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{{trope}}
[[File:shapeshifter04 8865.png|link=The Sword in the Stone|frame|"It's a battle of wits. The players change themselves into different things in an attempt to destroy one another."]]
{{quote|'''Merlin:''' N-now, Mim, no dragons!
'''Madam Mim:''' [[Exact Words|Did I say no]] ''[[Loophole Abuse|purple]]'' [[From a Certain Point of View|dragons]]? ''DID I?''
|''[[The Sword in the Stone]]''}}
There's nothing quite like the awesome brought down to bear when a hero goes into battle with - or as - a [[Shape Shifter]], as they change forms and faces, [[Shapeshifter Weapon|grow weapons and limbs]], or use camouflage to hide and strike.
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Know what's better? A fight between ''two'' [[Shape Shifter]]s!
When two shapeshifters fight, the only thing holding them back is their imagination and the versatility of their shape shifting abilities. Two similarly gifted shape shifters can play a deadly escalating game of Cat and Mouse [[Escalating War|and Dog and Cougar]] and [[Metaphorgotten|
Alternately, the combatants will turn each other into undesirable forms to try to get the upper hand. This is usually [[Played for Laughs]].
This is a recurring theme in myths and folklore, and is at least [[Older Than Print]]; folklorists call it a "[[transformation chase]]". There are a number of Celtic ballads, in particular, where a suitor pursues his chosen bride through a series of forms before she consents to marry.
[[Transforming Mecha]] can often do a variant of this, but as they only have a set number of modes, they're allowed to pair up versatility with firepower.
Almost guaranteed to involve [[Shapeshifter Swan Song]], [[One-Winged Angel]], [[Shapeshifter Weapon]]s, [[Shapeshifter Mashup|Shape Shifter Mashups]] and very often a variant of [[Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors]]. Compare [[Battle in the Center of the Mind]].
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* The manga ''[[Parasyte]]'' averts this by having its shapeshifting Parasytes almost always using utilitarian bladelike shapes rather than imaginative ones, and simply aiming to kill the other Parasyte's host before exhausting its own.
== [[
* ''Child Ballad'' #44 ("The Two Magicians") is all about this, but with "duel" replaced by [[Shapeshifting Squick|"attempted rape"]]. Best performed by British folk-rockers [[Steeleye Span]] on their ''Now We Are Six'' album.▼
* Fat Messiah Games's ''Shape Shifters: The Game of Transforming Wizards'' is entirely about this trope, with a large "tree of life" diagram showing the available shapes and the transitions between them, as well as their relative strengths and weaknesses.▼
== [[
* In ''[[The Sandman]]'', Morpheus fought the demon Choronzon in a poetry battle of sorts, where each sought to become something capable of defeating the
* The [[New Mutants]] became helpless bystanders when the Impossible Man dueled their member Warlock. As both characters are largely pacifistic, the bulk of the battle involved a "beefcake contest". {{spoiler|Impy was ultimately undone by his one weakness: he can't change color.}}
* A shapeshifting duel took place between Impy and Mr Mxyztplk in the [[Intercontinuity Crossover]] ''Silver Surfer/Superman'', in which they both took on the forms of heroes from their respective universes.
* Another one of those involving Impossible Man takes place in ''[[Exiles]]'', when they visit an [[Alternate Universe]] in which he can not only transform himself but also other things and went [[Axe Crazy]] after an attempt of supervillain to take control over him had [[Gone Horribly Wrong]]. It ends with shapeshifter Morph dueling Impy and winning by making him laugh so much the results of brainwashing breaks.
** Morph gets into another one in mini-series ''X-Men: Die By The Sword'', with Mad Jim Jaspers. Sadly, we don't see too much of it.
* An erotic variation occurs in the ''[[XXXenophile]]'' story "Things That Go Bump in the Night".
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== [[Fan Works]] ==
* [http://dc-nation.livejournal.com/159575.html Aurora "Fauna" Andersen versus Black Lantern Garfield "Menagerie" Logan] in [[DC Nation]]'s version of [[Blackest Night]].
* Nymphadora Tonks' part of the final battle in Jeconais' ''[[Harry Potter]]'' fic ''[
== [[Film]] ==
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* ''[[Cleric Quintet]]'' has one of these, though it's more a [[Battle in the Center of the Mind]]. A cursed object used to [[Grand Theft Me|possess people]], is fighting Cadderly's efforts to destroy it. Good thing he's strong willed.
* ''[[Discworld]]'':
** ''[[
** A dramatic Shapeshifter Showdown between two magic users in ''[[
* The [[Celtic Mythology|Welsh myth]] of Ceridwen and Taliesin.
* In the short story "Hardshell" by Dean Koontz (published in ''Predators''), the climax reveals to the reader that the titular detective and the killer that he's tracking down are both alien shapeshifters. {{spoiler|They engage in a shapeshifting duel, and it turns out that the criminal is younger and less experienced. Hardshell simply envelops it in an impervious shell and suffocates it, since they still need oxygen.}}
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* A Kenyan story found in [https://web.archive.org/web/20101225221251/http://store.augusthouse.com/productdetails.cfm?sku=5194 this book] involves a boy who uses shapeshifting to con people by turning himself into a bull and letting himself be sold, then running away. Eventually he tries it on someone who turns out to be a more experienced shapeshifter.
* Ran and Eln get into this in Doris Egan's ''Ivory'' trilogy. The fight finishes when {{spoiler|Theodora hops off the sidelines and just flat out stabs Eln.}}
* In the [[Fairy Tale]] ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20130313071325/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/asbjornsenmoe/farmerweathersky.html Farmer Weathersky]'', after the father has reclaimed his son, [[Evil Mentor|Farmer Weathersky]] tries to reclaim him, but the boy runs off, shifting his shape to avoid being caught. Similarly in ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20140704014515/http://surlalunefairytales.com/authors/grimms/68thiefmaster.html The Thief and His Master]'', ''[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/423.htm Master And Pupil]'', ''[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/121.htm The Magic Book]'', and ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20130603122533/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/facetiousnights/night8_fable5.html Maestro Lattantio and His Apprentice Dionigi]''.
** In at least one version of the story, [[Puss in Boots]] also features a limited version of this trope. Via a spell, rather than an inborn ability, Puss defeats the ogre and wins his castle in a shapeshifting challenge rather than an outright fight. He does this by reverting to normal as the ogre changes into a mouse.
* In ''The Doomspell'' By Cliff McNish, shifting forms rapidly in an attempt to outwit each other is a part of the epic battle between Rachel and Dragwena.
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* Howl and the Witch of the Waste have one in ''[[Howl's Moving Castle (novel)|Howl's Moving Castle]]''.
== [[Live
* Subverted in ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' where Odo and another changeling fight conventionally.
** Played straight in [[Peter David]]'s [[Expanded Universe]] novel,
== [[Music]] ==
* The Magnetic Field's tribute song to Robert Burns, "Wi Nae Wee Bairn Ye'll Me Beget," features one of these between a woman and her prospective suitor. It ends with him turning into God, and her winning by not believing in him.
▲* ''Child Ballad'' #44 ("The Two Magicians") is all about this, but with "duel" replaced by [[Shapeshifting Squick|"attempted rape"]]. Best performed by British folk-rockers [[Steeleye Span]] on their ''Now We Are Six'' album.
* From the middle to the end, [[Tori Amos]]'s "The Chase" is a transformation chase between Tori trying not to be killed by Anabelle. It doesn't take long, and it doesn't really end well...
{{quote|'''Anabelle''': Use your head or you'll be dead.}}
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* ''[[Zits]]'', combines the above with [[Volleying Insults]] due to its love for illustrating metaphors: "Who are you calling a chicken? You pig!"
== [[Tabletop
▲* Fat Messiah Games's ''Shape Shifters: The Game of Transforming Wizards'' is entirely about this trope, with a large "tree of life" diagram showing the available shapes and the transitions between them, as well as their relative strengths and weaknesses.
* ''[[Shadowrun]]''. An article in ''Shadowland'' magazine #5 on shapechanging mentions the "Shapshifter's Duel", where two wizards with shapechanging spells would do this.
* ''[[Exalted]]'': When you play a Lunar and your nemesis of the day is someone from the Wyld, this is bound to happen. And the Lunars do fight [[The Fair Folk]] on regular basis.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Shapeshifting]]
[[Category:Alliterative Trope Titles]]
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