History Main / OurMonstersAreWeird

** Other enemies in the games are often weird, weird things. From super-fast sea serpents to walking tree monsters that can [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog Spindash]] to plants that shoot plasma and who-knows what else.

* Being a D&D adaptation, ''VideoGame/BaldursGate3'' occasionally borrows from the ''long'' history of weird monsters across the gameline. One notable instance is Inspector Valeria, who's investigating the murder of a priest that may be tied into a spate of serial killings in Baldur's Gate. She's a brusque yet shortsighted investigator who's more interesting in a stiff drink than in getting to the bottom of a case... and she's also a [[hollyphant https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Hollyphant]]. So if you see a flying small celestial elephant interviewing a murder witness, don't worry - you're not having a stroke.

[[caption-width-right:268:I know we like our tropes to have Administrivia/{{wick}}s, but ''[[VisualPun this]]'' is '' ridiculous''.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'' and its prequel ''WesternAnimation/MonstersUniversity'', the Monster World is shown to be home to a wide variety of weird and wonderful monster species, each with different physical traits, such as tentacles, one or multiple eyes or even being large jawed heads on legs.

* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' takes place in the Kingdom of Monsters, and while there are several traditional monsters like living skeletons and [[WesternAnimation/MonstersInc Mike Wazowski]]-like creatures, and many others that are literally just furries, there's also an impressive assortment of creative ones as well:

* The Abyssal Fleet of ''VideoGame/KanColle'' are amalgams of eerily pale humans, giant ambulatory mouths, and naval vessels and hardware, in varying combinations.

* ''VideoGame/KidIcarus'' is full of these. Flying eyeballs? Check. Flying noses? Check. One-eyed toad things? Check. Eggplant Wizard? Double check.

* In Creator/AndreNorton's ''Literature/{{Catseye|1961}}'', Troy finds the hur-hur revolting and alien in appearance, even a wrongness in its form. Only the prospect of facing hunger and unemployment again lets him even stand carrying the case that holds it. Citizen Dragur, in contrast, is greatly enthusiastic and even calls it beautiful.
* Creator/ChinaMieville, as one of the biggest talents in NewWeird, it's fitting he has some strange creatures in his ''Literature/BaslagCycle'' stories such as a race of mosquito-headed women who are scrawny when they haven't fed but [[BreastExpansion turn buxom]] when they had some blood, or an otherdimensional monster dragging around a city in the sea. As a guest contributor for ''Literature/LegendsOftheRedSun'' he came up with the ''Mourning Wasp'' which was a docile giant insect with a human skull for a face.

** ''Literature/LoomingShadow'' has a creature whose fur is permanently shaped into a question mark and a giant pelican that hosts a smaller monster in its beak.

* The final boss of ''VideoGame/{{Persona 2}}: Innocent Sin''. It is literally a tentacle monster made from the fathers of the protagonists in bondage gear.

** On the subject of ''Persona''... the true forms of the shadows in ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}''. Other than Naoto... FREAKY.

*** The carbuncle is an actual creature from mythology, but the D&D version is a very interesting interpretation. It is a small creature with psychic abilities and a precious gem on its head which can only be removed while it is still alive because the gem turns to dust if the carbuncle dies before it's removed. The carbuncle also happens to have the ability to die at will and is spiteful enough to actually do so if you try to take the gem by force or take it captive. Since the gem eventually grows back if removed, it will use the gems it produces to bribe its way into joining a group of adventurers. Don't be fooled. While they are not directly dangerous, they are malicious little things that use their psychic abilities to get people killed by indirect means, such as tricking people into fighting each other or attracting other kinds of monsters.

*** Then, there are Lava Children from 1E who were "immune" to metal (it just went right through them), sported chimpanzee-length arms with scything claws, and sported a [[SlasherSmile permanent cheerful grin]].
** The 1988 module ''Castle Greyhawk'' had the Plane of Silly and Unused Monsters, a dimension filled with all of the bizarre and stupid monsters that Creator/{{TSR}} had created up to that point. It included the flumphs and modrons already mentioned, and many more.

** The flumph is infamous in ''Dungeons & Dragons'' circles. It’s an intelligent, innately good, acid-dripping, psychic, floating, subterranean jellyfish-creature.
** Another particularly infamous monster is the umpleby, which is a fuzzy ape-like creature resembling [[Series/TheAdamsFamily Cousin Itt]] that fights by using its long hair to build up enormous amounts of static electricity.
** The flail snail is a giant snail with several tentacles on its head ending in spiked balls which it uses to club enemies to death.
** The disenchanter is a blue-furred quadruped with the trunk of an elephant which it uses to consume magic.

** Then, there are Lava Children from 1E who were "immune" to metal (it just went right through them), sported chimpanzee-length arms with scything claws, and sported a [[SlasherSmile permanent cheerful grin]].

** A lot of the oldest D&D monsters were created by Creator/GaryGygax trying to come up with identities for a collection of weird Japanese plastic monsters. These include the owlbear, the bullette, and the rust monster.
** ''TabletopGame/{{Spelljammer}}'' also has a ton of weird monsters. One of the is the Fractine, which are living mirrors that fly around in space. It was one of the monsters that was brought back to fifth edition in a D&D Beyond online supplement.

** In the original live action ''Manga/GiantRobo'' series they had some ''bizarre'' monsters, like a giant flying hairy eyeball -- that grew legs, no less -- and a giant robot hand. ''Just'' a hand. [[{{Pun}} Maybe they wanted to give the good guys the finger.]]

* Many early ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' monsters were necessarily unusual, but they at least looked like products of {{genetic engineering|IsTheNewNuke}} or [[BodyHorror bizarre medical experiments]]. Lately, though, it seems like the design team has just been phoning it in. [[spoiler:Sergei Vladimir]] in ''Umbrella Chronicles'' is probably the most relevant example.

They don't have to be [[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs from an acid trip]] either in-universe or as a meta-example. They just have to be unconventional and too strange to fit in any of the other categories. In fact, [[FreakyIsCool these can be some of the most popular monsters]]. It can be a result of the work in question going for AttackOfTheKillerWhatever. They are often found in SurrealHorror... or at times, SurrealHumor.

* Pretty much everything that isn't a human in the Literature/WhateleyUniverse story "I Looked into the Abyss and It Winked" since Josie gets dragged into inter-dimensional nightmares and LovecraftCountry. Come to think of it, even some of the humans (like Ecila Mason) are pretty monstrous and freaky. And don't forget Josie's backpack or her so-called 'cat'.
* ''WebOriginal/{{Mortasheen}}'' is quite possibly the most triumphant example of this trope ''by far.'' [[https://bogleech.com/mortasheen/amoebeyes.htm There are faceless, headless giants whose amorphous eyeballs slither over and around their bodies like titanic protozoa and can shoot lasers,]] [[https://bogleech.com/mortasheen/clampire.htm blood-sucking mutant clams,]] [[https://bogleech.com/mortasheen/lascivenus.htm carnivorous flytrap sirens]], [[https://bogleech.com/mortasheen/anglesnipe.htm transdimensional fishing lure-like entities that are only part of a far vaster being]], and who knows what else. [[DarkIsNotEvil But that doesn't mean they're all bad, though.]]
* The quasi-EldritchAbomination and meme [[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/zalgo Zalgo]].

* The ''Literature/{{Ramayana}}'' featured Kabandha, a headless demon with a mouth on his stomach and arms that spanned for miles. He was originally a Gandharva (celestial musician) who gotten cursed by either a powerful sage or [[TopGod Indra]] for his hubris against them. He could only change back if his arms have been cut off by [[TheHero Rama]] and his brother, which, fortunately for Kabandha, happened during the epic.

* In the [[Myth/HinduMythology Hindu epic]] ''Literature/{{Ramayana}}'', one of the level bosses--come on, it might as well be a video game--was Kabanda ("Barrel"), a huge torso with a mouth on one end, ringed with sword-wielding arms. It turned out to just be a good-guy demigod that had been punched in the head so hard it got mushed into his torso and turned him evil; once the heroes defeat it, it returns to normal and joins their party. (See? Video game.)

* ''Dreamblade'' includes a plethora of weird monsters, mixing and matching elements of fantasy, science fiction and horror in their designs.
* ''[[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons D&D]]'', hoo boy, ''D&D'' has a [[http://www.headinjurytheater.com/article73.htm lot]] of [[http://www.headinjurytheater.com/article95.htm them]].

* ''{{VideoGame/Bloodborne}}'' ups the ante on weird monsters in compared to ''Dark Souls'', especially after the game becomes a [[spoiler:CosmicHorrorStory filled with lovecraftian abominations]]. Sure, bosses like the Cleric Beast and Vicar Amelia were frightening, but later on you fight big-headed blue humanoids with psychic powers, coiled masses of venomous snake parasites, and whatever the hell the "Winter Lantern" is.

* ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'': Most monsters in the series are pretty stock fantasy monsters: skeletons, dragons, [[NotUsingTheZWord zombie substitutes]], and what have you. But there are a handful of monsters that are just plain bizarre.
** [[ChestMonster Mimics]] in the series are as goofy and bizarre as they are dangerous. Wake one up and they suddenly grow a humanoid torso with long legs with the treasure chest functioning as its head, while a pair of arms and a long wagging tongue come out of its mouth. A mouth that is lined with ''finger bones'' instead of teeth. They then prance around making goofy noises while they try to kill you. Which is not difficult for them to do since those long legs can kick extremely hard. In ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'' they crawl upside down on all fours instead of standing upright and can spit poison, while ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'' contains both of the aforementioned types.
** The [[http://darksouls.wikidot.com/chaos-eater Chaos Eaters]] of Lost Izalith are large inverted cones with eyes studded all around their bodies that walk around on 4 stubby legs, with a pair of tube-like and claw-tipped tentacles on what we suppose must be their "front" that they use to spray acid, and huge lamprey-like mouths studded with teeth that take up the entirity of the tops of their flat heads. By far the weirdest and most alien creatures in the game, they more resemble something from the Franchise/CthulhuMythos.
** The [[http://darksouls.wikidot.com/gaping-dragon Gaping Dragon]] from ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsI'' is a huge creature that [[WasOnceAMan was once a normal dragon]] but was [[OneTrackMindedHunger so consumed by gluttony]] that its entire torso split apart into a giant vertical BellyMouth lined with teeth that were presumably once its ribcage, just so it could eat more.
** Darksuckers in ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'' have worm-like bodies, but their heads are a fanged maw surrounded by tentacles that give the impression of a human hand. You will not forget the first time one bursts out of a pit of oil within the pitch-dark pit that is Black Gulch.
** ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'' has a few swamp areas infested with what appear to be spider-like creatures that may or may not be made of parts of humans, mutated tadpole-men with dangerous vomit breath, hulking ogre creatures whose heads are giant hands with too many eyeballs in the palm, and a couple of weird beasts that looks kind of like someone tried to make a giant spider out of bits of wolves.

** ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaLordsOfShadowMirrorOfFate Mirror of Fate]]'' has the [[BigCreepyCrawlies gigantic insect-dragon]] known as the Lady of the Crypt. The slime-ghost-like "Lady" is actually a [[AlluringAnglerfish lure]] on the dragon's head that it has developed to lure human prey, and is even capable of attack! Unfortunately for the dragon, the lure also seems to be its weak point.

* The "monster the DM made up himself" from ''TabletopGame/{{Munchkin}}''. It gets + 2 on a Saturday, among others.

* Creepers from ''Videogame/{{Minecraft}}''. Most of the other monsters are relatively normal, but creepers are just wrong. It's said that they came about from a failed attempt to make pigs.

** The monsters added relatively recently continue to be certifiably bizarre:
*** Blazes are floating heads surrounded by flaming golden rods that orbit them at high speed while shooting fire all over the place.
*** The Wither is a massive, flying, desiccated three-headed torso that actually has to be constructed by the player out of skulls and soul sand.

** Girtablulu is a massive hermit crab thing with surreal glowing lights all over its body and a CITY on it's back.

* While most of the Shades of ''VideoGame/NieR'' are basically expies of Heartless from ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'', larger more tentacle-y versions of said Heartless, or monstrous animal-looking things, the giant Shades named Hook (named after the villain Hook from ''Literature/PeterPan'', since all boss shades have some form of fairy tale motif to them) and Wendy are notable exceptions. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGXQQmfOKeQ Hook]] is basically a hideously lumpy misshapen lizard-thing with numerous breast shaped growths with vague eye-like markings growing under its chin (earning the nickname "chin testicles" by some players), a hand at the end of its tail, and a shark-like head with numerous teeth and MonochromaticEyes, while Wendy is an EldritchAbomination made up of a stone sphere surrounded by a swirling mass of pulsating darkness with a great big menacing eye at its center making it look like a closed lotus flower that eats up the local inhabitants of the town, essentially becoming a confused MindHive. It's name also makes this a case of FluffyTheTerrible).

** ''[[Videogame/DragonAgeOriginsAwakening Awakening]]'' also gives us the Childen; things looking like oversized, fat maggots with the face of a baby with lots of teeth who walk around on insect-like legs ... and can mutate to grow even more and even longer legs to stab you with.