Line #22 Main/SelfConstructedBeing


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7	->'''Bratty:''' Mettaton always acts like...\
8	'''Catty:''' ...Being built was HIS idea somehow.
9	-->-- ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}''
10
11	Having a corporeal form is pretty nifty. [[MundaneMadeAwesome You can do stuff like walk and talk]]. Sometimes, however, you run into a problem: you have no body worth noting. Perhaps you're a robot who's been reduced to a HeartDrive, a ghost who has to [[DemonicPossession possess]] someone, or an alien who [[GoodThingYouCanHeal luckily]] can regenerate FromASingleCell.
12
13	This is the trope you need if you have to construct your own body before the nifty stuff you plan to do can be done. If you're a villain you can try to TakeOverTheWorld; if you're a hero you can try to [[SaveTheWorld save it]], and if you are anybody else you get [[ConsolationPrize another chance to visit]] Website/TVTropes.
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15	Unless the person bringing themselves back to life is also able to conjure up extra clothes to go with it, they very well might be NakedOnRevival.
16
17	Compare and Contrast CloneByConversion, EnemyWithout, and {{Tulpa}}.
18	----
19	!!Examples:
20
21	[[foldercontrol]]
22
23	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
24	* The Godhand from ''Manga/{{Berserk}}''. Since they are not part of the physical plane and therefore have no physical bodies, they have to manifest through some material in order to make a presence in the physical world. But every 1000 years, they have the opportunity to reincarnate themselves into the physical world with a corporeal body. [[spoiler:Femto does this at the very end of the Conviction arc, being reincarnated as Griffith again, but with the full powers of his Godhand form at his command.]]
25	* ''Franchise/DragonBall'':
26	** Cell from ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' starts out with a powerful body, but is programmed to "perfect" it by absorbing Androids 17 and 18. He then becomes a case of FromASingleCell; he regrows his own head halfway through his fight with Goku and survives self-destructing thanks to a tiny scrap of him remaining (which surprises even him).
27	** Baby from ''Anime/DragonBallGT'' is an even better example, being originally created as a mutant Tsufuru-jin weapon to get revenge against the Saiyans. However, he needed to create Dr. Myuu and various other machine mutants in order to eventually build himself a body that could take advantage of his potential.
28	* An early MonsterOfTheWeek in ''Manga/{{Inuyasha}}'' is a mask that wants a body. The bad news: it causes its wearer to decay rapidly (as in, ''from human to crude oil in seconds''). Needless to say, it soon sees our hero in action and decides "''There's'' a body that's tough enough."
29	* ''Anime/MonsterRancher'' had the first two seasons where Moo is trying to dig his body out of the ice while, conversely, the Heroes search for the Phoenix.
30	* Talpa has to (re)build his body during ''Anime/RoninWarriors''.
31	* Kirakishou from ''Manga/RozenMaiden'' was created as a disembodied spirit, unlike her sisters, and in order to gain a body, she manipulated a version of Jun Sakurada from an alternate timeline into building one for her.
32	* This was the origin of [[BigBad Father]] in ''Anime/FullMetalAlchemist''. He started out as just a ball of darkness with eyes and a mouth that was kept inside a piece of glassware it couldn't survive outside of, but conspired to make the leaders of Xerxes create a National Transmutation Circle would would convert the souls of every human in the kingdom (and the portion of Hohenheim's blood he was made from) into a body with the properties of a Philosopher's Stone that would allow him to act under his own power.
33	[[/folder]]
34
35	[[folder:Comic Books]]
36	* In ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'', after Dr. Osterman is disintegrated, he spends some time slowly learning how to use his new powers to reconstruct a physical body to inhabit. {{Downplayed\|Trope}} in that [[TheDisembodied he doesn't actually need a body]]; it's purely for the convenience of other human beings. [[spoiler:If you destroy it completely, he can just make a new one. Since he already figured out how, he can do it almost instantly now.]]
37	* In ''ComicBook/XMen'', Cassandra Nova appears to be Professor Xavier's EvilTwin. [[spoiler:She's actually his SuperpoweredEvilSide that escaped before his birth and built itself a new body.]]
38	[[/folder]]
39
40	[[folder:Fan Works]]
41	* ''Fanfic/DungeonKeeperAmi'': Ami develops a spell to make ice {{golem}}s that she controls, and she can use her [[DemonicPossession possession]] powers on them.
42	[[/folder]]
43
44	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
45	* In ''Film/Hardware1990'', a WetwareCPU skull has a bit more life than previously imagined.
46	* ''Film/{{Hellraiser}}'': Frank Cotton built his body from a single drop of blood (and a few bystanders).
47	* In ''Film/KamenRiderZO'', Doras is initially seen as a small sphere who absorbs various metal objects around him in order to take on his monster form.
48	* ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'':
49	** In ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'', Ultron uses a heavily damaged body of the Iron legion as his first physical form. After a short fight with the titular heroes, his body is destroyed, and he sends his programming to a lab in Sokovia where he creates a proper body to take down the Avengers. [[spoiler:He tries to create an even more perfect body later, which instead gets stolen by the Avengers and used to create Vision instead... who [[HoistByHisOwnPetard is the reason they're able to defeat him]].]]
50	** Ego from ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'' originated as a BrainMonster floating in space and then spent millions of years constructing his planet body.
51	* The {{novelization}} of ''Film/{{Solo}}'' says that L3 used to be a generic [=R2D2=]-style astromech droid until her owner forgot to replace her RestrainingBolt after cleaning her sensors. She used his workshop to build a bipedal body then increased her memory to hold star charts and download all known cases of droid freedom legal cases.
52	* ''Film/{{Virus}}'': An alien energy being uses machine and [[HumanResources human parts]] to construct bodies for itself.
53	* ''Film/{{Watchmen}}'': As in the original comic, Dr. Manhattan rebuilds his body from elementary particles following getting trapped in an Intrinsic Field Subtractor... [[spoiler:twice]].
54	[[/folder]]
55
56	[[folder:Literature]]
57	* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
58	** In the in-universe dwarven myths, the creator Tak wrote himself before he could write the world and the laws.
59	** The [[EldritchAbomination Things from the Dungeon Dimensions]] are implicitly this. Nothing but an empty void on the inside, they attempt to construct bodies from what they observe of Discworld. Unfortunately their inexperience shows, as they don't always emulate living beings with their new bodies, and even then the features derived from living things don't always take after the freshly dead.
60	** In ''Literature/ThiefOfTime'', the Auditors of Reality create human bodies to act as their agents, which they need to inhabit themselves to get them to do anything, so they end up making themselves corporeal while doing this. Unfortunately, TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody, and they find themselves subject to hunger, cold, and other unpleasant experiences even though their control over molecules means they should theoretically not even need to breathe. They also dissolve into non-corporeality if they lose concentration because of a strong sensory experience -- it's possible to "kill" one by giving it a chocolate.
61	* In ''Einstein's Bridge'', The Hive have taken over several worlds by making tiny robots by light through tiny wormholes that build into new Hive on that world.
62	* The MythArc of the first four ''Literature/HarryPotter'' books covers Voldemort's various attempts to take a physical form, and ultimately rebuild his own body, culminating in his [[WhamEpisode confrontation with Harry]] in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire Goblet of Fire]]''. Subsequent books cover his ascent to power.
63	* ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'': The monkey king started as a rock.
64	* In the ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'' series, the good guys are trying to stop Kronos from rebuilding his body (which was torn to pieces long ago) and returning to the world.
65	* While they start out with living forms, the elves and gods (Vala and Maia) of ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' must construct new bodies for themselves before they can interact with the world when their old ones are destroyed. Gandalf, Glorfindel, and Sauron (until he lost the ring) are notable examples of characters who resurrect themselves in this way.
66	* In the ''Franchise/StarTrekExpandedUniverse'' book of fan-submitted short stories ''Strange New Worlds V'', [[spoiler:Commander Riker]] falls victim to a seed of [[spoiler:Armus, which has been growing inside him for years and tries to pull a GrandTheftMe]].
67	[[/folder]]
68
69	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
70	* The Master in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' story "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime The End of Time]]".
71	* Savitar in ''Series/TheFlash2014'' is this due to a StableTimeLoop. It turns out that at some point in the future, the Flash creates 'time remnants' of himself to pull a MesACrowd against Savitar. Savitar kills all but one, who is able to survive and help Barry seal Savitar away in the Speed Force. That time remnant, out of jealousy for not being treated like the "real" Barry by his friends afterward, goes dark side, and becomes none other than Savitar, who would eventually end up traveling through time, becoming the enemy he was ''created to defeat!''
72	* In ''Series/KamenRiderDouble'', the T-Rex Dopant is a head with legs until pulling in all manner of objects to form into a massive dinosaur.
73	* Brainiac's sentinels in ''Series/{{Krypton}}'' arrive via interstellar distances in an egg-like DropPod to evaluate a planet for collection with PuppeteerParasite and FlunkyBoss strategies, even regenerating FromASingleCell to call Brainiac himself like a HiveDrone.
74	* In ''Series/{{Lexx}}'', His Divine Shadow [[spoiler:was the essence of the last Insect. His body surfed through different human hosts to establish the Divine Order, all the while feeding and nurturing his dormant original body. At the end of the first season, he feeds the entire population of his empire to his original Insect body and reunites with it so he can wipe out what's left of humanity in the Light Universe. The fully healed and rested Insect is so powerful that even the Lexx's planet-destroying weapon can't hurt it]].
75	* ''Franchise/PowerRangers'':
76	** ''Series/PowerRangersLightspeedRescue'': Though gaining a new body isn't her ''main'' goal, when Queen Bansheera is brought into this world, her body is incomplete because the ceremony is interrupted. She spends much of the series as a face in a barely mobile chunk of rock until she [[spoiler:absorbs one of her generals to complete her transformation (just ''one'' of many BadBoss moves that would lead to Diabolico's [[HeelFaceTurn defection]])]].
77	** ''Series/PowerRangersSPD'': The ManBehindTheMan is a giant brain using the guys we're led to think are the main bad guys in order to build a HumongousMecha body.
78	* In ''Series/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles'', the heroes discover that Skynet has been sending Terminators back in time [[StableTimeLoop to ensure Skynet's creation]].
79	[[/folder]]
80
81	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
82	* ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'': A proto-Great Old One named Ghadamon spends the ''Dreamlands'' adventure "Pickman's Student" slowly taking over the body of a human being so he can enter the waking world.
83	* In ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'', TheFairFolk -- eldritch maelstroms of passions from outside reality -- must take an Assumption to enter Creation, lest they will be [[AndIMustScream Calcified]]. Such forms tend to be dramatic to the extreme: an indescribably beautiful lady, a towering man-beast monstrosity, or an artist whose performances moves hearts (and steals souls).
84	* Urza Planeswalker, the old [[BlackAndGreyMorality morally gray]] BigGood of ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'', was destroyed utterly by the blast of the [[https://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=1007 Golgothian Sylex]]. Because trauma can cause a latent [[PhysicalGod planeswalker]] spark to ignite, his spark ignited as he was atomized. This newly godlike disembodied intelligence proceeded to build a replacement body, atom by atom.
85	** Phyrexia, the [[TheCorruption corrupting,]] infectious villians are able to do this on a societal scale. After Phyrexia's total annihilation by the Legacy Weapon, a New Phyrexian civilization sprang up on Mirrodin by compleating random Mirrans, all from a few drops of oil left accidentally by Karn.
86	* [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Demons]] in ''TabletopGame/MonteCooksWorldOfDarkness'' assemble bodies from inert materials when first arriving on Earth, though it doesn't show unless they're killed or projecting their minds: they're [[VoluntaryShapeshifting shapeshifters]] whose [[ShapeshifterDefaultForm default forms]] are walking {{Brown Note}}s animated by eldritch energy.
87	[[/folder]]
88
89	[[folder:Toys]]
90	* In ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' mythology, Primus and Unicron made themselves planet-sized robotic bodies in order to better fight each other.
91	[[/folder]]
92
93	[[folder:Video Games]]
94	* ''VideoGame/Destiny2'':
95	** The Nine are revealed to be made of dark matter that chanced to be pulled into nine galaxy-spanning loops by the gravity of our solar system's eight planets and sun. Being twisted into loops made them sapient, and the microscopic gravitational perturbations caused by people traveling around a ColonizedSolarSystem allowed them to form complex thoughts. Naturally, they're very interested in protecting human life to protect their own existence, or in finding a way to remove that dependency.
96	** The [[SentientCosmicForce gardener and the winnower]] are said to have come into existence [[PlaceBeforeTime before the beginning of time]] simply because their existence was a mathematical inevitability, like prime numbers.
97	** Likewise, the Vex, a sort of UltimateLifeForm destined to [[TheVirus consume the universe]], arose in the PlaceBeforeTime because it was inevitable that a universe-consuming ultimate life form would arise. Given random chance and cosmological time, ''something'' will eventually stumble its way into the unbeatable, winning play.
98	** The Witness, the BigBad and true form of the winnower, was created when a primordial alien species performed a MergerOfSouls into a single godlike entity in order to pursue their goal of bringing order to a meaningless cosmos.
99	* ''VideoGame/GhostTrick'': [[spoiler:When [[BigBad Commander Sith]] betrays [[DemonicPossession Yomiel]] and leaves his spirit in a sinking submarine with Sissel, Missile, Lynne and Camilla, with his [[EmptyShell corpse he previously used as a vessel]] located elsewhere, the Manipulator constructs a body resembling his own out of random pieces of junk lying around to talk to the cast.]]
100	* ''VideoGame/MegaManX'':
101	** [[BigBad Dr. Doppler]] of ''VideoGame/MegaManX3'' is revealed to [[spoiler:have been corrupted by Sigma, who is now a computer virus, and being forced to build a new body for it to inhabit]].
102	** In ''VideoGame/MegaManX6'', Zero (who ended X5 missing in action, and was last seen [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe missing both legs, one of his arms, and half of his torso]]) explains his disappearance and resurrection with "I hid myself to try to repair myself". [[spoiler:He later admits to Dr Light that [[SubvertedTrope he actually has no idea how it happened]].]]
103	* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'': As mentioned in the page quote, Mettaton is supposedly a robot built by Alphys, but he seems to have his own personality and even [[spoiler:turns against Alphys' plan to stop you from leaving the Underground]]. You can find enough clues to reveal that [[spoiler:he is not actually an artificial being, but a ghost monster possessing a robot, and that Alphys helped him become famous with his TinCanRobot body, and later built his EX body at his request]].
104	* ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink'': The baddies are planning to resurrect Ganon... using you as a sacrifice.
105	** By the time of ''VideoGame/BreathOfTheWild'', the Calamity Ganon is scarcely more than a spirit/computer virus. Its "body" is messily cobbled together from Guardian parts and pure Malice.
106	[[/folder]]
107
108	[[folder:Webcomics]]
109	* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'': Magus, an exile from an AlternateUniverse to the main universe's [[TrappedOnTheAstralPlane spirit plane]], has a multi-step plan for re-embodiment. First, he uses his limited ability to interact with the material world to manipulate his AlternateSelf (Elliott) into creating an OppositeSexClone with HandBlast powers (Ellen). Second, he needs Ellen to zap Elliott [[spoiler:because he can then possess him by interposing himself in the beam]], in which despite his EmotionControl powers he is continually frustrated. The third step of Magus's plan is to [[spoiler:use the same artifact that created Ellen to split off a new body for himself]], but he doesn't get that far [[spoiler:until he recruits Sirleck to possess Ellen and perform the necessary zap. He completes step three the very same night]].
110	* ''Webcomic/KidRadd'': [[spoiler:[[BigBad The Seer]] wanted to build a body in the real world so he could survive the destruction of the Internet and go on to [[OmnicidalManiac destroy everything in the universe]]. He was defeated before this could happen.]]
111	* In ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', [[BigBad Xykon]], being a {{lich}} has the ability to regenerate from his [[SoulJar phylactery]] if his body is destroyed (which it is, at the end of the first arc). It takes a while, though.
112	* In ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'', Petey is this to the evil [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Ob'enn]]. He went from a backup copy of the AI of a destroyed ship to being the [[DeusEstMachina nigh-omnipotent Fleetmind]].
113	[[/folder]]
114
115	[[folder:Western Animation]]
116	* Vilgax spends most of the first season of ''WesternAnimation/Ben10'' in a tank regenerating.
117	* Shendu has to (re)build his body during ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures''.
118	* Gems from ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'', as the name implies, are sapient gemstones. What appears to be their body (and clothing) is just a [[HardLight magical projection]] that has their stone embedded within. If the body is damaged sufficiently, it completely breaks down but leaves the gemstone, which creates a new body as soon as it can (and there will be small cosmetic differences, one of the only ways for them to change their outfits!).
119	* ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'': The entity Karkull possesses a random thief, then ''transforms'' the Daily Planet building, and had his mook "children" possess Daily Planet employees in one episode.
120	* The ''WesternAnimation/SWATKats'' episode "Unlikely Alloys" has a tiny repair robot balloon up to Very HumongousMecha size after assimilating a lot of technology, then its creator.
121	* ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987'': Krang is obsessed with getting his robot body working.
122	* Megatron spends the first season of ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'' as a head attempting to build a new body. He eventually recovers the damaged but still intact original and fully repairs himself using the stolen Allspark Key.
123	* [[spoiler:Apocalypse]] in ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution''.
124	[[/folder]]
125
126	[[folder:Real Life]]
127	* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LessWrong#Roko%27s_basilisk Roko's Basilisk]] is a hypothetical [[DeusEstMachina Super AI]] that could exist in the future, and has the power to simulate the minds of all past humans with perfect accuracy. With this ability, it ensures its own eventual existence by torturing simulated recreations of all humans that didn't do everything they could in the past to ensure that the AI would eventually be created. This is generally regarded as an interesting thought experiment and not something to take too seriously.
128	[[/folder]]

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