarWars certain]] SciFi setting, this would hardly count as "Lovecraftian"; in ''The Night Unfurls'', a DarkFantasy world of steel and magic, it's a different story: [[spoiler:telekinesis is [[PlayedForHorror portrayed as uncanny]] due to [[AvertedTrope averting]] JustHitHim, it's not explained in any way regarding its mechanism, and so far, only one person/entity is confirmed to possess this power.]] [[spoiler:No, it's not Kyril.]] [[spoiler:That honour instead goes to Evetta, the Plain Doll herself]].
212* Tails of all people gets one of these in ''FanFic/SonicXDarkChaos'' after getting infected with Shroud parasites, complete with tremendous amounts of BodyHorror. Among the highlights of his first transformation is ''his semen turning solid and slithering across the floor'' - before ''wrapping around him and hardening like body armor.'' Later on as he manages to take control of the Shroud inside him, he finds that he can do things like move his eyes out of their sockets and look around, grow his fingers into flensing claws, fire shards of his own bones from his wrists, and eventually fuse himself to the X-Tornado by connecting his nerves with its controls. Though all of his friends are utterly horrified and disgusted by his new powers, [[AngstWhatAngst Tails thinks it's the most awesome thing ever]].
213* Taylor/Starfield in ''Fanfic/StarryEyes'' has one. Her superpower is to use the superpowers of various [[EldritchAbomination Lovecraftian entities]] by cutting off her skin (she can put it back). Aria, being a shoggoth, gets this the most (she’s the one with mouths and eyes in her [[CombatTentacles tentacles]]), but Melody’s flight has been described as clawing at the air, and Rest is basically a living snowfall that eats sound.
214* Legion in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12882198/1/We-Are-Legion-COMPLETE We Are Legion]]'' is a "bug elemental", meaning he can control all forms of arthropods (insects, spiders, etc), use their senses, and his body is made of said arthropods. If Legion is to be believed, you'd have to almost simultaneously kill every bug in a half mile radius of him to kill him and make it stick, otherwise he just reforms a new body. As [[WesternAnimation/YoungJustice Kid Flash]] learns, when Legion sleeps, his human body dissolves into a mass of bugs. Later, he gains a new insectoid body due to accidentally increasing his connection with the Red, becomes a telepath due to eating Psimon, and it's revealed that he actually died a while ago and is a hive mind in the guise of a human.
215* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' fanfic ''Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf'', Rose's ability to connect to the Time Vortex is treated as this. She nearly dies almost every time she uses it, she actually [[CameBackWrong did]] [[DeathActivatedSuperpower die]] in the process of gaining it, and it's treated as so terribly ''wrong'' by the other characters that Rose chooses to hide it from the Doctor - with disastrous consequences.
216* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5571816/15/Win-Some-Lose-Some Blood and Venom]]'' has Naruto taking PoisonousPerson [[ExaggeratedTrope Up to Eleven]]. His saliva is poisonous (he can change the poison but has to flush his venom sac a few times to prevent cross contamination), he bleeds hydrofluoric acid, sweats nitroglycerine, and pees cyanide. What really sells it however is how Naruto replenishes his fluids from spitting poison or bleeding acid. He manipulates his spilled blood and that of others, causing it to flow into any open wounds on his body as well as his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose. Kiba mentions that he hasn't been able to sleep alone ever since seeing Naruto use an Exploding Blood Clone to take out a group of bandits then absorb their blood.
217* Izuku in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13037538/1/The-Worm-That-Dorks The Worm That Dorks]]'' is either a nice young boy who can turn into an EldritchAbomination or an EldritchAbomination masquerading as a nice young boy. He can change his mass which increases his strength, sprout tentacles and teeth from his body, sees people and robots on the other side of walls more easily than he sees the walls, and has a number of lines along his body which have been noted to resemble seams more than scars. Finally, Izuku gives off an aura of dread, though how sensitive people are to varies. Some don't seem to notice, while Ochako feels the urge to flee before he's even in the room.
218* The ''FanFic/TriptychContinuum'' has several examples:
219** Perhaps the biggest example is ''Her'' from ''Triptych'' itself. ''She'' is an unstable hybrid of the three pony tribes, and slowly changes from one to another. And as she changes, her body reshapes itself: ''her'' horn tears out through the skin and then recedes again, ribs ''break'' to accommodate unfolding wings, muscles tear and flesh reshapes. Worse, her mark actually ''rotates'' to reflect these changes, something so unnatural that it acts as a BrownNote to pony witnesses.
220** Other works in the series mention Kalziver's Severance, a spell that can very briefly cut the connection between pony and mark. The spell is referred to as "magical blasphemy", and using it causes excruciating agony from forcing magic to do something that fundamentally is not supposed to be possible.
221** One of the core aspects of Continuum earth pony magic is the Cornicopia Effect, charging soil with magical energies that encourage the growth of plants. However, it is also possible to ''invert'' the Effect, instead flooding the soil with energies that poison anything trying to grow there. It's rarely used, because making her magic flow in reverse like this will make an earth pony very sick.
222** [[spoiler: Taken [[ExaggeratedTrope Up to Eleven]] in ''[[Recap/TriptychContinuumGlimmer Glimmer]]''. The story does a very good job of conveying the utter, sanity-destroying ''wrongness'' of Starlight's mark amputation, and the horror of having your soul torn out and a gaping hole left in its place.]]
223** And all of the above are contrasted with the powers of the "hybrids", [[spoiler: ponies who have been infused with another tribe's essence and often develop unusual powers as a result. These are often bizzare (one hybrid can rewind time for weather systems, another is a pegasus who can work with unicorn {{Magitek}} but not ''pegasus'' {{Magitek}}, and of course Pinkie Pie is Pinkie Pie), but even the oddest lack the innate sanity-destroying ''wrongness'' of the other effects on this list]].
224* ''Fanfic/TheDragonAndTheButterflySaga'': Under normal circumstances, Pedro Madrigal's gift is the ability to [[ImaginationBasedSuperpower draw and paint anything into reality]]. When under Drago's command, it's PlayedForHorror. Instead of goofy illustrations manifesting from a bright-golden paint, it manifests as an OminousObsidianOoze that either turns into hostile {{Eldritch Abomination}}s or does... ''something'' that renders anyone caught in it an EmptyShell.
225[[/folder]]
226
227[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
228* Engineers from ''Film/TokyoGorePolice'' are genetically modified humans who sprout weapons from injuries they receive. For example, the first one in the film grows a bio-mechanical chainsaw after his arm is cut off.
229* Creator/ShinyaTsukamoto's films often use this; most obviously his ''Film/{{Tetsuo|TheIronMan}}'' films, in which the main protagonists ([[MindScrew well, as far as they can be identified as such]]) invariably end up [[ExtraOreDinary sprouting/fusing with various pieces of metal and machine]], becoming hideous Creator/HRGiger-esque [[MechanicalAbomination biomechanical monstrosities]].
230* Creator/DavidCronenberg uses this a lot:
231** Seth Brundle in ''Film/TheFly1986'' gains the ability to WallCrawl, super-strength, and even [[AcidAttack vomit a corrosive enzyme]] to dissolve food (or enemies). Unfortunately, he gained these abilities when he accidentally fused his genes with a fly, and [[SlowTransformation slowly mutates]] into a grotesque, giant insect/human hybrid. BlessedWithSuck indeed.
232** ''Film/TheBrood'': While Psychoplasmics isn't ''necessarily'' a superpower, the ability to birth homunculi from your traumatic memories who end up subconsciously doing your bidding might be considered useful, if fucked up.
233** In ''Film/{{Videodrome}}'', Max ([[UnreliableNarrator probably]]) gets mutable flesh and a [[BellyMouth giant mouth in his stomach]], which can apparently create hand grenades.
234* In ''Film/District9'', [[spoiler:Wikus]] is exposed to alien fluid which slowly transforms him (starting with his arm) into one of the aliens. This gives him both an alien's strength and the ability to operate their weapons.
235* Generally the {{Big Bad}}s from the ''Film/ResidentEvilFilmSeries'' gain this through [[TheVirus the T virus]].
236* Perverse MadScientist Dr. Pretorius in ''Film/FromBeyond'', after [[OffWithHisHead getting his head torn off]] by fishlike... '''things''' from AnotherDimension, [[CameBackWrong comes]] [[WasOnceAMan back]] as a HumanoidAbomination who takes entirely too much pleasure in abusing his newfound powers to manifest some of the squishiest, most disturbing forms ever put to film.
237* The eponymous Thing from both the [[Film/TheThing1982 1982]] and [[Film/TheThing2011 2011]] movies usually takes pains to hide itself as those it absorbed... but once discovered or when thinking it's possessing the advantage, the fangs, claws, CombatTentacles, etc. burst out every which way to kill and [[TheVirus infest]] any nearby lifeform it can.
238* ''Film/{{Society}}'': The members of Society can [[RubberMan distort and mutate their bodies to use as a weapon]]; growing elongated arms is one of the more mundane uses.
239* ''Film/TheSuicideSquad'': [[LethalJokeCharacter Polka-Dot Man]] is able to fire polka-dots which disintegrate anything they touch... but said polka-dots come from [[BodyHorror energy-generating tumors all over his body]], and he developed said tumors after [[AbusiveParents his mother]] [[GuineaPigFamily exposed him to an extra-dimensional virus]] in the hope of him developing powers (she experimented on all of her kids to such an end - most of them did not survive).
240[[/folder]]
241
242[[folder:Literature]]
243* In ''Literature/Pathfinder2010'', [[TheHero Rigg]] bonds with a [[PuppeteerParasite Facemask]]. A [[MentalFusion successful]] [[FusionDance bonding]] can benefit both parties, however there is a very high chance of ending up as a MeatPuppet. As a result of a successful bonding Rigg (who was WeakButSkilled until this point) becomes [[StoryBreakerPower REALLY]] over powered.
244* Corrupted spellcasters in ''Literature/TheBannedAndTheBanished'' are linked to animals, but the link is always perverse in some way. The first in the series gives birth to man-eating spiders, and they scale up from there all the way to twins who grow pustules that explode into rats. The only one who initially avoids this [[spoiler:transforms into any animal he wears the skin of]], and he later [[spoiler:skins and wears one of the protagonists]].
245* In books by Creator/CliveBarker, villains ([[DarkIsNotEvil and otherwise]]) tend to have these.
246** In [[Literature/{{Abarat}} The Abarat Quintet]], the Prince of Midnight, Christopher Carrion, has the ability to distill his nightmares in physical form. They come out of tubes set in his skull and into a tank around his neck, cavorting in the fluid he breathes. On command, they can grow to many times their size and attack.
247*** Leeman Vole is a man who enjoys growing insects. [[NauseaFuel On and in his own body]].
248*** Leotho is a boy with a [[InvoluntaryShapeshifting ravenous beast form]]. He works for Carrion in return for the antidote, which he needs continual doses of to remain human.
249*** Mater Motley, [[NeverMessWithGranny Carrion's grandmother]] [[spoiler:and his eventual killer]]. The things she can do with needles...
250** Midianites' powers in ''Cabal'' are pretty much all different types of this.
251* A number of Jokers from the Literature/WildCards series. One that particularly pops to mind is Bloat. And Mother. And Ti Malice.
252* Technically the Denarians from ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' operate under willing agreements with the {{fallen angel}}s that they get their powers from. Of course Fallen Angels are very very good at convincing their hosts to give things up bit by bit, and the harsher among them basically end up {{Mind Rape}}ing their hosts after enough time (although others prefer NotBrainwashed partners who happily sell their soul for power). Regardless they have the ability to transform into a [[OneWingedAngel demonic form]], which are often a bit disturbing, the best example being the one who transforms into a giant mutated praying mantis. That bleeds praying mantises.
253* Oddly enough, the kindly, feminine protagonist of ''Confessions of Super-Mom'' has a Lovecraftian power--her warped right hand constantly leaks a mysterious living fluid. She can blast it from her hand with incredible force as a way of knocking people over or making holes in weak objects, and she discovers that it can also be [[MundaneUtility used as a stain remover]].
254* Another heroic example: Bes from ''Literature/TheKaneChronicles'', whose trademark attack is scaring the crap out of his enemy by [[NightmareFace warping his face hideously]]. "BOO!"
255* Drake from ''Literature/{{Gone}}'' ends up with a long, dangerous whip where his arm should be.
256* As a heroic example, the ''Literature/MaximumRide'' series give us [[spoiler:"The Gasman," or "Gazzy" for short, who in later books gains the ability to incapacitate enemies with his super-farts]].
257* ''Literature/TheLightFantastic:'' [[spoiler:Trymon gains this ability]] when possessed by [[EldritchAbomination the Things from the Dungeon Dimensions]]. It's not as powerful as one would think, though, since Rincewind [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu punches him out]]. Literally.
258* ''Literature/{{Imaro}}'' has the "gifts" of the Mashataan, grievous deformities like tentacles, tumors, over-sized limbs, discoloration, and more, but you get black magic and death rays in the process. WordOfGod is this was inspired by Wilbur Whateley's BodyHorror from ''Literature/TheDunwichHorror'' but weaponized.
259* ''Literature/TheBehemoth'' features [[TheSymbiote symbiotes]] that [[TheCorruption corrupt and empower]] people who are [[CursedWithAwesome lucky]] enough to have one. They grant [[BodyHorror horrific]] [[SuperMode transformations]] that are themed after parts of the body -- the hero has [[BloodyMurder armor made out of coagulated blood]], another is a WingedHumanoid with a carapace made of [[SkeletonsInTheCoatCloset his own bones]], and that's not even counting the [[KrakenAndLeviathan Leviathan made out of human fat.]]
260* Inverted in ''Literature/TheLaundryFiles''; in the sixth novel, ordinary humans begin to manifest superhuman abilities; while the actual source of these abilities is an unconscious version of the series's [[EvilIsNotAToy rather nasty version]] of RitualMagic (with all the same [[CastFromLifespan downsides]]), they look enough like comic book superpowers that those so-empowered [[WrongGenreSavvy tend to put on spandex and capes]] when it happens.
261* The main characters in ''Literature/EdenGreen'' are infected with an alien needle symbiote that keeps them alive no matter what. This results in some horrifying but useful mutations, such as when Eden falls from a cliff and her hand warps into a sick claw with which she can catch herself.
262* The Order of Ahriman in the [[Literature/AhrimanTrilogy Ahriman Trilogy]] turn their bodies into gateways between a sentient alien world, bringing in [[EldritchAbomination Lovecraftian horrors]] to do their fighting for them.
263* John Henry Booth starts manifesting these in ''Literature/CthulhuArmageddon.'' At first he believes this is because he was experimented on by the MadScientist EvilSorcerer Alan Ward. [[spoiler:In truth, he is a HalfHumanHybrid blessed by Nyarlathotep.]]
264* In ''Literature/TheSisterVerseAndTheTalonsOfRuin'', the villain's "magic" usually translates to this, often manifesting as weaponized BodyHorror aided by its ability to shapeshift.
265* In ''[[Literature/TheLockedTomb Harrow The Ninth]]'' Harrowhark combines her bone necromancy with her newly-acquired HealingFactor to do things like reshape her ribcage to trap an enemy's blade after she's been stabbed, or grow claws and blades out of her arm bones as an EmergencyWeapon.
266* In ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'', morphing is usually full of BodyHorror during the transformation process, but the morph itself is just whatever animal the DNA was from. For [[BigBad Visser Three]], that usually means an alien OneWingedAngel, often one that breathes fire or something else horrifying. The psychological effects of being shot, dismembered, disemboweled, burned, frostbitten, partially vaporized, partially digested, and even swatted while in insect morph dozens of times, [[GoodThingYouCanHeal only to emerge fully healed]], also take a toll on the Animorphs' mental health.
267* ''[[Literature/TheCircleOpens Magic Steps]]'' has "unmagic", a form of magic that revolves around [[PowerOfTheVoid the absence of everything else: light, life, existence, true magic, and so on]]. Just having it used on or near you will gradually eat away your mind and leave you an EmptyShell unless you're carefully cleansed of the traces, and when Sandry has to actually spin it to make the net for the Dihanurs it gives her waking nightmares and very nearly drives her mad.
268* ''Literature/{{Pale}}'': Horrors are magical Others whose bodies have been turned into an EldritchLocation, being copied, divided, multiplied, and folded in on themselves, all without the victim dying. The Kim family has learned how to control the process, and their family Practice involves intentionally Horrifying themselves in certain ways, leading to things like distorting their bodies, growing extra limbs, or creating copies of themselves.
269[[/folder]]
270
271[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
272* ''Series/DoctorWho'' has the Slitheen, who can disguise themselves by wearing people's skins.
273* In Season 3 episode "Earshot", [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Buffy]] fears she might get a Lovecraftian superpower after touching demon blood. Instead she got PsychicPowers, though with great power came great [[BlessedWithSuck suckiness]] that nearly drove her insane.
274* In one of the ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' online novels, one man's superpower was to involuntarily grow spikes; he accidentally killed his wife this way, and then everyone in the van he was being transported to prison in (except for a guard who could turn into liquid).
275** And then, of course, there's volume 3 Mohinder, who [[spoiler:uses his own serum to grant himself Spider Man-style powers, with the side-effect of growing scales over his skin]].
276** Maya could cry toxic tears.
277** In another graphic novel, there was a character who breathed out chlorine gas instead of carbon dioxide.
278* Pathfinders in ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' can shoot poisonous bristles from the gills in their heads.
279** Aside from the Corlata's ability to shapeshift in a particularly gruesome way, one of them apparently had the power to exude an explosive fluid from his hands.
280** The Halosians can animate their vomit into a separate entity.
281** When starved, Delvians produce venomous buds from their skin and exhale clouds of paralysing spores.
282** E'Alet, the villain from "A Prefect Murder", could [[BeeBeeGun grow swarms of mind-controlling sgabba flies inside his skull and emit them.]]
283* ''Series/HemlockGrove'': [[spoiler:Christina]] chooses to become a werewolf, by drinking from a werewolf's paw-print. Unlike natural werewolves, this character can change at will, not just when the moon is full--but also unlike natural werewolves, the character can't control the wolf's bloodlust. The character also shows physical manifestations even in human form, like hair gradually turning white with each change.
284* A number of Wesen in ''Series/{{Grimm}}'' have deeply disturbing powers. For example, the [[GratuitousGerman Gedächtnis-esser]] is basically a Mindflayer down to the {{Cthulhumanoid}} GameFace.
285* Ben Hargreeves from ''Series/{{The Umbrella Academy|2019}}'' possesses a portal in his stomach through which he can summon eldritch tentacles. He's not fond of this.
286[[/folder]]
287
288[[folder:Manhwa]]
289* The novel and webtoon ''Literature/SoloLeveling'' has the main character Sung Jin-Woo gain the power of the shadow monarch which gives him explicit control over the dead. He's effectively a {{Necromancer}} and can raise any magical being that has mana. But unlike the traditional version of a necromancer, he calls up the dead as shadows that have a physical presence but is also an example of CastingAShadow as they can hide in people's shadows and he can see through their eyes. The Summons are also not just shells or shadows of the person they were but the actual souls and spirits of the original bound to Sung Jin-Woo and not only that but they find HappinessInSlavery as every shadow brought back by him is filled with the overwhelming desire to serve him and feels happiness simply by serving him.
290[[/folder]]
291
292[[folder:Mythology]]
293* The warp-spasm of Cuchulainn from Myth/CelticMythology is all this. Think ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuchulainn#The_Cattle_Raid_of_Cooley only uglier]].
294[[/folder]]
295
296[[folder:Podcasts]]
297* The world of ''Podcast/TheMagnusArchives'' is inhabited by the Powers, fourteen [[EldritchAbomination eldritch gods]] based on humanity's [[PrimalFear primal fears]]. Becoming an avatar of one of the Powers grants you powerful supernatural abilities, but also makes you increasingly inhuman, both in nature and in appearance. [[spoiler:Even the heroes aren't exempt from this once they start serving the Powers. Jon, an avatar of the Beholding, gains a CompellingVoice and limited omniscience at the expense of an increasingly insatiable HorrorHunger and [[EyesDoNotBelongThere eyes where eyes should not belong]].]]
298[[/folder]]
299
300[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
301* A feature of ''The Dreadful Secrets of Candlewick Manor'', a supplement for ''TabletopGame/MonstersAndOtherChildishThings''. The more powers you have, the more creepy other people find you and the less you can pass for normal. (In the original game, you have a {{mon}} companion. In ''Candlewick Manor'', you have an eerie power which (usually) manifests physically, or else mentally or psychically.)
302* Sorcerers in the game ''Sorcerer'' who have Parasite demons commonly have this kind of power.
303* Many of the mutations {{mutants}} and Chaos champions gain in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' and ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' fit this, usually a physical boon specific to the chaos god they represent. If they are unlucky, however, they might get something like an eye on their navel or an emu's leg.
304** Hell, an eye or emu's leg is nothing compared to the grotesque explosions of tentacles (with breasts and tongues if we're talking about Slaanesh) that you can get stuck with!
305** Chaos Marauders, at least in their [[MassivelyMultiplayerOnlineRolePlayingGame Age of Reckoning]] manifestation, use Chaos energies to spontaneously mutate their limbs into a variety of crablike claws and similar weapons.
306** In fact, a persistent danger to Chaos champions is that their gods will [[BlessedWithSuck "gift"]] them with so many of these mutations that their minds and bodies collapse. These are known as Chaos Spawn.
307** Possessed Marines-- Chaos Space Marines that invited chaos daemon into their bodies. In addition to having an incarnation of rage and hatred in their heads it also grants them extensive and very unpleasant-looking mutations. Obliterators and Mutiliators are victims of a virus that makes their bodies mutate into demonic hulking monstrosities that can grow weapons (long range and close combat respectively) and armor. The process is very painful and the result is not pretty.
308** Second generation Genestealers look like this. They are regular humans with one or several adaptations (boneswords, extra limb, chitin armor, etc.) from their EldritchAbomination overlords. Most of them are able to pass for humans in low security areas, but have increased combat capacity.
309** Psychic powers in general fit neatly into this trope. Although they can be used by nearly all factions, including the protagonist factions, the setting's EvilVersusEvil nature means they're still not being used by any nice people. Psychic powers are fuelled by a connection to [[HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace the Warp]], and drawing too deeply from it invites disaster, such as opening a warp rift or suffering daemonic possession. Not to mention, the Warp is constantly tempting and influencing those who are attuned to it, forcing psykers to fight a never-ending mental battle against the gibbering voices in their mind. Consequently, even the most normal of psykers tends to come across as at least a little "off", with most being out and out crazy.
310** The augmentations which the [[SpaceMarine Adeptus Astartes]] receive also count. Some of them just make the guy physically superior to an ordinary human, such as a secondary heart to aid with blood circulation, organs which drastically improve vision, smell/taste, and hearing, and specialized organs which filter out inhaled poison and ingested poison (this one also gives them superhuman alcohol tolerance). However, there are also weird ones, such as the Betcher's Gland, which allows the Space Marine to spit acid, and the Omophagea, which connects the stomach to the nervous system in such a way that the Space Marine can learn from his food.
311* Several ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' {{prestige class}}es do this. The Alienist is very explicitly Lovecraftian, as it involves abandoning their sanity, summoning [[EldritchAbomination pseudonatural beings from the Far Realm]], and modifying their bodies with otherworldly effects. There's also the Vermin Lord (who gets covered in bugs), the Fleshwarper (monster flesh grafts for all!) and the Cancer Mage (how does "Sentient Tumour" sound as a superpower?). You can also take Aberrant feats, which improve your body while making you look really messed up. Special mention should be made of the 3.0 Song and Silence Prestige Class "Fang of Lolth", who slowly gives over her body to the image of the above-mentioned Spider-Queen. Unhinged jaws, bug-eyes, hairy limbs, EXTRA limbs. There are also TWO versions of the Pseudonatural Creature template. As well as a Half-Farspawn template. Both of which add tentacles to an existing creature (although, the first is more of a template for creatures native to Lovecraftian dimensions that happen to bear some resemblance to their Material Plane equivalents, rather than a modification).
312** The core rules have the Phantasmal Killer spell, which essentially makes you appear to your foes as though transformed into an alien monstrosity. If it works, they die of fright.
313** Another notable one is called the Warshaper, which basically involves taking a character that can change shape in some way, and going nuts with it. Sprouting claws, horns, mouths and spikes at will, doubling the length of limbs for better reach, growing more limbs, all of the above at once...
314** The Expanded Psionics Handbook doesn't have anything explicitly aberrant (besides illithids and intellect devourers), but many of the powers available to the psychic warrior involve sprouting claws and spitting acid. One of the higher-level abilities, Form of Doom, makes the psychic warrior's body stronger and faster, "complete with an ooze-sleek skin coating, [[CombatTentacles lashing tentacles]], and a [[PrimalFear fright-inducing countenance]]".
315*** Its expansion/followup, ''Complete Psionics'', has illithid feats and the related flayerspawn psychic prestige class, which allows characters to take on mind flayer traits (up to and including brain-extracting face-tentacles).
316** Fourth Edition warlocks (particularly the Star-Pact variety) can attack foes with writhing tentacles and swarms of crawling unearthly vermin that sprout directly from the enemy's flesh, or simply attack their sanity with visions and apparitions of this nature. Gained, as the name suggests, by channeling the powers of various cosmic God-beings.
317** A ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' special is the spellscarred multiclass feature, which has all kinds of nasty BodyHorror powers. Including unhinging your jaw to take a bite out of your enemies, bleeding on your sword to make it blister with plague, and creating a rope of flesh that binds you to your target so they can't escape you.
318** ''Magazine/{{Dragon}}'' #s 296 and 300 introduced the Monster Cultist prestige classes. Give yourself over to a monstrous god, and you gain the powers of their natural worshippers ... at the cost of becoming more like them. Examples include Sphere Minion (beholders); Illithidkin (mind flayers); Snake Servant (medusas); Waker of the Beast (tarrasque); Faceless Ones (doppelgangers); Deep Thrall (kraken); Shoal Servant (kua-toas); and Tiger Mask (rakashas). Anything that involves shifting your Creature Type from Humanoid to Aberration is probably applicable.
319** Both D&D and Pathfinder have TheWormThatWalks, which is brought into being when a powerful dead spellcaster who was either very evil or died/was buried in a place corrupted by evil finds their consciousness and memories transferred to the bugs, worms and grubs feasting on their corpse; the vermin then forms a HiveMind swarm that takes the approximate shape of the caster in life (only, you know, obviously made of bugs) with all their knowledge and power, and more besides such as the ability to take the form of an actual shapeless swarm or dissappear and reappear by scattering their component bugs, and a horrifically evil disposition if they didn't have one in life already. Tellingly, their creature type changes to [[EldritchAbomination aberration]], and the method of becoming a worm that walks on purpose (as opposed to a horrible coincidence/mishap) is hinted to be even more monstrously evil than the ritual to become a {{lich}}, which is already described as jumping beyond the MoralEventHorizon.
320* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' offers sorcerers different bloodlines. One of them, the Aberrant bloodline, gives the practitioner slightly 'wiggy' anatomy (which gets progressively more so as he gets higher in level). Starts out with the ability to spit acid, ends with Aberrant Physiology, in which your character's [[HumanoidAbomination so messed up]], he's immune to critical hits.
321*** The Impossible bloodline takes this one step further, as reality slowly looses its grip on a sorcerer: from their magic affecting golems, as if they were living breathing creatures, to trivial reversal of space and gravity and, finally – a replacement of their insides with bizarre impossible stuff, like nebulae, a crown of god rays or a fractal composite of their own tiny copies – making a sorcerer completely unbothered by critical hits, sneak attacks and bleeding, as well as poison and disease.
322*** The Vivisection Alchemist's recommended Discoveries are things like tentacles, parasitic twins, Tumor Familliars, and vestigial arms. And their base skillset [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking is focused on making]] [[BeastMan furries]] from animals who piss them off.
323*** Several monster classes/types have Lovecraftian superpowers. While the abberation type monsters are the most obvious, other creatures count like liches. While liches are undead, the mechanics of their undeath are pretty damn Lovecraftian. A lich's soul is kept in a [[SoulJar phylactery]] and unless it's destroyed, their horrible rotted bodies just reconstruct and reform. Graveknights even moreso as they are the souls of evil warriors that won't rest and inhabit their armor. So even if you destroy the body inside it doesn't matter because the armor is the real vessel. So you might end up fighting a trashed empty suit of armor that keeps reconstructing itself much like a lich with its phylactery.
324* In ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'' is the Obtenebration discipline, which at a certain level allows the user to make tentacles out of shadows.
325** Don't forget what Tzimisce can do with their Vicissitude, which allows them to sculpt themselves or others into [[BlobMonster slimy pus-heaps]] or powerful [[{{mutants}} mutant monsters]], as they see fit. One sourcebook played up the Lovecraftian connections by making it a parasitic virus from the Umbra. [[CanonDisContinuity This was not well-received and eventually struck out]], but the idea remained that Vicissitude isn't so much a proper Discipline as a virus devised by the clan's antediluvian founder for some foul purpose. The Gangrel's Protean discipline also has weird shapeshifting, though usually much less spectacularly disturbing.
326** Fomori have this and TheCorruption as pretty much their entire schtick in ''TabletopGame/WerewolfTheApocalypse'': sure, you can get SuperStrength, but you're gonna look like a ''reeeally'' ugly Hulk for the rest of your life. Or that convenient [[NighInvulnerability armor]] power you just got takes the form of a thick, chitinous exoskeleton that covers your entire body. It doesn't stop there and Storytellers are often encouraged to go further down the HumanoidAbomination route. {{Justified|Trope}} by the fact that Fomori get their powers from being fused to a [[EldritchAbomination Bane]] on a physical and spiritual level, and that for each Power Point they get at creation, they must take on an equivalent Taint to balance it out.
327** Also from ''TabletopGame/WerewolfTheApocalypse'', the Black Spiral Dancer tribe of werewolves. While other werewolf tribes get gifts that allow them to talk to spirits or heal with a touch, the gifts of the Black Spiral tribe are more likely to be hideous mutations.
328** ''TabletopGame/WraithTheOblivion'' has Pandemonium, the Arcanos for the creation of classic haunting effects such as bending local time and space into pretzels or spawning various disgusting things to terrify the living.
329** Then there's Yu Huang, the emperor of the Yellow Springs, who supposedly managed to defeat a [[EldritchAbomination Malfean]] in secret combat and wrest secrets from its Corpus while it was pinned down. There are a number of stories of people stepping to the emperor and disrupting his Corpus, only for a demonic dragon-like entity to emerge and swallow the offender whole. [[spoiler: Big surprise, it's just the Malfean wearing Yu Huang as a skinsuit.]]
330* ''TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness'':
331** In ''TabletopGame/HunterTheVigil'', the Cheiron Group's "thaumatechnology" is based on implanting monster organs and body parts into a human host.
332** The reality deviant worshippers in ''Second Sight'' get a whole ''section'' of BodyHorror-themed features and rituals.
333** In first edition, [[TabletopGame/GeistTheSinEaters Sin-Eaters]] have the Caul Manifestation, allowing them to assume a whole range of horrifying forms. Most notable are the Industrial Caul (which allows them to implant objects in their body) and the Phantasmal Caul (which lets them transform into a living nightmare that can induce paralytic fear or outright madness). In second edition, they have several Haunts with particularly Lovecraftian effects, including the Boneyard, when they want to do a haunted house; the Caul, merging with their geist to grant them abilities like transforming into uncanny and disturbing forms, spawning a homunculus from their body, or swallowing a corpse or ghost whole to mimic their form and abilities; and the Rage, when they want to make someone suffer, physically or psychologically.
334** And then there's the Centimani of ''TabletopGame/PrometheanTheCreated'', Prometheans who turn their back on [[ToBecomeHuman the Great Work]] and embrace [[TheDarkSide Flux]]. They can buy all sorts of twisted mutations, from tentacles to extra organs to the ability to turn into a puddle of sentient liquid.
335*** Similarly, first edition's Zeky get a ''whole'' bunch of unwholesome Transmutations based around atomic energy and its side effects. Three words: [[PunctuatedForEmphasis Mind. Control. Tumor.]]
336** In ''TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem'', a few of the [[PrestigeClass bloodlines]] have these kind of abilities. Take [[CircusOfFear the Carnival]], whose special Discipline ranges from contortion tricks to merging with another vampire to form a hybrid. Or the [[ImAHumanitarian Noctuku]], who alter their flesh so they can absorb more blood and better digest vampiric flesh. Or the Norvegi, who lack fangs but make up for it by producing bony spines that allow them to feed through their fingers. Or...
337** In ''TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening'', Mages have Branding [[MagicMisfire Paradox]], where the [[CosmicHorrorStory Abyss]] warps their body in various ways, which can include temporarily granting them strange mutations of their bodies (such as horns, claws, tails, and, of course, tentacles). There is also a [[BlackMagic Left]]-[[OmnicidalManiac Handed]] [[PrestigeClass Legacy]] called "[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast the Legion]]", whose whole shtick is that they give up parts of their body to the Abyss, and receive mutated transplants in return.
338** The fourth clause of the Contract of Mirrors allows [[TabletopGame/ChangelingTheLost changelings]] to turn a limb into a weapon, their skin into bark, etc., in first edition.
339** [[TabletopGame/MummyTheCurse Mummies]] are all over this, able to call up eldritch abominations or turn themselves into avatars for them.
340** [[TabletopGame/DemonTheDescent Demons]] are basically eldritch abominations in human form, and when they need to, they can reassume their true forms.
341** A [[TabletopGame/BeastThePrimordial Beast's]] soul has been replaced with a living nightmare that takes the form of a mythic monster and its lair. As such, they have innate abilities that draw on the capabilities of the monster and its lair, and can call up fears from the collective human soul to leave their victims quivering wrecks. One particularly Lovecraftian power is Infestation, which allows a Beast with a suitable nightmare-soul to transform their body into a swarm of insects.
342** It's noted that a Beast's Atavisms (powers which essentially allow its human form to take on properties of its Soul for a moment) qualify for this in one of two different ways, depending on who's watching. Creatures with supernatural perception can see the Beast's human form sprout claws long enough to tear through metal, or turn into a dragon long enough to breath fire. Mortals, on the other hand, see an apparently ordinary man breathing fire or tearing through metal with his bare hands.
343** In ''TabletopGame/PrincessTheHopeful'', a lot of [[TheHeartless Darkened]] tend to develop abilities like this, such as growing a gigantic mouth filled with teeth, turning their arms into claws or spitting acid. Being warped by [[TheCorruption the All-Consuming Darkness]] will do that to your body.
344** ''TabletopGame/LeviathanTheTempest'' lets you play as an EldritchAbomination. This should speak for itself.
345* In the Glorantha setting of ''TabletopGame/RuneQuest'', Chaos Features (powers granted by exposure to "primal Chaos") often have a physical side effect like this--But some folks get Chaos Flaws instead, all side effect and no power.
346* In ''TabletopGame/CthulhuTech'', Tagers and their Nyarlathotep-worshipping counterparts, the Dhohanoids, manifest a Manga/{{Guyver}}-style ability to transform into [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations.]]
347* Nightbane. A Palladium horror dark fantasy, where your BlessedWithSuck powers are to transform into an inhuman, grotesque, powerful form.
348* ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'' has a fair number of horrors with these abilities. Chimera Knacks for Lunars, some of the freakier Yozi charms for Infernals, the Abyssals and their freaky undeath powers...and let's not even get into a discussion of the Wyld. (With the Broken-Winged Crane expansion, Infernals can even literally turn into a [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos shoggoth]].)
349** Voidtech Charms for the Alchemicals generally appear as a techno-Lovecraftian device made of equal parts rust, meat and scientific blasphemy.
350** 3e Infernals are slated to get still more weird things; one example [[SuperMode Devil-Body]] sees the Infernal grow [[AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever dozens of feet tall]], with their skin turning violet, disembodied limbs manifesting out of nowhere to orbit around them, and their face tearing away to reveal a black void of dying stars.
351* You can learn the Celtic "warp-spasm" in ''TabletopGame/{{Scion}}''. The picture that accompanies it in first edition shows someone in the middle stages of transformation, and it isn't pretty (he's effectively turning into a mutant crow).
352** Second edition's Masks of the Mythos sourcebook, which provides rules for playing as a child of Cthulhu or one of the other Great Old Ones, is naturally filled with them.
353* One of the many consequences of taking high levels of Taint/Transcendence in Creator/WhiteWolf's ''TabletopGame/{{Aberrant}}''. Low-level aberrations might include glowing eyes or bulging muscles, while the higher levels of aberration include becoming too hideous to view or having an entire vestigial body. By the time of ''TabletopGame/{{Trinity}}'', set in Aberrant's future, as far as most people are concerned, all Aberrants are mutated, twisted freaks... though as the game goes on, it's revealed there are a good number who still look pretty human.
354* In general, PointBuildSystem games such as TabletopGame/{{Champions}} or TabletopGame/{{GURPS}} give a player the option of building a character with a repulsive appearance in order to gain points that can be applied to extra powers.
355* ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'' lists the Battle Jaw, Tentacle Transplant and Ripsnake as potential body modifications, which can come as quite a shock to the unsuspecting.
356** ''GURPS Myth/CelticMythology'' also includes the above mentioned warp-spasm. All Fomorians [[HalfHumanHybrid and their descendants]] also receive a RedRightHand that gives them the ability to horrify opponents.
357* Twisted Adepts from ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'' have embraced the dark side to gain more points to spend on powers. The effect also causes physical mutations and the game suggests that these mutations should represent the powers gained, with an example being supernatural toughness coinciding with growing scales.
358* ''TabletopGame/{{Chaotic}}'''s Stelgar: though originally a very spiny starfish [[http://chaotic.wikia.com/wiki/File:Stelgar01.png and slightly creepy]], his new look [[http://chaotic.wikia.com/wiki/File:Stelgar.png.png makes his old look seem cute and snuggly]]
359* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' sometimes does this with cards like [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=3952 Unstable Mutation]] and some of the versions of [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=205237 Unholy Strength]] feature frightful asymmetry. Other cards, like [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=247150 Fallen Angel]], involve sacrificing creatures to pump them up.
360** Or there's the direct route, via [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=193492 Eldrazi Conscription]].
361** The set ''Eldritch Moon'' features many examples of BodyHorror related superpowers, [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=414304 including two]] [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=414319 corrupted angels]] being forced to [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=414305 meld together into an abomination.]]
362* ''TabletopGame/{{Pandemonio}}'''s Sacraments, in large part, which let you do things like summon tentacled horrors and giant worms; cause a vicious, gigantic toothy grub to manifest by tearing itself partway out of your stomach; or rip off your skin like a tear-away dress to reveal a demonic form underneath. Blasphemies are nicer in this regard, but still let you do things like fuse people into a single grotesque entity, turn your hands into crab claws, or literally turn your guts into snakes and eels... and it's probably better ''not'' to describe what exorcisms tend to entail, though the fact that they're solely the purview of a class of magic known as "Blasphemies" is probably a hint they're not pleasant.
363* The [[BlessedWithSuck "super powers"]] in ''TabletopGame/DontRestYourHead'' allow you to grotesquely violate the laws of physics, causality, or basic logic, in ways ranging from surreal to nauseatingly visceral. Push them too far, though, and each one has its own unique FateWorseThanDeath in store.
364[[/folder]]
365
366[[folder:Video Games]]
367* Similarly to ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' and ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'', ''VideoGame/AncientDomainsOfMystery'' features various "corruptions" that you eventually gain after enough exposure to the forces of Chaos (from traps and Chaos beings, but also simply being deep in a dungeon). These most commonly take the form of Lovecraftian superpowers - although as "superpowers", they're mostly examples of BlessedWithSuck. Also similarly to the ''Warhammer'' games, taking enough corruption will turn you into a "writhing mass of primal Chaos".
368* ''Videogame/BaldursGate''. In Shadows of Amn, the main character eventually gains the power to transform into the Slayer, a giant demonic creature with huge claws that's nearly unstoppable. Unfortunately, there are [[BlessedWithSuck side effects]].
369* In the first ''VideoGame/BatenKaitos'' game, [[spoiler:Geldoblame]] is transformed into a hideous deformed monstrosity after [[spoiler:infusing himself with the power of Malpercio]]. JigglePhysics are involved, which is as [[{{Squick}} unpleasant]] as it sounds.
370* ''VideoGame/{{BioShock}}'': Most of the plasmids, which are injected in order to [[LegoGenetics rapidly modify your genetic structure]], combine this with ElementalPowers.
371** [[VideoGame/BioShock1 The first game]]'s "Insect Swarm" plasmid causes a small hive-like growth to form on your palm, which allows you to ''[[BeeBeeGun throw live swarms of hornets]] at your foes''.
372** All of the Vigors in ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'' have shades of this, most notably Murder of Crows, which works similarly to Insect Swarm above and causes Booker's hands to sprout dark feathers and talons, and Undertow, a MindOverMatter-themed Vigor that causes Booker's forearms to develop cephalopod-like suckers.
373* ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'' has a few enemies that are the result of this. [[DownloadableContent The Old Hunters]] introduced the means for the player to do it as well, using the Milkweed Rune (an item gained from the mind of a woman who experimented on herself until her head was so bloated with fluid that it was all that was left from her) combined with the [[CombatTentacles Kos Parasite]] (a creature from the carcass of an EldritchAbomination. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TR9uxl90F0g The end result looks like this]]. One of the weirder things about it is how the dodge animation is changed to make it look as though the Hunter is being [[PeoplePuppets dragged around by their tentacles]].
374* A minor example in ''VideoGame/BorderlandsThePreSequel'': [[spoiler:the Eye of Helios, a massive laser weapon in Hyperion's space station, is actually the eye of the Destroyer, the EldritchAbomination FinalBoss of [[VideoGame/Borderlands1 the first game]]]].
375* ''VideoGame/Borderlands2'''s Krieg is a raging berserker whose entire powerset revolves around these. He can light himself on fire for significant power-ups, goes into a frenzy as he spills his enemies' blood, and grows more powerful from his own pain. When backed into a corner he can transform into a monstrous SuperMode that allows him to go on a near-unstoppable rampage. Even his basic playstyle, which revolves around esposing yourself to as much danger as possible and getting right up in the enemy's face, is completely unlike any other charater. He's easily the most bizarre PC in the series.
376* The Spines and Thorns powersets from ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes[=/=]VideoGame/CityOfVillains''.
377* From the same developer as ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'' comes ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'' with its Pus of Man enemies - creatures that appear as typical undead shamblers but then metamorphose into hideous, oily-black masses.
378* ''VideoGame/DarkestDungeon'':
379** The cultists, more specifically those residing in the titular location, gain boons as terribly effective as they are nasty to see. Some are so distorted that they lose their Human typing, and become Eldritch-Beast.
380---> '''The Ancestor''': The creature's blessings are as repulsive as they are robust.
381** On the player's side, the Occultist has access to summonable CombatTentacles, as well as a variety of curses and debuffs. It's heavily implied these powers come from a DealWithTheDevil.
382** The Abomination has an eldritch creature bound within him, allowing him to half-transform to spew corrosive bile, and also turn into a skinless werewolf creature to maul your enemies. This is understandably stressful for everyone nearby.
383* The hero of {{F|irstPersonShooter}}PS ''VideoGame/TheDarkness'', Jackie Estacado, sprouts a pair of snapping serpentine demon-heads from his shoulders, as well as producing dark tentacles to impale foes and destroy walls as needed.
384* ''Franchise/DeadSpace'': Unitologists believe that the power of the Marker will allow them to become a new, immortal form of life... [[GoneHorriblyRight and they're not wrong]]. It just so happens that this "immortality" involves losing your mind and having your body transmuted into a specifically-formed zombie with no purpose than to harvest biological matter to propagate your species.
385* Being what amounts to a [[CuteMonsterGirl cute little girl with an eldritch tentacled horror attached to her back]], ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea 4| A Promise Unforgotten}}'''s Desco naturally comes with quite a few of these.
386* ''VideoGame/{{Dishonored}}'': The Outsider is "entirely ambiguous." His gifts reflect this description. Summoning flesh-eating rats to dispose of bodies and attack enemies, using tendrils of darkness as rope and hook, becoming a spindly walking shadow that can slice people's limbs off, turning the corpses of those you kill into ash, possessing other people's bodies...
387* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'':
388** In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'', the BigBad is Dagoth Ur, a PhysicalGod DeityOfHumanOrigin who gained his power by tapping into the [[CosmicKeystone Heart]] of a [[GodIsDead "dead" god]]. Aside from his CompleteImmortality [[spoiler:(at least until his connection to the Heart is severed)]], he also gains the power to create and spread the [[ViralTransformation Corprus]] [[MysticalPlague Disease]], a form of TheCorruption which turns sufferers into Dagoth's mindless, BodyHorror, HumanoidAbomination, PlagueZombie minions.
389** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'':
390*** Peryite, the [[OurGodsAreDifferent Daedric Prince]] of [[{{Plaguemaster}} Pestilence]] and Tasks, offers a quest to kill the leader of a group of his rogue followers who have been "[[BlessedWithSuck blessed]]" with a particular MysticalPlague. One of the effects of the plague gives the suffers a weaponized version of ''projectile vomiting''. Before going rogue, Peryite intended to have these followers spread the plague to the entire world.
391*** In the ''Dragonborn'' DLC, the [[PlayerCharacter Dragonborn]] has to defeat EvilCounterpart BigBad Miraak, who also happens to be the champion of Hermaeus Mora, the Daedric Prince of [[TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow Knowledge]] and the only Daedric Prince who doesn't bother using AFormYouAreComfortableWith (preferring to appear as a true EldritchAbomination). After defeating Miraak, [[spoiler:Mora proclaims the Dragonborn to be [[YouKillItYouBoughtIt his new champion]]]]. He grants a set of tentacle-tastic armor, a staff and sword which wriggle and drip slime, and the unholy ability to summon pools of necrotic darkness, tentacles, and floating eyes.
392* ''[[VideoGame/ExtrapowerGiantFist EXTRAPOWER Giant Fist]]'': The zealots in the above-ground floors of Zett's mansion have such augmentations as: the ability to whip a large prehensile tongue out of their mouths, or strike with a [[TitleDrop giant fist]] bigger than they are, or [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking leap about as exceptionally leggy grandpas]]. They lose out on the human parts in the tunnels below.
393* A more subtle example are the deformed, EldritchAbomination-worshipping swampfolk and tribals in the ''VideoGame/Fallout3'' DLC ''Point Lookout'', which, while they don't have tentacles or other Lovecraftian appendages, do have [[MadeOfIron superhuman durability]] and [[AWizardDidIt magical]] [[ArmorPiercingAttack armor-ignoring weapons]].
394* The Foreigner Servants from ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'' are mostly historical figures [[TouchedByVorlons who made contact with]] [[EldritchAbomination beings lurking in a higher realm]] who inspired Creator/HPLovecraft's various works. Foreigners have a relatively normal stage with the power granted to them by the Outer Gods restrained and a more eldritch stage with a darker palette and far more disturbing attacks.
395** [[spoiler:Abigail Williams]] at first appears to be a normal twelve-year-old girl but it's revealed that [[spoiler:she was modified into becoming the host of Yog-Sothoth and became its Silver Key, with a literal keyhole growing on her forehead. This transforms her from a little girl to someone with the power to bring in Yog-Sothoth's tentacles into our world as she pleases, summon butterflies out of nowhere, and tap into an unearthly light for attacks. In the climax of the story she debuted, her power goes out of control, creating a dimensional breach into the universe for the Outer Gods to come through and only the protagonists beating the god inside her back into dormancy allows her to reassert control over herself. She also should've died after the protagonists resolved the crisis but her newfound temporal and spatial powers from tapping into Yog-Sothoth allow her to simply ignore that and carry on.]]
396** Katsuhika Hokusai made contact with Cthulhu and the artwork he and Oei reproduce [[AlienGeometries contains the]] [[BrownNote madness of Cthulhu]], creating a disorienting dissonance (their version of Mount Fuji in this form erupts from the sky and the Great Wave off Kanagawa[[note]]Which is also implied to actually be depicting the waters over Ry'leh[[/note]] is blood-red).
397** Yang Guifei has a connection to a being that seems to be a combination of Cthuga and Formalhaut and is implied to have been twisted into a catalyst for said being due to her devotion to her Emperor.
398** Subverted with certain ones such as Mysterious Heroine XX, whose status as a Foreigner is due to her being an alien from another dimension, and [[Literature/FateRequiem Voyager]], who's the AnthropomorphicPersonification of the Voyager I satellite.
399* ''Videogame/FinalFantasyXI'' has this in Blue Mages and the backstory's precursor experiments toward creating the Blue Mage. The original experiments included grafting monstrous appendages and material to people, which gave them power but either drove them insane, or transformed them into flan (spell-casting blobs) or soulflayers (read: D&D's mindflayers with the serial numbers barely filed off). When they attempted to just graft a portion of a monster's magic and spirit to the experiments' subjects, they created the first viable blue mages, but even then, a Blue Mage gains their power from assimilating their opponents, and if pushed too far, carries the risk of becoming a soulflayer as well. Which invites the thought: just imagine how many players have unlocked Blue Mage on any given server...? In fact, their powers are so risky and their teammates so paranoid about that risk that it's said no blue mage has ever died of natural causes.
400* Megaera in ''VideoGame/GodOfWarAscension'' has four SpiderLimbs and can secrete [[PuppeteerParasite parasites]] from her chest that burrow underneath the skin of any living creatures. Once infected, these beings will grow into more [[BodyHorror twisted and horrific forms]] outside of anything seen in Greek myth and more like a sci-fi horror alien.
401* ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'': Zato-1 is an assassin who made a pact with a Forbidden Beast, a Shoggoth-like LivingShadow named Eddie. Eddie gives Zato a [[ComboPlatterPowers combo platter of fighting abilities]]: [[AdaptiveArmor protective shadow skin on command]], an AttackReflector named ''Drunkard Shade'', being able to conceal himself within his own shadow to disappear from view and instantaneously move around between shadows, limited flight, implied BlindfoldedVision, shaping shadow constructs into long solid blades and other weapons to attack at a distance, and conjuring shark-like shadow entities that fight independently of him. However making the pact with Eddie cost Zato greatly -- he had to [[EyeScream gouge out his own eyes]] and render himself blind to first bind Eddie to his will, and Eddie is continuing to ravage Zato mind, body and soul. Eddie eventually corrupts Zato and turns the man into a horrifying and ruthless [[EvilLaugh cackling]] maniac, and then when he is killed at the hands of Millia Rage at the end of ''X'', [[DemonicPossession Eddie possesses his body and uses it as a puppet to continue attacking the living]].
402* The Flood in ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'', once they've infected an organic body, have the ability to morph it into various shapes to aid in combat, most commonly sprouting CombatTentacles and spikes. At a certain point they start developing Pure Forms: Flood creatures built out of a mishmash of organic material which can shift forms fairly drastically to fit into a variety of situations, from aptly named [[TheJuggernaut Tank Forms]], to the intermediary [[LightningBruiser Stalker Forms]], to the [[SpikeShooter Ranged Form]].
403* The ''Whispers of the Old Gods'' expansion in ''VideoGame/HearthstoneHeroesOfWarcraft'' added a lot of new cards that represent pre-existing cards - even Legendaries - imbued with the Old God's power, tentacles and all. Effects range from [[https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Mukla,_Tyrant_of_the_Vale King Mukla]] giving ''you'' Bananas instead of to the opponent, or the [[https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Twisted_Worgen Twisted Worgan]]'s single extra point of Attack.
404* Being a direct and very obvious ShoutOut to Tetsuo, K9999 from ''Franchise/TheKingOfFighters'' has this power, particularly as part of his [[LimitBreak Desperation Attack]] (which, yes, turns his hand into a horrifying giant tentacle of flesh). [[spoiler: This is no longer the case however as of ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersXV'', where he returns as "Krohnen", having swapped out his tentacle attack for a massive mechanical drill instead]].
405* In ''VideoGame/Kirby64TheCrystalShards'', those possessed by Dark Matter gain some disturbing abilities. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtniImmEHR4 King Dedede]] in particular becomes able to sprout either a giant eye (to shoot shadow balls from) or a giant maw with razor-sharp teeth from his stomach. Y'know, for kids.
406* Some lucky Infected in ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'' gain considerable powers, at the expense of their... human appearance. May not apply because you can't "choose" to become a special infected, but the theory is there anyway.
407* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'' has The Pain, who is technically covered in hornets. He attacks by spitting hornets that burrow into Snake's flesh unless removed.
408* The Wyrm Master from ''[[VideoGame/NexusWar Nexus Clash]]'' is a demon that has witnessed the thoughts of Tholaghru, a festering pain-ridden botched deity-golem of pure sensation that doesn't distinguish between good and bad sensations at any level. The Wyrm Master's BodyHorror summoning powers are its attempts to share these revelations with you.
409* ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}'' has the main character capable of significantly altering his own body, allowing him to grow everything from claws to CombatTentacles to better destroy absolutely everything around him... or he can ''eat someone'' to steal their appearance and blend into a crowd. Combine this with SuperStrength, SuperSpeed, and NighInvulnerability, and you've got one very scary VillainProtagonist on your hands.
410* ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'':
411** The Las Plagas parasites usually spawn such mutations in those they infect. Even villains who don't go full-on OneWingedAngel tend to have giant claws (Krauser) and CombatTentacles (Saddler before fully transforming).
412** The T Virus usually just creates zombies, but properly treated, victims can be turned into boss monsters such as the Tyrant and the Nemesis. The point of the virus was to mass-produce these guys--the zombies and most everything else are the result of accidents.
413** The G Virus gives you a healing factor, claws and CombatTentacles at the cost of your higher brain functions. You also end up degrading into a giant, cancerous mass over time. Lovely.
414** As Albert Wesker, who himself gained quite a few of these powers, revealed, this was the ultimate intention of the Uroburos plague; to transform select humans into superpowered monsters and kill all others.
415** Alexia in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilCodeVeronica'' has similar superpowers as a result of the Veronica-T virus.
416** The specialized variant of the C-Virus can give one unique powers for each individual, with varying results though always having a downside in compensation.
417* In ''VideoGame/ScottPilgrimVsTheWorldTheGame'', Todd has [[http://paulrobertson.mechafetus.com/toddingram_freakout_a.gif this attack]]. It's a ShoutOut to ''Manga/{{Akira}}''. [[BodyHorror Is there any wonder?]]
418* Yuri and other Harmonixers (except Shania) in ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts'' fuse with various demons, in ways that cause their bodies visible pain and take a toll on their minds. The villains tend to be even more so.
419* Saki of ''VideoGame/SinAndPunishment'', as a result of absorbing [[MysteriousWaif Achi's]] blood ([[spoiler:she turns out to be an EldritchAbomination, incidentally]]), gains the ability to transform into a really scary-looking {{Kaiju}} that can teleport, shoot giant lasers out of its claws, and grow to such immense size that it is fully capable of battling ''entire planets''. As long as he's paired with Airan, he can control it. [[SuperpoweredEvilSide If not...]] [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt it's not pretty.]] After it activates, even in his human form, he has disturbing looking patches of alien flesh on his body.
420* ''VideoGame/{{Skullgirls}}'':
421** Ms. Fortune. Her power comes from her undying body and nigh-infinite HealingFactor, allowing for such things as using HighPressureBlood for propulsion and ensnaring her opponents in her own muscle fibers.
422** Painwheel. Her powers come from severe and [[PlayingWithSyringes unwanted]] bioaugmentation that required [[http://wiki.shoryuken.com/images/d/d5/SG_Painwheel_portrait.jpg major disfigurement]]. Many of her attacks involve spikes tearing through her skin, and/or severe, painful contortions.
423** Eliza. She replaced her ''entire skeletal system'' with a power-granting parasite, and the rest of her "body", save for her brain and possibly some other organs, is just [[ThePowerOfBlood blood shapeshifted into a human-looking form]]. She's [[ShapeshifterWeapon constantly shapeshifting to attack]], with grotesque results.
424** Double, sort of. She is an EldritchAbomination. In battle, she doesn't use much of this: she's a {{Voluntary Shapeshift|ing}}er with the ability to assume the form of any of the other fighters and use their powers in battle. [[CutscenePowerToTheMax She makes up for it in cutscenes]].
425* The ''Videogame/SoulSeries'' has a couple of examples. The various forms of Nightmare have a [[RedRightHand horribly disfigured and mutated arm]], and Abyss, the ultimate form of Zasalamel...[[BodyHorror yeah.]]
426* The Terror Mask in ''VideoGame/{{Splatterhouse}}'' gives its wearer this along with a HealingFactor in addition to making them a hulking giant in the remake. Rick is able to protrude bones from his body and sharpen them into blades or open his chest to siphon blood from his enemies.
427* In ''VideoGame/SpiderManWebOfShadows'', Spider-Man's old "Black Suit" symbiote has the potential to turn into this if you buy all its upgrades. Waves of writhing, black tentacles covering half a city block is just the beginning...
428* ''VideoGame/{{Sundered}}'': If Eshe uses the Elder Shards, the Shining Trapezohedron will corrupt her abilities into nightmarish versions of her regular powers -- like sprouting bat-like wings to fly or arachnoid legs to climb.
429* ''VideoGame/TalesOfMajEyal'' has squicky powers for a number of classes. The Rot skill tree for Reavers revolves around infesting yourself with carrion worms. Oozemancers are druid-like defenders of nature, but the aspect of nature they emulate is oozes, slime molds, and fungi, giving them talents like Mitosis and Indiscernible Anatomy. The classes from the ''Forbidden Cults'' DLC are naturally chock-full of Lovecraftian powers, with the Writhing One focusing on summoning horror-type monsters and mutating themself into one, while the Cultist of Entropy uses spells that crack open reality and harrow the minds of their enemies.
430* ''VideoGame/ThemsFightinHerds'' has the dark magic-using Oleander and the demon FHTNG. Summoning tentacles, forbidden knowledge, literal orbs of dark power, and shapeshifting is all part of the duo’s arsenal.
431* ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'' features Nidus who looks like a flayed humanoid whose power grows from consuming enemies and transforms to become even less human in appearance as a visual indicator of his current strength level.
432[[/folder]]
433
434[[folder:Visual Novels]]
435* Nero Chaos in the original ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'' is a magus whose entire body consists of the loosely drafted together biomass of 666 wild animals, beasts and legendary monsters that he can either send out in their true form or, more in tune with this trope, use partially, such as generating black tentacles, fangs, claws and such out of his flesh.
436* Tiberius in ''VisualNovel/{{Demonbane}}'' is a walking, immortal, perpetually rotting corpse. No matter how damaged he becomes, he can regenerate as long as his grimoire is intact (which he hides inside his soul, making it hard to get at). His methods of close combat involve using his intestines as tentacles or shooting his ribs like javelins.
437* In the Bad End of ''VisualNovel/SpiritHunterNG'', [[spoiler:a mysterious voice transforms Akira into something non-human to free him from the guilt of his companions' deaths. When he's next seen, he has a long tentacle for an arm and glowing red eyes]].
438[[/folder]]
439
440[[folder:Webcomics]]
441* Black Mage of ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'' is strongly implied to be a walking BodyHorror (besides repeated jokes that he is short, fat, and doesn't bathe adequately, a glimpse at his unshrouded face is apparently enough to drive men to madness), and his Hadoken attack is powered by love. Which is to say, it sucks love out of the world and turns it into an energy beam of pure destruction. Black Mage is the only character shown to be able to use this attack (possibly due to his nature as the most evil thing in the world), and claims that the divorce rate doubles every time he uses it.
442* The Cubi in ''Webcomic/DanAndMabsFurryAdventures'' can reshape their back wings into CombatTentacles with razor-sharp ends that can cut rock.
443* ''Webcomic/DebuggingDestiny'' zig-zags this somewhat. On the one hand, everyone has unique magical abilities that are difficult to discover or activate, and that are pure BodyHorror when they do activate. Fortunately, the art style obscures the worst of this. On the other hand, everyone has them, and they are part of the internal logic of the story.
444* [[spoiler:Gerda]] Gives herself these in ''Webcomic/DemonsMirror'' by splicing parts of demons to herself by making wounds for them to attach to, this is normal for demon parts as even detached pieces still have a will to live but the sheer extent and effectiveness that she manages to do so even slightly surprises the Master.
445* The Infernomancer from ''Webcomic/DominicDeegan'' fits this trope, best seen [[https://web.archive.org/web/20101215121843/http://dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2008-11-09 here]] and [[https://web.archive.org/web/20081113143354/http://www.dominic-deegan.com:80/view.php?date=2008-11-10 here.]]
446* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', Pandora can partially transform into [[http://egscomics.com/comic/2009-11-11 a monstrous form]] similar in appearance to the page image that includes what Dan describes as "chaotic limbs of madness" with claws everywhere. She can then [[http://egscomics.com/comic/2009-11-13 use those limbs]] as CombatTentacles.
447* Nergal demons in ''Webcomic/GrimTalesFromDownBelow'' have CombatTentacles that can form [[http://grim.snafu-comics.com/index.php?comic_id=41 just]] [[http://grim.snafu-comics.com/index.php?comic_id=44 about]][[http://grim.snafu-comics.com/index.php?comic_id=46 anything!]] And also [[http://grim.snafu-comics.com/index.php?comic_id=85 a gun]].
448* Vorte from ''Webcomic/HitmenForDestiny'' can puke up a sticky liquid and use "deadly headspikes". Also, at some point, [[spoiler:Bianca grows a tentacle on her back]].
449* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'':
450** Rose Lalonde, after spending most of the early Acts communing with the [[EldritchAbomination Noble Circle of Horrorterrors]], [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=005543 goes grimdark]] and gains a massive black aura that manifests as thorned tentacles.
451** After Rose's prototyping takes hold, all the game's enemies (including [[spoiler:the Royalty of Derse]]) gain prehensile chest-tentacles. This is also a natural consequence of [[spoiler:the prototyping of Glyb'golyb in the trolls' Session]].
452%%* Harp's Bane and [[spoiler:Gravehouse]] in ''Webcomic/NecessaryMonsters'' both have rather [[http://www.necessarymonsters.com/2009-07-16-106 unsettling transformations]].
453* In ''Webcomic/TheNonAdventuresOfWonderella'', Wonderella, unlike her DCU counterpart, has "[[http://nonadventures.com/2006/11/04/bound-for-vengeance/ like a spillion powers when tied up.]]"
454* ''Webcomic/{{Redd}}'' has [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Esmerelda Bizarre]], who pretty much has the works: Worships an EldritchAbomination called the Flesh God, has [[AndIMustScream thousands of tiny screaming faces]] of long-dead HumanResources sacrificed to him long ago [[https://web.archive.org/web/20141217020911/http://www.bumrushcomics.com/?comic=chapter55 on her arms,]] the ability to summon CombatTentacles, [[EyesDoNotBelongThere Eyes That Do Not Belong There]], MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily provided by TooManyMouths, [[BackFromTheDead raising the dead,]] yadda yadda yadda... [[DarkIsNotEvil but she's a]] [[PerkyGoth pretty nice girl!]] She's even a bit of CombatMedic at IBISEC.
455* Alcolla in ''Webcomic/{{Reliquary}}'' becomes an angel, [[OurAngelsAreDifferent but not the attractive kind]]: [[http://reliquary.comicgenesis.com/d/20090629.html She looks more like an undead shadow creature]].
456* The Cure from ''Webcomic/RubyQuest'' causes this. It's a filmy red substance that, when given to a person, acts as a panacea, up to the point of curing conditions (like blindness) present from birth and making it unnecessary for the recipient to eat or drink. [[spoiler:It can even resurrect people (though it gives them amnesia)]]. However, it also serves as TheCorruption, and its use by the Metal Glen caused an outbreak of violence. It also mutates people whenever they are wounded, and over time it twists them into creatures mutated so horribly /tg/ called them zombies. The mutations tend to give the afflicted special powers. [[spoiler:Ruby gets a ThirdEye with some kind of True Sight, Tom has two extra arms on his abdomen, Filbert has a giant mutated arm and teeth harder than iron, Tom Nook can create fleshy growths, and Jay can project a shadow of himself anywhere in the facility.]]
457* Severian from ''Webcomic/{{Runewriters}}'' can turn himself into an aberrant, which is a Lovecraftian-esc monster with strong magical abilities. The specific type he turns into has tentacles and exposed bones, including a skinless face.
458* ''Webcomic/{{Shadowgirls}}'' has ''literal'' Lovecraftian powers like "turn into living shadow" or "become a snake-monster made of light".
459[[/folder]]
460
461[[folder:Web Original]]
462* Pretty much ''everything'' in ''Website/{{Mortasheen}}'' that has a power of any sort.
463* Aquaria Innsmouth in ''Roleplay/FreedomCityPlayByPost'' is a Deep One herself, but since it's a LighterAndSofter superhero universe, she's mostly just an imposing fish-frog monster rather than a tentacled monster herself.
464* [[LovecraftLite Squid Kid]] in the ''Literature/MetroCityChronicles'' can make indestructible tentacles sprout out of her back at will. When she leaves them out for too long, she starts turning all amorphous and inky-looking.
465* ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'': A lot of Whateleyites have such powers, due to the Mythos nature of the universe, not to mention plain(!) old mutations.
466** Carmilla is literally a HumanoidAbomination: one of her grandparents is Shub-Niggurath, and on her mother's side, she's directly related to Cthulhu and the Deep Ones. And you thought ''your'' family was freaky. She's got the CombatTentacles and weird shapeshifting down. In one story, she splits her face open to reveal what it looks like inside, and scares a superhero so bad he wets himself.
467** Tennyo's is subtle, but she's no longer remotely human due to channeling the spirit of an ancient construct designed to destroy (or ''eat'') Great Old Ones, has (occasionally, when she's mad) anti-matter for blood, and even when her powers are negated, can inspire pants-crapping terror merely by making eye contact. Or Fey, who is the reincarnation of a GOO-level elven sorceress, and is supernaturally, mind-controllingly pretty, and can throw around spells that other mages can't even learn.
468** More mundanely, Tool (now Demona), who used to have a body in constant flux, which occasionally reacted to his impulses by sprouting erections ''all over!''
469** Or any mage who decides to play around with GOO powers. Or any number of GSD sufferers, who have all manner of horribly inhuman transformations to contend with, up to and including AndIMustScream levels, like Puppet, whose blood is so horribly toxic it ''killed her'', and she now lives by occasionally malfunctioning mad science. Or... well, most of the Thornies, actually. Or the Foob, who got Mythosed fighting off something we've yet to find out about, and turned into, essentially, a mini-Cthulhu, which dramatically enhanced his psychic powers, rendering him basically unable to tune out the mind-numbing horror people experience when they see his physical form. Whateley's pretty screwed up in places.
470* ''Literature/{{Worm}}'':
471** Night (of the villain duo Night And Fog) turns into... ''something'' incomprehensible, fast and super strong as long as nobody can see her.
472** The effect Rachel has on her dogs counts as this as well.
473** Echidna definitely counts. She absorbs any dead tissue she encounters into her body, which has accumulated over years into a massive amalgamation of jumbled body parts below her waist. When she comes into contact with something that's still alive [[spoiler:[[EvilTwin she can create copies of it]] that are always distinctly ''wrong'' in some way, and homicidally insane to boot. And if she copies a parahuman, the clone will have their powers or a similar variation on them]].
474* Throw a rock at the ''Website/SCPFoundation'' and you'll probably hit something of this nature.
475** For a specific example, [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-040 SCP-040]]. A little girl who can [[LegoGenetics manipulate organic matter]] which allows her to transform animals into hideous mutants that [[PetMonstrosity behave as her pets]]. She's allowed to keep three of them.
476** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1119 SCP-1119]], a middle-aged man who [[TheAssimilator absorbs human tissue into his body giving him added mass and organs]]. [[CursedWithAwesome He doesn't like it]]. ''[[TheWoobie At all]]''.
477** [[http://www.scpwiki.com/sarkicism-hub Sarkicists]] will often ''voluntarily'' give themselves these sort of powers.
478* In ''WebAnimation/IfTheEmperorHadATextToSpeechDevice'', Lucius has additional tentacles. Spoofed in that he uses them to [[MundaneUtility pick up the phone]] while holding a gun in both hands.
479* From ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'':
480** After [[spoiler:losing her arm to Ruby's Silver Eyes]], [[spoiler:Cinder]] had it replaced with a Shadow Hand, a Grimm appendage resembling a black, skeletal arm that can stretch to physically impossible lengths, impale people with its claws, regenerate and [[spoiler:steal Maiden powers]]. However, it is incredibly disturbing, since its regeneration looks nowhere near natural and is excruciatingly painful, it's soulless and thus can't be protected by aura, is steadily consuming more and more of [[spoiler:Cinder]]'s body, and appears to have its ''own consciousness''.
481** Salem is able to use Grimm-like abilities to augment her magical abilities. She can stretch her arms, summon Grimm hands from portals to restrain others, and fire webs of black liquid to drag Yang towards her. When she moves at inhuman speeds, it's not by moving her body; she leans at a strange angle before zooming across the ground on a plume of black smoke. Her regeneration also seems to have become linked to this, as injuries reveal her body contains a mass of black ooze that reforms her body when regenerating.
482[[/folder]]
483
484[[folder:Western Animation]]
485* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' give us bloodbending, a sub-type of waterbending which can turn victims into PeoplePuppets [[spoiler:or remove their bending abilities]] by bending their body fluids. Whereas most types of bending looks like standard martial arts, bloodbending looks very much like a puppeteer at work. A body under control of a bloodbender tends to shake and make ''really'' disturbing sounds.
486* ''Franchise/Ben10'':
487** In ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'', Osmosians have the power to absorb matter and energy and use it to transform their bodies. Absorbing energy has the nastiest effects and warps [[BodyHorror body]] ''and'' [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity mind]]. This {{Retcon}} explains [[SameCharacterButDifferent the complete overhaul of Kevin's personality and powers]] between the original ''Ben 10'' and the rest of the series. When we first saw that he'd gone from an energy-absorbing, murderous, sociopath (who'd absorbed the power of the Omnitrix to become a horrific mishmash of Ben's original 10 alien forms, and eventually lost the ability to turn human again) to a gruff but decent guy who can turn into any material he touches. It made no sense, but now it turns out that he could always absorb matter and energy; doing it with energy created the Kevin of the original series and once he switched to matter he went ''back'' to being the Kevin of the later series, in mind and body. In ''Ultimate Alien'', he's forced to absorb the Omnitrix's power again, becoming a hideous mashup of Ben's ''new'' aliens instead of the original ten. (Yes, this makes him AxCrazy again, too.)
488** Come to think of it, ''Ben himself.'' He can turn into aliens; initially ten, eventually a lot, potentially ''one million, nine hundred and three'' (and counting! He can scan new ones.) Many of them have powers that ''only'' work under cartoon physics, and in terms of appearance, the spectrum runs from "UglyCute" to "Ghostfreak."[[note]]Ghostfreak's on the creepy side to begin with, with the voice, and the way the cracks on his body are actually tracks that his one eye moves along, but what you think is his body is in fact a cloak. ''Opening'' it immediately reduces the opponent - sometimes quite monstrous also! -- to absolute gibbering, whimpering terror.[[/note]] There are ''no'' RubberForeheadAliens in this bunch. And except for Ditto, the un-scary forms are the ones with the most FridgeHorror, like Alien X[[note]]Looks like a man-shaped window into outer space. Able to control time and space at will, but its multiple souls can't agree on anything and so it's hard-pressed to act. Ben risks AndIMustScream condition; what if they never get around to deciding to ''move'' or ''allow Ben to change back?'' They almost didn't the first time, and he vowed never to use Alien X again. Naturally, he's been forced to a time or two anyway.[[/note]] and Way Big[[note]]Looks like a more alienesque Series/{{Ultraman}}. Is powered by some kind of "cosmic energy," so it's not just as strong as its size implies, it's strong enough to ''destroy whole worlds in one shot.'' The race's ''native environment'' is the ''inside'' of a certain kind of NegativeSpaceWedgie. They're ''perfectly'' capable of generating some of their home environment right over your hometown. ''That would be bad.'' Not that he'd have to do that to ruin your day; one punch has the cosmic power to destroy things ''miles'' away from the point of impact. Mind you, some of this is AllThereInTheManual and hasn't been displayed in-show. However, it's not hard to imagine what could happen if the force with which he did some of the things he's done, like throwing an opponent into orbit, were simply applied to the ground beneath him. A nuke would be nothing by comparison... maybe his best tricks remain in the manual because ''destroying continents'' would be the side-effects of deploying them.[[/note]] If anyone sees Ben in action and their initial reaction isn't to scream, we almost always find out five seconds later that they're either aliens themselves or familiar with them.
489** If Ben qualifies, then so does Khyber's pet in ''WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse''. The Nemetrix on its collar grants the dog-like alien the power to transform into vicious non-sapient alien predators. Predators that happen to be the apex predators from the homeworlds of Ben's aliens. All of them are horrifying monsters.
490*** Speaking of Omniverse, this trope gets ramped up even further in Ben's case, introducing Ball Weevil and Pesky Dust, the cutest forms on the Omnitrix to date... and also Toepick, whose face, normally kept hidden behind his mask, could leave any species in the universe pants-wettingly terrified[[note]]In fact, Toepick on his own could qualify as an example of this trope[[/note]]. As for the FridgeHorror-laiden introductions, we have things like Atomix[[note]]He can manipulate nuclear energy... do we even need to explain it?[[/note]] and Gravattack[[note]]He can manipulate gravity. He can also use the laws of general relativity to his advantage, and can reduce the speed of objects (or, in some cases, creatures) to nothing even if they were moving at the speed of light before. If he's not careful, however, this can create a ''black hole''. Also, if his bright red core takes too much damage, it will enter meltdown and explode[[/note]].
491* This is pretty much standard issue for [=EVOs=] in ''WesternAnimation/GeneratorRex''. The level of freakiness ranges from "cactus guy with vine whips" to [[EldritchAbomination "If there are words to describe that thing, I don't want to know what they are"]].
492* Alpha from ''WesternAnimation/MenInBlackTheSeries'', due to grafting alien body parts onto himself. Whenever he looks like an ordinary human, you can bet he's really seconds away from sprouting tentacles - and less and less of him is human every time he reappears. Oh, and the aliens those parts came from? ''[[OrganTheft They didn't exactly volunteer to give them up]]''. Worse, in his first form, he had actually stolen a few heads. And they are ''still alive'' within Alpha's body. They actually talk.
493* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': "Hunting Palismen" reveals that Belos suffers from a curse-like affliction that warps his body into a monstrous shape made of OminousObsidianOoze, supposedly caused by wild magic and which he treats by absorbing Palisman essence. The end of said episode reveals he has a limited amount of control over this form to create horrific appendages, such as the one he used to intimidate Hunter into silence. [[spoiler:"Hollow Mind" reveals that this affliction was actually caused by past attempts to carve glyphs on his skin, which backfired and made him turn into a monstrosity. He only gets relief by absorbing palismen essence, which he refers to as "souls". These souls have over time bound together as a lean, horrific, horned entity in his mindscape that is constantly plaguing him with their outcries. Even after destroying the manifestation of their souls in his mindscape, he seems to retain the shifting power, hinting there's even more to it. The Collector even implies that his cursed form is his ''real'' form now, and that his human shape is just a facsimile that he puts on.]]
494* ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'': [[BigBad Aku]] inherited it from [[EldritchAbomination the Black Mass]]. Any kind of body horror, physical manipulation, shapeshifting, and dark magic is at his disposal as he is the [[GodOfEvil embodiment of evil]]. [[spoiler:The bit of himself he gave to the Cult of Aku, when drunk by the High Priestess, caused her to become pregnant and give birth to seven daughters, all of which carried Aku's essence inside him. Aku is able to take direct control of them and, by adding some more of his power, turn them into {{Humanoid Abomination}}s.]]
495* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'':
496** [[spoiler:Kenny, who has BornAgainImmortality thanks to his parents constantly attending Cthulhu cult meetings for the beer. Whenever he dies, his mom always gives birth to a new Kenny and puts him in bed. [[{{Snapback}} And no one else remembers that he had died.]]]]
497--->[[spoiler:'''Kenny's dad:''' God, this must be the fiftieth time this has happened.]]\
498[[spoiler:'''Kenny's mom:''' Fifty-second.]]
499** Mr. Slave can fit objects ''as large as [[spoiler:Paris Hilton]]'' up his ass. That's nothing compared to Cartman, though, who actually managed to fit ''[[spoiler:all of Disney World]]'' up his ass (to smuggle it into prison).
500* The Big Bang from the ''WesternAnimation/StaticShock'' animated was a MassSuperEmpoweringEvent that gave all nearby characters varying superpowers. The Metabreed was a gang of these characters who banded together specifically because they were the unfortunate characters stuck with Lovecraftian Superpowers.
501* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Wakfu}}'', [[spoiler:Rushu in his true form]] weaponizes BodyHorror, being able to sprout tentacles and fanged maws anywhere on his body. During his fight with Goultard, Goultard tried gut-punching him. This backfired when [[spoiler:Rushu's]] torso simply grew a mouth and bit down hard on Goultard's hand.
502* ''WesternAnimation/WhatIf2021'': Having summoned and then forcibly absorbed countless mystical beings into his own body during his ProtagonistJourneyToVillain, [[Characters/MCUDoctorStrange Strange Supreme]] can manifest parts of them (a cephalopod demon, fire-breathing hydra heads, etc.) from his own body, he exhibits the VoiceOfTheLegion whenever he gets emotional, and at times it seems like his human form is only ''just'' holding together under the weight of all the inhuman extradimensional monsters he's absorbed. Few things seen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe are quite like it, with even the art styles applied to the entities seen before Strange absorbs them varying wildly to make them seem all the more otherworldly, and Good Strange is stunned and horrified when he sees what Strange Supreme has done to himself.
503* In ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution'', Spyke[[note]][[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Because poor literacy is kewl]][[/note]] [[spoiler:eventually becomes completely covered in armadillo like plates which he [[IJustWantToBeNormal can't get rid of]]. On the upshot, he gains the ability to launch spikes that are ''[[IncendiaryExponent on fire]]'']].
504[[/folder]]
505
506[[folder:Real Life]]
507* There's a species of lizard, the Texan Horned Lizard, that sprays blood from its eyes when threatened.
508* The Spanish ribbed newt can stab its own ribs through its poison glands and out of its sides.
509* Sea Cucumbers can [[SuperSpit eject part of their digestive system]] when threatened. They also can near-liquefy themselves to fit through small spaces.
510* Bombardier beetles can spray a [[MadeOfExplodium small chemical explosion]] of boiling acid from their abdomens. And they don't have an orifice for it to come out of. It just explodes out through their skin (fortunately it's a pretty weak explosion, so they aren't really hurt by this).
511* Starfish feed by moving their stomachs out through their mouths and over whatever they're eating. [[AsteroidsMonster They also clone themselves when they lose a limb]]. Some species of starfish have clams as their favorite food. How do they get to the tasty clam meat inside? By breaking open the shell with a rock like an otter? No! They latch onto the clam, FaceFullOfAlienWingWong-style and ''force'' the shell open! The clam can only watch in horror as its only line of defense is pulled away and the starfish's stomach acids leak inside!
512* Most (if not all species) of octopuses can: strangle and crush enemies or prey with their tentacles, confuse them by spraying black ink into the water, paralyze them with potent toxins from their beak-like mouthparts, or change their coloring at will. Some species can even change their texture and limb orientation so they look like harmless seaweed or fish. It's like ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}'', but in real life! The mimic octopus can mimic twelve species, one of them being a venomous snake.
513* Spiders inject digestive acid into their prey to make it nice and squishy before sucking out the liquefied organs. They rinse and repeat until all that's left are the totally inedible parts.
514* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conus Marine Cone snails]] possess some of the prettiest shells of any mollusc. They are also extremely effective predators, several species fully capable of killing a human being. How does something limbless, nearly blind, and [[ShapedLikeItself slow as a, well, snail]] hunt fast prey like fish? Obviously by tracking prey by smell and the motion of the surrounding water, and carefully aiming its organic tank turret which fires a harpoon-tooth laced with custom multicomponent neurotoxin cocktails tailored to its current target type, silly. The venom of the cone snail is being studied for medicinal uses because it apparently hacks the victim's nervous system; certain species produce a cocktail for hunting fish capable of completely paralyzing and killing an aquarium-sized fish in under half a second. Then they reel in and engulf their prey like a real-life Franchise/{{Kirby}}. Which, by the way, is [[AndIMustScream potentially still alive but paralyzed and slowly suffocating]], if the cocktail mix wasn't perfect. Remember the part about them having pretty shells? Most reported human deaths have occurred when the person picked up that pretty shell from the bottom of the lagoon and [[YouAreAlreadyDead felt a pinprick]].
515* And then, of course, there's [[SmellySkunk that one critter that drives away enemies, and can even temporarily blind them, with a horrible-smelling sulfuric mist from glands near its rectum]].
516* There is a species of Spiny Mouse with tearaway parts of its skin, which is also covered in spikes. When a predator catches the mouse, the skin [[FlayingAlive tears right off]], leaving said predator with a [[{{Zonk}} booby prize]] of spike-studded mouse skin rather than lunch. [[GoodThingYouCanHeal The mouse then regrows its skin]], [[ComicBook/XMen Wolverine-style]].
517* Some insects can bleed on command. It's often used to glue themselves to predators so they can't remove them as they're being attacked.
518* Antlers. Sounds stranger, but in 2019, a group of biologists studying the genetics behind antler formation in deer discovered they contain eight genes that play roles in tumor growth and suppression, which are theorized to be how antlers are able to grow rapidly and are then shed every year. That's right, a deer's antlers aren't simply bone, they're ''a weaponized form of cancer.''
519[[/folder]]

Top