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| 4 | %% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks! |
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| 8 | %% Image replaced per Image Pickin' thread:https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1305156379024487900 |
| 9 | %% Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread. |
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| 11 | [[quoteright:343:[[Film/TheFoodOfTheGods https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/average_sized_nyc_rat.png]]]][[caption-width-right:343:Hey there, big mousey...]] |
| 12 | |
| 13 | ->'''Buttercup:''' What about the R.O.U.S.s?\ |
| 14 | '''Westley:''' Rodents of Unusual Size? I don't think they exist.\ |
| 15 | '''R.O.U.S.:''' RAGH! ''[attacks Westley]'' |
| 16 | -->-- ''Film/ThePrincessBride'' |
| 17 | |
| 18 | Are they so named because they are unusually ''small'', you ask? Heh, heh, heh... |
| 19 | |
| 20 | [[YouDirtyRat Rats]] are probably the most formidable and tenacious mammals in existence, being blessed with swift feet, durable incisors, impressive cunning and intelligence, [[ZergRush numbers]], and an all-consuming sense of self-preservation. The only thing they lack, it seems, is [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever physical size and power]][[note]] and longevity (the average rat is very lucky to make three years) but don't expect to see ''that'' brought up often[[/note]]. Then, given that final boon, they would surely transform from shadow-scurrying scavengers to [[AttackOfTheKillerWhatever feared, flesh-rending predators]] that would have leather-clad barbarians knocking their knees together (but at least they're easier to hit than life-sized rats). |
| 21 | |
| 22 | Incidentally, if you don't find the regular-sized rats particularly worrisome already, [[Main/ParanoiaFuel then we hasten to point out that they are also world-class swimmers, can hold their breath more than long enough to reach the other end of the pipe leading to your]] [[TheCanKickedHim toilet]] [[Main/ParanoiaFuel and have hinged ribcages allowing them to fit through any sewer pipe]]. (Thankfully, ''giant'' rats can rarely fit through the plumbing.) |
| 23 | |
| 24 | (In real life, however, the sheer successfulness of rodents can in fact be attributed to their small size. Being small, they can adapt to a wider range of niches, [[ExplosiveBreeder are able to breed more quickly]], and need far less food to survive. If they were as large as most big mammals, they'd be little, if any, more successful.) |
| 25 | |
| 26 | Should you encounter these furry freaks, your best defense is to have a MegaNeko or a {{War Elephant|s}} by your side (or a CanisMajor [[DogsHateSquirrels in case of giant squirrels]]). If in a video game, they're likely to be involved in a RatStomp. Occasionally, they're conscripted to provide HamsterWheelPower for large machines or vehicles. [[YouDirtyRat They are usually aggressive and dangerous animals]]. |
| 27 | |
| 28 | At its most extreme, this trope can overlap with AttackOfThe50FootWhatever. When rodents are not only unnaturally large but also walk upright (at least some of the time) and have human-like intelligence, you have RatMen. While rats are the most common rodents to show up as giants, others such as mice, squirrels, hamsters and such may also show up for variety or for added features (such as [[ScrewballSquirrel a giant squirrel being also a hyperactive troublemaker]] or a giant hamster an adept burrower). If the rodents have a high level of intelligence and resourcefulness then ResourcefulRodent can apply. |
| 29 | |
| 30 | If you have a pet rat (or any other pet rodent) of such size, chances are it'll be a GentleGiant, if not CuteGiant. |
| 31 | |
| 32 | A SubTrope of AnimalsNotToScale, DireBeast. In more cartoonish works, this may overlap with MockyMouse. |
| 33 | ---- |
| 34 | !!Examples: |
| 35 | |
| 36 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 37 | |
| 38 | [[folder:Advertising]] |
| 39 | * In an ad for Doritos, a man puts a piece of an extra-cheesy dorito on a mousetrap, then sits down to eat some more. A giant mouse (well, a man in a mouse suit) bursts out of the wall and tackles him, presumably not being satisfied with the tiny tip of one chip. |
| 40 | * Several Kia car commercials feature giant hamsters, sometimes complete with giant hamster wheels. |
| 41 | * Orkin's series of Giant Creepy Crawly extermination-service ads now includes one in which a family comes home from a trip to find scruffy human-sized rats hanging out in their living room. |
| 42 | * There's a commercial for extra-durable work pants which demonstrates their toughness with a giant cartoon beaver, which loses its teeth trying to bite through a pair. |
| 43 | [[/folder]] |
| 44 | |
| 45 | [[folder:Anime and Manga]] |
| 46 | * ''Anime/GalaxyAngel'' had this alien hamster thing which they found in the ruins of a once great city. |
| 47 | * ''Literature/Overlord2012'': The Wise King of the Forest is very similar to a hamster, with the exception of a long scaled tail that resembles a snake's more than anything. {{She|IsTheKing}} is also enormous enough for a human to ride her like a horse, and powerful enough to be worshiped as a legendary beast (though no match against [[AlwaysABiggerFish our ridiculous main character]]). |
| 48 | * ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'': One episode has a giant robot Pikachu. Pikachu himself is also large for a rodent -- he stands at sixteen inches (41 centimeters) tall. To say nothing of [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever Gigantamax Pikachu]]... |
| 49 | * ''Anime/YuGiOh'' has a monster outright called "Giant Rat". Then there are Nimble Momonga, which is just a very large flying squirrel, and a bunch of other more pathetic low-level monsters, like Beaver Warrior, which looks more like a rat than a beaver, but is a rodent either way. Some, like the Giant Rat, Nimble Momonga, and Super Nimble Mega Hamster, can be useful in swarm tactics. |
| 50 | [[/folder]] |
| 51 | |
| 52 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 53 | * ''ComicBook/BeastsOfBurden'' has a Rat king leading the sewer rats, and his general is a rat larger than the two cats who fight him. |
| 54 | * In ''ComicBook/{{Bone}}'', the Giant Rat Creatures, despite that they are drawn without snouts and that they cut off their rat tails as a cultural ritual. |
| 55 | * ''ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse'': In one story, Donald and his cousin Fethry team up to fight giant rat ghosts. Unusually big rodents shouldn't be a foreign concept to Donald, considering [[WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse whom]] he used to co-star with early on his animated career... |
| 56 | * One supporting character in ''ComicBook/{{Elementals}}'' is a wererat who has a crush on Fathom. |
| 57 | * The ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'' universe has these. After someone examines the meat from one, they're farmed in place of the [[ReducedToRatburgers regular rats which used to be farmed]]. |
| 58 | * The climax of ''ComicBook/MarvelTwoInOne'' #6 has ComicBook/{{the Thing}} and ComicBook/DoctorStrange fight a giant rat. |
| 59 | * In Issue #4 of ''ComicBook/ThePitifulHumanLizard'', two of The Majestic Rat's numbers are kidnapped and experimented on by the same doctors who gave Human-Lizard his HealingFactor. They end up as man-sized monster rodents with the ability to spit bile. |
| 60 | * ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'': Creator/NeilGaiman's gag biography in ''The Season of Mists'' [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial denies]] that he was found outside a London sewer unable to say anything more than "Powerful big rats, gentlemen". And then goes on to deny that he had a vestigial tail, played a part in the ''obviously fictional'' negotiations between Londons Above and [[Literature/{{Neverwhere}} Below]], or that there were any tooth marks on the bones. |
| 61 | * The ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' villain Vermin is a humanoid rat. |
| 62 | * ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}: Distant Fires'' is an {{Elseworld}} story in which the world comes to an end, non-superpowered humans have become feral, and rats and housecats are now the size of panthers. |
| 63 | [[/folder]] |
| 64 | |
| 65 | [[folder:Comic Strips]] |
| 66 | * A ''ComicStrip/{{Curtis}}'' strip had his little brother Barry worrying about some drug dealers trying to set up shop in an abandoned building across the street from their home. Curtis is unfazed because, as he explains to his brother, there are rats the size of collies living in that building. Cue off-panel screams. |
| 67 | * This is an [[http://www.gocomics.com/garfield/1981/09/20/ occasional]] [[http://www.gocomics.com/garfield/1983/12/10/ gag]] in ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}''. Sometimes, it's Garfield pretending to be a mouse; sometimes, Garfield teases a mouse which [[http://www.gocomics.com/garfield/1987/11/22/ turns out]] [[http://www.gocomics.com/garfield/1989/04/03/ to be]] [[http://www.gocomics.com/garfield/1991/11/08/ larger]] [[http://www.gocomics.com/garfield/2000/07/21/ than]] [[http://www.gocomics.com/garfield/2002/11/16/ normal]]. Then there's the [[http://www.gocomics.com/garfield/1984/12/18/ Training Mouse]] from the arc in which Garfield gets locked out and finds his way back to where Mama Leoni's used to be. There's also a {{subver|tedTrope}}sion in one strip when it only ''looks'' like a really tall mouse -- the shot from behind the mouse hole shows three mice standing on each other's shoulders. |
| 68 | * Prince Raffendorf from ''ComicStrip/SnarfQuest'' was a human prince before being [[ForcedTransformation turned into a giant humanoid rat]] by an EvilSorcerer. |
| 69 | * In an early issue of ''ComicStrip/WhatsNewWithPhilAndDixie'', Phil distracts a giant monster rat by throwing a live cat at it. |
| 70 | [[/folder]] |
| 71 | |
| 72 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 73 | * Name dropped in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10541324/4/First-Knight First Knight]]'', except the rat in question is only three feet tall and weights about sixty five pounds. When Buffy questions this, the others point out for a rat, that ''is'' giant. |
| 74 | * In ''Fanfic/PrehistoricParkReimagined'', one of the animals rescued alongside the smilodon populator in ''Red in Tooth and Claw'' is the josephoartigasia. Naturally, a reasonable degree of attention is drawn in the narrative to their respectably large size, with the largest amongst the group rescued being described as about the size of a hippo and one of the rescue team members present explicitly referring to the genus as '[the largest] rodent that ever lived'. |
| 75 | * In ''Fanfic/TheSteepPathAhead'' Saito and Luise go on a RatStomp to earn money only for the rats to be as large as they are because they had gotten involved in some [[AlchemyIsMagic Alchemy]] experiments. |
| 76 | [[/folder]] |
| 77 | |
| 78 | [[folder:Films -- Animated]] |
| 79 | * In ''WesternAnimation/FantasticMrFox'', Rat is the tallest of the anthropomorphic animals; his height ''towers'' the title character, who's a red fox. Do the math and you'll realize that he's gotta be one big rat. |
| 80 | * Sandy Cheeks from ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobMovieSpongeOutOfWater'' is a rare ''heroic'' example. Usually she's an anthropomorphic squirrel no bigger than someone's hand, but in her superhero form "The Rodent", she, as well as being very realistic looking, is about twice the size of a human. |
| 81 | [[/folder]] |
| 82 | |
| 83 | [[folder:Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 84 | * The film ''Film/AlteredSpecies'' (a.k.a. ''Rodentz'') has a giant lab rat released by protesters who thanks them by trying to eat them all. |
| 85 | * The title dollhouse in ''Film/AmityvilleDollhouse'' transforms a regular mouse into a giant one. It dies when the dollhouse is tipped over. |
| 86 | * In ''Film/AntMan1'', Scott's perilous first experience being shrunken includes a brief run-in with a normal-sized mouse, which pursues him until it runs into a trap. |
| 87 | * The bizarre movie ''Film/BlackMoon'' featured a truly massive, cat-sized rat (probably an African Pouched Rat) that could talk. |
| 88 | * The formerly human rat monster in ''Film/BottomFeeder''. |
| 89 | * The Squogers from the 2007 film adaptation of ''Film/BridgeToTerabithia'' are shaggy black-furred warrior-squirrels the size of large dogs, which Jesse and Leslie imagine as minions of the Dark Master. |
| 90 | * In ''Film/{{Creepozoids}}'', Jake and Blanca are both attacked by giant mutated rats living in the old laboratory, with one of them attempting to crawl underneath Blanca's shirt. |
| 91 | * Bunch of rats in ''Film/DeadlyEyes'' stow away in a freighter filled with contaminated grain. Once the ship reaches its destination, their diet has transformed them into aggressive mankillers the size of small dogs. |
| 92 | * ''Film/DrWaiInTheScriptureWithNoWords'': One scene in a mausoleum had a rat being exposed to the titular enchanted scriptures, and subsequently growing giant-sized and attacking Dr. Wai. |
| 93 | * The movie adaptation of H. G. Wells' ''Film/TheFoodOfTheGods'' features giant rats besieging some people in a cabin. Or rather, it features normal rats romping around a miniature set, and a few prop rat-heads that make "The Talons of Weng-Chiang" look like ''Aliens'' by comparison. |
| 94 | * In ''Film/Joker2019'', a news report on Gotham's worsening garbage crisis and infrastructural deterioration mentions "super-rats" infesting the city. While they don't affect the film's story in any way, they do appear briefly in some background shots, where they seem to be about the size of house cats. |
| 95 | * One appears in the '60s [[BMovie B]] sci-fi/horror flick ''Film/JourneyToTheSeventhPlanet''. It has no hair, and one eye. |
| 96 | * ''Film/TheKillerShrews'' features giant shrews. (Well, giant for shrews, at least. They're played by [[{{Slurpasaur}} German-shepherd-sized dogs in cheap prosthetics]].) Technically, of course, shrews aren't rodents at all. Close enough for this trope's purposes, though. |
| 97 | * ''Film/MulberryStreet'' has a virus break out in Manhattan, one that causes people to mutate into homicidal rat creatures. |
| 98 | * The Cantina Scene in ''Film/ANewHope'' features one, and the Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse comes complete with a wide variety of mostly large rodents, [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Rodent_sentient_species sentient]] and [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Rodents non]]. Later in the film, Luke describes "womp rats" as being "not much bigger than two meters." |
| 99 | * ''Film/NightAtTheMuseum'': Although it's normal-sized, the squirrel in the second movie plays this trope straight from inch-tall Octavius's POV. |
| 100 | * ''Film/{{Nightmares}}'' has a segment in which a rat the size of an SUV terrorized a suburban family. |
| 101 | * In ''Film/NuttyProfessorIITheKlumps'', the Professor accidentally creates a giant hamster. |
| 102 | * ''Film/OfUnknownOrigin'' is a surprisingly good movie about a New Yorker who's terrorized by one of these. It's not a mutant. It's not an alien or magical. It's just a big, mean, nasty, and EXTREMELY determined ''Rattus norvegicus'', which figures his apartment is its territory. |
| 103 | * [[TropeNamers Named]] after the R.O.U.S. from ''Film/ThePrincessBride''. (When Wesley tells Buttercup that he thinks they [[TemptingFate don't exist]] - see the quote above - he's lying to convince her to calm down. He had seen the monsters clearly a few minutes earlier.) |
| 104 | * The Italian movie ''Quella Villa in Fondo al Parco'', a.k.a. ''Film/TheRatman'', has a genetically engineered rat-human hybrid wreaking havoc. |
| 105 | * ''Film/RatsNightOfTerror'' is set in a post-apocalyptic future where the rescuing men in the radiation suits take off their gas masks to reveal that...well you know that they ain't gonna be human on this trope page! Granted they might be a heroic version as they did rescue the survivors from the feral plague rats. |
| 106 | * The first segment of ''Film/TrilogyOfTerrorII'', "The Graveyard Rats", has eponymous rats that are big as dogs and have a taste for human flesh. |
| 107 | * ''Film/TyrannosClaw'' have a gigantic, man-sized rodent menacing the heroes at one point. It was preceded by a PeekabooCorpse when the female lead stumbles over a maggot-covered body, and then they see more bodies nearby and realize they're in the home of a gigantic prehistoric rat. |
| 108 | * In the remake of ''Film/{{Willard}}'', the role of Ben was played by a Gambian pouched rat, making him far bigger than the rest of Willard's colony. |
| 109 | [[/folder]] |
| 110 | |
| 111 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 112 | * ''Literature/AfterManAZoologyOfTheFuture'' posits a world 50 million years hence where carnivores have gone extinct in much of the world and many ungulates have as well, letting rodents evolve to fill the niches left open and become ubiquitous members of the smaller megafauna. |
| 113 | ** Most notably, rats are the dominant predators of the new world, and many species have evolved to possess the sizes and dispositions of wolves, large cats and polar bears. |
| 114 | ** Outside of the predator rats, the desert leaper is a kangaroo-like creature around three meters long and the mud-gulper reaches the size of a hippo. |
| 115 | ** Rodents in South America didn't turn predatory since carnivorans still survived there, but did evolve into larger forms filling the niches of antelopes and other smaller ungulates. |
| 116 | * ''Literature/AllQuietOnTheWesternFront'' briefly mentions "corpse" rats, which are basically rats that have gotten huge and fat by [[{{Squick}} eating the corpses of dead soldiers]]. When the men aren't making war on the enemy they are making war on the rats. |
| 117 | * ''Literature/BookOfBrownies'' has giant rodents in the land of giants. They are big enough as it is, but considering the three protagonists are ''brownies'' who's typically smaller than human beings... |
| 118 | * In ''Literature/TheBorribleTrilogy'', the race of Rumbles are described as rat-like, and are the size of human children. A TakeThat to WesternAnimation/TheWombles? Surely not. |
| 119 | * The children's novels ''The Castle in the Attic'' and ''The Battle for the Castle'', by Elizabeth Winthrop, are about a kid with a magical miniature castle. Through use of a magic token, he can become small enough to enter the castle--and the entire medieval world beyond it. ''Battle'' features a battle with giant rats, which makes sense if you think about it, since the rats in the attic don't have magic tokens... |
| 120 | %%* ''Literature/ChessWithADragon'': The Rh/attes are an aptly-named alien race. |
| 121 | * ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'': |
| 122 | ** Reepicheep (and the other Talking Mice), who is described to be two feet tall. And he knows no fear. |
| 123 | ** The squirrels too. For some reason, all the {{Talking Animal}}s in Narnia that would be smallest in our world are slightly larger there, while the biggest ones (like elephants) are slightly smaller. This is {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in ''Literature/TheMagiciansNephew''. |
| 124 | ** Given that even Peter could enter their home with ease, Mr. and Mrs. Beaver must've been quite a bit bigger than normal as well. |
| 125 | * In ''[[Literature/DanShambleZombiePI Death Warmed Over]]'', the zombie foreman of a garbage dump has giant rat pets [[AllAnimalsAreDogs that act like dogs]]. |
| 126 | * ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': |
| 127 | ** The Changelings from ''Literature/TheAmazingMauriceAndHisEducatedRodents'' tend to be larger than ''keekees'' (normal rats), presumably because their intelligence lets them keep themselves better-fed and healthier. Some of the normal rats bred for the fighting-pit by the ratcatchers are also larger than average. |
| 128 | ** Implied to be true of the hamster which the Igor from ''Literature/GoingPostal'' recalls his veterinary cousin having kept, before it [[AttackOfTheKillerWhatever broke out of its treadmill, ate a man's leg, and flew away]]. |
| 129 | * The average rat in ''Literature/{{Domina}}'' is about the size of a small dog. That's what happens when you let mad scientists play with a BioAugmentation device. |
| 130 | * In the ''Literature/DredChronicles'', there are mutant rats on the PrisonShip Perdition — it's noted that the adults are now too big to fit in the [[AirVentPassageway ducts which people use]]. |
| 131 | * Technically true in Wayne Barlowe's ''Literature/{{Expedition}}'', in that environmental degradation on Earth has become so severe that the (ordinary) Norway rat is the largest wild animal left on the planet. |
| 132 | * ''Literature/FafhrdAndTheGrayMouser'': The all-too-sapient rats in ''The Swords of Lankhmar'' are of standard size -- until the right magic comes into play, late in the novel. |
| 133 | * Creator/HGWells' novel ''The Food of the Gods'' features giant rats, about the size of wolves, as part of the mutated ecology that the titular food's unleashed. Unfortunately for humans, the rats also have the carnivorous temperament of wolves and quickly become the dominant pack hunters in the hot zones. |
| 134 | * ''Literature/TheFutureIsWild'': |
| 135 | ** The theoretical Shagrat, sheep-sized at least. |
| 136 | ** The poggle, from 95 million years later, was a Rodent of Unusual Staying-power, having survived to be the last mammal on Earth... not that this did it much good... |
| 137 | * Creator/HenryKuttner's short story "The Graveyard Rats" involves giant rats serving as thralls to zombies in the tunnels beneath a cemetery. |
| 138 | * The ''Literature/GraveyardSchool'' book ''Here Comes Santa Claws'' had sentient rats the size of reindeer that could stand upright. Their names are Bomber and Basher. |
| 139 | * In the second part of ''Literature/GulliversTravels'', the titular hero is woken up by two rats on his first night in [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever Brobdingnag]]. He notes it is a good thing he went to sleep with his sword, otherwise he would have been eaten alive. |
| 140 | * ''Literature/TheLordsOfCreation'': In the second book, ''In the Courts of the Crimson Kings'', when the protagonist is rescued from a prison, his [[TransplantedHumans Martian]] rescuer warns him that the tunnels under Olympus Mons are inhabited by all manner of unpleasant creatures including rodents of unusual size. [[SubvertedTrope They turn out to be thousands of tiny rodents that swarm like army ants.]] |
| 141 | * ''Literature/MaxAndTheMidknights'': When [[KidHero the Midknights]] decide to go through a mountain cave, they find themselves having to deal with rats the size of a human being with bat wings. When the battle starts, though, the rats flee soon after [[spoiler:because a large dragon shows up]]. |
| 142 | * The only non-mutant human creatures seen in the future in ''Literature/{{Mindwarp}}'' are giant rodents the size of a capybara. It is hinted they are descended from rats. |
| 143 | * ''Literature/MonsterBloodII'' features a 10-foot-tall hamster. |
| 144 | * ''Literature/MythAdventures'': |
| 145 | ** In ''Myth Alliances'', a big rodent-like beast is seen pulling a cart on one of the visited dimensions. |
| 146 | ** In ''Myth-Taken Identity'', the mall-rats are about the size of spaniels, while their boss Rattila is twice their size. |
| 147 | * The ''Literature/NightShift'' short story "Graveyard Shift" has a lot of rats of usual size... [[spoiler:until you go down to the sub-basement, where there are not only rodents of unusual size, but they're mutated as well. Their "queen" is big enough to eat a man]]. |
| 148 | * The Doormouse is a once-human businessman in the ''Literature/{{Nightside}}'', who had himself changed into a giant bipedal mouse because he likes being cute and fuzzy. Not a ''dor''mouse; his name came about because he's in the business of renting out use of his CoolGate collection. |
| 149 | * ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'' features enormous rats, apparently capable of chewing straight through a man's head. The Party uses them as a torture device [[spoiler:on Winston in Room101, knowing that [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes Winston is terrified of rats]]]]. |
| 150 | * The rats from ''Literature/TheNutcracker''. Although, technically they were no bigger than the Nutcracker... |
| 151 | * ''Literature/ParrishPlessis'' has canrats, rat-dog hybrids that are both vicious and intelligent. One of them, the Big One, is the size of a doberman. |
| 152 | * In an in-'Verse example, the populace at large in ''Literature/RatmansNotebooks'' start speculating about a human-sized man/rat hybrid on the loose after the VillainProtagonist begins using his trained SwarmOfRats to commit crimes. Amused, he plays along with these rumors by donning a rat mask on his later criminal forays. |
| 153 | * While the eponymous rodents of Paul Zindel's ''Rats'' are generally of normal size, the book also features the Rat King ([[Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles no, not that one]]), which is described as being even bigger than a capybara. |
| 154 | * The Creator/JamesHerbert trilogy of novels: ''Literature/TheRats'', ''Lair'' and ''Domain''. |
| 155 | * ''Literature/{{Redwall}}'': In ''The Long Patrol'', BigBad Damug Warfang is a Greatrat, described as twice the size of a normal rat. |
| 156 | * The novel ''Literature/RodentMutation'' by Lionel Fanthorpe (under the pseudonym "Bron Fane") involves giant beavers menacing mankind. |
| 157 | * Literature/SherlockHolmes once makes a passing mention of a case involving the giant rat of Sumatra, "a story for which the world is not yet prepared". Many, many pastiche and fanfic writers have picked up this reference over the years and based [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_Rat_of_Sumatra#In_Sherlockiana their own stories]] on it. Of all the "untold tales" of Sherlock Holmes, this is probably the one that's been told the most often. |
| 158 | * The Lemming-Men of Yull from Toby Frost's ''Literature/SpaceCaptainSmith'' books have armed and industrialized themselves, but still retain their love of jumping off cliffs. |
| 159 | * Creator/AlanDeanFoster pulled the same pun as ''Literature/{{Nightside}}'' (see above) in his ''Literature/{{Spellsinger}}'' series, although the doormouse (majordomo in a brothel) was in fact a dormouse. (Spellsinger rodents are ''much'' larger than their Earth equivalents, even more so than in [[Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia Narnia]].) |
| 160 | * The E13 sewers in ''Literature/SuperMinion'' have ''really'' big rats. |
| 161 | -->'''Tofu:''' Tiny fits in my hand, small can jump at your face from the floor, medium is this [roughly human-sized] dead one, and large hits its head on the sewer ceiling. |
| 162 | * In the first ''Literature/TalesForTheMidnightHour'' book by J.B. Stamper, a story called ''Phobia'' had a woman with a fear of rats going through the worst night of her life in a city park after dark. She's stalked by a shadowy man who seems to be able to attract rats, and ends up hiding at one point in a rat's nest. Eventually, she learns [[spoiler: the man is actually a humanoid rat, and even though she gets away, the incident has scarred her for life]]. |
| 163 | * In ''Literature/ThreeSkeletonKey'', an abandoned ship, infested with ferocious rats, makes landfall. A life-and-death struggle ensues as the three lighthouse keepers seek to save themselves from the hungry horde, who swarm over the lighthouse. |
| 164 | * In ''Uncle Brucker the Rat Killer'' by Leslie Peter Wulff, while the vast majority of the rats are normal sized there are breeds that can reach 100 pounds. Uncle Brucker himself has an annual wrestling match with the so-called "Wrestling Rat" which weighs 80 pounds. |
| 165 | * ''Literature/TheUnderlandChronicles'' has giant rats and mice as main characters, plus giant insects and bats.... |
| 166 | * In ''Literature/WarriorCats'', rats are basically just normal-sized rats, but they're much bigger to cats than they are to humans, and are fearsome and universally loathed. The authors also have joked that the badgers on the cover of ''Twilight'' look like Rodents of Unusual Size. |
| 167 | * In the ''Literature/WildCards'' novel ''Fort Freak'', Vincent "Ratboy" Marinelli is an effective member of the Department of Internal Affairs, a.k.a. the Rat Squad. He is a "Joker" with the shape of a giant (4-foot) brown rat. [[http://wildcards.wikia.com/wiki/Ratboy For a little more, see another wiki.]] |
| 168 | * In Simon Hawke's ''The Wizard of Rue Morgue'', Wyrdrune is ambushed by a rat the size of an elephant in the sewers under Paris. |
| 169 | * ''Literature/XanaduStoryverse'': In "Against Type", Nicodemus is transformed into a rat the size of a dog. |
| 170 | [[/folder]] |
| 171 | |
| 172 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 173 | * ''Series/DoctorWho'': In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E6TheTalonsOfWengChiang The Talons of Weng-Chiang]]", TheatrePhantom Magnus Greel is using specially mutated giant rats to dispose of the bodies of his victims and to deter trespassers. Leela is nearly eaten by one. (The rats are generally considered a SpecialEffectFailure in actual execution though.) |
| 174 | * In ''Series/{{Grimm}}'', the Reinigen are Wesen RatMen. However, in "Rat King" it's revealed that some clans of Reinigen have the ability to FusionDance into a 20-foot tall rat called a Riesen Ratte or Rat King. |
| 175 | * In the ''Series/LandOfTheGiants'' episode "The Weird World", the little people encounter a giant gopher. Steve tries to scare it away with fire but ultimately kills it with a bow and arrow. http://shrinking.freehostia.com/Pic/LOTGGopher.mp4 |
| 176 | * The [[CallARabbitASmeerp Wilddeoren]] in ''Series/{{Merlin 2008}}''. Naked Mole Rats Of Unusual Size. |
| 177 | * ''Series/MonsterWarriors'': In "Ratblaster", a sanitation workers strike, a giant rat and Luke's monsterblasting weapon combine to test the Monster Warriors. |
| 178 | * ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'': In the Piranha Brothers sketch, Dinsdale Piranha is a notorious gangster, although he often had fears that he was being followed by a giant hedgehog, whom he referred to as Spiny Norman. At the end of the sketch, when the Piranhas escape prison, it turns out Norman is real, and would make infrequent appearances on the programme. |
| 179 | -->'''Spiny Norman''': Dinsdale? |
| 180 | * ''Series/TheNewAvengers'': In the episode "Gnaws", an experimental isotopic fluid spilled down a drain causes a sewer rat to grow to gigantic size. |
| 181 | * In the ''Series/NightGallery'' story "Nature of the Enemy", astronauts find a large metal apparatus on the Moon. Just as the staff at [=CapCom=] have realized it looks like a mousetrap, the landing party's transmission cuts out, then resumes to show an empty space helmet being inspected by a building-sized rat. |
| 182 | * Sherman the Ginormouse, a white mouse the size of a two-story house, features in the opening sequence of the ''Series/OddSquad'' [[TheMovie TV movie]]. |
| 183 | * In the ''Series/RedDwarf'' episode "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIIIBackInTheRedPartI Back in the Red: Part 1]]", ''Red Dwarf'' has been built far too large and is returning to normal size. ''Starbug'' encounters a huge rat and ends flying into its backside, propelling it along. |
| 184 | * In ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'', we hear the Quizmaster on the phone with an exterminator complaining that the rat in his apartment in the Other Realm is making long-distance calls on his phone and listening to his [=CDs=] without putting them back. (Whether he pays rent or not is ''not'' the point.) They are apparently unsuccessful since we meet the ROUS in another episode when he introduces himself as the Quizmaster's "roommate." |
| 185 | * ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'': In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1985S1E16 The Elevator]]", Roger and Will learn that their father's super food causes extreme growth when they find several dead giant rats in his factory, each bigger than the one before. They later find a [[MegaNeko giant cat]], [[CanisMajor giant dog]] and a GiantSpider. |
| 186 | * ''Series/UltramanNexus'' has the [[{{Kaiju}} Space Beast]] Nosferu (Nosfe'''rat'''u, get it?), a hideous hairless rodent-like creature with a spear-tipped OverlyLongTongue and the ability to regenerate FromASingleCell. |
| 187 | * [=SPG=], the pet hamster of Vyvyan on ''Series/TheYoungOnes'', was usually played by a puppet the size of a guinea pig rather than the size of a real hamster. In one episode, he scarfed down an entire pot full of lentils and swelled up to volleyball size. |
| 188 | [[/folder]] |
| 189 | |
| 190 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 191 | * A biography of Music/DieArzte is called "Ein überdimensionales Meerschwein frisst die Erde auf" ("A giant-size guinea pig eats Earth").[[note]] In German, the guinea pig automatically gets the diminutive ending -chen, so dropping this suffix already implies the trope. Like in the joke: "Was ist 10 Meter groß und springt von Baum zu Baum? Ein Eichhörn." Untranslatable, of course. [[/note]] |
| 192 | * Music/DavidBowie's "Future Legend", the first track of ''Music/DiamondDogs'': |
| 193 | -->Fleas the size of rats sucked on rats the size of cats. |
| 194 | * The last verse of Music/{{Genesis|Band}}'s "All in a Mouse's Night" (on the ''Music/WindAndWuthering'' album) has a cat getting beaten up with one blow by a giant mouse. |
| 195 | * Music/GreenDay had an album cover where a gigantic hamster was attacking society. |
| 196 | * Parry Gripp's ''Hamizilla'', about a hamster {{Kaiju}} who seeks vengeance on humanity in the year 2043. |
| 197 | * The UsefulNotes/WorldWarI song "The Quartermaster's Store" mentions "rats, rats, as big as bloody cats" (see also RealLife). |
| 198 | * There's a New York punk band named ''Rats of Unusual Size''. |
| 199 | * The Music/WeirdAlYankovic song "Radioactive Hamsters From a Planet Near Mars". |
| 200 | [[/folder]] |
| 201 | |
| 202 | [[folder:Music Videos]] |
| 203 | * In "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJzWGkgFcTU The Ghost of Stephen Foster]]" by the Squirrel Nut Zippers, the doorman of the [[HellHotel Hotel Paradise]] is a giant rat who towers over the human protagonists. [[TheWormThatWalks He's actually made out of tons of smaller rats]]. |
| 204 | [[/folder]] |
| 205 | |
| 206 | [[folder:Mythology]] |
| 207 | * There's a Japanese legend called "The Boy Who Drew Cats", in which a city is plagued by a giant demonic rat. Which is eventually killed by the drawings of cats by the boy in the title. [[AWizardDidIt It's magical, okay?]] |
| 208 | * Also from Japan, Tesso (Iron Rat), a former human noble with JerkAss, ungrateful parents who was cursed by a monk. He's a man-rat hybrid that raids the temples and the houses with a horde of smaller rats and devours everything in his path. |
| 209 | [[/folder]] |
| 210 | |
| 211 | [[folder:Print Media]] |
| 212 | * The infamous "Moon Hoax", a series of articles in the 19th century New York ''Sun'', included fanciful accounts of giant civilized beavers living on the moon. |
| 213 | [[/folder]] |
| 214 | |
| 215 | [[folder:Puppet Shows]] |
| 216 | * In the Creator/JimHenson TV adaptation of ''Literature/EmmetOttersJugBandChristmas'', the members of Emmet's band are all similarly-sized Muppets, even though one of them is a ''muskrat'' and should be less than a quarter as large as the other three (an otter, a porcupine and a beaver). |
| 217 | * The UK puppet character Roland Rat, along with all the other rodent characters in the Roland Rat setting, is about four feet tall. And it's not just that the puppet is four feet tall, because he routinely interacts with humans. |
| 218 | [[/folder]] |
| 219 | |
| 220 | [[folder:Roleplay]] |
| 221 | * ''Roleplay/TheDaoOfTheAwakened'' has Hua Yin face a pack of dog-sized rats with a leader that can grow as large as a donkey. He survives by the skin of his teeth. |
| 222 | [[/folder]] |
| 223 | |
| 224 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 225 | * ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': |
| 226 | ** "Dire rats" are a common low-level monster that often show up in caves and city sewers. They're scavengers who won't hesitate to attack live prey if they think they can get away with it and carry disease more often than not. There are also [[OurWerebeastsAreDifferent wererats]], humanoids cursed to change into dire rats much like werewolves. |
| 227 | ** The Rylkar from Version 3.5's ''Monster Manual V'' are basically a nest of giant, evil rats who are connected via a hive mind to their harridan, the huge, disease and corruption-spreading, blind matriarch of the nest. |
| 228 | ** ''TabletopGame/{{Spelljammer}}'' has [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_Space_Hamster Giant Space Hamsters]], domesticated and bred by the GadgeteerGenius Tinker Gnomes of Krynn, and coming in a wide variety of breeds including the "Miniature Giant Space Hamster", which is identical to an ordinary hamster. The good news is, the base breed is relatively docile and non-dangerous (so much as any creature the size of a brown bear can be non-dangerous). The bad news is, the breeders being ''Tinker'' Gnomes, sanity and common sense place no limits on the kind of breeds they make (breeding a carnivorous and flying variety was deemed "an understandable line of inquiry"). |
| 229 | ** Previous editions of ''D&D'' also include giant beavers, giant porcupines, and ''giant carnivorous flying squirrels''. |
| 230 | ** An adventure from the early days of ''Dungeon'' magazine shrinks the [=PCs=] down to the size of gaming miniatures, making ordinary rats appear enormous by comparison. Other humanoids, who'd previously fallen victim to the same magic, use rats as steeds. |
| 231 | * The card game ''Webcomic/GirlGenius: The Works'' has several cards for "Doctor Monahan's Rats", rats bigger than a human even when walking on all fours. Another card, "Doctor Monahan's Diabolical Rat-stretching Engine", hints at how she makes them giant. |
| 232 | * ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' has Rat as a creature type, from the classic [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=77 Plague Rats]] that only the four-of-a-card deck construction limit really keeps from growing arbitrarily dangerous to the Kamigawa block's nezumi (rat-people complete with their own warriors, rogues, shamans and ninja). |
| 233 | ** [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=135236 Relentless Rats]] was designed and printed to allow people to enjoy plague rats without the four-of-rule, explicitly stating that it ignores it. Also is much better. |
| 234 | ** The original art of [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?printed=true&multiverseid=153 Giant growth]] featured a giant rat. Now it's a bear. |
| 235 | * The ''TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness'' has Beshilu, one of the two iconic races of the bizarre half-spirit Hosts (the other being the [[GiantSpider Azlu]]). Like their cousins, they start off looking like normal rats, but quickly gain size and sentience as they eat real rats and lesser Beshilu. They then gradually gain the ability to [[EverythingsDeaderWithZombies control human corpses]] and eventually become humanoid, where they become far more social then other Hosts, forming tribal societies. That wouldn't be so bad-they don't prey on humans all that much-except that they also are driven by instinct to gnaw holes in the barrier between the SpiritWorld and the human one, which, given where they live (i.e., where normal rats live), quickly becomes a haven for disease-spirits, who of course, exist to spread disease. And like other hosts, killing them simply causes a large one to [[AsteroidsMonster split into a swarm of rats]], with one of the component rats containing his soul-which, if left alone, [[FromASingleCell will eventually grow back to full size and power]]. |
| 236 | * ''TableTopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' features the usual assortment of giant rats featured in most tabletops, with a welcome addition; the friendly, gentle capybara (see RealLife, below), also called the donkey rat, is available for use as a familiar by spellcasting classes. It has one of the largest rodents of any ''D&D'' setting with the goblin dog, which is a furless, disease-carrying rat so big that goblins [[HorseOfADifferentColor ride it like a horse]], and the shuln, a four-eyed naked mole rat twenty feet long. |
| 237 | * In ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'', devil rats are Awakened rodents that are about a meter long and weigh 8 kilos. They're nasty, vicious, disease-carrying, and (for some reason) bald all over. |
| 238 | * An enemy from ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'' is called a Ghoul Rat. It is the size of an Irish Wolfhound. |
| 239 | ** There is also a changing breed in the World of Darkness called the Ratkin, that are sometimes born as humans (that have the ratkin genetics) and contract a disease that, should they overcome it, turns them into wererats. They were given the charge by Gaia to help control the human population by eating their food and spreading disease. |
| 240 | *** These Ratkin can take a talent to be able to transform into a giant rat that can stand approx. 4 ft. at the shoulders. |
| 241 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'': Between the Winds of Magic and underground [[GreenRocks Warpstone]] deposits, it's no surprise that sewer rats can grow to the size of wolves. Some say there is even an entire race of RatMen called the Skaven that walk upright and breed ferocious mutant rodents the size of ogres as enormous war beasts, some covered with spikes or with blades instead of arms or with multiple heads, [[FlatEarthAtheist but any credible scholar will dismiss these claims as the raving of lunatics]]. |
| 242 | * ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': |
| 243 | ** ''TabletopGame/{{Necromunda}}'': The underhive of Necromunda's urban sprawls (and of most {{Hive Cit|y}}ies around the galaxy, most likely) is infested with these. And not just any giant rats -- mutated giant rats. Some are spiky, some have two heads, some may be unnervingly intelligent, but they all are happy to eat lone humans if they think they can get away with it. Of course, humans are more than happy to return the favor. While the uppermost Hive Dwellers might feast on food exported from agri-worlds, the average Underhiver has a distinctly less pleasant variety of foodstuffs to choose between, and rat meat will serve just fine. The Underhive even hosts a faction known as the Ratskin Renegades, whose theme is based on First Nations plains tribes, with ROUS filling in for bison and horses. |
| 244 | ** The Hrud were originally depicted as upright, hooded rats, before their appearance was {{Retcon}}ned to some sort of squiddish thing. |
| 245 | * ''TableTopGame/YuGiOh'' has, uhm, [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Giant_Rat Giant Rat]]... [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Pretty self-explanatory]] and pretty useful for a player who uses Earth-Attribute monsters. |
| 246 | [[/folder]] |
| 247 | |
| 248 | [[folder:Theatre]] |
| 249 | * In the Russian play ''Theatre/TheInspectorGeneral'' by Creator/NikolaiGogol, one character ''dreams'' of two "Rodents of Unusual Size" the night before receiving a letter that the inspector is secretly coming to his town -- and since he is a corrupt ObstructiveBureaucrat, it's a very bad thing indeed. |
| 250 | ** At least one actor used to hold his fingers a few millimeters apart during the scene - it isn't specified the rodents are unusually ''big''. |
| 251 | [[/folder]] |
| 252 | |
| 253 | [[folder:Toys]] |
| 254 | * ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'': the Kuma-Nui, a large combiner figure built of two already decent-sized models, was a rat. A rat with an extendable neck, gorilla-arms and tank-threads for legs that canonically was bigger than a ''vehicle''. |
| 255 | * ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'': Rattrap, from ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'', who turns into a rat the size of a person. |
| 256 | * Giant plushes of rodents are always in demand. |
| 257 | [[/folder]] |
| 258 | |
| 259 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 260 | * ''VideoGame/AdventureQuest'' has BURPS, which stands for "Big Ugly Rat Pests". They're ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. And every other year there's a war fighting nothing BUT those guys. They also qualify as GoddamnedBats because they're a pain in the ass to hit, where as the bigger ones deal quite a bit of damage. At higher levels you'll still be fighting the guys, often in groups. It gets better--one of their [[UndergroundMonkey variants]] is actually called the ROUS. |
| 261 | * Giant rats infests the sewers in ''VideoGame/{{Apocalypse}}'', as the first GiantMook-variety of enemies.Their presence is justified by the sewers being located above the prison cell, which also doubles as a bio-laboratory -- hence the chemicals being dumped in the sewers turning them into gigantic monsters. |
| 262 | * ''Videogame/{{Arcanum}}'' has rock rats and the larger granite rats. |
| 263 | * ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'': |
| 264 | ** Played with, as Minsc's pet rodent Boo is an unusually ''small'' "miniature giant space hamster". |
| 265 | ** ''VideoGame/BaldursGateDarkAlliance'' features groups of large rats in dungeons. |
| 266 | * Played for laughs at the start of ''Videogame/TheBardsTale'', where the eponymous Bard goes into the basement of a tavern to kill a rat for the hostess. After some patronising dialogue from the narrator, a giant rat emerges from the darkness, and ''[[BreathWeapon breathes fire]]'' on the Bard, forcing him to retreat back above ground. Turns out it was all just a prank, which the drunken patrons got a good laugh out of. |
| 267 | * In ''VideoGame/{{Battletoads}}'', large humanoid rats are the Dark Queen's primary contingent of {{mooks}}. There's also "Big Bad Blag" which is a giant, fat anthropomorphic rat even larger than the toads themselves. |
| 268 | * ''VideoGame/BeyondGoodAndEvil'': ''Rattus giganteus'' is a common creature. While it's not as big as other examples of this trope (nor as its name would suggest), it occurs in such numbers that [[GoddamnedBats it's still a hindrance.]] |
| 269 | * ''VideoGame/{{Bonfire}}'' has koshaks, man-sized rodents that appear in weak enemy mobs. [[FragileSpeedster They're weak but very fast]], and their bites inflict MaximumHPReduction. |
| 270 | * ''VideoGame/Borderlands2'' has enemies called R.O.U.S. (initials abbreviation of the trope name) while playing on True Vault Hunter Mode. They are human experiments with rodent-esque features escaped/released from the Hyperion corporation and usually appear alongside other rat-themed enemies. They're called Lab Rats on the regular difficulty and Mutated Lab Rats on Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode. |
| 271 | * ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireI'' does the small player thing, but with cockroaches. Later games didn't bother with that, and simply had giant roaches. |
| 272 | * ''VideoGame/CastleOfTheWinds'' has Giant Rat, but it's pitifully weak. No, it's the ''ants'' that new characters should watch out for. |
| 273 | * ''VideoGame/ChaosHeat'' have giant, skinless rat monsters as one of the many hostiles spawned by the bio-lab's viral outbreak. |
| 274 | * ''VideoGame/DarkChronicle'' fills several levels of its sewer with them. They're nearly the size of Max and walk on their hind legs. There are also [[UndergroundMonkey variants]] found in Ocean's Roar Cave and TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon. |
| 275 | * ''Videogame/DeadEstate'' has Chunks, a giant mutant rat who chases the player down [[StalkedByTheBell if they take too long on a floor]]. While he can be taken down with sufficient firepower, it only stops him for that one floor and he's only dealt with in the ending, where he's either the FinalBoss or by completing the Alternate Floors [[spoiler:he's hit with an antidote that turns him back into a regular rat]]. |
| 276 | * ''Videogame/DeadlyRoomsOfDeath'' has lemmings, which only appear in one level of the official level sets. Most of the rest of the time, this acronym stands for "Roaches Of Unusual Size". |
| 277 | * ''VideoGame/DemonStalkers'': Giant rats are the most basic enemy type. |
| 278 | * ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryTropicalFreeze'' has lots of them in the cave levels, especially Rodent Ruckus. |
| 279 | * ''VideoGame/{{Drakensang}}'': The Wolf-Rats. Expecially Mother Ratinsky and [[OptionalBoss Great Chief ''Rat''zinger]]. |
| 280 | * ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'': In the Human Noble origin, you fight a bunch of giant rats who got into the kitchen larder. However, they aren't really that big; a foot, maybe a foot and a half long. |
| 281 | * ''VideoGame/DuckTales'' for the NES had that giant rat boss guarding the Green Cheese treasure in The Moon stage. |
| 282 | * ''VideoGame/DukeNukemForever'' has regular-sized rats attacking Duke... after he's been hit by the effects of a [[IncredibleShrinkingMan shrinking device]]. Duke then quips "''Talk about your rodents of unusual size!''" |
| 283 | * ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress'': |
| 284 | ** The game has two separate varieties of oversized rats, both found BeneathTheEarth: large rats are bigger than an adolescent dwarf, surprisingly quick, and adept food thieves. Giant rats are over three times the size of grown dwarves, likewise steal food, and are used as [[HorseOfADifferentColor mounts]] by goblins during sieges. |
| 285 | ** Savage biomes on the surface world house a large selection of oversized rodents, namely giant chinchillas, giant marmots, giant groundhogs, giant capybaras (which get to around the size of a moose) and the comparatively puny (i.e., a little over three times the size of a dwarf) giant chipmunks, giant red, gray and flying squirrels and giant hamsters. |
| 286 | * ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994'' features a Sanctuary Guardian called the Plague Rat [[DoomyDoomsOfDoom of Doom]]. |
| 287 | * In the "Down the Tubes" and "Tube Race" levels of ''VideoGame/EarthwormJim'', the only way to get through several corridors full of tiny bruisers who will slam you around and throw you back where you came from is to ride a giant, foe-eating hamster (''"Whoooooooa Nelliiiiiiiie!"''). |
| 288 | * ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'': |
| 289 | ** The series in general has these as a standard for all rats. Most games also include at least one RatStomp quest dealing with them. |
| 290 | ** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIDaggerfall Daggerfall]]'' has large rats in the starting dungeon. |
| 291 | ** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'': |
| 292 | *** The game has them as a low level enemy that also frequently carries disease. The ''Tribunal'' expansion allows you to buy a trained "Pack Rat" as a pet, who will follow you and help carry your gear/loot. |
| 293 | *** In the Grazelands, there is a bugged creature spawn point that causes creatures spawned there to be twice their normal size. One of the creatures that can be spawned there is a rat, making for a Rodent of Exceptional Size. |
| 294 | ** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'': |
| 295 | *** Rats with the size of dogs are a common encounter in sewers like where you start your adventure, to caves. |
| 296 | *** There's a woman in one of the cities that keeps pet rats. Her rival hates them, and so put out meat to lure them, which had the effect of attracting mountain lions which came and killed a few of the rats. (The lions were surprisingly weak in battle compared to the ones you usually fight in the wild due to being starved.) |
| 297 | ** In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsvSkyrim Skyrim]]'' they're called "skeevers" and looks fuzzier to accommodate the colder climate. Despite being a bit smaller than Cyrodiil's rats, they're so big that people lay down ''bear traps'' to catch them. One crazy mage even tries to create an army of them in one quest. At least one NPC notes that the skeevers used to be smaller. |
| 298 | * ''VideoGame/{{Everquest}}'' and ''VideoGame/EverquestII'' have regular giant rats, usually found in sewers and other dark areas. |
| 299 | * Giant rats are mentioned in VideoGame/FallenLondon, though they aren't as much of a problem for most people as the normal-sized but sentient and mechanically inclined rattus faber (more commonly called "L.Bs". |
| 300 | * ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'': Abnormally large rodents -- deepening on the game and the specific type, they're referred to as giant rats, mole rats, pig rats or radrats -- are a common sight in the wastelands of post-apocalyptic North America. |
| 301 | ** ''VideoGame/Fallout1'' has rats the size of the vault dweller's foot. For ''starters''. [[SortingAlgorithmOfEvil Pig rats are the size of the vault dweller's leg, and mole rats the size of the vault dweller]]. |
| 302 | ** ''VideoGame/Fallout3'' has a robot you can activate in the Old Olney Tunnels that mentions something during its startup sequence about an infestation of rodents of unusual size. [[spoiler:It is usually torn to pieces soon after by the ten-foot-tall Deathclaws infesting the tunnels.]] |
| 303 | ** ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' has a direct quote from ''Film/ThePrincessBride'' when doing the Debt Collector quest's final part in Broc Flower Cave, which is of course filled with [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Rodents of Unusual Size]]. Though this will only happen if you have the [[SillinessSwitch Wild Wasteland trait]]. That is, unusually sized Rodents of Unusual Size. |
| 304 | * ''Videogame/FinalFantasyIII'' had one too. It is unusual, in that it is a normal-sized rat, but your ''party'' has to use the ''Mini'' condition to reach the PlotCoupon it's guarding. Since the ''Mini'' status effect cuts Defense and Attack to 1, you're basically forced to go at it with a party of {{Squishy Wizard}}s. Best bet is to change your physical fighters into Red Mages for the duration of the dungeon, since you don't have the advanced spells they're locked out of at this point of the game. |
| 305 | * ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'': While the franchise has no rat animatronic, one of its many fan-games, ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtCandys'', has one: [[BigBad RAT]]. His list of crimes include but aren't limited to [[spoiler:killing one or two guards, [[WouldHurtAChild injuring a child]], dismantling [[ButtMonkey Chester]], which includes [[OffWithHisHead decapitation]], blaming one of the guard murders on Candy, and if he kills Marylin, the protagonist of the second game, it's compared to a ''bear attack'']]. Doesn't help that [[spoiler: the man who possesses him was an alcoholic {{Jerkass}} who thought [[ItsAllAboutMe he kept the show alive]] before he was accidentally murdered by his coworker]]. |
| 306 | * Creator/FromSoftware: |
| 307 | ** ''Videogame/DarkSoulsI'' has Plague Rats. Very predictable and easy to kill but inflict poison. The biggest one is a single Giant Rat in the Depths, which is roughly the size of a bus. |
| 308 | ** ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'' introduces an even bigger rat in the form of the Royal Rat Authority boss. Strangely enough, the actual Rat King is only about the size of a small dog (but is intelligent and capable of speech). |
| 309 | ** ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'' has Hound Rats. Unlike the Plague Rats, they cannot inflict poison. |
| 310 | ** ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'' has Labyrinth Rat, malformed rats with [[BodyHorror enlarged eyes and lumps on their back]]. |
| 311 | * ''VideoGame/GunsGoreAndCannoli'': One side effect of the zombie poison is causing rats, in addition to turning into zombies themselves, to grow to rather large sizes, ranging from dog-sized to being slightly taller than an adult human. The one that takes the cake, though, is Mickey the Rat, implied to be the first rat to have been exposed to the zombie poison, and is absolutely gigantic to the point he makes Vinnie himself look like a rat by comparison. |
| 312 | * ''VideoGame/HarryPotter'': The UsefulNotes/GameBoyColor versions of the games feature giant rats as enemies. |
| 313 | * ''VideoGame/HeroU'' has Dire Rats (or "drats"), which are rats the size of dogs. |
| 314 | * ''VideoGame/House2020'': One of the very first perils Tabby can meet is an enormous rat who leaps in from a closed window of the storage room, and who will literally [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe bite the player character in half]] if it connects with its attack. |
| 315 | * ''VideoGame/HouseFlipper'': The mole that can sometimes infest your yard in ''Garden Flipper'' is easily the size of a small dog and leaves enormous molehills reminiscent of African termite nests. |
| 316 | * In ''VideoGame/IdleChampionsOfTheForgottenRealms'', there are large rats attacking the party. |
| 317 | * ''VideoGame/{{Instinct}}'' contains white lab rats, larger than most cats, who attacks the players in a frenzy. |
| 318 | %%* ''VideoGame/LaMulana'': The Kodama Rats, which explode. |
| 319 | * ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'': Twitch, a champion, was a sewer rat who gained sentience and bipedal form from magical runoff. [[SingleSpecimenSpecies Lonely]] and a bit maniacal, his goal is to duplicate the phenomenon and create a race of sentient rats to rule over. |
| 320 | * The ''VideoGame/MagiNation'' series mostly features decidedly non-real-looking creatures, but the AlwaysChaoticEvil Core region does get one very large rat-like creature. It's even named "Rous," in a direct ShoutOut to the {{Trope Namer|s}}. |
| 321 | * In ''VideoGame/{{Majesty}}'', giant rats were generally the first monsters to show up in your kingdom. Rat-men were another common annoyance, though they were at least one of the few enemies your city guard could handle competently. |
| 322 | * ''VideoGame/Metro2033'' and ''VideoGame/MetroLastLight'' feature a number of seemingly rodent-derived monsters among their menagerie of radioactive mutants. Lurkers are small, fast creatures that resemble oversized naked mole rats, while the larger and more vicious nosalises look more like they were originally moles or shrews of some sort. Both mutants are incredibly hostile and have an acute taste for human flesh, with the nosalises in particular having developed [[MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily massive, fanged maws]] that can easily rip people to shreds. Watchers/Watchmen are harder to place; they have some rat-like features, like their hairless tails and ability to stand on their hind legs, but overall seem more like wolves instead (hunting in packs, howling, etc...). |
| 323 | * ''VideoGame/{{Miitopia}}'': The Mice monsters are Mii-sized rodents. While much, much cuter than the average supersized mouse, they are not less aggressive than them. |
| 324 | * ''VideoGame/MirrorsEdge'' breaks realism to include one, if you fire at a certain sign with a sniper rifle. |
| 325 | * ''VideoGame/MonsterEye'' has giant rats as enemies in a few stages, the size of Dobermans. And a few GiantMook rodents larger than most automobiles for good measure. |
| 326 | * ''VideoGame/NetHack'' has giant rats, but even for a newly-created character they're cannon-fodder. The [=UnNetHack=] variant also includes Enormous Rats Also, one of the (non-existant) monsters you can see while [[StatusEffects hallucinating]] is a literal Rodent Of Unusual Size. |
| 327 | * ''VideoGame/NightmareCreatures'': Giant rats are reoccurring enemies in the Wharf areas. They show up somewhat late in the game, and are considerably weaker enemies (especially if you've upgraded your weapon). |
| 328 | * ''VideoGame/OceanhornMonsterOfUnchartedSeas'': The rats in the game are half as big as the PlayerCharacter when they're down on all fours. |
| 329 | * ''VideoGame/OneDogStory'': One of the enemy types in the game is rats that, when reared up on their hind legs, are as tall as human beings. |
| 330 | * ''VideoGame/OrientalLegend'' have the Rodent Demon boss, a giant bipedal rodent monster several times larger than your players. It can also summon a SwarmOfRats on you. |
| 331 | * ''VideoGame/ParasiteEve'' had mutated rodents that tried to kill you. And giant squirrels, too. |
| 332 | * ''VideoGame/Pikmin3'': Bearded Amprats are an odd case, as strictly speaking they're around the same size as a real-life hamster. From the point of view of the characters, [[{{Lilliputians}} who are on average no larger than a quarter]], they're however colossal beasts and can pose a serious threat to your Pikmin. |
| 333 | * ''VideoGame/PinkPantherHokusPokusPink'': While in Siberia, Pink encounters an underground living group of giant, intelligent, anthropomorphic rats. He has to get their help [[ItMakesSenseInContext to create an earthquake]]. |
| 334 | * ''VideoGame/PixelDungeon'': and various mods have these as one of theses as some of the earliest enemies along with giant bats. |
| 335 | * ''Videogame/PlanescapeTorment'' includes the ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' monsters, cranium rats and wererats, mentioned above. |
| 336 | * ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' has quite a few of these, often ComMons. Examples include Rattata, Pachirisu, and of course, the Pikachu family. They are usually cute, big eyed and not very menacing. Not even those with teeth bared are all that terrifying. |
| 337 | ** Raticate is slightly more intimidating than some of the others, and extremely annoying if you're up against one with that much hated Super Fang move. That's not getting into ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'' where you fight the [[KingMook Totem Raticate]]... |
| 338 | ** Averted by the Bidoof family, as they are based on beavers, which really do get that big. |
| 339 | * ''VideoGame/ProjectEden'' features normal sized rats that [[ShapeshifterBaggage transform]] into giant [[NightmareFuel acid spraying monstrosities]] |
| 340 | * ''VideoGame/PuzzleQuest: Challenge Of The Warlords'' has giant rats, scorpions, bats, and wasps. The first two can be captured and ridden, granting the player a different stat bonus and additional spell, depending on which one you choose. |
| 341 | * ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilOutbreak File #2'' features those rats that spread the T-Virus attacking one of HUNK's men after he'd been felled by Birkin. There was also artwork showing mutant rats that didn't make the game. |
| 342 | * ''VideoGame/NancyDrew'': The bonus-content version of the credits in ''Resorting to Danger'' includes a clip of Casper the albino squirrel, grown to the size of an elephant, destroying the laboratory by shooting [[EnergyWeapon laser beams]] [[EyeBeams from his eyes.]] |
| 343 | * ''VideoGame/RuneScape'': Giant rats are very common monsters, especially in lower-level areas. |
| 344 | * ''VideoGame/ShiningForce'': |
| 345 | ** The second game has rat enemies of both varieties as the above examples. On the first battle on the field, the party encounters Huge Rats. Later in the game, the party gets shrunk down as part of the storyline and faces normal-sized rats. Your stats don't suffer the debilitating effects of Mini like in FFIII, but those normal rats are still hella strong. And led by a super-rat named Willard. |
| 346 | ** Slade the rat thief, who started the entire mess in the game by stealing the Jewels of Light and Evil. Including him in the fight with Willard causes instant FurryConfusion because Slade is anthropomorphic. |
| 347 | * ''VideoGame/TheSimsMedieval'' has dire ''[[KillerRabbit chinchillas]]''. |
| 348 | * Creator/SpiderwebSoftware: Every roleplaying game the company has ever made, with the exception of the original ''VideoGame/{{Geneforge}}'', has giant rats in it. They're usually the very first enemies you fight before you go on any quests. |
| 349 | * ''VideoGame/TheStrangeAndSomewhatSinisterTaleOfTheHouseAtDesertBridge'' has giant Hamsters [[DoomyDoomsOfDoom of Doom]] who provide HamsterWheelPower to the entire house. |
| 350 | * ''Videogame/SuikodenII'' had a giant, mutated Sewer Rat for a boss. Which could attack twice per turn, and hit all of your party with each attack for a ''lot'' of damage. {{Goddamned|Bats}} rats. |
| 351 | * Mouser from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'' is a gigantic bomb throwing killer mouse boss. Who has probably the most ironic kind of name ever for such a creature (considering the word 'mouser' means 'cat which catches mice'). |
| 352 | * ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'' has a similar situation where the party gets shrunk down in a sewer and meets the same itty bitty mice which they can encounter as [=GIANT=] [=KICKBOXING=] [=MICE=]. |
| 353 | * ''VideoGame/TitanQuest'': The Rat-Men . You first fight the weak, thin ones in Greece and then meet their larger, [[DemonicSpiders strongers]] cousins in Orient. |
| 354 | * ''VideoGame/TombRaiderI'' has rats that are at least the size of a medium-sized dog once you reach the "Cistern" stage in the Greek section of the game. Given how other animals were generally a believable size up to this point, [[NightmareFuel/TombRaider it was noticeable.]] Later games made the rats at a more normal size and removed their ability to swim. |
| 355 | * ''VideoGame/UltimaUnderworld II'' features giant rats of various types. |
| 356 | * ''VideoGame/{{Wayward}}'': Giant rats are common enemies. They are relatively easy to kill, and their fur is a useful material for crafting. |
| 357 | * ''VideoGame/WoolfeTheRedHoodDiaries'': The sewer level has rats as big as small dogs. |
| 358 | [[/folder]] |
| 359 | |
| 360 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 361 | * The trope name is evoked in the title of an ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'' [[http://www.nuklearpower.com/2005/07/12/episode-575-rats-of-unusual-size/ episode]] which discusses dire rats... but the resulting rodent isn't one, just an AxCrazy dwarf disguised to chase for it. |
| 362 | * In the ''Webcomic/BladeOfToshubi'' we have Toshubi, a human-sized anthropomorphic mouse from a village of human-sized anthropomorphic mice. |
| 363 | * ''Webcomic/CrewDogs'': Rodents of Unusual Size live in the ceiling spaces, and are known to feed on [[EnsignNewbie Second Lieutenants.]] |
| 364 | * ''Webcomic/{{Dregs}}'': Ironfang is a rat larger than most humans. |
| 365 | * Hamstard, the Bastard Hamster mascot of ''Webcomic/{{Erfworld}}'''s in-character blog, qualifies by virtue of being incredibly fat. Really, Parson should've gotten the little blob an exercise wheel before being swept off to another dimension... |
| 366 | * In ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'' Sam lists the Earth animals that have [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3300/fc03220.htm tried to eat him]], including "... rodents of unusual size, rodents of usual size ...". |
| 367 | * ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' |
| 368 | ** The Sturmhalten sewer guides are actually ''surprised'' to learn from Agatha's would-be rescuers that sewer rats [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20060501 normally aren't giant and glowing.]] Lars is worried, being used to rats who are 60 centimeters, tops, but as it turns out, he needn't have worried, the monsters the group soon encounters have no rats among their number. |
| 369 | ** Much later, Agatha and Co. ''do'' [[https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20210616 encounter]] the giant rats who guard the island lair of the English [[MadScientist Spark]] Francisia Monahan. |
| 370 | * The dungeon rats in ''Webcomic/LatchkeyKingdom''. They'll eat your corpse if you die in the dungeon, sure, but otherwise they're usually friendly and help [[DungeonMaintenance keep up the place]]. To an inexperienced observer, they may seem to have developed a culture; in reality, they're just a bunch of animals who like to imitate society. |
| 371 | * Giant mutant rodents are the signature creation of ''Webcomic/{{Narbonic}}'''s Helen Narbon. Of course, Helen being a young girl at heart, they happen to be giant mutant ''gerbils''. |
| 372 | * ''Secretary'', the second arc of ''Webcomic/NatureOfNaturesArt'', plays with this trope. All of the important characters are rodents in this arc, and some are bigger than others. In the end, though, the only one who plays the trope straight is the advanced class teacher - he makes degus (SV and NT) and chinchillas (SV's teacher) look ''small'', and early in the arc, a mouse called NT "huge". |
| 373 | * ''Webcomic/SleeplessDomain'': The monster that tries to break into the safety center where Vedika volunteers resembles a large purple rat, seemingly made up of a [[SwarmOfRats cluster of smaller rats]] stuck together in RatKing fashion. It's not particularly formidable by monster standards, but since Vedika, the only MagicalGirl available to deal with it, has no combat powers, even it poses a considerable threat. |
| 374 | * Not surprisingly, Furry comic ''Webcomic/{{Supermegatopia}}'' has several larger anthropomorphic rodents, including Distraction Damsel (though she's only really big [[MostCommonSuperpower where it counts]]), [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Mighty Mighty Hamster]], and of course, the [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever World's Largest Hamster]]. |
| 375 | * In ''Webcomic/{{Weregeek}}'', when the GM mentions rodents of unusual size attacking the party, they protest that given their statistics of rodent encounters, that size is the ''usual'' one. |
| 376 | * In ''Webcomic/{{Yamara}}'', Tim the paladin is turned into a vampire, but messes up his first attempt to turn into a bat, becoming a giant flying squirrel instead. |
| 377 | [[/folder]] |
| 378 | |
| 379 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 380 | * Actually older than WebOriginal, as it goes back to Usenet, the [[http://cgi.cs.indiana.edu/~oracle/ Internet Oracle]] has as his arch enemy Woodchucks. The reason is the infamous Woodchuck question he is constantly asked, "How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?". Some of his enemy woodchucks were rather large. After ''Film/ThePrincessBride'' came out, they were given the official name of "R.O.U.S.". |
| 381 | * ''WebOriginal/BosunsJournal'': While not directly shown in the artwork, the early civilization used genetic engineering to create rattle, large rodents intended to serve as cattle, which afterwards remain as part of the wildlife alongside nonsapient posthumans. |
| 382 | * ''Blog/HamstersParadise'' is an online SpeculativeBiology thought-experiment worldbuilding project about a planet seeded with simple plant and invertebrate life, plus a small colony of Chinese dwarf hamsters, by human terraformers. The humans left and never returned, but the hamsters became the ancestors of an entire biosphere's worth of vertebrate species, megafauna included, with the largest land hamsters being the 21-ton hammoths and the oceans being ruled by the whale-like seavers and the pliosaur-like leviahams. |
| 383 | * ''Literature/LoomingGaia'': Titan rats are rats around the size of small dogs found in Umory-Ond. Pixies use them as mounts and beasts of burden, others keep them as pets, and some eat them. |
| 384 | * [[http://www.kongregate.com/games/nerdook/monster-slayers Monster Slayers]] features these as one of the enemies. |
| 385 | * {{Kizzsprite}} is a chinchilla, resurrected as a kernelsprite. Of course, much weird plot shit surrounds him. We probably shouldn't get any further than that. |
| 386 | * ''Website/{{Mortasheen}}'' has a few, including the amoebic, thieving [[http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/gravesnitch.htm Gravesnitch,]] the oddly-toothed [[http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/gnawful.htm Gnawful,]] the cold-loving [[http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/abomignash.htm Abomignash,]] and the absolutely disturbing [[http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/vermoeba.htm Vermoeba]] (which is based on the Rat King detailed below) |
| 387 | * ''WebAnimation/MinilifeTV'': Ratzer, the main antagonist of the episode "Super Mini-Bros.", is a rat that's about twice the size of an average minifigure. |
| 388 | * WebVideo/Jerma985's video ''WebVideo/RatMovieMysteryOfTheMayanTreasure'' features a mischief of rats led by [[MemeticMutation The Giant Rat that Makes All of the Rules]]. When said Giant Rat dies, another one of the rats grows in size and becomes the next Giant Rat. |
| 389 | [[/folder]] |
| 390 | |
| 391 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 392 | * An episode of ''WesternAnimation/AladdinTheSeries'' featured rat people, who were only slightly shorter than Jasmine and Aladdin. |
| 393 | * Played straight with ''Franchise/AlvinAndTheChipmunks''. In addition to possessing human-like faces and ears, the Chipmunks and Chipettes were originally human-sized, making them more like chipmunk-shaped humans in ''WesternAnimation/TheAlvinShow'', [[WesternAnimation/AlvinAndTheChipmunks 80s TV series]] and films. This later became averted in [[Film/AlvinAndTheChipmunks the CGI/live action films]] when they were the size of actual chipmunks in real life. |
| 394 | * In ''WesternAnimation/BackAtTheBarnyard'' when everyone got a clone, said clones were all mini-sized... except Pip's, who went the other way. |
| 395 | * In ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars,''[[note]]and its sequel series, ''WesternAnimation/BeastMachines''[[/note]] Rattrap's rat mode is shown being significantly larger than normal rats. This is especially unusual in that Transformers has previously shown a willingness to show characters alternate forms as being significantly smaller than their robot modes would indicate (Megatron, Soundwave, Blaster, etc.). |
| 396 | ** Justified In-Universe in that the purpose of the beast mode is not for disguise (though that could be a bonus for some), but rather to protect from energon overload: as such, size was not a priority. |
| 397 | *** Size-changing is further elaborated on in the IDW comics as having become LostTechnology due to an energy crisis. |
| 398 | ** In the cartoons, the Maximals and Predacons of ''Beast Wars'' were smaller descendants of the Autobots and Decepticons. The IDW comics have [[CanonForeigner brought in some Beast-era characters to their G1-based universe,]] made them Autobots and Decepticons, and sized them up to fit in with the general populace. Rattrap is one of them, meaning his rat mode is apparently the size of a ''car'' (though he never once transforms through the course of the comic). |
| 399 | * ''WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse'': Rook picked up his impressive fighting skills defending his planet's wheat silos from the local rodents, which, according to him, "Run fairly large." He wasn't kidding, as they show up in a later episode, trained up as mooks for the Villain of the Week, and they're larger than an adult man. |
| 400 | * Gorgonzola from ''WesternAnimation/{{Chowder}}''. Also, overabundance of giant rats is apparently why Mung [[IdiotBall keeps poison in the spice cabinet]]. |
| 401 | * In ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'', a RecurringCharacter who occasionally helps Courage out is a giant anthropomorphic rat named Mr. Mouse. |
| 402 | -->'''Courage:''' Thanks, Mr. Mouse!\ |
| 403 | '''Mr. Mouse:''' No prob. |
| 404 | * One episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Cyberchase}}'' involved The Hacker using a giant hamster called a hamborg (which for some reason resembled a capybara) as part of his evil plan. |
| 405 | * That ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode about the world being destroyed by [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2000_problem Y2K.]] The Griffins leave Joe to fight a giant mutant rat. His response? "[[BringIt Bring It On]]!!!" |
| 406 | * In the when-nightmares-attack episode of ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeARealAmericanHero'', Lowlight is revealed to have recurrent bad dreams about hybrid rat/car horrors stalking him at night in his father's junkyard. |
| 407 | * ''WesternAnimation/GodzillaTheSeries'' featured the titular reptile chasing down giant rats in New York City in an episode entitled "Cat and Mouse." |
| 408 | * Professor Ratigan from the Disney movie ''WesternAnimation/TheGreatMouseDetective'' insists on being called a big mouse even though he looks like a rat. In his defense he was a mouse in the original book series. |
| 409 | * [[FriendToAllChildren The Hamster King]] from ''WesternAnimation/Hero108'' is the size of a human and [[FullyDressedCartoonAnimal dressed up as a samurai]]. |
| 410 | * ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' had Peepi the hamster. Zim used his newfound knowledge of the human weakness to cute things to make Peepi into a virtually unstoppable monster. |
| 411 | ** ...of course, then he realized he had no way to control said unstoppable monster, leading to an EnemyMine situation. |
| 412 | * An episode of ''WesternAnimation/JimmyTwoShoes'' featured a rat bigger than a horse attacking [[FatIdiot Beezy]]. |
| 413 | * ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' |
| 414 | ** More than one WesternAnimation/{{Sylvester|TheCatAndTweetyBird}} cartoon had him '''thinking''' he's encountered this trope, but it's really a young kangaroo that keeps swapping places with the mouse he's after and smacking him around. |
| 415 | ** In ''WesternAnimation/TheGreatPiggyBankRobbery'', Duck Twacy follows footprints to a teeny-tiny mousehole and deduces the criminal Mouse Man is inside. He shouts "Come on out, ya rat!" and a HUGE snarling rat-in-a-suit pops out looming over Twacy, who whimpers "*gulp*...go...back...inside." |
| 416 | ** In the ''WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadRunner'' cartoon "Chariots of Fur", Wile E. tries to catch the Roadrunner with a giant mousetrap. Instead, he snags a giant mouse, who then turns the tables on him. |
| 417 | * The Creator/TexAvery classic ''WesternAnimation/KingSizeCanary'' has a cat trying to make a decent meal out of a puny canary by feeding it fast-growth plant food. It works alarmingly well, and soon the cat, the bird, a mouse, and a bulldog are all taking swigs of the stuff, jockeying for size supremacy. The cartoon ends with the cat and mouse waving goodbye to us, standing on a relative beach ball sized planet Earth. |
| 418 | * Wilfred of ''WesternAnimation/{{Patrol 03}}'' is a mouse with elephantesque proportions. |
| 419 | * ''WesternAnimation/ThePenguinsOfMadagascar'' features King Rat, a tall, muscle-bound mutated lab rat who occasionally leaves the sewer to make trouble for the penguins. |
| 420 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': |
| 421 | ** In an early episode, Bart is [[LittleKnownFacts convinced]] by Sherri and Terri that the ''Mayflower'' left England to escape from giant rats. |
| 422 | ** While not a direct example, Homer once fantasized Lisa as a Princess, Marge as a Queen and Bart as a giant rat. Giant rat Bart then chews on the wall, which he was actually doing outside of the fantasy. |
| 423 | ** Though a more literal example would be the WesternAnimation/TreehouseOfHorror segment "Terror of Tiny Toon" in which Bart and Lisa are trapped inside the TV being hunted down by a murderous Itchy and Scratchy. In which Itchy is about the same height as the kids. Though it is averted when Itchy enters the "real world" and becomes the size of a normal mouse. |
| 424 | * ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' was attacked by giant carnivorous guinea pigs. The guinea pig community was quite full of {{Squee}} over it. |
| 425 | * In one ''WesternAnimation/SuperFriends'' episode, Sinestro creates a giant rat to attack the heroes; Franchise/GreenLantern handles it by using ''his'' ring to create a giant ''cat'' to chase it away. |
| 426 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheTick'' had Speak, his pet capybara (see Real Life, below), much to [[{{Sidekick}} Arthur's]] dismay. |
| 427 | * ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'': |
| 428 | ** Jerry pulled the same trick quoted above with Sylvester on Tom, with a ''baby elephant''. Tom eventually decides to get a gun to solve the issue, but by that time, the Elephant's mother had shown up, and Jerry convinces ''her'' to take up the disguise to trick Tom one last time. |
| 429 | ** One classic had Jerry become a giant at the end because of a growth chemical he had concocted. |
| 430 | * One episode of ''WesternAnimation/CatDog'' opened with Cat mocking mouse sized Winslow for being small. Suddenly, he and Dog are whisked to a future being oppressed by Winslow's descendant, his ancestor taking the slight to heart and beginning a family tradition of exercise that made each generation bigger than the last. Winslow the 38th is more than a few heads taller than most of the cast and [[LargeAndInCharge flaunts it]]. |
| 431 | * ''WesternAnimation/TwelveOunceMouse'': Fitz is a human-sized mouse. |
| 432 | [[/folder]] |
| 433 | |
| 434 | [[folder:Real Life]] |
| 435 | * The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capybara capybara]] is a South American rodent related to the guinea pig and the world's largest living rodent, ''it's the size of a St. Bernard''. They are also completely harmless to humans and are [[GentleGiant calm and gentle animals]] that are FriendToAllLivingThings. |
| 436 | * The prehistoric rodent ''Josephoartigasia monesi'', biggest ever: its incisors were a foot long (roughly 30 cm), it stood ''five feet at the shoulder (1.52 m) and was ten feet long (3 m) from nose to tail'', and was estimated to weigh ''a ton''. That is the size of a ''full-grown cow!'' |
| 437 | ** Another prehistoric R.o.U.S. is the ''Phoberomys pattersoni'', weighing in at approximately 550 pounds and related to the modern guinea pig. Upon its discovery in the early 2000s, it was given a nickname by the media: "guineazilla." |
| 438 | * The Bosavi woolly rat, discovered in Papua New Guinea in 2009, [[https://i.guim.co.uk/img/static/sys-images/Media/Pix/pictures/2009/9/8/1252416288229/Steve-Greenwood-and-a-Bos-001.jpg?w=620&q=55&auto=format&usm=12&fit=max&s=eb2910eb391e419b59e0431a57080649 is about the size of a full-grown jackrabbit]]. |
| 439 | * Trench rats in UsefulNotes/WorldWarI were often reported to grow to the size of house cats, because of their constant gorging on the corpses in No Man's Land and the soldiers' food. And when feasting on the corpses, these bloated rats [[EyeScream ate out the corpses' eyes first]]. [[http://www.firstworldwar.com/atoz/rats.htm This site]] has a little article about the trench rats in [=WW1=]. Imagine sleeping with overgrown, bloated rats the size of a house cat running across your face. NightmareFuel, no? |
| 440 | ** Subverted by an incident described by Creator/JRRTolkien during his service in France. Amid all the horrors he endured in the Battle of the Somme, he once reached for a field phone and a little mouse ran over his hand. Aw. |
| 441 | ** There is an entire episode of the t.v. show ''Monster Quest'' that deals with sightings of cat or even dog-sized rats in major U.S. cities like New York, including a homeless man who reported a 3-foot giant in an abandoned subway tunnel. |
| 442 | * In waterways around the US, (and up to around 2005 in the Norfolk Broads in the UK. Although they are "functionally extinct" there, there still are rumours that a few breeding pairs have survived) [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coypu Coypu,]] also known as nutria, (once farmed for their fur) have established breeding populations. These semiaquatic mammals are actually from a different family of rodent than rats, and are ''supposed'' to be the size of tomcats. They are similar to beavers but with orange teeth and a rat's tail instead of a flat beaver tail. When the fur trade collapsed, fur farmers turned them loose and they've become quite the destructive pest since, destroying aquatic vegetation, digging out riverbanks and causing collapses, and spreading some rather unpleasant diseases. They're considered one of the worst invasive species in the world. |
| 443 | ** If you ever see a "giant killer rat" in a sideshow, it's probably a coypu. (They used to use capybaras, but those are incredibly high-maintenance, plus coypus look more like rats than capybaras do.) |
| 444 | * The Gambian giant pouched rat can grow to over 2' long, and is one of the largest rodents to be formally classified as "rats". They've playful herbivores which have been trained to sniff out land mines in Africa, which kinda subverts this trope's "feared, flesh-rending predator" aspect. |
| 445 | * The tragically critically-endangered [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_rat Cloud Rats]] of the Philippines. As cute as living stuff toys! |
| 446 | * [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_giant_squirrel The Indian Giant Squirrel]] is aptly named. |
| 447 | * Prehistoric rodents could get absolutely gigantic, aside from the above-mentioned ''Josephoartigasia monesi'': ''Neochoerus pinckneyi'' is a Capybara 40% larger than its modern cousin (200-250lbs); ''Castoroides'', a beaver the size of a VW Bug (8ft long, 200+ lbs); ''Phoberomys pattersoni'' is one of largest of all known rodents, growing to almost 10ft in length with an additional 4ft of tail, weighing up to 1,500lbs. A lot of these giant South American rodents are basically even bigger capybara. |
| 448 | * Tehran, Iran, currently suffers from a severe rat infestation, with an estimated 25 million black and Norway rats occupying a city with about half that many people. Some of the rodents reportedly grow to at least 16 inches long and 5 pounds in weight, suggesting these might actually be of a larger species that's begun to displace the others. Iran is what used to be Persia; what animal do we associate with Persia? |
| 449 | * Ironically, millions of medieval people probably ''owe their lives'' to the arrival of rodents of unusual size, namely the spread of the larger Norway rat into territories previously occupied by the black rat. Of the two major rat species that infest human communities, the smaller black rat is far more prone to transmit bubonic plague to humans via its fleas, so the Norway rat's displacement of its weaker cousins throughout much of the world helped to reduce the frequency and severity of plague outbreaks. |
| 450 | * Breeders of fancy rats have begun developing varieties for the pet trade, including a "goliath" strain intended to be larger than usual. As such breeding programs are just getting started, "goliath" rats will need many more generations before they're even double the size of normal fancy rats. |
| 451 | * In Creator/DavidSimon's book ''Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets'' about his shadowing of the Baltimore PD's Homicide Unit during their 1988 working year, the detectives notice an enormous street rat chasing a cat across the street. As this happens right after the infamous Latonya Wallace murder case, which unites the whole neighbourhood and has drug dealers lining up to help the police with their investigation and generally turning the usual "never talk to cops" neighborhood paradigm on it's head, Simon notes the symbolism of the reversal.. |
| 452 | * "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflatable_rat Scabby the Rat]]" is a giant-rat inflatable mascot used by labor unions in the eastern United States as a picketing display. Court cases in defense of the unions' right to display Scabby have ruled that showing him constitutes protected speech under the First Amendment, striking down attempts to ban such inflatable figures' use for non-commercial purposes. |
| 453 | * Beavers are fairly large, too, standing about 3 feet tall on their hind legs. They're the largest living rodents in the Northern Hemisphere and second largest (after capybara) in the world. |
| 454 | * Third in size are extant porcupines, the Old World species especially. New World species, however, are no runts as North American species are the second largest living rodent in the N. Hemisphere after beavers. |
| 455 | [[/folder]] |
| 456 |
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