Spider Limbs: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

These spider limbs can also be used instead of walking on human legs, giving the character an extra meter or two of height, and almost seeming to [[Power Floats|float]]. These limbs can be of any make. Maybe they're [[Artificial Limbs]], [[Combat Tentacles]] with [[Mundane Utility]], or even inky tendrils born of the deepest darkness. Though for some reason they're always attached/growing out of the small of the back.

 

 

 

 

 

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* The Diclonii's 'Vectors' in ''[[Elfen Lied]].''

* Medusa in ''[[Soul Eater]]'' utilises this as well, as part of her snake/arrow themed powers. She can balance on her tail and create many "snake" arrows that sprout out of her back, among other uses.

 

== [[Comic Books]] ==

* ''[[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]]'' in all his incarnations has a lot of instances of this trope. Firstly, there's arch enemy Doc Ock, then there's the [[Powered Armour]] [[Iron Man|Tony Stark]] gave Spider-Man in the ''[[Civil War]]'', and there's also Midnight Sons rogue Spider-X, who had boney spider-limbs.

** The third and fourth Spider-Woman both possessed these at different points. Originally they were a power of Charlotte Witter (Spider-Woman IV), as a result of [[Lego Genetics|genetic manipulation]] by Doc Ock. After a lot of back-and-forth [[All Your Powers Combined|power-stealing]], the limbs - [[Superpower Lottery|along with the other powers of all three other "Spider-Women"]] - ended up with Mattie Franklin (Spider-Woman III).

** This has happened to Spidey before, but he managed to cure his condition thanks to the help of Dr. Curt Connors (aka the Lizard).

* In ''Quest for the Fallen Star", the "Tenebrite" variant of [[Eldritch Abomination|Ill-creature]] is usually humanoid, but can [[Partial Transformation|morph]] its lower body into a set of spider legs.

* While he doesn't possess any extra limbs, titular character The Arm from Nancy Farmer's ''The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm'' looks decidedly creepy thanks to his extra-long limbs. When he decides to ramp that effect up a bit, he unhinges them a little and crooks them in odd ways; he even uses this to scare some primitive tribesmen into thinking he's a boogie man.

 

== [[Film]] ==

 

== [[Live Action Television]] ==

* The ''Sci Fi Science'' episode "How to Build a [[Powered Armor|Super Suit]]" had Dr. Michio Kaku's design, which included a pair of extensible robotic arms attached to the back and controlled by the user's brain. Dr. Kaku even [[One of Us|mentioned Dr. Octopus by name]]. The arm control system is fully within the realm of current, or at most, [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future]] science. A early version's been done with chimpanzees.

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

* In ''[[Exalted]]'', the Terrestrial Circle Sorcery spell Lightning Spider gives the caster eight extra spiderlike limbs ''made of lightning!''

** Around the same time, the Song and Silence sourcebook also featured the Fang of Lolth prestige class, which culminated with fully functional Half-Human(oid) Hybrid/Spider limbs.

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* Andariel, the first boss from ''[[Diablo II]]'' features four spider legs growing from her back, but they're only used for attacking.

* Laughing Octopus from ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 4'' is a rare exception to the small-of-the-back rule; her [[Combat Tentacles]] come from the top of her head, leaving her body dangling down when she uses them to move around.

* Lord Recluse, the [[Big Bad]] in ''[[City of Heroes]]'', and quite a few of his minions.

** Villain players get their own set if they use the appropiate archetype.

* Alice Moonlight, a later boss from the sequel to ''[[No More Heroes]]'' has these tipped with ''[[Laser Blade|beam katanas]]''. One of her attacks even ends with her in a position that makes her look very much like a spider.

* Yagrum Bagarn, the last of the Dwemer race in ''[[Elder Scrolls]] 3: Morrowind'' became infected with the corprus disease. Unable to walk under his own power due to its ravages, he constructed a series of mechanized spider legs to carry his bloated form.

* Urgot the Headman's pride, from [[League of Legends]], was [[We Can Rebuild Him|rebuilt like that]].

* A few of the [[Epic Mickey|Beetleworx]] have these.

 

== [[Web Original]] ==

* In some of its incarnations, the [[Slender Man]] is capable of growing extra, amorphous limbs from his back.

* Arachne of the [[Whateley Universe]] can manifest Spider Limbs along with her normal human limbs. She can also grow more spider-y in other ways when she chooses to, but she routinely is stuck with spider fangs that leak poison when she gets excited.

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* Irken's PAKs in ''[[Invader Zim]]'' can [[Telescoping Robot|extrude these]] on command. He has a strikingly matter-of-fact handling of these (to-him) familiar tools. They are likely purely instinctual. There's one episode when Zim's right next to something blowing up, and when the smoke clears you can see his spider arms in the same position as his actual arms, trying to shield himself from the blast.

** Does Fang count? He uses four giant spider legs to carry himself rapidly across any sort of terrain and to hoist himself out of reach of his enemies. Of course, they don't sprout from his back, per se, but from the abdomen of the mutant giant spider that has ''replaced his head''. The humanoid body just sorta ''hangs there,'' waving around limply, as it's pulled around by the spider legs.

** This is based in a story from the comics.

* One of the villains in ''[[The Secret Saturdays]]'' can transform into a humanoid spider with legs growing out of his back.

* [[Darkwing Duck]] once had a [[Monster Clown]] toy that features these, and they end in [[An Axe to Grind|rather large axes]] to boot. It was probably [[Nightmare Fuel|the creepiest thing]] [[Villainous Harlequin|Quackerjack]] ever made. The kicker? It was made by an [[Alternate Universe]] counterpart who was actually ''a good guy''.

** Darkwing Duck himself, in the episode "Aduckyphobia," received a radioactive spider bite that granted him two extra pairs of arms, though they seemed to have minds of their own (he got the hang of it when he learned they responded to verbal commands). The Spider-duck costume was pretty sweet.

* Nidhiki in ''[[Bionicle]] 2: Legends of Metru Nui'' has been mutated to have four arachnid legs.

* Airachnid in [[Transformers Prime]] has six legs sticking out her back, and she switches from bipedial to... uh, hexapedal at will. It's [[Wild Mass Guessing|theorized]] should she adopt an altmode, it'll be a helicopter.

** {{spoiler|Theory confirmed, its a helicopter.}}

 

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[[Category:Anatomy Arsenal]]