History Main / HandsLookingWrong

'''Kuzco:''' What is this, some kind of little game you country folk like to-- ''[holds up hand and claps hooves together]'' --ahhHH! It can't be!

This can be encouraged by having a SlowTransformation politely begin near the hands, but even when it doesn't the hands will still take center stage. Fading from existence will begin by seeing your own hands slowly become more and more translucent. Werewolves will look upon their furry hands with horror as the transformation takes over the rest of their body. An abrupt ForcedTransformation will leave the victim gawking at their hands in confusion. There may also be some minor StumblingInTheNewForm involved, e.g. if the suddenly transformed character tries to grab something with digits that are no longer able to do so before noticing the change.

This has several advantages. It's a part of the body that can be looked at naturally without shoehorning in a mirror, and it lets the character come to a dawning realization of what's happened (happening) to them without seeing it all at once. This is sometimes followed by the character grabbing their face when they realize it's not only their hands that have been changed. Hands are also how we interface with our surroundings, so seeing them get deformed is immediately striking and forces some recontextualization.

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''Anime/HowlsMovingCastle'': Sophie first realises she's been cursed with old age when she looks at her hands and sees they're very much not those of an eighteen-year-old girl, prompting her to grab at her face in a panic and look in a mirror. Almost the same thing happens in [[Literature/HowlsMovingCastle the book]], except she feels her face first and doesn't panic.
* ''Anime/SpiritedAway'': After Chihiro has been in the spirit world too long, she starts to vanish, noticing that her hands are becoming translucent. Naturally, she starts to panic about this before Haku arrives and gives her some spirit food to ensure that she won't disappear.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film -- Animated]]

* ''[[WesternAnimation/Home2015 Home]]'': Tip grabs Oh's wrist to show him his hand after he insists that Boov don't turn green when they lie.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls1'': When Twilight Sparkle goes through the portal ([[HumanityEnsues transforming into a human]]) she freaks out over her transformed hands, her ability to wriggle her fingers particularly unnerves her as she's used to having hooves.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheCurseOfTheWereRabbit'': Both times [[spoiler:Wallace]] turns into the titular Were-Rabbit, he realizes the transformation is occurring when he looks at his hands and sees them change into rabbit paws.

[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]

* ''Film/{{Enchanted}}'' and it's sequel ''Film/{{Disenchanted}}'' both feature this:

* ''Film/FreakyFriday1976'': Ellen realises she's in her daughter Annabelle's body when she notices her voice has changed and then checks her hands and sees they are Annabelle's. Annabelle on the other hand notices she's speaking with her mother's voice and instead checks her feet.
* ''Film/FreakyFriday2003'': When Tess wakes up in her daughter Anna's body unaware that their minds have been switched, she is confused about waking up in Anna's room. Then she checks her hair and hands and realizes what's happened.
* ''Film/FantasticFour2005'': [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] when Susan turns [[{{Invisibility}} invisible]] for the first time during a conversation with Reed. Susan [[ObliviousTransformation didn't notice]] until Reed tells her to look at her now invisible hands.

* ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd'': As Tia Dalma reminds Barbossa that she's the one who brought him back from the dead and could send him back if she chooses two, she grabs his wrist. Barbossa's hand shrivels and turn skeletal, as when he was cursed by the Aztec gold, before returning to normal, leaving the pirate quite unnerved.

* ''{{Literature/Animorphs}} #41: [[Recap/AnimorphsTheFamiliar The Familiar]]'': Jake's teenage mind gets sent into his adult body, in a BadFuture where the Yeerks have taken over. The first he notices that he's not in his usual body is when he catches sight of his hands.
-->I stopped suddenly as I studied my fist. It was big. I mean it was rough and callused and had veins that pumped across the hairy, muscular forearm like I belonged to Gold's Gym and actually used my membership.\\
It was the hand and arm of a grown man.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In the revival era, Time Lord regeneration tends to (though doesn't always) start with their hands glowing gold.

* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'': In the climax of the episode "[[Recap/TheOuterLimits1995S3E4LastSupper Last Supper]]," Dr Sinclair finally creates the youth serum he always wanted... only to find too late that he ''gravely'' underestimated its potency. Shortly afterwards, an adolescent Sinclair is left staring in horror at his hand as it regresses to infancy before the next stage of his regression catches up with the rest of him. An extremely messy DeathByDeaging follows.
* ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'': "The Death of the Doctor" has Clyde reveal that he knows something is wrong when he says the following, "That's not my hand. 'Cuz my hand's not white." Cue Clyde being spatially replaced with The Doctor, who quickly grabs Sarah Jane and Jo Grant and flips them through space with him to an alien planet, returning Clyde to his proper place on Earth.

[[folder:Webcomic]]

* ''WesternAnimation/Ben10''

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'': In [[Recap/ThePowerpuffGirlsS3E3CrissCrossCrisis "Criss Cross Crisis"]], after everyone in Townsville [[FreakyFridayFlip swapped bodies,]] it becomes apparent when Buttercup sees Professor Utonium in her body and is further cemented from starring at her hands that are now a normal human man's rather than her usual FingerlessHands.
* ''WesternAnimation/ThunderCats1985'': One of the first things Lion-O does when he emerges from his suspension capsule on arriving on Third Earth is look at his hands. He immediately notices that they are much bigger than they were when he entered the capsule, and a subsequent glance at his reflection in a puddle reveals that he has aged from a pre-teen to an adult while in suspension.

We rarely pay much attention to our body. Given the vantage point of our eyes, not much of it is readily in view at any given moment. For this reason, whenever someone goes through an ObliviousTransformation of some kind the only way they will notice something is amiss is by visually inspecting themselves. Usually their hands—the easiest body part for us to inspect.

[[folder:Web Original]]

* ''WebAnimation/MinilifeTV'': In "Season 2 Finale!", after Jack accidentally spills some of Dr. Michael Espajelly's formula to make cats smell like cinnamon on his hand, he tells Michael to look at his hand and he sees that it's turned green, and he transforms into a BlobMonster shortly after.

'''Pacha:''' Um, do this. ''(holds up hand and wiggles fingers)''\\
'''Kuzco:''' What is this, some kind of little game you country folk like to-- ''(holds up hand and claps hooves together)'' --ahhHH! It can't be!

While hands are by far the most common way this happens, there are times people notice other parts of their body first. Falling on your back with your legs in the air can let them substitute for example.

* ''Anime/SpiritedAway'': After Chihiro has been in the spirit world too long, she starts to vanish, noticing that her hands are becoming translucent. Naturally, she starts to panic about this before Haku arrives and gives her some spirit food to insure that she won't disappear.

* ''Literature/TheVoyageOfTheDawnTreader'': {{Subverted}} when Eustace puts on a bracelet he found in a DragonHoard. He undergoes a ForcedTransformation into a dragon, but doesn't initially realize and mistakes his own scaled hands for the dragon's nonexistent mate about to attack him. It's not until he tries to flee the hoard and sees his reflection in a pool of water that he realizes what's happened.

* ''Music/TwinTribes'': In the [[https://youtu.be/-XEavwcHU78 music video for "Monolith"]], a woman undergoes a transformation after touching a monolith. She notices OminousObsidianOoze drip from her fingers before shaking violently as it spreads across her body. In a contrastingly pure scene which depicts her and the room to be untainted and more serene, the POVCam has her gaze upon her clean hands in welcome surprise.

* ''VideoGame/Persona5'': When Ryujii [[spoiler:seemingly dissolves from existence, he notices his hands first become translucent before it rapidly spreads to the rest of his body. This is not the case for the other Phantom Thieves whose experience symptoms after him]].

This has several advantages. It's a part of the body that can be looked at naturally without shoehorning in a mirror, and it lets the character come to a dawning realization of what's happened (happening) to them without seeing it all at once. Hands are also how we interface with our surroundings, so seeing them get deformed is immediately striking and forces some recontextualization.

* ''Music/TwinTribes'': In the [[https://youtu.be/-XEavwcHU78 music video for "Monolith"]], a woman undergoes a transformation after touching a monolith. She notices OminousObsidianOoze drip from her fingers before shaking violently as it spreads across her body. In a contrastingly pure scene which depicts her and the room to be untainted and more serene, the POVCam has her gaze upon her clean hands, with petals scattered across the floor.

* ''Music/TwinTribes'': In the [[https://youtu.be/-XEavwcHU78 music video for "Monolith"]], a woman undergoes a transformation after touching a monolith. She notices OminousBlackOoze form on her fingers before shaking violently as it spreads across her body. In a contrastingly pure scene which depicts her and the room to be untainted and more serene, the POVCam has her gaze upon her clean hands, with petals scattered across the floor.

* ''[[Film/TheThing1982 The Thing (1982)]]'' has Bennings-Thing almost makes its transformation complete and perfect-except that his fingers are all elongated and deformed.

* {{Literature/Animorphs}}: In #41, Jake's teenage mind gets sent into his adult body, in a BadFuture where the Yeerks have taken over. The first he notices that he's not in his usual body is when he catches sight of his hands.
-->I stopped suddenly as I studied my fist. It was big. I mean it was rough and callused and had veins that pumped across the hairy, muscular forearm like I belonged to Gold's Gym and actually used my membership.
-->It was the hand and arm of a grown man.

This can be encouraged by having a SlowTransformation politely begin near the hands, but even when they don't the hands will still grab the focus. Fading from existence will begin by seeing your own hands slowly become translucent. Werewolf transformations will look upon their furry hands with horror as it takes over the rest of their body. Abrupt ForcedTransformation will leave the victim gawking at their hands in confusion. There may also be some minor StumblingInTheNewForm involved, e.g. if the suddenly transformed character tries to grab something with digits that are no longer able to do so before noticing the change.

Even in the cases where someone ''fully expects'' a transformation, they still tend to go through the motion of looking at their hands—if only to demonstrate to the 'audience that they recognize a transformation has happened.

This can be justified in the case of touching something that transforms the user, as the primary point of contact is typically the hands that already hold your attention.

While hands are overwhelming the most common way this happens, there are times people notice other parts of their body first. Falling on your back with your legs in the air can let them substitute for example.

We rarely spend much mind paying attention to our body. Given the vantage point of our eyes, not much of it is readily in view at any given moment. For this reason, whenever someone goes through an ObliviousTransformation of some kind the only way they will notice something is amiss is by visually inspecting themselves. Usually their hands—the easiest body part for us to inspect.

Even in the cases where someone ''fully expects'' a transformation, they still tend to go through the motion of looking at their hands—if only to demonstrate to the 'audience that they recognize the transformation has happened.

Even in the cases where someone fully expects a transformation, they still tend to go through the motion of looking at their hands—if only to demonstrate to the ''audience'' that they recognize the transformation has happened.

-> '''Kuzco:''' What do you mean, I don't ''look like the emperor''?
-> '''Pacha:''' Um, do this. ''(holds up hand and wiggles fingers)''
-> '''Kuzco:''' What is this, some kind of little game you country folk like to— ''(holds up hand and claps hooves together)'' —ahhHH! It can't be!

-->'''Jax-in-Stein's-Body:''' My hands ... they're white.
-->'''Stein-in-Jax's-Body:''' And mine appear to be African-American.
-->'''Jax-in-Stein's-Body:''' You can just say black, Grey.

This can be encouraged by having a SlowTransformation politely begin near the hands, but even when they don't the hands will still grab the focus. Fading from existence will begin by seeing your own hands slowly become translucent. Werewolf transformations will look upon their furry hands with horror as it takes over the rest of their body. Abrupt ForcedTransformation will leave the victim gawking at their hands in confusion.

[[folder:Film -- Live Action]]

* ''VideoGame/IndianaJonesAndTheFateOfAtlantis'': In the finale, Indy, Sophia, or Dr Ubermann can be put through [[EternalEngine the Colossus]] at the heart of Atlantis, transforming the character into an unearthly HornedHumanoid made of glowing green energy. The character's first response to this is to look down at their hands in fascination, [[RevelingInTheNewForm and then laugh triumphantly]]. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, the transformation can't be sustained, resulting in the new god losing cohesion after just a few seconds of using its powers and tearing itself to pieces, taking Atlantis with it.]]

* ''VideoGame/Persona5'': When Ryujii [[spoiler: seemingly dissolves from existence, he notices his hands first become translucent before it rapidly spreads to the rest of his body. This is not the case for the other Phantom Thieves whose experience symptoms after him]].

-> '''Kuzco:''' What do you mean I don't ''look like the emperor''?

-> '''Kuzco:''' What is this, some kind of little game you country folk like to- ''(holds up hand and claps hooves together)'' -ahhHH! It can't be!

We rarely spend much mind paying attention to our body. Given the vantage point of our eyes, not much of it is readily in view at any given moment. For this reason, whenever someone goes through an ObliviousTransformation of some kind the only way they will notice something is amiss is by visually inspecting themselves. Usually their hands - the easiest body part for us to inspect.

Even in the cases where someone fully expects a transformation, they still tend to go through the motion of looking at their hands - if only to demonstrate to the ''audience'' that they recognize the transformation has happened.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'': In the climax of "[[Recap/FarscapeS01E12RhapsodyInBlue Rhapsody In Blue]]", Crichton talks Zhaan into joining with him in [[MindlinkMates Unity]] in the hopes that he'll be able to help her regain control in the wake of Tahleen's MindRape. This fusion of minds is depicted as Crichton and Zhaan merging into a single two-faced being, and Crichton - already [[BetterThanSex blown away by the sensations]] - can be seen turning his merged hand this way and that in amazement.