Magic Pants: Difference between revisions

[[File:hulk_out_950hulk out 950.jpg|link=The Incredible Hulk|rightframe]]

{{quote|''"Thankfully, his clothes also grew just enough not to bother the censors."''|'''The Narrator''', ''[[Arakawa Under the Bridge]]''}}

Heroes who can change their size or shape generally don't have to worry about [[Clothing Damage|ruining their clothes]] in [[Transformation Sequence|the process]]. They must have [['''Magic Pants]]'''.

Simply put, [['''Magic Pants]]''' are the "civilian" clothing the characters wear as they go about their daily business. They may lose them during the [[Transformation Sequence]], but once the dirty work is done, they'll appear back in them often right where they were standing. This can even happen if the transformations are shown to explicitly ''destroy'' the clothing, and in some cases, the rest of the clothing is destroyed but the pants mysteriously survive.

* Kenshiro from ''[[Fist of the North Star]]'' has a tendency to "[[Hulking Out|hulk out]]" when facing foes he particularly despises or has difficulty defeating, destroying his jacket and undershirt in the process. He seems to have an infinite supply of these jackets and undershirts, as they are always replaced without explanation by the beginning of the next episode -- andepisode—and sometimes, by the beginning of the next ''scene''. Justified in that he quite literally absorbs it and re-extrudes it when he's finished.

** Ranma himself deserves a mention. Unlike the others he changes genders instead of into an animal, causing his normal clothes to be too big and hang loosely when turned into his smaller girl form; it takes the space of a panel for "her" sash to tighten around her waist and for the rolled-up sleeves to adjust to her shorter arms. Conversely, ''almost'' any fitting clothes he gets put in while a girl end up streching as they are too small (but not small enough that they'll rip) if he returns to normal --thenormal—the exception being a steel corset that was forced on female Ranma by a domineering governess, and which was small (and inflexible) enough that it crushed male Ranma's torso quite painfully and effectively locked him in female form for the duration of the ordeal.

* When Chrono of ''[[Chrono Crusade]]'' transforms from his [[Sleep Mode Size]] into his true form, he goes from wearing a red coat over a 1920's-esque outfit into a [[Badass]] jacket ([[Shirtless Scene|sans shirt]]) and pants. When he returns to his childlike form, his usual outfit reappears. (This causes a very interesting sight to happen later in the manga--whenmanga—when part of his coat is blown away before his transformation is triggered, after his switch back to his child form part of his coat is in tatters. Which causes one to wonder...how can his coat can be damaged by ''bullets'', but [[Fridge Logic|doesn't get destroyed when he grows an extra foot or two and gains abs and a six pack]]?)

** In the [[The Incredible Hulk (TV series)|live-action series]], Ferrigno usually wound up wearing the same kind of pants that Bixby had on when he "Hulked Out". This led to amusing scenes in which the transformation would shred shirts, destroy heavy leather work boots, and even, in one case, crack open a motorcycle helmet -- andhelmet—and yet those [[Magic Pants]] remained intact. One speculates that this was why the Hulk was so ''angry''.

** Sue hangs a lampshade on this -- basedthis—based on her being embarrassed at stripping to hide her powers in the first movie (of course, [[Naked People Are Funny|they turned off at the exact wrong moment]]) and her burning her clothing off at the second (again, turning back to normal at the exact wrong moment), she mutters "why does this always happen to ''me''" as she turns invisible to hide herself from the crowd.

* The ''[[Cutey Honey]]'' [[Live Action Adaptation]] movie averts this: Honey has to wear a bra and panties, because all her other clothing is conjured up by the AI System (which runs on onigiri-- riceonigiri—rice snacks). Bizarrely, though, she has to wear a towel for her first transformation--nevertransformation—never mind that she's dry, alone, and in her own house (although one could argue that she wasn't exactly prepared to run around town naked)

* In the film ''[[Harry Potter and Thethe Prisoner of Azkaban (film)|Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban]]'' there is a rather stupid inversion. Animagus Peter Pettigrew at one point turns back into his rat form and his clothes come off. Problem is, every other time Animagi turn into animals and back, their clothes morph together with them. Pettigrew had in fact morphed from rat back to human earlier in the film, fully clothed, so his own transformations aren't even internally consistent.

* Completely averted in ''[[Village of the Giants]]'' -- the—the teens grow to enormous size rapidly and their clothing proves to be utterly inadequate. Fortunately, [[Curtain Clothing|some giant curtains]] are on hand to cover their shame.

* [[Played With]]: In the ''[[Animorphs]]'' series of books, the main characters are able to shapeshift into animals. Doing so leaves their clothes intact, or rips them up. During the first book they transform back, completely naked, and have to find clothes or store spares elsewhere to change into later -- butlater—but as they become better at controlling their abilities they become able to clothe themselves in very thin skintight clothing, usually black and "spandexy", which usually causes more unusual attention than outright nakedness...

** The TV series (when it showed transforming at all...) played this straight, with clothes transforming to and from animal forms with the wearer -- forwearer—for budget and decency reasons, one presumes.

* Similarly, in the [[Discworld]] series of books, the werewolf Angua von Uberwald has to keep clothes stashed around the city of Ankh-Morpork. In ''[[Discworld/Thud|Thud!]]'', when she and the vampire Sally both end up completely naked after transforming into a wolf and a flock of bats respectively, they end up having to borrow clothes from a nearby strip club. It is explicitly stated that male vampires can reincorporate their clothes after shapeshifting, but female vampires cannot. This is probably a direct reference to [[Fan Service]].

* Same thing in the ''[[Fablehaven]]'' books. This also applies to their [[Time Travel]] device--youdevice—you can take nothing with you during time travel, including your clothes.

* In the [[Tanya Huff]] book ''[[Blood Books|Blood Trail]]'', the shapeshifters simply walk around naked or take off their clothes to change shape. Of course, there is also a very good reason for this -- theythis—they are physically unable to shift form if wearing clothing (something about the 'unnatural' fiber interacting with their innate abilities).

* Averted in the ''[[Mercy Thompson]]'' series. Clothing is not kept during shifting -- andshifting—and for werewolves, who become larger when they shift, it is torn. Werewolves and other shapeshifters will therefore discard their clothing prior to shifting if there is time to do so. As a side effect, shapeshifters (and those who live with them) tend to be comfortable with casual nudity. The exception is Charles, who can make clothes magically appear on his body due to his [[Magical Native American|background]].

* The shapeshifters in the ''[[Twilight (novel)|Twilight]]'' series destroy their clothes when they transform. To solve this problem, once they get the transformation under control, they undress somewhere where no one will see them and tie them to a leg before transforming -- apparentlytransforming—apparently, [[Fridge Logic|this somehow saves the clothes]]. Characters often complain about this when they first begin shifting, Jacob even once getting angry that he accidentally shredded his last pair of underwear.

* Somewhat enhanced in ''[[Power Rangers]]'' and other [[Toku|Tokusatsu]]satsu series, where if a character covered in filth transforms, they'll be squeaky clean when they de-morph. Apparently the Morphing Grid does sheets, too.

* Mostly averted in ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' -- the—the shapeshifter Odo forms clothes out of his own substance, but seems to have a Magic Combadge. The [[Expanded Universe]] either implies that he'd usually put the badge on the inside of whatever he turned into (since he didn't need to actually make organs and so on). Which doesn't explain where it goes when he turns into things like puddles of water.

* Averted in ''Woof!'' -- very—very much so -- Ericso—Eric Banks/Rex Thomas lost his clothes every transformation.

*** That being said, if your party had a vampire sufficiently advanced in the sneaky-hidey Discipline, you could have '''Virtual [[Magic Pants]] For All'''.

* In ''[[Exalted]]'', you'd think Lunar Exalts would go through a lot of clothing when changing shapes -- especiallyshapes—especially to their massive "warforms" -- but—but no, it just disappears into [[Hammerspace|Elsewhere]]. On the other hand, if they're wearing Moonsilver Artifact Armour, it shifts with them no matter the form they assume -- beassume—be it that of an unassuming housecat, or a bear the size of a small house. Complete with appropriately sized and shaped chainmail shirt/plate armour. No, really.

* In ''[[Dungeons and& Dragons]]'', most shapeshifting spells and powers either explicitly have your gear change with you, have your gear meld into your body, cause your gear to fall off unharmed, or some combination of the three when you change.

* ''[[GURPS Supers]]'' had a buyable Advantage called "Costume" -- a—a costume that works with and adapts to the powers and form of the wearer, similar to Marvel's "unstable molecules".

** [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in [http://www.furaffinity.net/view/535617 this] Bloody Roar fanfic ([[NSFW]] and free registration required); during a [[Foe Yay]] moment between [[Cloning Blues|clone-brothers]] Long and Shenlong, they compare underwear choices in regards to their transformations -- Longtransformations—Long wears customized thongs (with a little strap for his tail), while Shenlong [[Going Commando|goes commando]]. Also, in the [[Slap Slap Kiss]] fight between them beforehand, Shenlong removes his expensive shirt prior to transforming, not wanting to tear it up.

* In ''[[World of Warcraft]]'', Druids keep the statboosts from their gear despite not wearing anything in animal form. The gear also reappears when they tansform back. Same also aplies to any other class or mob with a shape-shifting ability. Notably, the Warlock's Metamorphosis (which temporarily turns the user into a demon) has [[Magic Pants]], as does a Shaman's Ghost Wolf form.

** Players can remove all their equipped gear, leaving the character ''naked'' except for a different kind of [[Magic Pants]].

* Subverted in ''[[The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind|Morrowind]]''. If you become a [[Wolf Man|werewolf]] and transform, when it's no longer night, you won't be wearing anything (except your [[Magic Pants|glued on loincloth]]). Though they won't be destroyed, since you can just equip them again, otherwise all your [[Amplifier Artifact|precious artifacts]] [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|would be destroyed.]]

* Averted in ''[[Castlevania: Rondo of Blood]]'' and every subsequent game that uses the ''Rondo'' sprites for the Werewolf enemy. After losing all his HP, he transforms back into a naked man and bursts into flames as per the ''[[Castlevania]]'' tradition.

* Very, very [https://web.archive.org/web/20090901195154/http://drmcninja.com/page.php?pageNum=39&issue=13 averted] in ''[[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja]]''.

** Lampshaded in the [[Alt Text]]; "The pants aren't stretchy". It goes on to be lampshaded [https://web.archive.org/web/20090901195801/http://drmcninja.com/page.php?pageNum=43&issue=13 a few pages later].

* In ''[[The Dragon Doctors]]'', a mage who specializes in shapeshifting can summon [http://www.drunkduck.com/The_Dragon_Doctors/index.php?p=521082 emergency pants]{{Dead link}}, saying "I had a very wild adolescence." This is because the [[Magic Pants]] trope is [[Averted Trope|averted]] most of the time; Sarin's transformations do not apply to clothes, leading to many wardrobe malfunctions.

* Averted due to [[Fetish Fuel]] in the perpetually [[NSFW]] ''[http://www.themagnificentmilkmaid.com/ Magnificent Milkmaid]'': ''every'' character with a transformation regularly destroys their clothing. The titular Milkmaid has the advantage of transubstantiation -- andtransubstantiation—and so, she can form her costume when she's powered up and reform her normal clothes as she powers down. Everyone else is saddled with being in whatever state of undress their transformation leaves them in.

* Played straight and then averted in ''[[Dungeons and Denizens]]''. When Min drinks a [[Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever|Growth Potion]], his clothes grow with him . . . but they do ''not'' shrink with him [https://web.archive.org/web/20131218200455/http://dungeond.com/2005/11/10/11102005/ when it wears off.]

* Averted in the [[Whateley Universe]] by Shifters. Either they're not very good, and they lose their clothes, or they're so good that -- likethat—like Jimmy T -- they fake their own clothes as part of their appearance.

** In the Simpsons comic book, Homer once ended up becoming 50  ft tall as a result of an experiment performed on him by Mr Burns. Most of his clothes are destroyed in the transformation, including his pants.

* The question of what exactly happens to Beast Boy's uniform on ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'' whenever he changes into an animal is never explained, or even ''attempted'' to be explained. In an episode where he is infected with a virus that turns him into a werebeast his clothes are shredded -- inshredded—in fact the second time he transforms into the monster he completely tears off his clothes (pants included) and yet when he changes back his pants are intact. In [[Teen Titans (Comic Book)|the comics]], Beast Boy's outfit was some sort of unstable molecule suit similar to the [[Fantastic Four]] outfits. The thing would basically break apart and float on his skin, then reassemble when he scaled back to human form.

** Also handwaved in the episode "A Bicyclops Built For Two": Leela meets the the only other cyclops -- Alkazar -- whocyclops—Alkazar—who turns out to be a shape-shifter using the "I'm the only other member of your species" tack on four other [[Last of His Kind|last-of-their-kind]] females. When asked why he made the foolish mistake of trying to marry all of them at the same day he points out that a tuxedo that shifts shape with its wearer is very expensive to rent.

* The "Grande Size Me" episode in the fourth season of ''[[Kim Possible]]'', aside from being an [[Anvilicious]] episode espousing healthy food choices, also had Ron turn into an enormous, yellowish, [[Incredible Hulk]]-like thing that talked in [[Hulk Speak]] and craved fast food. When he turned back, they oddly went with the [[Running Gag]] and had him reduced to his boxers--whichboxers—which were intact.

* In ''[[American Dragon: Jake Long]]'', when Jake transforms into his dragon form his clothes disappear, same goes for the other dragons. When he transforms back into human form his clothes reappear. This is lampshaded beautifully by {{spoiler|Jake's dad}} in the last episode: