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Degraded Boss: Difference between revisions
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There are two types of degraded bosses.
* '''Type A:'''The ones who appear after killing the first one, are indeed weaker versions of a said enemy.
* '''Type B:'''The ones who appear after killing the first one, aren't weaker at all. [[Underground Monkey|Sometimes even stronger]]. Although by then you're usually more powerful and well-equipped to deal with them more easily. A common version of this is for the first Boss of the game to reappear as a [[Giant Mook]] throughout the rest of the game.
See [[Recurring Boss]] for examples where they don't get degraded.
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== [[Action Game]] ==
* The Hell Vanguard from ''[[Devil May Cry]] 3'' returns in later parts of the game as a lifebar-less mook. However, all recurrences are as strong as the first one. Furthermore, on one occasion (Mission 17's Trial of the Warrior room), the Hell Vanguard "mook" taps into the [[Limit Break|latent "Devil Trigger" power]] and becomes even more powerful than the boss version. On the highest difficulty, all "mook" versions of the Hell Vanguard can potentially use the Devil Trigger power.
** ''[[Devil May Cry]] 4'' combines this trope with [[Cutscene Power to the Max]]. After defeating the frog demon Dagon, you are treated to a cutscene where Dante receives a new Devil Arm. Suddenly, the courtyard is full of Dagon's brothers. Dante then proceeds to use his new weapon to quickly annihilate every giant frog in sight.
* A twist occurs in the first two ''[[Ninja Gaiden]]'' games for the NES: the Malice Four from the first ''Ninja Gaiden'' appears in ''Ninja Gaiden II'' as mooks who are literal clones of the originals created by Ashtar. The clones are the same size as Ryu and are killed with a single strike like other regular mooks.
* Done both in-game and in-story in ''[[Ninja Gaiden]] II: The Dark Sword of Chaos''. The basic [[Mooks]] you first fight are in fact clones of the first boss of the original game. Clones of the games subsequent three bosses also appear, usually in [[Giant Mook]] form, though Kelberos comes back in full Boss form.
** The seventh generation ''[[Ninja Gaiden]] II'' The boss you face in the first chapter is Rasetsu, a large, literal [[Demonic Spiders|Demonic spider/Human hybrid]] who stands about 8 feet tall with 4 large bladed appendages protruding from his back. You also encounter another Spider Ninja Fiend in the second chapter, backed up by spider ninja Mooks. In the last chapters you end up slaying a couple dozen of them; sometimes in pairs. They are still as strong as the first encounter, but by then you're a lot stronger.
* The first encounter with the centaurs in ''[[Tomb Raider]]'' is considered a boss fight, due to the fact that they're the first Atlanteans you see in the game and their appearance is a [[Wham! Episode|shock.]] More centaurs are encountered later as regular enemies.
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== [[Beat'Em Up]] ==
* Done a lot in old beat'em-up arcade games. Examples: ''[[Double Dragon]]'', ''Cadillacs and Dinosaurs'', ''Ninja Combat'', and ''Arabian Nights''. Often, the first boss you face will also be the first [[Giant Mook]].
** As does the ''[[Streets of Rage]]'' series with some of their boss characters. Lampshaded in Streets of Rage 2, with the weaker mook version of the boss "R. Bear" being called "[[Overlord, Jr.|Bear Jr.]]"
*** ''2'' takes it pretty quickly, too. After beating the twin robot bosses in Stage 7, the very first enemies you fight in Stage 8 are two more.
** Averted by the original ''[[Final Fight]]'' and its SNES sequels: the bosses are unique to each stage and none of them actually reappear once they're defeated.
** In the arcade version of ''[[Double Dragon]]'', the [[Elite Mook|elite mooks]] that appear near the end of Mission 3 and during the final battle in Mission 4 are all palette-swaps of Jeff, the Mission 2 boss (who was in turn, a head-swapped Lee brother). However, they're just as tough as the boss version of Jeff.
*** It also happens to Chin Taimei (Jeff's equivalent as the Mission 2 boss) in the NES version. In fact, it happens rather immediately, as the second fight in Mission 3 is against a group of three Chin clones.
*** In ''Super Double Dragon'', Steve and Jackson, the first two bosses, appear throughout the rest of the game as mooks. All of the previous bosses also appear in the final stage.
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* Plated Beetles, adult Sheegoths and Chozo Ghosts in ''[[Metroid Prime]]'' all first appear as mini-bosses, but later become regular enemies. The Sheegoth particularly feels degraded, as it was a quite hard to beat on the first time, but after you get the Plasma Beam, you can ''kill it with one shot without even waiting for it to expose its weak spot!''
** In ''Metroid Zero Mission'', there is a Dessgeega that you encounter early in the game as a mini-boss after acquiring the long beam and discovering the currently locked entrance to the [[Big Bad|Big Bad's]] lair. This miniboss turns out to be a common enemy in a later level.
** In ''[[Metroid: Other M]]'', you first run into the FG-1000 security drones early on in the game, where they function as a fairly tricky miniboss battle. Much later, you find a few more, but by that time, you can blast through them with a single charged Plasma Beam blast, without even having to wait for them to expose their weak point, much like the Sheegoth example above.
* In ''[[Halo]] 2'', Tartarus, the Brute Chieftain, is the game's final boss, with a one-hit-kill gravity hammer and an invincible forcefield that can only be brought down by Sgt. Johnson's particle rifle. In ''Halo 3'', Brute Chieftains regularly appear as [[King Mook]] [[Mini Boss|minibosses]]; they're armed with one-hit-kill gravity hammers and one-use invincibility shields that last for a couple dozen seconds.
* In ''[[Bioshock]]'', most of the game's bosses are simply regular enemy types with more health and the occasional attribute tweak (the Iceman in Fort Frolic is immune to ice attacks, for example). Most bosses are encountered before you fight regular Splicers of that type. For example, the game's first boss Dr. Steinman is a machinegun-wielding Leadhead Splicer, the regular versions of which you don't encounter until 3/4ths of the way through the game.
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* The Altered from ''[[Wolfenstein (2009 video game)|Wolfenstein]]''. The first time you fight one, you're armed with nothing more than small arms and have to use the environment to kill it. Later in the game you acquire a BFG that can kill one in a single hit.
* ''Amsterdoom'' has this in every stage, with the boss of the area becoming a recurring type of enemy in the next.
* In ''[[Quake (series)|Quake]]'', a pair of Vores are fought as a boss battle at the end of Episode 2, then they become recurring enemies in the last two episodes.
** In the second game, the Super Tank and Tank Flyer first appear as [[King Mook]] bosses, then as normal enemies, although they're just as tough as before.
* Inverted with the Uber Soldat in ''[[Return to Castle Wolfenstein]]'', as you first fight a prototype Mook version, then a tougher boss version.
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== [[Mecha Game]] ==
* The final stage in ''[[Zone of the Enders]]: the 2nd Runner'' throws endless copies of Nephtis, the game's second boss at you, which you can cut down by the dozen with near impunity. Playing through the [[New Game+]] with the [[Eleventh-Hour Superpower]] you get at the beginning of that stage will confirm that they haven't been made weaker than the original.
== [[Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game|MMORPGs]] ==
* The MMORPG ''[[City of Heroes]]'' and its Villain counterpart do this as well in a few cases. Some specific missions have Boss or Elite Boss versions of enemies that are normally only minion or lieutenants normally, while in other cases Bosses are eventually downgraded to lower status. Villains can run into this as early as level 5 and the Lt. Blechley enemy, an Elite Boss version of the normally lieutenant-powered Council Vampyri. Heroes encounter this as well, although the most notable case doesn't come into play until level 45, where the dangerous Malta Gunslingers begin to regularly apply as lieutenants instead of their previous Boss counterparts.Justified as heroes don't even start to encounter the Vampyri until level 20, while villains encounter Lt. Blechley before level 10. At that stage in the game, he would be tough for a hero as well.
* Happens a lot in [[Dungeon Fighter Online]], with nearly every single boss you fight at the start of the game. Type B.
* ''[[Guild Wars]] Nightfall'', a powerful boss early in the game is a construct made of floating stone fragments called the [http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Apocrypha Apocrypha]. In the final third of the game, identical creatures appear in large group as regular encounters, and are called "graven monoliths."
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** The Giant Armor in Harmony of Dissonance appears as an enemy later on.
** Many of the early bosses from ''Lords of Shadow'' show up as [[Palette Swap|pallete swapped]] recurring mooks by Chapter 2. The first boss shows up as a [[Boss in Mook Clothing]] as early as the second level.
* In ''[[Magic Sword]]'', the first dragon boss is reused as a [[Pallete Swap]] [[Giant Mook]] midway through the game.
* In the sixth stage of ''[[Ghosts 'n Goblins (series)|Ghosts N Goblins]]'', the bosses from stages 1-4 show up again as regular enemies that can be bypassed without fighting. They're no weaker than they were earlier, though.
* In ''[[Mega Man X]] 8'', various enemy reploids in the final stage use copy chips to turn into duplicates of Sigma, the heroes' recurring nemesis (and final boss of the first seven games). Fortunately, they only have access to Sigma's original body, not any of the nightmarish battle forms he loves to inflict on the player.
** The ''[[Mega Man Battle Network|Battle Network]]'' and ''[[Mega Man Star Force|Star Force]]'' games have Type B. After defeating a boss, they'll have a ghost version hiding on a specific tile somewhere in the Cyberworld / on the Wave Roads, usually in a dead end or a corner of a wide platform. Step there and a stronger version of the boss will appear to fight you. After you defeat it, an even stronger version becomes a rare random encounter, usually in the same area.
** In ''[[Mega Man 9]]'', the second Wily Stage's boss is a ship that has three parts, each with their own health bar and attack pattern. The battle is pretty tough, especially because it's a Wily boss, so you have to conserve weapon energy. So what do they do? They take the [[Nintendo Hard|already super-tough]] [[Bonus Boss|downloadable Fake Man stage]] and stick in the ship along with several mini-bosses. Not to mention that because it's a Time-Attack-only stage, you have only one life, and no E-tanks. What you basically have is a Degraded Boss who takes this trope in a bunch of different directions. Better hope the enemies [[Randomly Drops|drop some energy pellets]], because you'll need them.
** The recent gameplay videos for ''Rockman Online'' have shown old bosses such as [[Mega Man 5|Stone Man]] as normal enemies.
** One of the Wily Tower bosses in ''[[Mega Man 8]]'' is an addition to the [[That One Boss|infamous]] "Devil" series of robots, the Green Devil. In ''[[Mega Man and Bass]]'', the Green Devil is back, but without its array of attacks.
** After fighting {{spoiler|Botos}} in ''[[Mega Man X Command Mission]]'', he sends decoys after you a bit later in the game, which are notably weaker than {{spoiler|Botos}} himself. When you actually fight the real one, he just beats you up for a little bit and then runs away.
* In ''[[Sonic Adventure 2]]'', some of the stages operated by Eggman contained enemies that were near-duplicates of E-102 Gamma from the previous game. Interestingly, in ''[[Sonic Adventure]],'' Gamma was both a player character ''and'' a boss, ''and'' made occasional appearances as an NPC, so he ends up having had quite a varied career.
** There's also the fact that in ''Sonic Adventure 2'', Bigfoot troops showed up as the first bosses for the hero and dark side story archs. When they show up again in ''[[Shadow the Hedgehog]]'', they are reduced to standard enemies in the stage 5 and stage 6 options.
* ''[[Keith Courage]] in Alpha Zones'' brings many of the earlier bosses back several times, as palette swaps, two-at-once bosses, and infinitely recurring enemies.
* Fire Leo, [[That One Boss]] for many players of ''[[Viewtiful Joe]]'', reappears in the next chapter as a normal enemy called Metal Leo with severely reduced health and no fire attacks, thankfully.
* The regular assassins in ''[[Iji]]'' appear after you fight Asha. Their tactics are less showy and give more time between attacks but also gain an attack that Asha couldn't perform because he only has one arm. In fact, nearly every boss enemy or notable character is just a normal enemy with some backstory and an optional supermove (and more health).
* Some of the [[Mini Boss|Mini Bosses]] in ''[[La-Mulana]]'' are reused this way in Hell Temple.
* The Knight in ''[[Wonder Boy in Monster Land]]'', in addition to having several [[Palette Swap|palette swaps]], also appears as a recurring enemy late in the game.
* ''Midnight Wanderers'', one of the three games forming ''[[Three Wonders]]''', has the flamethrower from the Terror Twins (Stage 2 Boss) and Dumpty (Stage 3 [[Mini Boss]]) reappear later as minor [[Mooks]].
* In ''[[Spyro]]'' this happens on occasion. The best example would be Buzz, the first boss in ''Spyro: Year of the Dragon''. When he first appears you have to knock him in lava six times to kill him, and each time he gets out you have to dodge his roll attack (and the last two times he gets out he has a powerful fire breath). Cue the third boss, Scorch, who spits Buzz out as an egg. After being hatched, Buzz still has to be knocked into lava/acid, but only once to kill him this time, and you don't have to deal with his roll attack or fire breath.
* In ''[[Wario World]]'', [[Sand Worm]], the boss of Greenhorn Ruins, reappears in Pecan Sands. However, this time he's weaker, not the level's boss, and [[Skippable Boss|not a required fight]].
* In ''[[The Caverns of Hammerfest]]'', every single 'boss', with an exception of the Final Boss, are rather introductions to more powerful enemies you will find in the next levels.
* The Daemon mini-bosses in the SNES and Genesis game ''Warlock'' appear as regular enemies two levels after they're introduced. The player hasn't gained anymore power, and they have the same amount of health, these are still pretty much ''[[Demonic Spiders]]''. The only difference is that they are now skippable. The fact that this stage is ''[[That One Level]]'' doesn't help matters.
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** Every single boss in ''[[Final Fantasy]]: Mystic Quest'', with five exceptions: the crystal guardians (and their [[Palette Swap]] counterparts in Doom Castle), and the final boss.
** ''[[Final Fantasy IX]]'': The Four Chaoses (Lich, Marilith, Kraken, and Tiamat) show up as regular bosses in specific points throughout Memoria. However, weaker, "Crystal" versions of them appear later in the Crystal World as random encounters.
** The [[Bonus Dungeon]] in ''[[Final Fantasy X
*** Some bosses from earlier in the game also show up later. If you revisit the Floating Ruins in later chapters, you will occasionally encounter Boris, the boss from the first mission there. He has exactly the same stats as last time, therefore making him much easier to defeat.
*** Ultima and Omega Weapon, usually [[Bonus Boss|Bonus Bosses]], have been relegated to random encounters for this game. Surprisingly, Omega is the easier of the two.
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* In ''[[Earthbound]]'', the Kraken reappears in the Sea of Eden (where Ness has to fight them alone). It then reappears ''again'' in the Cave of the Past in "bionic" form. Also, several other enemies in the Cave of the Past are renamed and palette-swapped versions of old bosses (such as of Starman DX).
* In ''[[Dragon Quest I]]'', you must rescue the princess from the Dragon early on. Later, dragons are all over the place. The Axe Knight also first appears as a boss guarding Erdrick's Armor, then as a recurring enemy in the [[Final Dungeon]].
* In ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' games, on the final stage you'll usually not only have the [[Final Boss]] to deal with, but around two dozen variants on previous original bosses, usually mass-produced models of [[Super Prototype]] mechs the [[Quirky Miniboss Squad]] used. In some of the more [[Nintendo Hard|challenging]] ones they're just as strong as the originals.
* ''[[The World Ends With You]]'' there are also various lower-level Noise (examples including the lowest form of wolf, shark, and rhino), which when you encounter them for the first time, they're treated as a boss. Later in the game however, they're just another type of Noise to defeat - sorry, ''[[Deadly Euphemism|erase]]''.
* ''[[Super Mario RPG]]'' presents a spin on this: several of the game's earlier bosses reappear in the game's final dungeon, a factory that literally ''churns them out''. They're even ''called'' "Machine Made," no matter what boss they're copies of. Every last one of them is called "Machine Made."
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** A lot of bosses from P3 can be found as random encounters in P4. World Balance shows up again, but it's an interesting case; you find it as a random encounter ''way'' before you fight it as a sub-boss. Fighting it then gives you a version that resists physical attacks as well as all elements, but falls instantly to Hama and Mudo and only knows Ziodyne. Later on, you fight a powered-up version in {{spoiler|Nanako's}} dungeon, which still isn't as hard as the nightmare it was in the previous game. Here, the World Balance has a simple pattern (Mind Charge and then a -dyne spell) and has low HP for a boss.
*** The Magical Magus appears in the ''first level of the game'', and in P3, you didn't fight it until you got to the third block of Tartarus.
*** The Natural Dancer also makes an appearance. It only has two skills now; Navas Nebula (Physical attack, whole party, causes Exhaustion, which drains SP each turn) and Marakunda (Debuff, lowers defense of all enemies). It also picked up a weakness to ice, which it didn't have in the previous game.
* In ''[[Fable II]]'', even [[The Dragon]] is not immune to this; after you kill the Commandant very similar looking people who have the same powers and abilities appear. This is at least a justified case, as the Commandant is introduced as a prototype, and similar creations are explicitly being mass-produced during the 10 year interval at the game's halfway point.
** Also the boss Thag the Impatient later returns as common Bandit chiefs.
** In ''[[Fable III]]'', downgraded versions of Captain Saker and Lieutenant Simmons (deceased) appear once you've defeated them and are a high enough level.
* The Giant Snake, a difficult [[Action Commands]] boss from the first ''[[Dark Cloud]]'', appears as a regular (albeit hard) foe in ''[[Dark Cloud]] 2'''s second area. The level where it first appears in is even named after it.
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** On level 8 you will fight a mini boss in a certain room that due to timing and various other factors makes this the hardest fight in the game to get right at the time you get there. And it's just an optional quest mini boss with near zero plot importance. On the final level of the game you fight this exact enemy as a normal encounter with the same minions... and may even encounter it at the same time as another difficult enemy. Post game you will sometimes fight two at once and minions as a normal encounter.
** For that matter, post game you can fight bosses as normal enemies. Even the ones that actually were bosses.
* In ''[[Digital Devil Saga]]'' {{spoiler|Jatayu and Garuda are fought on the outside of the higher levels of the Karma Temple. After being defeated and going back inside the temple they can be encountered in random battles.}}
* Wendigo in ''[[Devil Survivor]]''. It's still referred to as a fearsome demon in cut-scenes even when you're strong enough to take on five teams of Wendigos at once. It's actually even [[Invoked Trope|invoked]], as one of your party members will mention how Wendigo appearing as a regular enemy means that you're fighting tougher demons now.
* The Barbarian Fighter and the Iron Golem from ''[[Summoner]]''. The first can be fought in a normal encounter practically right after you fight him as a boss, and the Iron Golem can be found as enemy before he's a boss, if you're a glutton for punishment and go wandering in the mountains.
* The first boss you face in the main storyline of ''[[Dragon Age]]: Origins'' is an ogre, which becomes a normal enemy later in the game (with more powerful versions at times.) Justified in that you're trying to ''re''take an area that's off to one side of the main battle, and the darkspawn would've just sent a strike force consisting of their normal troops to take it in the first place.
** The [[Dynamic Difficulty]] of the game scales all monsters to the [[Player Character]]'s level, with Normal enemies being slighly weaker than the PC; Lieutenants, slighly stronger; and Bosses, about as strong as your entire party combined (don't ask about [[That One Boss|Elite Bosses]]). Said first Ogre you encounter (at level 4-5) is a Boss, yet all subsequent Ogres are Lieutenants, so they are simultaneously stronger that the first one and weaker than yourself during all subsequent encounters.
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* The Lotus Assassins of ''[[Jade Empire]]'' get this hard. The first one you meet, you can't even fight - an NPC rushes in to defeat the assassin and says you wouldn't have stood a chance. Later, you fight a couple, but each is at the center of a boss fight. A couple of acts later, and you're taking on entire squads of assassins by yourself without breaking a sweat.
* Ascended Sleepers in ''[[Morrowind]]'' are Type B. Various named Dagoths encountered in the latter half of the main quest are modified Ascended Sleepers, but they're actually downgraded from the normal enemy (which only shows up at extremely high levels - it is in fact the highest levelled non-unique monster in the game). So it is quite possible to learn to [[Boss in Mook Clothing|hate]] Ascended Sleepers before knowing what they're actually called.
* The unfortunately named Prophallus in ''[[Phantasy Star IV]]'' is basically a ([[Boss in Mook Clothing|very powerful]]) variation of the ''[[Final Boss]]'' of the first game.
* ''[[Secret of Evermore]]'' had the Eye of Rimsala; the first is a boss about halfway through the game. The last dungeon area has one guarding most corridors, and the last [[Sequential Boss]] fight includes a segment where you take on three at once.
* ''[[Legend of Legaia]]'' has you fight against two [[Shock and Awe|Viguro]] early in the game. They're second-tier Seru while you're still on first-tier spells. Interesting in that it is still possible to [[Power Copying|absorb them]] in this fight if you're lucky enough, giving you a considerable boost in damage output for as long as you can meet the higher MP requirement.
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** In the [[Bonus Dungeon]] of ''[[Star Ocean the Second Story]]'', this happens multiple times. The boss of one floor of the dungeon will often be a random encounter on the next.
* The Great Jaggi is your first large Monster Hunt in ''[[Monster Hunter]] Tri''. The first time you encounter one wandering about Moga Woods (usually the very next day) is probably a bit of an [[Oh Crap]] moment. By the time you fight the Royal Ludroth, you're taking them on two at a time, and they're barely worth hunting anymore. Note that at this point, you're ''still'' fighting the weakest monsters in the game.
* ''[[Breath of Fire]]'' makes recurrent use of the trope in their early entries:
** Several of the less important, nameless and/or monstrous bosses in ''[[Breath of Fire I]]'' return later as [[Palette Swap|Palette Swapped]] mooks, most notably the trio of dragons serving as Ryu's trials and the Gremlin, [[Wake Up Call Boss|a rather memorable early boss]].
** ''[[Breath of Fire II]]'' makes the same reuse of boss sprites, though it doesn't limit itself with minor bosses, as guys like Shupkay, M.C. Tusk (end-of-arc bosses) and ''[[The Rival|Ray]]'' are among the degraded lot.
** ''[[Breath of Fire III]]'' and forward practically avert the trope almost completely. In ''III'', for example, the only example comes from 4 [[Mini Boss|Mini Bosses]] from very early.
* Halfway through the first disc of ''[[The Legend of Dragoon]]'' you face a "Sandora Elite", an assassin who fights with kunai, earth-based ninjutsu and two [[Doppleganger Attack|ninja clones]] at his side. They become standard enemies in the [[Disc One Final Dungeon]], minus the dopplegangers.
* At least in the Super Famicom game, ''[[Dragonball Z]]: Legend of the Super Saiyan'', there are random encounter enemies late in the game that are palette swaps of Cui, Dodoria, Zarbon, and the Ginyu Force that are weaker or stronger than you originally fought as bosses.
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** The Bell Gargoyles also reappear as non-respawning [[Mini Boss|mini bosses]] in Anor Londo, although they're smaller and [[Breath Weapon|breathe lightning]] instead of fire. They're also encountered individually, which makes them much easier to deal with.
* In [[Mass Effect 2]], an YMIR heavy mech is the first boss. As the game progresses, they show up frequently as [[Elite Mook|elite mooks]], sometimes in pairs. They're never easy, and in the harder battles (especially when they start out near the party, since they can absolutely shred [[We Cannot Go on Without You|Shepard]] at short range), they qualify as [[Boss in Mook Clothing]], and are sometimes harder than actual bosses.
** In the first game, the boss on Therum is a Krogan Battlemaster. You fight them later in the game, but they are much easier.
** The first Brute in ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'' counts as a miniboss, complete with arena-like setting and cinematic introduction, but others will be introduced later in the same mission with much less drama. Ditto for Banshee later in the game.
** Also in the third game, the Atlas Mech is counted as an outright boss when encountered during Priority: Sur'Kesh and [[Downloadable Content|Priority: Eden Prime]]. They become more common in later missions though.
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== [[Turn-Based Strategy]] ==
* ''[[Fire Emblem the Sacred Stones]]'' has the Cyclops, fought as a regular boss previously, appear as a regular enemy in the Endgame and [[Bonus Dungeon|Bonus Dungeons]]. It's as tough as before though; it's your party that's become stronger.
* ''[[Shining Force]]'' used this often, with several bosses on stages being a Minotaur, a Golem, a Witch creature, a Black Knight, etc., all of whom would appear frequently as simple mooks in later missions, once the team got stronger.
** ''[[Shining in the Darkness]]'' had the Kaiserkrab, the insanely hard-to-beat first boss. When it reappears as a mook, it's just as powerful but easier to beat, since you have two extra teammates by then.
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== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* After facing Ranba Ral (Gouf) and the Black Tri-Stars (Dom) in ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]'', the Mobile Suits used by them are soon adopted as Mass-production units by Zeon Mooks.
** Similarly, in ''[[Gundam Seed Destiny]]'', The Earth Alliance's powerful Mobile Armors such as the Zamzah-Zah and Destroy Gundam appear in greater numbers later in the series (and are usually killed ''much'' easier than the first one they faced).
*** The Destroy Gundam is most notorious in that when the emotionally-unbalanced Stella piloted the beast, it absolutely devastated Berlin and even when stopped, the machine was still largely intact. When they start mass producing it, they drop like flies. Granted, ZAFT did introduce new prototype suits, but you'd think they'd at least be able to match the original's damage.
* In ''[[Digimon Adventure]]'', Vamdemon ([[Dub Name Change|Myotismon]]) was the longest-lasting villain--12 episodes in his original form and two more as VenomVamdemon, which would be enough to make his arc the longest even on its own, but the five episodes immediately preceding his debut involved one of his minions stirring up trouble. {{spoiler|1=And even then he wasn't defeated, coming back in ''[[Digimon Adventure 02]]'' as BelialVamdemon/MaloMyotismon to serve as that season's ''[[Big Bad]]''.}} Cut ahead to ''[[Digimon Xros Wars the Young Hunters Leaping Through Time]]'', and mass-produced Vamdemon clones are being slaughtered wholesale.
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