Transformation Ray: Difference between revisions
Rescuing 1 sources and tagging 0 as dead.) #IABot (v2.0.9.2
m (Mass update links) |
(Rescuing 1 sources and tagging 0 as dead.) #IABot (v2.0.9.2) |
||
| (10 intermediate revisions by 4 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{trope}}
[[File:
Any [[Phlebotinum]] that transforms someone(s) into something weird, usually by shooting them with a ray. It's often a machine, produced by a [[Mad Scientist]], but [[Green Rocks]] are also common. At the end of the episode the same [[Phlebotinum]] is used to revert the effects, or it simply wears off (for example, the puppetising spell in ''[[Angel]]'').
Line 6:
Occasionally, it may be used in the first episode to set up the premise of the series, in which case, it doesn't wear off and/or [[No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup|can't be found for reversion]].
See also [[Baleful Polymorph]]. For an exceptionally common specific ''type'' of
A [[Sub-Trope]] of [[Ray Gun]]. May be a type of [[Magic Missile]].
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==▼
▲== Anime ==
* One episode of ''[[Urusei Yatsura]]'' featured a gun that [[Gender Bender|switched its target's gender]].
* The cursed spring water in ''[[Ranma
* In the series ''[[Keroro Gunsou]]'', several
== Comic Books ==
* Superman encounters Red Kryptonite which has various tranformative effects on him. [[Pre Crisis]], each random chunk of red kryptonite had a different effect on Superman which lasted for 24 hours before wearing off and then he would be immune to the effects of that one chunk. [[Post-Crisis]] and subsequent media adaptations have been a little more meta about it.
* ''Mystery In Space'': One of the regular features of the 60's comic was the story of a space explorer who had been shot by four different rayguns at the same time, each wielded by a different kind of alien. The result was each ray changed the part of his body that it hit to be like that of the owner of the gun.
▲* Superman encounters Red Kryptonite which has various tranformative effects on him. [[Pre Crisis]], each random chunk of red kryptonite had a different effect on Superman which lasted for 24 hours before wearing off and then he would be immune to the effects of that one chunk. [[Post-Crisis]] and subsequent media adaptations have been a little more meta about it. <ref>Each time it pops up, it was made in a different way or in some cases is being used in a different way, often with effects outside the trope.</ref>
▲* ''Mystery In Space'': One of the regular features of the 60's comic was the story of a space explorer who had been shot by four different rayguns at the same time, each wielded by a different kind of alien. The result was each ray changed the part of his body that it hit to be like that of the owner of the gun.<br /><br />Now a freak, the man decided to change his name by combining parts of the names of his assailants (whose motives were never made clear). Strangely enough, the letters made a perfectly pronouncible word and so was born ''Ultra, the Multi-Alien''. One arm (and the part of his torso it was attached to) had become super strong, the other could generate magnetic force, one leg could shoot lightning, and with the other he could fly, even though it had just one tiny wing on it. Naturally, he became a crime fighter.
* ''[[Calvin and Hobbes]]'': Calvin turned his water pistol into a Transmogrifier Gun.
* An atomic bomb blast that turned Bruce Banner into the Incredible Hulk.
* A radioactive spider gave Peter Parker his [[Spider
* Cosmic rays that created the [[Fantastic Four]].
* ''[[Batman]]'': From the late 1950s through the early 1960s, due to [[Executive Meddling]] prompted by the monster-movie craze, many stories featured rays or other [[Phlebotinum]] that transformed the Caped Crusader into a fish-man, a human buzz saw, a giant genie and other bizarre creatures. This was pretty much a staple of [[Silver Age]] plots, especially in [[DC Comics]].
* As in [[Calvin and Hobbes|the comic it was based on,]] the Transmogrifier Gun in ''[[
▲== Fan Fic ==
▲* As in [[Calvin and Hobbes|the comic it was based on,]] the Transmogrifier Gun in ''[[Calvin and Hobbes The Series (Fanfic)|Calvin and Hobbes: The Series]]''.
== Film ==
* The movie ''[[Honey
* Inverted in ''[[X-Men: The Last Stand]]'', in which the curative syringes and ammunition turn mutants into something ''not'' weird, namely ordinary humans.
== Literature ==
* In Stanley Kiesel's young adult book ''The War Between The Pitiful Teachers And The Splendid Kids'', the adults utilize a sinister device called the [[Status Quo Is God|Status Quo Solidifier machine]], which {{spoiler|turns the defeated kids into well-behaved and well-dressed Perfect Young People.}}
* Not a [[Ray Gun]], but a side-effect of technology: In ''[[The
** The film version of Ford and Arthur being picked up be the Heart of Gold has them turned into sofas.
{{quote|
'''Ford''': ''Yeah?''
'''Arthur''': ''I think I'm a sofa.''
'''Ford''': ''I know how you feel.'' }}
* The title character of [[Tamora Pierce]]'s ''Emperor Mage'' is a dictator whose time is up. At the end of the book, he's been hunted down by the protagonists, whereupon he plays what he thinks is his trump card, announcing, "I have Stormwing magic!" and sticking a sharp metal feather from a Stormwing (half-human, half-bird immortal) into his arm. To his unhappy surprise, the effect is to turn him ''into'' a
* The ''[[Well World]]'' series by [[Jack Chalker]]: ''The Well of Souls'' provides a one-way (and usually
== Live
* Both ''[[
▲* Both ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)|Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' and ''[[Angel (TV)|Angel]]'' used this a few times, for example Xander being split into two, and memorably Angel being turned into a two-foot tall [[Muppet]].
* ''[[Family Matters]]'' showed these sometimes:
** Urkel's transformation booth thing.
** There was another episode with a shrink ray.
* ''Krofft Supershow'' features an episodic adventure series called [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0147761/maindetails ''Dr. Shrinker''], where every episode (as well as the premise of the show) featured the effects of the mad scientist's ''laser ray''.
* ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20150428155230/http://www.toonarific.com/show.php?show_id=3710 Tom of T.H.U.M.B.]'': The premise behind this 60s cartoon show is that the eponymous character was transformed by a "shrinking laser beam ray gun".
* In ''[[
== Tabletop Games ==
* ''[[
* ''[[Warhammer
▲* ''[[GURPS (Tabletop Game)|GURPS]]: Magic'' : The Wraith spell from creates a trinket that turns the target into a undead horror.
* ''[[
▲* ''[[Warhammer 40000 (Tabletop Game)|Warhammer 40000]]'': Chaos sorcerers use transformation rays as a staple tool, particularly sorcerers of the Tzeentch persuasion. The results are horrifying.
* ''[[Teenagers From Outer Space]]'' includes a 'Boy/Girl Gun'. As the name suggests, it causes <s>awkward</s> hilarious [[Gender Bender]] situations.
▲* ''[[Genius: The Transgression (Tabletop Game)|Genius: The Transgression]]'' has one of the eight super-sciences being about this. If it's in [[Shapeshifting]], you can probably put it in hand-held ray gun format, or dispense it with an injection.
▲* ''[[Teenagers From Outer Space]]'' includes a 'Boy/Girl Gun'. As the name suggests, it causes awkward [[Gender Bender]] situations.
== Toys ==
* ''[[Bionicle]]'': Roodaka's Rhotuka Spinner permanently mutating the target into whatever shape the user wants.
== Video Games ==
* In ''[[Sin]]'', lead character and [[Badass]] police officer John Blade is turned into a mutant by Alexis Sinclaire, the head of a pharmaceutical company marketing a dangerous designer drug. After surviving through a number of tests you are forced into completing by Sinclaire's private security force, you find the magic machine that transforms you back into a human again (making this a transformation needle, not a ray). Coincidentally, you also get your gun, your uniform and your wireless communication with your sidekick back once you've gone through the process.
* ''[[Secret of Evermore]]'''s sidekick, the dog, has this happen early in the game as a side effect of chewing on the wires to the world creation device. This causes it to change form in the different realms of Evermore, taking a shape appropriate to the world its in. The dog is fine once the hero and dog eventually escape Evermore at the end of the game.
* In ''[[Singularity]]'', the time device the character wears on his arm can either advance an object or person along its "personal timeline" and either powder them, or drag it back along same and create a horrific alternate timeline where they never [[Nightmare Fuel|matured past month four in the womb before being born, and thus never developed eyes or skin.]]
* Sudoku's Transformation Ray in the Flash game for ''[[Banana
* The ''[[Ratchet and Clank]]'' series contains various weapons which transform enemies into either [[Baleful Polymorph|useless animals]] or [[Heel Face Turn|makeshift animal allies]].
* ''[[World of Warcraft]]'''s [[Gadgeteer Genius|gnomes]] bring us the [http://www.wowhead.com/item=23835 Gnomish Poultryizer].
* In ''[[
== Web Comics ==
* In ''[[
** And now Ellen has this as an innate power. Currently, it's limited to either transforming other people into well-built women, and turning herself into whatever she zapped. The latter turns out to be compatible with some magically augmented forms. Also, yet another magical accident allowed a mix of transformation beam and something with more punch, though heads or tails are yet to be made of that.▼
▲* In ''[[El Goonish Shive (Webcomic)|El Goonish Shive]]'', resident [[Teen Genius]] [[Mad Scientist]] Tedd used alien technology to construct the [[Author Appeal|"Transformation Gun"]], which can reshape a humanoid into one of many different forms. The scary part here is that Tedd uses the gun for ''recreation'', often changing his gender. A teen-ager given the means to go be someone else for a while? *ZAP!!*
▲** And now Ellen has this as an innate power. Currently, it's limited to either transforming other people into well-built women, and turning herself into whatever she zapped.
* In ''[[Girls in Space]]'', the girls' VW Bus was converted into a spaceship in the first story, when the Universal Upgrader (a prototype made by an intergalactic electronics company) fired a transformation ray at it. The Protoype also transformed character Fergus Macrumble from a fat gambler into a muscular hunk and a horse called Asthmatic George into Athletic George.
* ''[[
* ''[[Sailor Sun]]'': The "fanfiction studio" (don't ask) has a [[Gender Bender]] ray, which they used on an unsuspecting male actor to replace a diva. They're much too expensive for "normal" people to rent, though, and her [[Kid From the Future]] not knowing she was ever male [[First Law of Gender Bending|is not a good omen]]...
* In ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]],'' the aliens Princess Voluptua and Fructose Riboflavin both use "shapeshifter units" to appear human, instead of their normal insectoid appearance. Galatea also invented a hat with a holographic projector which can disguise the wearer's identity.
== Web Original ==
* The ''[[Neopets]]'' website has a Lab Ray that does random things to the pets, like changing their stats, species, or color. The Petpet Lab Ray preforms similarly; it changes petpets' levels, species, color, or [[Breaking the Fourth Wall|name]].
* ''[[
* ''[[Whateley Universe]]'': [[Mad Scientist]] Dr. Pygmalion used this on the deviser Delta Spike, who got transformed into a brunette bombshell while trying to capture Dr. Pygmalion. (Delta Spike actually wanted both things to happen, and is extremely happy now.)
* ''[[Protectors of the Plot Continuum]]'': The aptly-named Disguise Generator is used to set continuum-appropriate disguises for the Agents before they go on a mission. Going without a disguise makes it much more difficult to blend into the canon, and causes the Agents to be more likely to be noticed by the Sue, meaning that going without is very dangerous. However, it is not entirely necessary for Bad Slash missions or other departments that don't directly deal with Sues, simply making those jobs easier to carry out. The Disguise Generator/Disguise Outfitting Ryticular Kostume System ([[Fun
== Western Animation ==
* ''[[Transformers Generation
▲* Mermaid Man's belt from ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants (Animation)|SpongeBob SquarePants]]''.
* ''[[
▲* ''[[Transformers Generation One]]'' has the "Well of Transformation", which turned someone into whatever they were thinking of at the time. This was used, amoung other things, to trick Rumble into turning himself into a tree.
▲* ''[[Dinosaucers (Animation)|Dinosaucers]]'' featured a weapon that could transform whatever Dinosaucer (the good guys) or Tyranno (the bad guys) it hit back into the non-anthropomorphic dinosaur they evolved from. While transforming to their dinosaur form (called 'dinovolving') was something that the Dinosaucers could do themselves without the weapon, the catch was that the victim's intelligence also regressed, whereas it stayed the same for the Dinosaucers when they did it themselves.
* ''[[Kim Possible]]'' had about thirty of these, most actual ray guns. (Others were superglue bombs, exploding ticks on face, emotion manipulating microchips, amulet that changed her into a monkey...) Most often, they were used on her (and her sidekick) on a mission in the first five minutes, then Act Two was spent facing the wacky challenges it posed to her school life.
* ''[[Darkwing Duck]]'' in lived and breathed
* ''[[Totally Spies!]]'' makes use of the
* ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'': The concept was revisted in where it turns out Gorilla Grodd's big plan is to use an amped up transformation ray to turn the entire world into apes like him. After the plan fails, Luthor just shoots Grodd and takes over the Injustice Society weeks earlier than he'd planned.
* Zapping their brother to turn him into various bizarre things is Susan and Mary Test's main hobby, on ''[[
* ''[[The Tick (animation)]]'': A villain held Tick captive and used a transformation ray gun to turn the hero into a small two headed bird who speaks only high school French. There was also a mindswitching gun in a later episode.
* ''[[
* ''[[Spider
* As featured in ''[[Batman
** In addition, Gorrila Grodd has a device that turns people into Apes, and in "Mitefall", turn people into bananas.
* In one episode of ''[[Gadget Boy and Heather]]'', [[Big Bad]] Spydra used one to impersonate Heather.
Line 122 ⟶ 109:
[[Category:Ranged Energy Attack Tropes]]
[[Category:Shapeshifting]]
[[Category:
| |||