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{{trope}}
{{quote|'''Gnarl''': Yeah, but don't forget: '''I''' can transform into the Gnarlborg!
<nowiki>*</nowiki>[[Beat Panel]]*
'''Gnarl''': <small>Well, I can...</small
'''Radd''': Does it ever help?|'''''[[
{{quote|Are you telling me a regular Shredder [[Made of Iron|can survive a seven story fall]] [[Super Toughness|and a dump truck crushing him]], but a Super Shredder [[Anticlimax Boss|can't survive a bunch]] of [[Dropped a Bridge
The villain (perhaps after already going into another [[One
[[Broken Angel|The results ain't pretty.]]
Much like a [[Fake Ultimate Mook]], this boss goes down in three hits and goes into a [[
Usually, this is a subversion of [[One
{{endingtrope}}
{{examples
== Anime ==
* Vamdemon/Myotismon from ''[[Digimon Adventure]]'' goes through this ''every time'' he tries to go [[One
* In ''[[
** Zoro even states that Moria's Shadows Asgard form more of a threat to him than Luffy; ''Now it's a race against time until the morning sun rises. Moria's just trying to run out the clock with that desperate move. Will we be wiped out by the sun..or will Moria destroy himself first?!''
* For those who ''haven't'' read/seen ''[[
* In ''[[Naruto]]'', Kakuzu took a final form by letting out all his [[Combat Tentacles]] at once, but since he had already made the fatal mistake of [[Confusion Fu|assuming Naruto would be where it made sense for him to be]], it did little to help him.
** Toward the end of the Three-Tails arc, Nurari fuses with two other members of the [[Quirky Miniboss Squad]]- Kiho and Kigiri- to form a gigantic blob-like monster. While, on their own, they had defeated Sai, Kiba, Lee and Tenten, and given Shino, Yamato and Kakashi trouble, Yamato manages to immobilize the fusion, which is then killed almost instantly by the Three-tailed Beast.
* In ''[[Bleach]]'', {{spoiler|after revealing he's been made into a Vizard, Tousen Kaname says that he has a ''resureccion'' to go along with it. He turns into an insectoid monster, which also has working eyes. As he's about to finish off Komamura, Hisagi sneaks up on him and stabs him through the head. Hisagi claims that if Tousen hadn't been distracted by his newfound sight, he would have easily sensed him and dodged it. Yes, [[Irony|a blind man gained sight, only to be defeated by an attack he would have seen coming otherwise]].}}
* Good guy version on ''[[
** Happens to Frieza as well. After Goku transforms into a Super Saiyan, Frieza can barely even hurt Goku with only 50% of his power, let alone kill him. Goku gives Frieza enough time to reach his full power, at which point he is Goku's equal for a short time (allthough goku was holding back to test frieza and to not cause too much damage while others were still on the planet). However, staying in that form burns up his energy at an accelerated rate. Because Frieza's already burnt so much energy from the arc-long fighting (as well as losing emotional stability at that level of power), Goku's greater stamina wins out.
** Goku and Vegeta mistakenly believe this happens to Buu when he reverts from Super Buu to Kid Buu, laughing about how puny he is. Buu corrects them in [[Earthshattering Kaboom|an explosive manner]].
* The [[Artifact of Doom|Book of Darkness]] in ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' was all but invincible in its original humanoid form, shrugging off almost all attacks and barely flinching from the ones that did affect it while dishing out major hurt with the [[All Your Powers Combined|entire spell arsenal of the cast]] and then some. After it transformed into a giant monster, it's suddenly [[Made of Plasticine]] and unable to get a single shot off while everyone takes turns shooting it.
** Justified by the fact that the Book itself had been more or less fixed by Hayate and all that was left that the berserk self-defense function that had been separated out and was nothing more than a mindless mass of the power that the book had absorbed when the pages were gathered, so it didn't have the faculties to mount a proper attack.
* In ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' this was the ultimate downfall of {{spoiler|[[Big Bad|Father]]. After [[A God Am I|consuming god]] using the stolen souls of fifty million people, he temporarily assumed the form of a [[Physical God|perfect being]]. But Hohenheim had [[Spanner in
** Arguably, everything he took on in that form would have been impossible for him before {{spoiler|he ate God}}. Technically he sacrificed his [[Gambit Roulette]] nature for brute force, but [[You Meddling Kids|he would have gotten away with it if it weren't for those pesky alchemists]].
** This also happened {{spoiler|in [[Big Bad|Father]]'s last moments in attempting to take back Greed. While successful in extracting him out of Ling, Greed himself was far from pleased and he forcefully made his body [[Made of Plasticine]].}}
** Earlier done to a certain degree with {{spoiler|Envy's full transformation}} against Roy Mustang. The (possible?) increase in brute strength was significantly offset by the fact that his opponent was now so large that Roy barely needed to aim.
* In a ''[[Slayers]]'' OAV, Lina and Naga are up against a powerful vampire. Partway through the battle, the vampire reveals that he hasn't been using his true form, and promptly goes into an impressively large transformation sequence... before promptly shrinking down into the form of a small bat. Lina gets annoyed and smacks it with a slipper.
* Arguably the first battle between [[Inuyasha]] and his full yokai half-brother Sesshomaru when he transforms into his true form (a giant demonic dog). Rather than rely on his tact, sword fighting prowess, and [[Dissonant Serenity]] in human form, the transformed Sesshomaru is much more blunt as he basically growls, stomps and bites like a dumb beast, including leaping headfirst into [[Inuyasha]]'s transformed blade which destroys his left arm. There are hints that Sesshomaru apparently learned his lesson not to go [[One
* The big bad guy of the [[S-Cry-ed]] anime, {{spoiler|Kyouji Mujo}}, manages to gain the powers of a very powerful Alter and nearly kills Kazama with it, only for Kazuma to get another powerup and throw him into the Alter Dimension. He comes back even more powerful and monstrous, but his powers are utterly useless and his giant form is incapable of dodging Kazuma's final attack.
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== Comic Books ==
* During the Onslaught crisis, when Professor Xavier went insane, combined his own powers with those of Nate Gray and Franklin Richards, and nearly killed the heroes of the [[Marvel Universe]], the monstrous Onslaught soon became its own entity and separated from Xavier. But after getting his armour cracked by the Hulk, his "ultimate" form is revealed to be a cloud of psychic energy. He is killed within the next three pages, though not without the sacrifice of many of Marvel's non-mutant heroes.
* During the ''[[Hellboy (
** The sad fate of Igor Bromhead in the same storyline may count as well, though he's not actually trying to fight Hellboy this time, but rather begging for a [[Mercy Kill]] having mutated into a hideous monster.
* The very first defeat of the Absorbing Man (a [[Thor]] baddie) happened this way. For several issues, he repeatedly fought Thor to a standstill because he could duplicate Thor's abilities just by touching him. But finally he got impatient with not being able to just [[Curb Stomp Battle|Curb Stomp]] the guy, and overextended his powers trying to absorb the strengths of the entire planet at once. Cue explosion.
** Note that this is par for the course for the Absorbing Man; he can match almost anyone, power-wise (he's repeatedly fought the Hulk and proved a challenge), but due to impulsiveness, carelessness or surprise, has to absorb something that just won't help and gets [[Hoist
** And then there was the first time he became water, and went insane when he blended in with the ocean. He has since learned how to control himself in liquid form, however.
** The Sentry once overloaded Absorbing Man just by himself. Partially justified, because the Sentry's a [[Captain Ersatz]] of the Pre-Crisis Superman, and [[Informed Ability|is allegedly the strongest being in the universe when he's not jobbing to everything under the sun]].
** In ''[[Earth X|Universe X]]'', we learn that the Absorbing Man managed to massacre the Avengers by absorbing the ''intellect'' of the [[Instant AI, Just Add Water|super-intelligent android Ultron]]. This made him able to remember any form he took and shift around at will. Too bad for the Avengers the Vision didn't think of infecting him with a computer virus sooner...
** The Absorbing Man has continued his fine tradition of absorbing the wrong power in the cartoon series ''[[The Avengers:
** In the [[Deadpool]] Merc with a Mouth series, Absorbing Man is encountered alongside other zombified villains and heroes in the Zombie Universe. He proves to be the toughest challenge faced, even managing to survive the collapse of a whole building. Deadpool defeated him by tricking him into transforming into toilet paper.
== Films -- Animated ==
* ''[[Atlantis:
* Jafar runs into this in ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]''. Aladdin tricks him into becoming a genie, then [[Sealed Evil in
* In Disney's ''[[
== Films -- Live-Action ==
* In ''[[Nightmare On Elm Street]]: Wes Craven's New Nightmare'' when the archetype behind Freddy is
* The ''[[Super Mario Bros. (
* In the rather stupid Sci-Fi movie ''The Hive'', the titular army ants are able to form into all kinds of bizarre formations, such as mile-high tentacles. When denied humanity's technology (and one of the exterminators tries to frag the hive), they flip out and form into...a giant ant. All it does is badly injure the guy who tried to kill them, who proceeds to blow them up.
* In [[The Movie]] version of ''[[My Favorite Martian (film)|My Favorite Martian]]'', the [[Big Bad]], Elliot Coleye (the head of SETI), tastes some [[Applied Phlebotinum|nerplex]] and undergoes a typical [[One
* The Shredder in the second ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (
* Oddly enough, ''[[The Thing (
== Literature ==
* When the One Ring is destroyed in ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', Sauron briefly rises as a gigantic terrifying cloudy figure visible for hundreds of kilometers... and is promptly blown away and dispersed by a wind out of the West. Saruman did the same thing when he died, except the shade was man-sized - part of the repeating motif of Saruman as a far lesser version of Sauron.
{{quote|
** The wind is part of Manwe's domain so his power as the mightiest of the [[Our Angels Are Different|Valar]] might have something to do with it.
** And both of them are lesser versions of Morgoth, whose shade still exists beyond the door of night and will come back some day to be [[Killed Off for Real]].
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** Also occurs in episode "Fear, Itself" - The main characters are all trapped inside a fraternity house on Halloween where a demon named Gachnar makes them all experience their fears so it can feed on them and manifest itself. At the end of the episode the demon does appear with much shaking and spooky light...only to turn out to be smaller than your hand. Buffy defeats it by stepping on it.
* The early ''[[Kamen Rider]]'' shows loved playing this trope with the Great Leader, the recurring [[Big Bad]] of the show.
** At the end of the [[Kamen Rider (TV series)|original series]], Rider 1 encounters the Great Leader and rips his hood off, revealing {{spoiler|a bunch of tentacles}}. Not pretty, but neither a real threat to [[The Hero]]. Rider 1 rips these off too, only to reveal {{spoiler|a pale head with no features except for a large eyeball.}} And then? The Great Leader gives a final villain speach before {{spoiler|he simply dies and desintegrates, leaving only his robes and eyeball behind, for apearantly no reason!}} And then his base selfdestructs. So technically, Great Leader undergoes not one but TWO Clipped Wing Angel forms without actually fighting the hero at all!
** In the beginning of the next series, ''[[Kamen Rider V 3]]'', it is revealed that the Great Leader had faked his own death in the previous series. However, this series ends pretty much like the first, with V3 encountering the Great Leader in his lair - or at least, he thought so. What he finds there is {{spoiler|only a skeleton with a still beating heart, completely immobile and not even quite alive either.}} The "final battle" consist of nothing more than V3 smashing it to bits within seconds.
** The Government of Darkness in ''[[Kamen Rider X]]'' was lead by King Dark, a huge metallic demon. In the final, it turned out that King Dark was actually {{spoiler|a [[Humongous Mecha]], piloted by a rather puny [[Mad Scientist]]}} who was not even close to a match for X.
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* After you beat Crocomire in ''Super [[Metroid]]'' it falls into some acid and all the flesh melts off its body. Then, after an ominous pause, its skeleton crashes through the wall on the opposite side and the boss music starts up again... before the skeleton just collapses.
** The SA-X's second form in ''[[Metroid]] Fusion'' is most definitely this. After defeating it, it transforms into a huge, scary-looking monster...that dies in three charged shots and has only one easily avoidable attack. The Core X it turns into after that is actually harder to kill.
* ''[[Kirby]] Squeak Squad'': After defeating Dark Daroach and pursuing a small purple star through a nebular landscape, you wind up face-to-[[Faceless Eye]] with the game's final boss, Dark Nebula/Zero (a giant purple star with a pink, serpentine eye). Its [[Eldritch Abomination]] exterior disguises its [[True Colors]] - an anticlimactic wimp that goes down after maybe a dozen shots from your [[Eleventh
* ''[[
* In ''[[
** This happens ''a lot'' in ''[[Resident Evil]]''. G-Type, Nemesis, Marcus, Morpheus, Saddler... inevitably, the main villain's [[Lightning Bruiser]] humanoid form is much more dangerous than the slow, giant blob they inevitably transform into for the final battle.
*** Zig-Zagged in ''[[Resident Evil Code: Veronica]]'' Alexia's first form is an agile human who can create fire, then her second form is a giant pulsating mass that is relatively easy to destroy, but when you do her top half breaks off and she becomes a smaller, fast, and agile dragonfly-like boss, which dies to a single shot from a linear rifle, but her final form is still more [[One
*** It's arguable in certain cases; oftentimes the final boss cannot be beaten without some type of ungodly powerful weapon (for instance, Nemesis's final form requires a conveniently-placed railgun the size of a car to defeat).
* Count Dracula's final form in ''[[I Wanna Be the Guy]]'' plays with this - {{spoiler|[[Kirby|Waddle Doo]] isn't all that one-winged in the first place, really.}}
* The Golden Diva in ''[[
* The final form of the final boss of ''[[Rayman]] 3: Hoodlum Havoc'' is a hoodlum: a tiny black fly with hands. He ''flees'' from you. To defeat him, all you need to do is ''make a funny face'' at him.
* {{spoiler|Dhaos}} does this in reverse in the later versions of ''[[
** This trope is still played straight though in the fight against Dhaos. His monstrous form is difficult to hit and quite strong. The angelic form can be pinned down in a corner and incapable of fighting back.
** The final form of {{spoiler|Mithos Yggdrassil}} in ''[[
* ''[[Devil May Cry]]'' has the demon emperor Mundus as a final boss. In the opening portion of the boss battle, he flies into space and Dante pursues him, afterwards, he knocks Dante down into a lava-filled arena. Then, after being beaten, he seemingly kicks the bucket; however, as Dante attempts to escape the crumbling castle, Mundus rises again; the statuesque facade he had used to fight you earlier is crumbling, revealing a grotesque blob of flesh and eyeballs. It's actually a lot easier to beat this form than when he was standing waist deep in lava. Additionally, in the first two battles, Dante stood a chance only because [[Eleventh
** After beating {{spoiler|Sanctus Diabolica}}, the final boss of ''Devil May Cry 4'', he merges with {{spoiler|the Savior}}. Dante's fight with {{spoiler|the Savior}} was epic, and Nero's fight with {{spoiler|Sanctus Diabolica}} was as well, but the merged form goes down with three properly-timed Devil Bringer snatches.
* Played with in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
** How about an unusual heroic version at the end of ''Twilight Princess''? {{spoiler|Midna finally uses the game's previous [[Plot Coupons]] to transform into some sort of giant Twilight spider creature}} to put an end to Ganon once and for all. Ganon is seen shortly afterward, crushing {{spoiler|her Fused Shadow helmet in his hands. [[Unexplained Recovery|She gets better]].}}
** Similarly, after destroying Trinexx's fire and ice heads in ''[[A Link to The Past]]'', it turns into a weaker snake-like form.
** Used [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|to great effect]] in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
* In [[Pikmin|Pikmin 2]], the [[King Mook|Titan]] [[Giant Spider|Dweevil]] initially has four weapons, each being one of the game's main hazards. Once you remove all of its weapons, it sheds its metal coating and has a more [[Giant Enemy Crab|crab-like]] appearance. It can't do anything to kill your Pikmin, but getting to use ''all'' your Pikmin on it at once on top of the [[Crowning Music of Awesome]] makes it a glorious finish to the battle. Again, [[Tropes Are Not Bad]]!
* The final final form of the final boss in ''[[Parasite Eve]]''. {{spoiler|After three forms of extremely creepy evolution to [[One
* ''[[
** Also, while less dramatic, High Astromancer Solarian's fight. The first phase involves her casting deadly arcane spells and summoning adds galore. Upon hitting 20% health, she seems to go [[One
* Played with in ''[[Shogo
* In ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[
** Not to mention the second form is susceptible to [[One Hit KO|Vanille's Death spell.]]
* In ''[[Grandia II]]'' the first fight with Pope Zera is a major contender for hardest boss fight in the game. However, when facing him again after the [[Boss Rush]] with the pieces of Valmar, he's a pushover with only 1 attack able to cause serious harm.
** Justified by the fact that you've destroyed most of Valmar, leaving nothing but an insane human, who thinks he's much stronger than he actually is.
* In ''[[Grandia (
* At the end of ''[[Indiana Jones and
** A minute later, the evil scientist Dr. Ubermann undergoes pretty much the exact same fate when Indy convinces ''him'' to step into the ascension machine too. Ubermann ''does'' succeed in transforming into an energy being, but the raw power is too much for him and he quickly dissipates into nothingness, [[Load
* The final [[Final Boss]] of ''[[Wonder Boy III
* Copy X from ''[[
* [[Final Fantasy VII
* ''[[
* In ''[[The Legend of Dragoon]]'', when you invade the lower floors of the evil empire's castle, you're spotted by a scientist, who says that he's worked on a new transformation spell that he'll use to kill you. The creepy pre-boss music starts up, {{spoiler|and he transforms into a dog. Dog doesn't even try to fight you, it just barks. One of your party members- Shana- even comments on its cuteness}}.
* Andross sort of suffers from this in ''[[Star Fox (
* After defeating Belial in ''[[Gradius]] IV'', its eyeball morphs into a replica of the Zelos Force from ''Salamander/Life Force'', and fires laser beams everywhere, but then explodes.
* In ''[[Tekken]] 3'', True Ogre is usually regarded as one of if not the weakest character '''in the entire game.''' This is especially jarring considering the original form is very hard to beat.
* In ''Final Fantasy Legend 2'' (known as ''[[SaGa 2]]'' in Japan), abusing MAGI can turn you into a god, complete with a [[One
* In ''[[
* The final boss of ''[[No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle
* The Demon Beast from ''Chibi Knight''. It has three stages. First, you need to destroy its shield orbs before you can even hurt it. Then it takes on a different pattern when it loses its shield. The third form is a giant eye that just sits there and does nothing.
* Oogie Boogie in ''[[Kingdom Hearts (
* ''[[Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
* ''[[Kingdom Hearts
* Most of the game ''[[Blood]] II the Chosen'' consists of chasing after a mage named Gideon. When you finally fight him it is a nightmare. He flies, teleports seemingly at random, casts spells and fires laser beams from his eyes. If you win you enter a spirit realm and meet him again when he transforms into a large spider. This is almost immobile and spits slow moving acid. A bit of bog standard FPS strafing and down it goes.
* ''[[
* ''[[
** {{spoiler|Fadroh}} could be seen as a subversion. After he transforms into a giant demon, he hits on par with the mooks in that area, but then he busts out the [[That One Attack|Orb of Magical Offense]], which jacks his damage to quadruple digits and lets him move twice per turn, which turns him into a proper [[One
* The [[Final Boss]] of the Neutral and Law endings of ''[[Strange Journey]]'' subverts this. [[That One Boss|Brutally.]] After defeating her first form, she is reduced to an embryo-like form, incapable of achieving her goal of {{spoiler|transforming the Earth into a new world with the Schwartzwelt}}. However, she becomes a ''lot'' more powerful in combat and picks up a few new skills, including a [[The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard|100% accurate]] [[One
* In the campaign modes of ''[[Dawn of War]]'' Dark Crusade and Soul Storm. After gaining all the wargear upgrades for your Chaos Lord, you have the option of gaining one last piece of wargear that turns him into Daemon Prince, the ambition of all chaos worshipers. It's not worth getting, while a Daemon Prince in an improvement over a Chaos Lord in a normal game, but by the end of the campaign the Chaos Lord in either campaign will have gain a massive increase to his damage per second, and will actually be higher than a what he'll have as Daemon Prince, and becoming a Daemon Prince causes him to lose any abilities his wargear gives him. The only thing gained is an HP boost, which is not worth it.
* In the final Bowser minigame of [[Mario Party]] 5, Bowser consumes a potion that causes him to grow to Giga Bowser-proportions...only to crash through the floor and get stuck.
* The final forms of bosses in ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' games tend to be much easier than their first form. Examples include the [[Sonic Adventure 2
* This is subverted in [[Onimusha]]: Dawn of Dreams. The final boss starts off as a massive god you beat rather easily using Soki in his Black Onimusha form...but he's not done. The second form take the guise of {{spoiler|the man in white who appeared so often in the game}} and you have to fight him with your allies. You'd expect him to be easier, except now he has a stupid amount of health, is hard to combo on and can't even be hit until you destroy enough rocks in the area while avoiding their annoying attacks. It's not so much hard as annoying and long.
== Webcomics ==
* In ''[[
* In ''[[
== Web Original ==
* The [https://web.archive.org/web/20130603221044/http://www.lifeinagame.com/pages/episode62.html final form of Lollerskates] in ''[[Life in A Game]]'' is...himself, with a mask, an [[Attack Its Weak Point|incredibly obvious weak point]], and the moves of [[Street Fighter|Dan]].
== Western Animation ==
* Freakshow from ''[[Danny Phantom]]''. His [[One
* In an episode of ''[[Powerpuff Girls]]'', the girls are shrunk down to fight an army of nanobots too small to for a normal sized person to harm. When the girls start winning, all of the nanobots merge into one monobot that manages to completely overpower the girls, but is also now large enough for the normal-sized Professor watching the fight to destroy simply by stepping on it.
* In the final episode of ''[[WITCH (
* In ''[[The
* Happens to Aang of all people in the season 2 finale of ''[[
* In an episode of [[The
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Power At a Price]]
[[Category:Shapeshifting]]
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