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Lovecraftian Superpower: Difference between revisions
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The name originates from classic scifi/horror writer Mr. [[HP Lovecraft]], whose characteristic creations often seemed equal parts Nightmare Fuel and biology textbook.
A subtrope of [[Bad Powers, Bad People]], usually, possibly because [[Magic Is Evil]]. May be a useful side-effect of [[The Virus]] or [[The Corruption]]. Often manifests as [[Combat Tentacles]], [[You Are Who You Eat|cannibalistic]] and [[Body Horror|horrific]] [[Shapeshifting]] (sometimes [[Partial Transformation|partial shapshifting]]), [[Bloody Murder]], or a [[Bee Bee Gun]], and is likely [[Power Incontinence|not quite controllable]]. Can overlap with [[One
{{examples
== Anime and Manga ==
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** A former X-Man with the charming name of [[Xtreme Kool Letterz|Maggott]] had two parasitic slugs that ''crawled out of his belly'' and could eat anything. He spent most of his childhood nearly starving to death until his primary digestive system (the slugs) emerged.
** Johnny Dee of the 198 isn't a mutant, but his internalized parasitic twin is. It extends poison tentacles from his gut, and makes mind-controlling zombie dolls of anyone whose DNA it eats.
* One short-lived member of ''[[X Force]]'', Sluk, (and when we say "short lived", we mean "he was already dead when his team was introduced") had ''creepy [[Shaped Like Itself|tentacle]] [[Buffy
* [[Generation X]] foe Emplate had mouths on his hands that let him cannibalize mutant bone marrow.
* [[Spider-Man]] has on at least one occasion turned into a literal multi-limbed arachnid-humanoid creature. Even normal Spider-Man, in those incarnations where the [[Does This Remind You of Anything?|sticky white silk]] he shoots from his hands is organic, arguably counts.
** Or the time when he fights Miss Arrow. Or, really, just her entire being. Bonus points for being a Lovecraftian horror in the FIRST place, madam.
** Minor Spidey villain the Squid can grow multiple tentacles and spew black ink from his skin.
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** Actually, ''Deadpool'''s healing factor comes from having Wolverine's DNA injected into himself. The cancer was killing him already, and they thought the healing factor would cure that. Unfortunately, the healing factor applied to his body AND the cancer cells, so while his superhuman immune system is perfectly capable of killing the cancer, the cancer can recover and mutate just as quickly.
* The first three issues of ''Generation Hope'' dealt with the manifestation of the powers of Kenji Uedo, the fifth new mutant since M-Day. His power is a sort of "techno-organic" shapeshifting, but that doesn't quite convey [http://marvel.wikia.com/Kenji_Uedo_(Earth-616)/Gallery how very Lovecraftian they can be].
* The miniseries ''[[North 40 (Comic Book)|North 40]]'' deals with what happens when some kid reads the [[Tome of Eldritch Lore]] in a small town's library, triggering a [[Mass Super
* In [[The Umbrella Academy]] series, The Horror is pretty much the embodiment of this. He's said to have several monsters hidden under his skin. Whether or not they're from space or another dimension or something else has yet to be stated. However, according to some people in universe, they're horrible and disgusting.
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*** Don't forget [[Complete Monster|Mater Motley]], [[Never Mess With Granny|Carrion's grandmother]] {{spoiler|and his eventual killer}}. [[Nightmare Fuel|The things she can do with needles...]]
* A number of Jokers from the [[Wild Cards]] series. One that particularly pops to mind is Bloat. And Mother. And Ti Malice.
* The Denarians from [[The Dresden Files]] are often [[Mind Rape|Mind Raped]] by [[Fallen Angel|fallen angels]] ([[It Got Worse|and sometimes]] [[Not Brainwashed]]) and have the ability to transform into a [[One
* Oddly enough, the kindly, feminine protagonist of ''Confessions of Super-Mom'' has a Lovecraftian power--her warped right hand constantly leaks a mysterious living fluid. She can blast it from her hand with incredible force as a way of knocking people over or making holes in weak objects, and she discovers that it can also be [[Mundane Utility|used as a stain remover]].
* Another heroic example: Bes from ''[[The Kane Chronicles]]'', whose trademark attack is scaring the crap out of his enemy by warping his face hideously.
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** Fourth Edition warlocks (particularly the Star-Pact variety) can attack foes with writhing tentacles and swarms of crawling unearthly vermin that sprout directly from the enemy's flesh, or simply attack their sanity with visions and apparitions of this nature. Gained, as the name suggests, by channeling the powers of [[Cosmic Horror|various cosmic God-beings]].
** The ''[[Pathfinder]]'' campaign setting offers sorcerers different bloodlines. One of them, the Aberrant bloodline, gives the practitioner slightly 'wiggy' anatomy (which gets progressively more so as he gets higher in level). Starts out with the ability to spit acid, ends with Abberant Physiology, in which your characters so messed up, he's immune to critical hits.
*** The Vivisection Alchemist's recommended Discoveries are things like tentacles, parasitic twins, Tumor Familliars, and vestigial arms. And their base skillset [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|is focused on making]] [[Petting Zoo People|furries]] from animals who piss them off.
** A ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'' special is the spellscarred multiclass feature, which has all kinds of nasty [[Body Horror]] powers. Including unhinging your jaw to take a bite out of your enemies, bleeding on your sword to make it blister with plague, and creating a rope of flesh that binds you to your target so they can't escape you.
** ''[[Dragon]]'' #s 296 and 300 introduced the Monster Cultist prestige classes. Give yourself over to a monstrous god, and you gain the powers of their natural worshippers ... at the cost of becoming more like them. Examples include Sphere Minion (beholders); Illithidkin (mind flayers); Snake Servant (medusas); Waker of the Beast (tarrasque); Faceless Ones (doppelgangers); Deep Thrall (kraken); Shoal Servant (kua-toas); and Tiger Mask (rakashas). Anything that involves shifting your Creature Type from Humanoid to Abberation is probably a bad idea...
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== Video Games ==
* The viruses and the Las Plagas parasites from ''[[Resident Evil]]'' usually spawn such mutations in those they infect. Even villains who don't go full-on [[One
** As Albert Wesker, who himself gained quite a few of these powers, revealed, this was the ultimate intention of the plague; to transform select humans into superpowered monsters and kill all others.
* The hero of [[FPS]] ''[[The Darkness]]'', Jackie Estacado, sprouts a pair of snapping serpentine demon-heads from his shoulders, as well as producing dark tentacles to impale foes and destroy walls as needed.
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* ''[[Final Fantasy XI]]'' has this in Blue Mages and the backstory's precursor experiments toward creating the Blue Mage. The original experiments included grafting monstrous appendages and material to people, which gave them power but either drove them insane, or transformed them into flan (spell-casting blobs) or soulflayers (read: D&D's mindflayers with the serial numbers barely filed off). When they attempted to just graft a portion of a monster's magic and spirit to the experiments' subjects, they created the first viable blue mages, but even then, a Blue Mage gains their power from assimilating their opponents, and if one pushes too far, has the risk of becoming a soulflayer as well. Which brings some [[Fridge Logic]] [[Nightmare Fuel]]. Just imagine how many players have unlocked Blue Mage on any given server...
** In fact from the combination of the danger of their powers, and the risk of being killed by allies who believe they're close to the turning point, it's said that there has never been a blue mage who died of natural causes.
* Saki of ''[[Sin and Punishment]]'', as a result of absorbing [[Mysterious Waif|Achi's]] blood ({{spoiler|she turns out to be an [[Eldritch Abomination]], incidentally}}), gains the ability to transform into a really scary-looking [[Kaiju]] that can teleport, shoot giant lasers out of its claws, and grow to such immense size that it is fully capable of battling ''entire planets''. As long as he's paired with Airen, he can control it. [[Super
* The [[Soul Series]] has a couple of examples. The various forms of Nightmare have a [[Red Right Hand|horribly disfigured and mutated arm]], and Abyss, the ultimate form of Zasalamel...[[Body Horror|yeah.]]
* In the [[Scott Pilgrim (Video Game)|Scott Pilgrim video game]], Todd has [http://paulrobertson.mechafetus.com/toddingram_freakout_a.gif this attack].
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