History Main / ElementalVariation

* EarthyTortoise

Sistertrope to NinjaPirateZombieRobot and MixAndMatchCritters. See also RobotMe (robot versions) and SpaceX (space versions). Compare and contrast ElementalEmbodiment. For entities entirely made out of an element, see AnimateInanimateMatter. See also IndexOfFictionalCreatures and OurMonstersAreDifferent.

** One of the most common variants gives flaming attacks to the basic unit. These include Dazh's Hearth-Blades (Tzar-Guard), the Bandits of the Silver Road (Cathayan Peasant Archers), the Fireborn (Dragon Princes), the Warriors of Dragonfire Pass (Dwarf Warriors), the Gallows Giant (Necrofex Colossus), the Blazing Beards of Bazherak (Chaos Dwarf Warriors), the Clan Vulkn Tailslashers (Clanrats), the Knights of Immolation (Doom Knights of Tzeentch), the Heralds of Khorne's Fury (Bloodcrushers of Khorne), and the Knights of the Brazen Throne (Skullcrushers of Khorne).

** The Wraiths of the Frozen Heart, the Chill of Sontar and the Snowhorn of Mourn are variants of the Dryads, War Hydra and Snowhorn with an icy aura and, in the Chill of Sontar's case, a freezing BreathWeapon instead of a fiery one. One of Imrik's unique dragons, Lamoureux the Frozen Breath, is likewise an ice dragon reskin of the normally fire-breathing Moon Dragons.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'': The game makes extensive use of its FireIceLightning elemental triad to expand enemy variety. As a result, multiple enemy families exist consisting of a basic variant plus three types capable of either breathing out or shooting their associated element or permanently shrouded in it, ranging all the way from the extremely common and weak Keese and Chuchus to the mighty draconic Gleeoks in the sequel. ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriorsAgeOfCalamity'' kepts all enemies from BOTW and added elemental variations for Moblins and Lynels.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': Sky Bison are air-themed bison, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin obviously]]. The other elemental animals are far more intuitive (Dragons - Fire, [[MixAndMatchCritter Badgermoles]] - Earth, Koi Fish - Water).

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'': The game makes extensive use of its FireIceLightning elemental triad to expand enemy variety. As a result, multiple enemy families exist consisting of a basic variant plus three types capable of either breathing out or shooting their associated element or permanently shrouded in it, ranging all the way from the extremely common and weak Keese and Chuchus to the mighty draconic Gleeoks in the sequel.

[[folder: Web Originals]]

** ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'': The Lion Turtles came in 4 elemental variations. While the fire one seems generic, the water turtle is semi-aquatic, the earth turtle exists submerged in sand, and the air turtle floats in the sky.
* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'': During The "Elements" miniseries, the land of Ooo gets mass infected with the 4 elements of Fire, Candy, Ice, and Slime. This transforms every character into a variation of one of those elements.

!!Example:

The "base" here could be a real world object or animal, or something that exists within the narrative. This is an ''extremely'' popular technique to design fresh {{Mons}} and create UndergroundMonkey enemies. Just take a real life object and, *boom* make it elemental.

Sometimes This is justified in-universe, such as when "elements" are treated as a form of energy that corrupts and transmute things that are exposed to them. The object in question may also have some sort of AdaptiveAbility that allows it to mirror the surrounding enviromental conditions. FisherKingdom / FlintstoneTheming can also enable this when entering an ElementalPlane.

There are some standard ways to visualize the impact of an element. Fire themed objects will become WreathedInFlames or have VolcanicVeins, Earthen equivalents will have moss growing on them or floral themeing. When translating Air and Water into a design, avian/aquatic features tend to be [[MixAndMatchCritters mixed in]] due to those animals dominating association with the elements. Expect quite a lot of ColourCodedForYourConvenience.

%%* ''Water'': Mermaid tails or aquatic animal themeing.

* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'': Each of the mana colors has various animals that are infused with or represent the color identity. Dinosaurs and spiders tend to be in the nature-based Green mana, birds tend to be in Blue or White, and poisonous creatures tend to go to Black. This is downplayed however, as while each mana color has elemental flavoring, it doesn't always carry over into every creatures designs.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'': First Edition has various templates that can be applied to monster statblocks to turn them into elementally charged versions of the normal creature, for example the [[https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/templates/acid-creature-cr-2/ Acid]] or [[https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/templates/cold-creature-cr-2/ Cold]] templates.

[[folder:Video Game]]
* ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'': Exposure to elemental forces transmutes the creatures in Tevat into different forms. In Sumuru this extends to the wildlife, where regular animals are given various aggressive Elemental variations due to contaminations. This including an Electric Scorpion, a Fire Vulture, and a Grass Saber Tooth tiger, among others.

*** Generation IX's Paldea region introduces several Paldean Tauros variants[[note]]Fighting-type Combat Breed, Fighting/Fire-type Blaze Breed and Fighting/Water type Aqua Breed[[/note]] as well as Paldean Wooper[[note]]from Water/Ground to Poison/Ground, and also has Clodsire as an evolution[[/note]].

** ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'': The Lion Turtles came in 4 elemental variations. While the fire one seems generic, the water turtle lives is semi-aquatic, the earth turtle exists submerged in sand, and the air turtle floats in the sky.

* ''WesternAnimation/Ben10'': In "Dr. Animo and the Mutant Ray" Dr.Animo creates a fire-bat by combining a bat with [[LivingLava HeatBlast's]] DNA.

* ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitchTheSeries'': While many of Stitches cousins have elemental powers, Sparky in particular is essentially just an electric-version of Stitch, complete with extremely similar physiology. This is due to him being the first cousin introduced, and the series wanting to emphasize a familial connection between them.

[[folder: Web Originals]]
* The UsefulNotes/MozillaFirefox logo is, naturally, a Fire Fox.
* ''Website/{{Neopets}}'':
** Pets and petpets alike can be given a variety of elemental or element-based colors, such as ice, magma, water, electric, and woodland. While some of this is simply aesthetic, there are cases that imply certain colors have certain unique needs, such as fire pets preferring warm environments.
** Some items riff on the colors by ''also'' having elemental variants, some of which are literal. There are school supplies made of fire or ice, for instance, often paired with flavor-text to joke about the difficult use of such objects. This also happens with things such as clothing, furniture, and toys.
[[/folder]]

* ''VideoGame/MegamanZero'': In ''VideoGame/MegamanZero1'', the first boss, the Golem, was a NonElemental unit. Come ''VideoGame/MegamanZero2'', the Golem has since been given three elemental variants, one for each element. These are: the Golem Type E, which fire FreakinLaserBeams, the Golem Type F, which has a FireBreathingWeapon, and the Golem Type I, which is armed with a freeze-generator.