History Main / CagedInsideAMonster

* ''Anime/PokemonJirachiWishmaker'' has the monstrous [[PhysicalGod Groudon]] [[CloningBlues clone]] that Butler ends up creating, which sucks up Pokémon and humans with slime tendrils and traps them inside bubbles in its body.

[[folder:Fanfiction]]
* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/16375/sharing-the-night Sharing the Night]]'', dragons are immortal beings who never stop growing, eventually becoming titanic things of living earth and rock, entering nearly eternal hibernations and becoming part of the landscape; [[ThatsNoMoon almost every part of Equestria is made up of unimaginably ancient dragons sleeping on top of and around each other]]. Tartarus, specifically, used to be a dragon by that name who decided to contain all evil beings in the world by swallowing them and imprisoning them within himself. By the time he entered his permanent, rocky hibernation, he had become a living, cavernous prison still holding an uncountable number of ancient horrors imprisoned in his gut, which had been transformed and partially "digested" to become a host of lesser monsters that still wriggle to freedom past his jaws every now and again.

[[folder:Film — Animation]]

* The COVERS of ''Anime/KillLaKill'' pull people inside them, trapping them and leaving only a small face visible.
* The sludge villain of ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' has trapped both Midoriya and Bakugo before attempting to enter and take control of their bodies, even using Bakugo as a HumanShield when confronted by heroes.
* The infamous ''Franchise/OnePiece'' movie ''Anime/BaronOmatsuriAndTheSecretIsland'' has [[spoiler: the EldritchAbomination Lily Carnation with the Straw Hat crew stuck inside it and being digested]].

* Killer Queen from ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable'' is revealed late in the part to [[spoiler: have a compartment in its stomach. It serves as a cat carrier for the [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot cat plant Stand]] Stray Cat, which can fire air bubbles that Killer Queen can [[HavingABlast turn into deadly invisible bombs]] with its first bomb.]]

* One of [[TheDragon Benares]] Juuma from ''Manga/SazanEyes'' is an insect-like creature with a voluminous bubble-shaped abdomen, which can be used to inglobate and seal enemies.
* [[MakingASplash Seaman]] from ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'' can create water monsters, which can imprison people within them. Later on, Itsuki can summon a bidimensional demon which can swallow others and keep them sealed inside a separate dimension.
* A kangaroo-type MonsterOfTheWeek named Kigurumiko appeared in ''[[Anime/SailorMoon Sailor Moon Super S]]'' that could trap someone else in her pouch, not only getting a strength boost from them but also forcing them to throw punches for her and making them feel any pain or injuries she felt. She trapped Artemis in this way and had the scouts on the ropes unable to fight back, but ended up throwing him from her pouch after he bit her, leaving herself wide-open for attack.
* Quiche created a {{Blob|Monster}} MonsterOfTheWeek from an amoeba to attack Masaya in one episode of ''Anime/TokyoMewMew'' that attacked by trapping people in its body and smothering them.

* ''ComicBook/GreenLantern'' introduces the ghoulish hag [[MeaningfulName Kryb]], member of the Sinestro Corps, whose favored method of instilling fear is to murder Green Lantern couples and kidnap their now orphaned newborns. She keeps the babies in a cage-like pouch on her back, and is able to secrete a mind-controlling liquid which she feeds them.
* The ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}''[=/=]''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'' crossover had a dough-like monster imprison the Hulk in its own body, though he later escaped.

* Creator/{{Disney}}'s ''WesternAnimation/AliceInWonderland''. While in the Tulgey Wood, Alice meets a "birdcage bird": a large bird with a birdcage as its trunk, a head and two legs. It has two small birds inside its body. When Alice bumps into it, the door on the birdcage opens and the two small birds escape. The birdcage bird runs after them and swallows them, returning them to the inside of the cage.

* In ''Literature/{{Pale}}'' A "High Abyssal" called "Cagerattler" shows up for the [[TournamentArc Carmine Contest]], they're a gigantic skeleton with a old man manacled within the chest cavity. The Skeleton is the manacled man's biological son transformed in his fall into the abyss where he met the father he'd betrayed. What makes them even more dangerous is that they can use chains to pull up {{bogeyman}} and similarly cursed items to fight.

* In ''[[Literature/MythAdventures Myth-ing Persons]]'', Aahz is imprisoned in a living tower with the head of a gargoyle. Designed to hold vampires, it swallows any who try to escape in corporeal form, and inhales any who try to escape in mist form.

* Many larger ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' figures had storage for smaller figures, some of which were identified as jail cells or prisons due to RuleOfCool:
** The original Fortress Maximus figure had a jail cell concealed in its left leg. Given Fortress Maximus was a [[GeniusLoci Cityformer]], that makes sense. This likely inspired his characterization in the IDW comics as warden of a prison.
** ''Anime/TransformersArmada'' Megatron has storage for Mini-Cons. What makes it likely to be a prison is the fact that Megatron also has a capture claw for Mini-Cons.
** From the same line, Unicron is filled with Mini-Con storage gimmicks. The animation makes it clear that the Mini-Cons are ''not'' in there by choice.

* In ''VideoGame/ArcTheLad'' obtaining Gogen requires fighting the Illusion Lord. The monster is a large blue genie-like creature holding Gogen trapped between its hands and using his magics on your party during the fight.

* In ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireII'' there is a boss with a figure listed as old man chained up to the side of it, killing the boss without killing the man allows you to rescue them.

* ''[[VideoGame/ExtrapowerStarResistance EXTRAPOWER Star Resistance]]'': The implication with the large organ-shaped enemies that populate the [[PhantomZone Ghost Gate]] that the players get pulled into partway through Stage 4. [[AllThereInTheManual The exploration report]] fears that if these large masses truly are organs as they appear to be, then the entire dimension must be an unfathomably massive creature.
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'', Adel, the first boss of the story's last fourth, imprisons [[spoiler:Rinoa]] on their chest at the beginning of the battle to periodically drain HP from as well use as a HumanShield. [[spoiler:Rinoa]] not only takes damage from Adel's HP drain, but can be deliberately targeted, will get caught in any AOE attack you launch, and can eventually die from all that, resulting in a NonstandardGameOver.
* The first major boss battle in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'' is against a giant plant monster currently holding Garnet trapped inside the cage formed by its own body. The battle is a ForcedTutorial that introduces the [[SuperMode Trance]] mechanic to the game.
* One of the boss battles in ''VideoGame/GirlsAndDungeon'' involves a mimic who captures one of your companions in its mouth, forcing you to use only single-target attacks for fear of hurting the companion.
* The Parasite Cage Heartless in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI'' is, aptly named, a large monster that spent one of the two battles with it keeping Pinocchio trapped behind its bar-like teeth.
* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', Maleficent summons a Heartless called "Prison Keeper" which has a cage as part of its body, and it holds [[WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas Lock, Shock, and Barrel]] in it until it has need of their abilities, in which case it swallows them.

* In each world of ''VideoGame/RaymanOrigins'', one of the five Bodacious Nymphs has been captured inside of a Darktoon, with the latter's teeth acting as jail bars. Rayman and friends then have to chase the Darktoon throughout the level and defeat it in order to free the Nymph and unlock a new ability that will aid them throughout the rest of the world.
** ''VideoGame/RaymanLegends'' sees the return of the Tricky Treasure levels as part of the Back to Origins bonus levels that were originally part of ''Rayman Origins'', in which Rayman has to chase living treasure chests in order to gain a Ruby Skull Tooth. In ''Legends'', the treasure boxes contain a captive Teensy Jester instead, making it this trope.
* Some ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' games have [[MooksAteMyEquipment Like Likes]] keep Link trapped inside of them until he manages to slash his way out. Leave it to a creature that looks like a slug-like pile of slimy pancakes to think swallowing a guy with a big honking sword and refusing to let him go is a good idea.

* In ''WesternAnimation/SweetSea'', Squidney uses his tentacles to form a cage around Sweet Sea and Sea Star to take them to Sheeba.

* In the season finale of ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'', after the monks (sans Raimundo who defected to the Heylin side) - and Jack Spicer, forming a momentary EnemyMine - failed their attempts to defeat Wuya, they're then imprisoned in the stomach-cages of Wuya's {{golem}}s. Wuya then orders them to be executed, and it turns out the golems can contract their stomach spaces to crush anything trapped within, but Raimundo pulls a HeelFaceTurn soon enough, reverting Wuya to a ghost and turning her golems to dust, freeing everyone.

* ''Anime/SmilePrettyCure'' Majorina conjours up an apple-shaped Akombe with a cage that it uses to trap Nao’s siblings.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': An odd case with the devourer from the ''Monstrous Compendium III'' for the ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}'' setting -- a towering, cadaverous undead monster with a shriveled, doll-like figure trapped inside of its ribcage -- the soul of one of its victims. While the victim is dead their soul can still be rescued. It continues to seek out new mortal victims to prey on, as each trapped soul's life force is drained.

[[folder:Animation]]
* In ''Animation/SweetSea'', Squidney uses his tentacles to form a cage around Sweet Sea and Sea Star to take them to Sheeba.
[[/folder]]

* ''ComicBook/GreenLantern'' introduces the ghoulish hag [[MeaningfulName Kryb]], member of the Sinestro Corps, whose favored method of instilling fear is to murder Green Lantern couples and [[AdultFear kidnap their now orphaned newborns]]. She keeps the babies in a cage-like pouch on her back, and is able to secrete a mind-controlling liquid which she feeds them.

* Late in ''[[VideoGame/{{Shantae}} Shantae: Half-Genie Hero]]'' you encounter Slimegals, [[CuteMonsterGirl deceptively cute]] {{Slime Girl}}s that engulf your character and deal constant damage until you manage to shake them off by ButtonMashing. They're largely harmless as they can easily be escaped from often before they even manage to deal damage, implying they're [[ObliviouslyEvil not actually intending to harm you]] since they appear to be [[AndCallHimGeorge just trying to hug you]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Inhumanoids}}'', the character D'Compose used his [[{{Pun}} ribcage]] as a prison.
** This is Gagoyle's main shtick - he can gobble his victims whole straight to his stomach, which is transparent. Then bystanders can watch as they are slowly dissolved by its acid. Thankfully, Gagoyle can vomit anyone out intact, sans their dignity.

* ''Anime/PokemonJirachiWishMaker'' has the monstrous [[PhysicalGod Groudon]] [[CloningBlues clone]] that Butler ends up creating, which sucks up Pokémon and humans with slime tendrils and traps them inside bubbles in its body.

* Killer Queen from ''Anime/JojosBizarreAdventure'': Diamond Is Unbreakable is revealed late in the part to [[spoiler: have a compartment in its stomach. It serves as a cat carrier for the [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot cat plant Stand]] Stray Cat, which can fire air bubbles that Killer Queen can [[HavingABlast turn into deadly invisible bombs]] with its first bomb.]]

* In ''Literature/{{Pale}}'' A "High Abyssal" called "Cagerattler" shows up for the [[TournamentArc
Carmine Contest]], they're a gigantic skeleton with a old man manacled within the chest cavity. The Skeleton is the manacled man's biological son transformed in his fall into the abyss where he met the father he'd betrayed. What makes them even more dangerous is that they can use chains to pull up {{bogeyman}} and similarly cursed items to fight.

* Some ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda'' games have [[MooksAteMyEquipment Like Likes]] keep Link trapped inside of them until he manages to slash his way out. Leave it to a creature that looks like a slug-like pile of slimy pancakes to think swallowing a guy with a big honking sword and refusing to let him go is a good idea.
* ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' has Gulpfers, large fish that inhale and eat X. They're a minor annoyance at best since X can escape by shooting, jumping, or dashing until they explode.

* In ''VideoGame/LegendOfDragoon'', the FinalBoss's second form can suck up a party member and keep them prisoner for a while inside it, before firing them back out to damage both them and whoever they were launched at.
** One Disc earlier had the Wendigo, which can capture a party member within its chest until its two Ice Crystal summons are killed. The party member will then be ejected, allowing the player to attack its heart for a quicker kill.

* The COVERS of ''Anime/KillLaKill'' pull people inside them trapping them leaving only a small face visible.

** The card "Lava Golem" from is this as you can see in the page image, saddling you with a 3000 point monster...that takes 1,000 life points away from you every turn. Anyone that has one in their deck will also likely have multiple cards that will keep you from being able to utilize it and do as much damage as possible, unless you can tribute it or otherwise get rid of it. In the anime, it's depicted as placing its "owner" in a cage that slowly fills with lava.
** Both "Relinquished" and "Thousand-Eyes Restrict" work like this as well, being able to equip an opponent's monster card to themselves to not only take their attack and defense for itself, but also use them as a shield which will also inflict battle damage on the trapped monster's owner if destroyed (Relinquished and Thousand-Eyes Restrict survive the attack). In the anime this is depicted as the creature absorbing the opponent's monster and trapping it in it's shell.

** ''Anime/TransformersArmada'' Megatron has storage for Mini-Cons. What makes it likely to be a prison is the fact that Megatron also has a capture claw for Minicons.
** From the same line, Unicron is filled with Minicon storage gimmicks. The animation makes it clear that the Minicons are ''not'' in there by choice.

* The card "Lava Golem" from ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'' is this as you can see in the page image, saddling you with a 3000 point monster...that takes 1,000 life points away from you every turn. Anyone that has one in their deck will also likely have multiple cards that will keep you from being able to utilize it and do as much damage as possible, unless you can tribute it or otherwise get rid of it. In the anime, it's depicted as placing its "owner" in a cage that slowly fills with lava.

* ''Anime/PokemonJirachiWishMaker'' has the monstrous Groudon that Butler ends up creating, which sucks up Pokémon and humans with slime tendrils and traps them inside bubbles in its body.

* The card "Lava Golem" from ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'' is this as you can see in the page image, saddling you with a 3000 point monster...that takes 1,000 life points away from you every turn. Anyone that has one in their deck will also likely have multiple cards that will keep you from being able to utilize it and do as much damage as possible, unless you can tribute it or otherwise get rid of it.