"That's why I couldn't find the weapon inside the building; the weapon was the building!"
—Sam, Sunset Overdrive
The Evil Tower of Ominousness. The dark fortress where the villain plots to Take Over the World. The symbol of his evil. The very representation of his dark power (and maybe even its source). Inside are passages that are impossible for the heroes to navigate, dreary dungeons that house unfortunate prisoners, and the occasional beast underground or in the moat that serves the villain.
What could be the best way to make an evil lair even more dangerous?
Simple: have the base transform. And not just into an armored fortress with the deadliest weapons imagined. No. It becomes an actual beast, be it through magically brought to life, becoming a Humongous Mecha with the villain in the cockpit, or it could be an inert creature whose body the villain was using as his base of operations until he resurrected it.
Unlike Base on Wheels and Ominous Floating Castle, where the base moves on treads or flies, this is where the villain's lair takes the form of a creature, having arms, legs, and a head. The forms it can take can vary: an Animalistic Abomination, an Eldritch Abomination, a Mechanical Abomination; anything that fits under Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever.
The reasons for the villain pulling this strategy can also vary. It could be part of their master plan, using the immense power of a living base to obliterate his enemies. It could be the result of the villain being backed into a corner and crossing the Godzilla Threshold in order to win. It could be part of a Last Villain Stand, the villain determined to eliminate the heroes even if he has to destroy the world with such a deadly weapon. Heck, the base coming to life might not even be part of the villain's plan. He didn't even know the base could do that and it happened purely by accident or outside forces.
To make things interesting, the heroes could be pulling a Storming the Castle when the transformation occurs, forcing them to brace themselves as everything shifts around, followed by a Race Against Time to bring the behemoth down from within before it reaches an innocent town, and then into a unique Collapsing Lair situation as they hurry to escape before the creature completely falls apart.
Compare Living Structure Monster for when the lair is already alive, though the two can overlap if the creature is immobile and the villain is trying to resolve that. Genius Loci and Eldritch Location also qualify if it eventually becomes an Elemental Embodiment. Destroying the beast would naturally count as Trash the Set. Sapient Ship doesn't count unless it's a Transforming Mecha. Can lead into a Behemoth Battle if the heroes decide to use their own giant to counter it. Can overlap with That's No Moon when the heroes realize that the villain's mountain fortress doesn't just look like a giant creature for show.
See also Sealed Evil in a Can, Taken for Granite, and Evil Takes a Nap for the aforementioned ancient monster that the villain revives/releases, Superweapon Surprise if the base is a Mechanical Monster that survived the end of an Advanced Ancient Acropolis (and possibly was what destroyed it), or Giant Corpse World for when the creature is dead and the villain plans to bring it back to life. If the monstrosity mirrors the villain's movements from the cockpit, that makes it a Motion-Capture Mecha. For villainous transport crafts that serve as monsters, see Living Ship and Eldritch Starship.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- In the climax of Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040, Galatea turns her fortress in the Genom Tower into a giant replica of her own body.
- Doraemon: Nobita and the Robot Kingdom: As Doraemon, Jeanne and their allies - humans and robots included - approach Dester's fortress in the finale, Dester reveals his fortress to be built on a giant mecha, where it sprouts spider-like legs and attempts trampling over everyone, forcing the heroes to retreat until Nobita finds a way to counterattack (by using Doraemon's Anything Controller to revive one of the city's giant robot statues and returning to back up his friends).
- Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai:
- Vearn's base for the first half of the series, Kiganjo ("Demon Crag Castle", official translation "Sovereign Rock Castle"), is a craggy mass of rock shaped like his horned head and shoulders (at least their silhouette while he sits on his throne with his full appearance obscured behind a veil). After some of his subordinates who defected to the heroes attempt to return to the castle to attack him, they find it has mysteriously vanished, finding only giant footprints... It's later confirmed that the Kiganjo previously seen was only the top portion of a colossal humanoid Golem, when Vearn's lieutenant Myst-Vearn and his troops use it as an Awesome Personnel Carrier to attack a meeting of human leaders. During this time the outer surface of its head and chest are damaged, revealing more conventional castle architecture underneath (complete with rows of cannons).
- In the Final Battle, Vearn undergoes an Emergency Transformation into the colossal Kigan-Oh ("Demon Eye King", official translation "Sovereign Supreme"), forever surrendering his magical abilities in order to grow a massive body of fleshlike stone around himself resembling a leaner version of the Kiganjo. Vearn explains that even though he hated the idea of losing his magic he still craved the raw power of this form, and that the Kiganjo was crafted in its image as his way of indulging himself.
- Kill la Kill: Episode 25 reveals that the entire Honnōji Academy is a giant machine serving as Satsuki's final defense against REVOC. It was, but since Ragyo hijacked the entire school, they weren't able to use it. And now, Rei Hōōmaru, Ragyo's secretary, hijacked it in order to avenge Ragyo.
- Sengoku Youko: Near the end of the first arc, it's revealed that the mountain the HQ for the Dangaishu (the antagonists of the arc) was built on was actually the true form of the Nature Spirit Taizan, and near the climax Taizan grows into a more monstrous form to fight, with the HQ resting on top of his mountain body. Too bad for Taizan that his older sister, Ooyama Mitsuchi-hime, was summoned right next to him, and promptly knocked him on his ass with a single kick.
- Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: When Team Dai Gurren manages to get past the defences of Teppelin, a face appears on the city's colossal central tower, revealing it to be Lordgenome's Space Gunmen "Dekabutsu" - a Humongous Mecha that eclipses even the heroes' biggest robot at that point.
- Transformers: ★Headmasters: For much of the series, the Decepticons really don't have a counter to Fortress Maximus, who transforms from the battleship Maximus into a gigantic robot that towers even above the combiners. However, after Scorponok succeeds Galvatron as Decepticon leader following the latter's disappearance during the destruction of Cybertron, he has a gigantic spaceship in the shape of a gigantic robot scorpion built. He later gives the Autobots an unpleasant surprise, as he reveals that the scorpion is not only a spaceship and mobile base, but also a colossal Transtector note he can Head On with to transform into a gigantic robot mode that can match Fortress Maximus in stature.
- Transformers: Robots in Disguise: The Predacon's ship/HQ (named Megastar in the English dub) resembles a colossal torso and arms - one ending in a hand, and the other in a pincer. Late in the series, Galvatron displays the ability to transform into his hand mode, grow in size and dock with the ship in place of its pincer arm, allowing him to control it in battle.
Comic Books
- Metamorpho: The Element Man (2024): In issue #4, "The HQ That Walked Like a Man!", Simon Stagg is revealed to have programmed his headquarters to evacuate itself in the presence of danger. Thus, the whole Stagg Enterprises building is able to simply walk away to protect itself.
- Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW): The climax of the Urban Warfare arc has Eggman's home base, Eggperial City, and its central tower attacked by Sonic and his friends. The city's primary power source is also removed of its limiters by Tails. With the city destroyed by the giant artificial Chaos Emerald crystals Eggman created, Eggman is forced to move to Plan B, the tower transforming into a Humongous Mecha armed with laser cannons and mobile legs. It however proves to be a far less big of a threat—being a huge target, having sluggish mobility, and relatively light armament—compared to Eggman's other trump cards in the arc, like his Ray Gun and Shadow Androids; once deprived of those, the doctor loses the advantage, and the tower is destroyed by Sonic and his friends teaming up.
- The Transformers (Marvel): Heroic example. In a UK-only story, the Quintessons launch a surprise attack on Autobot City as part of a multi-pronged plot to take Cybertron for themselves. They manage to take the city, disabling the Autobot garrison and successfully luring Autobot leader Rodimus Prime to Earth so as to seize the Creation Matrix. Despite losing the Matrix, Rodimus Prime (now in his smaller and weaker Hot Rod form) confronts the Quintesson General and unveils a surprise: he activates the living core of Autobot City and introduces the titanic Autobot Metroplex. Metroplex proceeds to completely wipe out the entire Quintesson armada while Hot Rod reclaims the Matrix and becomes Rodimus Prime again. As far as Rodimus is concerned, it is a Pyrrhic Victory: while the Quintessons have been dealt with, Metroplex emerging has left Autobot City itself a gutted ruin.
Literature
- Discworld: In the novel, The Light Fantastic, the central characters are taken prisoner by a group of adventurers who retreat to a cavern hideout, ostensibly to defend against Trolls who roam by night. The problem is, the cavern only happens to be the mouth of a super-giant troll. Who is fast asleep until the villains light a fire on his tongue. Hilarity Ensues.
Live-Action TV
- In Power Rangers S.P.D. this is inverted and played straight:
- The Rangers' home base, the Delta Base, transforms into the Delta Command Megazord, the personal Megazord of the Shadow Ranger. Nearly three times the size of the other Megazords in the series, it’s capable of annihilating nearly anything the Troobian Empire throws at it.
- Emperor Grumm's season-long plot of plundering various resources from Earth was to gather the materials needed to transform his ship into the Magnificence, a giganticnote robotic body for his master, Omni.
- In Super Sentai, this occurs several times:
- In the endgame of Denji Sentai Megaranger, after the Megaranger ruin his ambitious Hinelar City plan, Hinelar dedicates the remainder of the series to getting revenge on the heroes and begins working on a secret project to that end, with his Sanity Slippage Villainous Breakdown getting worse with the destruction of his beloved subordinates Yugande and Shibolenanote . The final episode then reveals he had been working on converting the Nezirejia's flying fortress, Death Neziro, into a powerful mecha called Grand Neziro.
- In Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger, part of the Evolians' goal alongside reviving their God of Evil Dezumozorlya was to create an appropriate body for him. Thanks to the Abarangers, all attempts to get a vessel for the entity are thwarted, all its subordinates end up either defecting, getting defeated, or destroyed, and even half itself is lost along with Mikoto. In a desperate move, the final two episodes see Dezumozorlya transforming the Evolian base itself into its final form to completely destroy Another Earth. What's more, Asuka and Ranru have to pull a Storming the Castle in order to save Mohoro who is trapped inside it.
- Narrowly averted in Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters where the Go-Busters learn living virus Messiah is attempting to transform the Vaglass base (the Abandoned Laboratory he had taken over 12 years ago) into a physical body so that he may assimilate the Earth, requiring the heroes to destroy it, even at the cost of their families who had been absorbed by him.
- In Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger, the Deboss Castle is actually the inert form of Deboss himself after he had been defeated by Torin and the Zyudenryu in prehistoric times, with the objective of the Deboss Army throughout the series to gather enough emotional energy to revive him.
Mythology and Folklore
- Baba Yaga in Russian fairy tales is said to own a house that moves on chicken legs and walks by its own in the forest.
Toys
- Transformers:
- The original toy commercial for Metroplex and the Combaticons has the latter investigate the new Autobot mobile battle station. They combine into Bruticus to attack, but are compelled to flee when Metroplex transforms into his robot mode. In terms of height, Bruticus is barely the size of his pinky finger.
- The toy commercial for the Technobots and Scorponok similarly has the former investigate the new Decepticon mobile fortress Scorponok. Scorponok tries to hurl boulders at the team, leading them to combine into Computron. In response, Scorponok transforms into his robot mode, leading the combiner to beat a hasty retreat.
Video Games
- Dragon Quest VIII: A literal example happens near the end of the game. After seemingly defeating the Final Boss at the end of the Black Citadel, the citadel starts to collapse and the player must escape while facing off against a variety of lategame minibosses. The final challenge, and the final opponent before the villain's final form is a castle-like monster called "Ruin." Though at first it appears to just be a Living Structure Monster, it's bestiary entry proves it to be this trope:
Ruin: The ruin of the Black Citadel itself, risen to defend its master Rhapthorne from the Hero and the party!
- In the Evil Con Carne online game Battle Forts, the Destructo attack is one of the strongest and most expensive attacks to purchase, costing 30 gold. When you use it, a giant robot with a "D" on its chest rises up from beneath the sea wearing your island fortress as a hat, pounds Estroy's base with his fist several times, and goes back under the water. Estroy can also use this attack, the only difference being that his robot has an "E" on its chest.
- Final Fantasy XIV:
- The Alexander raid series begins with the Illuminati summoning the primal Alexander into the abandoned ruins of a Sharlayan mobile fortress project. This transforms the building into a Time Master Physical God that is Bigger on the Inside, with the story focusing on the heroes' efforts to traverse the primal's massive interior and shut it down from the inside before it drains the land dry of aether.
- In the last arc of the Pandæmonium raid series, the Big Bad transforms the titular research facility into a living, spider-like creature to attack the Warrior of Light. This creature, also referred to as Pandæmonium sees its creator as its mother and fights in their name while promising to keep the Warrior in "special cells" not unlike the ones used to contain the mythic creations it once trapped within.
- Kingdom Hearts I: After initially defeating Oogie Boogie, Sora and company find themselves facing the bag of bugs a second time after he fuses with his massive tower of a house.
- Metal Slug (2006): There's a stage set in an unnamed Germanic town where you raid one of General Morden's bases, resembling a European Castle. Reaching the entrance, the game suddenly reveals that the castle has been modified by Morden's much smarter subordinate, Oguma and transforms into a giant mech, turning into the stage's boss.
- At the end of Sunset Overdrive, the FizzCo HQ building becomes a giant mechanical monstrosity with the voice of company mascot Fizzie determined to wipe out the city.
- Super Mario Bros. Wonder: At the beginning of the game, Bowser ends up fusing with his flying clown pod and Prince Florian’s castle after stealing a wonder flower, transforming into a massive, living, flying fortress and spreading mayhem and misery across the kingdom.
- Transformers (2004): One level has your Autobot of choice infiltrating a huge aircraft carrier being used as a base by the Decepticons. But after going through it, the aircraft carrier transforms, revealing it to be a disguised Tidal Wave, who then must be fought as the level's boss.
- Transformers: Fall of Cybertron:
- Has a heroic example in Metroplex, previously known as Autobot City, who awakens in response to Optimus Prime's plea for aid after the Decepticons overrun the city and put The Ark under threat. Metroplex's overwhelming size and firepower turn the battle around, and the Decepticons retreat after he smashes Megatron like a tin can. Unfortunately, the huge amount of fuel he uses stops the Ark from lifting off, and he ultimately gives it back up so the Autobots can escape Cybertron, even though it means his own death.
- Inverted by Trypticon, who was rendered comatose by injuries sustained in the previous game. When Megatron captures his gigantic remains from the Autobots, he has Trypticon forcibly and permanently transformed into a new flagship for the Decepticons in order to pursue the Ark and plunder other worlds for fuel.
- Transformers: War for Cybertron: The penultimate level for the Autobot campaign involves the Aerialbots Silverbolt, Jetfire, and Air Raid infiltrating Trypticon Station, which was the setting for the very first level in the Decepticon campaign (which chronologically happens before the Autobot campaign). The space station has since been converted into a Kill Sat by the Decepticons, and in an attempt to disable it the Aerialbots attack the transformation mechanism inside the station, hoping to force it to revert to station mode. Instead, they learn to their shock that Trypticon Station is now alive and very angry, converting into the dinosaur-like Trypticon. Trypticon now falls towards the Autobot capital of Iacon, where he takes up the role of Final Boss of the game.
- The Wonderful 101: The final mission is an assault on the GEATH-Waksay, the gigantic space fortress of the GEATHJERK Federation, in order to kill Supreme Overlord Jergingha. It turns out that Jergingha is the GEATH-Waksay, and after destroying his supercomputer brain, the fortress explodes... or, more accurately, sheds its defensive outer shell to reveal Jergingha's battle mode, a 200-kilometer tall Humongous Mecha.
- Exaggerated by the ending of Xenoblade Chronicles 3. While you've probably gotten used to Ferronises (giant vehicles or Humongous Mecha) doubling as buildings for most of the game, the ending reveals that pretty much every major non-abandoned structure in Aionios is a Ferronis of some kind, including Origin, the City, and both nations' Castles (which served as dungeons earlier in the game even though they're both being used by the good guys at this point). Naturally, the final battle with Z concurs with a Behemoth Battle between Origin and everyone else.
Web Videos
- Critical Role: Campaign One: When Vecna ascends to godhood and invades the Material Plane, he brings his stronghold city Thar Amphala with him, now situated atop a mountain-sized undead Earth Titan.
Western Animation
- In the first season of Cubix: Robots for Everyone, Dr. K's base of operations was an abandoned advertising structure. In the season finale, it's revealed that his reason for collecting Solex was to use it to transform the base into his ultimate creationnote :a giant robot known as the Kulminator.
- Gravity Falls: Inverted by the Grand Finale in that it's the good guys utilizing it: With Bill's Weirdmageddon in full swing, the Mystery Shack serves as the base of operations for the resistance because it's protected by Ford's anti-Bill forcefield which blocks his powers from affecting it. To take the battle to Bill, the resistance transforms the Mystery Shack into the Shacktron, a Humongous Mecha complete with all the weirdness stored inside it being used for its arms, hands, legs, feet, and tail — giving it the appearance of a half-junkyard-mecha, half-mix-and-match of mythical-creatures monstrosity, complete with roaring tail and hand.
- In He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2002) the (unintended) finale sees King Hsss transform Snake Mountain into the three-headed snake god Serpos out from under Skeletor, much to the latter's fury.
- Played with in the finale of The Owl House. Upon learning from the Collector that Titans are immune to their magic, Belos merges with the Titan's heart, effectively possessing the Boiling Isles themselves, allowing him to spread his Meat Moss across the landscape while creating a Draconic Abomination form for himself so he could personally purge the isles of witches.
- Steven Universe: In "Change Your Mind", White Diamond's Citadel (shaped like her head and torso) is revealed to actually be a starship, which combines with Yellow, Blue and Pink Diamond's ships (the arms and lower body/legs respectively) to form a giant mech. The Crystal Gems must fuse into the gigantic Obsidian and climb up it to reach White Diamond herself inside the head.
- The Transformers:
- In "The Five Faces Of Darkness", the Decepticons quietly infiltrate a human city, turning it into the gigantic kaiju-like Decepticon named Trypticon. Trypticon easily destroys the Autobot HQ and makes his way towards Autobot City. However, the Autobots are able to repair the living core of Autobot City, which is revealed to be the equally gargantuan Metroplex. It's even mentioned that Metroplex had actually been present during the Battle of Autobot City, but his transformation cog was damaged during the battle, so he was unable to transform to join the fight, instead forced to rely on his fortress mode's weapons.
- In the Grand Finale "The Rebirth", the Autobots and their allies on Nebulos are taken by surprise when they discover that the villainous Hive have taken their main fortress base and given it life, transforming into the titanic Decepticon Scorpnok. The villains make their way to Cybertron aboard Scorponok's scorpion mode. However, the Autobots are able to similarly use Nebulos' advanced technology to rebuild several buildings into the similarly massive Fortress Maximus, pursuing the Decepticons in Fort Max's starship mode. On Cybertron proper, they both transform into their gigantic robot modes for a showdown.
