[[DragonballZ http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cellfulltransformation.jpg]]
[[caption-width:272:From back to front, Cell's first, second and final forms.]]
-->'''Karn:''' Actually, leading [[FantasticScience powerfoligists]] theorize that as you become more powerful, you become more monstrous, and then sharply become humanoid again. They call it the [[TropeNamer Bishonen Line]].
-->'''Karashi:''' '[[PerfectlyCromulentWord Powerfoligists]]'?
-->--''{{Adventurers}}!''

The step beyond OneWingedAngel. Describes the tendency of monster creatures (especially evil ones) to become big and disfigured as they increase their power, then suddenly shrink back down to human proportions. Kinda like a human neutron star.

This can be used to indicate that the character has reached a point where he has "full control" of his powers, and therefore can access them selectively - taking the ass-kicking abilities while leaving the giant-scary-monster abilities. It's also often an inverse of OneWingedAngel in that the creature originates in a monster (or {{Mon}}) form and then turns humanoid.

The cold hard truth is probably just that this is what happens when the character has become so monstrous that they are no longer physically capable of doing the visually impressive martial arts stuff that the series is built around, so the character needs to become more humanoid again to participate properly in the KungFuFighting - hence the EvilMakeover back into humanoid form.

There is also a point at which one can't keep adding things to a monster [[SculptedPhysique without making it look too "busy."]] If the beast already has three horns, adding a fourth won't make it look too much scarier. This would also make it harder to draw; the sheer detail and scale of an ever expanding monster would be taxing in a visual medium. This is particularly important in media, such as animation or sequential art, where the same thing must be drawn over and over again. Look for the form after the Bishounen line is crossed to appear in more episodes than the monstrous forms.

It can also be argued that the Bishonen Line makes for more interesting fights. After all, if the villain looks more human, the audience assumes certain things about them, such as cunning and sentience (see the UncannyValley). May well be connected to HumansAreBastards.

The name for this trope (and the quote above) comes from [[http://www.adventurers-comic.com/d/20050616.html Mark Shallow's Adventurers]], though video game villains usually stop at the OneWingedAngel phase. Those few who manage to go even ''further'' will occasionally walk further past the BishonenLine, but after that, or sometimes even instead of it, often have more OneWingedAngel forms before, in extreme cases, Crossing The Bishonen Line Twice.

Also see MonstrosityEqualsWeakness, a SuperTrope of this, where part of the mentality behind this trope is applied large scale; more monstrous characters will be inherently weaker / less important than humanoid ones. See also SculptedPhysique, which may be applied to "cosmetically" or grotesquely. Compare TheManBehindTheMonsters for an exogenous demonstration of this.

An interesting side-element to this trope that you'll see in some examples below is when the creature has some level of control over its form. Ultimately it might just switch back to its OneWingedAngel or bestial form when it starts losing either because it can no longer maintain its bishonen form, or because it needs the raw power that it's been using to hide.
----
!!Examples

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
*In ''Seimaden'', the ruler of the demon world is Laures, an impossibly beautiful man. Demons lower in rank than himself are attractive but more bestial. Mid-rank demons are horrible monsters. But Laures' assistant and servant Tetiyus, a low-rank demon, is almost as beautiful as his master.
*''DragonballZ'' features countless examples:
** Saiyans initially reach their highest power by transforming into mindless giant apes, but later reach a power level where their hair just turns blonde and spikier (Super Saiyan 1).
*** Super Saiyan 3 is a very mild subversion: the most prominent change is that a Saiyan's hair gets extremely long, but he also has his eyebrows vanish and his forehead grow, producing a Neanderthal-like look.
*** Not to mention, their eyes turn green.
** Frieza's intermediate states are larger and more monstrous than his boyish final form. His second form looks to a large extent like a much bigger version of his first, plus his horns become bull-like (allowing them to gore an opponent, which he does in fact do). His third form looks like an every freakier version of the [[{{Alien}} Queen Alien]], except in Frieza's standard two-tone purple color scheme. His final form, though, looks almost human (aside from the tail, strange boxy "ears", and prehensile feet), and even seems downright unimpressive (even to the other characters)...until he starts kicking ass.
** Cell's initial form is reptilian. His second form is even more monstrous. His ultimate form looks a lot like a very chiseled bishounen wearing reptile armor.
***This troper thinks Cell simply gets more humanoid with each transformation. The second form is definitely less monstrous (though much bulkier and uglier) than the freaky reptilian/insectoid creature that was his first form. (Look at the evolution of the face, eyes, hands, feet and even mouth.) Also, when future Cell reverted to an egg to travel back in time, as he grew up he left behind a husk or skin that looked like a beetle/lizard hybrid or something. Certainly not human.
** Majin Buu's final form is that of a boy ("Kid Buu"), as opposed to the hulking Fat Buu and the muscular Super Buu. This transformation actually makes him have less restraints, as Super Buu was content to [[KillThemAll wipe out humanity]], now that Kid Buu was pure evil, his power was in its rawest form (though he was actually stronger, at least physically, as Super Buu), and [[OmnicidalManiac with no sanity, he was prepared to use it on the entire universe]].
*** Furthermore, Super Buu turns more human as he absorbs more fighters. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] because the fighters Super Buu absorbs are almost all HumanAliens.
** Janemba of the post-Buu movie originally was a giant yellow marshmellow man, but became a sleek, muscled demon of human shape and size in his powered-up form.
** In ''Dragonball GT'', the Super Saiyan 4 transformation initially turns Goku into a giant ''gold'' ape (the same as before but in Super Saiyan mode), but when he reaches full power, he reverts to a very buff humanoid with some fur.
*** Arguably, SSJ4 could be considered the Bishounen Line of super Saiyan transformations. Super Saiyan mostly gets spikier hair Super Saiyan 2 gets really spiky hair and bigger muscles, SS3 gets bigger miscles, huge hair, and the face tends to get less human (emotionally, but it changes physically as well), then Super Saiyan 4 goes to the same as the normal Saiyan but with red body fur and marks under the eyes. Super Saiyan 2 also has a Bishounen Mode effect with False SS2: Vegeta and Trunks get more and more buff until they're too slow and can;t quite focus their power, then [[spoiler: Gohan]] breaks through to true SS2, which is spiky hair and muscle tone instead of bulk.
* In ''{{Bleach}}'', Hollows start out as 7-10 foot monsters, get bigger until they reach the size of a skyscraper (Gillian-class, Menos level), then get smaller (past Adjuchas-class, Menos level), until they are the size of normal humans. At this point, the Vasto Lorde-class Menos -- who are so powerful they are basically humans with masks -- are only speculated on (a handful of charactes who ''might'' be Vasto Lordes have been introduced, but it's not been confirmed), but the Shinigami are rightfully terrified of the idea of one deciding to attack.
** What's more, by turning any of these types of Hollows into Arrancar (breaking their boundary between Hollow and Shinigami, which hugely increases their power), all but a small part of their mask is broken off, and they basically look like humans with a hole in their chest (or stomach, or neck, or occasionally other places). [[http://img.imgcake.com/tessla.jpg Some actually]] [[http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g190/Shinigami-club/Forte_Grantz.jpg ARE bishonen.]]
*** ... and then the Arrancar go right ahead and subvert it. When they release their Zanpakuto, accessing their full power, they get bigger and more monstrous again, crossing the line in the opposite directions. For example, [[http://www.bleachrevolution.net/arrancar/ilforte.jpg this]] becomes [[http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii212/IlforteBA/Fan%20Arts/Il_Forte_Grantz_Del_Toro_by_zaku40.jpg THIS.]]
**** *However*, there is a clear tendency for Arrancar to have more humanoid released forms depending on how powerful they are. Notably, everyone from Grimmjow (6th/7th strongest) and up have been more or less humanoid thus far. [[spoiler:With one notable exception, though we haven't seen yet if he's really as strong as he claims.]]
***** The BishonenLine recieves a [[JustifiedTrope Justification]] during the fight between Uryu Ishida and Cirucci Thunderwitch. After her release she gains a bird-like cowl, bladed wings and monstrous arms. During the battle when Uryu damages her wings so that she cannot fight with them anymore she admits she, "Doesn't get good mileage." and sheds her most monsterous appendages to better concentrate her power.
** Taken further with Shinigami. Swords from both Arrancar and Shinigami represent the power level of the users, it is explained that after a certain level, Shinigami (and presumably Arrancar too) consciously keep their swords a normal size, otherwise Shinigami of Captain level would be using swords the size of skyscrapers.
**''Even more so'' with the main character. He starts off with a huge sword because he doesn't do the above but it isn't concentrated so it is like a sword made of marshmallow to high level characters. His next level involves getting a ''larger'' sword that can hold its own to higher level characters. And his ultimate levels involves getting a mostly normal sized sword that has his huge power focused into a small form (inverted from just about every other character whose ultimate form is usually a [[OneWingedAngel One Winged Angel]])
*** And then he is made fun of for having such a small [[DoesThisremindYouOfAnything ultimate level]].
**** [[CaptainObvious Your penis can't get smaller when you have an erection, so no, it doesn't.]]
**** At least part of this was Byakuya being in denial that a teenage punk nobody like Ichigo could ''possibly'' have achieved the ultimate level so quickly.
* The Mazoku and dragon gods in ''{{Slayers}}'' all have monstrous forms which tend to get larger the more powerful they are. However, it is only the high-ranking ones which have the power to assume human form as well as their original forms.
** That would be anyone roughly two levels under Shabranigdo and up, i.e. the Xellos/Filia/Val level.
* ''{{Digimon}}'' does this quite often. In fact, a pretty good way to tell if a digimon's reached their perfect or ultimate form is by how human they look; Palmon/Lilymon is a perfect example of the trope, going from short, cute plant-monster to giant cactus with boxing gloves to beautiful, pink humanoid. Or just compare either Agumon line (Small Dinosaur > Big Dinosaur > Even Bigger Cybernetic Dinosaur > 7ft-ish semi-reptilian knight).
** Lalamon is similar to the Palmon example above, but more so. She crosses the line when turning into Lilamon, and her TransformationSequence for the [[EvolutionaryLevels next stage]], Rosemon, was so {{Fanservice}}y [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6muaUD89244 (observe)]] it got edited for the US.
*** Interestingly, Wargreymon can fuse with his parter to make a 18ftish white knight.
*** Interestingly refernce in season 3. Guilmon/growlmon does the Small Dino/Big Dino/Mecha Dino thing, then has an evil mega form that is a huge montourous dinosaur. But then he has a more powerful, non evil final form that is roughly human sized knight. Impmon may have followed this trope, but we only see his final form, which is human like.
** The Garurumon line goes from a giant blue and white wolf, to the bipedal Weregarurumon, and then back to the quadrupedal form with armour as Metalgarurumon.
** This counts for almost all of the revealed Royal Knights. Some interesting cases include:
*** Dunus/Dynasmon can possibly evolve from the more bishonen Silphymon, who himself is the end of its own BishonenLine.
*** Examon, who is formed from a fusion of Breakdramon (who is much less bishonen than Examon) and Slayerdramon (who is much more bishonen than Examon).
* The Akuma from ''{{D Gray-Man}}'' start off looking like round things with cannons; by level two they could look like pretty much anything; by level 3, they resemble humanoid armored creatures. When they reach [[spoiler:level 4, they resemble a freaky angel-like child with three halos and fairy wings]].
** [[spoiler: Emphasis on ''freaky''. They're just as freaky as a level 1 akuma, just... in an aborted fetus kind of way. ]]
* The demons of InuYasha don't transform in stages, but there is a visible progression in power; small demons, larger demons, monstrously huge demons, and then the most powerful, who can generally assume a human-like form, much as the titular half-demon hero's father (as shown in the third movie), as well as his full-demon brother. Another example would be the referenced father of a monstrous-looking half-demon named Jinenji, a horse-demon, who was said to be a handsome man. Exceptions exist, but size is a general indicator of power, with the most powerful obviously able to hop the BishonenLine at will.
** One character notes that while many demons are huge and horrific, the ones that take human form are often far more dangerous.
* SoulEater has Mosquito as the [[TwoferTokenMinority twofer troper]] for both this and Vamps. His four-hundred year form is the 'bishounen' one. Generally precedes each of his transformations with a speech along the lines of: "x hundred years ago I was my most *insert superlative*".
** This is, of course, until [[spoiler: Noah cuts him off mid-transformation and mid-''sentence'' by smashing him into a wall.]].
* {{Gundam 00}} [[spoiler: Alvatore, the monstrous mobile armour piloted by BigBad Alejandro Corner, has a "true form" of sorts in the Alvaaron, an angel-like mobile suit hidden in said armor.]]
* Bishojo line: When a ''{{Claymore}}'' overuses her Yoma power, she becomes an ugly monstrous inhuman drooling creature that likes to eat guts. Then when she awakens, she becomes a somewhat glamorous insect-human hybrid... that still likes to eat guts.
** that's just with Priscilla all other awakenings result in disturbing looking monsters(though Priscilla is the strongest awakened one)
* After sixteen monstrosities that get weirder with each new one, the 17th Angel of ''NeonGenesisEvangelion'', Tabris, is revealed to be [[spoiler:a WhiteHairedPrettyBoy who also goes by the name of Kaworu Nagisa]].
** Of course the 18th Angel is [[spoiler: humanity as a whole.]] You don't get any more humanoid than that.
**Rebuild subverts this with [[spoiler:Zeruel. He eats Eva-00, and mutates into a humanoid form that's even bigger than he was in his monstrous form.]]
* The BishonenLine in ''ChronoCrusade'' works similarly to the one in ''Inuyasha'' -- Weaker demons tend to look like {{Eldritch Abomination}}s, while the strongest ones tend to look like {{Bishonen}} with wings, horns, and other cosmetic extras.
* Rob Lucci in ''OnePiece'' uses his devil's fruit ability to turn into a giant leopard-man, but one of his [[CharlesAtlasSuperpowers kung-fu techniques]] is the ability to shrink himself down to normal proportions, making him much more agile.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* In Terry Pratchett's ''Carpe Jugulum'', the villainous vampire family Magpyrs are shown to have evolved from uglier harpy and then nosferatu-like forms to their attractive human appearance simultaneously to their increase in power.
* In ''Master Of The Five Magics'' by Lyndon Hardy, the Demons have a hierarchy of power. The least powerful are near human, but they grow larger and more bizarrely monstrous as they become more potent. The Archdemon, however, has the form of a lightly built human male.
* In an example that would be an ''[[InvertedTrope inversion]]'' if it weren't centuries older than absolutely everything else on this page, souls become less and less human in appearance as Dante makes his tour of the afterlife, going from Hell to Heaven, in his ''DivineComedy''- from physically human in appearance in Hell and Purgatory (though the damned often have their human forms [[BodyHorror disfigured and transformed in horrific ways]]) to ethereal faces in the first sphere of Heaven, shining balls of light with discernable eyes in the second sphere, and beautiful but featureless balls of light in the third through ninth spheres- but when he reaches the Heavenly realm entirely beyond physical existence, the Empyrean, everyone is entirely human again.
* In [[LoisMcMasterBujold Lois McMaster Bujold's]] [[TheSharingKnife The Sharing Knife series,]] the monsters of the series are known as "malices," creatures of sentient destructive energy which drain the life force of all surrounding creatures in order to build horrific, misshapen forms, and which grow geometrically stronger the more they feed. Over the series we see several different monstrous forms of malices: a werewolf malice that fed on wolves, a flying malice that fed on bats... but the most advanced and most dangerous of the malices they fight is one that has consumed so many human lives that it has developed a stunningly beautiful, superhuman form.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* Mayor Wilkins on ''[[BuffyTheVampireSlayer Buffy]]'' became totally invincible while still human, but with a 100-day time limit - after that, he steps ''backward'' across the Line to become a huge, powerful, but destructible snake demon.
* In the series finale of ''PowerRangersJungleFury'', the restored Pai Zhua masters summon a higher level of the powers that the Rangers use. It turns them into furries. At the climax, however, the Rangers summon the ''highest'' level of power, reaching a level never seen before. This involves unmorphing and throwing CGI fireballs.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* Variation: In the ''DungeonsAndDragons'' multiverse, Asmodeus, king of the Nine Hells and most powerful Archdevil of all, is most commonly encountered looking like "an unprepossessing humanoid with red eyes, horns, and well-tailored robes." Recent sourcebooks have increased his height to thirteen feet, though. (But it is mentionned in a few books that his true form is some kind of monstruous, serpent-like beast)
** DnD also has the slaadi, extradimensional spirits of Chaos which, as they get more powerful, get bigger and scarier- until you get to the Death Slaad. Although vastly more powerful than all the others and the only slaad that's [[AlwaysChaoticEvil naturally evil]], death slaadi are human-sized and shaped. Sorta this trope without the "Bishonen" part. And then they leave the trope with the ''Epic Level Handbook'' White and Black Slaad - the white are gigantic and the black are vaguely froglike... ''things'' made of pure darkness.
** However, White and Black Slaadi both have the ability to turn into a humanoid at will... [[SoYeah So, yeah.]]
** This example is pretty clearly based on certain depictions of Satan. Lucifer was traditionally both the most powerful and the most beautiful of angels, at least prior to his Fall. (And, in some versions, he retains both qualities even afterward.)
**Daelkyr of ''Eberron'', the ultimate rulers of the plane of madness, lords and creators of monstrosities such as beholders and mind flayers, resemble "perfectly formed athletic human males, possessing unearthly beauty."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* Omega from the ''MegaManZero'' games starts off huge in his first form, then becomes even bigger in his second, and finally reverts to a much smaller form... which just happens to be [[spoiler:Zero's original body]]. As the trope states, he is infinitely more powerful in this form than he is in his others.
** Albert from ''ZX Advent'' goes from a massive three-headed dragon to a much smaller angel-thing.
*** These two are actually departures from series form, which tends to a small, agile humanoid form followed by a giant monstrous form. However, in early games, the humanoid is more dangerous than the monster, since Zero's most powerful weapons are close-range, which is harder with the boss's speed. Later final bosses show greater damage and reach on their attacks. (Compare Ragnarok-Weil to Copy X or Elpizo.)
* Nintendo realised in ''TheLegendOfZelda: Wind Waker'' that the human (well, Gerudo) Ganondorf was a far more compelling character and thus a better arch-enemy than his boarlike bestial form Ganon, so saved the duel with Ganondorf for ''last'', following a battle with a giant transforming puppet version of Ganon. In ''Twilight Princess'' [[spoiler:they did it all over again, giving the big man ''two'' human phases ''after'' you'd already dealt with his bestial form.]]
* Furthermore in both games they have the bosses start out odd and monstrous and get weirder, going from the semi boss monkey in Twilight Princess to a giant spider who shoots out eye beams composed of tons of eyes that you kill by controlling giant statues. Then comes Zant, who is humanoid. [[spoiler:And he's arguably the freakiest of them all, due entirely to his insane personality.]]
* In ''FinalFantasyVII'', mad scientist Hojo seems mostly normal in his weakest form, except for strange movements and a slightly greenish tint to his skin. Defeating him in this form allows you to fight Helletic Hojo, a huge and ugly mutant. When Hellectic Hojo is defeated, he becomes Lifeform Hojo N/A, an eerily-beautiful humanlike creature draped in white.
** ''FinalFantasyVII'' did it again, with the iconic Sephiroth - he starts as a mutant, turns into [[TropeNamer THE]] OneWingedAngel with OminousLatinChanting - and then, in his final form, becomes [[ShirtlessScene Himself With His Coat Off]]. However, this final scene is more [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic symbolic]] than anything else. It's [[AnticlimaxBoss impossible to lose against shirtless Sephiroth]]...
*** Note that the "one-winged angel" form "Safer Sephiroth" is also far more Bishonen than "Bizarro Sephiroth" before it, though still only half made up of human parts. It's certainly an example of the more powerful form being less monstrous.
** ''FinalFantasyVII: CrisisCore'' does this too, with [[spoiler: Genesis Avatar, a hundred-foot-tall {{Evangelion}}-esque monster knight, as the first form, and the final battle with Genesis being a straight sword duel after he's [[ThisWasHisTrueForm inexplicably reverted]] to his normal and non-decayed form.]]
** ''FinalFantasyVII: DirgeOfCerberus'' is also guilty, with Nero. He transforms into the huge and malformed Arachnero, and then into the human-sized and pretty Gorgonero.
** So does ''{{Final Fantasy X-2}}'': Trema, the resident BonusBoss of Via Infinitio, a dungeon full of increasingly ugly monsters, a perfectly normal-looking [[DeadManWalking Unsent]]...Who is also even more BadAss then Auron, [[BadassLongcoat if such a thing is possible]].
* The final boss of ''KingdomHearts 2'' first fights in his original black-cloaked form, then changes into an armored knight on a throne which is itself on the head of a robot dragon; after several fights against said dragon and knight, the final fight is against him in a recolored version of his original outfit, with an upgraded version of his original fighting style.
**That's not the only example of the BishonenLine in ''KingdomHearts.'' The standard Heartless {{Mooks}} start as (admittedly kind of cute) monsters that grow larger and more terrifyingly bestial, and then the most powerful of them all, [[spoiler:Ansem/Xehanort's Heartless]], is visually indistinguishable from a [[strike:WhiteHairedPrettyBoy]] normal human. Likewise, the usual Nobody {{Mooks}} of the PS2 sequel are [[UncannyValley somewhat-inhuman]] beasts, with the few inhuman Nobody [[BossBattle bosses]] being gargantuan creatures--and the frighteningly powerful Nobodies that make up Organization XIII are visually indistinguishable from normal human beings.
** Before Xemnas however, was Marluxia. The first fight is straight up against him, using his own [[GreenThumb flower magic]] and wielding a SinisterScythe. The second has him on a sinister, large, floating mech with [[SinisterScythe scythes for arms]]. The third fight takes place on top of the remains of said mech, only this time Marluxia has a creepily beautiful angel-like familiar wielding a gigantic [[SinisterScythe scythe]] backing him up and basically doing all the fighting for him. The man likes his [[SinisterScythe scythes]], you see.
* Ryu, the protagonist of ''BreathOfFire 3'', can transform into various dragon forms. His strongest form, Kaiser, is identical to his human form, except recolored gold. When you use that form's Kaiser Breath attack, however, he temporarily changes further into a gigantic dragon.
* In ''BraveFencerMusashi'', the Wizard of Darkness is originally a massive, horned demon-man; he changes into an even more monstrous green beast, then finally into a white-skinned humanoid slightly larger than Musashi.
* Eve's final form in ''ParasiteEve'' is a rare ''Bishoujo Line'' example, having gone (over the entire game's course) from normal actress to 8-foot pale seductress with a serpentine lower body to taking up a good-sized room while preggers with the Ultimate Being to 20-foot floating monstrosity covered in grasping arms to [[{{Fanservice}} functionally naked]] FragileSpeedster harpy-thing.
* The characters of ''BloodyRoar'' tend to avoid this trope, since turning into animals is the whole point, but a few characters get past [[OneWingedAngel that point]].
** Cronos, one of the potential final fighters, turns into a very nonhuman penguin when he powers up a little. Turn on the OminousLatinChanting, however, and he can transform into a phoenix that looks like a human with a beak and feathers before he kills you.
** Uranus is an even better example, as she first turns into a fearsome chimeric beast with her normal powerup, but her strongest form looks like her normal one, just glowing.
** Uriko is also exhibits a degree of this. In the original game, as the FinalBoss, her beast transformation consisted of going from a little girl to a full-grown woman, sprouting cat ears, and her hair turning green. Later, when she's less powerful, her beast form, although still less animalistic than the others, is noticeably more feline. She also exhibits going to the OneWingedAngel again, as in the first game, her ultimate form is a grotesque chimera.
* The original ''ShadowHearts'' features this. Although Yuri's fusion souls are all roughly human-sized, they generally get more bizarre or monstrous as they get more powerful, with the second-most-powerful, Amon, being a hulking, monstrous demon with a blade on one arm. However, his most powerful, the Seraphic Radiance, is just him, glowing white, with black wings and mystic-looking tattoos.
* If you count the Despair Embodied of ''DevilMayCry 2'' as a second form of the immediately preceding boss, as some FanFic writers do (it's not made clear in canon), this would apply. This does not occur in the other games of the series.
* In ''ViewtifulJoe'', [[spoiler: it is revealed that Captain Blue, Joe's movie hero, is in fact the true villain of the piece. He transforms into his monstrous "King Blue" form that is so large, Joe must face him in his HumongousMecha "Six Majin". After the battle, Joe jumps to the nearby platform to commence the final battle; Blue appears again, much younger and more muscular than he ever was before. After being defeated, he reverts back to his older, overweight form.]]
* Dhaos from ''TalesOfPhantasia'' fights you as is, then turns into his presumably true [[spoiler: alien]] form. After beating ''that'', though, he returns to being a humanoid, albeit very tall, suited in white, and sporting angel wings.
** The final boss of ''TalesOfHearts'' fuses with the core of a giant planet-eating parasite to fight you, has a big magical lump of flesh for an ally, and can summon monsters, walls, and spikes from the room itself to attack you with. After beating that, you enter his mind and fight his "true self", which is him with a bunch of {{power crystal}}s, a silly collar... and powerful spells, a tough defense, and a LimitBreak.
* In ''BatenKaitos'', the final boss fight is against [[spoiler:Malpercio, whose body is a hideous frankenstein made up of the body parts of various dead gods. After he's beaten, though, Melodia combines with him, turning him into a more humanoid figure with wings on his head]].
** Another example is [[spoiler: Geldoblame. When exposed to the power of the End Magnus, he transforms into a grotesque tentacled... thing, which still ends up being ThatOneBoss for many players. He appears to die after that, but [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere is somehow able to come back during the ending cutscenes for round two.]] There, he "simply" appears as a giant version of his head protruding from the ground and [[ClippedWingedAngel is easily dispatched by one Guardian Spirit attack.]]]]
* In the original PC Engine version of ''{{Castlevania}}: Rondo of Blood'' (and the prologue sequence to its sequel, ''Castlevania: Symphony of the Night''), Dracula's second - and final - form is a [[OneWingedAngel giant, fire-breathing, bat-winged reptile]], which you fight in an AmazingTechnicolorBattlefield. In the PSP remake featured in ''The Dracula X Chronicles'', however, he assumes his human form again for the final round after you've defeated the lizard.
* At the end of ''{{Metroid}} Prime'', the titular chracter turns from a demonic giant black arachnoid into what appears to be the mixture of an octopus, a normal Metroid, and a human face. While practically easier than its previous form, it cannot be hurt by weaponry not based on the substance it feeds on and produces (Phazon). Samus did have the ability to use that material, but anyone else would have been doomed.
** The trope is played even straighter with what happens after you defeat Metroid Prime's second form though: it turns into a Phazon clone of Samus.
** Also, at the end in ''Metroid Prime 2'', the Emperor Ing goes from being what resembles a giant eye to a much larger version of the basic Warrior Ing.
* In the episodic computer game ''Time Runners'', the main character (a teenager from Earth) travels through time and dimensions to fight monstruous "Chronodemons": a robot, a cyborg, a sentient spider, a necromancer, a mutated human and a zombie pharaoh. For the final duel, is pitted against the creator of the Chronodemons: an exact lookalike of him.
* Used in, of all things, the DS version of ''[[NicktoonsUnite Nicktoons: Globs of Doom]]'' with BigBad Globulous Maximus, who goes from a gooey cyclops meteor taking up the entire screen to a flying slime man the size of [=~SpongeBob SquarePants~=].
* ''MetalGearSolid 4'': In the boss fight against [[spoiler: Ocelot, he slowly regresses in his mind to his {{Bishonen}} [[IWasQuiteALooker younger days]]. However, since this is only in his mind, he remains looking like an old man, and only his movements become more 'bishounen'. Note also that the Life Bars change as well!]]
* The fianl boss of ''CastleCrashers'' is an evil wizard who first fights you by controlling crystals on a throne, then fights you on foot with a magic wand, then bloats up like a balloon and drops magical bombs, and finally becomes an enormous bat creature. When you defeat that, he regresses back through his balloon form to his normal form, where he summons a [[{{BFS}} gigantic sword]] for one final battle.
* In ''{{Fallout 3}}'', the basic Mirelurks are bipedal mutant crabs. Mirelurk Hunters are bigger and spikier, and have more limbs. Mirelurk Kings, the "leaders" of a particular brood of Mirelurks, look more like gillmen.
* In ''ZoneOfTheEnders'' there are gigantic battleship-sized Orbital Frames, but the most powerful Orbital Frames ever made are comparatively small and bipedal. They get more powerful when they ''lose'' a lot of their armor and look even more human-like.
* Wesker in the ''ResidentEvil'' series. [[spoiler: He [[GenreBlindness seals his fate]] by going OneWingedAngel for the FinalBoss fight of [=RE5=], which allows you to (presumably) finally kill him for good.]]
* In PhantasyStar IV, the Dark Force appears multiple times. First, as a monstrous head and shoulders attached to the satellite, and second in the form of a giant spider with the same head. Then it hides inside the form of a human archaeologist with dark magical powers, allowing it to hunt for the Aeroprism. When the party finds the Aeroprism, he transforms into the third Dark Force, which is a humanoid demon much smaller than either of the others.
** Even more the case with the Profound Darkness. First form: [[EldritchAbomination a collection of mouths and red eyes on a blob of purple flesh.]] Second form, it's got green-gray armor, plenty of appendages, but only one mouth and not as many eyes. The third form? A giant gray human female with bony wings and seven eyes in symmetrical positions on the thighs, wings and forehead; if you hadn't seen the prior forms, you'd probably take them as gems.
* [[TheElderScrolls Morrowind]]'s BigBad Dagoth Ur spreads his influence via the corprus disease, which drives its victims insane and causes horrible tumorous growths. For most this means becoming a grotesquely deformed zombie, but the higher echelons of the hierarchy are able to control these transformations, to the point where Dagoth Ur and his immediate underlings look completely humanoid except for the occasional extra eye (or pair of nipples).
* Hunters from ''{{Prototype}}'' are massive, ugly hulks. Leader Hunters are even larger, even uglier and even more powerful. [[spoiler: The Supreme Hunter]], on the other hand, while impossible to call handsome, is still slightly better-looking than the previous two, not that much bigger than Alex, and predictably even more powerful than Leader Hunters.
* Most powerful ''{{Pokemon}}'' look at least vaguely humanoid, with few exceptions(usually the unique ones).
* Subverted in the browser game KingdomOfLoathing. The first form of the BigBad, the Naughty Sorceress, is a sexy woman holding a glowy floating thing. Her second form is a monstrous mass or eyeballs, tentacles, sores, and mouths that does disgusting things like puking on you and picking off it's scabs to attack or heal. Her final form is a talking sausage, and the battle is won or lost based solely on whether or not you happen to be carrying an item that can be put together from shit you find lying around getting to this point.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* Following his transformation into a genie, Jafar from Disney's ''{{Disney/Aladdin}}'' briefly becomes a huge, red, menacing figure before Aladdin commands him to return to his lamp. In the beginning of the sequel, ''The Return of Jafar'', Jafar is briefly seen in this world-annihilating form before reverting to his original human form (but retaining his genie powers). And then goes back to his genie form when he decides to kill Aladdin et al personally.
**He chose his original human form because there was no way he'd be able to talk to/persuade/order around Abis Mal without the latter freaking out. He even [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] it with the line. "I trust you find me a little less overwhelming now?"
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* An interesting real-life variation of this trope concerns supercars. Specifically: as cars move up in speed, power, and handling, they become more bizarre-looking with overdesigned, sculpted bodies, and bringing them to the edge of their power makes them feel like they're going to shake themselves apart. At the very very top of the charts, however, are cars like the Bugatti Veyron - they look like very elegantly designed normal cars, and handle just as smoothly as a luxury car.
* In terms of top speed, the huge aero devices are actually a detriment as they produce a great deal of drag in exchange for better handling. However, cars like the Bugatti Veyron pay for their more ordinary looks on the racetrack, where they would not be competitive with real sports racing cars or some of the really outlandish supercars like the [=McLaren=] F1.
[[/folder]]
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