Sizeshifter: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

 

{{examples}}

* ''[[Fairy Tail]]'' has Guild Master [[Cool Old Guy|Makarov]] who is one of the strongest characters in the series, if not the strongest himself. Usually, though, he is a [[Miniature Senior Citizens|Miniature Senior Citizen]].

* The three main characters in ''[[Ultimate Girls]]'' have the ability to grow to 100 feet tall.

* Employed by the Akimichi clan in ''[[Naruto]]'' as part of their clan jutsu. Choza is the first one to turn into a giant onscreen {{spoiler|and has spent most of the ninja war fighting in this form}}, and Choji uses it a couple of times as well.

* Piccolo from [[Dragon Ball]] has this ability, though [[New Powers as the Plot Demands|he has so many other abilities]] that it's often overlooked, and was only used once throughout the series.

 

* Ant-Man and company (Black Goliath, [[Young Avengers|Stature]], Wasp, and Yellow Jacket) of [[The Avengers (Comic Book)|The Avengers]]. Started out only being able to shrink. Later gained growth powers.

** The original Ant-Man, Hank Pym, invented [[Applied Phlebotinum|Pym Particles]] which enable this exact power, and allow anyone who can get their hands on them to use it. Said particles were used, among other things, to create a super-villain prison where all the villains were 6 inches tall. [[Cardboard Prison|Needless to say, there was a breakout.]]

* [[The Atom]] of the ''[[Justice League of America]]''. Since the power comes from his belts, anyone who gets their hands on one can use it, much like the Pym Particles. As a consequence, there have been a few successors to the name, as well as an [[Evil Counterpart]], Dwarfstar.

** DC's original shrinking guy, Doll Man, had the not-too-impressive ability to shrink to about six inches... though he retains his full-sized weight and mass, resulting in a measure of super strength. There's a modern Doll Man, as well, but he's permanently tiny.

** Another member of the Atom legacy, Atom Smasher of the [[Justice Society of America]], has the ability to grow. Unlike the Pym Particles, this is accomplished by his bones and muscles actually breaking and reforming as he enlarges.

* Colossal Boy and Shrinking Violet of ''[[The Legion of Super Heroes]]''. In the '90s version of the team, Colossal Boy died and Violet gained his growing powers, rechristening herself LeViathan. In the '00s version, Colossal Boy lives and Vi has been renamed Atom Girl.

* Among villains, one of the best known examples is Giganta from the [[DCU]]. However, she didn't develop this ability until she appeared in ''[[Superfriends]]'', making the current version of her something of a [[Canon Immigrant]].

* Alice from ''[[Alice in Wonderland|Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]]'', in the ''[[League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]]'', retained her size-changing powers from the infamous scene in the children's book.

* In ''[[Wildguard]]'', Jack Giant and Blaction Figure had growing and shrinking powers, respectively

* Mighty Man, from ''Amazing Man Comics'', has the ability to change his size.

* Miss America, who was originally created for ''Military Comics'' but later became part of [[The DCU]], has the power to shrink.

 

 

* [[Piers Anthony]]'s ''A Golem in the Gears'' features a character named Rapunzel who, due to her heritage as the daughter of Jordan the Barbarian and Bluebell Elf, can grow or shrink to any size she wants.

 

* Most heroes of the ''[[Ultra Series]]''. As well as the [[Godzilla]] franchise's [[Captain Ersatz]] of [[Ultraman]], Jet Jaguar.

* Justin Stewart of ''[[Power Rangers Turbo]]'', a ten-year-old [[Child Prodigy]] who was the blue ranger, shifted to adult size when he morphed for [[Stock Footage|some reason]]. He shifted back whenever he removed his helmet, oddly enough. It was almost like he could only maintain his shifted size in situations where he'd be played by a stunt double.

* The ''[[Misfits of Science]]'' had Dr. Elvin "El" Lincoln a really tall guy who could shrink.

* Crash Mc Larson on [[The Aquabats Super Show]] can grow to enormous, but it's controlled by his emotions.

 

* Perhaps needless to say, tabletop RPGs created to handle playing in the superhero genre usually include both powers. Fights between characters of massively disparate sizes can also seriously challenge a game's usual combat rules, which usually assume roughly human-sized opponents facing each other as the unspoken default and whose designers may not have stopped to consider how to address questions such as "can I climb/fly into my giant-sized opponent's ear and knock him out from there?"

** Originally introduced in the 1st Edition ''Oriental Adventures'' sourcebook (and then seen again in ''Complete Arcane'') are the Giant Size and Minute Form spells. Even a [[Squishy Wizard]] is going to hurt when she's hitting you with a ''tree''.

** Psionic characters have the [http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/expansion.htm Expansion] power, which achieves the same effect. It has the added bonus of working on non-humanoids just as effectively as humanoids and even allowing the target to grow even more. There is, of course, an opposite that causes the target to reduce in size.

* In ''[[Changeling: The Lost]]'', there exists a Kith (sub-type) of the Ogres known as [[Our Giants Are Bigger|Gargantuans]]; their particular gift as Changelings is called Spurious Stature, which enables them to grow to enormous size for a brief time. Given the somewhat more subdued nature of the New World of Darkness, this is less extreme than most examples of this type, though a newly escaped Gargantuan can grow to the size of a gorilla or grizzly bear depending on their power. Supplementary material implies that their size-changing power is a consequence of their reduced power on Earth; supposedly, some Gargantuans remember being of perpetual giant-size in the domain of the Fae.

 

* Clarence Willard of Ripley's ''Believe It or Not'' stage show could somehow shift his body so that he appeared to grow several inches.

 

* Toa Bomonga and Toa Norik of ''[[Bionicle]]'' fame wear a [[Mask of Power|Mask of Growth and Mask of Diminishment]], respectively.

 

* ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]''

** [[Big Bad|Bowser]] had occasionally became a giant in some games, and [[Super Mario Galaxy|Rosalina]] actually has the ability to grow to the size of a planet!

* In ''Super [[Pac-Man]]'', Pac-Man could eat a Super dot and temporarily become enormous. The super-sized Pac-Man was much faster and could pass through locked doors and ghosts without a problem.

* In [[The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap]], the title headgear enables Link to shrink down to mouse-size.

** [[Fat Bastard|Wyzen]] is this as well.

 

* Durkon from ''[[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]]'' occasionally transforms into a [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0111.html fifteen-foot-tall dwarf] when in dire straits. (Based on ''D&D'' spell Righteous Might, see above.)

* Vittoria of ''[[SERGOM]]'' can do this.

* Boltrin of ''[[Dragon Mail]]'' can grow once per day.

* Saurus from ''[[Zodiac (webcomic)|Zodiac]]'' has this ability.

 

* In the ''[[Whateley Universe]]'', not only are there many people who can do this, but there is more than one superpower that will let you do it. Some Warpers can shrink or grow by using a warp displacement field about themselves so that they don't change but their relationship to the outside world is altered. Some Shapeshifters can shrink or grow also, and ''they'' have the [[Magic Pants]] problem.

 

* Apache Chief from ''[[Superfriends]]''. Considering he's wearing a loincloth, we hope he's wearing some undies.

** His [[DCAU]] [[Expy]] Longshadow has the same power, but is sensible enough to wear pants.

* Big purple Mego of ''[[Kim Possible]]'' -- "[[Stealth Pun|He's a shrinker]]."

* Bumblebee's animated version on ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]''.

** Capital G of the Justice Friends could use this power. Only seen twice, neither time helpful.

* Ickis of ''[[Aaahh Real Monsters]]'' is normally a little [[Ugly Cute]] [[Killer Rabbit|bunny-like]] monster, but can balloon up to an impressive height when scaring humans.

* Jake from ''[[Adventure Time]]'' can grow more than ten times his size, as well as shrink down to pocket size. It helps that he's also a [[Rubber Man]].

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Bigger Is Better]]

[[Category:Shapeshifting]]