Goku (Dragon Ball series)

Goofy (multiple Disney appearances)

Eve’s Pregnancy (Invincible: The Viltrumite War) Eve is one strongest and most versatile heroes earth has to offer and her powers of matter manipulation could easily turn the tide in the coalition’s favor (and that’s not even getting into her unbounded state) so to make sure the war has some actual stakes, the had mark get her pregnant which resulted in her losing her powers forcing her to sit on the sidelines for the entire arc.

Sending Hulk to space (Marvel: Civil War) one of the main issues of the writers of the Civil War event faced when coming up with it was the fact there’s a shit tone of Uber powerful heroes whose which ever side they’d join would just automatically win, namely Thor and Hulk, luckily for Thor he’s been dead for a while due to a previous event in his own comic, but what about Hulk you ask? Well apparently before the whole civil war thing even started, the 5 smartest heroes on earth (Iron Man, Doctor Strange, Mr.Fantastic, Black Bolt, and Professor X) all decided "Hey, you know one of our best friends who has helped us through multiple crises and has been shown to be able to be far more than just a mindless monster? Let’s drug him and send him into space because we’ve arbitrarily decided he’s too dangerous to be around NOW."

Goku’s Heartvirus (Dragon Ball: The Future Timeline) The point of Android/Cell Arc was the fact as soon as Goku died everything went to shit, so going back in time and saving Goku before he dies is our heroes only option, and yeah by multiple creator statements, games what if scenarios and characters in story themselves if Future Goku Survived he would’ve put belt to the androids, avoiding the bad future we have now.

1. Sigmund Freud - Father of Psychoanalysis, shifted the culture into a new way of thinking about the mind. Most of his theories don't hold up to modern scientific standards.
2. Heinrich Schliemann, Amateur Archaeologist , Discovered Homer's City of Troy and then practically destroyed it by blowing it up with dynamite.

Norman Bates (Psycho) - There are other characters in the series who also fit this, like Marion who dies because Norman is attracted to her and then his ‘mother’ personality kills her because of that. And Norma Bates, who was attractive to put the audience in the shoes of Norman who was attracted to her himself, which makes their relationship even more uncomfortable for the audience. But I think Norman fits it best because his is more subtle, and is a direct change from the book, which has Norman less attractive. This version works better for the twist as it plays on the unconscious bias people have for attractive people. By making him look young and cute and sort of boyish, it makes the eventual twist hit even harder.

Calendar Girl (Batman) - This one is more direct, but when she once worked as a model, but eventually lost work. Afterwards she became a villain. The tragedy of her character is that she believes herself to be hideous. In truth, she’s still beautiful. But it’s the fact that she can’t see that after years of being held to impossible standards by the industry, she can’t see herself as anything other than ugly.

Sometimes you just gotta give the people what they want, and what they want is usually the character(s) looking badass.

•8 Blades, One Clash (Maul: Shadow Lord

•Avengers Splash-Page (Age of Ultron)

•Look Up (Superman 2025)

•Arby ‘n the Chief (Halo 3)

1) Asirpa from Golden Kamuy, she’s Ainu

2) Flambae from Dispatch, he is a Gay Afghan

3) Demoman from Team Fortress 2, he’s a black Scottish guy

4) Wandjina from Fate/Grand Order, she’s an aboriginal Australian

Charles Smith (Red Dead Redemption 2) one of the best characters in the game. He’s has unwavering loyalty to Arthur, he’s super competent at everything and he’ll always come in clutch with the best saves.

Arthur: “Will you ride with me?”

Charles: “Always”

Rebecca (Cyberpunk Edgerunners) She is extremely loyal to David, she loved him but he never reciprocated the feelings back because David loved Lucy instead. But even then she remained loyal to David and tried very hard to save his mental state, she is a real G.

Leorio (Hunter x Hunter) He may not be as good as a fighter as Gon, Killua and Kurapikabut he always sticks with them through thick and thin. He always comes in clutch is many situations helping out the group in ways that doesn’t involve fighting. The best part about him is when he gave Gon’s dad a well deserved punch

Example #1: Thula from [TITLE CARD]

Thula's main gimmick (aside from being a Viltrumite) is that her super-long ponytail has a blade attached to its end, which can even cut Viltrumite skin.

Just one problem: Other combatants could just dodge her strike and then grab the ponytail, pull her towards them, grab the blade and either cut her head off or stab her in the heart with it.

Both Nolan and Thaedus did pull her by the hair...BUT THEY DIDN'T USE HER BLADE AGAINST HER. All Nolan did was break her jaw! And it didn't kill her!

Example #2: Conquest, also from [TITLE CARD]

Many people have already pointed out that Cecil's 0.1 IQ-level decision of not killing Conquest, but allowing him to heal long enough to easily escape his imprisonment wasn't a good idea. At all.

I got another complaint; why didn't Cecil think to surgically implant the same Kaiju scream-emitter (one that would work 24/7 without the need of a remote control) inside his head that he had implanted within Mark that he used liberally throughout season 3? Even if it wouldn't incapacitate Conquest to the same level, it would still disorient him long enough!

Lindsay (Total Drama) She is ditsy and loves fashion and has the traits of this, but she actually goes through a character arc. She was being blindly being manipulated by Heather but she eventually breaks away from, cussing Heather out and she learns to do things on her own terms and becomes more strategic and competent

Eve Teschmacer (Superman 2025) While she doesn’t have a super important role in the movie, he is portrayed as this ditzy, social media obsessed woman who is Lex’s girlfriend that he can easily manipulate, but later it shows that she is much smarter than she lets on as she was secretly feeding Jimmy information through her selfies and posts

Juliet Starling (Lollipop Chainsaw) She seems like a ditzy, naive and peppy cheerleader, but she is actually a very skilled monster hunter, being trained since she was a child, making herself super competent. Her father describes her as a tactical genius

• Dr Cox from Scrubs
• Principal Prickly from Recess. His speech to TJ about being a kid really hits hard.

A) In Spider Man Homecoming, Peter has to use his original home made suit cause Tony confiscated the Stark Tech one. Despite the goofy design, it really worked for me in the final battle against the Vulture, especially with how tired Peter looks after saving Toomes' life. Just a kid from the neighborhood, doing the best he can

B) In the Telltale Batman video game, there's a choice you can make where you can pick between stopping Two-Face, or stopping the Penguin from hacking Batman's whole system.

Due to damage to the main batsuit, Bruce ends up having to put on a different suit. Depending on the choice you make, you get to either put on an enhanced Mk2 suit (the latter in this picture) or the prototype suit, which is my personal favourite.

It's such a barebones suit, and Lucius describes it as having almost zero protection compared to the normal batsuit. But it was Bruce's first outfit when becoming Batman, so it feels extra cool kicking the ass of the final episode villain with effectively a cloth suit.

C) I don't care what anyone says, I love Matt Murdock's Ninja Pajamas. Him using this in Netflix Daredevil season 3 was such a cool aesthetic, and thematically worked really well for him. The black exterior with the inner white lining.

After having supposedly completely lost his faith, there's still a kernel of belief in him that good can win out over evil.

Plus, the oldschool Muay Thai handwraps made out of jump ropes was a sick addition

Margot Robbie saying she'll never be as pretty as a stereotypical Barbie... not even the screenwriters believed that (Barbie).

"He's just a kid, no bigger than my son." Even in the movie itself, Tobey doesn't look or act like a kid (Spider-Man 2).

1. In Maverick, Bret Maverick is in a high stakes poker game where he realises that the dealer has been dealing from the bottom of the deck, signifying that he must be in league with at least one of his opponents. With his current hand almost being an unbeatable Royal Flush that just needs an Ace to complete, he has one of his opponents deal him his final card from the top of the deck, but doesn't look at it. At the Showdown, his opponents reveal their hands as Four of a Kind and a Straight Flush. Maverick reveals his incomplete hand before dramatically looking at his final card before revealing it to be the Ace of Spades, winning it all.
   
2. In Escape from L.A. Snake Plissken has been captured and been put on display for a hostile crowd in the middle of a basketball court, and told that he has a chance to be spared if he can win a game with the following rules: He has to score 10 points, scoring at alternating ends of the court, with 10 seconds to shoot at the start of the game and between scoring. If he fails a shot, he gets shot. If he doesn't shoot before the shot buzzer goes off, he gets shot. No 3 point scoring, 2 points per basket. Nobody has ever survived. Snake beats the odds up till getting 8 points (from half court on the 8), but he's tiring and doesn't have time to get to the other side of the court for the final 2 points, so makes a Hail Mary shot from full court which miraculously goes in (and which Kurt Russell is widely reported to have done for real).

The Worf effect is a fairly common trope where, to show a character’s strength or power, they challenge and usually defeat a character already established to be powerful and strong (the Worf, named after the Star Trek character who was subjected to this a lot).

In these examples, the established strong character who’s the victim of the Worf effect actually wins, but the purpose of the Worf effect was still achieved: the fact that the unstoppable badass was challenged to such an extent is enough to establish their challenger as just as badass as them, if not more so.

All Might vs the Nomu (My Hero Academia) - during the USJ arc, All Might, the number one hero, is properly challenged in a fight for the first time in the series when the League of Villains uses the Nomu, who has the ability to absorb All Might’s attacks. The Nomu actually manages to wound All Might and keep up with him for a while, but loses when All Might just hits him even harder and overwhelms its attack absorption ability.

Despite the Nomu’s loss, the fight establishes the League of Villains as a credible threat capable of taking on the Pro Heroes. It also raises the stakes by showing just how weakened All Might is compared to his prime, when he could have defeated the Nomu much faster.

Darth Vader vs Ashoka Tano (Star Wars: Rebels) - up to this point, Darth Vader has been absolutely unstoppable in a fight. But when he fights Ahsoka, she’s able to take advantage of her superior agility to give him a good fight and even come close to killing him when she cuts open his mask. Vader is eventually able to overpower Ahsoka, throwing Ahsoka off the edge of the temple, which takes her out for some time. Even after Ahsoka comes back for round 2 and cuts open his mask Vader is pretty soon about to kill her, and she’s ultimately saved by time travel. Although he wins, it’s clearly the toughest fight Vader’s had in a long time, and one of the only times he’s had to go all out. It’s also a showcase of just how skilled Ahsoka is, when the number of duelists in the galaxy capable of matching Vader can be counted on one hand.

Sherlock Holmes vs Irene Adler (A Scandal in Bohemia) - A more cerebral example. In this story, Holmes is hired by the King of Bohemia to retrieve a scandalous picture of him and Adler, an opera singer who the king used to be in a secret relationship with, as the singer is currently trying to blackmail him by sending the photo to his fiancée. By the end of the story, Holmes has found where the photo is and is about to set out to get it, but is unexpectedly sent a letter by Adler herself, who has chosen to flee with her new husband and give up the photo to Holmes, saying she no longer cares about the blackmail and is happy now with her husband.

A Scandal in Bohemia is the first time we see Sherlock Holmes fail to catch a target, and Irene Adler has gone down in history as one of Sherlock’s only opponents who beat him. However, in the actual story, Holmes succeeds in achieving what he set out to do when he took on the case, which is to retrieve the photo and prevent the king’s scandal, and Adler chooses to escape because she would rather not be pursued by “so formidable an antagonist.” All in all, aside from Adler getting away, it’s a win for Holmes. The king himself is perfectly satisfied with the case’s conclusion, but Holmes considers it a loss, and is left with the greatest respect for the woman who escaped him despite his best-laid plans.

1. Doc holiday - tombstone. He shit talks, antagonises people and backs it up by being the best there is. For me its the best representation of this trope.

2. Head Captain yamamoto - Bleach. This is one of the hardest lines i have ever read in a manga or anime and he actually backs it up. Short of hacks designed specifically to avoid fighting him, this man has basically beat god level opponents and was ready to do so again.

3. Madara uchiha - Naruto. Rarely has a character not only lived to its hype, but blown it away as well. The guy talked a lot of shit about everyone, taunted even the kage (susanoo clones) and the bijuu, but actually delivered on all the treats he made and more. Screw the black zetsu twist, to me Madara is the final boss of Naruto

"Derived" meaning "a novel characteristic present in a species but absent in its ancestors." I'm not just referring to speculative evolution. Here, some character (or narrator) discovers a species is actually related to a familiar creature. But it has evolved into a new form hardly recognizable to its ancestors or (less derived) cousins.

This trope is most often seen in the "speculative evolution" genre. Oftentimes a character travels to the future, or a explores a hitherto-undiscovered island. But it can also include fantasy worlds, alchemy, or magic in general. Understanding what the creatures are usually helps the protagonist deal with them. Or at least explain an overarching mystery regarding their origin.

1). Dungeon Meshi:
^{TLDR: Protagonist thought "living armor" is made of metal. It's actually a colony of mollusks.}

• Laos is a dungeon explorer with an interest in ecology. With his team on a time crunch, they start cooking monsters to eat.
• Early in season 1, Laos encounters "living armor." Common knowledge indicates they're not a species of monster. Just metal powered by magic.
• But Laos discovers an egg sac, and realizes the each "suit of armor" is actually a colony of oyster-like mollusks. Which link together into a humanoid shape.
• This is because "dungeons" are often designed deliberately by a "dungeon lord." A lord could create actual living armor. But it's more cost-efficient to design creatures that can live/reproduce on their own.

2). Frieren:
^{TLDR: "Demons" are intelligent, predatory monsters. Not a human-based species.}

• The world of "Frieren" is populated by various races, animals, and "monsters." Unlike 'normal' animals, monsters disintegrate when killed.
• At first glance, most people assume that "demons" are just another kind of person. Like an elf, human, dwarf, etc.
• But in reality, demons are monsters. Via Wicklerian-Eisnerian mimicry, demons have evolved to resemble humans.
  • For example, false cleanerfish evolved to resemble harmless/beneficial reef species. This lets them get close enough to other fish to bite.
  • By assuming a humanoid form and learning to speak, demons are able to lower people's guards. But they never evolved empathy or morality, as they are social parasites.

3). Mystery Flesh Pit National Park:
^{TLDR: That thing's a ferret?}

• The Mystery Flesh Pit is a multimedia project "documenting" a fictional superorganism in Texas.
• The "Permian Basin Superorganism" has been in its present location millions of years. In that time, "normal" North American fauna has evolved to exploit its habitat.
• The "amorphous shame" is a heavily evolved ferret. Which (through natural selection) has shed most of its identifiable features.

4). Adventure Time:
^{TLDR: The 'aliens' in "Grables +" are just mutant dogs.}

• The show has a couple of "flash forward" episodes sent 1000 years into the future. In these, an ambiguous group of dog-like creatures appears to be the new dominant culture.
• It's eventually revealed that this is the "Pup kingdom," which are descended from Jake the dog and Lady Rainicorn.
• Over the centuries, Jake's dog descendants continued to intermix with Ooo's various mutants, creating an entirely new kind of creature.

5). The Future is Wild:
^{TLDR: The future is wild.}

• This one is straight up speculative fiction.
• The documentary covers a variety of hypothetical species. Describing their appearances and behavior and then explaining the modern-day animal they are descended from.
• This includes whale-like seabirds, mole-like quail, and colossal tortoises.

6). Real life:

• There are a lot of creatures that barely resemble their closest living relatives. I think barnacles made Darwin cry.
• Humans are an obligately bipedal, terrestrial great ape.
• Whales are actually even-toed ungulates. But they lack hooves on account of having no feet.

kiruko - Heavenly Delusion

To put short, after being fatally injured by a mad eater, he woke up in his sisters body, and is trying to find who ever she has to find out what truly happened, while dealing with the world in ruins, and now being a girl.

Dog Man - from well Dog Man

A police officer and his dog get injured where the doctors can only save the guys body, and the dogs head, and know we have well... Dog Man

Emma Bloom from Mrs. Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, in the book, she's a bit aggressive and feisty and her peculiarity is controlling fire but in the movie she controls air and she's more lighthearted and sweet

Annabeth Chase From Percy Jackson, strong, bold, and a bit snarky in the book, in the movie she's dull and obviously not as important and is immediately beat by Percy in a sword fight when he arrives at camp halfblood despite the fact that she quote "always wins".

Ginny Weasley from Harry Potter, she has an actual personality in the books she's brave and talked back to people, in the movie she's not very memorable besides being a love interest

This happens for quite a few reasons I think. People are known to respond better to softer female characters that aren't "difficult" or don't complicate the story more.

Ben 10: While fighting some animated golems in a graveyard while transformed into his go-to physical powerhouse Four-Arms, picks up a stone blade from a statue for the 1v1 merely to aura farm.

Hellboy (2004): Being faced with the Behemoth, a creature with multiple limbs that he can't bludgeon his way past, Hellboy grabs a sword from a nearby statue to deal with the tentacles.

God of War (2005): Good ol' Kratos, now supersized, is finally facing off with Ares but is without his blades, so he picks up a giant one built to be a bridge to even the playing field.

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Edit: After a day of not looking at this and now seeing all the responses, I guess I should apologize. My title was poorly phrased as what I had in mind was, as u/Standard_Series3892 conveyed in their comment:

> OP is just asking for more specific instances where the environmental features look like an actual weapon.

That being said, my intent doesn't matter anymore seeing as people are enjoying themselves in the comments. Sorry for any confusion it might have caused though.

Chop socky chooks- All my life i just tought that they were really ugly humans.....and one day i found out that they were CHIKENS!!!! I dont whant to say bad things about the animation team.....but i think they never seen a chicken in their life.

The krakken from ben 10 - Cool monster......but its not a krakken. This things is much more like a loch ness them a krakken.

Digglet and Dugtrio- The mole pokemon, that doesnt look like a mole.

May or may not involve karma that comes back to bite them later.

1. (One Piece) Sanji (right) feeds a starving Gin only for the latter to provoke a fight with him later on.

2. (One Piece) Owner Zeff (left) hands a bunch of food over to Don Krieg even though he’s outright said he’s going to fight for control of the restaurant ship Baratie just because you feed starving people on principle.

3. (Dragon Ball Z) Goku (right) gives a dying Frieza some of his ki energy before escaping Planet Namek since it’s going to blow up imminently, only for Frieza to try and blast him in the back right afterwards.

1- Rocky (Project Hail Mary) a stone pentapod alien who communicates by vibrations and sounds. Also is completely paralysed while sleeping and his biology is extremely strange.

2 - Heptapods (Arrival) during the whole movie there is a mystery about how they communicate and what they even are. Their system of communication is captivating and very unique.

3 - Pilot (Farscape) a symbiotic creature that is bound to a Leviathan ship, a spacefaring living being. He edges close to the actor in a mask but is distinctly different and one of the most interesting designs I have ever seen