History Main / MonstrosityEqualsWeakness

** [[JustifiedTrope explained by the man himself]], who saved is brother's life on the family farm when a tractor fell on him- Andre was able to lift it off with his freakish strength. He said of the incident that if it saved his brother, [[TearJerker then his horrible pain was all worth it.]]

* In ''KingdomHeartsII'', the regular/weakest of the Nobodies are twisted abominations that look like mangled bleached clothing. Even the Twilight Thorn Boss was a Breather Boss, being easily beaten through Reaction Commands. However, Special Nobodies, like Organization XIII, have no consistently distinguishing features from other human characters, and are among the hardest bosses in the game. However, the Heartless, except Ansem, do the opposite.

[[AC:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}

* In ''KingdomHeartsII'', the regular/weakest of the Nobodies are twisted abominations that look like mangled bleached clothing. Even the Twilight Thorn Boss was a Breather Boss, being easily beaten through Reaction Commands. However, Special Nobodies, like Organization XIII, have no consistently distinguishing features from other human characters, and are among the hardest bosses in the game. However, the Heartless, except Ansem, do the opposite.
** In the game, this was explained. The Nobody is the physical form of a person left behind after their heart has been taken and turned into a Heartless. Most Nobodys literally become faceless, indistinguishable nobodies, but the strongest beings retain their original appearance (or a form close to it), basically becoming the soulless husks of former people.
* The order of [[LegacyOfKain Kain's]] Lieutenants ascends in order of weakest to strongest. You begin with Melchiah, who is basically nothing more than a stitched together bundle of rotting flesh, and end with Kain, who is still largely humanoid despite his evolution.

* Used straight with Haseo's B-St form in ''DotHackGU''. While it is infinitely more powerful than his second form (as in, being able to use an attack that makes [[FateStayNight Gate of Babylon]] look minuscule), it also hampers with his cognitive ability so much so that he gets his ass handed to him by [[spoiler:Ovan]] really easily.
* In ''{{Ben 10}}'', Ben's most used and most effective aliens are humanoid, while his least used (Brainstorm, Goop, Ghostfreak) are the most inhuman. Even Cannonbolt stood on two legs.
** One could even compare the [[Ben10AlienForce Highbreed]], which is more or less a giant chalk white humanoid without a face, to the [=DNAliens=], who are strange mixes among squids, brains and various other critters (and parasites besides), and see this.
* Often used in ''HouseOfTheDead'' in terms of its bosses, where the various bosses one fights may be anything from mutant animals to hulking giants to living plants, but the final boss will usually be a very humanoid creature that only has a bit of zombie-ness about him. This is not often used with the normal enemies, though, where the most dangerous are usually the most inhuman.

* A good way to spot the WarmupBoss in any given game in the ''MegaManX'' series is to find the biggest one. Chances are it's the weakest. Also applies to the intro boss, which will almost certain be a hulking wimp. Its SequelSeries, ''MegaManZero'' and ''MegaManZX'', also use this trope, though in ''Zero 1'' you really had no way of telling which was which till you went through the stage. The various minor bosses you face are mostly animal-form. Major villains--Sigma, Prometheus and Pandora, and so on--are humanoid. But the various bosses with multiple forms tend to become less humanoid in each.
** Except Omega and [[spoiler:Albert]], possibly the 2 best final bosses in the series.
* Ironically, many of the most powerful {{Kaiju}} have relatively humanoid traits. For example, ''{{Godzilla}}'' has a sense of humor and opposable thumbs. Compare that to, say, Ebirah, who is a giant lobster...

* While the demon forms of Elvis, Shannon, and Belze are nothing to sneeze at, it's Azel and the BonusBoss Evil Gene who are the most difficult bosses in ''GodHand'', mostly due to their speed and ability to dodge your attacks, even while you're using the God Hand.
* Somewhat TruthInTelevision: People with conditions that make them unnaturally large often have severe health problems. For instance, Joseph Merrick, ''TheElephantMan'', had a pronounced limp, difficulty speaking, his enlarged right arm was useless and he had to sleep with care lest his enlarged head break his neck.
** Partly the case, for example, with Andre the Giant, whose hulking size gave him massive sway in the wrestling world, but also crippled him as the years went by and eventually led to him dying at a young age. It's true in general of people with gigantism, who very often suffer health problems in later life because of [[SquareCubeLaw the greater stresses on their bones and muscles compared to average-sized people.]]
** [[JustifiedTrope explained by the man himself]], who saved is brother's life on the family farm when a tractor fell on him- Andre was able to lift it off with his freakish strength. He said of the incident that if it saved his brother, [[TearJerker then his horrible pain was all worth it.]]
* Averted with Fat Cobra from ''ImmortalIronFist''. He looks like a big fat brutal sumo wrestler. He turns out to be extraordinarily fast, strong, skilled and intelligent even relative to the superhuman billionaire hero.

* ''NeverwinterNights'' has this one down pat. Humanoid enemies are crippled by the game engine to make them a fair fight. A level 20 fighter (assuming level-equivalent equipment) will win against almost any monstrous opponent in the game engine; a level 20 sorcerer has trouble being ''threatened'' by ''anything'' the game can keep track of.
** Averted in tabletop DungeonsAndDragons, however. High-end enemies run the whole gamut from [[InstantAwesomeJustAddDragons colossal dragons]] to DemonLordsAndArchdevils to {{Eldritch Abomination}}s to {{Kaiju}} to {{Physical God}}s. None save the latter tend towards humans in size or looks.
* The Draenei in WorldOfWarcraft have two derivative species: the appropriately named Broken, and the Lost. Draenei exposed to the fel or demonic magic of the Burning Legion are corrupted and lose contact with their source of power, the Light. This manifests as physical deformations and a descent into madness. The Broken are more-or-less sane, but they have crippled bodies and are in constant physical and emotional pain. The Lost are completely insane, and even more crippled than the Broken. An analogy: Draenei are healthy trees, Broken are burned but still standing trees, and the Lost are stumps.
** High elves, blood elves, and Wretched are arguably a similar case. [[spoiler:Or they were before the Sunwell Plateau, at any rate.]]

* Depending on what mythos the chosen medium follows, [[{{OurVampiresAreDifferent}} Vampires]] are usually more batlike at a weaker age, as they get stronger, they get more human-like.

* Depending on what mythos the chosen medium follows, [[{{OurVampiresOurDifferent}} Vampires]] are usually more batlike at a weaker age, as they get stronger, they get more human-like.

Compare WhatMeasureIsANonHuman and HumanityIsSuperior. See also BishonenLine, a SubTrope of this, where a single character eventually becomes more human-like as he gains power, or ClippedWingAngel, the exact opposite. This is usually the flaw in a ShapeShifterMashup. It also occasionally overlaps with TheWorfEffect, with enormous, monstrous enemies existing mostly to be cut down, to show that not even such amazing brute strength is any match for whoever is fighting it.

The other side of this trope is MonsterLord.

Compare WhatMeasureIsANonHuman and HumanityIsSuperior. See also BishonenLine, a SubTrope of this, where a single character eventually becomes more human-like as he gains power, or ClippedWingAngel, the exact opposite. This is usually the flaw in a ShapeShifterMashup.

** More typically used in the Yorknew City arc, when it came to the Night Troop (people with little strange about their appearance but their outfits) fighting the Shadow Beasts (weird monster people, except one guy who was just fat and ugly): when one member of the Night Troop fought 4 Shadow Beasts, [[ConservationOfNinjutsu he killed all four]] though he was only able to recover from his injuries thanks to his allies assistance. When the other six Shadow Beast attacked five Night Troop members, they were able to non-fatally incapacitate one but got killed by the other four without beating a single one of them.

** More typically used in the Yorknew City arc, when it only took one member of the Night Troop (people with little strange about their appearance but their outfits) to defeat [[ConservationOfNinjutsu 4 of the Shadow Beasts (three weird monster people, and one ugly fat guy).]]

** More typically used in the Yorknew City arc, when it only took one member of the Night Troop (people with little strange about their appearance but their outfits) to defeat [[ConservationOfNinjutsu all of the Shadowbeasts (three weird monster people, and one ugly fat guy).]]

*** The other two beasts avert it, though. The second-least-human, Byakko, [[RasputinianDeath is ridiculously hard to kill]], while the second-most-human, Seiryu, [[CurbStompBattle goes down fairly easy]]. Considering who fought who, it may just be due to their opponents being of differing strength, but the trope is still fulfilled from a narrative standpoint.

* In ''KingdomHeartsII'', the regular/weakest of the Nobodies are twisted abominations that look like mangled bleached clothing. Even the Twilight Thorn Boss was a Breather Boss, being easily beaten through Reaction Commands. However, Special Nobodies, like Organization XIII, are almost (minus the almost) completely indistinguishable from other human characters, and are among the hardest bosses in the game. Except for Ansem, the Heartless do the opposite, though.

** Averted in tabletop DungeonsAndDragons, however. High-end enemies run the whole gamut from [[InstantAwesomeJustAddDragons colossal dragons]] to DemonLordsAndArchdevils to {{Elditch Abomination}}s to {{Kaiju}} to {{Physical God}}s. None save the latter tend towards humans in size or looks.

* Done deliberately in ''HunterXHunter'', where the freaking-looking big guy with a steel-plated fist turned out to be a terrible fighter who had some plastic surgery screwed up, hurts his hand when he punches thing, and can only win fights by intimidating the other guy into giving up.

** Averted in tabletop DungeonsAndDragons, however. High-end enemies run the whole gamut from [[InstantAwesomeJustAddDragons colossal dragons]] to DemonLordsAndArchdevils to {{ElditchAbomination}}s to {{Kaiju}} to {{Physical God}}s. None save the latter tend towards humans in size or looks.

This is mostly due to the fact that writers seem to think viewers associate monstrous figures with being strong but mindless and stupid, and thus use less monstrous forms for more effective villains. Even if that villain has a monstrous final form, he will usually be seen in his humanoid form for most of the time, his other form essentially existing only as [[OneWingedAngel an excuse to allow them to die]]. This may also be because humanoid villains become characters with distinct personalities, while the more monstrous ones are less versatile outside a fight. Thus, they tend to be {{Mooks}}, MonsterOfTheWeek or the OneWingedAngel form of a villain who appears humanoid for most of the series.

* In ''InuYasha'', Sesshoumaru's full transformation fulfills this trope, as it's the only time he loses any matter of appendage -- he gets his arm cut off. Many fans also argue that his full form is awkward and clumsy. He is notably stronger in his "human" body, and ultimately, [[spoiler:it's how he grows his arm back.]]
** Some characters even explicitly state that the demons who look human are the most powerful/dangerous.
*** Probably because them looking human means they are able to [[VoluntaryShapeshifting take the form of humans]] (and possibly other things) because they're so strong (such a power seems to be commonplace, if not universal among very strong demons), as it doesn't seem any demons are naturally like that.

* Happens all the time in comic books. [[DCComics DC]] is especially bad about it; [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Batman Man-Bat]], [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Batman Killer Croc]] and [[WonderWoman the post-Crisis Cheetah]] all started out as intelligent, capable, rational beings. Two of them are even decorated scientists. Because of their looks, though, all three are now written as savage, barely-sentient monstrosities driven solely by instinct and animal impulses.

Compare WhatMeasureIsANonHuman and HumanityIsSuperior. See also BishonenLine, a SubTrope of this, where a single character eventually becomes more human-like as he gains power. This is usually the flaw in a ShapeShifterMashup.

* An example of a series that uses this but not BishonenLine is ''MegaManX'' (and its SequelSeries, ''MegaManZero'' and ''MegaManZX''). The WarmupBoss tends to be a giant...thing. The various minor bosses you face are mostly animal-form. Major villains--Sigma, Prometheus and Pandora, and so on--are humanoid. But the various bosses with multiple forms tend to become less humanoid in each.