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Shapeshifter Mode Lock: Difference between revisions
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The name is taken from ''[[Transformers]]'', more specifically, from the ''Transformers: Universe'' profile for Cloudraker, where it is in an issue of the Marvel comic book, which states "His major physical problem is a tendency to suffer "mode-lock" -- the inability to transform from one mode to another."
Compare [[The Mind Is a Plaything of
{{examples}}
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** Ranma also briefly had a temporary cure when he got a fever so hot it made any water he came in contact with too warm to activate the curse. Conversely, when he got a freezing cold later in the same story, the moisture in the air flash-froze in contact with him, which ''also'' made it impossible to turn into a girl (since solid ice doesn't trigger the curse).
** Don't forget the second movie ''Nihao My Concubine'', in which the villain has waters from a sacred spring that transformed the one splashed in it permanently into a man. He uses it to threaten girls to come along quietly with him, but the curse spring victims try to use it to break their curse. By the end of the movie, Ranma's falling high speed toward the spring, but {{spoiler|he has Akane falling with him, so he destroys the spring so she doesn't get stuck as a man, [[Yank the Dog's Chain|ruining his chance to break the curse once again.]] }}
* ''[[Hime
* [[Ai to Yuuki no Pig Girl Tonde Buurin|Buurin]] gets this in the second to the last episode after revealing her secret to her classmates. Fortunately for her, after collecting [[108]] pearls, [[Unexplained Recovery|she got better]].
* When Ichigo first turns into a full cat in ''[[Tokyo Mew Mew]]'', both she and [[Mission Control]] fear that it'll be permanent. However, she figures out [[Intimate Healing|how to change back]] after [[Hilarity Ensues|a long and grueling day as a helpless kitten]].
** {{spoiler|Said [[Mission Control]], Ryou, who himself has a cat form named Alto}} is specifically ''said'' to be able to stay in cat form for no more than ten minutes - or else the transformation will become permanent.
* In the second season of ''[[
* In ''[[Claymore]]'' the more a Claymore uses her Youki power, the more her body transforms into a Youma -- the very thing they hunt (since they are part Human part Youma). If they use up 80% of their Youki power, they fully turn into a Youma and cannot transform back into human form and hunter will become the hunted (apart from some rare exceptions).
* Keel's goal of undoing his human transformation in ''[[Buster Keel]]''. He does manage to gain a few items that let him temporarily transform his arms to their original forms for fighting.
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** Courier's not the only X-character to suffer this. Nearly any character with a civilian form and a combat form will find him/herself stuck in powered-up mode. Colossus has been trapped in metal form, Iceman in ice form, Lifeguard in [[Half-Human Hybrid|half Shi'ar form]], Shadowcat as intangible (not shapeshifter but worth mention), Wolfsbane as at least part wolf, and so on.
* Parodied by the ''[[She Hulk]]'' graphic novel. Jennifer is told by Reed Richards that he has bad news: She's stuck as She-Hulk forever and can never change back into regular human Jennifer. After a [[Beat Panel]], She-Hulk inquired "So what's this bad news"? It [[Retcon|turned out]] that Reed was lying anyway since he's a dick.
* Averted in a ''Wildcats/JLA'' crossover where Maul is afraid to use his power to [[Blessed
* A [[Shape Shifter|Skrull]] named Khn'nr was to be used in the infiltration of Earth in [[Marvel Comics|Marvel's]] Secret Invasion event. He was mode locked into the form of Captain Marvel, a long dead hero, and [[Fake Memories|brainwashed into thinking he was him]] from the past. When he found out, he rejected his part in the invasion, and now is trying to work against it.
** Similarly, quite a few Skrulls who took the form of Dr. Hank Pym wound up losing themselves in the role/being overwhelmed by the personality of the original, and had to be put down.
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*** In another example, some Skrulls who invaded Earth were brainwashed into becoming cows, rendering them harmless. Unfortunately, the cows were then slaughtered, and those who ate the meat either died or gained powers along with a virus. That's the origin of the Skrull Kill Krew. Team member Riot was stuck in a monstrous bug form for an extended period of time.
* In [[The DCU]], a story arc in ''[[Martian Manhunter]]'' involved him being Mode Locked in a form resembling his usual appearance, but with four arms. This was a [[Shout-Out]] to the four-armed Green Martians in [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]]' ''[[John Carter of Mars|Barsoom]]'' novels.
** Other instances include Manhunter being reduced to amorphous goo by a neurotoxin, being trapped in Aquaman's body and freaking out, and an Elseworlds story where all the heroes lost their powers, leaving him in his natural Martian form with all of the [[Blessed
** The evil White Martians are initially dealt with this way by the JLA. They are given human form and have their memories removed, effectively trapping them as humans. Needless to say, problems occur when a few of them get their minds back and remember how to shapeshift.
* In ''[[Transformers]]: Spotlight'', Soundwave gets locked by the Decepticon Pretenders when he tries to stop them after learning the full extent of their plans.
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** Whether this is good or bad depends on the form he's stuck as. Though when he recently got stuck as Banner... he proved to be dangerous even without the Hulk.
*** It's all a matter of perspective. Hulk would love to be mode-locked and never turn into Banner again. Banner would love to be free of the Hulk, but at this point [[Genre Savvy|knows better]]. Both absolutely hate the idea of being mode-locked as the other.
** His [[Expy]]'s son in ''[[
* A story arc in ''[[Legion of Super-Heroes]]'' involved Durlan shapeshifter Chameleon Boy getting stuck in his usual form and undertaking a dangerous journey on Durla to a place that would restore his shapechanging abilities. His father, who had long ago been Mode Locked into human form by a disease, came with him, but only to provide support; he had adjusted to having a permanent form and didn't want his abilities back.
* Appears in ''[[Calvin and Hobbes]]'' when Calvin's [[Transformation Ray|Transmogrifier Gun]] runs out of juice after a [[Shapeshifter Showdown]], leaving Calvin stuck in the form of an owl until it recharges. Somehow, his mother doesn't seem to notice, but humours him.
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== Fanfic ==
* In ''[[
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== Literature ==
* This is part and parcel of [[Magic
** Besides the intervention of a [[Reality Warper]] (which is how Tobias got his ability to morph back), the only other known way to escape being a nothlit is if your animal form undergoes a natural metamorphosis. Once this happens (as when Cassie was stuck as a caterpillar but became a butterfly), your biological clock is reset and you have 2 more hours to change back.
* "Yennorks" are ''[[Discworld]]'' werewolves born with permanent mode-lock. Angua had a sister Elsa who was unable to turn into a wolf and her brother Andrei passes himself off as a sheepdog because of his inability to take human form. She makes it clear to Carrot that this doesn't make them a human and a wolf, they're both still werewolves, just werewolves unable to change.
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** This may be due to a recurring "you become what you do" theme that seems fairly consistent with regard to the Valar and Maiar. [[Your Mileage May Vary|It may]] have something to do with why the Valar themselves increasingly become shut-ins on their own island as well, though the text does not explicitly state so. If so, the entire existence of the Valar and Maiar within Eä can be seen as a progressively restrictive [[Mode Lock]] as time moves on.
** The Wizards, on the other hand, were good spirits in a voluntary [[Mode Lock]] into the shape of old men. The reason for this is that they use their knowledge to advice and tutor other peoples, rather than use their abilities to grab power. Didn't work with Saruman.
* In the ''[[Earthsea Trilogy|Earthsea]]'' books by [[Ursula K. Le Guin]], wizards who spend too much time shapeshifted into animal forms can forget their humanity, especially when distracted by the animal's power of ''[[Flight]]'' or ability to freely range the oceans.
* The succubus lead character in Richelle Mead's ''Georgina Kincaid'' series suffers a mode lock, along with all of the other demonic immortals in Seattle, when their supervising Archdemon goes missing {{spoiler|(summoned and bound by his lieutenant, with help)}}. Georgina is lucky enough to be in her default form when the lock begins - another succubus is not so lucky and gets locked into a completely different body. This stasis removed definable abilities such as shape-shifting and aura perception due to their being normally 'distributed' via the Archdemon, but their connection to hell - and their immortality - remained.
* In the "Outernet" books by Steves Barlowe and Skidmore, the shapeshifter-characters Sirius and Vega are trapped in the forms of a cat and dog, respectiely. This remains throughout the whole of the series (with two brief exceptions).
* Mikey McGill in ''[[The Skinjacker Trilogy]]'' gets stuck in his hideous monster form whenever his negative emotions overwhelm him, and it usually takes some sort of trigger to bring him back to normal.
* Inverted in ''[[Dragons Winter (Literature)|Dragons Winter]]'' when Karadur is locked in his human form (he's a dragon shapechanger). Later in the novel, Hawk is also so locked. Her alternate shape should be [[Exactly What It Says
* In ''Prospero's Children'' by Jan Siegal, a sorceress with the ability to turn into a wolf would use her form to hunt humans for sport. One day she met a wizard who cursed her to remain in wolf form permanently until she could repent for her evil ways. After several years, she sought out the wizard so that she could show him that she had changed, but the wizard no longer had the power to change her back.
* ''[[Curse of the Wolfgirl]]'' reveals that werewolves are unable to shift out of their human forms if there is a lunar eclipse. Then things [[It Got Worse|get worse]] when the [[Big Bad]] of the book finds a spell that can simulate an eclipse and conspires with a bunch of hunters.
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== Live Action TV ==
* In ''[[Doctor Who]]'', the Doctor's TARDIS possesses a "chameleon circuit" which, under ideal circumstances, disguises the machine by making it appear to be an inconspicuous object in the time and place it's parked. Due to a malfunction he's never been able to fix, however, it is permanently stuck in the shape of a 1960s British police box. He did fix it for one story, but then [[Status Quo Is God|it broke again]]. It's later stated that he doesn't even try to fix it anymore, because he likes it that way. Other Time Lords that appear in the series have TARDISes with normally functioning chameleon circuits.
** In the ''[[
** At one point the Doctor says he smashed the circuit with a hammer, so it would NEVER work again. [[Depending
*** Although, now it's stated that the chameleon circuit is working properly. It analyzes a huge area of its surrounding environment, extrapolates an inconspicuous form for it's exterior, then shifts that appearance to.....a 1960s British police box. Every time. But it is, technically, functional.
* In an episode of ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' Garak uses a device on Odo that prevents his shapeshifting. Since he cannot take his natural liquid form, his body begins to deteriorate. Later, he had his powers taken away by his people for a surprisingly long amount of time (unusual for this trope): about half a season.
** Still later, in the latter days of the Dominion War arc, all of Odo's race (including Odo) fall under the influence of a disease which makes them unable to liquefy, slowly killing them as above. This is revealed to be {{spoiler|a biological weapon invented by the [[Secret Police|shadowy, rule-evading part]] of Starfleet. Unfortunately for their plot, they had to infect the race through Odo, which means the good guys race to find the cure in the nick of time.}}
* This happened to the character Tommy Oliver in ''[[Power Rangers Dino Thunder]]'' when the actor playing him had real life commitments; the character was stuck in his suit, then invisible for the best part of a season.
* In one episode of ''[[Dengeki Sentai Changeman]]'', episode dealt with Hiryū Tsurugi is stuck in his Change Dragon form. Unlike in other instances where it is treated as a minor annoyance at best, here it is treated as a real threat.
* On ''[[
** It's heavily implied that the Van-tal demons were the original progenitors of the Vampire race. Which would mean that, by definition, vampires are themselves demons ''always'' mode-locked in a human body.
** After Illyria, a primordial Old One had her powers mostly drained, she was effectively trapped in Fred's body. She did retain the ability to shapeshift... but only into Fred's human appearance.
* In ''[[
** In the the [[Halloween Episode
* ''[[
* On ''[[Fringe]]'', the shapeshifter at the beginning of Season 2 is stuck in the body of {{spoiler|Agent Charlie Francis}} after its shapeshifting device is broken. The shapeshifters' devices are unique so using another's would be pointless. The only way out is to complete its mission and go back before it is too late. {{spoiler|This doesn't happen because Olivia Dunham shoots it in the head.}}
* Happened to David Banner one time on ''[[The Incredible Hulk]]'', but in an [[Incredibly Lame Pun|incredibly]] strange way: in the two-parter "Prometheus", Dr. Banner got a little too close to a radioactive meteorite, and got stuck halfway between himself and the Hulk. For the duration of the [[Shapeshifter Mode Lock]], he retained his consciousness and intelligence, but had difficulty concentrating and focusing, and also possessed a fair portion of the Hulk's strength. Later ''in the same episode'', he effectively got Mode Locked AS the Hulk after being captured and imprisoned by the military; his futile attempts to break free of his cell kept him pissed off enough to stay green.
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== Tabletop Games ==
* In ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[Amber]] Diceless Role Playing''. It's possible for someone using [[Shapeshifting]] to lose the knowledge of how to shapeshift or even the ability itself, stranding them in their current form. It's also possible for them to lose their personality and take on the personality of the creature or person they're imitating, so they don't want to change back.
* ''Forgotten Futures''. A magician who transforms into an animal may come to believe that they are that animal and prolong the spell until it becomes permanent and erases their true personality.
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== Video Games ==
* In ''[[Prototype (
* In ''[[
** A TFT walkthrough states that in one mission, hitting Ilidan with a bunch of damaging spells will have a high chance of distrupting his AI, preventing him from transforming into his demonic form when heavily injured.
* In ''[[World of Warcraft]]'', the black dragon boss Nefarian has calls out to specific classes with specific effects on those classes. The class call to Druids ("Druids and their silly shapeshifting. Let's see it in action!") will force all Druids to shapeshift into cat form and block them in it for a while. Feral specialised DPS druids may not be affected if they're fighting in this form anyway, but druid [[Mighty Glacier|bear tanks]], healers and spellcasters will be annoyed. Of course, at the time Nefarian was at the top of the food chain DPS-specced feral druids, and for that matter any non-healer druids, were so exceedingly rare in end-game raiding that Nefarian was probably fine discounting their existence entirely.
* Not quite [[Shapeshifting]], but in ''[[Kingdom Hearts]] 2'', abusing Sora's [[Super Mode|drive forms]] can lead to him accidentally drive into the infamous [[Blessed
* Two examples from ''[[Nethack]]'':
** The amulet of unchanging will mode lock the player. This is usually a good thing, since most transformations are [[Baleful Polymorph|unwanted]].
** The ring of protection from shape changers will mode lock all enemy shapeshifters, which renders them effectively harmless.
* An example of the ''lock out'' version of mode lock: In the current-gen console game of ''Spider-Man3'', if the player removes the black suit, they have to wait for a small amount of time before they can use it again.
* In ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]: [[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess|Twilight Princess]]'', Link gets stuck in wolf form whenever he goes into a area covered in twilight. The only way he can change back, is by returning the '[[Plot Coupon|Tears of Light]]' to the spirit in that area. Later in the game however {{spoiler|Zant curses Link, locking him in his Wolf form (despite there being no twilight covering the land) Once removed, said [[Cursed
** [[The Legend of Zelda:
* In ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]'', a certain wonkiness in the nature of things makes it difficult -in some cases impossible- for the local druids to shapeshift. It's a story element and has no effect on the combat effectiveness of your party's druid.
* Towards the end of ''[[Metroid Prime]] 3: Corruption'', Samus goes to Phaaze, the source of all Phazon. However, the concentration of Phazon is so high that Samus gets thrown into a dangerous Hyper Mode has to drain all of her energy tanks in order to prevent instant corruption. And even that doesn't stop the problem since it just delays the inevitable where sooner or later, the Phazon will consume Samus so it becomes a [[Timed Mission]] from the landing to the end of the [[Final Boss]] battle.
* Cornell, the werewolf protagonist of ''[[Castlevania]]: [[
* Leader units in ''[[Transformers: War for Cybertron]]'' get to inflict this on opponents as an ability, known as [[Lethal Joke Item|Disruption.]] In addition to causing damage, it forces anyone in robot mode into vechicle mode and vice versa, for a set period of time. This can be either pointless or deadly, given that the opponent has weapons in both forms but also can't access all of their abilties. A [[Glass Cannon|Scientist]] without his jet form will '''not''' last long.
* In ''[[
== Web Comics ==
* ''[[Slightly Damned]]'': Kieri's "bunny curse" occasionally kicks in by itself and is difficult to revert.
* ''[[College Roomies
* In ''[[
** Which brings us to Vlad, who was in a de facto mode lock as his attempt to turn human nearly killed him; he ended up staying in some sort of mishmash of forms with weird stuff growing from his face. {{spoiler|He's unlocked after Ellen blasts him..and the idea of being kept away from a human form has her now voluntarily staying in her new human form no matter what.}}
** Also the [[Transformation Ray|TF Gun]] has a built in mode lock related to it's original purpose: If you get pregnant while transformed, you stay female. (There's no mention of being able to turn back after giving birth...)
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== Western Animation ==
* ''[[
** There was also an episode where Megatron has a beam-like device that trapped characters hit with it in Beast Mode. This lost the Maximals a chance to contact Cybertron.
** The original Marvel ''[[The Transformers (Comic Book)|The Transformers]]'' comics introduced Nucleon late in the run, to [[Merchandise-Driven|tie in with the toy line's introduction of the non-transforming Action Masters]]. Nucleon strengthens a Transformer immensely, but, among other nasty potential side effects, always renders them unable to transform. Understandably, [[Psycho Serum|most users wind up wishing they'd never touched the stuff.]]
** ''[[The Transformers (
*** Also in "Desertion of the Dinobots", a little bit of Phlebotinum called "Cybertonium", which all Cybertron-created Transformers (i.e.: not the Dinobots) need in order to function correctly, starts decaying, resulting in semi-hilarious malfunctions (Megatron in at one point waving his arms around wildly when trying to fly, Ironhide icing himself up). Jazz is shown as unable to transform from car mode (until Ironhide kicks him), and is later shown stuck part-transformed (robot upper body, still in car mode in lower body). During the episode, Perceptor actually says "Fortunately I am still stuck in microscope mode").
** The ''Beast Wars'' example is a double-edged sword: by remaining in beast mode for ''too'' long, the beast instincts start to overwhelm the robot intelligence until they become feral. Certain Maximals who frequently remain in beast mode, notably Tigatron, are able to overcome this.
*** After even the normal Maximals were forced into permanent Beast Mode for an episode, they too learned the trick, and proceeded to teach the Predacons a lesson in Beast Wars.
** Yet another ''[[
*** Naturally this backfired, turning the normally peace loving Primal into a [[Fire And Forget Weapon]].
** The ''[[Transformers Prime]]'' [[Two Part Episode|two-part episode]] "Operation Bumblebee" featured Bumblebee's T-Cog [[Organ Theft|being stolen by MECH]], rendering him unable to transform into vehicle mode. {{spoiler|Eventually it was retrieved, however MECH then procceded to turn on Starscream (who'd been working with them), [[Laser-Guided Karma|and steal]] ''[[Laser-Guided Karma|his]]'' [[Laser-Guided Karma|T-Cog]], leaving him stuck in robot mode.}}
* Ben in ''[[
** As a variant, Kevin winds up submitting to Mode Lock after overuse of previously-acquired Omnitrix-fueled transformation -- what Vilgax lovingly (sarcasm) calls a "misshapen amalgamation". By the time ''Alien Force'' rolls around, he [[Unexplained Recovery|returned to human form]] in time for his escape from the Null-Void.
*** Seems to have happened to Kevin yet again in ''[[Ben 10: Alien Force
* In ''[[
* An episode of ''[[The Mask (
* This is the entire purpose of the Plasmius Maximus in ''[[Danny Phantom]]''. It has been used on both Danny and Vlad, modelocking them into their human forms. Other weapons/containment devices have this as a side effect of sorts.
** Don't forget the episode "Forever Phantom", in which one of Jack's weapons zaps Danny and [[The Blank|Amorpho]], forcing the former to stay in his ghost form and the latter to stay in Danny's human form...even though Amorpho still manages to (with difficulty) shift a bit more before being cured. [[It's a Long Story|It's a long story.]]
* Between episodes 21 and 23 of ''[[
* ''[[
* Meatwad in ''[[
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