Chest Monster/Playing With
Basic Trope: A monster that disguises itself as something good, like a treasure chest.
- Straight: A mimic imitates an ordinary treasure chest until somebody tries to open it.
- Exaggerated:
- A mimic imitates a Save Point until somebody tries to use it...
- The entire dungeon is a mimic.
- A minor recovery item is a mimic.
- Justified:
- The monster was created through unnatural means in order to deter thieves.
- An ordinary monster just needed a secure place to sleep and felt threatened when, from its perspective, someone broke into its home.
- Inverted:
- A monstrous looking enemy... turns out to be a statue made from pure gold.
- The cavern is littered with chests full of heavy, cumbersome gold, which is reducing your speed stat and really getting in the way of finding that elusive monster.
- Subverted: A treasure chest seems suspicious, but is completely normal.
- Double Subverted: ...Until you remove the treasure, revealing the monster underneath.
- Parodied: The chest, the door, your sword, the roof, the floor, the walls... your clothes! Turn out to be after your tasty nutrinol rich flesh.
- Deconstructed: The chest monsters went extinct the moment they started bringing in means to check for them or simply changed the design of their chests.
- Reconstructed: ...except in dungeons where they were used as security measures.
- Zig Zagged: There are monsters disguised as treasure chests. But some of them are standing out in the open in their monster form, making their disguise useless. However, it turns out that all the living chests actually contain really valuable treasure. When you chase one down, it hides itself in a room of normal treasure chests, and you have to find the disguised monster in the middle of all the chests to get the loot. And all the normal, non-monster chests in the room are booby-trapped with explosives.
- Averted: There are no monsters disguised as treasure or other helpful items in the game.
- Enforced: The development team wanted a Nintendo Hard game, so they made many helpful-looking objects become harmful monsters.
- Lampshaded: "Did that chest just lick its lips--?!" "Don't be silly; chests don't have lips...!"
- Invoked: Emperor Evulz uses his magic to create powerful monsters that look like ordinary treasure chests, then scatters them throughout the various dungeons and caves of the realm. Why...? Why not?
- Exploited: Instead of slaying the creature, the hero decides to tame it. That way it could become a guardian of important treasures and / or powerful trap for greedy enemies.
- Defied: "This thermal imaging camera will make sure whatever you try to pick up isn't some weird animal."
- Discussed: "Will this be like one of those RPGs where every other item you get is an enemy in disguise?"
- Conversed: "How, exactly, does the chest mimic in this game make any sense biologically? No adventurers have been here for a thousand years, so mimicking a chest isn't going to get it any food. How is it still alive, then?"
- Played For Laughs:
- Greedy Guest Star Party Member Rouge tricks the heroes into entering a dungeon to challenge the monsters there, then slips past them to take all the treasure. Unfortunately for him, the first chest he opens is a mimic...
- These things still exist in modern fantasy settings, and tend to look like suitcases. After a long flight, Nougat just wants to retrieve his luggage and get to the hotel, but life's never that simple, is it?
- The Monster inside is a Cute Monster Girl with large breasts and an Optional Party Member
- Played For Drama: One of these two chests contains the Scarlet Star Sapphire, which you need to stop Emperor Evulz's latest scheme. The other holds a monster that will perfectly mimic the Sapphire until you grab it, at which point your hands will stick to the false gem and the monster will start to eat your hero alive while your comrades desperately fight to save you. Choose wisely...
Back to Chest Monster.