History Main / DreadfulDragonfly

** Riz the damselfly is a paranoid hick who believes anyone who passes near his village to be poachers who want to harm his family, and when Team Snakemouth encounters him, he attacks them without letting them explain themselves, initiating the boss fight. In battle, he's a very formidable opponent, capable of using the [[BladeOnAStick spear]] made of a pen nib that can ink party members, [[StatusEffects preventing them from using skills]], and can also use drill-bombs that strike after two-turn delay, hitting hard and also inflicting status effects, making him very hard to beat. However, he's not actually evil and only wants to protect his family, and when the team defeats him and assures they mean no harm, he [[DefeatMeansFriendship apologizes for attack and grants them passage to his village]].

** Riz the damselfly is a paranoid hick who believes anyone who passes near his village to be poachers who want to harm his family, and when Team Snakemouth encounters him, he attacks them without letting them explain themselves, initiating the boss fight. In battle, he's a very formidable opponent, capable of using the [[BladeOnAStick spear]] made of a pen nib that can ink party members, [[StandardStatusEffects preventing them from using skills]], and can also use drill-bombs that strike after two-turn delay, hitting hard and also inflicting status effects, making him very hard to beat. However, he's not actually evil and only wants to protect his family, and when the team defeats him and assures they mean no harm, he [[DefeatMeansFriendship apologizes for attack and grants them passage to his village]].

* Surprisingly averted with the meganeura and meganeuropsis in ''Fanfic/PrehistoricParkReimagined]]. While they ''are'' of the appropriate size of this trope, they only prove difficult to capture by virtue of being rather fast and difficult to properly catch by the rescue team rather than out of any sense of aggression or violence amongst them.

* In ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', giant dragonflies appeared as a new monster in module [=EX2=] ''The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror'' and later in the ''Monster Manual 2''. They are man-sized, have up to 64 HitPoints, and are very hard to hit in combat. They are known to attack human beings and can kill a normal human in a single combat round.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSteamEnginesOfOz'', the Tin Man's MechaMooks include giant mechanical dragonflies which he sends after the munchikin air force.

* In ''VideoGame/RugratsCastleCapers'', dragonflies serve as enemies in "Beanstalk Babies".

* ''VideoGame/{{Pikmin}}'': Subverted with the Nectarous Dandlefly in ''Pikmin 3'': while much bigger than the characters, these damselfly-like insects are completely harmless to the Pikmin, and carry precious nectar on their body segments.

* In ''Manga/LetterBee'', the Gaichuu take the form of insects and arachnids, and Cabernet, the one Reverse sends to devour the artificial sun, takes the form of a dragonfly. It's one of the largest and most powerful Gaichuu in the series, second only to [[spoiler:Spiritus, the one inside the sun]], and takes the protagonists' combined efforts to defeat. It's also one of the few Gaichuu that is able to fly.

* ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime2Echoes'' has Chykka, the boss of Torvus Bog, in its [[SequentialBoss second form]]. It simply rams you and [[FlunkyBoss spawns smaller versions of itself]] to attack.
* ''VideoGame/MegaManX6'' has a boss called Commander Yammark, a dragonfly Maverick.
* [[BigBad Alexia Ashford's]] final form in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilCodeVeronica'' resembles a dragonfly with a human face.

* ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'': Yanmamon, one of the lesser-known Digimon species, is a dragonfly the size of grown human.

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' has the Yanma line. While Yanma (introduced in ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'') is already fairly large at 3'11'', it's quite cute and not all that scary. Then ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'' gave it an evolution: the monstrous Yanmega. Not only does it have a very intimidating appearance, it stands at a whopping '''6'03''' in height/length, making it the biggest Bug-type Pokémon until [[CreepyCentipedes Scolipede]] stole the title. Even worse, the Pokédex states that it has powerful jaws that can bite foes and prey in half (and it is quite fond of doing this), and that it can create shockwaves with its wings. To top all of that, it is ''very'' fast. One wouldn't want to get on its bad side...

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' has the Yanma line. While Yanma, introduced in ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'', is already quite big with its 3'11, it's quite cute and not all that scary. Then ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'' gave it an evolution: the monstrous Yanmega. Not only does it have a very intimidating appearance, it stands at a whopping '''6'03''' in length, making it the biggest Bug-type Pokémon until [[CreepyCentipedes Scolipede]] stole the title. Even worse, the Pokédex states that it has powerful jaws that can bite foes and prey in half (and it is quite fond of doing this) and that it can create shockwaves with its wings. To top all of that, it is ''very'' fast. One wouldn't want to get on its bad side...

Dragonflies can fill the role to perfection. After all, they combine high-speed flight, toothed mandibles and gigantic, compound eyes, and this places them among the most formidable predators among the insects, being able to prey upon even small fishes. They are also quite big for insects and their younger life stages as just as deadly: dragonfly larvae are aquatic predators with extensible mandibles that burst out to capture prey, and habitually prey on tadpoles and other small vertebrates. As such, ''giant'' dragonflies would be an incredibly terrifying sight for hapless humans, who would have no hope of outrunning them and surviving their teeth.

* In the "Mickey and the Beanstalk" segment of ''WesternAnimation/FunAndFancyFree'', Mickey, Donald and Goofy make their way across the giant's moat when they see a swarm of giant dragonflies flying overhead. Donald teases them by making machine gun noises, and one of them attacks. They are saved when a giant fish eats the dragonfly.

* ''Film/GodzillaVsMegaguirus'' has the titular Megaguirus herself, the gigantic queen of the Meganulons, which are smaller (and first appeared in the movie ''Film/{{Rodan}}''), but still big by human standard versions of this trope.

* ''Literature/LoneWolf'', book 19 ''Wolf's Bane'': Upon being sent to the moon Avaros, Lone Wolf find himself in a tropical jungle of humongous flowers populated by giant insects. Among them are giant dragonflies; Lone Wolf can use one of the smallest as flying steed thanks to his Animal Control, only to be attacked during flight by a gigantic one.

* In ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', giant dragonflies appeared as a new monster in module [=EX2=] ''The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror'' and later in the ''Monster Manual 2''. They are man-sized, have up to 64 HitPoints, and are very hard to hit in combat. They are known to attack human beings, and can kill a normal human in a single combat round.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'': Giant dragonflies are a fairly rare type of swamp-dwelling giant insect that grow to be around the size of a horse. They're fast, agile and voracious hunters, and quite willing to hunt and eat humanoids as regular fare. Their nymphs also appear as statted monsters, but are, naturally, smaller and flightless, and thus less of a danger.

* Some species of dragonflies are rather big insects (although nowhere near the fictitious ones). The biggest one is the Giant Petaltail, which has a wingspan of 16 cm (over 6 inches). Thankfully, they are harmless to humans.
* Prehistoric dragonflies, from the ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meganeura Meganeura]]'' genus, were ''even bigger'', with some reaching a wingspan of 65 to 70 cm (up to 2'08). Try to imagine those monsters flying into your room... A bit of a borderline case, as ''Meganeura'' and its relatives (such as ''Meganeuropsis'', which is thought to have had a slightly ''larger'' wingspan overall) are not thought to have been true dragonflies, but rather a distinct -- and extinct -- group of insects dubbed "griffinflies", very large relatives of modern dragonflies and damselflies.
* In western culture, dragonflies are frequently cast in a negative light. Places like Britain, Portugal, and Sweden give them such nicknames as "eye-snatchers", "ear cutters", and "devil's darning needles", while some American old wives' tales say they stitch up injured venomous snakes, earning them the regional nickname "snake doctors".

* ''Film/GodzillaVsMegaguirus'' has the titular Megaguirus herself, the gigantic queen of the Meganulons, which are smaller, but still big by human standards versions of this trope.

* In the "Mickey and the Beanstalk" segment of ''Disney/FunAndFancyFree'', Mickey, Donald and Goofy make their way across the giant's moat when they see a swarm of giant dragonflies flying overhead. Donald teases them by making machine gun noises, and one of them attacks. They are saved when a giant fish eats the dragonfly.

* Among the new weapons introduced in ''VideoGame/Bayonetta2'' was Kafka, a giant, dragonfly-themed bow. It's summons are [[NamesToRunFromReallyFast Carnages]], giant dragonfly demons with particularly large maws. These are also summoned in the against Malicious in one of the most brutal Torture Attacks in the series during which the poor demon gets EatenAlive by the darners.

* ''WesternAnimation/Amphibia'' has giant dragonflies that can snatch up and take frogs away at any moment, never to be seen again. And those aren't even the biggest ones...

* In western culture, dragonflies are frequently cast in a negative light. Many cultures give them such pleasant nicknames like "eye-snatchers", "ear cutters", and "devil's darning needles". Some American old wives' tales even say they stitch up injured venomous snakes, earning them the regional nickname of "snake doctors".