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Giant Flyer: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:Flyer2.jpg|link=Shadow of the Colossus|
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Most Giant Flyers are simply large aerial predators who [[Death From Above|swoop down on our heroes from above]]. Generally, the Flying Predator version isn't outright evil.
Some Giant Flyers actually are recruits of the [[Big Bad]]. In ''[[The Tough Guide to Fantasyland]]'', [[Diana Wynne Jones]] calls this variety "[[Good Wings, Evil Wings|Leathery Winged]] Avians" (never mind the fact that many of them are [[Good Wings, Evil Wings|feathery winged]]).
Giant Flyers can also be [[Big Damn Heroes]]. As mentioned in [[Horse of a Different Color]], an animal that can fly ''and'' be ridden on is probably the most-desired fantasy mount. Where such Giant Flyers appear, expect there to be at least one scene where they must [[Catch a Falling Star|swoop down to rescue a non-flying character]] who has fallen from a great height. Such scenes in ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' earned this subtype the name "[[Deus Ex Machina]] Airlines" from the Harvard Lampoon parody ''[[Bored of the Rings]]''.
Note that Giant Flyers can be either literally gigantic or just relatively large compared to the other characters. Compare [[Our Dragons Are Different]], [[Dragon Rider]], [[Winged Humanoid]], [[Space Whale]], [[Feathered Fiend]], [[Ptero
{{examples|Examples of Large Flying Predators}}
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* Grown up shadow dragons from [[Naru Taru]]
* These exist in [[Hunter X Hunter]]. There a scene in both Anime and Manga where it cuts to Ging, sitting on the back of giant frog. It pans out, and it shows that giant frog is on the back of [[Up to Eleven|a giant dragon,]] which takes off and flies off into the distance.
* In [[Naruto]], there is the Seven-Tailed Demon Beetle, a [[Mix
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== Films ==
* As mentioned [[Ptero
** ''[[King Kong]]''
*** In Peter Jackson's version, this is filled by bat-like creatures which ''[[Its All There in the Manual|A Natural History Of Skull Island]]'' describes as ''rodents'' which have separately evolved wings.
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* Subverted by ''[[Primeval]]'', in S1 in which the Pteranodon is explicitly stated to be a fish-eater and achieves no casualties other than an accidental injury, and the [[Monster of the Week]] is actually a swarm of smaller, flying pterosaurs who prefer [[Death of a Thousand Cuts]] to carrying the food off.
** Played straight in S3 with the giant praying mantis from the future.
* The Reapers in the ''[[
** ''[[
* Skywhales and Kites in ''Blue Moon''.
* The Red Dragon Thunderzord and platform in [[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]] season two. Besides the Fire Bird Thunderzord (which, as a fairly traditional aircraft doesn't count for this trope), the rest of Thunderzords could at least hover.
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* The Wyvern Heartless in ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]''.
** The Dustflier from ''[[Kingdom Hearts: 358 Days Over 2 (Video Game)|Kingdom Hearts 358 Days Over 2]]'' is basically an upgraded, [[That One Boss|really hard]] version. And it's even bigger.
* The Twilit Dragon Argorok, boss of the City in the Sky, in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Video Game)|The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess]]''.
* The Suckers from ''[[Diablo II]]'' are small compared to some of the entries on this page... but are still weird mosquito-things as big as a large man.
* ''[[Skies of Arcadia (Video Game)|Skies of Arcadia]]'' has several, with most of them serving as ship bosses. Four of the six biological superweapons known as Gigas can fly, and you can also optionally fight a Roc, a flying kraken, a giant... flying... spider thing, and an enormous [[Metal Slime|Looper]].
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** Dragon in ''[[Shrek]]''.
* ''[[The Land Before Time]]'' [[Franchise Zombie|VII]] features a Giant Flyer (really as that's what Pterosaurs are called in this verse) who was able to transport ''all of the characters'' off the top of a volcano just before it erupts. Certainly, there were some impressive Pterosaurs in real life. Not sure if we buy one giving a young sauropod a ride.
* [[Mirror Mask|"Bob!]] [[Planet of Steves|Bob!]] [[Mix
* ''[[Star Wars]]: [[Attack of the Clones]]'' features the [[Space Whale|giant winged cetaceans]] called [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Aiwha Aiwha], used by the Kaminoans as transport.
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* ''The Fledgling'' [[Justified Trope|justifies]] this by hinting that there's [[Waif Prophet|something up with the heroine]] that allows her to ride upon the Goose Prince {{spoiler|and that allows her to fly on her own}}.
* Woe betide the person who says it's cute how the [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Gallivespians]] of ''His Dark Materials'' ride around on dragonflies...
** Though, no matter how small the gallivespians are, I believe it was mentioned (or at least implied) that the dragonflies were bigger than the ones we're familiar with, perhaps at [
* ''Nils Holgerson''. A boy gets shrunken and ends up traveling with a flock of geese by riding on one's back.
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== Real Life ==
* The species of Pterosaur known as [
** The most commonly adapted Pterosaur, Pteranodon, was also pretty large as well, with an average wingspan of 7-10 metres (not quite as big as Quetzalcoatlus but still).
** New evidence give possible suggestion that Quetzalcoatlus was in fact too massive to fly, but this is [http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology/2010/09/desmostylians_svpca-2010-ii.php not well accepted] among mainstream pterosaur workers.
* Another extinct animal: the [
* For a more recently extinct animal, one that humans probably did interact with, there's always the [
** It has been noted that, based on puncture marks found on moa pelvises, the Haast's Eagle was probably a fairly specialized hunter of the same. Moa were big, feathered bipeds. The earliest Maori colonists were most likely wearing feather cloaks same as they do now. This might have caused... issues.
* The still living [
** Which is pretty big, and the Albatross has to launch itself of cliffs to get into the air because it's too heavy to take off.
* Still speculative but have been theorized that in planets with more gravity than Earth the flying creatures would be bigger, that's because a thicker atmosphere would have more oxygen and provide more lift with less area. In the other case planets with less gravity than Earth would have a thinner atmosphere and be less prone to big flying creatures.
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[[Category:Flying Tropes]]
[[Category:Giant Flyer]]
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