Belly of the Beast
The room transforms into a stomach.

(permanent link) added: 2012-02-05 16:52:21 sponsor: LeastSquare (last reply: 2012-02-13 17:30:45)

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The protagonist is confronting a bad guy who has been trying to keep them in this room for a while, and then out of nowhere they say, "You fool, how could you not see it? This room is actually my stomach!" And then suddenly and without explanation of how this even works or at what point the character was eaten, the illusion falls apart and the walls turn to flesh covered with stomach acid, tentacles and support beams sprout up out of nowhere, unexplained ambient lighting, and the works.

Or more vaguely, characters are in a place that seems to be something other than a stomach and then it is revealed to be a stomach (but it works better if it transforms out of nowhere without any kind of even semi-logical explanation at all).

Can lead to Kill It Through Its Stomach.

Examples in Media:

Western Animation
  • Courage the Cowardly Dog: A temporary enemy who becomes a friend at the end of the episode "The Ulcer" who is both literally and metaphorically an ulcer within his own stomach who kills uninteresting people with his stomach acid.

  • SpongeBob SquarePants: the Alaskan bull worm.

  • Dragon Ball ("Z"): Princess Snake tries to keep Goku in her house as long as possible then after excusing himself multiple times, she becomes indignant and reveals that she is a giant snake and that he is deep inside her stomach.

  • This happened in 'Inu Yasha'. InuYasha and the gang had been walking through the various tunnels and caves of Mt. Hakurei, only to discover they had been inside Naraku the whole time.

  • One Piece: The inside of Laboon's stomach is painted as a sky. There's also an island with a house built on it. The Mugiwara pirates think they are dreaming when they see this.


  • Never Dead: Sullivan takes Nikki and then reveals to Bryce that he is actually a demon working for Asteroth. The boss battle ensues as this room in the building is revealed to be Sullivan's stomach and (somehow) begins flipping around in ways that would make you think Sullivan is a really huge giant doing extremely slow somersaults in random directions. Strangely enough Sullivan is also inside of his own stomach fighting you, which makes no sense at all.

  • In one Deadlands module there is a scene where the characters explore a cave and suddenly realize they are in a rattler's mouth/esophagus/whatever. Cue Fright Checks.

Tabletop RPG
  • Dungeons & Dragons module EX1 Dungeonland. If the PCs enter the house of the Mad Hatter and the March Hare, it will suddenly change into a giant caterpillar with the PCs inside its stomach. Digestive fluid will pour from the walls, doing increasing damage for 10 combat rounds. If the PCs survive, the caterpillar will change back into a house and they can leave. If not, their remains will be tossed out the back door.

  • The Empire Strikes Back. The Millenium Falcon flies into a cave on an asteroid and lands. Later on, much to their surprise, the crew discovers that they're inside a giant space worm's stomach. They end up escaping the worm by the skin of its teeth (literally).

Web Original

  • Happens in the beginning of the showdown of Walter Moers's book Ensel And Krete.

  • The first Nightside book has them enter a house that is actually an otherworldly creature that just looks like a house, until they work it out. Then it does the fleshy walls, dripping digestive acids thing.

  • In Simon R. Green's (the same author of the Nightside series above, and likey the Nightside version is a retooled version) Forest Kingdom book "Blood and Honour" a castle is slowing transforming into an Eldritch Abomination (It Makes Sense in Context) and one of the changes is a suite of rooms containing a family is turned into a stomach. Sadly the heroes arrive in time only to avenge them.

  • In one episode of Star Trek: Voyager, the crew are trying to navigate the ship through a rather rough region of space -- which is actually the insides of a gigantic spaceship-eating monster that is manipulating them psychologically. A small child who doesn't share the crew's dream of returning to Earth (and is thus unaffected by it) likens the monster to a pitcher plant.

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