Troperville
Editing Help
Tools
Toys
|
|
|
By The Power Of Grayskull
|
alt title(s): By The Power Of Greyskull 
Lots of Phlebotinum is voice activated: Kirk talked to the computer, Michael talked to KITT, Automan talked to Cursor. But there is no place where a voice activation is more universally required than when triggering a Transformation Sequence.
You are, more or less, not allowed to transform to your super-powered alter-ego without ranting some special key-phrase. This phrase may or may not be descriptive, but it should almost certainly be pithy. If your transformation Catch Phrase is lame, you will not be allowed to keep transforming.
In situations where the hero explicitly cannot transform without magic words, rest assured that Easy Amnesia will rear its ugly head at least once, making the change impossible when needed the most. If the phrase also untransforms the hero, expect him to do this by mistake sometimes. Villains in particular will often be tricked into saying their power-down phrases.
Primarily associated with Anime, where it may be a form of Calling Your Attacks, but the trope almost certainly originated with comic-book character Billy Batson, who first used the Catch Phrase "Shazam!" to transform into Captain Marvel in 1940.
For some heroes, the phrase can be omitted when time does not allow, especially if the full Transformation Sequence is omitted. Superheroes who do not go through an explicit Transformation Sequence ( Batman, Superman) are exempt.
In the Japanese dialog of Sentai and anime, the word "Henshin" — meaning roughly "change" or "transform" — is often found in the phrase, and is sometimes the entire phrase.
Differs from In The Name Of The Moon in that By The Power Of Grayskull is the activation password for the Applied Phlebotinum, while In The Name Of The Moon is a harangue directed at the opposition.
This is the magic Catch Phrase that actually causes or facilitates the transformation. For one that is simply a cool kind of rallying cry or way to get the adrenaline pumping ("Flame On!", for example), see Invocation. When either of these contains (or is) the hero's name, it's I Am Hero Hear Me Roar.
See also: Transformation Trinket
open/close all folders
Examples
Western Animation
Anime and Manga
- Yu-Gi-Oh!: In the first season of the English dub, Yugi's transformation into the Pharaoh is usually precipitated by his shouting the title of the series.
- The title of the series, Yu-Gi-Oh, of course, being one of The Pharaoh's titles: KING OF GAMES.
- Parodied in Yu-Gi-Oh The Abridged Series with various shouts when Yugi transforms, the most memorable of which is "Super Special Awesome Ultra Special Sexy Transformation Sequence GO!"
- Also "Wonder Twin Powers Activate! Form of, an egyptian homosexual!"
- Bio Booster Armor Guyver: Likewise, Sho initiates his transformation by emitting the series title in a long, loud shrill. The live-action Made For TV Movies abbreviate the delivery, making him look a lot cooler.
- The Big O utilizes two catch-phrases: "Showtime!" and "Action!", which summon the titular robot to Roger Smith's current location and give Roger control, respectively. His android companion Dorothy asks him in one episode why he always says that, but receives no answer. Nietzsche Wannabe pilot Schwarzwald cleverly translated his catchphrase into German: "Es gibt Showzeit!", or rather the closest approximation the Japanese voice actor could manage. Note that this is in fact grammatically incorrect, "Es gibt" (which literally means "It gives") means something like "There is/exists". This was actually corrected to "Es ist Showzeit!" in the subtitles. ( Although you... can't really say that, either. )
- In addition, in the final episode Roger activates the Big O's Finishing Move Wave Motion Gun with the command "Final Stage!"
- The phrase is actually shown to be a literal vocal activation in one episode, when a villain builds a robot bust of Roger and has it learn to call "Big O!" in the exact same fashion. Combining this with Roger's watch led to an attempt to have Big O follow the robot off a pier and sink.
- The first transformation of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha involved Yuuno making Nanoha repeat a long, complicated speech; however, to his surprise, she's afterwards able to transform by saying only "Raising Heart, set up!"
- She also starts her spells with "Lyrical Magical!" (hence the title). Or at least she's supposed to... you could probably count on your hands the number of times she actually does so.
- She does do the full speech again for the final battle of season 1, just to up the drama.
- Getter Robo, the majordomo of piloted Super Robot anime, used the phrase "Change, Getter X", where X was the number/name of the form to be assumed. The actual change was just assembling the combiner team in a new order. Later on in the series the phrase "Open Get" was used to disconnect the component vehicles.
- Each of the Sailor Senshi in Sailor Moon went through several different activation phrases over the course of the series, on the order of one or so a season, as they improved their powers and combat ability. The geral formula was "[Planet Name] [Something] Power, Make Up!" The dub dropped the "Make Up" bit. The Dub also mucks around with the names themselves (despite originally being in English) sometimes resulting in totally made up stuff like "Moon Cosmic Dream Action". One really bad time had the Girls calling the first part of the phrase solo, then all at once calling "Make-Up!" The dub, due to the sheer omtiance of "Make-Up" resulting in it ending up as "Mars Star Power, Planet Power!"
- The Sailor Hellblazer
 Cross Over Fan Fic spoofs this when John Constantine accidentially sets his Transformation phrase as "bloody friggin' hell."
- Sailor Jupiter's pre-attack powerup invocation probably counts. "Guardian Jupiter! Stir up the storm, summon the clouds, send me your lightning! Supreme Thunder!" She drops everything but the attack name later on, though. Though it does appear a few times later, making the attack seem more Bad Ass then normal.
- If that counts, then this counts: "I call upon the powers of Zeus himself, infuse me with your heavenly thunder, which is actually lightning, but no one seems to notice. Pika-chuuu!"
- Possible subversion: in Mai-Otome, the Otome's Phlebotinum-based powers require a vocal authorization from the Otome's bonded master before the Otome herself can verbally invoke her Transformation Sequence.
- Spoofed in One Piece: Franky the carpenter is a Schizo Tech cyborg who activates his powers by shouting "Hentai!" (abnormality) instead of the traditional Toku phrase "Henshin!" (transform). While "hentai" can also mean "metamorphosis", its more common meaning of "weirdo" or "pervert" creates obvious humor, as other characters comment he is a weirdo/pervert for running around in nothing but a speedo and a Hawaiian shirt.
- In Futari Wa Pretty Cure, Nagisa, at least, is quite surprised to hear herself call out her and Honoka's key phrase ("Dual Aurora Wave") when they begin their first Transformation Sequence. This also happens with their after-transformation speech and their attacks. No explanation of any kind is ever given.
- This was repeated in the spinoff series Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash*Star. This time there was an explanation (although not one that can be extended back to the original series), and as a result Saki and Mai don't really question it later on (whereas Nagisa continued to be confused whenever she and Honoka said "something weird again"). By the way, their phrase was "Dual Spiritual Power".
- Yes! Precure 5 had "Precure metamorphose!" (Between that and the looks of the five girls, there have been accusations of ripping off Tokyo Mew Mew, which also uses "Metamorphose" as its phrase.)
- Tokyo Mew Mew had "Mew Mew X Metamorphose!", X being the name of their eponymous food (strawberry for Ichigo, pudding for Bu-ling, etc.)
- Trinity Blood: "Nano-machine Crusnik 02, starting operation at X percent level!". Every time Abel says that, he transforms from a big ditz into an incredibly badass killer.
- The Empathic Weapons in Bleach need their wielder to say the magic Catch Phrase in order to switch into a more powerful form. The Catch Phrase is unique to each weapon (though always including the weapon's name) and must be learned from the weapon itself. The phrase can range from the short ("snap") to the long ("flowers are disturbed, god of flowers weeps; winds of Heaven are disturbed, demon of Heaven laughs"). Characters who have gained the ability to unlock a final, even more powerful form of their swords do so with the single word "Bankai", regardless of the length of phrase required for first release.
- The actual release command such as "roar" or "scatter" are most probably to tell the sword when the user actually wants it to release. Sinc all that is actually needed is the name of the Zanpakuto, by including the phrase prevents accidents due to the sword changing chape every time it's name is mentioned.
- Some swords, like Ichigo's, can't return to the first form after the first release, exempting them from this. These are aptly named "Permanent Release Type Zanpaktos". They are apparently rare as only 2 have been seen in the series.
- Though it's not necessary to do so, most characters still reveal the name of their bankai after activating it.
- Explained in that the swords in question are sentient beings and want to be acknowledged as such before unleashing the energy. And even then... Ichigo's sword gave him attitude because he (Ichigo) thought that simply figuring out the name was enough; after all, he didn't become friends with regular humans after a simple introduction!
- It's also parodied. Urahara tells Ichigo that the only way to activate some "magic armor" is to yell "TAKE THIS! THE POWER OF JUSTICE! JUSTICE ARMOR! JUSTICE HACHIMAKI! EQUIP!" at the top of his lungs. Of course, Urahara being Urahara, yelling the phrase doesn't actually do anything except embarrass Ichigo.
- It also shows up in the filler arc, now having a function by having a Bount sensor installed. It requires the chant to activate, embarrassing Ichigo to no end.
- The shift from "civilian clothing" to bird suits in Gatchaman was triggered by speaking the phrase, "bird go!" into a special wristband. When the show was brought to America as Battle of the Planets, the phrase was "transmute!" In the G-Force permutation, the phrase was "G-Force, Transform!"
- And let's not forget "Transmute to Fiery Phoenix!"
- Ronin Warriors/Yoroiden Samurai Troopers used this to don their armor. Usually, they took a transformation stance, yelled out "Armor of X," and some sort of incantation. For Wildfire, this was Tao Jin(literally, "the way of virtue"). The subarmor could be summoned at will, and it was donned before entering battle. Apparently, when not in use, their armors took the form of glass spheres with their corresponding Confucian value(depicted with kanji) inside it.
- Mahou Sensei Negima: Western mages have personal "key" phrases to say before reciting spells. (For example, Negi's is "Ras tel ma scrir magister") There's also a 'training' key phrase for novice mages who don't have a personal one yet.
- And Pactio cards, which summon a magical artifact for the user with the activation key "Adeat".
- Modified in the Karas OAVs, where the transformation sequence is spoken by the hero's handler. (It's also one of the coolest transforms ever, albeit very long.)
- Wedding Peach had two for each hero, because they each had two transformations.
- Digimon Frontier's Transformation Sequence was triggered by "Execute! (Spirit/Beast Spirit/Unified Spirit) Evolution!"
- Digimon Data Squad used "DNA Charge!", then "DNA Full Charge", then "DNA Charge Overdrive".
- The Digimon Savers versions used "Digi-Soul" instead of "DNA", plus "Digi-soul charge — overdrive!" for the second evolution, and then "Charge! Digi-Soul Burst!" for the final Mode Change.
- Hell, this is done with every Digimon, really. "-Insert Name Here-mon, Digivolve to...!" or "-Insert Name Here-mon, shinka!" in the Japanese version, and so on and so forth with different languages. Or, some variation on the phrase; examples include "DNA Digivolve", "Warp Digivolve", and "Matrix Digivolve", among others. The actual phrase is used to activate evolution by the Digimon themselves; the only time it isn't said is when you have a mute Digimon. In this case, though, someone else may say it for them.
- Pretty Sammy, the magical girl alter-ego of Tenchi Muyo! character Sasami used two different phrases. When she appeared in the first Tenchi TV series, it was "Jugemu-jugemu Gokōnosurikire, Sammy Davis broiler chicken!" In her subsequent appearances, it was changed to "Pretty Mutation! Magical Recall!" And just once was Misao's only conscious transformation into Pixie Misa — "Pixy Mutation! Magical recall!"
- Magical Angel Creamy Mami: Yuu's transformation required the phrase "Pam puru pim puru parim pompun! Pim puru pam puru parim pompun!"
- Hellsing had Alucard use the phrase "Releasing control art restriction to level (#)..." when he goes from merely terrifying to Nightmare Fuel Incarnate.
- "Let's go Voltron Force!... Form feet and legs!... Form arms and torso/body!... And I'll form... the head!"
- This doesn't happen exactly in the Japanese version (Golion). Before the lions combine into Golion, they do say "Let's Golion!". However, there is no "Form feet and legs..." part; the sequence itself doesn't have any dialogue except at the end in later episodes when Akira Kogane/Keith shouts "Golion!!".
- G Gundam has the protagonist shouting "Rise, Shining Gundam!" whenever he decides to call his Humongous Mecha. It's not quite a transformation sequence, but close enough.
- FINAL FUSION!! SYMMETRICAL DOCKING!! MEGA FUSION!! SYSTEM CHANGE!! SANMI ITTAI!!
- Shinkon Gattai Godannar had "Drive change go," "Volspinner slave on," "Mushin ittai Godiner," and "Change Genesister."
- Princess Tutu averts this trope, but Princess Tutu Abridged throws one in.
- Punie-chan's activation in Dai Mahou Touge (Magical Witch Punie-Chan) is classic: "Lyrical Tokarev, Kill Them All!"
- From Transformers Headmasters: HEAD ON!
- Pilot 1: "Nenshin!"
- In Sekirei, the Sekirei gain power with a kiss and a chant, called a norito. Each Norito is unique to that Sekerei:
- Musubi — These are the fists of my pledge, crush the catastrophe before my Ashikabi
- Kazehana — Wind of my pledge, blow away the dark clouds of my sekirei
- Homura — These are the flames of my pledge, burn the Karma of my Ashikabi
- Tsukiumi — This is the water of my pledge, purify the evil residing in my Ashikabi
- Shiina — Decaying streams of my pledge, wither the cross of my Ashikabi.
Comics
- In The DCU, Jason Blood is changed into Etrigan when a certain poem is read, by him or by someone else. The full version is:
Change, change the form of man.
Free the prince forever damned.
Free the might from fleshy mire.
Boil the blood in heart of fire.
Gone, gone the form of man,
Rise the demon Etrigan!
- Often, especially in adaptations, only the two last lines are used. To change back, he recites "Gone, gone, O Etrigan! Resume once more the form of man!"
- Captain Marvel's "Shazam!". Along with Cap, the entire Marvel Family uses this magic transformation word. (Except for Captain Marvel Jr., who uses "Captain Marvel!") The Captain Marvel villain IBAC changes back and forth from his identity by saying his own "super" name, as does Junior's villain Sabbac.
- DC is constantly messing with them, though. As I write this, Billy Batson (calling himself simply Marvel) is now the wizard who gives the others their powers, Freddy Freeman (formerly Captain Marvel Jr) is trying to become a superhero named Shazam (who still uses his name to transform, but has thankfully gained the ability to make that optional, so he CAN say his name without transforming now), and, in a fit of nostalgia, Billy Batson/Marvel changed Black Adam's word from Shazam to "Chocolate Egg Cream" in an attempt to keep Black Adam from transforming. It didn't take. Black Adam then got rid of the powers himself by transferring them to a powerless Mary, creating Black Mary Marvel. Which went well...
- A different Captain Marvel (There've been at least half a dozen, if not more, superheroes named Captain Marvel, none of which are related) had as his phrase the word "Split!" This would activate his power... the ability to split his body into pieces, even down to individual fingers. This was, apparently, necessary, but it doesn't make a lot of difference since for obvious reasons it wasn't a very long lived comic.
- Marvel Comics Captain Marvel parodied this once. Rick once shouted "Shazam" while switching places with Genis and he didn't understand what was that suposed to mean.
- Thunder Girl, Big Bang Comics' Captain/Mary Marvel pastiche, had the word "Alakazam!" Her evil Nazi counterparts (who more closely resemble the rest of the Marvel family, with another Mary thrown in for good measure) have "Gotterdammerung!"
- The Green Lantern Corps charges their rings at the power battery while reciting an oath. The oath isn't what actually charges the rings — they just need to charge for about as long as it takes to say the oath, so they're used as timing devices. Each Lantern is free to make up their own, but the following ditty, created for Silver Age lantern Hal Jordan, is the most famous:
In brightest day, in blackest night,
No evil shall escape my sight.
Let those who worship Evil's might
Beware my power, Green Lantern's light!
- Either Hal's oath really caught on with the rest of the Corps, or subsequent writers forgot that he came up with himself, since many other Green Lanterns across space (and sometimes time) use it or variations on it, right down to the meter and rhyme scheme.
- The official explanation is that Hal was regarded as role model by many Green Lanterns and they adopted his oath as their own. (That doesn't explain the across time examples, though.)
- An interesting subversion of the normal oath is heard in Alan Moore's story "In Blackest Night", where Katma Tui has to recruit a Green Lantern from a sector of space shrouded in perpetual darkness, and whose inhabitants consequently are not only blind but have no concept of light or color. She ends up changing the oath to this:
In loudest din or hush profound,
my ears hear evil's slightest sound
Let those who toll out evil's knell
Beware my power, the F-Sharp Bell!
- The golden age Green Lantern's oath was the weirdly poetic:
And I shall shed my light over dark evil,
For the dark things cannot stand the light,
The light of the Green Lantern!
- Oddly, the Sinestro Corps (think evil Lanterns) use a more sinister version, down to the rhyming scheme. Their oath is badass:
In blackest day, in brightest night,
Beware your fears made into light
Let those who try to stop what's right,
Burn like my power... Sinestro's might!
- Please note that only Sinestro says that. Other members of the Sinestro Corps change the last line to "Burn like his power... Sinestro's might!", which just makes sense.
- Blue's is also worthy of note (and damn cool):
''In fearful day, in raging night,
With strong hearts full, our souls ignite!
When all seems lost in the War Of Light,
Look to the stars, for Hope burns bright!
- Red and Violet have oaths too, which maintain the rhyming scheme. Even Black has an oath, despite the fact they are rotting super-zombies. However, Orange's oath is one word - "Mine".
- That's because the colors are the "emotional spectrum". Red is Rage, Orange is Avarice (or Greed), Yelllow is Fear, Green is (of course) Willpower, Blue is Hope, Indigo is
Magic Cylinder Compassion and Violet is Love.
- Oh, and there's Black, which is not part of the rainbow and represents Death. There's also a few hints of White, which seems to represent Peace or something.
- This troper would like to point out that Hal Jordan's oath is attributed to Alfred Bester, who also wrote the bit of doggerel that supplied the title to one of his best-known works: "The Stars, My Destination".
- Golden Age hero Johnny Quick activated his abilities by reciting the formula "3X2(9YZ)4A". His daughter Jesse Quick did the same, until she lost her powers. Of course, it's not enough just to say the formula: you need to understand the four-dimensional construct it describes, and you also need a certain mental state and/or link to the Speed Force.
- Towards the end of Johnny Quick's run (pun not intended), other speedsters attempted to point out to him that the formula was really pointless... his powers were simply an ability to tap into the Speed Force. This proved true when, in the process of his Heroic Sacrifice he started his formula several times, then finally simply thought "The hell with it" and ran at superspeed without using it.
- Perhaps ironically, an even later issue of the Flash had our hero Wally West spouting the equation out of desperation to be faster during a particularly large disaster. Not only did he speed up, but time actually froze around him — keeping the world in a frozen moment of time that only fellow speedster Max Mercury could reach for a few minutes before being dragged out again. Time resumed it's natural flow when Wally was finally able to let go and allow time to resume. 'Pointless' indeed.
- Johnny Thunder commanded his magical (though literal minded) genie through the mystical phrase "cei-u". In his early issues the running gag was that he wasn't aware of this, and the magic would happen at seemingly random times without him realizing that it was always after he has spoken the words "Say, you". Needless to say, he wasn't portrayed as very bright.
- And then, to cue the amnesia part, he got Alzheimers. He got better. Those magical genies are tricky.
- Parodied in Defenders Indefensible, when a shockingly calm Bruce Banner attempts to stimulate a change into the Hulk, with such gems as "Hulk On!" and "Shazulk."
- The early Captain Marvel knockoff Marvelman, better known now as Miracleman, used the transformation phrase "kimota". (Spell it backwards.) His sidekicks use the phrase "Miracleman". Alan Moore's Miracleman series used both the amnesia and trick power-down cliches.
- The magician Zatanna and her father Zatara speak their spells backwards. (Remember: words backwards, sentences forwards!) However, Zatanna has sometimes explained away the need to do this as being merely a focus exercise.
- The first Blue Beetle would shout "Khaji da!" and thus cause his Scarab to activate his powers.
- There's a reason for this: "Khaji da!" is the Scarab's name, a point revealed in Blue Beetle #25 (of the most recent series).
- General Glory, also from The DCU. He forgot his magic catch phrase simply because he got so old. He finally tracked it down by the propoganda comics the government used to issue so they could deny his very existence. "You saw General Glory beating up a tank? Sure... stop reading so much, soldier."
- A similar situation occurred with Wildstorm Captain Marvel Expy Maximum Man, whose alter ego, Kyle Trueblood developed Alzheimer's and since then spent every waking minute saying every word in every dictionary in every language he can find. his former archenemy remembered it and kept it from him out of spite. Eventually there was an emergency, and he told Trueblood what it was: Hecatean.
- Golden Age (now Public Domain) superhero the Green Lama used as his Transformation Phrase the mantra "Om Mani Padme Hum". Since the Lama was supposed to be Buddhist this makes a sort of sense.
- Marvel heroine Go Go Tomago transforms into her powered form by saying her own superhero name.
- the Great Ten's Thundermind uses the magic phrase "all hail the jewel in the lotus" to turn into the mighty superhero.
- Hawk and Dove, from the DC Universe, would magically gain their superpowers and customes by shouting out loud their super-hero names. This would only work if they were in danger, however.
- Kid Eternity, from both Captain Marvel and Teen Titans, could say "Eternity" to summon a historical or mythological hero, who would then disappear after a certain amount of time. His arch enemy, Master Man, could say "Stygia" to summon a historical or mythological villain, who would then dissappear after a certain amount of time.
Literature
- The Lathe of Heaven has Doctor Haber use hypnosis so that George Orr will begin his "magic" dream state whenever Haber says "Antwerp".
- Explained away in a Shadowrun book. People in the Shadowrun-verse yell, wave their hands in elegant motions, point, say things quite dramatically, and other magicky stuff, but when asked this, a mage says that it's all used to help focus mana. It's not necessary, though.
- Harry Dresden casts his spells using Latin... ish phrases. He justifies this in his narration by explaining that words have power in the wizarding world, and he doesn't want to accidentally cast a fireball by saying the wrong thing in English.
- It's not that there's any risk of him accidentally casting a spell; Latin is the lingua franca of the wizarding world, so it would be very stupid of him to use Latin to cast spells if it could sometimes result in unexpected fireballs in the middle of meetings. Instead, he says that words in foreign, unfamiliar languages provide a sort of insulation from the raw power of a spell for a wizard's mind. One time in Fool Moon he cast a spell when he couldn't speak. The spell worked fine, but he was badly disoriented for some time after. Presumably if Harry ever worked on his Latin he would have to start casting spells with another, even more obscure language, like most wizards do.
Live Action TV
- Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future: Members of the Future Force transformed into armored form by calling, "Power on!"
- 1970s Wonder Woman rip-off Isis forced the titular character to recite a full-sentence incantation to activate her powers. Also, she apparently had to activate powers in a certain order (i.e. she couldn't skip around on her spell list) or an incantation wouldn't work.
- Thankfully, not so much when she entered The DCU.
- Every Power Ranger. Ever.
- Although in Power Rangers Operation Overdrive there were double-figure instant morphs. Still needed words for everything else, but when there was emotion involved, woohoo baby, they went for the silent approach.
- They weren't afraid to spoof it from time to time. Whenever Billy did the call, he would often say it in technobabble, i.e. "It's time for molecular transmutation!"
- It is not entirely clear in which cases the phrase is By the Power of Grayskull, and in which it is an Invocation. For the original rangers, saying the name of their respective animal was required (Zordon tells them to summon their powers thus), and the now-famous prelude, "It's morphing time!" was absent in the very first morph (Zordon is the first to use the phrase in the second episode). With every team since, it was the team call, not the individual call, that triggered the morph. Time Force is a strange case: the Quantum Ranger's morpher was voice-activated, and this is explicitly different from the way the Time Force morphers worked. Doesn't stop 'em from saying "Time for Time Force!" to morph.
- VR Troopers: used the phrase "(Trooper Transform!) We! Are! V!R!" to initiate their transformations. It's the "Trooper Transform" that's actually needed for the change.
- Their foe, Karl Ziktor/Grimlord, did this as well, straddling the line between this trope and Invocation: "Forces of darkness, empower me! Take me back to my Virtual Reality!"
- Big Bad Beetle Borgs: "Beetle-Bonders! Beetle-Blast!" (Cue Theme Music Power Up.). "Back-Blast!" reverted them to human.
- The Mettallix season had: "Data-Bonders! Input card! Beetle-Blast!" for their Beetleborg forms and "Bug out!" and "Bug-back" to go to and from their bug forms.
- The Mystic Knights Of Tir Na Nog: "Fire within me!" "Earth beneath me!" "Air above me!" "Water around me!" "Forest before me!"
- Rohan The Hero had Battle Fury Armour, which he activated by shouting... go on, guess.
- Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad had "Let's Samurize, Guys!" (for Sam, The Hero), "Let's kick some Giga-butt!" (for Tanker, The Big Guy), "Pump up the Power!" (for Sydney, The Smart Girl), and a random non sequitur (for Amp, the Plucky Comic Relief) that essentially lampshaded the whole pointlessness of the henshin phrases (at least, until he was replaced: Lucky London, the second comic-relief guy, just said "Surf's up!")
- In the episode where everyone's personalities changed, Tanker and Sydney actually switched phrases.
- Kamen Riders traditionally use "Henshin", though Showa-era Riders would occasionally use variants, such as Kamen Rider Stronger's "Henshin Stronger".
- Madan Senki Ryukendo has the protagonists shout out the name of their Empathic Weapon to turn them from a portable form into full-sized weapons. Since this is Ryukendo, it was Lampshaded in one episode where Kenji is in a large, echoey cave with some civilians a little way down another passage and a Secret Identity to maintain. He tries to whisper the name and his weapon retorts, "Can't hear you."
- The Chou Sei Shin series used "Souchaku!" ("Equip!") as their standard transformation phrase. Chou Sei Kantai Sazer X, in keeping with their Xtremely Kool Letterz, would upgrade this to "X Souchaku!"
- In Cutey Honey The Live, Honey transforms by touching two fingers to a little heart charm on her neck and calling "Honey Flash!". Her transformation is a naked/sparkle scene a la Sailor Moon, but the catch is that the people around her can see her naked and sparkling.
- This has actually happened in not only most (if not all) of the Cutey Honey manga that was written over the years (including those by creator Go Nagai and other authors), but also in every other adaptation prior to the live-action series. Furthermore, This Troper has been told that as explicit as it is, the nakedness only lasts for a split-second.
Tabletop Games
- Done quite a lot in most RPGs that involve magic. Incantations and the like.
- Most tabletop games don't require the player to chant anything, as it's assumed the PC says whatever he needs to say to get the desired spell activated (ie, Power Word Kill doesn't specify the word used).
- However, GURPS has an optional rule for spellcasting using cantrips; you can prepare in advance (or invent on the spot) a poem to cast a spell; longer poems give better effects. The player, not the PC, must recite or read the actual cantrip, and you're not allowed to "stop time" to make up a poem, so you'd better be good at improvisation or have a prewritten one at the ready.
Video Games
Web Animation
- Spoofed on Homestar Runner with the Strong Bad E-mail "lunch special", in which Strong Bad thinks that getting Bubs to say his name backwards without the first B (in other words, "sbu") will make him give away a free lunch special. Eventually, Bubs says it, and reveals that it doesn't make him give away a free lunch special but rather makes him lose his ability to fly (though he could really only hover a few inches above the ground anyway).
Bubs: Why are you trying to get me to say Sbu?
Strong Bad: THERE! You said it! Now you gotta give me a free lunch special!
Bubs: No, no, no. Getting me to say my name backwards minus the B just makes me lose my super power!
Strong Bad: What super power?
Bubs: Being able to fly.
Strong Bad: You can fly!?
Bubs: Well... not anymore, I can't.
Strong Bad: Oh, right.
- Also, in a later SB Email, Strong Bad talks about how he would go about transforming into other things such as money. He says he would need some sort of catchphrase. He decides to go with "Dwayne!"
Web Comics
Web Original
- Possibly in a reference to Power Rangers, the Dimensional Guardians from the web fiction serial Dimension Heroes must shout "Dimensional Guardians, power up!" to activate their Guardian powers.
- Whateley Universe example: When Action Girl Chaka gets a set of magical gloves that - once invoked - let her make four extra-hard punches, she has to choose the invocation phrase. Being a wacky teenager in a superhero world, she chose "It's clobberin' time!".
|
|
