Tricking the Shapeshifter: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
{{quote|''[[The Oldest Tricks in The Book|You know the trick]].'' ''The clever mortal convinces the stupid djinni to [[Genie in
A.K.A. Bet You Can't Make Yourself Really Small... (a.k.a. Bet You Can't Fit In This Bottle, a.k.a. Let's See You Turn Into A Mouse...)
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or
"Pshaw! You expect me to believe that a [[Genie in
This could be how the [[Sealed Evil in
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* According to a ''[[Super Mario Bros.]].'' anime, Bowser's a bit too smart to fall for this.
* Back in ''[[
== Comic Books ==
* Shows up in ''[[
* In a ''Mighty Mouse'' comic book, there's a story called "The Bad Genie". The titular genie, a [[Cats Are Mean|cat of course]], is a [[Card-Carrying Villain]] who forces the mouse who freed him to serve him, and also pushes aside some houses so he can stretch out. After brute force, Mighty Mouse tries the "bet you can't fit in your lamp again" gambit, but he's too tired to argue...
* In an issue of [[JLA]], Batman uses this tactic against the all-powerful Metron. Metron prides himself on his knowledge and has never been a human, so Batman convinces him to take on a flesh and blood form to see what it's like. Then Batman beats him in one punch.
* This is one of the few ways to defeat the [[Marvel Universe|Absorbing Man]], who can duplicate most superhuman powers and just about any material substance (though he nearly always needs physical contact)--get him to turn into something inconvenient or that is more than his powers can handle.
** In his first appearance, [[The Mighty Thor]] made him touch helium, so he turned into helium and floated helplessly into space, though that [[Fridge Logic|raises the question of why he doesn't turn into the oxygen, nitrogen, and CO2 in the air already]].
** This can lead to [[Hoist
* [[Wonder Woman]] goaded The Queen Of Fables into [[Shout
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== Film-Animated ==
* Sort of used in ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'', where Aladdin does this to Genie to get them out of the cave. Though Genie does not do any shapeshifting, he does take the [[Schmuck Bait]] out of sheer ego. Later, the titular hero tricks Jafar into turning into a genie, which immediately causes him to be sucked into a lamp. However, Jafar does need Genie to do this, so he couldn't do it all on his own. It did, however, use up Jafar's final wish and prevent him from using his powers (which the Genie had already made quite vast with a previous wish) against Aladdin.
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== Literature ==
* "The Fisherman and the Djinni" from ''The Thousand-and-one Nights'' (better known as ''[[
** Referred to (and subverted) in ''Starik Hottabytch'' (''Old Man Hottabytch'') by Lazar Lagin. A [[Jackass Genie]] ''almost'' falls for the trick, but at the last moment remembers that "a thousand one hundred and forty-two years ago a fisherman fooled me in just the same manner.".
* [[Puss in Boots]] tricks the ogre into turning into a mouse, which Puss eats.
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* The ''[[Goosebumps]]'' book "Attack Of The Mutant" had a shape-shifting villain from a comic book actually be real. Early on, we're told that if the villain turns into liquid, he can't change back. A kid claimed to be a superhero who could only be killed by acid, so the villain turns into acid, and thus is another [[Chekhov's Gun]] fired.
* This is one fundamental strategy for dealing with a boggart in ''[[Harry Potter]]''.
* It's also how {{spoiler|David}} is defeated in ''[[
* Used rather cleverly by Jon-Tom to {{spoiler|escape the mimicvines}} in the [[Spellsinger]] novel ''The Moment of the Magician.''
* Although not intentional, Mulgarith the ogre in ''[[The Spiderwick Chronicles]]'' is defeated when he turns into a bird to get away and ends up {{spoiler|eaten by Hogsqueal, who just happened to be hungry at the time}}.
* While not a shapeshifter itself, [[Xanth
== Live Action TV ==
* Lampshaded in ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]''. A little girl tells the real shapechanger Odo a old fairy story about a hero named the Great Minra who tricked an evil changeling into turning himself into a loaf of bread. To her surprise Odo gets to the end first ("The Great Minra gobbled him up"), and when she asks how he knew Odo wearily points out that the fictional changeling wasn't very smart.
** And when the girl asks Odo to turn a loaf of bread, he asks; "Why? So you can gobble me up? I don't think so."
** Further subverted in one novel to series where Odo warns off a Cardassian with a tale about how he voluntarily transformed himself into some food the certain alien liked, allowed himself to be eaten, and then expanded in the alien's stomach, ripping him apart. (It's implied that Odo's lying about having actually done that, but the fact that he ''could'' do that is terrifying enough).
* In the 2010 ''[[
** Specifically, it's taking the form of {{spoiler|whatever Amy Pond is thinking about. So he tells her to think about the true form of Prisoner Zero.}}
* Wembley gets rid of the Mean Genie this way on ''[[Fraggle Rock]].''
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== Video Games ==
* Kecleon the ''[[Pokémon]]'' changes type depending on what attack is used on it. You can use an attack, then one of a type that is strong against the previous attack [[For Massive Damage]].
** The ''[[Pokémon (
** Note that this is [[New Rules
** Actually, for the Kecleon example you don't even have to use more than one type. Ghost and Dragon are both strong against their own type, though with Ghost you have to use another attack first since Kecleon starts as a Normal-type, which is immune to Ghost attacks. Porygon's Conversion move works similarly, though Conversion2 (which turns into a type ''strong'' against the one used) is much more difficult to exploit since there's the element of chance involved. Of course, in both cases Porygon doesn't even have to use either move, but you know, just in case...
* The same tactics are used to trick a verbal shapeshifter in ''[[Knights of the Old Republic|KotoR]]'', enabling you to use his voice mimicry to break a voice lock.
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== Western Animation ==
* In the same vein, ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' tricked a [[Reality Warper]] human to become a ghost so Danny could trap it in his ghost trapping Fenton thermos.
* Alluded to in the "Mickey and the Beanstalk" sequence in ''[[Disney Animated Canon|Fun and Fancy Free]]''. Unfortunately, Willie the Giant might be a little more [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]] than he looks. And it's sooo much better to turn into a pinky bunny then a gnat.
* ''[[Ben 10: Alien Force
* In [[
* Used straight in an episode of ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'' the animated series. Genie needs to stop a caravan from proceeding. Aladdin who is at that time a guardian of said caravan (long story) offers him to settle the matter by tossing a coin. Aladdin then makes it so that the coin falls into a lamp and the helpful simpleton Genie volunteers to retrieve it. It turns out that even a freed Genie cannot escape from a sealed lamp. Go figure.
* In the ''[[
* In ''[[
** The spirit was defeated hundreds of years ago by a traveller who tricked him into going back into his bottle, and then sealed him shut.
** When Alfred tries the same thing later on it almost works, but the spirit then remembers the details of how he was resealed again, and stops halfway through. Alfred only succeeds when he realizes that the Evil Spirit can be hurt by light, and forces him back in.
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[[Category:Shapeshifting]]
[[Category:Older Than Feudalism]]
[[Category:Tricking
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