Make My Monster Grow / Live-Action TV

Super Sentai and Power Rangers

Super Sentai/Power Rangers made this trope famous. Whenever the Rangers defeated the Monster of the Week, eight times out of ten the Big Bad of the season would either grow or resurrect it at giant size for the Rangers to fight in their Mecha/Zords. Each villain had a different method for doing this:

• In the final episode of Himitsu Sentai Gorenger: Black Cross Fuhrer detaches his head from his body after he is hit with his Kryptonite Factor, which then transforms into his true form, a flying fortress called the Black Cross Castle. Since the Gorangers do not have a giant robot, they have to sacrifice their vehicles to finish it off before it can escape.
• The first Mecha using Super Sentai, Battle Fever J, averted this for nearly the whole show. Starting with Episode 5, the monster of the week would call a giant robot duplicate of itself. In the early episodes, Battle Fever would have to defeat the monster while dodging attacks from the robot, then get in their own mecha to defeat it. In later episodes, sometimes the monster called its robot as it died, and sometimes both battles happened simultaneously. The only monster in the show that actually grows giant is the Big Bad Satan Egos.
• The Vader Monsters of Denshi Sentai Denziman were the first to play this straight, as they can enlarge to giant size or shrink themselves to mere centimeters tall at will by manipulating their cellular structures, making them all Size Shifters.
• In Taiyou Sentai Sun Vulcan, the Mongers are installed with the "Expansion Program". The Monger will announce "Giant monger!" and grow on its own (typically right after the team finisher, natch).
• In Dai Sentai Goggle Five, the defeated Synthetic Beasts would get hit by the "Refresh Power" beam, and then sent into Humongous Mecha copies of themselves called Kongs to pilot. However, this exact happening didn’t occur until five episodes in and the robots those monsters piloted previously weren’t replicas but unrelated designs made by Deathdark scientists.
• Kagaku Sentai Dynaman has two methods of doing this: the Evolution Beasts undergo "Big Bang Process" when they're defeated, while the Mechavolution Beasts are enlarged by the Gran Gizmo's "Big Bang Beam".
• Choudenshi Bioman averted this again: they don't have growing monsters. Instead, they have the five Beastnoids, who are recurring human-sized monsters, and a separate Mecha Gigant serving as the series' Monster of the Week. The Mecha Gigants, which were autonomous robots, were later replaced by the Neo-Mecha Gigants, which were piloted by the three generals, Mason, Farrah and Monster.
• Gyodai of Dengeki Sentai Changeman can resurrect and enlarge dead Space Beast Warriors by firing an enlargement beam from his eye (he even comes from a place called Planet Growth). The monster whose purpose is to enlarge other monsters would later become a staple in Hiroshi Soda's Sentai, and would rarely have any other job or much personality, being a more animal-like creature who seems to operate mostly on instinct. Using its grow method tires it out, requiring it to recharge until next time, hence the inability to send and grow multiple giants at once. In Gyodai's case in particular, one episode's scheme-of-the-week was a plan that would result in giving him the ability to repeatedly use his grow ray without tiring. Naturally, he didn't keep that ability beyond that episode.
• In Choushinsei Flashman, the giant mutant jellyfish called Kuragen is summoned to enlarge a Genetic Beast by expelling the energy from its body. Doing so causes it to shrink (in a case of Liquid Assets).
• In Hikari Sentai Maskman, Okelampa would show up to resurrect and enlarge dead Dogglers with an energy shower. Much like Gyodai, this can be only used Once per Episode, since Okelampa would get tired quickly after doing it.
  • In the finale, Earth Emperor Zeba enlarged himself by absorbing the Aura Power from the Maskmen's Jet Cannon.
• Guardnoid Gash of Choujuu Sentai Liveman carries the Giga Phantom cannon to rebuild and enlarge the Brain Beasts. However, as a side effect of using the Giga Phantom, the Brain Beasts lose their sentience and can't use their special powers. Interestingly, the Giga Phantom only works on Chaos Phantom Energy-powered creatures, but Gash still chooses to fire through the Livemen to hit the remains of the Brain Beasts, as if to catch them off guard.
• In Kousoku Sentai Turboranger, the Bohma generals can summon magical tornadoes to enlarge the Bohma Beasts, either through being fired from a device or being an energy construct in which they're reformed.
  • Bohma Doctor Layda performs his version of the spell by playing his cane like a flute.
  • Dark Bohma Zimba fires a beam of light into the sky to summon an illusion of his face which spouts a tornado.
  • Bohma Princess Jarmin breathes out a snake of flame that bites the remains of her Bohma Beasts.
  • Rage Flying Bohma Zulten plays his horagai conch shell.
  • Great Bohma Emperor Lagorn can also summon magic tornadoes from his tentacles to grow either his Bohma Beasts, or himself when he chooses to stop playing Orcus on His Throne (even his regenerating remains are capabale of growing Boma Beasts!).
  • Yamimaru also has the ability to enlarge Boma Beasts via a little spider-like creature he has with him that fires the usual energy tornado.
• Chikyuu Sentai Fiveman zig-zags this. Similar to Goggle V, a Gorlin (a giant robot purchased by the Silver Imperial Army Zone for 100,000 Dolyens per unit) is summoned to absorb the Galactic Warriors. Unlike the Kongs, instead of being Humongous Mecha copies, the Gorlin start out having a blank doll-like appearance (making it resemble the Michelin Man and/or the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man) before assuming the appearance of a Galactic Warrior upon absorption. They do this by way of shooting a beam that converts the Galactic Warriors into energy form, then absorbing the energy to replicate the appearance of the assimilated alien, using the genetic material of what was absorbed. That being said, Gorlins can't absorb a Galactic Warrior if they're killed off, as one embarrassing incident demonstrated. Moreso, those absorbed by Gorlins can actually free themselves if reminded who they are, as they apparently lose their free will after being absorbed.
  • Denkiunagin, Barrugin, Kourogin, and a Saberugin-equipped Billon played this straight, since they have diffrent methods to enlarge themselves.
  • First Captain Chevalier would later use a Black Gorlin, which cannot absorb Galactic Warriors but is more powerful than the regular version. It was more of a giant attack robot than a method of growing monsters, however. Garoa would later follow suit with the Big Garoan.
• In Choujin Sentai Jetman, the Jigen Beasts are created when a Jigen Bug possesses an inanimate object, but the bugs serve an extra purpose: When a Jigen Beast is killed in combat, its Jigen Bug is thrown from the monster's explosion and proceeds to grow itself, assuming the appearance of the dead Jigen Beast while gaining its powers (though if the bug is destroyed alongside its Jigen Beast, they can't be brought back). The same rules also apply to the Bio-Jigen Beasts and their Bio-Jigen Bugs (which were differently shaped and colored compared to the normal Dimensional Bugs).
  • Alternately, Jigen Bugs can work in that, when a Jigen Beast is close to defeat, that it releases energy to rejuvenate and enlarge that Jigen Beast (as observed with Road Jigen, whose Jigen Bug enlarged him before the Jetmen could finish him off).
  • Emperor Tranza has a glove that is capable of enlarging his Bio Jigen Beasts with a press of a button. He would also avert this by piloting Majin Robo Veronica.
  • Some Jigen Beasts, such as Fighter Jigen and House Jigen, are already giants due to their Dimensional Bugs possessing large inanimate objects.
  • Empress Juuza's pet, Semimaru, can enlarge on its own through metamorphosis. Gorg and Ramon are also capable of doing the same as well.
  • After the Veronica incident, as a result of absorbing enough energy from the Majin Robo itself, Back Dimensional Count Radiguet discovered that he's now capable of transforming into a giant One-Winged Angel version of himself.
• Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger has Witch Bandora chanting the magic spell, "Evil spirits sleeping beneath the earth, give your power to Dora [Monster]!" before throwing her Dora Scepter to Earth. The Dora Scepter, upon reaching ground, would output energy to make a crack in the ground to actually release sleeping ghosts within the soil. The evil spirits would converge on the Dora Monsters, the donation of strength proceeding to regenerate and enlarge them.
  • This would carry over to the first season of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, with Rita Repulsa and her magic wand. There's no mention of spirits being used to grow her monsters, but her wand still plays a role, apparently being the source of the energy that the monsters use to grow. Rita's chant in Sentai footage is changed to make the Trope Namer: "Magic wand, make my monster grow!"
  • Bandora/Rita could also do this to Grifforzer/Goldar, Lamie/Scorpina, and Burai/Tommy as well, and they could return to normal size.
  • Some Dora Monsters avert this due to being giants by default, such as Dora Titan, Dora Anateus, and the Humongous Mecha Dora Talos.
  • There are also Dora Monsters who would grow without Bandora's enlargement spell: Dora Jinn grew after Bandora captured him with a new lamp and wished him to grow, Dora Pixie was forcefully enlarged after Mei broke his horn, and Dora Narcissus became big after achieving his final evolution.
  • Interestingly, Bandora had a limitation that no other Sentai to this date had, which is she can't grow Dora Monsters if they're already slain beforehand. Meaning if she wasn't fast enough with her wand before the Zyurangers pulled out the Howling Cannon, then there would be no giant monster fight that day, with a total of two exceptions, Dora Goblin and Dora Chimera, who were blown to to pieces but reformed when Bandora enlarged them. In almost every other Sentai, the monster would be destroyed by the Team Finisher first and then grown with the exceptions of Battle Fever, Go-Busters, and Kiramager where the giant monsters were actually separate monsters (and in Kiramager's case had totally different designs) that could and would often act in tandem with their smaller counterparts.
• In Gosei Sentai Dairanger, the Gorma would usually bring Enlargement Bombs in case things are going south for them. They work like grenades in that the Gorma using them have to remove the pin and toss them on the ground at their feet. It's not clear as to how they work, but it's possible that the bombs are magic, as when they are detonated the Gorma rise from the resulting explosion at massive size (the footage would often show the explosion reversing, implying the Gorma were absorbing the energy of the bomb to fuel their growth). Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers used the same method in the second season, except Lord Zedd would personally send the bombs to his monsters by throwing them down to Earth.
  • In Dairanger, the bombs are shown to be something of a disadvantage in that there is a window of time to stop the Gorma from using the device. It's even defied in an episode where Purse Priest/Pursehead tries to use his Enlargement Bomb, but is blocked by the heroes by throwing their staves to form a cage to prevent him from doing so. That said, Dairanger also has some humorous awareness regarding growing. In one scene, Major Zydos whips out an Enlargement Bomb and proceeds to toss the pin on the ground instead of the bomb, right before realizing his mistake and throwing the real thing. In another instance, Lipstick Songstress/Lipsyncher gets so pissed at having her "perfect" face scratched that she whips out an Enlargement Bomb (clearly, she has no regard for the unwritten rule that you're only supposed to grow when you're losing). You can even see her Cotpotros running away before she activates it, not wanting to be squished by her soon-to-be-giant feet! ^note This wasn't seen in MMPR because of the Dairanger costumes and Cotpotros not being used; MMPR was still using the Zyuranger outfits and Putty Patrollers.
• Ninja Sentai Kakuranger has the Yokai call for an enlargement jutsu. This results in them being struck with lightning (which is made from humanity's rage, hatred, and sorrow) from the Yokai Cloud to enlarge themselves.
  • The third season of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers changed this to Rita and Zedd crossing their staves to generate magical lightning.
• Chouriki Sentai Ohranger and Power Rangers Zeo gives us Acha/Klank and Kocha/Orbus, who are more than just the royal butlers. Whenever a Machine Beast has been defeated, Acha/Klank pulls out a cord on Kocha's/Orbus' side, extending it and then swinging her/him over his head (in Ohranger, Acha and Kocha yelled each other's names in "Marco Polo" fashion during the swinging, while in Zeo, Klank announced, "And around and around and away we go!") until he builds enough momentum to toss Kocha/Orbus at the Machine Beast. Kocha/Orbus would then latch on and proceed to inject a special, glowing fuel into the Machine Beast. In some later instances, though, Kocha/Orbus uses a close-range beam instead. Or both: fuel first, then beam, with the beam supposedly being an energizing catalyst for the fuel. Regardless of how, Kocha/Orbus' donated energy serves to empower the Machine Beast, causing them to re-pixelate at gigantic size.
  • Some Machine Beasts are already built giants. The most prominent example would be Bara Separate/Staroid, who is formed from one of Bara Brain's eyes assimilating various Earth vehicles.
  • Beast Tamer Keris has a built-in enlargement system inside her body, allowing her to grow big through a control panel in one of Baranoia's hideouts.
  • In Episode 33, Emperor Bacchushund/King Mondo secretly had the Machine Beasts previously blown to scrap by the Ohrangers/Zeo Rangers rebuilt as giants. Hoewever, they're more than just the standard ones: those who are showered by the energy harnessed from the Earth's magma would be upgraded as "Super Machine Beasts".
  • Bacchushund/Mondo can enlarge himself by going One-Winged Angel and summoned a sword from outer space prior to his final confrontation against the Ohrangers/Zeo Rangers. This was done again in the finale of Zeo, where King Mondo enlarged himself along with some of the Mooks, this time in his default form.
  • Also from the same episode in Zeo, the Rangers planned to bring out their Zeozords, but Trey suggested they should "fight fire with fire" by enlarging instead. An Ultraman-style brawl ensues.
  • Bomber the Great/Louie Kaboom was reprogrammed (or struck with one of Princess Archerina's arrows in Zeo), forcefully enlarged off-screen, and his hands were replaced with a sword and an Arm Cannon before being sent on suicide mission by Prince Buldont/Gasket and Princess Multihua/Archerina.
  • After being rebuilt in a more powerful Kaiser body by Bacchushund/Mondo, Buldont/Gasket, along with his wife Multihua/Archerina, are now capable of enlarging together without the need of Kocha/Orbus' enlargement beam.
• Parodied in Gekisou Sentai Carranger. In order for the Gorotsuki (Bowzock's Monsters of the Week) to grow, they must eat imo-youkan (jellied sweet potato bars). Due to a unique effect the imo-youkan has on their biology, it causes them to glow red and blow steam from their nostrils before growing to massive size. Said food must be freshly hand-made from a certain store (Imocho). Factory-made and/or expired imo-youkan makes the Gorotsuki shrink (when this happens, they glow blue while blowing steam).
  • As Inventor Grotch found out in Episode 4, an expired imo-youkan can temporarily enlarge the consumer before reverting them back to their original size. President Gynamo took advantage of this in the finale, where he threw expired imo-youkan into the mouth of a giant Emperor Exhaus, causing the latter to weaken, revert back to his original form, and shrink to human-size for the Carrangers to finish him off.
  • However, in Power Rangers Turbo, Divatox would have her men launch enlargement torpedoes instead. They still turn red and blow steam, though.
  • Elekinta/Electrovolt doesn't need imo-yokan/enlargement torpedoes to grow big and instead absorbed his and Zelmoda/Elgar's motorcycles to do so.
  • The Zokurangers are an interesting case. They're a parody of The Psycho Rangers brought together by SS Pamaan/Crash as a means to counter everything the Carrangers/Turbo Rangers threw at him. However, SS Pamaan/Crash resorted to enlarge himself through an imo-yokan/enlargement torpedoes after being blasted by the Formula Nova/Turbo RAM, since the Bowzock doesn't have Humongous Mechas at that time (with the exception of the Barricars).
  • In later episodes, RitchRitchhiker averts this by purchasing the Humongous Mecha Braking through Gynamo's secret savings before directly confronting the Carrangers. The same goes for Exhaus, who is naturally gigantic and provided Bowzock with their own Humongous Mechas such as the Norishiron series and the Akumagic Mecha. In Turbo, all of the villains' Giant Robos were built instead, either by General Havoc (Metallosaurus) or Porto (Terrorzord and the Divazords).
  • Radietta's personal vehicle, the Radiacar, is more than just an Ace Custom vehicle: not only it can transform into the humanoid Radiacar Robo, but can also enlarge itself through a command from its owner. The only downside is the Radiacar Robo can only maintain this form for a minute.
• In Denji Sentai Megaranger, Dr. Hinelar ran an experiment on Bibidebi in Episode 3, which gave him the ability to infect Nezire Beasts (and later, Psycho Nezilars) with an enlargement virus. Whenever a Nezire has been defeated by the Megarangers, he beams down, cries out "Enlargement Virus Injection!", and bites the Nezire Beast/Psycho Nezilar, infecting their DNA (with little, Bibidebi-shaped molecules) and causing them to enlarge. In one instance, Mega Red completely obliterated Lion Nezilar, but Bibidebi improvised another growth process by sucking the flames and smoke remaining from the destroyed monster's explosion into his mouth, then blowing it out as a fine mist to rematerialize Lion Nezilar at gigantic size.
  • Power Rangers in Space replaced this with Astronema giving the command for the Dark Fortress to fire a "Satellaser" ray, which flashes a bright green scanning beam upon the place where a monster fell to enlarge them. It was lampshaded by Elgar once, when he muttered "Here we go again" while firing the beam.
  • Instead of growing, Boss Kunekune/Craterite Leader orders the Kunekunes/Craterites to form King Kunekune/Craterite Conglomerate by piling themselves on him.
  • As a side effect of consuming the Nezire Source Capsule (which Dr. Hinelar deliberately kept a secret from him until much later), Guirail/Darkonda became mindless and was forcefully transformed into a giant One-Winged Angel version of himself, with the additional bonus of spawning Gigire/Mutantrus from one of his scales.
  • Yugande/Ecliptor, Ultimate Lifeform/Voltage Hog, and the Nezirangers/Psycho Rangers can enlarge without the need of Bibidebi's Enlargement Virus/the Dark Fortress' Satellaser Ray. The same also applies to Illusion Nezilar as well.
  • During his Last Villain Stand against the Megarangers, Dr. Hinelar transformed Nezirejia's HQ, the Death Neziro, into the Humongous Mecha Grand Neziros.
• Seijuu Sentai Gingaman has the Majins drinking an enlargement potion called "Balba-X" (or Balban Extract) to grow. However, the Balba-X is only used as a last-ditch attempt to kill the Gingamen, since drinking it would slowly kill them (or according to some translations, drastically shorten their lifespan).
  • The Majins are not the only ones who are capable of enlarging: BullBlack and Hyuga would also do the same, albeit by transforming into HeavyKnight, allowing them to form BullTaurus with their Starbeast partner.
  • Spectral Empress Illess can grow on her own by casting an enlargmenet spell on herself instead of drinking Balba-X. Likewise, Captain Gremory from the VS movie with Megaranger is capable of enlarging without the need of that potion as well.
  • In Chapter 39, Bazoogas, one of Battobas' Majins, is capable of enlarging humans with his Balba-X missiles as part of Balban's plan to revive Daitanix by forcing them to massage its heart. Unfortunately for him, the plan backfires when he enlarged Saya by accident.
  • The Demon Beasts avert this due to being giants by default, but the Balban can still control them like Humongous Mechas through the Rowdy Invincible Castle.
  • In Power Rangers Lost Galaxy, we saw the grow potion in a few early episodes, but in reshot American footage — in Gingaman, the monsters would drink them out of various styles of alcohol containers, to go along with the whole "pirate" motif; obviously that wouldn't fly by the censors, so in the American footage the monsters drink a green liquid from a science-y looking beaker/flask. But the green elixir only appeared in five episodes, and after that, the monsters would seem to automatically grow after being hit with the team finisher, as if it directly caused them to enlarge (presumably because of the show's Troubled Production, they couldn't spare the time/budget to reshoot all these scenes so they simply opted to leave them out).
• In Kyūkyū Sentai GoGoV and Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue, Pierre/Jinxer throws Regeneration Cards to resurrect and enlarge dead Psyma Beasts/Demons. Additionally, between Missions 31-39, Salamandes/Olympius can form the Psyma Zone to block solar energy and empower the Psyma Beasts/Demons, forcing the GoGoFive/Lightspeed Rangers to use bring out Victory Mars/Omega Megazord instead (since it's independent from solar energy, which their other Giant Robos/Megazords really needed to work properly).
  • The Golem Cards have the same function as the Regeneration Cards with the addition of giving the enlarged Psyma Beasts/Demons more powerful and armored forms. In GoGoFive, the Golem Cards were created from the remains of Magma Golem/Magmavore, the first Psyma Beast/Demon to have a second form. Lightspeed Rescue isn't really harmed by leaving that info out, but it's a nice little bit of worldbuilding that would've been nice to keep.
  • Zylpheeza/Diabolico has his own version of the Regeneration Cards, which he uses not only to resurrect and enlarge the dead Hades Demon Warriors, but also upgrade them.
  • Halleluyan/Spellbinder, one of Zlypheeza/Diabolico's Psyma Beasts, can cast an enlargement spell to grow himself. Chaos/The Gatekeeper and Salamandes/Olympius are also capable of doing the same, albeit through the Psyma Tree Pierre/Jinxer planted.
  • After losing her body, Grandiene/Bansheera can possess as well as forcefully transform and enlarge Zylpheeza/Diabolico and Salamandes/Olympius into their Destruction God/Super Demon forms.
  • Near the end of the teamup film with Timeranger, Pierre/Jinxer can cast a Fusion Dance spell with Boribaru to transform into the giant PierreBori.
• Mirai Sentai Timeranger and Power Rangers Time Force have the same method but with different reasons: In Timeranger, the Londerz Prisoners are flash-frozen and shrunk down to the size of action figures. When they're released from confinement, they have to wear a Depression Seal in order to maintain their normal size. Removing the seals — whether the prisoners intentionally do this, or by an unintended attack from the Timerangers — would cause a "rebound": a side-effect of the compression process in which they become gigantic. In Time Force, the mutants have natural DNA Patches, and removing them exposes their DNA, causing them to grow and increase in strength. In both cases, when they are defeated at giant-size, they are reverted back to their compressed states. However, a monster can be defeated and re-compressed while human-sized.
  • In the final episodes, Gien/Frax built NeoCrisis/Doomtron as his personal Humongous Mecha, though he would enlarge it first with a Depression Seal/DNA Patch before piloting it.
• In Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger and Power Rangers Wild Force, TsueTsue/Toxica would spit Org Seeds from her staff to resurrect and enlarge dead Orgs while reciting an incantation. In Gaoranger, TsueTsue chants, "Org Seeds, please allow the fallen to regain their enormous wicked power! Ogres come in! Blessings go out!" In Wild Force, Toxica's magic words are "Evil spirits of toil and strife, give this fallen Org new life!".
  • Typically, the seeds are fired into the green goo left behind by a dead Org. But they're also consumable, as seen when Yabaiba/Jindrax enlarged himself by eating them to aid his brother Juggling Org/Juggelo. He also forcefully fed them to Animal Tamer Org.
  • Yabaiba/Jindrax would sometimes replace TsueTsue/Toxica as the monster enlarger if either her staff was broken, or she wasn't around.
  • In Gaoranger, Highness Duke Org Shuten used a special ritual to grow by stabbing himself with TsueTsue's staff. In Wild Force, however, Retinax simply grows all by himself.
  • Duke Org Rouki had his own Org Seeds, which are referred to as "Wolf Seeds". In Wild Force, however, Zen-Aku doesn't use them on his Orgs.
  • As a result of absorbing the Thousand-Year Evil, Highness Duke Org Ura can enlarge himself after GaoRed used the newly-acquired Falcon Summoner on him. In Wild Force, Nayzor is enlarged with Org Seeds instead, as he'd been destroyed beforehand.
  • Highness Duke Org Rasetsu used a special bug to sabotage the Gaorangers' G-Phones before eating it to enlarge himself. This was defied in Wild Force, where Mandilok was quickly killed off by Master Org (as payback for trying to kill him earlier), before he could get the chance to fight the Wild Force Rangers at all.
  • Ultimate Org Senki, the Final Boss of the series, wastes no time enlarging himself by using TsueTsue's new staff after being formed from the three Highness Duke Orgs' remains. On the other hand, Master Org in his ultimate form can grow without it (though this was mainly due to Jindrax and Toxica pulling a Heel–Face Turn earlier, which Yabaiba and TsueTsue never did).
• Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger has three ways the villains could make the Monster of the Week grow to giant size; depending on which of the generals the monster was in the service of. Wendinu either had to launch an Enlargement Jutsu Scroll onto the battlefield (for Chuuzubo's Bio Corps), summon a missile that transforms into the Copy Giant that would scan the monster's remains and become a gigantic copy of the monster (for Sargain's Mecha Corps, which was similar to the Fiveman method), or physically hurl a Dekkamen out there (for Satarakura's Mask Corps).
  • Power Rangers Ninja Storm removed Zurgane and Shimazu's enlargement methods while keeping Choobo's for enlarging monsters (though a device similar to Zurgane's "Copy Giant" device is used to summon enlargement scrolls instead of Choobo's bazooka).
  • There's a great deal of lampshading regarding monster growing in Ninja Storm. On one occasion, the Big Bad Lothor looks directly at the screen and says, "What did you expect? He wasn't going to get smaller!" Another time, when Marah and Kapri first recruited Shimazu, Marah says, "What's the worst that could happen? They blow him up, we grow him big again, they blow him up again and we grow him big again and they blow him and we grow him and—" and Lothor cuts them off with, "I know the formula!" On yet another occasion, Lothor had just sent several monsters, and decides to make them all grow. Lothor tries, gets an error, and Zurgane reminds Lothor that he'd been too cheap to pay for the memory upgrade that would let multiple monsters grow at once. Lothor grumpily tells him to make just one grow.^note This was a case of Leaning on the Fourth Wall, as Disney reduced the budget and said no more than one giant monster could be used in a battle.
  • Tekkotsumeba/Sky Scrapper, a Jakanja Chunin under Sargain/Zurgane, can grow without the need of a Copy Giant by assimilating buildings after being killed off the first time. He also had the potential of growing five-hundred times larger than Senpuujin/Storm Megazord if not stopped.
  • During Chuuzubo/Choobo's Last Stand against the Earth Ninjas/Ninja Storm Rangers, he performed a Dangerous Forbidden Technique to enlarge himself, granting him more power at the cost of slowly killing him.
  • Amusingly, in one Hurricanger instance (Episode 25, to be precise), the particularly tiny Vamp-Iyan/Sucker is defeated and gets enlarged... to the same size as a regular human. He is promptly taken out a second time, and is then grown to the usual giant size.
  • Satarakura/Shimazu has a special whistle that can fuse the Fangols/Wolfblades into the giant-sized Fangerus. However, that whistle is also a control device, so breaking it would result with Fangerus de-fusing back to the Fangols/Wolfblades.
  • Wendinu/Kapri can also grow if she's overwhelmed with intense rage and extreme stress, though she would revert back to human-size if she feels nervous.
  • Manmaruba became mindless and was forcefully grown into a One-Winged Angel version of himself as a side effect of being exposed with the Evil Will's meteor shower. Averted in Ninja Storm, since Motordrone and Eyezak are two separate characters.
  • Sargain/Zurgane averts this in a few cases due to having his own Karakuri Giants/Zords whenever he would personally fight the Earth Ninjas' Karakuri Giants/Ninja Storm Rangers' Megazords. It is later revealed after his death that he had three more Karakuri Giants/Zords available for the other three Dark Spears to pilot. Likewise, two of Sandaaru/Vexacus' Phantom Beasts are naturally giants as well.
  • Tau Zant absorbed the energy from Satarakura/Shimazu's Jacuum Gun to enlarge so he could use the Raging Arrow for Omnicidal Maniac purposes. The Evil Will can also assume various forms at any size. However, in Ninja Storm, Tau Zant is reimagined as Lothor's personal Zord instead.
• The Trinoids (mutants made from an animal, a plant, and an inanimate object) of Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger are implanted with Life Berries, so if they're killed off, the Life Berries will turn into a giant rain cloud to resurrect and enlarge them. Averted with Giganoids, who are already giants upon creation due to being created from Voffa's musical notes instead of Mikela's paintings.
  • Power Rangers: Dino Thunder retains the enlargement rain cloud except it's summoned from Mesogog's "Hydro-Regenerator". The Giganoids are introduced in human-size here (Mesogog's monsters all get made in the same "Geno-Randomizer" chamber in his lair) and get grown by the Hydro-Regenerator. (Sometimes we don't see them grow; many were small when created but giant upon encountering the Rangers. It's assumed that the same method is used.)
  • KillerGhost/White Terrorsaurus is capable of enlarging itself due to being formed by Mikoto/Trent's clone. Mikela and Voffa can also grow on their own after Dezumozorlya fused them back to DezumoVoorla.
  • As with the Giganoids, BakurenOh/Blizzard Force Megazord is an aversion, except it's both an Evil Knockoff to AbarenOh/Thundersaurus Megazord and a Combining Mecha.
  • In the finale, Dezumozorlya, after ditching Mikela and Voffa at the end of his penultimate confrontation with the Abarangers, retreated to the Evolien's HQ and personally transformed it into DezumoGevalus as his final form. Dino Thunder changed this to Zeltrax piloting Dezumozorlya's final form (which is called the "Zelzord" here) as his Humongous Mecha.
• Averted for the most part in Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger and Power Rangers S.P.D., where the Alienizers don't grow. Like the Dekarangers/SPD Rangers, whenever they need to escalate things, they would pilot a Heavy Industrial Machine provided by Rainian Agent Abrella/Broodwing. There are also a few occasions where the villains grew instead, never using the same method. On one occasion, Abrella/Broodwing even summoned a bat to bite a suspected Alienizer/alien criminal, which caused him to enlarge. A Dekaranger-only episode also had a baby non-Alienizer monster grow because it lost it's binky and it's the only thing that's stopping it from growing.
• Mahou Sentai Magiranger and Power Rangers Mystic Force has Wolzard/Koragg casting an enlargement spell. Vancuria/Necrolai, during the time she is given Wolzard/Koragg's magic, uses a phone (basically the Rangers' changing device with Wolzard's color scheme) to do the deed. Here's where the two versions diverge: Meemy in Magiranger chants a spell like Wolzard, but monsters used by his PR counterpart Imperious could grow on their own.
  • Interestingly, the Infershia Pantheon/Ten Terrors are naturally giants, and could make themselves human-sized at will. They'd go back to their natural sizes for the last round.
• Each GoGo Sentai Boukenger and Power Rangers Operation Overdrive villain had their own enlargement methods, whether by Ryuwon/Moltor's enlargement gun, Gekkou/Kamdor's sutras, or skin shedding from the Ashu/Fearcats.
  • However, Gajah/Flurious' Godom Giant Gods, Ryuwon/Moltor's Daijaryu and the Ashu/Fearcats' Quester Robos are already giants. Some Precious can also become monsters and enlarge themselves at will.
• In Juken Sentai Gekiranger and Power Rangers Jungle Fury, enlarging is a martial arts technique. The Akugata Beast-Men from Gekiranger are able to do it at will through the recital of the ability ("Jashin Goten Hen!", which roughly translates to "Wicked Body Overpowering Heavenly Change"). In Jungle Fury, meanwhile, the Rinshi Beasts must collect enough human fear to access the technique. The Rangers counter this by making their mecha out of their Ki Attacks.
• The Banki Beasts of Engine Sentai Go-onger are installed with a powerful fuel called Bikkurium, which is provided by Kitaneidas and installed in case things go south for the Banki. Upon defeat, the Banki can enlarge themselves by releasing the Bikkurium into their systems and uttering the command "Industrial Revolution!".
  • At some point in GP17, Happa Banki dramatically shouts the usual growth command... and nothing happens. Turns out Go-On Gold had removed the monster's Bikkurium module during the battle!
  • Due to Hiramechimedes installing himself with a hundred times the usual amount of Bikkurium needed for a normal enlargement, he can enlarge himself through "Big Industrial Revolution" as Detaramedes.
  • GP24 has Urameshimedes (actually Hiramechimedes as a ghost) possessing Bakki to enlarge and become "Hirameki Banki".
  • In GP31, Lumbiaco can grow by simply hearing noises and male sounds and can only be shrunk back to its original size by hearing female sounds.
  • Kireizky and Chirakasonne used a more powerful fuel called Dokkurium for their "Super Industrial Revolution", while Yogoshimacretein had an even more powerful variant called "Third Industial Revolution".
  • Power Rangers RPM retains the "Industrial Revolution" process, but the Bikkurium is replaced with Venjix's "Power Download" to enlarge the Attack Bots. Venjix (or one of his generals, or the Attack Bot itself, but usually Venjix) will say "Begin the download, now!" Granted, we still see Bikkurium flowing through the circuits of the Attack Bots, but it is not referred to as such (you could assume this is revitalizing fuel or something like that).
    • RPM hilariously lampshades a lot of the usual PR conventions, and this was no exception. In one episode, General Crunch asks if they should supersize the Attack Bot now, "or wait until the Rangers defeat it first?!" Venjix blasts him into a pile of scrap for that (and then blasts him again when Crunch asks why they aren't sending in their drones now that Corinth's shields are down). Notably, a later episode sees Crunch left in charge while the other generals and Venjix are absent; once his Balloon Bot infiltrates Corinth, he immediately initialized the growth download.
• In Samurai Sentai Shinkenger and Power Rangers Samurai, all Gedoshu/Nighloks have two lives: if a human-sized Gedoshu/Nighlok is killed off, it's immediately reincarnated as a giant (or in the Nighlok's case, a "megamonster"). Takeru/Jayden knew this already, having fought them longer than the others. This is their only growing method; in one episode, a monster whose giant form has a big shield had finally powered up enough to use it, so Juzo/Deker and Dayu (same name in both versions) are sent to kill it so its second life can kick in.
  • Shitari/Octoroo gave up his second life so Oborojime/Gigertox could have a third life, becoming an even bigger CGI horror that didn't resemble his original form at all. This would come back to bite Shitari, who is later Killed Off for Real at the hands of the Gokaigers in a team-up that never happened in Power Rangers.
  • The Shinkenger crossover in Kamen Rider Decade averts this by virtue of Story-Breaker Team-Up, though: When the Ayakashi Chinomanako stole Daiki's Diendriver and transformed into a corrupt version of Kamen Rider Diend, his biology was somehow altered, meaning that it now had only one human-sized life. Really though, this was done mainly because Kamen Riders didn't start having their own Humongous Mecha on a regular basis for another five seasons.^note However, there are Kamen Riders who face giant threats more often than others, though not Once per Episode. Take Kamen Rider J and Kamen Rider Hibiki. The former makes himself grow whereas the latter, in spite of the size of his enemies, doesn't. Kamen Rider Den-O, Kamen Rider Kiva, and Kamen Rider Double fight giant monsters semi-regularly, using their weapon-laden transforming Cool Train, dragon castle, and bike that can attach to many other monster-busting vehicles, respectively. Kamen Rider OOO often doesn't need such things to deal with giant threats, taking out the first with a sword slash in finishing mode. It's too bad we didn't get to see Decade show the Rangers that you don't need giant robots to deal with giant beasties.
  • Diend does this to Decade^note Kinda; it's not that Decade grows per se, it's that Diend used a Final Form Ride to fuse Decade with the giant Kamen Rider J into a humongous Decade in All Riders vs. Dai-Shocker as the final trump card against King Dark, the last man standing of Dai-Shocker after its leaders are finished off.
• Tensou Sentai Goseiger and Power Rangers Megaforce has Buredoran/Brajira/Vrak calling his Bibi Bugs/Zombats to attach themselves to a monster and initiate the enlargement process. Buredoran/Brajira/Vrak and Mons Drake/Malkor can also enlarge themselves by using a single Bibi Bug/Zombat as well.
  • Because the Matroids/robots are not organic beings, Metal Alice (same name in both versions) has to convert the Bibi Bugs/Zombats into Bibi Nails/Zombolts to enlarge them.
• Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger and Power Rangers Super Megaforce has Mad Scientist Insarn/Levira firing an enlargement ray from the Gigant Horse/Armada's mothership on the Action Commanders. In Power Rangers, where this and the previous series are connected, the Maximizer is noted to have the advantage over the Zombats of being able to grow multiple targets at once.
  • It also lampshades the concept in one episode, where the Big Bad impatiently fires the growth ray early, causing Gokai Green to remark "He grew even though we haven't beaten him yet! Can he do that?!" In another episode, after the monster grows, Gokai Red snarks "We weren't going to skip this part, were we?" Yet another episode has a monster that has the ability to grow as a latent power — as well as shrinking, which lets it get into the team's mecha and wreak havoc.^note In Super Sentai, the once in a rare blue moon that the monster grows before being destroyed first almost always gets commented on. Not so in Power Rangers, because the first several seasons happen to be based on the few sentai where a still-living monster being grown mid-battle is the norm. To a Sentai fan, "the monster must be destroyed first" feels like this ironclad rule that got broken a few times long ago 'cause The '90s were really weird. Sentai has more than one instance of the monster having to be killed so it can be revived as a giant, and in Gokaiger, the Big Bad's generals actually tried to physically hold him back from hitting the grow ray before he's "supposed" to because the fact that that's just not how it's done overrode their usual loyalty!
  • Gokaiger also averts it in a couple of special instances: Commander Warz Gill/Prince Vekar has a self-styled Humongous Mecha, as does Insarn/Levira. Basco has Giant Battle Pseudo-Lifeforms, which he summoned by opening the compartment in Sally's chest whenever he wants to Troll the Gokaigers even more. And late in the series when Emperor Ackdos Gill/Emperor Mavro shows up, enlarging monsters became less common and finally stopped entirely after Insarn/Levira is killed off (though we do get some mecha battles later because at that point, the invasion fleet has arrived).
• As with Battle Fever J, the Metaloids/Robotrons and Megazords/Gigadrones aren't the same critters in Tokumei Sentai Go Busters and Power Rangers Beast Morphers. As such, (also just as in Battle Fever J) while the Megazord/Gigadrone usually arrives just after the Metaloid/Robotron is killed off, there are nearly as many times when the team must split up as some fight the Metaloid/Robotron on the ground and the rest fight the Megazord/Gigadrone in their own Humongous Mecha, or the Megazord/Gigadrone must be fought first while the Metaloid/Robotron carries out the evil plot du jour in hiding. Monsters in this series are created from Earth objects, and on one occasion, a robot based on a monster is turned into a monster itself, and soon a new robot based on it arrives. At one point you've got a robot within a monster within a robot. Hurts your head, doesn't it? This "Megazord Zeta" in turn is possessed by Messiah and takes on yet another form!
  • In later episodes, Enter/Blaze and Escape/Roxy would bring out their own Megazords to fight the Go-Busters/Beast Morpher Rangers' Humongous Mechas head-on. The first of those Giant Robos is the Megazord Epsilon from the movie.
  • Played straight with Rhino Doubler... strangely. Rhino Doubler is a monster tied to the lore of Space Sheriff Gavan; the episode is a tie-in to the then-upcoming Space Sheriff Gavan: The Movie about Gavan's successor. Monsters in Gavan, just like monsters in Go-Busters, do not grow: in Gavan and several other Metal Heroes series, the "monster is against the ropes and escalates the battle" move is transporting the whole battle to a bizarre, trippy Phantom Zone area where monsters are three times stronger. So, when Go-Busters Dragon Enter tries to turn the recently-destroyed Rhino Doubler's "Makuu Space" transporting device into a monster, the unexpected-even-by-Enter result is a giant Rhino Doubler in the only instance of typical "Make My Monster Grow" in all of Go-Busters or Gavan. Rhino Doubler's Beast Morphers counterpart Ryjack, who is not related to Gavan's counterpart Captain Chaku, but still maintains the oddball monster status by being a criminal alien from outer space, also provides one of the series' very few moments of growth by carrying an enlarging device amongst his arsenal of gadgets which he uses on himself. (Unlike his Go-Busters counterpart, Evox went giant after getting a physical body. Sadly, we didn't see a proper giant battle with this body. However, he gets a giant battle in a second, different and naturally giant body later).
• In Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger the eponymous team wait until sunset for Shibuyaseitakaawadachisouhidenagaaburamushi to grow into a giant after he is destroyed, just like how they "always" do. It never happened. ^note It's been observed that the first Monster of the Week faced by the rangers is seldom enlarged, most likely because in most series the mechas are introduced in the second episode. Which was the case for Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger. The first mecha battle doesn't happen until episode 7, when they face a tiny spider monster possessing a Mook that grows into a much scarier-looking Giant Spider when the delusion world starts to break down. No other monsters in the first season grow giant although they do face Deluknight piloting a mecha. And in the second season they do have a few more giant enemies but all of them were already giants. In season 2 episode 12 they instead have Akibared grow giant using a copy of Wolzard's morpher to face a giant enemy. Machine Itasha also has the ability to change size between not much bigger than the normal-size car it starts as to large as a standard mech.
• Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger has a literal example. Luckyuro can enlarge the Debo Monsters using "water" (a fluid made from Deboth's cells) in a watering can. They can also be shrunk back to their original size if they're hit with his magical tennis balls that absorb away the water.
  • In later episodes, some Deboth Army generals can enlarge themselves at will by using the Deboth Super-Growth Cells. The Neo-Deboth Army used this as well in Kyoryuger Brave.
  • Power Rangers Dino Charge replaced this with Sledge commanding a Vivix to fire a "Magna Beam" from his spaceship. The same beam can restore a monster to small size.
• In Ressha Sentai ToQger, the Shadow Kaijin would automatically enlarge themselves by absorbing the darkness they've gathered in a last-ditch attempt to kill the ToQgers.
  • Averted yet again with the Kuliners, which are basically Transforming Mechas brought out by the Shadow Line to even the odds against the ToQger's Humongous Mechas. General Schwarz, Marchioness Morc, and Emperor Z have their own Ace Custom Kuliners as well.
  • During the "Spring Vacation" crossover special with Kamen Rider Gaim, a Lion Inves ate two Helheim Fruits, causing it to grow in an instant.
• Kyuemon of Shuriken Sentai Ninninger can enlarge the Yokai by using the Kibaoni Nin Shuriken attached to his mallet. The Kibaoni Nin Shuriken also works on other beings too, as seen when Mataneko used Kyuemon's mallet in an attempt to attack Takaharu, only to end up enlarging him by accident instead. Also, a team-up shows that the mallet works just fine on Roidmudes from Kamen Rider Drive.
  • Kyuemon can also use his mallet to summon Gashadukuros, which are giant by default.
  • Kyuemon occasionally averts this by piloting Karakuri Kyubi during one of his personal confrontations against the Ninningers. A red version of Karakuri Kyubi also appears during the Kibaoni Army's final assault, this time piloted by one of the Mooks.
  • Starting from Shinobi 33 onwards, Masakage takes over Kyuemon's job in enlarging the Yokai after the latter is presumed dead as a result of Gekitotsu Dai-Oh destroying his Humongous Mecha (though in reality, Kyuemon went into hiding after that incident).
  • Some Yokai are capable of enlarging themselves without the need of the Kibaoni Nin Shuriken. Among these Yokai are Nue, Juza, Mangetsu, Shuten-doji, the above Masakage, and even the Big Bad Gengetsu himself.
  • Power Rangers Ninja Steel had the same "enlargement beam from the villains' spaceship" method as Super Megaforce and Dino Charge by having Cosmo Royale fire a beam from the Warrior Dome if the Galaxy Warriors audience demands it. There were two instances where they didn’t, but because the episodes still have to have a Zord battle, Cosmo Royale instead summoned a Skullgator (the show’s equivalent of the Gashadokuros) to fight the Rangers. We did still get a "Red accidentally gets embiggened" battle, as that episode took place when the ship had been damaged and Cleocatra had a growth device installed into her time controller (don't ask, it's complicated). A tussle over it results the same battle from Ninninger.
• Lampshaded by the Deathgaliens in Doubutsu Sentai Zyuohger: they have medal slots somewhere in their bodies, so Naria can enlarge them by inserting Continue Medals on their medal slots and they would thank her for it. Like an arcade game, if a Player loses, you "insert a coin to continue".
  • Zigzagged with the GIFT series. The first GIFT sent by Ginis can enlarge on its own, a green-colored GIFT averts this by being Naria's Humongous Mecha, and an army of red-colored GIFTs would need Continue Medals to enlarge.
  • Quval and Azald needed more than one Continue Medal to enlarge. In Azald's case, inserting three Continue Medals directly into his core causes him to become mindless. Banglay and Naria can also enlarge themselves by consuming a Continue Medal.
  • The crossover episode with Kamen Rider Ghost has a special guest monsters in the form of Shiomaneking from the original 1971 Kamen Rider, who had a Continue Medal shoved into his throat as he did not have a medal slot, while Naria raised her concerns of whether such an impromtu method would actually work. It still works as expected.
• Each Daikaan in Uchu Sentai Kyuranger has an Enlarge Inrou ^note (a traditional Japanese pocket box used for storing, among other things, medicines) that automatically revives and grows them if they die, but it's a one-time use item as they burst apart upon usage. However, some don't use them, instead opting to use Moraimarz in fighting mode (the Inro can still be seen on them; you'd think when they go down with their Moraimarz robot, the Inro would then enlarge them for a round three, but that never happens.) Vice-Shoguns get special treatment in this regard - a golden idol on their right shoulders that allow them to do this repeatedly. Deathworms naturally have the ability to change size at will.
  • An unusual variant happens when two of the Kyurangers shrink down to fight against a tiny size monster called Microtsuyoindaver inside somebody's brain. The first time he is killed, he grows to the size of a normal monster. The second time he is killed, instead of growing a second time to giant size, he manifests a giant copy of the person he was controlling with his dying breath.
  • Power Rangers Cosmic Fury mostly averts this as the villains prefer fighting aboard Squid Drills. The only villains who do grow are Inkworth, the Copyguards and the Scuttleworms, though their methods aren't elaborated on.
• Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patranger has Gauche performing "surgery" on a dead Gangler's "safe" remains by firing an enlargement serum from her Gros Caliber at it. Every Gangler has a safe on its body that lets it use the Artifact of Doom of the week: the safe is also its core. If the safe isn't completely destroyed, neither is the monster, and it's Gauche's grow juice to the rescue. Ganglers with multiple safes require a dose per safe.
  • In one episode, the Patrangers seemingly destroy a monster before the Lupinrangers can retrieve the treasure in its chest, resulting in them becoming despondent (their Fetch Quest requires them to collect all the treasures the Gangler have). However, they soon realize that no giant version of the monster appeared. Both teams eventually connect the dots on how weird for Gauche to not show up and revive/enlarge it, and deduce that it must have escaped before the final blow was actually struck.
  • One of the Ganglers is revealed to be able to grow giant on his own power, and is larger and more powerful then those enlarged by Gauche and neither team's Kaiser is powerful enough to defeat it, prompting Goodie, the sentient mecha both teams' mechs merge with, to basically force them to work together and combines with all the mechs, including Lupin/Patran X's entire solo mecha, into Good Cool Kaiser VSX, made up of 11 different mechs at once.
  • Episode 29, being a clip show, has no real monster, just a modifed Poderman, one of this season's footsoldiers, with a safe for a head and a giant hand. It's killed fairly quickly and not enlarged and when Goodie shows up, he's surprised he's not needed, prompting his flashback about the giant robot battles.
  • Also lampshaded in episode 30, as the monster is so smelly, the fight is going nowhere, so Gauche just enlarges it without waiting for it to be defeated, prompting Lupin Yellow to complain they hadn't actually killed it yet.
• Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger is an interesting case. The Minosaurs are created by using humans as Living Batteries and gathering enough human negative emotions and life energy would cause the them to instantly grow themselves. The host weakens as the Minosaur gets stronger, so the Minosaur going Kaiju size means you'd really better take it out in a hurry, because the host won't live much longer. This automatic growth is the only method, and if you do manage to take out a Minosaur before it happens, the Minosaur is truly dead.
  • The Druidon generals can also grow through different methods: Eras and Yabasword can grow at will, Tankjoh and the Gunjoji brothers have seismic energy inside them for enlarging, and Gachireus can fossilize himself to heal and grow.
  • In Power Rangers Dino Fury, the Sporix grow naturally. The longer they are not taken care of, the larger they will grow, until they become giant-sized. This was why Zayto's forces were still unable to defeat them on Earth, while the Morphing Masters had to devise Zords to assist the Rangers. For the generals, Boomtower was able to grow after placing a Sporix Cell inside his cannon, allowing him to harness its power. Learning from that experience, Void Knight places Sporix Cells into Slyther and Wreckmate so they could do the same. The exception to the Sporix natural growth came with Flapnarok as she wore a collar that allows her to grow giant size, but it only lasts for a certain amount of time before it needs to be recharged.
• Mashin Sentai Kiramager takes the Battle Fever J and Go-Busters method up to eleven: Any 20% of the overall negative energy the Jamenshi gathered are tranferred to Carantula's staff as part of the "Darkness Insurance Contract". Carantula would then summon the Jamen Beasts (giant monsters resembling Kaiju from the Ultra Series or Godzilla films) by using that energy to open the Invasion Gate. The Jamen Beasts have different base body types, but retain the themes of their Jamenshi counterparts (for example, both Rugby Jamen and Rugger Liagny are based on American football). As with Battle Fever J and Go-Busters, sending a Jamen Beast while a Jamenshi is still active is very much an option.
  • Some Jamen Beasts don't have a corresponding Jamenshi counterpart and vice versa. Either because they don't have one (such as Faucet Hildon and Meteorite Jamen, who don't have a corresponding Jamenshi and Jamen Beast counterpart respectively), or its Jamenshi/Jamen Beast counterpart have a completely different theme (like in the case of Marshmallow Jamen with Hassha Liagny, or Nazokake Jamen with a trio of war-themed Jamen Beasts).
  • Averted with Galza, who has his own personal Humongous Mecha called Smog Jouki and would later steal Mashin Express from the Kiramagers to form his own version of King Express for an episode.
• Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger has both sides of the conflict pulling this off. For Tojitendo, similar to Goggle Five and Fiveman, a Kudaitest would absorb a destroyed Wald's Tojiru Gear to transform into a Great Wald, only partially based on the original similar to Go-Busters or Kiramager. For the Zenkaigers, apart from Kaito and Zox, their Kikainoid teammates are the mecha: naturally human-sized, they can enlarge themselves with another usage of their Geartlingers, and only in giant size can they become Transforming Mecha and Combining Mecha.
  • Stacy averts this by either piloting Battle Caesar Robos, a Dark Is Evil variant of ZenkaiOh, or summoning copies of other Giant Robos.
  • After unlocking their Super Modes Kaito and Zox also gain the ability to grow giant and combine with each other to form their own giant mecha. Kaito's Super Mode also can combine with Juran or (theoretically at least) with Vroon in their giant forms. Interestingly, the strongest mech in the series is made by Kaito transforming a Hand Cannon into an giant aircraft which then combines with all four Kikainoids.
  • Zox's personal mecha is the only one the heroes use that is already giant but in order to change into its humanoid form it must combine with either Cutanner or Ricky or with Zox in Super Mode, who grow giant to form the mecha's head.
  • After being upgraded, Hakaizer can transform into a giant mecha as well, although weirdly his normal size form still exists inside of the giant robot and can be forcefully pulled out of it.
• Avataro Sentai Donbrothers introduces the Hitotsu-ki, Sentai-themed Oni monsters (similar to Another Riders) with two forms: If their default forms are defeated, they would automatically transform into the giant-sized Hitotsu-Kings, and if they're defeated again after enlarging, they're reverted back into normal humans instead of being slain.
  • Unlike many other seasons, this doesn't happen Once per Episode, as not all of the Hitotsu-ki have the ability to change into a Hitotsu-King when destroyed and simply revert to human form after the first defeat. They also don't change into Hitotsu-Kings if they're slain by the Noto instead of the Donbrothers, because this kills their human hosts too. In one instance a Hitotsu-Ki grows into a Hitotsu-King without being defeated but survives the giant battle and shrinks back to Hitotsu-Ki form.
  • And as with Zenkaiger, the Donbrothers are capable of combining and enlarging. This is usually done by transforming into Robotaro forms before doing so.
• Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger has the Kaijim and Sanagim consuming an amber-like substance to grow, which isn't shown until Episode 7. The first four Kaijim zig-zagged this, as they were immediately enlarged before fighting the King-Ohgers. This makes it one of the only series where we see Mooks in giant form and so far the only one where it happens semi-regularly. It is later revealed that the strange substance is actually Shugod souls taken from the semishugods and growing giant using this method normally comes at the cost of a drastically shorted lifespan.
• Bakuage Sentai Boonboomger has a pretty lengthy one, where Yarucar consumes a destroyed Kurumaju's Gyahsoline and enlarge themselves in the process. The Boonboomgers would chase them in their Boonboom cars in highway dimension, and after Yarucar's defeated, they'll come back to the real world, spit the Gyahsoline back out and shrink back down, while the Gyasoline reforms into a giant version of the Kurumaju.
• The use of "monster grows" in Super Sentai/Power Rangers formula is even funnier when you realise how much it never works. Sure, it's a "heroes always win" series, but while 80% episodes follow the formula "Monster of the Week defeated/becomes giant/Zords finish it", the few times Zords themselves were in trouble are the few exceptions to the formula:
  • "Eclipsing Megazord": main villains went to the fight as giants to begin with.
  • "Doomsday Part 2": evil Zord rather than Monster of the Week.
  • "Green No More Part 1": monster begins fight as a giant, undefeated when human-sized.
  • "Ninja Quest Part 1": brief encounter human-sized, four monsters don't show up before becoming giants.
  • "Master Vile and the Metallic Armor Part 1": monster begins fight as a giant, undefeated when human-sized.
  • "The Darkest Day": evil Zord rather than Monster of the Week.
  • Only case of "Monster of the Week defeated/becomes giant/defeat Zords" occur when a monster is allowed to defeat known Zords before a new Zord show up and destroys it ("The Power of Gold").

Other series

• Oddly, the Trope Maker for Super Sentai shows was actually Japanese Spider-Man. Yes, that one. When Toei made a Toku adaptation of Spider-Man, they couldn't think of a good spider-themed finishing move, so they had the villain make the monster grow and then Spider-Man would jump in his giant mecha Leopardon to defeat it. It was that kind of show. And yes, it ended up being a predecessor for Toei's own Sentai.
• The Chouseishin Series averts this for the most part, as the villains would usually send an already giant kaiju down to facilitate the mecha battles instead of enlarging a human-sized monster, but there are some cases where this is played straight.
  • Monsters such as the Akelons in Chouseishin Gransazer and Cyber Knights in Genseishin Justiriser could enlarge themselves by assuming giant kaiju forms. Impactors Lucia and Radia also grew themselves to do battle against the heroes in their mecha.
  • The Grand Finale of Chousei Kantai Sazer X exaggerates this. The already giant Dark Geran gets grown even larger to the point of towering over the heroes' Humongous Mecha.
• In the Tom Baker-era Doctor Who serial "Robot", the robot absorbs energy from the Brigadier's Ray Gun and grows to giant size for the final battle with the Doctor.
• The Big Bad in Monster Warriors is 1950s B-Movie director Claus Von Steinhauer who creates giant versions of the monsters that featured in his movies and sends them out to attack Capital City. His Catchphrase (which appeared in the opening credits) is "I make ze monsters big!".
• Plenty of monsters and aliens in the Ultra Series are known to be able to do this; a trope which actually predates Super Sentai altogether. Here are a few famous users:
  • Alien Mefilas in the original Ultraman summoned a gigantic illusion of Kemur Man in addition to Alien Baltan and Zarab; he also increased the size of the SSSP agent Fuji to match them! He can also change his size at will too.
  • Yapool, the Big Bad of Ultraman Ace. Initially, it seemed that his giant form was a combination of multiple members of his kind, but later entries in the series clarified that Yapool was but one alien, with the appearance he takes on in his Giant Form essentially being his true face.
  • The Dada, courtesy of their size-modifying rayguns, though they can also do so by their own power.
  • Alien Regulan, Alien Raybeak, Alien Muzan, Alien Standel Abolubas and Redle from Ultraman Tiga, who are all first shown on-screen in their human-sized form.
  • Alien Barossas from Ultraman Z. The first use Dada's shrink ray, the second use seeds from Juran, the third use the starch from a bubble tea.
  • Most Ultras in the franchise can change size at will, and have no real upper limit to how large they can be, though growing larger than the height they usually fight in often has the drawback of costing them a lot of energy. Ultraman Max is an especially unusual example, in that several of his fights involved him growing much larger than the standard 50 metres height most Ultras tend to stick to, in order to fight even larger monsters.
• The Kamen Rider series tends to keep its monsters and villains human-sized, or at the very least no bigger than a one-story house. Anytime a monster enlarges to Super Sentai levels is typically reserved for big movie events, with minimal rare exceptions. While some Riders have Mini-Mecha available or in the case of J just flat-out enlarge, most battles of these types in the franchise are mainly just David vs. Goliath ordeals.

---