Fusion Dance: Difference between revisions

[[File:Captain2.png|link=Mad Magazine|frame|[[The Avengers (Comic Book)|The Avengers]] and The [[Justice League of America]] merge to bring forth [[Captain America (comics)|Captain]] [[Doctor Doom|Doctor]] [[Superman|Super]][[Batman|bat]][[Wonder Woman|wonder]][[X-Men|wolveclops]] and his sidekick, [[The Mighty Thor|Thor]][[X-Men|ine]], [[Teen Titans (Comic Book)|the boy wonder]]!]]

 

 

Two separate characters merge to make one, usually more powerful, unified being, either willingly or via [[Applied Phlebotinum]] and/or [[Merging Machine]]. This can have a number of results:

** While not canon, Goku and ''[[Fake Ultimate Hero|Hercule]]'' can fuse with Potara earrings to become Gokule and Tien and Yamcha can perform the Fusion Dance to become Tiencha in some games starting with the second Budokai game.

** In one [[What If]] nightmare, Cell absorbs Krillin instead of 18. Picture an orange Cell Jr. with Krillin's face.

** Juudai and Yubel's fusion are of the Power Booster variety; Yubel can still speak to Juudai in his mind (and appear as a spirit), and he can use her powers and when he does so, his eyes change colors to be just like hers.

* The ''[[Digimon]]'' [[The Verse|verse]] has examples of both the first and second types:

** ''[[Digimon Adventure]]'' has War Greymon and Metal Garurumon fuse into Omegamon (aka Omnimon) in [[The Movie]]. Omegamon not only looks like both of them, but speaks with the voices of both at once. Composite.

*** This season also has a unique type of Fusion, where characters combined the transformations granted by their Human and Beast spirits to create a new form combining traits of both (e.g. a character who could transform into a dragon or an armoured warrior could become a humanoid dragon wearing armor). Only Takuya and Koji ever do it. At least in the anime.

** ''[[Digimon Xros Wars]]'' draws from multiple categories. The human characters with "Xros Loader" devices can temporarily fuse together Digimon into new forms: some are in the "composite" category, while others become inanimate weapons to be wielded by the remaining characters. Some opponents are shown to absorb their subordinates, falling under "biological mash-up" (minus the blending personalities).

* ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' also provides a number of examples:

** There's Chimeras, understood in-universe to be an Alchemical Composite fusion of two beings. ''Human'' Chimeras tend to be a Mixed Form Shapeshifter—if done correctly. Failed Human Chimeras result in a Composite-like fusion with the human half's soul and memories in control, but [[Body Horror|very much in pain]]. Successful ones retain their human forms, but can transform into a [[Half-Human Hybrid]] or gain powers reminiscent of the animal fused into them.

*** Late in the series, {{spoiler|Father}} tried to absorb {{spoiler|God}} to get his powers and knowledge, and then tried to absorb {{spoiler|Greed}} to get his philosopher's stone. Both backfired in quick succession: {{spoiler|Greed transmuted Father's body into charcoal, cue beatdown from Ed, and Father no longer had the strength to suppress God}}.

* ''[[Naruto]]'' has [[Beast Man]] [[Hot-Blooded|Kiba]], who can merge with his [[Precious Puppies|dog Akamaru]] into a massive [[Big Badass Wolf|two-headed wolf]] [[Doomy Dooms of Doom|of doom.]] The body counts as a third form over which both participants have control, but the two of them are typically so in sync that there is no squabbling about a course of action. They just kick ass.

** There's also {{spoiler|[[Dragon Ascendant|Kabuto]]}}, who integrated {{spoiler|his former boss Orochimaru}}'s body into his own to gain vastly increased power and special abilities.

* The Guardians also pull it off in the ''[[Mega Man Zero]]'' manga, becoming that series' "Copy X". Interestingly enough, they beat the heck out of Rockman Zero, but they lose to the cowardly Zero. That's embarrassing.

* Unison Devices in ''[[Lyrical Nanoha|Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' are, ostensibly, Power Boosters. A form of [[Living Weapon]] designed by the ancient Belkans, they take the "living" aspect to a greater extent than Mid-Childa's [[Empathic Weapon|Intelligent Devices]]. These "sentient magical programs" (powerful offensive mages in their own right) can unison with a mage (or knight, as Belkans called them) to boost their abilities. Usually this comes with some form of change in the color of one's hair, eyes, or even clothes and armor ...

** ... ''However'', Unison Devices can also act as a Switcher. As weapons with egos, they can overwhelm their users, practically absorbing them; this is known as a "Unison Accident," where the subsumed user's body transforms into the Unison Device's own, and the Unison Device is the dominant personality.

** The lesser version of this, the Chara Change, results in a change in hairpin and a violent personality shift as Amu's Chara basically ''possesses'' her, often without thinking to seek her consent, good intentions or not.

* ''[[Figure 17]]'' features a sentient alloy that "fuses" with other people (the result is a somewhat androgynous alien being with superpowers). The main character, Tsubasa, ends up with one "leaking" from its protective container all over her and fuses with it; afterwards, the alloy takes its own form as Tsubasa's "twin" Hikaru, since it has no container to return to.

* Also mentioned in the examples, ''[[Birdy the Mighty]]''. [[Space Police|Interstellar Police Officer]] Birdy accidentally injures [[Ordinary High School Student|Tsutomu]] in pursuit of suspects who fled to Earth. As punishment for being so reckless (or trying to cover it up in the manga) she is forced to allow Tsutomu's consciousness to share her body while his is fixed. She can shapeshift into Tsutomu's form so he can continue his everyday life but—at least in the TV series—she appears to maintain ultimate control over their shared body.

* Early on in ''[[Shaman King]]'', the shamans tended to use their own bodies as vessels for their spirit partners. Later, they learned to use inanimate objects instead for greater effectiveness.

** Part of Ichigo's {{spoiler|Final Getsuga}} technique involves {{spoiler|fusing with Zangetsu}}.

* Parodied in ''[[Keroro Gunsou]]''—Momoka's split personality is manifest as a second Momoka, and the only way to rectify this is through a literal Fusion Dance, where mastering synchronized swimming will cause them to synchronize physically and meld back into one. Unfortunately, Keroro and Giroro, by way of imparting this to Momoka, get themselves fused together by complete accident.

** More recently, Keroro fused with each member of the platoon one by one in an attempt to boost their powers to invade earth, but turns out to be helpful instead of harmful. {{spoiler|Then all five of them fuse together and end up slipping on a banana peel.}}

* Cross Fusion in ''[[Mega Man NT Warrior]]'' essentially results in Lan in a Mega Man suit. Mega can communicate with Lan (and they have to be in sync with each other or the fusion falls apart), but otherwise Lan is the one in control. (The same goes for most other Cross Fusion cases, unless the human has a very different body type than the Net Navi. The human's body type wins.) Power Booster disguised as Composite.

* Episode 21 of the [[Soul Eater]] anime: Blair is fighting the (remaining) 5 Mizune sisters. She [[Curb Stomp Battle|smashes four of the sisters]] with one spell...but the fifth sister behind her starts [[Giggling Villain|giggling madly.]] Activating the hivemind within the sisters (accompanied by speaking in sync and rhythmic finger-snapping), Create a [[Totem Pole Trench]] the five combine to form... a [[Hot Witch]]. [[It Makes Sense in Context]]... I guess.

** Though the 5-Mizune witch has yet to do anything but provide [[Fan Service]], in the manga two or three Mizune can combine together to form a teenage-looking girl (the one made from three looks a bit older) actually capable of fighting.

* High Octane Nightmare Fuel example of the shapeshifting type in ''Winter War''. Aizen's Hollowification experiments fuse shinigami with their [[Weapon as Familiar|zanpakuto]], the results being Tortured Abominations who still retain enough awareness of their situation to make the whole matter ''even more'' horrific.

* Buffy and a potential-Slayer Faith do a [[Mental Fusion]] version in ''[[I Am What I Am (fanfic)|I Am What I Am]]'', a ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' [[Peggy Sue]] fic by M. McGregor, in which Buffy's mind/soul supports and imbues Faith with super-Slayer powers. They manage this twice in the story -- once, before they even really meet, and {{spoiler|months later, when they and Xander face down The Judge; at that time they discover that the key to the fusion, which they had been trying without success to recreate, was both of them fearing for Xander's life}}.

 

== [[Film]] ==

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

** The background fluff also has a Power Booster example: The plane of [[Qurac|Rabiah]] was split into 1001 individual versions, each with a counterpart for each resident of the original, except for one man, Taysir, who was reflected only five times (one for each colour of mana). The black Taysir was manipulated into fusing with each other Taysir, which resulted in him becoming the most powerful planeswalker in the multiverse until Urza ascended.

** Planes tend to merge and split a bit. This can be quite jarring to the inhabitants, as in Alara or Kamigawa, and it was actually the entire point of the creation of Rath.<ref>Yawgmoth couldn't attack Dominaria directly for some reason, so he created Rath to send his troops to, and when Rath merged with Dominaria, yeah.</ref>

** Mechanics-wise, Rath has a race called Spikes, 0/0 creatures (in other words, too weak to live) who come into play with +1/+1 counters (making them strong enough to live), but you can remove them to put them on other creatures, or for other effects. You can also equip one living weapon on another living weapon.

* In ''[[Exalted]]'', there's a Solar Circle Sorcery spell called "Unity of the Closed Fist" found in the White Treatise. It creates the composite variant but adds all the elements of the different types of Exaltations involved. It can combine up to five individual Exalts, thus the name—five fingers making a single closed fist.

** Alchemicals have a version known as Synthesis of Divine Affiliation, which can affect six instead. However, the only way that you'll be using it to fuse one of each caste of Alchemical is when everything has gone to hell, because the sixth caste are supposed to go completely unseen until at least four varieties of brown gooey substance have hit the fan.

** And in the [[Old World of Darkness]], the Blood Brother bloodline of vampires naturally came in packs that could fuse together into a grotesque [[Biological Mashup]].

* In ''[[Deadlands]]'', a Harrowed is formed by fusing a deceased man and a demon. It's a Switcher, because only one of the two is in control at any time, but they share the powers pool. In case of the good Harrowed, it's also [[Enemy Within]].

* The Ritual of Union in ''[[Unknown Armies]]'' is a power-booster version, with a few twists.<ref>Neither participant knows in advance which personality becomes dominant, the "winner" can choose which body's form to use, and the whole process is extremely mentally stressful.</ref>

 

** Also notable is Takutanuva, the merged light/dark being formed when [[Sixth Ranger|Takanuva]] switches [[Mask of Power|masks]] with [[Big Bad|Makuta]] while submerged in [[Sentient Phlebotinum|Energized Protodermis]]. It appears to be a Composite type, although the personality seems more akin to [[The Messiah|Takanuva]] than [[Evil Overlord|Makuta]].

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* Several occurrences of this appear in the ''[[Breath of Fire]]'' series:

** The first game has Karn, whose only "power" is his ability to fuse with other party members to create powerful fused forms. The power is [[Lost Forever|entirely missable]], which can make Karn entirely useless. Not to mention he gets a form which can only be used underwater [[Power-Up Letdown|after the only underwater section in the entire game has finished]].

** Ryu's [[Infinity+1 Sword|Infinity Plus One Dragon]] in the first game also allows him to absorb all his partners to form one giant dragon with physical features from all of them. It always does maximum damage with every attack, making most bosses a breeze.

*** There's also a Miracle gene and Tiamat form in ''BoF3'', which allows replaces the party with one gigantic dragon. (The Fusion gene might seem like an example, but Ryu never absorbs other party members when using it; he just [[Mega Manning|copies their attributes]].)

** In ''Breath of Fire 2'', powering up your teammates takes the form of fusing them with different elemental Shamans. This can have minor effects (turning Sten's fur red) to major effects (changing the nigh-[[Joke Character]] Jean into one of the game's most powerful characters).

* In ''[[Jack (webcomic)|Jack]]'' the twin demonic personifications of Gluttony share the same body with one in control of it and the other's face sticking out of the crotch, switching seemingly at random.

* Near the end of ''[[Fite!]]'', {{spoiler|Guz is absorbed into Lucco. It's mostly a Power Booster type, but there's a little Composite, as Lucco has Guz's eyes after the fusion}}.

* In ''[[Homestuck]]'', during Act 6, Gamzee forcibly prototypes a Kernelsprite with the bodies of {{spoiler|Tavros and Vriska}}, creating the unholy abomination known as {{spoiler|Tavri}}sprite.

* In the ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' fanimation ''[[Nazo Unleashed]]'', {{spoiler|Sonic and Shadow fuse into Shadic after assuming their [[Sonic 3 and Knuckles|Hyper forms]].}}

* The second [[Season Finale]]/last episode ever of ''[[Legion of Super-Heroes (TV series)|Legion of Super Heroes]]'' featured a Composite of [[Superman]] and his clone-from-the-future (er, ''further'' into the future), Superman X. It was accomplished with Saturn Girl's [[Psychic Powers]], as it was technically a [[Battle in the Center of the Mind]].

* ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'': The Avatar State is a Composite and Power Booster at once, with a bit of Switcher mixed in. It allows the current avatar to have the skills and knowledge of all the avatars before him. In moments of extreme danger or emotional distress, the Avatar State awakens by itself, and the current Avatar has no control until the danger/angst has passed. Additionally, in certain circumstances, the avatar can take the ''physical'' form of a previous avatar. Aang was able to turn into Roku while inside his temple, and Kyoshi while wearing her artifacts. Also, while not actually resulting in a fusion, Book 3 had an episode where Aang and {{spoiler|Zuko}} perform a fire-bending "form" that very much resembled the DBZ fusion dance at several points and was called the "Dance of the Dragons". This is likely a [[Shout-Out]] as the creators are anime fans.

* In the short-lived ''[[Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm|Mortal Kombat Defenders of the Realm]],'' Nightwolf was the team [[Smart Guy]] and seldom joined the others in battle, preferring to stay back with his pet wolf and man the computer systems. When important missions did require him to accompany the team, he would merge with the wolf as a Power Boost when kombat got thick and open a can of whoop-ass on the [[Mooks]]. It was quite awesome to see and helped to break the monotony of the show, though he only did it like three times over the course of the series.

* An episode of ''[[ReBoot]]'' had main villain viruses Megabyte and Hexadecimal merge (via a third component, a Web Virus) to make an even more powerful hybrid called Gigabyte, who is specifically said to have both Megabyte's strength and Hexadecimal's special powers.