Baleful Polymorph: Difference between revisions

* An [[All There in the Manual]] example in ''[[Fairy Tail]]'': Kinana was turned into a snake ten years ago and made to fight alongside Cobra, until Marakov turned her back. She doesn't have any memories of being a snake.

** Though the anime has hinted at it, if only to help fill up the episode.

 

== Comic Books ==

* ''[[All Fall Down]]'': Entertaining children in hospital, the shape-shifter Phylum {{spoiler|is permanently trapped in the form of a chimpanzee.}}

* [[Sequence Breaking|Exploited]] by Brian in the [[Knights of the Dinner Table]] a few times.

 

== Fairy Tales ==

* "Little Bunny Foo-Foo" is threatened with getting turned into a [[What Do You Mean It's Not for Kids?|Ghoul]] if he doesn't quit hitting fieldmice.

* Granted it's a ballet, but ''[[Swan Lake]]'' (Also adapted as ''[[The Swan Princess]]'') is about a princess who becomes a swan during the day due to the spell of a sorcerer.

 

== Fan Works ==

* Hobbes is briefly turned into a rabbit by Calvin in order to get Sherman to his house safely in ''[[Calvin and Hobbes: The Series]]''.

* In ''[[The Blue Blur of Termina]]'', Sonic the Hedgehog was transformed into a Deku Scrub by the Skull Kid.

 

== Film ==

* In ''[[Bedknobs and Broomsticks]]'' Miss Price turns several people into rabbits.

* In ''[[High School Musical]] 2'', the "Humuhumunukunukuapua'a" skit is about a lonely Hawaiian princess who seeks to break the spell on a prince who's been turned into a fish.

* Disney uses this a lot:

** ''[[Beauty and the Beast]]'' has the Prince involuntarily transformed into the Beast by the Enchantress, along with the other servants.

** In ''[[The Princess and the Frog]]'', Naveen and Tiana are both involuntarily turned into frogs. (The voodoo man promised "green" in Naveen's future ...)

** In ''[[Pinocchio (Disney film)|Pinocchio]]'', the wayward boys are turned into donkeys. [[Nightmare Fuel|Bit by bit.]]

 

== Literature ==

** And in ''The Magic Finger'' this is the main character's special ability, although it so horrifies her that she never uses it unless she's ''really'' annoyed with someone.

* In the ''[[Discworld]]'' novels, it's stated that Granny Weatherwax ''doesn't'' do this. Instead, she prefers to [[Delusions of Doghood|make people think they're frogs]], which takes much less magic, is slightly less cruel, and is a lot more entertaining. The Discworld does, however, contain a few instances of turning people into animals and lots of ''threatening'' to turn people into animals. They usually, but not always, get better.

** The Tiffany books also have the Toad, who was once a lawyer who tried to represent a girl in a [[Frivolous Lawsuit]] on a fairy godmother. It was the judge applauding that really got to him though.

* In [[Neil Gaiman]]'s ''[[Stardust (novel)|Stardust]]'', a witch turns Tristran into a dormouse to carry him in her cart. In the novel, it's made clear that this isn't actually meant as a [[Curse]]. It's done for practicality: Tristan takes up a lot less room this way after him arranging for [[Exact Words|food, bedding and travel]]. It's also implied that the spell turns you into the animal you are most like. The witch also turns Tristran back once she's given him a ride. OTOH, she does find it amusing.

* In ''[[The Runaway Princess]]'', a witch routinely turns princes who come to bother her into frogs. Although she's perfectly willing to turn them back into princes, most of them prefer to stay as frogs.

* [[Dragaera|Sethra Lavode's]] favorite method of dealing with obnoxious [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Dzur heroes]]. Also, in a ''[[Monty Python and the Holy Grail]]'' [[Shout-Out]]: "She'll turn you into a newt." "I'll get better."

* [[Belgariad|Polgara]] pulls one and a half of these during the course of the series. She permanently transforms Queen Salmissra into a huge serpent in the original books. In the prequel ''Polgara The Sorceress'', she temporarily transforms one of the Cherek kings into a man-sized frog because she thinks a regular [[Dope Slap]] won't be enough to get the message across.

** Queen Salmissra is a subversion, in that she comes to appreciate the transformation and never makes any effort to get turned back.

* In the third of [[C. J. Cherryh]]'s ''Rusalka'' trilogy, Pyetr Kochevikov says to his daughter Ilyana that she wouldn't want to turn him into a toad by accident; she'd much rather do it on purpose. She replies primly, "That's not funny, father." She'd earlier said, too, that it's impossible to physically turn anyone into a toad, though a wizard could make someone '''believe''' he or she was a toad.

 

* In ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', a witch, Amy Madison, turns Buffy into a rat with a spell. Later, Amy turns ''herself'' into a rat ... and can't turn back.

** In the example above, Amy turns herself into a rat to escape [[Buffy-Speak|burnage]] at a stake only to find out she no longer has the human voicebox necessary to invoke the magic to return to humaness.

** It's also possible Amy was trying to turn the angry mob that had kidnapped her into rats rather than herself and just suffered a [[Magic Misfire]] due to her being tied up and thus unable to properly aim the spell.

* One episode of ''[[Hercules: The Legendary Journeys]]'' uses a magic Bow and arrow belonging to Artemis to turn Herc into a pig for most of the episode, while Iolaus and Autolycus scramble to get him restored.

* In ''[[Pushing Daisies]]'', the children of Coeur d'Coeurs are terrified of aunts Lily and Vivian because they are reputed to turn unwary children into birds. That the aunts have taught at least one of their pet parrots to say "Help! She turned me into a bird!" may have contributed to the rumor.

* In the very first episode of ''[[Beetleborgs]]'' Flabber turns the kids into rats by mistake.

* The ''[[Married... with Children]]'' episode ''Psychic Avengers'' ends with the family turned into chimpanzees and Buck turned into a human by a gypsy.

** The episode ''Field Of Screams'' has a subplot involving this, Bud, Buck, and the new bug powder Kelly advertised called "Springtime in Baghdad". The transformations weren't shown on-screen, but what Buck and Bud end up as show. Buck was turned into a {{spoiler|different species of dog, then a turkey.}} Bud, on the other hand, {{spoiler|grew breasts}} from the exposure to "Springtime in Baghdad" bug powder. By the episode's end, they {{spoiler|had long, floppy ears.}} Doesn't it make you think what "Springtime in Baghdad" is made of?

* {{spoiler|Omen}}, the Season 1 [[Big Bad]] on [[Dark Oracle]], was trapped {{spoiler|in the shape of a frog (named [[Sdrawkcab Name|Nemo]])}} by his mentor, Doyle, and can be changed back and forth by being kissed. It also inhibits his magic, much to the benefit of the main cast.

* The Nickelodeon sitcom ''[[100 Deeds for Eddie McDowd]]'' was about a bully who was transformed into a dog by a mysterious drifter and must perform 100 good deeds in order to turn back.

* In an episode of ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'' Morgana transforms Guinevere into a deer.

 

* Nearly every mythological tradition has examples of the gods turning some unfortunate, or sometimes favoured, human into an animal, demon, angel, plant, or mineral; either permanently or temporarily. Sometimes, even the gods themselves are affected, usually as a punishment inflicted by a more powerful or [[Trickster]] deity. This is particularly common in Greco-Roman mythology.

* Circe in ''[[Odyssey|The Odyssey]]'' takes revenge on Odysseus's men by turning them all into pigs, making this [[Older Than Feudalism]].

 

== Tabletop Games ==

** Turning them into something that would kill them (a non-lunged fish on land, or a non-flying animal in a situation where only a flying creature has a reasonable chance of survival) makes the spell easier to resist, as though the target instinctively knows what he's being turned into and that the situation is even worse.

* ''[[Mage: The Awakening]]'' has several spells like this, including one that not only turns the target into an animal but ''forces them to claw the way out of the excess mass''.

* ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]'' and ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' see a particularly nightmarish variant of this as a staple of the daemons and sorcerers of Tzeentch. The demon gods grant gifts, usually in the form of mutations. Once you gain enough, there are two options. The first is a good one: badass daemon prince. The second is insanity, many eyes, and general fun and games. You live off grubs and act as cannon fodder. Fun. A common psychic power for Chaos Sorcerers in 40k, the ironically titled "Gift of Chaos", lets them immediately transform anyone, friend or foe, into a Chaos Spawn. Various editions of fantasy have also included various Chaos Magic spells that transform the victim into Chaos Spawn—some Tzeentchian spells instead allow the warlock to turn their victim into a Horror of Tzeentch.

* ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' has a few of these. [http://magiccards.info/tsts/en/27.html Ovinomancer], providing the page image, later got shout-outs in the [[Nostalgia Level|Time Spiral block]] in the form of [http://magiccards.info/pc/en/57.html Ovinize] and [http://magiccards.info/pc/en/44.html Pongify]. More often, though, such "restraining" cards are meant to represent [http://magiccards.info/us/en/18.html a new state of mind] or magical bindings.

* ''[[Exalted]]'' has Pattern Spider Touch, from the [[Supernatural Martial Arts|Charcoal March of Spiders Style]]. It allows you to fundamentally alter your opponent in some interesting way. Typically, it's used to punch people in the face and turn them into ducks.

 

== Toys ==

* {{spoiler|Metus is changed into a snake}} in ''[[Bionicle]]''

 

== Video Games ==

* ''[[Wonder Boy III the Dragons Trap]]'' (and its [[TurboGrafx-16]] variant, ''Dragon's Curse'') revolves around the human protagonist being cursed into various animal forms for defeating [[Wonder Boy in Monster Land|the prior game's]] [[Big Bad]] and trying to lift the curse. Each form has its own abilities, strengths, and weaknesses, resulting in a [[Metroidvania]]-style progression.

* ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' games have Pig and Toad transformations. The Pig effect (at least in ''[[Final Fantasy IV]]'') ''does'' disable all spells... except for Pig. (Which makes sense; otherwise, it's just another Silence with a different curative item.) The Toad effect greatly reduces Attack and Defense and disables all spells except for Toad.

** The Moogle status in ''[[Final Fantasy|Final Fantasy Adventure]]'' works similarly and also appears in the sequel, ''[[Secret of Mana]]''.

** ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'' had Imp form, which while it didn't reduce your hitpoints or the strength of conventional attacks, it did make it impossible for you to use magic or special character powers. It was more of an annoyance than threat as by the time in the game when enemies start throwing it around you will have many ways to undo the transformation but need a full turn to do it after which you might get Imped again.

**** In the early versions of the game a certain [[Good Bad Bug]] allowed Gau to Rage while Imped. And a certain other [[Good Bad Bug]] allowed him to equip a weapon. An fully decked-out Imp Gau was quite a [[Game Breaker]], although it took up one of your Relic slots.

** In ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics]]'', a character whose Bravery goes below 10 becomes a literal chicken. The best way to do this is with Beowulf's aptly named Chicken attack, which reduces a target's bravery by 50. Chickens automatically run away from the action each turn, gaining 1 bravery point until they become human again, and their defense drops drastically.

** In ''[[The Elder Scrolls]]: Redguard'' the hero Cyrus is transformed into a scamp for a short part of the game.

* One of the runewords in ''[[Diablo|Diablo II]]'' has a chance of turning the user into an undead pigmy skeleton.

* In the PC game ''[[Fate]]'', the player character is followed and assisted by a pet, either a cat or a dog. Feeding the pet certain kinds of fish will temporarily turn it into different kinds of larger, more powerful creatures (ranging from a sewer rat up to a dragon!). Using "flawless" fish will make the transformation permanent... until you feed it another fish, of course.

* In ''[[Jak and Daxter The Precursor Legacy]]'' Daxter is turned from [[Rubber Forehead Alien|human]] to [[Mix and Match Critter|ottsel]] when Jak accidentally knocks him into a vat of Dark Eco. Over time he grows to accept, and even ''like'' his new form, {{spoiler|because when given the chance to return to normal, he settles for a pair of pants instead.}}

* ''[[Fantasy Quest]]'': A dog turns out to be a man stricken with a curse, which makes you feel bad for having tried to play fetch with him before.

* [[League of Legends]]' Lulu loves to leverage her powers of legerdemain against her litigants. Alliteration aside, she turns her opponents into small woodland creatures.

 

== Web Comics ==

* Thanks to DovSherman at [[Deviant ART]], [[Mary Sue]]-ification [http://dovsherman.deviantart.com/art/Mary-Sue-ification-Meme-d-169162395 now works like this too].

* ''[[Fenspace]]'' has the [[Catgirl]]ing Machine. The "instantly" and "useless in combat" part of the ISO-standard Baleful Polymorph doesn't apply to these catgirls; however, there's no way for them to revert to human (or, if applicable, male).

 

== Western Animation ==

* In ''[[Totally Spies!]]'', this happens to the three protagonists a ''lot'' usually to Clover, who is the [[Designated Victim]] of any scheme that involves altering someone's appearance. Fans have theorized the show was developed with the intent to display every bizarre type of [[Fetish Fuel]] imaginable. More often than not, the girls are able to use this (much as they manage to use ''any'' curse) to their benefit in some way, and these stories often end with [[Hoist by His Own Petard|the villain getting a taste of his own medicine.]]

* In most versions of ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'', mutations are not done with the recipient's intent or approval, but most victims are able to cope reasonably well.

** The crossover ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles versus Batman'' had ''way'' too much fun with this, with many of [[Batman]]'s iconic villains getting mutagen-induced [[Karmic Transformation]]s. Bane becomes a leopard-mutant, Mr. Freeze [[Bears are Bad News| a polar bear]] (still packing a [[Freeze Ray]] and willing to use it) Harley Quinn, a hyena, Scarecrow a [[Feathered Fiend|crow-mutant]] (does that mean [[Fridge Logic|he scares himself?]]), and Poison Ivy becomes [[Man-Eating Plant|a giant Venus flytrap monster]] (possibly the only known time mutagen creates a plant-themed mutant). And [[The Joker]] you ask? A nightmarish [[Snakes Are Evil| cobra-themed version of himself.]] In case anyone doesn't know, snakes ''eat'' turtles, making this a terrifying villain to ''all'' the heroes in this crossover.

** The 2012 cartoon seemed to have a policy that said ''nobody'' was safe from being mutated, as it happened to both Kirby, Karai, and in fact, most of New York. This was especially bad because in most cases, mutated victims lost their minds. {{spoiler| The one exception seemed to be April, [[One Curse Limit| but only because she had even bigger problems]], being half-Kraang.}}

* From ''[[The Life and Times of Juniper Lee]]'' episode "The Great Escape"; June discovers that the animals at a zoo are actually magical beings who have been kidnapped and turned into animals by a [[Vain Sorceress]] who has done so to feed on their life energy and remain young. June makes an attempt to rescue them but it turns sour, and she falls victim to the same curse. Her reaction to waking up as a lemur is rather realistic - as in, she ''panics''.

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