History Main / TerminalTransformation

** Downplayed in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity''. In the previous game, Joker dosed himself with TITAN in order to go OneWingedAngel, but now finds himself suffering from terminal blood disease as an aftereffect of the drug, leaving the Joker in a race to find a cure before he finally succumbs.

** In the classic series, The Master has weaponized this trope through his specialized weapon, the Tissue Compression Eliminator. It essentially shrinks the victim down to the size of a doll and kills them due to the SquareCubeLaw, conveniently making it very easy for the Master to hide the body.

* At the end of ''WesternAnimation/RudolphandFrostysChristmasinJuly'', the evil wizard Winterbolt [[{{Transflormation}} turns into a tree]] after his scepter is destroyed, [[SoulJar implying that the scepter in question was actually keeping him alive.]]

* At the end of ''WesternAnimation/JourneyBacktoOz'' the evil witch Mombi turns herself into a poisonous flower to prevent Dorothy and friends from attacking her, only to be trampled to death [[HoistByHisOwnPetard by her own elephants]] after [[ElephantsareScaredofMice a mouse scares them.]]

* At the end of ''WesternAnimation/JourneyBacktoOz'' the evil witch Mombi turns herself into a poisonous flower to prevent Dorothy and friends from attacking her, only to be trampled to death [[HoistByHisOwnPetard her own elephants]] after [[ElephantsareScaredofMice a mouse scares them.]]

* At the end of ''WesternAnimation/FrostysandRudolphsChristmasinJuly'', the evil wizard Winterbolt [[{{Transflomation}} turns into a tree]] after his scepter is destroyed, [[SoulJar implying that the scepter in question was actually keeping him alive.]]

* At the end of ''WesternAnimation/FrostyandRudolphsChristmasinJuly'', the evil wizard Winterbolt [[{{Transflomation}} turns into a tree]] after his scepter is destroyed, [[SoulJar implying that the scepter in question was actually keeping him alive.]]

* In ''Fanfic/{{Eleutherophobia}}: Ghost in the Shell'', after Margaret White is found guilty of murdering the voluntary hosts, she commits suicide by morphing into a fish in the courtroom. By the time someone brings her water, she's already dead. Not that it would have helped since she morphed a salt water fish.

* In ''Fanfic/{{Eleutherophobia}}: Ghost in the Shell'', after Margaret White is found guilty of murdering the voluntary hosts, she commits suicide by morphing into a fish in the courtroom. By the time someone brings her water, she's already dead.

* In E.M. Goldman's novel ''Shrinking Pains,'' the main characters discover a literal FountainOfYouth in their backyard; on the upside, it works by temporarily ''halving'' their current age, meaning it's impossible to suffer a DeathByDeaging. However, in the finale, the heroes are kidnapped and tied up while two of them are still regressed; they initially think they can just burst out of their restraints like the Hulk once the water wears off... but then Milo realizes that the ropes are too strong for a twelve-year-old to break through: instead, growing back up will just draw the ropes taught enough to slice open their wrists as they transform, leaving them to bleed out. And [[ARottenTimeToRevert they've only got a few minutes left before they revert to their true ages]].

** "[[Recap/FringeS04E16NothingAsItSeems Nothing As It Seems]]" kicks off with Marshall Bowman's fatal transformation being repeated in the new timeline, but in this iteration of history, the transition is delayed until the plane safely lands - resulting in Bowman dying from the strain of the transformation instead of a plane crash. By the time TSA agents hear his screams, he's already writhing on the floor in his death throes. However, it's later discovered that it's possible for victims of the process to survive with a mixture of medication and human fat (stolen from cosmetic surgery clinics).

* In the finale of ''VideoGame/IndianaJonesAndTheFateOfAtlantis,'' Indy and the Nazis stumble upon the Colossus at the heart of the eponymous city, and Dr Ubermann decides to test its fabled capacity to transform human beings into gods. Regardless of whether it's tested on Indy, Sophia, or Ubermann himself, the candidate is turned into a glowing energy being that indulges in a bit of RevelingInTheNewForm... only to suddenly lose cohesion, claw at the screen in a blind panic, and disintegrate.

* Sometimes, insects and other arthropods will die during the final stage of metamorphosis while transforming into adults, the ones who survive will only live long enough to mate (especially males) and reproduce (for females) before finally dying from old age, especially if they lose their ability to eat as adults.

* ''Fanfic/HarryPotterAndTheInvincibleTechnomage:'' Peter Pettigrew is badly injured and taken to a muggle hospital, undergoing numerous operations requiring his bones to be held together with steel screws. Once he's conscious again, he gets antsy about getting caught now that he's in human form and quickly shapeshifts into his rat form in order to escape... only to find too late that the steel screws in his body do ''not'' transform with him, resulting in [[CruelAndUnusualDeath an extremely painful death]].

* ''WesternAnimation/Shrek2:'' In the finale, the Fairy Godmother attempts to kill Shrek once and for all, only for King Harold to throw himself in the way of her spell, his polished armour immediately deflecting it back on her. The Fairy Godmother is almost immediately reduced to a mass of bubbles and water -- her wand and smashed glasses being the only part of her left unchanged. Since she's never seen in any of the sequels, it can be assumed that the transformation killed her.

* ''Film/AntMan1'':
** Darren Cross's first attempts to replicate Hank Pym's shrinking technology are so imperfect they result in the test subject being reduced to a shrunken pile of goop. However, while trying to perfect the shrinking process, he also weaponizes the faulty tech to murder a troublesome co-worker... then [[CrossesTheLineTwice mops up the victim's remains with a tissue and flushes the mess down the toilet]].
** In the finale, Cross dons the Yellowjacket suit for a [[{{Sizeshifter}} sizeshifting]] battle with Scott, leaving the new Ant-Man on the backfoot for a good chunk of the fight. However, when Cross opens fire on Scott's daughter, [[PapaWolf Scott goes subatomic so he can sabotage the suit from within]], resulting in different parts of Cross's body shrinking at once -- crumpling him up like a ball of paper. [[spoiler:This is retroactively {{subverted}} in ''Film/AntManAndTheWaspQuantumania'', where it's revealed that Cross had barely survived the horrific transformation... with [[AFateWorseThanDeath his head being disproportionately large and the rest of his body becoming a tiny appendage that couldn't support him anymore]]. He would have died in this helpless form had Kang the Conqueror not found and rebuilt him as M.O.D.O.K. ([[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Mechanized Organism Designed Only for Killing]]).]]

* ''Film/SuperMarioBros1993'': [[BigBad President Koopa]]'s [[DevolutionDevice Devo Gun]] can devolve a sentient being into a more primitive stage of its evolutionary history (from a human to a chimp for example). During the climax, though, President Koopa gets blasted with the Devo Gun, at first devolving him into a T-Rex and [[OneWingedAngel seemingly making him an even bigger threat]]... up until Mario and Luigi blast Koopa with two Devo Guns at full power, causing him to [[HoistByHisOwnPetard melt into green slime that splatters across the street, effectively killing him]].
* ''Film/ThorLoveAndThunder:'' Through Mjölnir, Jane Foster is able to transform her [[TheTopicOfCancer cancer-stricken body]] into that of a healthy, buff goddess known as Mighty Thor, able to fight monsters and other godly beings. However, [[CastFromLifespan the power of Thor saps her energy needed to fight off the cancer]], which accelerates the disease spreading in her body. She is forbidden by Thor to partake in the FinalBattle against Gorr out of fear that it would be the one that ultimately does her in, but Jane refuses to sit quietly when others need help. She takes up Mjölnir to become Mighty Thor one last time and fights Gorr head on before succumbing to the cancer.

* ''Literature/TheLightbringerSeries:'' While using luxin in general [[CastFromLifespan depletes the drafter's lifespan]], going "Green Golem", a luxin user covering themselves in green luxin, results in the drafter's immediate death after a short period due to the amount of drafting required using up the rest of their life. [[spoiler:Kip's [[SubvertedTrope survival]] from transforming as such is a miracle]].

* ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamSeries:''

** Downplayed in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity:'' in the previous game, Joker dosed himself with TITAN in order to go OneWingedAngel, but now finds himself suffering from terminal blood disease as an aftereffect of the drug, leaving the Joker in a race to find a cure before he finally succumbs.
* ''VideoGame/BlackAndWhite2: Battle of the Gods'': The [[MagicByAnyOtherName miracle]] "Verdant" permanently transforms everyone in its AreaOfEffect into ordinary [[NeutralsCrittersAndCreeps livestock animals]], destroying the original units forever. As it can wipe out an enemy army without penalizing the KarmaMeter, it's effectively the Good god's answer to the Fireball.

* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins,'' it's revealed that women infected with the [[TheVirus Darkspawn taint]] aren't transformed into [[OurGhoulsAreCreepier ghouls]] like most victims, but instead suffer hideous mutations that eventually transform them into [[MotherOfAThousandYoung Broodmothers]]. However, lore notes indicate that many would-be-Broodmothers end up dying of their mutations before they reach the final stage, hence why the Darkspawn are careful to keep the survivors out of harm's way despite their impressive strength. It's also why [[spoiler:only two women out of Branka's entire House have survived being converted by the Darkspawn: Hespith, who is beginning to transform, and Laryn, who is a full-fledged Broodmother.]]

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom'': There is an ancient technique called [[WereDragon dragonification]], which transforms a user into an immortal dragon by swallowing a secret stone. However, this eternal life comes at the price of [[DeathOfPersonality losing the mind and identity]], reducing the user to a mindless, animalistic beast. There is no known way to reverse the dragonification process, and is thus heavily discouraged even as a final resort. [[spoiler:Zelda, who has been time-displaced into the past with the broken Master Sword, [[HeroicSacrifice willingly chose this path]] to [[TheSlowPath return to her present-time with a fully restored Master Sword]] for Link to defeat [[BigBad Ganondorf]]. Ganondorf, on the other hand, choses [[SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum dragonification as a last-ditch effort to kill Link and destroy Hyrule]], not caring if he has to sacrifice his body and mind to do it. At the end of the game, Link ultimately [[SubvertedTrope finds a way to reverse the dragonification process]] on Zelda while Ganondorf ultimately dies as a mindless Demon Dragon, his secret stone being destroyed by the Master Sword.]]

* ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII'': The Goblin Alchemist's ultimate ability "Transmute" [[MidasTouch turns the target to gold]], dealing a OneHitKill and [[LootMakingAttack adding money]] to your cache.

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* In the ''WesternAnimation/WhatIf2021'' episode "[[Recap/WhatIfS1E3WhatIfTheWorldLostItsMightiestHeroes What If... The World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes?]]" the inexplicable murders of the would-be Avengers come to a head when the Hulk begins to grow out of control during his [[Film/TheIncredibleHulk2008 rampage at the university]], expanding beyond his usual muscular growth to the point that he starts to swell up like a balloon -- [[PopGoesTheHuman and then explodes]]. [[spoiler:In the finale, it's revealed that Hank Pym is behind the murders, and accomplished this particular one by sneaking into Bruce Banner's body via a sniper's bullet and attaching a growth-disc to the Hulk's heart, causing it to grow out of control.]]

* Discussed in the ''WebAnimation/{{Kurzgesagt}}'' video [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUWUHf-rzks "How to Make an Elephant Explode - The Size of Life 2"]], which opens with the narratir discussing an elephant being shrunk to the size of a mouse and a mouse grown to the size of an elephant. With the cells of their bodies no longer functioning at the size they were intended to, the elephant stumbles around before freezing to death, while the mouse briefly looks really uncomfortable before overheating and exploding.