History Main / TransformationAtTheSpeedOfPlot

* There's a difference in the time various people sickened and died in ''TheStand''. When the virus is first released inside the army base, everyone is dead in minutes, minus Campion, who makes it about a day before dying. Other people take several days to die, because they get briefly better before getting worse.
** The TV miniseries {{Hand Wave}}s this by stating that Campion was exposed to a mutated version of the virus that takes longer.

* ''SpongebobSquarepants'': In the episode "Best Frenemies," the Kelpshakes that everyone is drinking give them green shag that covers their entire bodies, but not until the end of the episode. However, Krabs and Plankton, who have been avoiding drinking them for the entire episode, finally drink it before Karen can warn them of the toxic ingredient. The Kelpshake effect happens almost immediately after they discover that everyone else has it.

* [[spoiler:Wikus]] in ''Film/{{District 9}}''. He stays just human enough just long enough for the movie to play out.

* PostCrisis, {{Superman}}'s origin was changed so that his powers developed slowly as he grew up, storing solar radiation in his body. However as an adult, staying away from the sun for a just a few days quickly drained his powers. Even worse, other kryptonian characters ignored this and charged up rather quickly.

* In ''Film/BladeII'', a new strain of vampire virus creates Reapers. The transformation from a vampire to a Reaper is shown early in the movie to take place quickly with considerable pain and BodyHorror. However, [[spoiler: Nyssa]] gets plenty of time to watch Blade's fight and then the sunrise.

* In ''BladeII'', a new strain of vampire virus creates Reapers. The transformation from a vampire to a Reaper is shown early in the movie to take place quickly with considerable pain and BodyHorror. However, [[spoiler: Nyssa]] gets plenty of time to watch Blade's fight and then the sunrise.

* Film/FantasticVoyage has a 1-hour time limit before the surgical team will begin to regain their original size.
** In the novelization by Creator/IsaacAsimov, the degree to which you are shrunk affects your time at that size. It is stated that being shrunk to half-size would take years to wear off, but the extreme size reduction needed by the team means they only have a single hour.

* FantasticVoyage has a 1-hour time limit before the surgical team will begin to regain their original size.

* The Drow elves in ''ForgottenRealms''. It was established in Drizz'ts' [[Literature/TheDarkElfTrilogy origin trilogy]] that it took him ''months'' to adjust to suface daylight; later drow stories would have them up and about in the sun sometimes almost immediately.

* ''DespicableMe'': {{Hand Wave}}d rather than just played straight. [[spoiler:Things shrunk by the shrink ray eventually unshrink, and this is foreshadowed. But the moon unshrinks a mere few hours after shrunk. But, they say that the bigger the object, the sooner it unshrinks. And the moon is extremely big. However there is FridgeLogic in the fact that the minion shrinks before the flyer, when the flyer was shrunk first.]]

* The Drow elves in ''ForgottenRealms''. It was established in Drizz'ts' [[TheDarkElfTrilogy origin trilogy]] that it took him ''months'' to adjust to suface daylight; later drow stories would have them up and about in the sun sometimes almost immediately.

* ''DespicableMe'': Surprisingly justified. [[spoiler:Things shrunk by the shrink ray eventually unshrink, and this is foreshadowed. But the moon unshrinks a mere few hours after shrunk. But, they say that the bigger the object, the sooner it unshrinks. And the moon is extremely big. However there is FridgeLogic in the fact that the minion shrinks before the flyer, when the flyer was shrunk first.]]

* [[spoiler:Wikus]] in ''Film/{{District 9}}''. He stays just human enough just long enough for the movie to play out (and for the audience to identify), while transforming quickly enough at first for him to use alien technology.

* The gestation period of xenomorphs in the ''{{Alien}}'' series. The first film has several hours between the victim getting attacked by the facehugger to the chestburster leaping out, and another several-hour interval before the xenomorph matures. In ''AliensVsPredator'', a group of people is implanted and the temple is swarming with mature xenomorphs in a matter of minutes.
* In the second {{Blade}} movie, a new strain of vampire virus creates Reapers. The transformation from a vampire to a Reaper is shown early in the movie to take place quickly with considerable pain and BodyHorror. However, [[spoiler: Nyssa]] gets plenty of time to watch Blade's fight and then the sunrise.

* The protagonists of ''FinalFantasyXIII'' are [[CursedWithAwesome made into l'Cie]] by [[PhysicalGod the fal'Cie Anima]]: their Focus mandates that they must [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt destroy Cocoon]], or else transform into [[OurZombiesAreDifferent mindless, shambling Cie'th]]. Each of them bears a brand that acts as a timer, indicating how long they have left: however, the importance of this time limit is inversely proportional to how determined the protagonists are to ScrewDestiny. [[spoiler: In the end, [[RedHerring it never actually comes into play:]] the protagonists are ''apparently'' transformed into Cie'th during the final confrontation, but it turns out to be just an illusion created by [[BigBad Barthandelus]] to drive [[SixthRanger Fang]] over the DespairEventHorizon.]]

* {{Justified}} in a ''Series/GetSmart'' episode where Smart has been poisoned with a toxin that kills in 24 hours. CONTROL's attempts to reverse-engineer it result in a version that kills in sixty seconds, which he uses against the doctor who developed the original poison to acquire the antidote.

* The Drow elves in ''Forgotten Realms''. It was established in Drzz't's origin trilogy that it took him ''months'' to adjust to suface daylight; later drow stories would have them up and about in the sun sometimes almost immediately.

* Wikus in ''Film/{{District 9}}''. He stays just human enough just long enough for the movie to play out (and for the audience to identify), while transforming quickly enough at first for him to use alien technology.

Distinct from instances of a character taking so long to [[HenshinHero change into battle mode]] (often in {{stock footage}}) that the villain could've [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim just shot him]]; that's TransformationIsAFreeAction.

[[AC:{{ComicBooks}}]]

* Wikus in ''{{District 9}}''. He stays just human enough just long enough for the movie to play out (and for the audience to identify), while transforming quickly enough at first for him to use alien technology.

** In the novelization by IsaacAsimov, the degree to which you are shrunk affects your time at that size. It is stated that being shrunk to half-size would take years to wear off, but the extreme size reduction needed by the team means they only have a single hour.

* In one episode of Disney's ''{{Aladdin}}'', Jasmine was given a mysterious "beauty potion" that actually began slowly transforming her into a [[SnakePeople naga]]. Cue a long trek to locate the means to reverse it. Ultimately, Aladdin declares he would rather stay with Jasmine than leave her behind, and uses the potion on himself -- with immediate results.

* {{Justified}} in a ''GetSmart'' episode where Smart has been poisoned with a toxin that kills in 24 hours. CONTROL's attempts to reverse-engineer it result in a version that kills in sixty seconds, which he uses against the doctor who developed the original poison to acquire the antidote.

* The protagonists of ''FinalFantasyXIII'' are [[CursedWithAwesome made into l'Cie]] by [[PhysicalGod the fal'Cie Anima]]: their [[YogSothothSays Focus]] mandates that they must [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt destroy Cocoon]], or else transform into [[OurZombiesAreDifferent mindless, shambling Cie'th]]. Each of them bears a brand that acts as a timer, indicating how long they have left: however, the importance of this time limit is inversely proportional to how determined the protagonists are to ScrewDestiny. [[spoiler: In the end, [[RedHerring it never actually comes into play:]] the protagonists are ''apparently'' transformed into Cie'th during the final confrontation, but it turns out to be just an illusion created by [[BigBad Barthandelus]] to drive [[SixthRanger Fang]] over the DespairEventHorizon.]]

* In one episode of ''{{Ben 10}}'', Ben is scratched by a creature who has been identified as [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent the Yenaldooshi]] by a Character Of The Week, and spends half of the episode slowly becoming more and more like it. In the end, it's revealed that it was really nothing more than an alien wolf-like creature, and the transformation was due to a quirk of the Omnitrix that allows it to learn and mimic the form of any alien that touches it. Every other time this ability comes into play in later episodes, the form is added automatically and the transformation is as quick as Ben's usual shape-changing.