History Main / MonstrosityEqualsWeakness

** Averted in tabletop ''TabletopGame/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.

** An especially guilty example is [[spoiler:Damaras from Series/KaizokuSentaiGokaiger.]] In human sized form, he's a massive badass, able to smash the Gokaigers with little effort, and only losing because [[spoiler:Basco backstabbed him.]] Giant form? Just stands there and takes finishing moves until he dies.

* ''Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure'' for the PC and PSP plays this straight most of the time, as each boss is usually smaller than the last. The first three bosses Bob, Mosby and Roger are all relatively large (after transforming), and then you get to the fourth boss who transforms... Into you. She suddenly has a ton of moments where she can block your attacks and counter with quick moves, whereas the first three are all a case of "Hit them when you get a good opening." The fifth boss is once again a giant monster, but you soon find that he's a complete joke and was only setting up for the real boss-- the Phantom Prince, who's roughly the same height as Parin. The trope's subverted as the final boss [[spoiler: is the large and powerful Tokaron, the legendary dragon.]] But he's not the strongest enemy, actually. It's really the BonusBoss, Blackbean: Prince of Destruction. He's the smallest boss in the game, coming up to about the same size as the game's standard {{Mook}}, roughly half of Parin's height.

* In ''Manga/FairyTail'', the [[OurDemonsAreDifferent demons of the Books of Zeref]] are extremely powerful and dangerous foes, but there's a noticeable trend that the more humanoid they are, the more dangerous they are. {{Kaiju}}-sized demons like Lullaby and Deliora, introduced earlier in the manga, are eventually outclassed by the smaller, and demi-human in some cases, demons of Tartaros, whose members are much more efficient and intelligent killers. The most powerful demons of all, such as Mard Geer, look just like normal humans outside of their OneWingedAngel forms. This is {{justified}} since [[spoiler:Zeref created them both to perfect the art of CreatingLife so he could bring his little brother BackFromTheDead and to [[DeathSeeker make something strong enough to kill him]]. The most powerful demon of all, E.N.D., is fittingly enough said reanimated brother, [[TheHero Natsu Dragneel]]]].

** Then there's [[spoiler: Awakened Garou]], who's decent into further monstrosity does force Saitama to fight more and more seriously, but a combination of being unfamiliar with how their [[spoiler: new inhuman body]] works and relying on more brutish strength against...well, Saitama, leads to their fight ending much sooner than how it started.

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. Often justified in-story by the notion that the inhuman beings prefer to seem human for whatever reason, and that the more powerful or skilled ones can do so more successfully.

* ''Manga/BusouRenkin'' justifies this: Homunculi can only attack in the manner of the base creature. Gorilla-based can just use pure strength, an eagle-based one can use their talons, but only a humanoid homunculus can use real weapons. This includes the titular superweapons, by the way.

* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', the regular/weakest of the Nobodies are twisted abominations that look like mangled, bleached clothing. Even the Twilight Thorn Boss was a WarmUpBoss, 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. The Heartless, however, 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.

* In ''Manga/FairyTail'', the [[OurDemonsAreDifferent demons of the Books of Zeref]] are extremely powerful and dangerous foes, but there's a noticeable trend that the more humanoid they are, the more dangerous they are. Hulking brutes who tower like buildings over humans like [[EldritchAbomination Lullaby and Deloria]], introduced earlier in the manga, are eventually outclassed entirely by the likes of [[HavingABlast Jackal]] or [[PeoplePuppets Seliah]], who are human-sized and only have dog ears or horns to distinguish them from humans. [[GreenThumb Mard Geer]], [[spoiler:[[LightEmUp Larcade]], and [[TheGhost E.N.D.]]]] are the most powerful demons shown yet and look just like normal humans outside of their OneWingedAngel forms. This is {{justified}} since [[spoiler:Zeref created them both to perfect the art of CreatingLife so he could bring his little brother BackFromTheDead and to [[DeathSeeker make something strong enough to kill him]]. The most powerful demon of all, E.N.D., is fittingly enough said reanimated brother, [[TheHero Natsu Dragneel]]]].

** Oddly enough, averted by the one Hawk-based Homunculus: although incapable of using kakugane, he was still a worthy foe by virtue of his sheer power, honed predatory instincts and experience.

* Mostly {{Averted|Trope}} in ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' (with the exception of [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever Kraid in ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'' and ''VideoGame/MetroidZeroMission''). Samus most dangerous rival isn't any of the rival hunters who've appeared in games like ''VideoGame/MetroidPrimeHunters'' or ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime3Corruption'', most of which are taken out fairly easily, but rather the fiendish pterodactyl-like alien Ridley, and the even more monstrous Mother Brain. What's more, when Mother Brain was "resurrected" in the body of an android in ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM'' she was notably ''weaker'' than she was in her monstrous form. On the other hand, the absolute, no-contest ''most'' deadly enemies that Samus ever faced, even temporarily, were her own {{Evil Twin}}s, the [[VideoGame/MetroidFusion SA-X]] and [[VideoGame/MetroidPrimeTrilogy Dark Samus]], the latter of whom was originally a massive mutated Metroid before she was reborn as a galaxy-conquering HumanoidAbomination.

* Also the anime ''Manga/{{Claymore}}'' qualifies for it. The Awakened Beings there have both a human form and a monstrous form. Actually the Awakened Being are much stronger in their monstrous form than in their human form. But all the Awakened Beings first seen in their human form before they turn, are really strong opponents. The Awakened Being, which you sees from the outset in their monstrous form, are defeated faster.

** Continued in the second part, ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency'', where the vampire minions are predictably hideous, but the Pillar Men who created them are inhumanly gorgeous and vaguely-homoerotic muscular men. The most fabulous-looking of them, named Kars, [[spoiler: eventually uses the Red Stone of Aja to become the Ultimate Being.]]

* ''VideoGame/SeikenDensetsu3'' has plenty of huge, monstrous bosses to challenge the player...but by far the hardest battles are against the human-sized villains like Koren and Jagan.

** Omega is another example, since [[spoiler:his final form is cosmetically identical to Zero and is the most difficult. However, [[spoiler:Albert]] from ''VideoGame/MegamanZX'' is an exception.

** Except Omega and [[spoiler:Albert]], possibly the 2 best final bosses in the series.

* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', the regular/weakest of the Nobodies are twisted abominations that look like mangled, bleached clothing. Even the Twilight Thorn Boss was a BreatherBoss, 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. The Heartless, however, except Ansem, do the opposite.

** Aizen is a more subtle example. While his transformations do make him stronger and more monstrous, he becomes careless and easily prone to rage when face with a situation he cannot comprehend or overcome. This is what ultimately leads to his undoing.

** More typically used in the Yorknew City arc, when it came to the Phantom 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 Phantom 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 Phantom Troop members, they were able to non-fatally incapacitate one but got killed by the other four without beating a single one of them.

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* Mostly {{Averted|Trope}} in ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' (with the exception of [[NErf Kraid]] [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever in]] ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'' and ''VideoGame/MetroidZeroMission''). Samus most dangerous rival isn't any of the rival hunters who've appeared in games like ''VideoGame/MetroidPrimeHunters'' or ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime3Corruption'', most of which are taken out fairly easily, but rather the fiendish pterodactyl-like alien Ridley, and the even more monstrous Mother Brain. What's more, when Mother Brain was "resurrected" in the body of an android in ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM'' she was notably ''weaker'' than she was in her monstrous form. On the other hand, the absolute, no-contest ''most'' deadly enemies that Samus ever faced, even temporarily, were her own {{Evil Twin}}s, the [[VideoGame/MetroidFusion SA-X]] and [[VideoGame/MetroidPrimeTrilogy Dark Samus]], the latter of whom was originally a massive mutated Metroid before she was reborn as a galaxy-conquering HumanoidAbomination.

* Mostly {{Averted|Trope}} in ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' (with the exception of [[NErf Kraid]] [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever in]] ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid''). Samus most dangerous rival isn't any of the rival hunters who've appeared in games like ''VideoGame/MetroidPrimeHunters'' or ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime3Corruption'', most of which are taken out fairly easily, but rather the fiendish pterodactyl-like alien Ridley, and the even more monstrous Mother Brain. What's more, when Mother Brain was "resurrected" in the body of an android in ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM'' she was notably ''weaker'' than she was in her monstrous form. On the other hand, the absolute, no-contest ''most'' deadly enemies that Samus ever faced, even temporarily, were her own {{Evil Twin}}s, the [[VideoGame/MetroidFusion SA-X]] and [[VideoGame/MetroidPrimeTrilogy Dark Samus]], the latter of whom was originally a massive mutated Metroid before she was reborn as a galaxy-conquering HumanoidAbomination.

* Mostly {{Averted|Trope}} in ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' (with the exception of [[NErf Kraid in]] ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid''). Samus most dangerous rival isn't any of the rival hunters who've appeared in games like ''VideoGame/MetroidPrimeHunters'' or ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime3Corruption'', most of which are taken out fairly easily, but rather the fiendish pterodactyl-like alien Ridley, and the even more monstrous Mother Brain. What's more, when Mother Brain was "resurrected" in the body of an android in ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM'' she was notably ''weaker'' than she was in her monstrous form. On the other hand, the absolute, no-contest ''most'' deadly enemies that Samus ever faced, even temporarily, were her own {{Evil Twin}}s, the [[VideoGame/MetroidFusion SA-X]] and [[VideoGame/MetroidPrimeTrilogy Dark Samus]], the latter of whom was originally a massive mutated Metroid before she was reborn as a galaxy-conquering HumanoidAbomination.

* Mostly {{Averted|Trope}} in ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' (with the exception of [[NErf Kraid in]] ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid''. Samus most dangerous rival isn't any of the rival hunters who've appeared in games like ''VideoGame/MetroidPrimeHunters'' or ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime3Corruption'', most of which are taken out fairly easily, but rather the fiendish pterodactyl-like alien Ridley, and the even more monstrous Mother Brain. What's more, when Mother Brain was "resurrected" in the body of an android in ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM'' she was notably ''weaker'' than she was in her monstrous form. On the other hand, the absolute, no-contest ''most'' deadly enemies that Samus ever faced, even temporarily, were her own {{Evil Twin}}s, the [[VideoGame/MetroidFusion SA-X]] and [[VideoGame/MetroidPrimeTrilogy Dark Samus]], the latter of whom was originally a massive mutated Metroid before she was reborn as a galaxy-conquering HumanoidAbomination.

* Mostly {{Averted|Trope}} in ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}''. Samus most dangerous rival isn't any of the rival hunters who've appeared in games like ''VideoGame/MetroidPrimeHunters'' or ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime3Corruption'', most of which are taken out fairly easily, but rather the fiendish pterodactyl-like alien Ridley, and the even more monstrous Mother Brain. What's more, when Mother Brain was "resurrected" in the body of an android in ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM'' she was notably ''weaker'' than she was in her monstrous form. On the other hand, the absolute, no-contest ''most'' deadly enemies that Samus ever faced, even temporarily, were her own {{Evil Twin}}s, the [[VideoGame/MetroidFusion SA-X]] and [[VideoGame/MetroidPrimeTrilogy Dark Samus]], the latter of whom was originally a massive mutated Metroid before she was reborn as a galaxy-conquering HumanoidAbomination.