Basic Trope: A monster that disguises itself as something good, like a treasure chest.
- Straight: A mimic imitates an ordinary treasure chest until somebody tries to open it.
- Exaggerated:
- A mimic imitates a Save Point until somebody tries to use it...
- The entire dungeon is a mimic, the heroes actually venturing through its cavernous digestive system.
- Downplayed: The chest isn't alive, but it is booby-trapped. Open the chest, grab the gold? Nope, you get a faceful of sharp, pointy things!
- Justified:
- The monster was created through unnatural means in order to deter thieves.
- An ordinary monster just needed a secure place to sleep and felt threatened when, from its perspective, someone broke into its home.
- The monster has to possess an object to be used and is possessing a treasure chest.
- Inverted:
- A monstrous looking enemy...turns out to be a statue made from pure gold.
- The cavern is littered with chests full of heavy, cumbersome gold, which is reducing your speed stat and really getting in the way of finding that elusive monster.
- Or worse, reducing your speed stat and making it harder to get away from that brutal juggernaut of a monster, resulting in a Death by Materialism.
- Subverted: A treasure chest has a suspicious human skeleton next to it, but it's perfectly normal.
- Double Subverted: ...But then the skeleton gets up and stabs you.
- Parodied:
- The chest, the door, your sword, the roof, the floor, the walls...your clothes! Turn out to be after your tasty nutrinol rich flesh.
- Like the quote on the main page, containers of all sorts can be out to kill you. Open a chest? It tries to bit your hand off. Break open a pot? It flings sharp pottery shards at you. Unblock a tomb? The door falls over and tries to flatten you.
- The mimic is delivered by mail to attack the hero on his own doorstep.
- The mimic imitates the shape of a chest, but is still covered in fur.
- Zig Zagged: The chest is completely normal... Except that there's a monster inside! ...Except the monster is dead, as it either starved or suffocated... Except that it still doesn't stop it from attacking you.
- Averted: Even though an NPC warn you that there might be Chest Monsters inside, there aren't any.
- Enforced: The development team wanted a Nintendo Hard game, so they made many helpful-looking objects become harmful monsters.
- Lampshaded: "Did that chest just lick its lips—?!" "Don't be silly; chests don't have lips...!"
- Invoked: Emperor Evulz uses his magic to create powerful monsters that look like ordinary treasure chests, then scatters them throughout the various dungeons and caves of the realm. Why...? Why not?
- Exploited: Instead of slaying the creature, the hero decides to tame it. That way it could become a guardian of important treasures and / or powerful trap for greedy enemies.
- Defied: "This thermal imaging camera will make sure whatever you try to pick up isn't some weird animal."
- Discussed: "Will this be like one of those RPGs where every other item you get is an enemy in disguise?"
- Conversed: "How, exactly, does the chest mimic in this game make any sense biologically? No adventurers have been here for a thousand years, so mimicking a chest isn't going to get it any food. How is it still alive, then?"
- Deconstructed: The chest monsters went extinct the moment they started bringing in means to check for them or simply changed the design of their chests.
- Reconstructed: ...except in dungeons where they were used as security measures.
- The mimics adapt to the detection methods as well, Leading to a Lensman Arms Race. Even with the most sophisticated detection methods, you can never be sure...
- Played For Laughs:
- Greedy Guest-Star Party Member Rouge tricks the heroes into entering a dungeon to challenge the monsters there, then slips past them to take all the treasure. Unfortunately for him, the first chest he opens is a mimic...
- These things still exist in modern fantasy settings, and tend to look like suitcases. After a long flight, Nougat just wants to retrieve his luggage and get to the hotel, but life's never that simple, is it?
- The Monster inside is a Cute Monster Girl with large breasts and an Optional Party Member.
- The mimic is a prankster that swats adventurers with a paper fan and giggles at their irritation.
- Played For Drama: One of these two chests contains the Scarlet Star Sapphire, which you need to stop Emperor Evulz's latest scheme. The other holds a monster that will perfectly mimic the Sapphire until you grab it, at which point your hands will stick to the false gem and the monster will start to eat your hero alive while your comrades desperately fight to save you. Choose wisely...
Back to Chest Monster
