History Main / CustomBuiltHost

* In ''Toys/{{BIONICLE}}'', the Makuta are all EnergyBeings inhabiting PoweredArmor specially designed to hold their essence.

* One AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho audio drama features a body-snatching alien HiveQueen who wants to make these for her people by making the Doctor impregnate her human host, to start with, with plans to obtain additional parent stock later. Apparently humans are too fragile, but she thinks human-Time Lord hybrids will be able to take the strain for longer, saving them the trouble of having to switch hosts so often.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Invincible}}'' [[spoiler: Robot]] who is actually a 30 year old [[TheGrotesque Grotesque]] GeniusCripple convinces the Mauler Twins to make him a less horrible new body.
* In ''ComicBook/IronMan'' The Mandarin forces Tony Stark and Ezekiel Stane to build giant many tentacled bodies for the Alien intelligences that exist in the Mandarin's Rings.
** In a different Iron Man story, cultists use Extremis to genetically modify some women to be strong enough to contain the child of an EldritchAbomination. [[spoiler: It works.]]
* In the ''Franchise/RoboCop'' story "Mortal Coils," Murphy and his head technician go to Colorado chasing a lead, when she gets kidnapped by [[CorruptCorporateExecutive the local robber baron]] who wants to use her expertise in cybernetics to transfer his brain from his frail older body into a robotic body he had commissioned in the hopes of becoming eternal.

[[folder:Fanfiction]]

* ''Literature/TheMachineriesOfEmpire'': After centuries of {{Body Surf}}ing as a VirtualGhost, the ImmortalRuler Nirai Kujen succeeds in bioengineering a body he can inhabit indefinitely - a [[HumanOutsideAlienInside human-shaped]] [[LivingShip Voidmoth]] with CompleteImmortality. [[spoiler:He's destroyed for good before he can inhabit it.]]

* In ''Series/FirstWave'' the Gua started their covert infiltration of Earth by sending spheres containing their minds that would hijack any curious humans who picked them up, but they quickly started cloning HalfHumanHybrid bodies to use instead.

* In the ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}'' setting of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', the Chosen are a HumanSubspecies bred specifically to serve as {{Willing Channeler}}s for the [[EldritchAbomination quori nightmare spirits]]. They are taught that the quori are in fact benevolent spirits of their ancestors come to guide the world, but it doesn't actually matter what they believe; each Chosen is bred to be the perfect vessel for a specific quori, and the Chosen can't resist that quori's possession. Chosen who are possessed are known as "Inspired," and the longer the quori spends possessing them, the closer the vessel begins to resemble them in personality. This allows the quori to have perfectly loyal subordinates who they know will always act in their best interests, and who they can possess at any time.

* In ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' [[spoiler: Calixto Corrium]] was using the flesh of the women he murdered to make a new body to house his dead sister's soul.
* In ''VideoGame/StarCraftII'', [[BigBad Amon]] created the Hybrid to serve him, with one particularly huge body being his to use personally. [[spoiler: Fortunately, you are able to destroy it just after he is unleashed by [[OrbitalBombardment bombing the general area back to the stoneage.]]]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'': Mettaton is a performing robot built by Alphys, but is actually [[spoiler: a ghost-like monster, implied to be a cousin to Napstablook and Mad Dummy, possessing a mechanical body Alphys built for them so they could live out their dreams of being a star to monster-kind.]]
* In ''VideoGame/XCOM2'', the Avatar project is an attempt to comb through the DNA of [[HumanResources millions of captured humans]] in order to create the perfect host bodies for the now-dying [[BigBad Ethereals]].

* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'': At the climax of the Cadmus Arc, Lex Luthor building a nigh-invincible robotic body based on Amazo into which he plans to place his own mind. Turns out this wasn't exactly [[TheManBehindTheMan HIS plan to begin with...]]

Super-trope to BodyBackupDrive, in which the host body is simply a copy of the guest's original body. Inverse of TransformationOfThePossessed, in which the act of possession transform the host. LegoGenetics may be involved in its creation, especially if it's a MixAndMatchCritter, and it is very high on the ScaleOfScientificSins. HumanResources are often involved in the process.

Many beings, such as [[OurDemonsAreDifferent demons]], [[OurGhostsAreDifferent ghosts]], {{Eldritch Abomination}}s, and even some AIs need to [[DemonicPossession possess]] a host body in order to meaningfully interact with the world and accomplish their goals. Sometimes however, no adequate host exists. Maybe there's no one strong enough to [[PossessionBurnout survive the possession]], or no one with the right genetics or bloodline, or maybe the guest needs a type of body that just doesn't exist anywhere in nature in order to access their true powers. Heck, maybe they're just a showoff who would rather inhabit a {{Kaiju}} than a mere human, but for whatever reason, they can't just possess someone.

Super-trope to BodyBackupDrive, in which the host body is simply a copy of the guest's original body. Inverse of TransformationOfThePossessed, in which the act of possession transform the host. LegoGenetics may be involved in its creation, especially if its a MixAndMatchCritter, and it is very high on the ScaleOfScientificSins. HumanResources are often involved in the process.

Super-trope to BodyBackupDrive, in which the host body is simply a copy of the guest's original body. Inverse of TransformationOfThePossessed, in which the act of possession transform the host. LegoGenetics may be involved in it's creation, especially if its a MixAndMatchCritter, and it is very high on the ScaleOfScientificSins. HumanResources are often involved in the process.

* In the ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}'' setting of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', the Inspired are a HumanSubspecies bred specifically to serve as {{Willing Channeler}}s for the [[EldritchAbomination quori nightmare spirits]].

* ''TabletopGame/TranshumanSpace'': {{Artifical Intelligence}}s and BrainUpload “ghosts” can and sometimes do switch between “cybershell” bodies; they are software, and computer hardware in the setting is sufficiently standardised. Most occupy standard off-the-shelf cybershells, but a wealthy AI or ghost, or one with a very specialized job, may well have a custom shell. At the very least, human-like "cyberdolls" often have bespoke appearance, and ghosts often occupy “bioshells” based on clones of their old human bodies.

* In ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'', the Iskoort are a symbiotic species made up of the [[PuppeteerParasite Yoort]] and the [[EmptyShell Isk]], which were genetically engineered as hosts for the Yoort.

* ''TabletopGame/TranshumanSpace'': {{AI}}s and BrainUpload “ghosts” can and sometimes do switch between “cybershell” bodies; they are software, and computer hardware in the setting is sufficiently standardised. Most occupy standard off-the-shelf cybershells, but a wealthy AI or ghost, or one with a very specialized job, may well have a custom shell. At the very least, human-like "cyberdolls" often have bespoke appearance, and ghosts often occupy “bioshells” based on clones of their old human bodies.

Many beings, such as [[OurDemonsAreDifferent demons]], [[OurGhostsAreDifferent ghosts]], {{Eldritch Abomination}}s, and even some AIs need to [[DemonicPossession possess]] a host body in order to meaningfully interact with the world and accomplish their goals. Sometimes however, no adequate host exists. Maybe there's no one strong enough to survive the possession, or no one with the right genetics or bloodline, or maybe the guest needs a type of body that just doesn't exist anywhere in nature in order to access their true powers. Heck, maybe they're just a showoff who would rather inhabit a {{Kaiju}} than a mere human, but for whatever reason, they can't just possess someone.

* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'': The first season finale features Lex Luthor building a nigh-invincible robotic body based on Amazo into which he plans to place his own mind. Turns out this wasn't exactly [[ManBehindTheMan HIS plan to begin with...]]

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': Angels require a vessel to be able to walk the earth, as their [[AngelicAbomination true forms are to eldritch]], but not all humans are capable of acting as a vessel for them (with unsuitable one's literally exploding upon attempting it). As such Angels have long practiced using Cherubs to ensure certain bloodlines continue or combine, so that they have more hosts. [[spoiler: One specifically brought John and Mary together, to ensure Sam and Dean were born to act as Michael and Lucifer's one true hosts]].

* In ''VideoGame/XCOM2'', the Avatar project is an attempt to comb through the DNA of millions of captured humans in order to create the perfect host bodies for the now-dying [[BigBad Ethereals]].

* Series/{{Supernatural}}: Angels require a vessel to be able to walk the earth, as their [[AngelicAbomination true forms are to eldritch]], but not all humans are capable of acting as a vessel for them (with unsuitable one's literally exploding upon attempting it). As such Angels have long practiced using Cherubs to ensure certain bloodlines continue or combine, so that they have more hosts. [[spoiler: One specifically brought John and Mary together, to ensure Sam and Dean were born to act as Michael and Lucifer's one true hosts]].

* In ''VideoGame/StarCraftII'', [[BigBad Amon]] created the Hybrid to serve him, with one particularly huge body being his to use personally. [[spoiler: Fortunately, you are able to destroy it just after he is unleashed by [[OrbitalBombardment bombing the general area back to the stoneage.]]

* In ''VideoGame/StarCraftII'', [[BigBad Amon]] created the Hybrid to serve him, with one particularly huge body being his to use personally. [[spoiler: Fortunately, you are able to destroy it just before he is unleashed]]