Shapeshifter Baggage: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

But if given a scientific basis, this apparent violation of one of physics' [[No Conservation of Energy|most basic principles]] is sometimes given a rudimentary form of explanation.

 

Sometimes explained by increasing or decreasing the density of mass, making the shifter smaller or larger by changing the spacing of the particles/darkmatter/etc. that makes up their body. Sometimes it is done by consuming mass like food/drink/flesh/etc. then expelling it later to change size, shape, or mass.

 

== Anime and Manga ==

* ''[[S-Cry-ed]]'' is a good example of a justification of this trope, although transformation is only seen in one character and in a subset of the typical creation power. Whenever somebody creates something, the mass they require for it is taken from surrounding objects or the environment itself. When the aforementioned character creates his robot arm he not only melts down half of his body, but a large part of the landscape and, the first time he gets it, a bird flying overhead. Yikes.

** Taken up a notch with an Alter User who created a [[Humongous Mecha]]. His first use of it, in response to a bunch of villagers backing him to the edge of a cliff, was to vaporize ''them'' as material.

* In Kenichi Sonoda's ''[[Cannon God Exaxxion]]'', the [[Robot Girl]] sidekick can shapeshift into a [[Cool Bike|hoverbike]]. She stores the excess mass needed to change in her breasts.

* Averted in the ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' manga. Envy, despite [[No Biological Sex|its]] lithe and feminine physique, is very heavy, and as a result, makes very deep footprints and can break a steel fence after a short fall. This is noticed by the main characters and clues them in on the size of [[One-Winged Angel|Envy's true form...]]

* The [[Pokémon]] Ditto can change into 'mons of any size, but the [[Pokémon (anime)|anime]] once subverted it with a Ditto that couldn't change size.

* ''[[Saikano]]'' uses this, but doesn't attempt to handwave it or anything of the sort.

* The Saiyan ''Oozaru'' form from ''[[Dragon Ball]]'' is never fully explained; how does one quickly transform from a human-sized alien to a full-blown giant monkey? Of course, not much else makes "scientific" sense in that series.

** However, Oolong the pig's physical strength and body mass remain constant regardless of his current shape. Simply becoming a motorbike, for instance, doesn't guarantee he's strong enough for Bulma to ride.

*** The manga Kimimaro seems to have an accelerated healing factor which attempts to explain this, but really just invokes the "Biomass from thin air" part of this trope.

* In the manga ''[[Gantz]]'', the final boss of the Osaka mission "Nurarihyon" could change shape and size from a little old man to a monster the size of a high rise building, and is capable of splitting to multiple variable life forms of himself and demonstrates different powers with every different forms he assumes. He could survive being squashed to a puddle of blood and reform to another different gigantic monster instantly. {{spoiler|He was eventually killed off by consecutive blasts that squashed him to a blood puddle (again) by the main team leader, taking the bridge along with him. }}

 

== Comic Books ==

** [[The Other Wiki]]'s article on the Hulk states that gamma rays, being the most powerful form of energy known, are so strong they can actually transform energy into physical mass, possibly explaining the increase in size. Now, as for where the mass goes when he transforms back, that's anyone's guess.

* In the [[Marvel Universe]], a common explanation for size increase/decreases/etc is that characters' added/excess mass is "shunted off into a [[Another Dimension|pocket dimension.]]"

*** Based on the comics (unless this changed recently); unlike other shapeshifters, Mystique can't change mass and has to keep a generally human form. It's even suggested that she can remain in her Raven Darkholme form indefinitely because there's no change in mass, while trying to keep the same mass in a larger form is a strain that keeps her from using such forms for long. Given her [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old|age and experience]], however, that sort of 'strain' is a relative term. In her solo series of comics, she demonstrated an incredible creativity with the use of her powers despite the limits she had compared to most other shapeshifters. Among the feats she performs is flattening out to avoid taking damage by an explosion, [[One-Winged Angel|assuming a monstrous form]] by ''sprouting a second face and pair of arms'' in order to quadruple wield (though she specifically mentions that doing so was ''very'' dangerous to her health, brain, and a massive strain to her powers), faking a glass vial being broken in her hand, faking the effects of a lethal virus, smuggling items in a "flesh pocket" in her stomach, and pointing out that since she mimics all her clothing too, she's technically naked all the time.

* Slightly (and disgustingly) avoided by Big Bertha of the [[Great Lakes Avengers|Great Lakes... um, at the moment, Initiative]]. It's not explained where the extra mass comes from when going from supermodel Ashley Crawford into I-stop-traffic-the-hard-way Big Bertha. But after the heroics are done, she does have to expel the extra mass... by ''vomiting'' it back out. She doesn't like it any more than you do.

* The alien Skrulls are explicitly described as being unable to alter their mass, and therefore having size restrictions on what they can imitate. Some writers forget this, as when a Skrull character became a flea to hide on someone's person (or in their ''very first appearance'' in ''[[Fantastic Four]]'', when a Skrull poses as Sue Storm and mimics her ability to turn invisible by shrinking), or gained tremendous weight to crush someone.

* Averted by [[The DCU]]'s [[Martian Manhunter]]. In an issue of his solo series, he reveals that he can borrow mass from the Earth.

** He also dodges it in that, since he can make any part of himself intangible and invisible, he can hide any excess mass he's not using.

* Micro-Might from ''[[PS238]]'' averts this trope. When using her powers, she gets smaller, but not lighter; she gets denser instead, apparently using the [[Square-Cube Law]] (although in a comic book physics way) to get stronger and tougher.

** Mass Master of ''[[Power Pack]]'' also had this property, and may have been the inspiration for Micro-Might.

Artax: According to the fine print for "Plan #1", the growth potion increases '''volume''', but not '''mass'''. }}

* In ''[[Ultimate Marvel|Ultimate]] [[Iron Man]]'', Tony's [[Healing Factor]] lets him regrow his legs, but he has to become a [[Big Eater]] to get the necessary materials.

* ''[[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Spider Man]]'''s Doctor Connors regrows his arm whenever he becomes the Lizard. When this transformation happens gradually it can be [[Handwaved]], growing it back was, after all, the point of his research. But then there's Komodo, whose improved version of the Connors' formula lets her shift between forms at will. In human form, she hasn't got any legs, and it becomes a bit harder to rationalize someone losing and growing back their legs as a result of falling asleep on a plane for a few minutes.

* Atom Smasher of the ''[[Justice Society of America]]'' received his powers from his radiation-affected grandfather, but he uses a surprising mechanism for growth. His bones and muscles literally break and regrow as they stretch, pointing to some sort of accelerated biological growth process.

* ''[[Transformers]]'' is explained in greater depth down the page in Animation, but the comics have the same issues with Megatron transforming into a gun and Soundwave and Blaster as cassette players, all about big enough to fit in their hands in robot mode. Possibly the most egregious offender of all is Broadside, a triple-changer with alt-modes as both an aircraft and an aircraft carrier.

 

 

== Film ==

* ''[[Species]]'' starts out fairly good with this, with Sil having to eat huge amounts of food to maintain her bamboo-like growth rate. Then the realism level crashes and burns when she goes into her cocoon and comes out a mature woman who has to weigh about twice as much as the little girl that went in. There's an attempt to justify it by explaining her food consumption as "storing up calories for some big event" except if that was true she should have been visibly bloated from holding her own weight in food in her stomach, and she wasn't. The whole cocoon process was probably mostly just made up so Sil could go straight from asexual child to mature sexpot without a [[Lolicon|logical but family-unfriendly intermediate stage]]. They repeat this with {{spoiler|[[Enfante Terrible|her offspring]]}}, whose rapid growth rate is fueled by gobbling up sewer rats, but who then becomes visibly larger without any proportionate mass intake when he assumes his [[One-Winged Angel]] form.

** This last is somewhat averted in that the transformation of {{spoiler|Sil's offspring}} wasn't exactly neat, tidy or complete. One limb is far shorter than the others. The muscles are stretched very thin. Bones are exposed. There isn't enough skin to keep everything covered. In fact, the internal organs hang from a gaping hole in the abdomen. It's what you'd expect to see if a small amount of mass suddenly tried to expand into a larger shape.

** And let's not forget that ... [[One-Winged Angel|thing]] ... that infected astronaut turned into at the end of ''Species II''. The transformation is off screen so I suppose it's technically possible that he paused in his make-out with {{spoiler|Eve}} to gobble down a few hundred pounds of burgers, but seriously, ''come on''.

* There's a good reason why, in the comics and cartoons, [[Spider-Man]] used web-shooter devices. The movies don't hold to this tradition, however, and no explanation is given as to how his body can produce and secrete so much organic matter without turning him into an extreme [[Big Eater]].

** Wolverine's fast healing must take a hell of a lot of stamina/metabolism.

** Mystique can apparently take on appearances with variable mass, as seen with her shapeshifting into a little girl on that prison truck.

** Multiple Man.

** Where did Beast's fur go when he walked near Jimmy/Leech?

* The [[Star Wars]] [[Extended Universe]] features the Shi'ido, a species of shapeshifters who are nosy about the affairs of others, but keep to themselves when it's time to be sociable. Evidently, the problem of changing mass (one "encyclopedia" style book includes an excerpt from the logs of Senior Anthropologist Hoole, who describes how, studying a world of creatures about a meter tall, he saved a pair of them from a storm by transforming into a Wookie and using his greater mass in this form to hold them down) is one that they learn to overcome around age 150, but ''how'' they overcome it doesn't come up, apparently.

 

== Literature ==

** Played straight, however, with the Helmacron "shrink ray". Animorphs and Yeerks are shrunken and unshrunken with impunity, without even a [[Hand Wave]] as explanation.

** There is still the question though of where the extra mass comes from when someone morphs into a bigger form.

*** [[Eldritch Location|Is there really?]]

* Handwaved in ''[[The Elvenbane]]'', wherein the dragons explain that when they change from huge firebreathing beasties into humans or elves, the extra mass goes into an extraplanar space they call [[Hammerspace|the Out]]. (A similar conceit is implied in the D&D universe, even though the transformations are magical.) A dragon in human form, when viewed in the magical spectrum, can be seen as a human surrounded by a dragony "shadow".

* Averted in [[Dean Koontz]]'s novel ''Phantoms''. The [[Big Bad]] monster can change its shape and detach pieces of itself, but it must obey conservation of mass. Its creations often appear outsized when it tries to imitate something too small or too be big, and it's only able to imitate a much smaller creature by splitting itself apart.

* Averted in the ''[[Wild Cards]]'' series, where Kid Dinosaur can change shape into any kind of dinosaur, but explicitly does not change mass. This results in such things as a 3 foot tall T-Rex.

** Skewed with Rahda "Elephant Girl" O'Reilly, who is a Irish-Hindu were-elephant. Her excuse is that she absorbs energy from the environment and converts it into mass; this can black out a city if used in the right location. Likewise, when she changes back the excess mass converts into a flash of light. Of course, the amount of energy needed to convert into a couple of tons of elephant flesh is incredibly titanic; and the energy release from changing back should wipe out a continent. So it's neither averted nor played straight.

* The ''Timeweb'' trilogy by Brian Herbert takes the more obvious approach: shapeshifters grow larger by absorbing rocks and dirt into their own mass. Growing smaller is somewhat like shedding snakeskin, and can be a bit disgusting if a massive change is needed.

** Bit of a family tradition, this. In Frank Herbert's novel, "Man of Two Worlds", a shapeshifting alien is captured by humans and is confined to a cell with only a small drain being the way out. He laments the fact that he can't simply destroy his own mass so that he can become small enough to fit through the drain. Too late does he realize that he could have just turned into a snake and slithered down the drain, without having to bypass the law of conservation of mass/energy.

* Averted in ''[[Sector General]]'', where Dr. Danalta does not, in fact, lose or gain any mass when it changes shapes...so when it turns into something that looks like a teddy bear, it is still a very heavy teddy bear.

* Worried about and obsessed over in the [[Whateley Universe]]: ordinary Shifters can't violate Conservation of Mass, but the highest-level Shifters (who may not be using the same underlying principles) ''can''. The researchers are still trying to figure out where the extra mass goes or comes from, but it seems to be inter-dimensional. As for clothes, the best Shifters shift their own, and have to learn how to do it right so people aren't pointing out that their 'dress' has pores and hairs showing.

** This doesn't seem to explain how shapeshifting into something smaller works, though. Where does the extra mass go? The Nevernever? If so, how is it protected from some nasty spider-goblin thing that probably wants to eat it?

*** According to the official RPG, that's exactly what happens. The [[Literary Agent Hypothesis|margin notes from Harry and friends]] specifically mention this as a good adventure hook.

** It is mentioned in one of the other ''True Game'' world's books, though; Peter {{spoiler|(Mavin's son)}} mentions that when he decreases his mass the excess is expelled, resulting in what looks very like a pile of minced beef. The significant [[Squick]] factor tends to stop it being made into burgers, though.

* In [[Mercedes Lackey]]'s and [[Andre Norton]]'s ''[[The Halfblood Chronicles|Elvenblood]]'' series, where shapeshifting dragons shift excess mass into the "Out", which is implied to be [[Another Dimension]]. Not all dragons are equally skilled, so only the best can assume radically smaller forms such as humans and elves.

* In ''[[Liar]]'' by Justine Larbalestier this is explicitly averted; werewolves are exactly the same mass in both forms.

 

** Apparently, he can also change his molecular and atomic structure. When he shapeshifts into a wall, even sensors can't tell him apart from the real thing.

** Peter David's "The Siege", the ''first'' ''Deep Space Nine'' book if we don't count episode novelizations, had one of the characters literally taken off their feet by having their pantleg grabbed in the teeth of a 180-some-odd-lb mouse as they're (trying) to run by.

*** To be fair, there was no indication that the shifter in ''Star Trek VI'' changed anything but shape, as all they did while large was look intimidating, and while small simply slipped out of chains. Their mass could have remained the same the whole time.

** In the original series episode "By Any Other Name", a Vulcan Mind Meld revealed a human looking race to actually be "Immense beings... 100 limbs which resemble tentacles, minds of such control and capacity that each limb is capable of performing a different function."

* The Doctor from ''[[Doctor Who]]'' changes size between regenerations, and it's never even brought up where the extra mass goes when changing his form.

** In "The Daemons" the alien Azal creates vast amounts of heat whenever it changes size.

** In "The Lazarus Experiment", Professor Richard Lazarus exposes himself to a de-aging device which mutates him into a giant, life-force devouring monster. However, despite the radical change in size, it's stated that he hasn't actually gained any mass and thus his body is highly unstable.

* At first ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' kept it fairly reasonable. The series first "shapeshifter" was really a [[Master of Illusion]]. In the fourth volume they introduce a genuine shapeshifter, whom [[Mega Manning|power thief]] Sylar promptly snacks on. At first, Sylar only used his shapeshifting power to shapeshift into people of roughly the same size and weight as him (and also still wore the same clothes before and after shifting). However, after a few episodes, Sylar is able to shapeshift ''his clothes'', and also turns into a kid.

* In ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'', shapeshifters are shown to shed their old skins whenever they take on a new form. This only covers half the issue, though.

 

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* White Wolf's ''[[Werewolf: The Forsaken]]'' takes time out in a supplement to explain the deep mechanics of Uratha (werewolf) biology. Among the various points is the fact that Werewolves don't actually shift shapes... they swap shapes. Uratha meta-biology has all five of a Werewolf's forms existent at all times; one in the physical world, and four stored as spiritual energy templates in the Werewolf's aura. As a result, beings that can see Auras perceive Werewolf auras as being intensely bright and dense, with the light brightening or dimming based on the size of the physical form. That means the aura is brightest in Urhan (normal wolf) form, and dimmest in Gauru (Man Wolf Death machine).

** Although, if you're paying attention to the aura while in the presence of an eight foot tall enraged evolutionary monstrosity honed for violence... one might question your priorities.

 

 

* The spirit channelers of the ''[[Ace Attorney]]'' series change their body shape and size to what the channeled spirit looked like when they were alive. Many mechanics of channeling, including the question where the extra mass comes from (or goes to) go unexplained in the series.

** Channeling is tantamount to [[A Wizard Did It|magic]], mind you.

* When fighting Gandrayda in ''[[Metroid Prime]] 3: Corruption'', she transforms into multiple characters you've already fought over the course of the game. Most of what she transforms into is sensibly around her own size, with the notable exceptions of Ghor and his ''ginormous'' powered-armor, and the massive Berserker Lord. Her scan page states that how she can change size so drastically is unknown.

** X-Parasites also tend to do this while mimicking creatures. Most creatures of roughly human to twice human size will require just one X, despite the X only being about the size of a basketball. Some other creatures, like certain [[Space Pirates]], will require two or more ([[Elite Mooks|Golden Pirates]] have ''five'' for some reason) and bosses will generally have a larger Core-X surrounded by smaller X, showing at least a semblance of realism.

**** This is at least [[Lampshaded Trope|lampshaded]] in [[Metroid Prime]], where one of the scans in the Phazon Mines reveals that the pirates attempted to copy morph ball technology, but... well, the results weren't pretty.

** Try standing on a vehicle - most cars and other vehicles will be unable to move, and even ''tanks'' are slowed down by his weight. Using thermal vision, Alex is also far, far warmer than other humanoid entities (such as civilians, soldiers, etc.). Whether this is to make him easier to see and control for the player or yet more suggestion that he has much more mass is unknown.

*** In thermal vision, Infected also appear brighter than normal civilians and even soldiers, which could imply that, like Alex, they are far denser than ordinary people.

*** Even better: Ever tried shoving someone right next to a deformable object/terrain? What should been a shove that pushes someone moderately, if you miss, can dent cargo containers, vehicles, even a military base exterior fortification wall!

* ''[[Project Eden]]'' has rats that transform into monsters over twenty times their original size, then then turn into a small splash of green goo when they die.

* In ''[[Halo]]'', the Flood has a pure form (which aren't based on an individual infected being) which can change its shape for various functions. Interestingly, the mobile form is quite small and light, but it can change into a large "tank" form in a few seconds which is significantly more massive, and its shooter form should be losing mass as it shoots, but it has no effect on its ability to change again.

* Averted in ''[[Mega Man X]]'' with Axl, he has a copy chip that allows him to transform into any Reploid he has a genetic sample from, as long as said reploid is aproximately the same size as him, however it's played straigth with all the other new generatioin reploids (from wich Axl is a prototype),some of which can {{spoiler|shapeshift into the 8 bosses, and Sigma}}, all of whom are of different sizes.

 

== Webcomics ==

* Averted in ''[[Digger]]'': After turning into a huge monster, Shadowchild points out that in that shape it is stretched out thin and can't do much besides looking scary, and this is with Shadowchild being not exactly solid, but presumably magical, to begin with.

* ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'' starts off with a human shapeshifter who can change her density, but not her mass. Then people start getting zapped with ultratech alien devices that don't obey conservation of energy, magic is brought in, and the whole thing breaks down.

* In one storyline of ''[[Nodwick]]'', the protagonist is forced to drink a magic potion of giant size to fool an invading army of orcs. As it turns out, the potion ''doesn't'' increase his mass, only his size, and his increased surface area leads him to be blown away by the ambient breeze.

* Averted in ''[[Drowtales]]'': Ariel uses whatever she has around to shapeshift into something bigger (such as creating [[Winged Humanoid|wings]]), usually her hair and clothes but also a small dragon golem that was created with that ability in mind.

 

== Western Animation ==

* In ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'' Beast Boy has been everything from an Amoeba to a Diplodocus, yet his base form couldn't weigh much more than 100 pounds. The same likely applies to his comic form.

** The [[Transformers Film Series|2007 movie]] specifically averted this by having the CGI computers track where every nut and bolt went during transformation. The result was that some robot forms were twice as tall as others.

*** Which made it really stand out when the All Spark, a giant cube that had Hoover Dam built around it to hide it, folds up into a much smaller cube that can't be even a hundredth its original size. No one bothers to even try to hand wave it. Maybe it was just lighter than it looked to start with.

* The ''[[Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers (animation)|Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers]]'' episode "Dale Beside Himself" features the Fleeblebroxians, a roughly mouse-sized alien race that can transform into anything with ease, for example a dragon the size of a small dog and several hundred times the mass of a chipmunk. This can hardly be explained by the fact that they consist of "unstable molecules".

* Imp from ''[[She-Ra: Princess of Power|She Ra Princess of Power]]'' routinely took on forms that required an outside energy source to perform their function (and more energy than he could reasonably produce naturally) and he was never shown having to recoup what was lost. Notable examples are being a lit candle, two types of rocket complete with jet propulsion, flame thrower powerful enough to start a forest fire, and a laser rifle.

** The same fairies that regularly POOF! things into existence? The baggage is one of the least [[Egregious]] things about them.

* Jake from ''[[Adventure Time]]'' is an extreme example, being able to stretch to [[Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever]]-scale on demand. One episode, "The Limit", explored what [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|limit]] there is to Jake's shapeshifting, and he didn't reach it until he had stretched a ''great'' distance. But that was due to his organs no longer functioning, so the hypothetical limit of how massive he can become hasn't been explored yet.

* Nobody's really sure where ''[[Kaeloo]]'' gets her extra mass when she [[Hulking Out|transforms]]. Interestingly, Mr. Cat, the other shapeshifter in the cast, doesn't appear to experience significant changes in mass despite his wide variety of forms.

* Mostly averted in ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]]''. Sandman looses some of his sand every time he fights, and has to be 'fed' raw silicate to keep the same mass. He only becomes bigger when he ingest ''more'' silicate, and becomes a giant after taking an entire beach's sand.

* [[Handwaved]] in [[Generator Rex]] with nanobots.

 

== Real Life ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Hyperspace Index]]