Shapeshifter Weapon: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

A [[Voluntary Shapeshifter]] is never without a weapon, because they ''are'' a weapon. When nothing else is within reach, they can form their body or [[Artificial Limbs]] into [[Wolverine Claws|claws]], [[Blade Below the Shoulder|blades]], [[Cool Guns|guns]], [[Drop the Hammer|hammers]]... their arsenal is limited only by their [[Green Lantern Ring|imagination]]! (And possibly the story's [[Magic A Is Magic A|internal logic]].) Others who are "limited" to only one alternate shape will use a [[Partial Transformation]] to unsheathe their claws (or [[Combat Tentacles|tentacles!]]) while still in human form.

 

 

Part of what makes the [[Shapeshifter Showdown]] so spectacular. Compare with the [[Morph Weapon]], which has similar powers but isn't part of the wielder's body, and [[Retractable Weapon]]. Not to be confused with the [[Calvin and Hobbes|Transmogrifier]] [[Transformation Ray|gun]]. See [[Equippable Ally]] for when they still need a little help from an ally to take advantage of this.

{{examples}}

** Greed can make his skin hard as diamond and uses this for defense and offense in battle.

** Lust possess the Ultimate Spear, meaning she can make her fingers [[Captain Obvious|long and pointy...like spears.]]

** [http://imageshack.us/f/854/fatherhandgun1234.png/ Father once formed his hand into a gun]... [[Incredibly Lame Pun|A handgun, so to speak]]

* Elder Toguro of ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'' loves turning his body parts into pointy things to stab people with.

* Chachamaru in ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' can transform her forearms into blades or even guns. Judging from his ability to mimic other people exactly, Albireo can likely use his pactio item on his larynx. Evangeline also enjoys a good shape-shift here and there (claws are her favorite).

* There was an episode of ''[[Pokémon]]'' involving a Ditto that eventually turned into a cannon for a [[Fastball Special]]. Now if it could only turn into an actual cannon in the games...

* The [[Night of the Living Mooks|Mariages]] in ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]] StrikerS [[All There in the Manual|Sound Stage X]]'' do battle by converting their arms into weapons such as swords, lances, or [[Arm Cannon|artillery]].

** In the chapter 63, Marie said that the ability of manipulate their form is one of the basical traits of the Death Scythes. Indeed, Spirit, Marie and {{spoiler|Soul Eater}}

** Crona has the ability to use Ragnarok the Demon Sword. Although Ragnarok has its own soul and own personality, it was born of and lives in Crona's blood, effectively meaning that it is a part of Crona.

* Nube's Oni Hand in ''[[Hell Teacher Nube]]''. He has to be careful when doing this, though, lest the hand overpower him and consume his entire body.

* The titular characters of ''[[Karakuridouji Ultimo]]''.

* Alissa Southerncross from ''[[Keroro Gunsou]]'' fights aliens with the help of her shape-shifting "daddy", Nebula.

* Gajeel from ''[[Fairy Tail]]'' can change his limbs into a club, a spear or a sword. And a chainsaw.

 

== [[Comic Books]] ==

* The [[Marvel Universe]] has several:

** The X-Men's own Random can also turn his arms into guns. Like, [[BFG|really huge ones]]. It's pretty weird-looking when he does it.

** Also in X-Men, Cessily Kincaid, Mercury III, forms blades, maces, and hammers among other things. At least once, she's also done a variant where she's acted as armor for another character.

** Mystique can do this with some effort, but usually doesn't because she still has organs and needs to remember where they are. Instead, for example, she'll shift most of the muscles of her upper body into her right arm just as she delivers a punch, thereby increasing its power. She's also been known to hide guns ''inside herself''. At one point she even gave herself two heads and four arms to fight on two fronts at once.

** Carnage (and to a lesser degree, the other symbiotes) is a perfect example, as he's famous for morphing his body into weapons, especially axes and other blades.

* [[The DCU]] has a few as well:

** Guy Gardner, when he was Warrior. A bit of a step down from a [[Green Lantern Ring]] (''especially'' since he had the yellow ring before).

** The Engineer from ''[[The Authority]]''.

** Warblade of WildCATS.

** [[Plastic Man]] uses his stretching power for shapeshifting more often than not, though he only ''rarely'' turns his limbs into weapons or anything like that. He's too creative. When Plas does make weapons, they're usually unconventional. In his famous battle against Fernus, he made his body into several hilarious weapons like sharks and cymbal monkeys. The kicker is that he transformed into these things all at the same time.

** [[Martian Manhunter]] occasionally does this, as do his White Martian rivals. In fact, Manhunter is most likely to do this when fighting White Martians.

 

== [[Film]] ==

'''T-800:''' Knives and stabbing weapons. }}

* John Carpenter's ''The Thing'' could spontaneously grow teeth, claws, arms, mouths, etc. anywhere on its body.

* ''[[Transformers Film Series|Transformers]]'': Pretty much every weapon used by the titular species is formed from their limbs (except, for some reason, Optimus's gun). Other exceptions include [[Fan Nickname|Brawlvastator]]'s over-shoulder missile launchers (his tank [[Kibbles and Bits|kibble]]) and Blackout's [[Chest Blaster]].

* Limb removed? The "engineers" in ''[[Tokyo Gore Police]]'' grow a chainsaw or some other weapon out of there.

 

 

* ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'': RepliCarter has the same bladed arm as the T-1000 as a homage to ''[[Terminator|Terminator 2]]''.

* Auton Mickey, in the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "Rose," morphs his hands into, well, crude clubs. The other Autons get more prep time, and create much more effective weapons.

* All the Final Form Rides in ''[[Kamen Rider Decade]]'' are Shapeshifter Weapons, with the exception of Den-O Momotaros and Double. The list includes independent creatures (Kuuga Gouram, Ryuki Dragreder, Hibiki Akanetaka, Zecter Kabuto) vehicles (Agito Tornader), and weapons (Faiz Blaster, Blade Blade, Kiva Arrow).

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

** 3.5 ed. has a Prestige Class, the Warshaper, basically devoted to this, allowing a character to use his extant shapechanging ability (gained from another class or racial feature) to give himself natural weapons and superstrength, along with a few other perks.

** The Keepers, creepy [[The Men in Black|Men in Black]] with malleable bodies, such that they can reshape their hands into clubs or knives.

* ''[[GURPS]]: Magic'' has a whole set of spells called Partial Shapeshifting that allow the caster to transform body parts into enhanced versions of animal ones.

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* The MMO ''Warhammer Online'' features a Chaos class called the Marauder, who can turn his arms into giant blades, maces, and claws. Too bad they removed the female version, which would had have so much [[Fetish Fuel]] (let's see: an evil, muscular woman that can turn her arm into stuff)

** The official explaination for male-only marauders is that they wanted them all to be bare-chested. Yes, ''all'' of them. But they wanted to avoid an explicit Mature rating; same reason Slaaneshi daemons (notoriously naked) are in short supply and covered up more-than-usual.

* ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' features Jax, who has a fatality that involves changing his cybernetic arms to blades and chopping up his foe.

* Algol, the final boss of ''[[Soul Calibur|Soulcalibur IV]]'' fights merged with Soul Edge and Soulcalibur, and can manifest blades or shields from both at will.

* While Axl of ''[[Mega Man X]]'' doesn't literally change his limbs to turn into weapons, the same process and visual effects he uses to shapeshift is also used to create his arsenal of firearms, including his default Axl Bullets, which have the same color scheme as he does.

** The eponymous weapon itself is this. While this was shown in II and III, it's in full force in Soulcalibur V by {{spoiler|Elysium, Soul Calibur's will}}.

* Vectorman's whole "orbot" schtick involved transforming his whole body into jets and drills and such.

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* ''[[Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal]]'': According to creationist horror films, [http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1695#comic this is how evolution works].

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* In ''[[Static Shock]]'', there is a recurring minor minion named Shiv, who can turn his arms into almost anything he can imagine, almost like a [[Green Lantern]] (but without the need for a ring.) As per his name, he prefers sharp things.

* [[Generator Rex]] can do this, as he's full of [[Nanomachines]].

* In [[Justice League Unlimited]] several characters use this, including Martian Manhunter, Clayface, and Metamorpho

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Anatomy Arsenal]]

[[Category:Weapons and Wielding Tropes]]