Not Himself: Difference between revisions

* Cosmic Boy of DC's post-Zero Hour ''[[Legion of Super-Heroes (comics)|Legion of Super-Heroes]]'' spent a whole [[Arc]] being Not Himself and alienating his teammates at every opportunity {{spoiler|in order to set up an elaborate [[Engineered Public Confession]] which revealed the President's corruption and caused her removal from office}}. Some Legion fans never forgave him for it. (It didn't help that this particular arc occurred in the first couple years after a total reboot of the Legion, so it wasn't as clear as it might have been that this wasn't just Cos's new personality.)

* Apparently, hacking into Superman's mind is like evil hypnotists' [[Wiki Vandal|wikivandalism]]. Some bratty six-year-old in Minneapolis trips over a ouija board, next thing you know our Man of Steel is giving the Batman a wedgie. Supes has probably been brainwashed, hypnotized, or possessed more than any character in fiction. And if you count the times he's [[Super Dickery|pretended]] to be Not Himself, more than all fictional characters combined. Read any random five Superman or Superman-associated comics from the 50s through the 70s, and see if you can't find one of these stories.

** There's also the arc in 2000 where Lois and Clark's marriage appeared to start falling apart, with Lois accusing Clark of not caring about her because she was just a human, and of cheating on her with Wonder Woman, effectively turning the poor guy into a miserable wreck and culminating in her walking out on him. Turns out it was actually Parasite masquerading as Lois in order to simultaneously feed off of Superman's powers and destroy his spirit in a plot to kill him. The arc wound up with what looked like [[Crowning Moment of Funny|a superpowered-Lois Lane beating the snot out of Superman right in front of a flabbergasted Perry White and Jimmy Olsen]], and apparently required loads of explanations from the real Lois after everything was cleared up, especially as Parasite had been running around using Lois's know-how to steal millions of dollars.

* In the ''[[Justice League of America|Justice League International]]'' comic, Guy Gardner spends a rather extended period like this after minor head trauma, courtesy of [[Batman|one punch]]. The abrasive, chauvinistic, arrogant Guy turns into a sweet, Sensitive Guy—who really exists deep down, as exhibited when Guy falls in love. This trope is partially subverted, though, because the League ''likes him better as Sensitive Guy'' and therefore makes no effort to return him to his previous state.

* This happens twice in ''[[The X-Files]]'', once in "Small Potatos" that involved a shape-shifting man, and another in "Dreamland", where Mulder switches bodies with an Area 51 worker. Both Non-Mulders try their hand at seducing Scully.

* Anytime an angel or demon appears on ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' could count as this since both angels and demons must possess a human host in order to operate on Earth. Most of the human hosts never appear onscreen without being possessed by the angel/demon, but they obviously wouldn't have their angelic/demonic powers when they're not being possessed.

 

 

** A good chunk of the game's first half is driven by Princess Garnet wanting to find out why her mother was not acting like herself. Turns out she was being influenced by Kuja.

* In ''[[Final Fantasy IV]]'', it is said at the beginning of the game that the King's behavior changed. [[Fake King|Of course...]]

* In [[The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask]], one of the sidequests you need to complete for [[One Hundred Percent Completion]] is helping a little girl, Romani, with defending the ranch's cows from aliens on the night of the first day. If you fail, the aliens abduct the cows and Romani, since she was also in the barn. They bring her back on the third day—but she can't think straight, doesn't recognize Link, and shakes her head, trying to remember or forget things. It's assumed by the whole fandom that she was lobotomized.

* Video games in general bring a unique version of this where the out of character behavior is caused by the player controlling the action either being a jerk or having a sense of humor toward the choices the game throws at him.

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* In ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]'', Chapter 18, Robot S13—previously the comically [[Pollyanna]] [[Chew Toy]]—abruptly begins acting deadly serious and [[Took a Level in Badass|proves to be a dashing swords-bot]], much to the surprise of Annie and Kat. Presumably his new body has something to do with the change, but ''how'' remains to be seen.

* In ''[[Fans]]'', when Alisin's incurable and deadly blood disease starts to kick in, she sets out to pull an April Shadows in order to leave her loving boyfriend less sad when she goes. {{spoiler|Despite (or perhaps because of) the best efforts of the [[Big Bad]] and the traitor, he not only figures it out but time travels to a period when the disease has been cured thanks to the FIB's efforts to save ''her'', lets a teammate trick the [[Big Bad]] into contracting the disease, and thus distracts her long enough to get some of the cure for Alisin. Everything works out- well, sort of.}}

** Turns out {{spoiler|he's ''literally'' not himself; the Panther we'd been following was the [[Evil Twin]]. The real one sets things right.}}

* In ''[[Casey and Andy]]'', [[Satan]] places [[Mad Scientist|Andy]] by the Soul-Keeper, an ancient and complicated machine. She was able to tell later he'd been replaced by [[The Starscream|Azrael]] because he hadn't started taking it apart to see how it worked.

* It [[This Is Your Brain on Evil|appeared this way]] with Varsuuvius in ''[[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]]'', but accepting that it ''was'' consistent with his character was part of his [[Character Development]]. A straight and more striking example would be Belkar's [[Snap Back|very brief]] wisdom boost turning him repentant and pacifistic.

* In ''[[Newshounds]]'', Rochelle being ''afraid'' of danger instead of craving it was the first sign of {{spoiler|her pregnancy}}.

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==