History Main / MetamorphosisMonster

* The Fodder from ''VideoGame/DeadSpaceIII'' spawns CombatTentacles from its waist when dismembered enough. If it's arms get removed, it replaces its torso with three whips. If it loses its legs, it gets a SpikeShooter for each one. Removing one arm and one leg usually kills it outright.

* The "Jayslob" from ''Webcomic/AwfulHospital'' constantly mutates throughout Fern's battle with it.

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** William Berkin from ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'' mutates heavily throughout the game, going from [[DeadWeight a hulking]][[NotAZombie not-zombie with]] [[EyesDoNotBelongThere an eye in his shoulder]] to a BlobMonster by the end. It took a nuclear blast to finally kill it.

** In the Wii version of ''VideoGame/Resident Evil 1'', Zombies mutate into Crimson Heads if not [[KillItWithFire burned]] or [[RemovingTheHeadOrDestroyingTheBrain decapitated]] after death. According to lore, Crimson Heads mutate into Lickers, but it's not a game mechanic.

** In the Wii version of ''VideoGame/Resident Evil 1'', Zombies mutate into Crimson Heads if not [[KillItWithFire burned]] or [[RemovingTheHeadOrDestroyingTheBrain ecapitated]] after death. According to lore, Crimson Heads mutate into Lickers, but it's not a game mechanic.

** In the Wii version of Resident Evil 1, Zombies mutate into Crimson Heads if not [[KillItWithFire burned]] or [[RemovingTheHeadOrDestroyingTheBrain ecapitated]] after death. According to lore, Crimson Heads mutate into Lickers, but it's not a game mechanic.

** The Nemesis Tyrant from [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Nemesis the game named for it]] gets more and more mutated as it's [[TheSymbite symbiote]] gets angrier.

** William Berkin from ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil3'' mutates heavily throughout the game, going from [[DeadWeight a hulking]][[NotAZombie not-zombie with]] [[EyesDoNotBelongThere an eye in his shoulder]] to a BlobMonster by the end. It took a nuclear blast to finally kill it.
** The Nemesis Tyrant from [[VideoGame/ResidentEvilNemesis the game named for it]] gets more and more mutated as it's [[TheSymbite symbiote]] gets angrier.

** In the Wii version of Resident Evil 1, Zombies mutate into Crimson Heads if not [[KillItWithFire burned]] or [[RemovingTheHeadOrDestroyingTheBrain ecapitated]] after death.
** William Berkin from ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil3'' mutates heavily throughout the game, going from [[DeadWeight a hulking not-zombie with]] [[EyesDoNotBelongThere an eye in his shoulder]] to a BlobMonster by the end. It took a nuclear blast to finally kill it.

* In ''{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}},'' the crew discover a mysterious but delicious food that looks vaguely like shrimp, just filling up holes on another planet. They sell it on Earth and it becomes hugely popular...which is bad, because it turns out those are baby Omicronians, and the parents are naturally miffed at the Earthicans for eating their children.

* PlayedWith in ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse,'' as [[PosthumousCharacter Rose Quartz]] mentions that she was surprised to realize that children and adult humans were even the same species. Her species are BornAsAnAdult, so it never even occurred to her that something could change so much over its life cycle.

* PlayedWith in ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse,'' as [[PosthumousCharacter Rose Quartz]] mentions that she was surprised to realize that children and adult humans were even the same species. Her species are BornAsAdults, so it never even occurred to her that something could change so much over its life cycle.

* In ''Literature/Animorphs,'' the Skrit Na come in two forms: the Skrit, which is basically a huge and not-too-bright cockroach, and the Na, which are TheGreys (and [[CloudCuckooLander also not very bright]]). The Skrit is the first phase, which eventually goes into a cocoon and dies, [[{{Squick}} with the Na emerging from its body]].
* {{Implied}} in ''Literature/Everworld:'' the Coo-Hatch, a vaguely-humanoid race from another universe, are always accompanied by weird little flying insects. The human protagonists suspect that those might be young Coo-Hatch.

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* The Aliens from ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' also have a peculiar lifecycle: It could be described as [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_life_cycle#Haplodiplontic_life_cycle haplodiplontic]], with the "gametophyte" being a creature that could be described as a mismatch of hads/legs, tail and genitalia that lives just to seek a host to impregnate, and the "sporophyte" developing in the body cavity of the host, emerging violently as a snake-like creature, and quickly growing up into a large, 4-limbed biomechanoid creature with some traits reminiscent of the host species, but taller and slimmer. If it grows into a fertile queen, it also changes its limb structure, grows an additional pair of arms, increases in size, and loses the host-like characters.

** Go look up evolution lines on a a Digimon wiki (like Wikimon) and see how many different evolution possibilities there are.

** There are also situations where the onscreen evolution is ''not'' the most obvious one from the cards or games. Take Gotsumon, a child-sized RockMonster. In the card games, he has a moderately developed evolution line that consists of {Palette Swap}s (he evolves to [[AnIcePerson Icemon]] and [[SpaceMaster Meteormon]]). In [[Anime/DigimonAdventure02 02]], however, he instead becomes the rhino-like Monochromon. Now, Monochromon (Champion-level) has its own PaletteSwap evolution Vermillimon (Ultimate), but in Anime/DigimonFrontier and [[Anime/DigimonSavers Digimon Data Squad]], different Gotsumon appear who evolve into Meteormon, which suggests that Monochromon can branch ''back'' into Gotsumon's Palette Swap line.

** There are also situations where the onscreen evolution is ''not'' the most obvious one from the cards or games. Take Gotsumon, a child-sized RockMonster. In the card games, he has a moderately developed evolution line that consists of PaletteSwaps (he evolves to [[AnIcePerson Icemon]] and [[SpaceMaster Meteormon]]). In [[DigimonAdventureZeroTwo 02]], however, he instead becomes the rhino-like Monochromon. Now, Monochromon (Champion-level) has its own PaletteSwap evolution Vermillimon (Ultimate), but in Anime/DigimonFrontier and [[Anime/DigimonSavers Digimon Data Squad]], different Gotsumon appear who evolve into Meteormon, which suggests that Monochromon can branch ''back'' into Gotsumon's Palette Swap line.

* Most officially defined evolutionary lines in ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'' fall under this; lines with a consistently maturing appearance are the minority and are generally specifically designed as protagonists of an anime series. Perhaps the standout example is Patamon of ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'', who evolves from a vaguely-defined small orange [[FanNickname flying meatloaf]] mammal thing into [[OurAngelsAreDifferent an angel]]. In the broader canon, most Digimon have a wide variety of forms to which they can evolve, generally not restricted to specific lines, and so pretty much any and every Digimon can be an example of this.
** And it gets worse than him. His line is at least pig thing with ribbon ears > pig thing with batwing ears > angel > bigger angel. However, Gatomon's is puppy > cat > angel > dragon. There are also situations where the onscreen evolution is ''not'' the most obvious one from the cards or games. In 02, Gotsumon is a little rock dude who has a repaint called Icemon... but instead becomes the rhino-like Monochromon. In other series he skips Champion altogether, becoming a repaint called Meteormon... which by association means ''Monochromon'' becomes a ''different'' little rock dude rather than Vermilimon, who is a red repaint of Monochromon.

* Quite a few {{Pokemon}} have a variant of this with their evolution. The most obvious example is Magikarp to Gyarados (Small carp to sea serpent), but there are others, such as Trapinch to Flygon (Ant lion larva to adult to dragon) and Feebas to Milotic (fish to elegant-looking sea serpent, or the bizarre Remoraid to Octillery (remora to octopus).

* According to ''VideoGame/MetroidIIReturnOfSamus'', the eponymous Metroids of ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'', while on their home planet at least, go from floating parasitic jellyfish to beetlelike creatures to giant armored lizards. In an interesting twist, the first stage is not only the most well-known and arguably most dangerous, but while nearly every game has a variant of the jellyfish stage, the later stages have only appeared in a handful of games. Apparently their larval stage can become mutated in various ways from the chemicals and radiation in its surroundings[[note]]eg. exposing one to Phazon on planet Tallon IV causes it to grow long tentacles, and beta radiation will make it divide into two[[/note]], and they can only complete their normal life cycle on planet SR-388.
** Also, according to ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM'', [[spoiler:Ridley's larva form is a small rabbit-bird-thingy, which then becomes a feathered lizard kind of creature before finally evolving into the space dragon we all know and love.]]
* As the inspiration behind the 2 examples from Metroid above, the Aliens from ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' also have a peculiar lifecycle: It could be described as [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_life_cycle#Haplodiplontic_life_cycle haplodiplontic]], with the "gametophyte" being a creature that could be described as a mismatch of hads/legs, tail and genitalia that lives just to seek a host to impregnate, and the "sporophyte" developing in the body cavity of the host, emerging violently as a snake-like creature, and quickly growing up into a large, 4-limbed biomechanoid creature with some traits reminiscent of the host species, but taller and slimmer. If it grows into a fertile queen, it also changes its limb structure, grows an additional pair of arms, increases in size, and loses the host-like characters.

* Hedorah in ''Film/GodzillaVsHedorah''.

* In ''SluggyFreelance'' Aylee has gone through this over a dozen times, eventually turning into a [[AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever fifty foot tall dragon]] and finally into the most dangerous creature of all ... ''[[GirlsHaveCooties a woman!]]''
* {{Starslip}} features the Jinxlets. Adorable little bug creatures that gain nourishment from cuddling. When fed Royal Jelly, however, they turn into terrifying berserker engines of destruction.
* In Series 3 of ''{{Primeval}}'', the team encounter a nastily infectious fungus that converts its hosts into hideous mutants which of course are infectious as well.
* A ''SpaceGhost'' episode had Jan and Jayce adopt a cute l'il creature called a star fly, unaware that it was the larval form of a giant glowing {{Kaiju}} called a star beast. It grows up fast and seems threatening, but in the end, it remembers Jan and Jayce and refuses to hurt them.
* Gosamyr, a friend of the NewMutants, was a member of an alien race whose members undergo through this. At first, they're cute, delicate, winged creatures (although with the annoying ability to empathically - and involuntarily - cause conflicts among male humans), but then they enter the cocoon phase (which lasts centuries) which would turn them into their adult form: gargantuan [[EldritchAbomination abominations]].
* Most officially defined evolutionary lines in ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'' fall under this; lines with a consistently maturing appearance are the minority and are generally specifically designed as protagonists of an anime series. Perhaps the standout example is Patamon of ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'', who evolves from a vaguely-defined small orange [[FanNickname flying meatloaf]] mammal thing into [[OurAngelsAreDifferent an angel]]. In the broader canon, most Digimon have a wide variety of forms to which they can evolve, generally not restricted to specific lines, and so pretty much any and every Digimon can be an example of this.
** And it gets worse than him. His line is at least pig thing with ribbon ears > pig thing with batwing ears > angel > bigger angel. However, Gatomon's is puppy > cat > angel > dragon. There are also situations where the onscreen evolution is ''not'' the most obvious one from the cards or games. In 02, Gotsumon is a little rock dude who has a repaint called Icemon... but instead becomes the rhino-like Monochromon. In other series he skips Champion altogether, becoming a repaint called Meteormon... which by association means ''Monochromon'' becomes a ''different'' little rock dude rather than Vermilimon, who is a red repaint of Monochromon.
* Cell from DragonBallZ evolves from a half-insect, half-lizard monster to an humanoid android. His intermediate stage is a vaguely humanoid hulk, who for some reason lacks the wing that both his initial and final stage have.
* Literature/InheritanceCycle has a humanoid species named Ra'zac. They ride big winged creatures, which are the next step in their life cycle (and their parents).