This is the ability to manifest a large, energy-based avatar around oneself like a suit of armor. Typically, the avatar mimics the user's movements like a psionic/mystical version of a Motion-Capture Mecha, but some variations can have the user control it through thought and don't require them to move at all. How large the avatar is will vary from work to work but they are always bigger than the user and some may even have the ability to increase the size of their avatar.
The Spectral Body Construct may either resemble the user's image or be something else like a robot, a Kaiju, a featureless silhouette, etc. Some users may be able to summon the avatar separately from them but the recurring factor is that the user is inside the avatar like the pilot of a Humongous Mecha.
May overlap with Barrier Warrior and Instant Armor. For animal-shaped variations of this trope, see Animal Battle Aura. For the organic version, see Bio-Mecha. Compare with Elemental Armor, Fighting Spirit.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Dragon Ball:
- Dragon Ball Super (Anime): During the Tournament of Power arc, Android 18 faces off against Ribrianne, a Magical Girl Warrior from Universe 2. By drawing on the love of her teammates and supporters, Ribrianne is able to generate a massive construct around herself modeled after her magical girl Super Mode. However, it's not enough to defeat 18.
- Dragon Ball Super (Manga): The climactic battle of the Galactic Patrol Prisoner Arc has Moro growing to giant size due to merging with the planet. Thanks to a power boost from Uub and the Grand Supreme Kai, Goku is able to manifest a giant blue avatar of himself which he uses to pin down Moro and shatter the crystal on the evil wizard's head that empowers him.
- My Hero Academia: America's No.1 Hero Star and Stripe can shape the atmosphere around her into a 7,000-foot version of herself. She calls this move "Fist Bump to the Earth."
- Naruto: Although the special abilities of each Mangekyō Sharingan vary, they all share one power in common; the Susano'o, which is a gigantic, humanoid avatar made of their own chakra. Each one is tailored to the user, and possesses a special weapon.
- Itachi's Susano'o is a brilliant, flaming orange. It possesses the Totsuka Blade and Yata Mirror, which can seal away an opponent and deflect all attacks, respectively.
- Madara's Susano'o is a deep, dark blue, and possesses the Yasaka Magatama, which is a massive blade that can shoot magatama-shaped energy projectiles.
- Sasuke's Susano'o is an intimidating purple, and possesses an Energy Bow.
- Shisui's Susano'o is a toxic green, and possesses a giant, drill-like spear that shoots laser needles.
- Obito/Kakashi's Susano'o is a beautiful light blue, and can fire massive, teleporting shurikens.
- Ranma ½: In the manga, Happōsai demonstrates this power by projecting a humongous ki image of himself that can paralyze opponents with fear. Genma in panda form once does the same to counter Happōsai, but can't maintain it for very long. And Sōun's "demon head" trick is strongly implied to be similar. The anime goes through Adaptational Superpower Change by making all three of them physically grow in size instead.
- Shaman King: An Oversoul is an advanced shaman technique that involves the shaman materializing their guardian spirit into the physical realm in some form. Some Oversouls take the form of a suit that covers the shaman and within that category, are Oversouls that are extremely large such as Umemiya Ryunosuke's eight-headed, three-wheeled snake Oversoul and Broken Meyer's Oversouls which can take the form of a tank, T-Rex or giant bird.
- Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: The final form of the titular mecha which is piloted by the main hero Simon is a massive humanoid creature of spiral power the size of an entire universe.
Comic Books
- DC Comics:
- Action Comics: In Issue #1054, Superman battles Metallo, whose new heart is made of a Warworld material named Genesis. Not only does Genesis negate the effects of Kryptonite, it also gives Superman the ability to project a massive blue energy avatar around himself.
- The Authority (WildStorm): In Issue #6 of the original volume, Jenny Sparks repels an aerial assault from an invading parallel Earth by creating an electric field around herself modeled after her own image.
- Green Lantern: Kyle Rayner has occasionally created a construct in the shape of a Humongous Mecha around himself. Hal Jordan once replicated the same feat.
- X-Men:
- Astonishing X-Men:
- Hisako Ichiki, alias Armor, has the ability to create a red psionic exoskeleton that effectively increases her strength, stamina and durability. At normal usage, it's just a little taller and wider than she is, but at greater exertion, she can make it the size of a Humongous Mecha.
- Tildie Soames is a mutant who can manifest her nightmares as monstrous-looking projections around her body. As she is a child when her power first activates, she is unable to control it, resulting in the deaths of her parents and one of the police officers who was called to her house.
- Ultimate X-Men (2024): Like her 616 counterpart, Hisako Ichiki can summon a psionic exoskeleton armor around herself. She can even enlarge it if she wants to hold herself and her friends to protect them if needed. Unlike 616 Hisako, this Hisako's armor seems to have some degree of self-awareness.
- Astonishing X-Men:
- The Wicked + The Divine: Woden can combine his Valkyries to form one giant Energy Being around themselves. Unlike other examples, the large energy construct is formed with multiple individuals inside it rather than one person.
Fan Works
- Earth-27: Tye Longshadow, aka King of the Royal Flush Gang, can surround his body in ectoplasmic energy, that either takes the form of a large featureless human or massive animal-like shapes. While this power is active, Tye's body is shielded inside the giant form in a state of stasis, with his senses experiencing the form's perspective. Some of his favorite forms have been a bear (for power), a wolf (for speed), and an eagle (for flight); but more often than not, he takes the form of a giant man for utility.
Literature
- The Kane Chronicles: Magicians specializing in combat magic have the ability to summon a giant combat avatar, an advanced form of said magic that surrounds them and takes the shape of whatever form they imagine (usually their own body), mimicking their movements. If the magician in question is a host for an Egyptian god though, the combat avatar will automatically take the form of the god's animal-headed form from ancient Egypt (or in some cases the full animal, as seen when Percy Jackson was a host for the vulture goddess Nekhbet in The Crown of Ptolemy). While in the Duat (a magical realm below the normal reality), the combat avatar's power is enhanced and it becomes a giant flesh-and-blood warrior rather than just a holographic shell.
- Skyscraper Throne: Sewermanders are small, unassuming-looking sewer-dwelling lizards that use their control over flammable sewer gasses to form a shell of blue fire around themselves in the shape of an eighteen-foot dragon. This is referred to as their "exo-self", and when active it's as much a part of them as their scale-and-blood body.
- TSUKIMICHI -Moonlit Fantasy-: Makoto Misimi has a technique called Number One Origin "Materia Prima" which produces a large, translucent avatar around his body. Makoto can change its shape and rebuild it instantly if it is damaged.
Live-Action TV
- Juken Sentai Gekiranger/Power Rangers Jungle Fury: The Rangers' Animal Mecha are their Animal Battle Auras given physical form. This means the resulting combined mecha is a Spectral Body Construct used by at minimum three characters at any given time.
Tabletop Games
- Dungeons & Dragons: The Monks using the Astral Self subclass (which are directly inspired by JoJo's Bizarre Adventure's stands) can create ki-fueled representations of their true selves, called the Astral self, appear superimposed over their body. At first they can only make the arms appear but as they grow in power the entire body can manifest around the monk. The description mentions that unlike their inspiration, the Astra self covers the body "like a suit of armor".
- Pathfinder: First edition summoners could take the "synthesist" archetype, allowing them to manifest their eidolons as suits of translucent, living armor.
Video Games
- Devil May Cry 4: Nero's version of the Devil Trigger manifests as a large translucent humanoid demon that appears above and around him, and assists him by performing grabs and sword slashes in time with Nero's own attacks.
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim: The Dragon Aspect shout makes a translucent draconic humanoid appear over the Dragonborn's torso, arm and head. It grants increased armor, resistance to frost and fire and increased melee damage as well as increased potency for all other shouts.
- Gladiator: Sword of Vengeance: In his boss fight against Invictus, Phobos, the God of Fear, creates a smoke giant around himself with his powers and uses it to attack. Said giant follows Phobos' motion for the entire battle.
- Hyrule Warriors: Ganondorf can surround himself in a shadowy energy in the shape of Ganon, which he uses in his sixth Strong Attack and Focus Spirit Special to deliver powerful claw strikes.
- inFAMOUS: Aura Conduits can surround themselves with a twenty-foot energy copy of their bodies that can punch or stomp on the player. Attacks go right through the aura and the Conduit's physical body must be directly targeted for them to be affected.
- Injustice 2: Green Lantern's super is to summon different components of a Humongous Mecha (boots, arms, body, head) and smack his opponent with them, then form them around himself and blast the target with its cannons.
- The True Final Boss of Kirby and the Forgotten Land, Chaos Elfilis, uses an attack called "Giant Impact" after it loses 60% of its health. The boss creates a giant energy construct shaped like their body, which then swings its spear across the entire battlefield twice. The Ultimate Cup Z EX in the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition upgrades this attack to have two giant constructs active at once, and both of them swing their spears more often.
- Pokémon Sun and Moon: The Z-Move of the Tapus, Guardian of Alola, creates a massive golden form of pure power that rises from the ground, attaches itself to the bottom of the Tapu's body, and performs a Megaton Punch.
- Psychonauts: The final boss battle is against an amalgamation of amalgamation of Oleander’s and Razputin’s worst memories of their own fathers. Augustus, Raz's real father, transfers his energy into Raz, allowing the boy to surround himself with a massive psychic projection in his own image to face the monster.
- RuneScape: The Bandos Avatar in "The Chosen Commander" takes the form of a large, spectral suit of armor surrounding the Goblin High Priest after he takes up the amulet of Bandos from Zanik.
- Ultra Coliseum: Reimon can summon a giant spectral avatar around himself to fight giant opponents.
- X-Men Legends: For the boss fight against Shadow King in the Astral Plane, Professor X creates a massive projection of himself as a Roman Gladiator, then dukes it out with the evil psychic.
Web Animation
- DEATH BATTLE!: During the Kyle Rayner vs Simon the Digger fight, Kyle summons a White Lantern construct of Superman around himself to match Simon's Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
Western Animation
- Justice League: In "Kid Stuff", John Stewart creates a Mini-Mecha construct to fight Mordred. Unfortunately, it doesn't so much as scratch the villain.
- The Powerpuff Girls (2016): The Powerpuffs can form Hard Light constructs around themselves that are significantly larger than their bodies. These constructs can take various forms such as animals, vehicles and objects. This was primarily done to tone down the violence compared the original show, so the girls wouldn't have to hit an opponent with their fists.
- Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Raphael can manifest a giant, red energy projection around himself. He doesn't always summon the full projection, sometimes limiting it to just the giant fists.
- Star vs. the Forces of Evil: In "The Right Way", Star conjures a rainbow aura around herself in the form of a Humongous Mecha to battle the Solarian Warrior mech suit.
- Wakfu: In the season 3 finale, Oropo summons a battle aura in the shape of a giant, green, humanoid owl to fight off the protagonists.
- Wolverine and the X-Men (2009): Tildie Soames, who is mentioned above in the comic book section, appears in the episode "Battle Lines" as a prisoner of the Mutant Response Division. Juggernaut, under orders from Magneto, breaks her out and places a device to amplify her powers, causing her manifest a red, gigantic construct around her that goes on a rampage.
- Yin Yang Yo!: The titular characters can use a technique called Woo Foo Aura which surrounds the user in giant energy construct shaped like the user. Yin and Yang even display the ability to combine their respective auras in one episode. They can also combine their auras with Yo.
- Young Justice (2010): Season 2 introduces Tye Longshadow, one of many children abducted and experimented on by the Reach to unlock the secrets of humanity's metagene. Tye gained the ability to create a giant, translucent astral form around himself when he is in a relaxed state.