Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context Main / StrippedToTheBone

Go To

1%%
2%%
3%%
4%%
5%%
6%% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks!
7%%
8%%
9%%
10%%
11%%
12%%
13[[quoteright:254:[[TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/CrumbleToDust_2478.jpg]]]]
14[[caption-width-right:254:[[BondOneLiner "Yes, I believe 'toast' is an appropriate description."]] --[[DeadpanSnarker Jaya Ballard]], task mage]]
15
16->''"I feel so alone, gonna end up a big ole pile of them bones."''
17-->-- '''Music/AliceInChains''', "Them Bones"
18
19The human skeleton is pretty tough. If you drink a lot of milk and get plenty of sunshine,[[labelnote:*]]This being just one of the many ways you can get Vitamin D from your surrounding environment, which is just as important in maintaining your bones as the calcium in your diet[[/labelnote]] your bones can grow to be stronger than concrete[[labelnote:*]]By weight, anyway. A pound of bone is stronger than a pound of concrete, but only just.[[/labelnote]]; shattering a bone requires a really, really strong hit, as in "crashing your car at 60 km/h"-strong. Did you know that crematoria actually grind bones because otherwise, the fragments could be too big to fit in the urns?
20
21But a lot of science fiction writers seem to think that the skeleton is absolutely impervious to any weapon. Hit 'em with {{Energy Weapon}}s (especially {{Disintegrator Ray}}s), fry 'em with [[LightningCanDoAnything electricity]], dunk 'em in [[HollywoodAcid acid]], all that will be left is a skeleton. If it's technology that does it, the resulting skeleton is usually bleached white like a medical grade demonstration. If magic, the resulting skeleton is normally old and dusty. The skeleton will also typically still be joined together perfectly, even if all the sinews and tissues that hold it together have been destroyed. Almost like it's some kind of prop or something. Alternatively, it may hold its position prior to being exposed for just a moment, before comically falling to pieces, perhaps with [[XylophonesForWalkingBones a xylophone sound]], especially if being PlayedForLaughs.
22
23Arguably, of course, the bones are the hardest and densest structures in the human body (the jaw and teeth especially) so it would make sense that the skeleton would be the last body part to be destroyed. Of course, when whatever substance that has disintegrated the rest of the body has also been known to destroy much tougher substances, it goes from being understandable to an expected SciFi trope.
24
25Also occurs in fantasy settings.
26
27The purpose of this trope, of course, is shock-effect rather than realism: i.e. to visibly communicate the fact that the person is ''really dead'' since their simply ''[[NoBodyLeftBehind disappearing]]'' wouldn't have nearly the same impact as seeing them instantly turned into The Grim Reaper's twin brother. Meanwhile, at the same time, it's "cleaner" and less gruesome to show a person turned into a Halloween-type skeleton than the blood-and-gore of nastier deaths, while likewise being more devastating since it would obviously take more of an impact to strip someone to the bones than simply gouge the flesh. A variant of this trope is to have a person be reduced to a skeleton, let them stay like that for the briefest of moments, and ''then'' have the skeleton disintegrate or disappear.
28
29Compare XRaySparks, when someone's skeleton is briefly visible through their skin. Occasionally, that trope may cross over with this one. If somehow the skeleton can keep moving ''well'' after this fact (or never even needed organic matter to do it), see DemBones.
30
31This might be part of why people are MadeOfIron. Also, compare MadeOfPlasticine; here, everything but the skeleton appears to be. See also RoboticReveal.
32
33Not to be confused with ShamefulStrip, where a person is forcibly stripped to the skin but is at least allowed to keep ''that.''
34
35!!As this is a {{Death Trope|s}}, [[Administrivia/SpoilersOff unmarked spoilers abound]]. [[Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned Beware]].
36----
37!!Examples:
38
39[[foldercontrol]]
40
41[[folder:Advertising]]
42* There's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TF96H3aJoKs a drunk driving PSA from the mid-1980s]] where a group of friends, who'd had "a few", get into a car...[[spoiler:And then in a bright flash, they're suddenly skeletons when the key is turned.]]
43-->If you don't stop your friends from drinking and driving...You're as good as dead.
44[[/folder]]
45
46[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
47* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'':
48** Barragan has an ability in his released form that will rot away all of the flesh, muscle, and organs of a person until all that is left are the bones. In the anime, when [[spoiler:Soifon]] is hit in the arm, and summarily cuts it off to stop the decay from spreading, even the ''bones'' turn to dust and vanish.
49** This later happens to [[spoiler:Driscoll Berci]] when Yamamoto roasts him.
50** This later happens to [[spoiler:Robert Accutrone]] when Yhwach conducts a second [[ThePurge Auswählen]]. And when he conducts a third one, it happens to [[spoiler:Gerard Valkyrie]].
51* In ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', one blast Piccolo fires at a remaining member of Nappa's Saibamen destroys it so thoroughly only the skeleton remains.
52* Happens to Rem in ''Anime/DreamHunterRem'' where her skin melts off and she becomes a pile of bones. She promptly gets better.
53* A variation in ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar''. Usually, people explode into LudicrousGibs, but the Colonel of Godland is killed by Kenshiro in a manner that takes a new spin on the concept. As expected, the Colonel explodes into a gory mess when he dies... by ''ejecting his skeleton from his body.'' The skeleton ''also'' explodes in the anime, but is implied to be left behind in Godland in the manga.
54* [[spoiler: Lust's]] death in ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' sees [[spoiler:her]] reduced to bones for a second, but seconds later the skeleton disintegrates too.
55* ''Manga/InuYasha'':
56** Many demons turn to bones when killed.
57** This is the fate of [[spoiler: all of the Band of Seven]]. Justified since they were resurrected by the power of the Shikon Jewel, and when they died their bodies simply [[NoImmortalInertia reverted to what they were before]]; bones.
58* ''Manga/KimbaTheWhiteLion'': In the [[AlternateContinuity 2009 movie]], there's a swarm of mechanical bugs that reduces some birds to bones in seconds; an unpleasant surprise to anybody who's watched the 1960's show. {{Justified|Trope}} since the carnivorous bugs have no interest in eating bones, just the flesh.
59* The finale of ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaTheMovie2ndAs'' has Shamal detecting the core of [[EnemyWithout NachtWal]] while it was in the middle of getting disintegrated by Nanoha, Fate, and Hayate's [[CombinationAttack Triple Breaker]], specifically at the point where its torso had been reduced to its ribs and spine.
60* Happens to a random giant demon monster thing in the opening of ''Manga/OnePunchMan'' -- a single PunchParry from Saitama flays the giant monster to little more than a flailing skeleton in a fraction of a second.
61* In ''Manga/PuellaMagiOrikoMagica'', this is what happens to [[spoiler: Kazuko Saotome]] during a Witch attack at Madoka and Co.'s school.
62* From ''Manga/{{Toriko}}'' this is [[EvilOldFolks Chiyo]]'s favorite method of killing, as she demonstrates on some poor guy: Stripping flesh and organs, leaving clean white bone, in the blink of an eye. The guy [[YouAreAlreadyDead didn't even realize it]] until he looked down and saw his midsection was missing.
63[[/folder]]
64
65[[folder:Comic Books]]
66* Happens in ''ComicBook/FiftyTwo''. [[spoiler:ComicBook/BoosterGold appears to have been Stripped to the Bone (well, and his costume) by a nuclear explosion, but it turns out that his survival was [[ThePlan planned]]. Booster is alive and well, and faked the body by using his own dead body from the future.]]
67* When Wang vaporizes Bernie's face in ''ComicBook/EightBillionGenies'', all that's left of the blackmailer's head is his skull, which promptly falls off his body and onto the table.
68* ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' Vol. 1 #241. Several Russian scientists end up this way, mystifying Reed Richards. Explained later; the Big Bad has vast cosmic powers and just simply likes disposing of malcontents this way.
69* ''ComicBook/GIJoeVsTheTransformers 2''. A KillSat, invented by the good guys, blasts nukes into harmless puffs of machinery. However, when it hits Mercer, a good guy (oops), the flesh goes but the skeleton does not.
70* Gina defeats Dreadwing this way in ''ComicBook/GoldDigger'', booby-trapping the Time Raft to fry the dragon. Later, it turns out that she actually sent the rest of him (still alive) elsewhere through time and space, where another villain finds and does a FusionDance with him, eventually forming Gina's ArchEnemy.
71* Happens a lot in the ''ComicBook/{{Hellboy}}'' comics, especially to evil supernatural creatures who are killed by sunlight, touching holy ground, etc.
72* ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'': The Hulk has done it on occasion.
73* In Bill Willingham's ''ComicBook/{{Ironwood}}'' comic, a [[MultiarmedMultitasking four-armed]] [[AmazonianBeauty Amazonian woman]] has her skin, flesh and fabulous pair of chesty bulbs disintegrated, turning her into a [[MultiarmedAndDangerous four-armed skeleton wielding a sword and shield with her lower pair of arms and a huge flail with her upper pair]].
74* Practically everyone [[FallenHero the Plutonian]] kills with his heat vision in ''ComicBook/{{Irredeemable}}'' leaves behind a charred, smoking skeleton. Also, one of the penultimate events that result in the Plutonian's FaceHeelTurn is when dozens of children are killed by an alien virus that liquefies soft tissue, [[DemBones animates their skeletal remains]], and spreads through their screams.
75* A whole field of super-human bones is left in the wake of a nuclear explosion at the climax of ''ComicBook/KingdomCome''.
76* Subverted by DC's post-Zero Hour ''Comicbook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'': Toward the end of a particular arc, several characters are apparently killed and one of them is Stripped to the Bone. Following the climax of the arc, it's revealed that none of them were killed; it was all part of a BatmanGambit, and the Stripped character was actually Invisible Kid exploiting his ability to turn parts of his body invisible while leaving other parts (in this case, his bones) visible.
77** During the pre-ComicBook/ZeroHourCrisisInTime but ComicBook/PostCrisis Legion stories set after the five-year jump and the fall of much of the galactic structure, Dominators and other aliens would often use weapons on the hapless that left nothing but a fried set of bones, most often not intact.
78* In the Marvel mini-series ''ComicBook/MystechWars'', [[spoiler: Nick Fury]] is captured by the villains and strapped to a device that is supposed to flay "skin from bone and soul from body." It does. The end result is not pretty. [[spoiler: The ending hits the ResetButton and undoes this, though.]]
79* In ''ComicBook/NoHero'', one of the heroes is killed with a chemical weapon specifically designed to dissolve flesh, leaving bone intact.
80* In ''ComicBook/OurWorldsAtWar'', Imperiex [[TheWorfEffect takes out]] Doomsday by reducing him to a skeleton with a single energy blast. Being Doomsday, he eventually regenerates his body in a later story.
81* Though it's yet to be shown happening to anyone, the voracious female faeries in ''ComicBook/{{Proof}}'' are said to be able to strip a person to the bone in seconds.
82* ''ComicBook/Robin1993'': Most of the people whose life energy Johnny Warlock drains leave behind a desiccated skeletal corpse with only shriveled scraps of their flesh left.
83* The 32nd issue of ''ComicBook/RomSpaceKnight'' had Hybrid reduce a bunch of recently escaped convincts (who had tricked Rom into setting them free) to skeletons, much to the horror of Mystique, Rogue and Destiny.
84* A ''ComicBook/SecretSix'' (second version, after the 60's originals but before the anti-villain incarnations)story from the late 80's in Action Comics Weekly (briefly an anthology series) had a corporation set a very corrosive cloud of acid rain over a small town, hoping to sell people protection from this 'new threat' later on. In the opener, the rain begins to fall; two teen girls part ways and try to make it home. One clearly does not. She passes out on the sidewalk, and the next panel shows she has been skeletonized; the next panel shows she is gone, and the plot tells that the whole town was lost, though if everyone met her exact fate is never revealed.
85* A short arc in DC's ''ComicBook/AdventureComics'' has ComicBook/TheSpectre going around punishing criminals with TransformationTrauma. He invokes this trope for one guy.
86* ''ComicBook/StrontiumDog'': Happens to Johnny Alpha at the end of ''The Final Solution'', though the bones are not exactly bleached white and do collapse into a pile once the monster releases its grasp. However, the recent ''Death And Life Of Johnny Alpha'' has {{retcon}}ned this into something that Feral just said happened.
87* ''ComicBook/SWORD2020'': During issue 4, a Knull-possessed Cable inflicts this on Fabian Cortez and Sunfire, in a manner of seconds.
88* ''ComicBook/Superboy1994'': The people the Mo'o (who is closer to a vampire than the traditional dragon) feed on only leave behind lightly smoking skeletons and their tattered clothes.
89* Dr. Jon Osterman's disintegration in ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'', where the skeleton's visibly the last part to go.
90** Slight variation in the [[Film/{{Watchmen}} film version]] as you see him stripped away layer by layer like an anatomy textbook...
91*** And then reconstituted the same way, which looked pretty sweet.
92** Dan's Nuclear Nightmare is a variation of this, very similar to the ''Terminator II'' version.
93* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'':
94** When Ares is finished possessing a human he intentionally causes their PossessionBurnout to start boiling their flesh, which tends to leave a pile of smoldering bones with scraps of clothes and a bit of bubbling fluid them as their remains.
95** When the White Magician suffers a SuperpowerMeltdown his magic burns away his flesh to leave only the bone, and then his bones [[ReducedToDust crumble to ash]] as they fall to the ground.
96* ''ComicBook/XMen'':
97** ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} , when he's in the middle of an explosion, is completely destroyed, with the exception of his [[{{Unobtainium}} adamantium]] bones. He [[FromASingleCell regenerates from a few brain cells that survive]]. This is {{justified|Trope}} because Wolverine's skeleton really IS indestructible. But the regeneration power [[DependingOnTheWriter depends on the writer]], so in ''ComicBook/DaysOfFuturePast'', Wolverine is stripped to the bone, but here it means KilledOffForReal.
98** The unstoppable, {{Nigh Invulnerab|ility}}le Juggernaut has also survived being Stripped to the Bone and magically regenerated. When they say "nothing can stop TheJuggernaut", they apparently mean it. Subverted in that D'Spayre could have actually destroyed the bones too, he was just too shocked stupid by the fact that Juggernaut was a skeleton and was ''still'' coming at him. Ultimately, Juggs would have still lost if not for the timely intervention of D'Spayre's sister, Spite.
99[[/folder]]
100
101[[folder:Comic Strips]]
102* ''ComicStrip/BloomCounty'': The first snowfall of 1989 turns out to be "acid snow" that skeletonizes Binkley, who can still walk and talk despite this due to admitted ArtisticLicense.
103* ''ComicStrip/ScaryGary'': Occasionally Gary and Travis (to an extent) find themselves reduced to nothing but bones, sometimes because of something Leopold did to them.
104[[/folder]]
105
106[[folder:Fan Works]]
107* ''Fanfic/ArcCorp'': The victims of the flesh-eating house are reduced to skeletons.
108* ''Fanfic/DanganronpaMementoMori'': Chapter 3's execution ends with the blackened being hit with the full force of a wave of acid. All that's left afterwards is a skeleton floating in the flooded room that the execution took place in.
109* ''WebAnimation/ReturnToKrocodileIsle'': When the Kremling Krew begin to speculate about what happened to K. Rool, Kaboom says he heard that K. Rool was "Picked to the bone by a bunch of bloody sharks."
110[[/folder]]
111
112[[folder:Films — Animation]]
113* Seen twice in ''WesternAnimation/{{Anastasia}}'':
114** Rasputin has his flesh torn off as a result of his deal with the dark forces. He is forced to restore it with his phylactery.
115** [[spoiler:Subverted during Rasputin's death scene. He melts down to the bone and writhes briefly, but he then decays further into dust.]]
116* In the direct-to-video animated film ''ComicBook/DoctorStrange: Sorceror Supreme'', the final creature that appears before Dormammu's return is the Wing Mouth, a massive flock of small creatures with huge fangs and tiny wings. Individually, they're easy to destroy, but together, they can skeletonize a full-grown human within seconds. They devour several civilians and sorcerers before being defeated.
117* During an aerial battle-scene in ''WesternAnimation/Epic2013'', Mandrake's rot-arrow reduces a riding bat to a bare skeleton, which falls apart as its Leafman rider goes plummeting to the ground.
118* ''WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish'': Perrito's version of the Enchanted Forest includes a "Pocket Full of Posies" that appeared to be relatively harmless since they just have to stop and smell the roses. Then one of Big Jack Horner's bakers attempts to chop one of them down, with the flower in response eating him and stripping him to bones.
119* ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperMarioBrosMovie'': In one scene, Bowser fries a Koopa Troopa with his fire breath for asking what would happen if Peach says no to his wedding plans. The poor Koopa promptly reanimates a second later as a [[DemBones Dry Bones]].
120[[/folder]]
121
122[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]
123* [[spoiler:Replicator Merrick]] in ''Film/StargateTheArkOfTruth'' is stripped down to his [[spoiler:replicator]] skeleton by a bunch of C4. This scene seems to be a ShoutOut to the ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}''.
124* In the films ''Film/Batman1989'' and ''Film/BatmanReturns'', the total of two people who get electrocuted more or less leave behind their skeletons in whatever suits they were wearing at the time. Also in the first film, the mobster Antoine Rotelli gets incinerated into a charred black skeleton by the Joker's buzzer, and in the second film, Max Shreck's skeleton still has ''eyes and hair'' to go with the screaming face that is left behind.
125* In ''Film/{{Bright}}'', one of the offensive spells used by the [[ArtifactOfDoom Magical Wand]] can leave a human body like this, with their bones glowing orange and everything else turned into ash.
126* In ''Caltiki, the Immortal Monster,'' a ''Blob'' knock-off, one man's arm is partially consumed by the titular monster, leaving only the bones of his forearm and hand. Later, Cal finishes the job, enveloping him [[spoiler: but not before dissolving the flesh of his face, leaving a visible skull as the man's last arm flails about. Evidently his brain was still functioning through all this.]]
127* In ''Film/TheChroniclesOfRiddick2004'', the Purifier walks off into the [[ConvectionSchmonvection super-heated atmosphere of Crematoria]] and doesn't stop until his flesh has completely melted from his skeleton, which then disintegrates into ash.
128* ''Film/Critters2TheMainCourse'' near the climax a man falls and is run over by a Crite Ball. His twitching skeleton is a rare example where it's not picked clean, to dramatic effect ([[http://horrordaily.com/2011/07/11/monster-mondays-krites/ See description and before/after images ... or don't]]).
129* In ''Film/TheDayAfter'', people caught in the nuclear blast that incinerates Kansas City are skeletonized, though it's only a split-second stage before being completely disintegrated.
130* Billy Cole, TheRenfield from ''Film/FrightNight1985'', collapses into goo-covered bones when killed.
131* ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'':
132** In the original ''Film/Godzilla1954'', the device that ultimately defeats Godzilla skeletonizes him and every living thing in the general area.
133** Hedorah's acidic sludge has this effect on its victims in ''Film/GodzillaVsHedorah''.
134** Godzilla was once again skeletonized in ''Film/GodzillaVsDestoroyah'', only this time, it's because his flesh [[ImMelting melted away]].
135* ''Franchise/{{Gremlins}}'':
136** In ''Film/Gremlins1984'', [[spoiler:this happens to Stripe after getting the morning's sun on him through the open window in the store. However, it's not actually ''seen'' until the JumpScare when he leaps out of the fountain he fell into]].
137** In ''Film/Gremlins2TheNewBatch'', happens to one gremlin after getting flashed with a camera by another.
138* In ''Film/HellboyIITheGoldenArmy'', there are tooth fairies that do this. Although, in this case, it's done specifically so they ''can devour the bones themselves''.
139* In ''Film/HorrorsOfTheBlackMuseum'', Bancroft disposes of Dr. Ballan's body dunking it in a HollywoodAcid that dissolves all of the flesh and muscle within seconds: leaving behind a spotless and undamaged skeleton.
140* {{Averted|Trope}} in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'': [[spoiler:After drinking from the wrong Holy Grail, Walter Donovan]] decays completely, including his bones, which are smashed against the wall when Indy pushes him back.
141* ''Film/{{Innerspace}}'' has this happen to Igoe after Tuck lets the pod drop into Jack's stomach fluids.
142* In ''Film/KillerKlownsFromOuterSpace'', a security guard is pummeled with pies by the clowns, reducing him to a steaming pile of ice cream (with a cherry on top!). Upon further inspection by the heroes, the pies were acidic: The guard's bony arm is found sticking out of the pile.
143* In ''Film/LooneyTunesBackInAction'', Mr. Chairman sics Taz on his assistant Mr. Never Learning, reducing him to a skeleton.
144* ''Film/LordOfIllusions''. After Swann sacrifices himself to stop Nix, his corpse is stripped to the bone by the power that he received from Nix and left behind in the Cult's old compound.
145* Done quite a lot in the Tim Burton film ''Film/MarsAttacks''. The alien ray guns can blast through steel walls and evaporate machine guns as if they were ice cubes, and also destroy the human skeleton (which, in the film, [[TechnicolorScience turns a festive red or green color, depending on what color ray hit them]]).
146* In ''Film/TheMummy1999'', the scarab horde reduces one of the workers to a skeleton in a matter of seconds, hardly slowing down while chasing the heroes.
147* The Creator/ChevyChase CultClassic ''Film/NothingButTrouble'' has [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enUo-1TjdEs Mister Bonestripper]], which does ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.
148* The fate of numerous characters in ''Film/Piranha3D'', but special mention goes to Crystal, one of the porn stars on Derrick's boat. After she's killed, viewers are treated to a shot of her half-eaten corpse at the bottom of the lake... with her perfectly intact ''breast implants'' floating away, indicating that the piranha ignored them as they devoured the rest of her.
149* The eventual fate of [[spoiler:Edward Teach/Blackbeard]] in ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanOnStrangerTides'' after he is tricked to give his life for the immortality of another.
150* In ''Film/PitchBlack'', one of the Imam's young companions gets trapped in a dark room with a swarm of juvenile winged aliens. By the time the others break in, all that's left are his clothes and bloody bones.
151* At the end of ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'', the [[VillainByDefault Nazis]] open the Ark and [[spoiler:have their skin and flesh blasted away, leaving the bones behind.]]
152* In ''Film/ScottPilgrimVsTheWorld'', Matthew Patel's {{fireballs}} hit Crash and the Boys, killing all three in an instant, turning them into flaming skeletons for a second, before the bones turn to ash. "Mystical powers" indeed.
153* At one point in ''Film/TheSecretOfTheMagicGourd'', Bao Hulu uses his powers to burn the flesh away from the dinosaur, leaving only its skeleton.
154* In the ''Film/SilentHill'' film, Red Pyramid (Pyramid Head) grabs Anna and tears off her clothes followed by the skin and flesh in one fluid motion.
155* In ''Film/SkyCaptainAndTheWorldOfTomorrow'' (2004), a man gets skeletonised by getting hit by a bolt of electricity from a Tesla coil. (It was one of the few bits of CG in the film that looked plain bad, probably due to StylisticSuck).
156* All that’s left of Shirley after her DeadlyBath in HollywoodAcid is her skeleton in ''Film/SlaughterHigh''.
157* In the first ''Film/SpiderMan1'' film, one of the Green Goblin's Pumpkin Bombs reduces the [=OsCorp=] board of directors to skeletons, which crumble into ash seconds later.
158* In ''Film/StarshipTroopers'', the Tanker bugs, giant 30 foot long beetles, spew burning corrosive fluid from their foreheads. In their first appearance, a trooper takes a hit on her arm, and the flesh quickly disentegrates, revealing glowing orange bones, before they crumble into orange goo. When the protagonists get evacuated from an outpost after being ambushed and overrun, two troopers get coverd head to toe with the fluid, and after their flesh burns off, their skeletons remain intact for a few seconds before collapsing into a puddle of burning orange liquid.
159* ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact'' has the Borg queen's flesh dissolved by a reactor coolant that can corrode organic compounds, leaving only the hollow shell of her metal parts.
160* ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'': [[spoiler:Palpatine]] finally meets his end this way, the reflected force lightning from Rey literally burning the flesh right off of him. In a gruesome FreezeFrameBonus, you can actually see what appears to be his almost entirely bare skull, with exposed teeth and now lacking any eyeballs before the rest of his body is completely vaporized.
161* In the live action ''Film/SuperMarioBros1993'' movie, King Koopa's former lover Lena has her flesh instantly disintegrated and her skeleton blasted into the wall by dimensional radiation after she attempts to reunite a meteorite shard into the whole.
162* ''Film/TeenagersFromOuterSpace'' features a laser weapon that apparently destroys the body and leaves only the skeleton. Due to SpecialEffectFailure, it's more like the body just disappears and is replaced by a prop skeleton.
163* The opening scenes of ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'' established that human skeletons can survive nuclear Armageddon, but not being stepped on by a T-800 chassis. Later in the movie, Sarah Connor's dream in the Mexican desert shows her hanging to a fence when caught in the blast of a nuclear weapon. The flesh is blown away like dust, yet the skeleton remains intact, held together, and ''keeps hanging on the fence''. It is AllADream.
164* In ''Film/TransformersDarkOfTheMoon'', it's shown that Cybertronian weaponry does this to humans. Which makes sense, really, given that they're designed to damage giant, metallic beings; it's no surprise that they'd rip through soft tissue like nothing. Notably, the blast force also blows the skeletons apart, leading to a brief but gruesome shot of a NEST trooper's bones flying through the air as a Decepticon blasts him with his laser rifle.
165* Fifties version of ''Film/TheWarOfTheWorlds1953'' had a green ray that vaporized its victims completely, although the skeleton was visible (in silhouette) before it vanished, as well.
166* In ''Film/XMenTheLastStand'', Jean Grey's power strips off the flesh from Logan's body, but his mutant healing ability, enhanced by his proximity to her, keeps healing him almost instantly, allowing him to actually approach her whereas everyone else within sight was vaporized.
167* ''Film/XTheUnknown'': Getting too close to X, a radioactive [[BlobMonster dollop of earthen matter]], causes the flesh to boil off one's bones.
168[[/folder]]
169
170[[folder:Literature]]
171* Sometimes this is used to add an unsettling factor during a hero's attempt to salvage a vessel, or wandering through a TempleOfDoom.
172** One of Clive Cussler's [[Literature/DirkPittAdventures novels]], ''Serpent'', subverts the use of bones/their apparent indestructibility to add a creepiness to the scenery with Dirk Pitt remarking that "Despite the human tendency to want to picture the pilot strapped to their seats, nothing but their clothes and bone, that really by (roughly 50 years) time, the fish made sure there is nothing left".
173* In Creator/BramStoker's short story "The Burial of the Rats", the eponymous burial refers to hungry rats' ability to feast on a corpse so fast that only still-warm bones are left behind.
174* Creator/IsaacAsimov's "Literature/TheCallistanMenace": When the ''Ceres'' crew find the bodies of the Phobos, the clothes are left, but the flesh is partially or completely dissolved away to merely bone.
175* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'': In ''Literature/BattleGround'' when the [[spoiler:Erlking]] attacks Ethniu she strips him of the majority of his flesh. Given his nature slowly grows back what she'd taken from him, but it knocks him out of the battle.
176* OlderThanRadio: Nathaniel Hawthorne's ''Ethan Brand''.
177* In Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/{{Firestarter}}'', when the heroine turns her immense pyrokinetic power on {{Big Bad}}s, their flesh melts off their bones in a split-second, and their bones are probably blown to smithereens.
178* Creator/LarryNiven's ''Literature/KnownSpace'' features a weapon called a strakakker, which fires a blizzard of glass needles that can turn its target into an instant skeleton.
179* The flesh-dissolving plague that God strikes the Global Community armies attacking Jerusalem with (in fulfillment of Zechariah 14:12 -- see Mythology and Religion below) in the Literature/LeftBehind book ''Glorious Appearing''.
180* There's a passing mention in ''Literature/{{Mistborn}}'' that the [[GodEmperor Lord Ruler]] has survived being [[KillItWithFire burned to a walking skeleton]] on at least one occasion, owing the his ImplacableMan powers [[spoiler:that he gets from being a [[SuperpowerLottery Compounder]].]]
181* In L. Jagi Lamplighter's ''[[Literature/ProsperosDaughter Prospero In Hell]]'', Miranda recounts how her brother had used the Staff of Decay on soldiers, who were reduced first to their skeletons, then to nothing.
182* In Neal Asher's ''[[Literature/ThePolity The Skinner]]'', the native alien life forms do not seem to like eating or otherwise decomposing bones, resulting in plenty of beautifully preserved and cleaned human skeletons around a pirate base abandoned for centuries.
183* In the fourth book of Tamora Pierce's ''[[Literature/TortallUniverse Song of the Lioness]]'' quartet, the protagonist confronts her nemesis by referencing this.
184--> I have seen sandstorms that could strip a man of flesh in seconds and blizzards that froze entire herds in their tracks. Next to that, you're only a man. I can deal with you.
185* In Creator/RobertWestall's ''Literature/UrnBurial'', the [[EldritchAbomination Attock]] created ''[[FesteringFungus harka]]'', an engineered mould that infects and [[BodyHorror grows on living creatures]], usually infecting females and young in the womb. It slowly eats away at the flesh and eventually even eats away the bones. It takes long enough on the skeleton that there a couple of collections of bones still held together with sinew and tendon in the PeopleJars on the Wawaka ship.
186[[/folder]]
187
188[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
189* In ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', when vampires are slain, their skeletons are often briefly visible before they crumble into dust. This trope is played much straighter with the Master, an old and powerful vampire, whose flesh and clothes spectacularly evaporate as he dies, leaving behind a perfect, intact skeleton, suitable for resurrection. Buffy and gang fix that with a sledgehammer a few months later. One wonders why similarly old and powerful vampires (like Kakistos and the Turok-Han) don't leave behind similar keepsakes.
190** The skeletons appearing for a second didn't start occurring until the third season when the show's budget increased. Since ''Angel'' shared ''Buffy's'' budget from the get-go, it managed to have the "skeleton" effect right from its start.
191* ''Series/TheCollector'': Happens to Morgan's hand when dipped into some chemicals during [[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique interrogation]]. [[GoodThingYouCanHeal He got better]].
192* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
193** [[Recap/DoctorWho2005CSTheChristmasInvasion "The Christmas Invasion"]]: The Sycorax leader's whip is capable of killing humans in this fashion, and he uses it on Llewellyn and Major Blake. The Doctor, on the other hand, easily [[NoSell No-Sells]] it.
194** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E8SilenceInTheLibrary "Silence in the Library"]]/[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E9ForestOfTheDead "Forest of the Dead"]]: The [[LivingShadow Vashta]] [[TheSwarm Nerada]] can do this to you in a fraction of a second. {{Red Shirt}}s take note: When the Doctor says "Don't move," he ''means'' it. Probably justified considering the Vashta Nerada are living, and probably leave the bone deliberately.
195** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E15PlanetOfTheDead "Planet of the Dead"]]: A London bus ends up travelling through a wormhole to an alien planet. The bus exterior is heavily damaged from the trip because of the insane level of radiation. As the Doctor is trying to explain this, the bus driver [[TooDumbToLive decides to]] walk back through the wormhole. He screams as all his flesh is vaporised and a skeleton stumbles through the wormhole to the horror of the police waiting outside.
196** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime "The End of Time"]]: [[spoiler:TheMaster]] [[ToServeMan eats]] the staff of a charity food truck this way, leaving two homeless men he's chasing to discover them before they're eaten as well.
197* The super-toxin released on a plane in ''Series/{{Fringe}}'' dissolves all living tissue but leaves the skeleton intact, if grungy.
198* An episode of ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' has this happen to [[spoiler:Adam Monroe when Arthur Petrelli takes his ability, which [[FridgeLogic doesn't make much sense since all of his cells would presumably still be fairly new from the constant rejuvenation.]]]]
199** Since the same thing doesn't happen to [[spoiler:Peter when ''his'' powers are taken]] means either [[spoiler:Claire's version of HealingFactor has more [[NoOntologicalInertia Ontological Inertia]] than Adam's]], or the writers just didn't think the visual through.
200** In Volume 5, Samuel gets the drop on Sylar by enveloping him in a concentrated sandstorm which ''flays him alive.'' [[JokerImmunity This being Sylar]], he's healed by the next scene.
201* In the ''Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'' episode "Maledictus", a murder victim is dissolved down to her bones in her own bathtub using a large amount of lye. The killer is later shown tossing the bones out of a cardboard box and into the river.
202* The ''Franchise/UltraSeries'' have a few examples in it's early days, back when before censors started cranking down the violence levels in the show:
203** This is the fate of the {{kaiju}} Oxter in ''Series/ReturnOfUltraman''. After being turned into bones by Ultraman Jack, he is finally being able to rest with the rest of his skeletonized herd at the bottom of a lake.
204*** Happens in an earlier episode with another monster called Kingstron. After Jack finds that his Specium Ray has no effect on the monster, he simply uses his [[SwissArmyWeapon Ultra Bracelet]] to skeletonize him. The same thing happens in a later episode when Ultraman Jack battles the rat-like monster Robonez (who is incidentally [[PropRecycling created from the same suit as Kingstron]]).
205** ''Series/UltramanAce'': The monsters Aribunta and Hotarunga can fire acidic mists that dissolves their victims, leaving behind only skeletons. Aribunta does this to a whole subway full of people, ''onscreen'', while for Hotarunga the audience only sees the aftermath of it's rampage, a destroyed truck with two human skeletons in it's front seat. Incidentally, this is another case of PropRecycling from Tsuburaya's costuming department: Aribunta and Hotarunga are both insect-based monsters created from the same suit.
206** In ''Series/UltramanNeos'', King Dainas, a monster created when multiple dinosaur bones gets struck by Dark Thunder Energy, gets reverted back to a pile of bones by Neos.
207* Some of the Kromagg weapons in ''Series/{{Sliders}}'' leave behind a crumbling skeleton. Shame, considering their preference for [[IAmAHumanitarian human eyes]].
208* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S2E24TheRipVanWinkleCaper The Rip Van Winkle Caper]]", Farwell, [=DeCruz=] and Brooks discover that their fellow criminal Erbie has been reduced to a skeleton as a rock broke his suspended animation chamber years earlier. This provides proof that their plan was successful and it is now 2061.
209* ''Series/FrankHerbertsDune'' adapts the ''Gom Jabbar'' test this way. While it was just a pain glove in the book that made Paul ''think'' it was scalding his hand, we see it (either as a hologram or as part of Paul's perspective) slowly flense his hand down to glistening bones.
210[[/folder]]
211
212[[folder:Magazine]]
213* ''{{Magazine/Analog}}'': The [[Recap/Analog1931 November 1931 cover]] has a skeleton standing within a halo of glowing light, with a {{tagline}} saying, "...And then his skeleton appeared!"
214[[/folder]]
215
216[[folder:Music]]
217* The old jazz song "'Tain't No Sin", originally written by Edgar Leslie and Walter Donaldson. Probably best-known today for a version on Music/TomWaits' album "Music/TheBlackRider", where it's sung by Creator/WilliamSBurroughs, making it sound a lot more sinister than it usually does.
218-->''When it gets too hot for comfort\
219And you can't get an ice cream cone\
220It ain't no sin to take off your skin\
221And dance around in your bones''.
222** The title track on "The Black Rider" also repeats the last two lines of the above verse, sung by Tom himself this time.
223** Tom Waits returns to this motif in "Earth Died Screaming" (on "Music/BoneMachine").
224-->And the [[AntAssault army ants]], they leave nothing but the bones.
225** His much later spoken-word piece "Army Ants" does a callback.
226-->And the army ants, as we discussed last semester, will leave nothing but your bones.
227* A [[BodyHorror more literal version]] of this trope appears in the video to Music/RobbieWilliams' "Rock DJ". Robbie is singing and dancing, but the girls aren't paying any attention. So he takes his clothes off. They still aren't interested, so he takes his skin off, and then ... [[https://youtu.be/BnO3nijfYmU Video here]].
228[[/folder]]
229
230[[folder:Mythology and Religion]]
231* The MysticalPlague that God will send on those who fight against Jerusalem in [[Literature/BookOfZechariah Zechariah 14:12]] (usually interpreted by modern readers as the effects of a nuclear bomb):
232-->''As for those peoples that warred against Jerusalem, the LORD will smite them with this plague: Their flesh shall rot away while they stand on their feet; their eyes shall rot away in their sockets; and their tongues shall rot away in their mouths.''
233[[/folder]]
234
235[[folder:Pinball]]
236* In Creator/{{Gottlieb}}'s ''Pinball/HauntedHouse'', the Cellar shows the skeletal remains of someone shackled to a gate.
237[[/folder]]
238
239[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
240* ''Series/TheMuppetShow'': In the Music/DianaRoss episode, the audience is particularly nasty. When the Gills Brothers are singing "Aunt Chovy", the audience not only boos them but starts ProducePelting them. By the time they've come backstage, there's nothing left of them but fish skeletons in tuxedoes.
241-->'''Scooter:''' Pretty rough out there, huh?\
242'''Brother #1:''' Oh! They were layin' for us!\
243'''Scooter:''' Why do you say that?\
244'''Brother #1:''' One guy brought a bottle of tartar sauce!
245[[/folder]]
246
247[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
248* In the ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' source book ''Fiendish Codex: Hordes of the Abyss'', there's a table suggesting various death throes to emphasize the demon's chaotic nature. One of these is to have the skeleton rip free from the demon's flesh, take a few steps, then disintegrates
249* A variation in ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'' is the Puppeteer's Plague, a magical disease that kills your skeleton and makes it undead ''while you're still alive''. The skeleton gets increasing autonomy until it finally tears its way out of the flesh to roam freely.
250* In ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'', the advantage Unbreakable Bones will cause this if the character's body is completely destroyed.
251* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering''
252** The card [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=175070 Skeletonize]] connects this trope with DemBones.
253** The page picture comes from the card [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=106636 Disintegrate,]] and the trend continues with [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=47226 Carbonize,]] older versions of [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=2630 Incinerate,]][[note]]which incidentally is where the quote under the page picture comes from[[/note]] and the list goes on. You tend to see this more in Black and Red cards, they being the colors of death and destruction, respectively. However, White gets in on the action as well, being the color of [[LightIsNotGood "God will look after his own"]] and all. Behold, the infamous [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=129808 Wrath of God.]]
254* The Necrons of ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' make extensive use of gauss weapons, firing green lightning that strips away the target, layer by molecular layer, often to the bone. The basic version employed by Necron grunts is even called the Gauss Flayer. A subversion, technically, as there is so much power even in the infantry versions to instantly vaporise enemy infantry.
255** Plus the Necrons ''themselves'', who take the worst of a [[OurZombiesAreDifferent fleshless Romero zombie]] and a Franchise/{{Terminator}} and blend it into some of the most potent horror 40k has to offer.
256** Dark Eldar beastmasters have flocks of Razorwings, alien birds with extremely sharp beaks and wingtips, that can strip a man to the bone in seconds. Much like the Hellboy tooth fairies, they eat bones and tear off the flesh to get to them. Dark Eldar also have a piece of arcane wargear called the Casket of Cleansing, which releases a swarm of invisible creatures that strip the flesh off their target's bones (they leave the brain intact, though, so the unfortunate victim can be aware of his final moments for as long as possible).
257* ''TabletopGame/WarhammerAgeOfSigmar'' has the Bonereapers...who are skeletons who use this as a method of reproduction. They kill someone, flay their bones, and use those bones to make a NEW skeleton.
258[[/folder]]
259
260[[folder:Theme Parks]]
261* ''Ride/TheGreatMovieRide'' at [[Ride/DisneyThemeParks Disney's Hollywood Studios]] has an instance of this when the gangster/cowboy that hijacks the ride vehicle attempts to steal a cursed jewel in the ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'' scene. The second they touch it, a cloud of smoke surrounds them and then dissipates, leaving behind nothing but a skeleton.
262* At Ride/UniversalStudios:
263** The safety video in ''Ride/TheSimpsonsRide'' has Scratchy being reduced to a skeleton after he violates the no-photography rule and is blasted by a bunch of missiles as a result.
264** In the former ''[[Theatre/SpecialEffectsShow Special Effects Stages]]'', one of the volunteers was fried into a skeleton due to an electrical error during ''The Mummy'' segment.
265[[/folder]]
266
267[[folder:Video Games]]
268* The RayGun weapons in ''VideoGame/AnotherWorld'' reduce anyone hit by them(which can be either the player or enemies) into a skeleton that explodes after a few seconds.
269* In ''VideoGame/AstroMarineCorps'', when a Ballthrower breathes fire on you, you get skeletonized.
270* In the ''VideoGame/{{Battletoads}}'' UsefulNotes/ArcadeGame, knocking enemies dead on the ground turns them into skeletons.
271* In ''VideoGame/BigKarnak'', when you defeat the FinalBoss, Osiris (yes, that Egyptian god himself) he will turn into a flaming skeleton before collapsing into a pile of bones.
272* In ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'', killing an enemy with the [[PlayingWithFire Devil's Kiss]] or [[ShockAndAwe Shock Jockey]] Vigors will result in this happening, followed by the bones falling apart and ''crumbling to ash''. In the case of Shock Jockey, it also causes their [[YourHeadAsplode heads to explode]] first. The Devil's Kiss aftereffect can also be applied to your melee attacks through an equippable piece of gear.
273* ''VideoGame/BladeMaster'' has a Gorgon boss who dissolves into a skeleton after she's slain. One with a human upper torso while the lower half is a gigantic snake's.
274* In some scenes in ''VideoGame/BrainDead13'' when Lance gets... in a {{squick}}y manner... reduced to a skeletal pile of bones, like getting doused in acid, or getting pulled apart from his skin in a two-way manner by Fritz! Being as BadassNormal as our hero is, he revives from being a pile of bones, back to being flesh and blood.
275* The carbine and shotgun can do this in ''VideoGame/{{Bulletstorm}}'' if you [[ChargedAttack amp them up]].
276* In ''VideoGame/CaptainCommando'', the Mummy Commando (Jennety in Japan, Mack the Knife everywhere else) wields two daggers that emit purple smoke on impact. If used to defeat an opponent, the enemy gets back up, only to melt into a pile of bones in a puddle (with a glimpse of their skeleton before it crumbles). Since he uses them for almost every attack he has (including his ''basic punch''), you'll be leaving a lot of those in your wake.
277* Some of the enemies in ''VideoGame/Corridor7AlienInvasion'', like the Ttoc and Tymok, will melt away after being killed leaving behind nothing but bones.
278* ''VideoGame/CrossedSwords'' have a power-up that if used on human enemies, will turn them into uniformed skeletons before dissolving them.
279* Should you lose a life in ''VideoGame/DarkAdventure'', your character will dissolve into a skeleton onscreen before respawning moments later.
280* The disintegrator in ''VideoGame/DestroyAllHumans'' leaves a black skeleton [[BlackComedy frozen in place]] after killing a human, which promptly dissolves into ash a few seconds later.
281* In ''VideoGame/DiabloIII'', powerful attacks can do this to a target, especially if they have a "wind" or "force" motif like the Wizard's Wave of Force spell or the Monk's Deadly Reach technique. The "Opressor" demon also has this as its normal death animation.
282* In ''VideoGame/Doom3'' one unfortunate scientist in Alpha Labs Sector 4 is trapped in a reactor room. You can [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential activate]] the reactor in question, which gives you a GoryDiscretionShot of the scientist being killed, only leaving behind his skeleton once the reactor opens up again. In gameplay, killing a civilian zombie with the shotgun or chainsaw will cause their flesh to disintegrate, leaving behind a blood-soaked skeleton.
283* In the PC Engine CD version of ''[[VideoGame/DoubleDragon Double Dragon II: The Revenge]]'', when beating the game on Hard mode, the final boss melts into a pile of bones after giving a FinalSpeech.
284* In the NES version of ''VideoGame/DragonsLair'', many enemies and obstacles ([[EverythingTryingToKillYou and DOORS!]]) do this to Dirk regardless of the HP meter. Also, in the Game Over screen of the original laserdisc.
285** And in Dragon's Lair II, in Level 6, if Dirk dies at the flesh melting gas at some parts, Dirk will have his every part of his flesh melted, reducing Dirk to a skeleton which does not crumble. In the same level, at one part, if Dirk fails to slice the spider... the spider eats the flesh of Dirk's arm, with Dirk's OhCrap expression on his face. Level 7 also had Monster Daphne putting Dirk in her lips and removes the flesh of Dirk, leaving Dirk reduced to a skeleton.
286* In the opening cinematic of ''VideoGame/{{Drakengard}}'' we get a closeup as one of the imperial soldiers is burned alive and turning into a skeleton which also burns up soon after.
287* In ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series, to [[DeaderThanDead permanently kill]] a [[OurDragonsAreDifferent dragon]], you must first slay its physical form and then [[YourSoulIsMine absorb its soul]]. While anyone of sufficient ability can do the former, only another dragon (or a Dragonborn) is capable of the latter. Failure to absorb a dragon's soul leaves open the possibility of it [[ResurrectiveImmortality being resurrected]] in the future. In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'', the PlayerCharacter is a Dragonborn of legend, a rare mortal gifted with the [[DragonsAreDivine divine]] [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Aedric]] soul of a dragon. When the Dragonborn absorbs a dragon's soul, the flesh burns away, leaving only a smoldering skeleton.
288* In ''VideoGame/FableII'', delivering the death blow to a human opponent with the shock spell leaves behind a charred skeleton.
289* In ''[[VideoGame/FirstEncounterAssaultRecon F.E.A.R.]]'', [[{{Onryo}} Alma]]'s psionic attacks tend to do this to her victims: the bodies are almost completely liquefied, but the bones remain intact. A less supernatural, more sci-fi example is when someone is killed by the [[DisintegratorRay Type-7 Particle Weapon]], the game's equivalent to a SniperRifle: all matter in the corpse but the bones will vaporize, leaving behind a charred skeleton.
290* This happens in the [=iOS=] game ''VideoGame/FunRun'', to any of the victims of the lightning attack.
291* Arthur is always reduced to a skeleton if he's killed in ''VideoGame/GhostsNGoblins''. In the spinoff ''[[VideoGame/GargoylesQuest Demon's Crest]]'', this will happen to Firebrand.
292* ''VideoGame/GwentTheWitcherCardGame'': Scorch, appropriately, features unfortunate individuals scorched to the bones on its art.
293* After D'Sparil is ultimately defeated in ''VideoGame/{{Heretic}}''.
294* ''VideoGame/KabukiZ'' has the Undead Warrior who initially assumes a human form to fight you. Kill him and his flesh melts away, turning him to a skeleton.
295* In ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'', one of the peculiar status effects that might be inflicted upon you involves getting (temporarily!) reduced to a skeleton by a particularly fierce sandstorm.
296* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'': In the game's intro, the King of Hyrule, recently "eliminated" by Agahnim, is shown seated on his throne as a skeleton.
297* In ''VideoGame/{{Loadstar}}'', one of the [[TheManyDeathsOfYou death cutscenes]] shows Tully's flesh being stripped from his skeleton as the Loadstar explodes.
298* Upon defeating the MagicalNativeAmerican final boss of ''VideoGame/LethalEnforcersIIGunFighters'', he is instantly skeletonized.
299* So did the Lost Vikings from Blizzard's SNES puzzle classic, ...well, ''VideoGame/TheLostVikings''.
300* ''VideoGame/MetalSlug 3'':
301** Falling into the [[PiranhaProblem Flying Killer]]-infested water in Mission 1 will result in the character being swarmed by the fish, before their skeleton briefly pops out and dips back into the water.
302** Mission 4 combines this with BeautyIsNeverTarnished: if Marco or Tarma get hit with the giant snails' acidic vomit in level 4, they will be reduced to skeletons and melt, but if Eri or Fio get hit, we only see ''their clothes melt off'' before they turn into a puddle of slime...
303* Several characters in the ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' series have [[FinishingMove fatalities]] that can do this, such as Scorpion (who breathes fire) or Reptile (who vomits acid). This also happens in the Dead Pool stage fatality from ''VideoGame/MortalKombatII'', in which the opponent is knocked into a pool of acid.
304** Sheeva's has to be the cruelest: she '''tears''' your flesh off.
305** Sindel in ''VideoGame/MortalKombat3'' and Fujin in ''VideoGame/MortalKombat4'' blow the opponent's flesh off.
306** Kano has a memorably weird version which involves pulling out a person's skeleton via their mouth (yes, even for the cyborgs whose heads are armored helmets and therefore have no mouth). He would brandish the (remarkably clean) skeleton for the camera, while the rest of his victim collapses into a pile like some kind of horrible meat glove.
307** In one of his DC crossover fatalities, Raiden uses his electric powers to burn off all the opponent's flesh, leaving behind their smoking skeleton.
308* ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'': The opening cinematic has Monokuma trapping a man (later revealed to be the old headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy, [[spoiler: Jin Kirigiri]]) in a rocket and shooting him into space. When the rocket crashes back to Earth, it's revealed the intense G-forces of the launch somehow stripped the flesh from the man's bones.
309* ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'' has this fate befall [[DeathSeeker Ryoma Hoshi]] during [[CuteWitch Himiko]] and [[PreacherMan Angie's]] magic show. A water tank has a curtain in front of it and piranhas had just been dropped into it. When the curtain opens again, Ryoma gets eaten to the bone. Mercifully, Ryoma was already dead before this happened, and the main puzzle is figuring out how he got in there.
310* One of the more unique guns in ''VideoGame/PrimeTarget'', an experimental "acid" gun. Mooks killed by said weapon have a special death animation where they rot into a skeleton.
311* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'':
312** ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBros'' features the series' BigBad, Bowser, falling into lava and being skeletonized (which is depicted in surprisingly horrific detail for this series). Later on, you get to fight Bowser's animated skeletal remains. Though he eventually recovers later on with a little help from Bowser Jr.
313** Mario will be reduced to a skeleton if you are killed by electricity in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy''.
314* ''VideoGame/RedAlert3'': Biological units hit by Tesla weaponry (Tesla Trooper/Coil/Tank or Stingray) are instantly skeletonized.
315* In ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'', if Leon is finished off by a Novistador (or hit at all by a flying one), they will use acid to strip the flesh off of his face. In some countries' versions of the game, this will also happen when Dr. Salvador or the sisters manage to hit with their chainsaws, [[OffWithHisHead rather than the alternative.]]
316* In ''VideoGame/RiseOfTheTriad'', using the flamewall weapon on a mook causes them to be reduced to a bare skeleton, which them crumples to ash with a humorous falling xylophone glissando.
317* ''VideoGame/ShapeShiftShawn'': The player can suffer this fate in level 2-5 (The Nasty Nursery), which features eggsacs filled with ravenous swarms of small bugs. Getting too close to one of these will cause the sac to burst, sending bugs out in every directions. If any of them touch Shawn, they will eat him alive, leaving nothing but his skeleton behind (though his head, looking down at his body in horror, is left mysteriously intact).
318* Crocomire in ''[[VideoGame/{{Metroid}} Super Metroid]]'' suffers this upon being knocked into a pool of acid. It's NotQuiteDead, though-- it's ''skeletonized body'' makes a final lunge at Samus, knocking open a spiked wall which allows you to proceed further into Norfair.
319* ''VideoGame/TalesOfMonkeyIsland'': [[spoiler:Parodied in Chapter 5, when, [[IntangibleMan after Guybrush fails to take the Cursed Cutlass of Kaflu]], [=LeChuck=] shows him what it feels to be a ghost with a vulnerability to [[HollywoodAcid root beer]]; and Elaine, under the villain's influence as his [[EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette demon bride]], sprays root beer on Guybrush, making him scream and dissolving his transparent form, revealing a skeleton underneath that crumbles into nothingness. Thankfully, he rematerializes back at the Crossroads Center.]]
320** [[spoiler: If Guybrush tries returning to [=LeChuck=]'s ship as a ghost, Elaine will repeatedly spray root beer at our hero and force him back into the Crossroads, making it pure horror.]]
321* In ''VideoGame/TokyoJungle'', defeated enemies leave behind their skeletons after you've finished eating them.
322* ''VideoGame/UnrealTournament2004'' sported the Link Gun, a plasma rifle that has a long stream of plasma for an alternative fire. Death by this plasma stream resulted in its victim being reduced to a skeleton. Another skeletonizing weapon in the same game was the Ion Cannon, an orbital Satellite that fired a gigantic purple beam of death, unsurprisingly, reducing victims of it to skeletons, the downside of it was that it had to be "painted" onto an enemy with the Ion Painter, which took quite a lot of time to do so.
323** Additionally, certain hazards in maps (such as lava and acid) can and ''will'' skeletonize you if you accidentally take a dip.
324* You may see one or more charred skeletons [[DramaticSpaceDrifting floating in space]] when investigating the wreckage of the transport destroyed in the intro of ''VideoGame/WingCommanderIVThePriceOfFreedom''.
325* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'':
326** In ''VideoGame/Fallout1'' and ''VideoGame/Fallout2'', [[PlasmaCannon plasma]] weapons that kill a human or Super Mutant with a critical hit will melt all their flesh but leave bone and armor behind. Unusually for this trope, the bones fall apart completely.
327** Weapons that inflict electrical damage, like the Alien Blaster or the [[InfinityPlusOneSword Pulse Rifle]] and kill a target with a critical will turn the target's flesh and skin to dark ashes, leaving only a blackened skeleton standing in place, which also collapses in dark ash afterwards (and since it [[AwesomeButImpractical destroys the body]], it means all their inventory falls on the floor, forcing you to pick it up piece by piece).
328** [[https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/42666 Essential Visual Enhancements]], or EVE for short, is a popular GameMod for ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' that adds, amongst other things, new EnergyWeapons critical death animations that leave behind charred ribcages, skulls and other assorted bones.
329* ''VideoGame/EternalChampions'' (the Dark Side) has a much more intense version of this trope. In Midknight's stage (Belgrave Square Labs), the sudden death involves the losing player being sent to a microwave machine. The machine quickly strips the player layer-by-layer by melting off their skin first, after a few seconds, the machine eventually melts off the muscles, reducing them to a skeleton. The trope is played even further when microwave burns the bones away themselves, leaving the losing victim into a framework of their nerves and internal organs which eventually explode and shatter the window.
330* ''VideoGame/ShantaeRiskysRevenge'': Defeated orcs will turn into a scattering of StockFemurBone-s.
331* ''VideoGame/SpaceQuest'' and its many entries have more than one death where you end up in this state. Reasons include being eaten and the bones spat out, insects stripping you down to the bone, or meddling with puddles of lava or acid.
332* ''VideoGame/ZunzunkyouNoYabou'' have Indian dancers in the desert stage who takes more than one hit to kill, the initial hit turning them into a skeleton. [[TheDeadCanDance Who then continues dancing while taking potshots at you]].
333[[/folder]]
334
335[[folder:Web Animation]]
336* ''WebAnimation/HappyTreeFriends'': Several characters have died this way on occasion.
337** In "[[Recap/HTFBanjoFrenzy Banjo Frenzy]]", Proto-Giggles' head instantly burns to her skull when it lands in the fire pit.
338** In "[[Recap/HTFBooDoYouThinkYouAre Boo Do You Think You Are?]]", Flaky dies this way after a cauldron full of molten copper or lava is poured on her.
339** In "[[Recap/HTFDoggoneIt Doggone It]]", Lumpy was mauled by a bunch of dogs, leaving only his antlers behind.
340** In "[[Recap/HTFJustDesert Just Desert]]", a tornado finishes Lumpy off, reducing him to bones in the process.
341** In "[[Recap/HTFSomethingFishy Something Fishy]]", Russell's piranha eats the flesh off his head.
342** In "[[Recap/HTFBreakingWind Breaking Wind]]", Flaky is reduced to her skeleton after being blasted by Splendid's [[{{Fartillery}} massive fart]].
343** In "[[Recap/HTFJustBeClaus Just Be Claus]]", Splendid inflates Mime's punching bag with so much air that it explodes when Mime punches it, leaving behind just his skeleton.
344* ''WebAnimation/OnTheEdge'': In ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24vrkfSTLnA Death by a Thousand Cuts]]'', the gang leader who kept a high-school girl in capitivity for 40 days [[spoiler:is reduced to a skeleton after 43 days of being administered the titular punishment. Shigeo was so focused on torturing the bastard that he even ''talked to the skeleton'']].
345[[/folder]]
346
347[[folder:Webcomics]]
348* In ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' [[spoiler:Andronicus Valois]] uses his heavily modified glowing mace to strike a group of attacking knights with a pink energy that [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20170329 strips them of their flesh]] and animates their bones as DemBones style servants for him.
349* Richard, Cale, and Benny need some backup in battle in an early ''Webcomic/LookingForGroup'' script. Richard decides to summon DemBones. [[http://lfgcomic.com/page/9 The enemy soldiers donate theirs]].
350* This is [[AmusingInjuries played for laughs]] in ''Webcomic/TheRedacverse'', where Zauther laser beams instantly reduce their targets to charred, blackened skeletons, only for them to regenerate a few minutes later.
351* In ''Webcomic/RustyAndCo'', Cube's victims appear like this, suspended inside him, until he finishes digesting the bones.
352* This happens quite a lot in ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'', usually to a {{Mook}} for [[BlackComedy comedy's sake]].
353* Happens in [[http://sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/041116 this]] ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' when Horribus kills [[spoiler:Mosp]].
354* In the first chapter of ''Webcomic/UndyingHappiness'', Naomi discovers the full extent of her internet boyfriend Keisuke's HealingFactor when he emerges from the burned-out ruins of his house as ''nothing but a skeleton'' and spends the rest of the chapter slowly regenerating the rest of his body.
355[[/folder]]
356
357[[folder:Web Original]]
358* One ''WebOriginal/ProtectorsOfThePlotContinuum'' [[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1p3dItexiiMWzujoLIw-77UMlqoYFwUG4BdYa_CHjIbs/edit?pli=1 mission]] ended with this trope happening to an ill-fated [[CharacterDerailment character replacement]] of [[Anime/PokemonTheSeries Ash Ketchum]], courtesy of his unwittingly provoking a ''very'' hungry ''[[RaptorAttack Deinonychus]]'' [[IntellectualAnimal agent.]]
359* ''Website/SCPFoundation'': [[http://scp-wiki.net/scp-165 SCP-165 ("The Creeping, Hungry Sands of Tule")]]. SCP-165 is a swarming mass of microscopic mites that can strip an animal of all of its flesh in minutes.
360* Website/TVTropes: In the troper-made image for CompleteMonster, the victims of Crägnuum Mundomarauder's fire have been reduced to charred skeletons.
361[[/folder]]
362
363[[folder:Web Videos]]
364* Mantyke in ''Baby Pokemon Battle Royale'', complete with [=TF2=] heavy scream.
365* ''Series/TheWeather'': After a nuclear cloud rolls by, Alan and his dog, lying motionless on the grass after a tornado, get reduced to nothing more than skeletons.
366[[/folder]]
367
368[[folder:Western Animation]]
369* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTimeFionnaAndCake'': In "Jerry", we see via FreezeFrameBonus what happened when [[spoiler:[[OmnicidalManiac the Lich]] wished to Prismo for "the extinction of all life"]]. Everyone in the universe was instantly reduced to a skeleton (if they had one), with no warning, no transition, no sound, just alive to bare bones faster than the blink of an eye.
370* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' episode "The Pact", this happens to Gumball as a result of him inhaling a cloud of Miss Simian's [[YouNeedABreathMint morning breath]].
371* In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'''s AnimatedAdaptation of ''ComicBook/EmperorJoker'', the Joker drops Batman into the acid, and we hear a splash offscreen before the scene cuts to inside the acid... where his skeleton is shown, moments before the villain brings him back to flesh and blood again.
372* ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'':
373** Courage's skin flies off when he gets scared by the tree talking to him in the episode "The Magic Tree of Nowhere". Later in "Food of the Dragon", it gets blown off when he's hit by a nuclear explosion caused by one of his failed attempts to help a dragon learn to fly.
374** In "Courage in the Big Stinkin' City", Eustace has his skin and flesh eaten offscreen by an unseen creature living in the wall of a motel room. He's more concerned about not being able to find anything good on TV.
375** Happens to a cow eaten by the carnivorous plants in "Dome of Doom".
376* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' revival on Comedy Central began with the Planet Express crew, after a hard crash, reduced to their heads and skeletons -- even Bender.
377* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': In "Thanks to Them", [[spoiler:all of the animals Belos possesses meet this fate as he consumes them from the inside out, leaving only the bones behind. Hunter avoids this fate by prematurely driving Belos out of his body, but judging by the fact that he's left CoveredInScars and barely clinging to life, it was a pretty close call.]]
378** In the series finale, [[spoiler:Belos himself [[KarmicDeath mets his end in a similar way]], his skin gets gruesomely melted by boiling rain until being reduced to just a pile of rotten bones and a still-sentient skull that gets violently stomped and crushed by Eda, King and Raine.]]
379* A rather disturbing episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'' features an insane Ren dropping Stimpy's precious already-dead mouse toy into a vat of acid. It skeletonizes, and then the skeleton dissolves, as Stimpy looks on in horror.
380** In another episode, Stimpy buys a super powerful vacuum cleaner; as he turns it on, Ren happens to be standing in front of it. He tries to escape and clings to the rug, it ends up ripping off his skin and sucking out his organs; now a skeleton, he attempts to save his brain before being sucked inside.
381* Happens to [[MadScientist Doctor Frankenollie]] in ''WesternAnimation/RunawayBrain'' after he switches WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse's brain with that of a monster's.
382* ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'': In season 5 Aku uses his eye beams on [[spoiler: the Scotsman]], reducing him to a skeleton in a wheelchair, which then crumbles to ashes. [[spoiler: The Celtic Runes on his sword bring him back as a ghost, though.]]
383* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''' ShowWithinAShow, Itchy & Scratchy uses this trope quite often.
384** In one ''WesternAnimation/TreehouseOfHorror'' episode, Bart and Lisa are being chased by Itchy and Scratchy. Bart gets hit with a blast of piranhas from a firehose, stripping everything from the neck down to the bone. Afterwards, he muses "Ooh, that's gonna hurt in the morning."
385* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Squidbillies}}'' episode "Sharif", this is the primary side effect of [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Dan Halen]]'s experimental body spray.
386* ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'' has a subversion in the form of Toffee. Star blasts him with a spell that reduces him to nothing but black goop and bones. [[NighInvulnerability Not that it killed him]] [[WhoNeedsTheirWholeBody or anything.]]
387* PlayedForLaughs in the ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' episode "[[Recap/StevenUniverseS1E39FutureVision Future Vision]]": [[KidHero Steven]] has [[ArtShift extra cartoony]] {{Imagine Spot}}s of himself dying in various often-ridiculous ways (for example, a FallingChandelierOfDoom, being attacked by an InUniverse fictional character, etc.), which always end with him as a skeleton, no matter how little sense it makes.
388* ''WesternAnimation/{{Superjail}}'' has Jailbot do this to a farmer pursuing Jacknife in one intro.
389* In ''[[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'', this happens to Agent Bishop's [[CloneDegeneration old body]] once his consciousness is transferred to a new one, with his skin and muscles melting into purple goo.
390* A massive exodus of flesh eating scarab beetles in WesternAnimation/TotalDramaWorldTour's second episode devour one of Chris' interns [[BadBoss as he sits on a chair mounted on his back.]] All that's left is the skeleton, keeping Chris' chair up.
391* ''WesternAnimation/{{The Village|1993}}'': The ants swarm over the corpse of the jerkass husband and, within a night, strip him to a skeleton. When the villagers find the bones the next morning with the gardener's glasses, they incorrectly assume the bones are those of the gardener, allowing the gardener, wrongly accused of murder, to escape.
392* The alien death rays in the ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'' episode "Failsafe" reduce those shot (y'know, like ComicBook/{{Batman}}, ComicBook/GreenLantern, ''the teenage heroes of the show''...) into skeletons for a brief but memorable second before ''[[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill disintegrating the skeletons, too]]''.
393[[/folder]]
394
395[[folder:Real Life]]
396* Piranhas have the potential to do this to meat carcasses in mere moments. However, they have to be isolated and starved first to get this kind of reaction; they do not naturally, as depicted in fiction, behave like a ravenous swarm.
397* A caustic base will break down living soft tissue at least as quickly as an equivalent acid but will do little or nothing to the bones.
398* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3Mt2E1M6dU These ants]] manage to strip away a gecko into a skeleton in a few hours.
399* Any carrion-eating animals (vultures, ants, maggots) will do this, which is why [[MundaneUtility scavenger beetles are used to clean bones for museums]]. In the depths of the sea, you’ll find that a whole array of creatures meticulously ‘clean’ the flesh off skeletons, including countless species of fish, shrimp, crabs, giant isopods, sleeper sharks, copepods and many, many more.
400** This isn’t the case for the spotted hyena; they’ll eat the bones too. Their jaws are that strong.
401* In the later stages of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, there were reports of crashed Me 163 Komet rocket-powered fighters with the pilot having been skeletonized by the corrosive and ludicrously volatile fuel.
402* Any dead animal left out in most environments on Earth will eventually succumb to this.
403[[/folder]]

Top