Basic Trope: A character (usually a villain) transforms into a reptilian monster.
- Straight: Emperor Evuls becomes a giant snake.
- Exaggerated: Emperor Evuls becomes the Ur-Dragon, with six pairs of wings and draconic powers that surpass those of every other dragon whom has existed and will ever exist.
- Downplayed: Emperor Evuls grows a serpent-like tail, draconic wings, draconic scales, and/or horns, adopting a draconic appearance, but still being of roughly humanoid shape and size.
- Justified:
- Shapeshift can only be learned by an individual with a soul as black as pitch, and being a dragon is obviously way more powerful than Evulz's wheezened, spindly wizard self.
- Emperor Evuls' is a dragon that can shapeshift to human form: shedding his skin to his true form is just his equivalent of a Game Face.
- The protagonist has a phobia of snakes, therefore Evuls is using this trope to intimidate them.
- Inverted:
- The hero, Bob, turns into a dragon to get the upper hand.
- A reptilian villain turns into a mammalian monster to try to gain the upper hand.
- Subverted:
- Evulz is consumed by a dark aura, and screams in pain and ecstasy in preparation to become his ultimate form...and then just vanishes into the ether.
- Evulz seems to transform into a dragon...but it was actually an illusion, with the real Evulz running to hide in a corner.
- Double Subverted:
- He just teleported, in order to complete his transformation into a dragon from a safe distance.
- Evulz turned into a teeny-tiny snake in order to slip through the cracks.
- Parodied:
- Emperor Evulz turns into a parade-float shaped like a snake, and floats away to freedom.
- Emperor Evulz turns into a completely normal snake. Hiro just shrugs, and steps on him.
- Emperor Evulz turns into a giant snake. Hiro, unfazed, asks him if he's "a scaly or something". He blushes.note
- Zig Zagged: Both Evulz and Hiro transform into dragons, but they change forms throughout their Shapeshifter Showdown. Even then, Evulz favors reptilian forms, and is finally slain in the form of a snake with Hiro in the form of an eagle.
- Averted: Evulz does not transform at all.
- Enforced: "Showing kids to stab people is wrong! Showing kids you can stab lizards is A-ok!"
- Lampshaded:Hiro: So you're a dragon now? Doesn't matter! I'll make you into a handbag!
Emperor Evulz: Wow. And people call me evil. - Invoked: Evulz has an entire selection of transformations spells, but decides on the dragon because it's most dramatically appropriate.
- Exploited:
- Hiro had prepared for this eventuality, and turns himself into a giant mongoose.
- The sudden gain in weight breaks the fragile bridge Hiro had goaded Evulz into standing on, sending the latter plummeting to his Disney Villain Death
- Defied: "I will not turn into a snake. It never helps."
- Discussed: "Is it a tradition among dark lords to transform into a giant lizard before the final battle, or is it just weird co-incidence?"
- Conversed:
- Hiro recounts how on one of his adventures a wizard turned himself into a serpent.
- Evuls preps himself for battle, and rattles off turning into a dragon as a potential strategy.
- Deconstructed:
- Emperor Evulz also gains the disadvantages of dragons such as their weaknesses.
- The transformation is one-way. Even if he wins, Evulz will now have to live the rest of his life as a monster.
- Reconstructed:
- Evulz knows about draconic weaknesses, and prepares the battlefield ahead of time in order to be an unstoppable opponent.
- Evulz has already lost by this point, and becomes a dragon to gain vengeance against those meddling kids who ruined his mortal life.
I shall show you my draconic powers now at Scaled Up so I can crush you.
