History Main / TransNature

* Reynard the Fox also appears in ''GunnerkriggCourt'', and true to the myth, he fell in love with a human woman. Rather than shapeshifting, however, he convinced Coyote to grant him the power to possess anything with eyes--and he uses it to take the body of a young human male so he can go to the court and woo his beloved...

* Averted (Subverted?) in ''ElGoonishShive''; Justin, although homosexual, dislikes being female after being transformed during a gender-swapping party.

* In ''FengShui'', the Ascended are an AncientConspiracy of intelligent animals who used magic to become human, and then took over the world to prevent the same magic from being used to return them to animal form.

* King Louis from ''TheJungleBook'', a monkey wanting to become a human.
** [[{{Discworld}} OOK!]] (Translation: "You mean an ''ape'' wanting to be human (who knows why?)")

* The ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina" is about this trope, focusing not only on the title character, but on [[spoiler: Kyle and his dad as well.]] Mr. Garrison gets a "vaginoplasty" to become a woman, [[spoiler: Gerald]] gets a "dolphinoplasty" to become a dolphin, and [[spoiler: Kyle gets a "negroplasty" to become tall and black.]] In the end, Mr. Garrison wanted a "peniplasty" to become a man again after realising that he's "just a guy with a mutilated penis". However, his genitalia was used for surgically altering [[spoiler: Kyle and Gerald]], and [[spoiler: since his testicles were used for Kyle's knees, they break]], leaving Mr. Garrison as a woman until he grew new genitalia on a mouse.

* The ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina" is about this trope, focusing not only on the title character, but on Kyle and his dad as well. Mr. Garrison gets a "vaginoplasty" to become a woman, Gerald gets a "dolphinoplasty" to become a dolphin, and Kyle gets a "negroplasty" to become tall and black. In the end, Mr. Garrison wanted a "peniplasty" to become a man again after realising that he's "just a guy with a mutilated penis". However, his genitalia was used for surgically altering Kyle and Gerald, and since his testicles were used for Kyle's knees, they break, leaving Mr. Garrison as a woman until he grew new genitalia on a mouse.

May be caused by HumanityIsInfectious, or inversions thereof. In some cases, TransNature leads to HumanityEnsues. Note however that that trope is usually ''not'' combined with TransNature - instead, the animal resents having been transformed to a human. One very common form of TransNature is PinocchioSyndrome: A robo
t, living doll or whatever wanting to become a real human.

There are several versions of this in RealLife. For example, [[{{Transsexual}} trans]] people are coercively assigned a certain gender at birth that does not match their real gender[[hottip:*: Usually due to Intersexuality, ie, physically being in between male and female or not fitting easily into one or the other or on rare occassions when something happens to their genitals (ie a botched circumcision). Most often the infants are assigned to be female. The whole situation is [[FlameBait very contentious]] in the Trans community]] or are simply born in a gender that doesn't match them. There are also religious examples, mostly tied to belief in reincarnation -- since men have higher social status, many Hindu and Buddhist women hope to be male in the next life, while still having a female gender identity in ''this'' life.

In fiction, however, TransNature can take ''any'' form, especially in Fantasy and Science Fiction. Note that trying to regain your true form (after having been cursed, for example) does not count. Starting to identify with your new form does, however.

** The Librarian, of course, is perfectly content to remain an ape, even if his transformation from a human wasn't actually by choice.

* ''[[AnimatedSeries/TeachersPet Teacher's Pet]]'' is about a dog who wants to be a boy.

* Subverted in the ''DoctorWho'' [[VirginNewAdventures New Adventures]] novel ''Original Sin'' - it's very popular amongst trendy young humans in the 40th century to undergo radical cosmetic surgery that makes you look like an alien ("body bepple"). But the Doctor claims that this doesn't mean they actually ''like'' aliens; like many empires, the Earth Empire has a fascination with its vassal states' cultures but contempt for the bearers of said culture.

There are several versions of this in RealLife. For example, [[{{Transsexual}} trans]] people are coercively assigned a certain gender at birth that does not match their real gender. There are also religious examples, mostly tied to belief in reincarnation -- since men have higher social status, many Hindu and Buddhist women hope to be male in the next life, while still having a female gender identity in ''this'' life.

May be caused by HumanityIsInfectious, or inversions thereof. In some cases, TransNature leads to HumanityEnsues. Note however that that trope is usually ''not'' combined with TransNature - instead, the animal resents having been transformed to a human. One very common form of TransNature is PinocchioSyndrome: A robot, living doll or whatever wanting to become a real human.

Bob belongs to -- or is coercively assigned or aligned with -- a certain race, gender, species or similar category, and he does not feel right about this. Instead, he identifies as part of another group. Thus he seeks to change his body or nature or both. Either he wants to become a part of the other group, or he is already a part of it but needs or wants to make changes to better fit his true self.

Biologically, Bob belongs to a certain race, gender, species or similar. However, he really don't feel at home there. Instead, he identifies with another group. Thus he wants to change his body or nature or both. Either he want to become a part of the other group, or he already consider it a part of it and merely want to fit in a bit better.

In RealLife, there are at least two versions of this. First, we have {{Transsexual}} individuals who have a male brain/personality/identity but a female body - or vice versa. Second, we have the religious version - mostly tied to belief in reincarnation. Since men have higher social status, many Hindu and Buddhist women hope to be male in the next life, while still having a female gender identity in ''this'' life.

In fiction, however, TransNature can take pretty much any form. Especially in fantasy and Science Fiction. Note that trying to regain your true form (after having been cursed) does not count. Starting to identify with your new form does, however.

When a character is a fictional kind of TransNature, it is often a big part of this character being a hero or villain: Either he's a member of a oppressive/evil group transitioning to become one of the good and/or oppressed people, or we have a "[[CategoryTraitor traitor]]" who identifies with the wrong group.

It can also work as an inversion of InternalizedCategorism: Bob thinks men/humans are bad, but instead of denying himself the good things about being a man/human or doing bad things because he thinks that this is what being a "real" man/human means, he instead ''stop'' being a man/human - magically changing into something else.

May be caused by HumanityIsInfectious, or inversions thereof. In some cases, TransNature lead to HumanityEnsues. Note however that that trope is normally ''not'' combined with TransNature - instead, the animal resents having been transformed to a human. One very common form of TransNature is PinocchioSyndrome: A robot, living doll or whatever wanting to become a real human.

* In StarTrekDeepSpaceNine, at least two episode is about regular humanoids wanting to transition to become "Joined Trill". A Joined Trill is a composite species, with one humanoid component (normally from the Trill race, nut a human was briefly joined in one [[StarTrekTheNextGeneration TNG]] episode) and one symbiont. Becoming a Joined Trill brings on many changes, including a form of reincarnation: You retroactively gain past lives in the form of the symbiont's former hosts, and after your death you will continue to live on as one of these past lives for the next host.

Biologically, Bob belongs to a certain race, gender, species or similar. However, he really don't feel at home there. Instead, he identify with another group. Thus he wants to change his body or nature or both. Either he want to become a part of the other group, or he already consider it a part of it and merely want to fit in a bit better.

When a character is a fictional kind of TransNature, it is often a big part of this character being a hero or villain: Either he's a member of a oppressive/evil group transitioning to become one of the good and/or oppressed people, or we have a "traitor" ([[StrawTraitor straw]] or otherwise) who identifies with the wrong group.

In RealLife, there are at least two versions of this. First, we have {{Transsexual}} individuals who have a male brain/personality/identity but a female body - or vice versa. Second, we have the religious version - mostly tied to belief in reincarnation. Since men have higher social status, many Hindu and Buddhist women hope to male in the next life, while still having a female gender identity in ''this'' life.

* In Fables, we have the fox Reynard who is attracted to female humans and want to become a human so he can seduce him. [[spoiler:This wish is eventually granted by the witches, making him a shapeshifter with a beautiful male human form.]]

* In StarTrekVoyager, the AI called "The Doctor" as well as the former HiveMind drone Seven Of Nine are both transitioning. Unlike their predecessor Data from TNG, however, they do not want to become humans. Instead, they are trying to grow into something new.

* Subverted in the DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse novel ''Original Sin'' - it's very popular amongst trendy young humans in the 40th century to undergo radical cosmetic surgery that makes you look like an alien ("body bepple"). But the Doctor claims that this doesn't mean they actually ''like'' aliens; like many empires, the Earth Empire has a fascination with its vassal states' cultures but contempt for the bearers of said culture.

** There is a Test that, if taken and passed, allows the test-ee to [[{{Metamorphosis abandon their old nature and become something new]]. Humans can become animals and move to Gillitie (like the Kershaw family did), while animals and fantasy creatures can become humans and move to the Court (like Red and Blue did).

* In {{Shadowrun}}, elves are a subrace of humanity. Some normal humans are "elf wannabees" who want to be elves, and sometimes use plastic surgery to make themselves more elf-like. They're usually looked down upon by real elves.

* Reynard the Fox also appears in ''GunnerkriggCourt'', and true to the myth, he fell in love with a human woman. Rather than shapeshifting, however, he convinced Coyote to grant him the power to possess anything with eyes - and he uses it to take the body of a young human male so he can go to the court and woo his beloved...
[[spoiler: Unfortunately for him, she'd just been pretending to be interested in him in order to lure him into the Court, where he is imprisoned for the next several decades.]]

* In TheBoondocks, When [[BoomerangBigot Uncle Ruckus]] die, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRNCpD3xhsY he will finally become a real white man in the heaven for white racists]].
* King Louis from TheJungleBook, a monkey wanting to become a human.