Voluntary Shapeshifting - Television Tropes & Idioms

Ditto from Pokémon. In the game it can only transform into whichever Pokémon it is facing at the time with a purple tint (this was later removed in newer games, where the transformed Ditto was simply a lighter tint of normal Pokémon). In the anime, they can transform into all different things. The legendary Mew also posseses this ability, as shown in one of the movies.
All characters with Youma blood in Claymore have some degree of shapeshifting ability. Full Youma and Awakened Ones (aka Voracious Eaters) usually have a human form and a monstrous form. Several of them also display the "rubber-band limbs" kind of shapeshifting. Claymores themselves exhibit a series of progressive changes when they tax their powers.
Envy of Fullmetal Alchemist. He finds it most useful to change into people, but isn't limited to that; in the anime he turns into a giant dragon, and in the manga his "true form" is... let's just say you don't want to meet it down a dark alley.
- Heck, his true form wouldn't even fit in a dark alley.
  - This is ironically taken advantage of by Roy Mustang when they fought to the death in the recent chapters. Because of his large size, it allowed Roy to constantly bombard him with high powered but inaccurate shots that would hit the guy anyway. Given that Envy was a mass of human body parts and was heavy in bodily fluids, it did not matter if Roy only just barely grazes him, anything about him could be set on fire. Ironically it is the inhuman form that brought about his downfall.
- He also crosses over into Shapeshifter Weapon. As he puts it (as he turns his limbs into a sword and a snake), he's not human, so why should he limit himself by fighting like one?
Aside from the examples mentioned under Animorphism, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha also has the cyborg Due, who can reshape her appearance for long-term infiltration missions.
Pretty Cure is positively full of this:
- Nearly all "mascot" characters in the Pretty Cure franchise can freely switch between two forms, their "real" form and a disguised form intended to blend in on Earth. (Any similarity to Transformers is purely coincidental, we're sure.) A Most disguises resemble some form of personal electronics, such as cellphones; Coco and Nuts, notably, become humans. In Yes! Precure 5GOGO, Syrup is the franchise's first "triple changer": "penguin" mascot, human, and giant bird with passenger compartment.
- Villainous characters were no stranger to this, either. Two of Futari Wa Pretty Cure's first Quirky Miniboss Squad (and all three of the fourth) changed their appearances on occasion — Poisony, in particular, used at least four different disguises that this troper can recall, one of which was a convincing impersonation of Honoka. And in Yes! Precure 5 the shift from human appearance to animalistic combat form happens nearly Once An Episode.
- And while it's certainly not on the same scale, all of the Magical Girls in the franchise undergo some kind of physical change when they transform, ending up with longer hair at the very least.
Puar and Oolong from Dragon Ball both have the ability to shapeshift. Puar doesn't seem to have any major limitations but Oolong can only change for five minutes before having to take a one minute rest. This is due to being kicked out shapeshifting school for stealing his teacher's panties.
One Piece has quite a few Shifters in the cast. It's actually easier to say that if there's a possible variation of Shape Shifting, then there is a "Sea Devil Fruit" granting it. As an example, Tony Tony Chopper already has three natural forms he can shapeshift into and four others through the use of the "Rumble Balls" he invented.
- For shapeshifting in general, they have Mr. 2, whose Devil fruit power allows him to copy the body of anyone whose face he has memorized (it also grants him photographic memory). To change into a certain person, he touches his left cheek, and to change back into himself, he touches his right. The catch? He can't imitate clothes, so whoever he turns into is depicted as being stuck in a ballerina outfit with a ball skirt.
Eve from Black Cat.
Tenchi Muyo has Zero (later Ryoko Hakubi) and (sort of) Washuu, and in the spinoffs there are: Ryoko Baluta of Tenchi Muyo GXP, Doll/Mexiah of Isekai No Seikishi Monogatari, and even Kei in Spaceship Agga Rutter.
It's implied that all of the demons in Chrono Crusade have shape-shifting abilities. They all have at least two forms: their true demonic form, and a more human-looking form they seem to use when mingling among humans, and possibly to conserve energy as well. Chrono himself has a third form: a small, child-like version of his human form that he took on to save as much energy as possible.
Ahiru from Princess Tutu is somewhere in between Voluntary and Involuntary Shapeshifting. She turns back into her duck form when she quacks—which she sometimes does on purpose, but also accidentally triggers when she responds in shock by quacking. (She can also stop the transformation if she slaps her hand over her mouth in time, however.)
Digimon has tons of examples of this.
Shippo from Inu Yasha can do this.
- As can Naraku, though he just tends to get weirder and weirder looking.
Weapons in Soul Eater are otherwise-normal humans (besides their titular taste for corrupted souls) who can each transform into one of a variety of devices, including but not limited to scythes, guns, knives, shurikens, and chainsaws. The catch: Most cannot fight by themselves, and require a Meister to wield them.
In Hellsing, most of the vampires can do this.
In Himechan's Ribbon, Himeko uses the titular ribbon to shift her shape into that of another (real) person. The catch? They wear a pendant that resembles the ribbon.
Horo from Spice And Wolf can change forms between a wolf-eared and tailed girl in her late teens and a giant wolf larger than an elephant. The latter is her "true" form.

Jason Blood is able to transform into the demon Etrigan by saying a short poem.
Mystique from the X-Men: people, some other creatures. Similarly, Morph from the 90s series, who was in turn inspired by Changeling from the comics. Morph (maybe not the same guy) also appears in the Age Of Apocalypse event and the Exiles ongoing monthly title.
- Carmen Electra played a parody of Mystique in Epic Movie. In one scene Peter requests her to transform into increasingly bizarre forms to please his various fetishes: unibrows, giant butts, flabby arms, etc. I'm surprised that he didn't ask for her to grow a Jay Leno chin.
Impossible Man from the Fantastic Four comics and cartoon is a trickster-like alien who can turn into all kinds of crazy things. In an episode of the 90's series titled "Hopelessly Impossible", he turns into Galactus, Lawrence Limburger, Hulk, Lockjaw, and a Ninja Turtle.
Dark Horse comic hero The Mask is another Trickster shapeshifter.
The DCU is positively lousy with shapeshifters: Beast Boy, Plastic Man, Offspring, all Martians (including resident superheroes Martian Manhunter and Miss Martian), Madame Rouge, Gemini, Everyman, Metamorpho, The Elongated Man, among many others. Shapeshifting may well surpass flight on their list of ubiquitous superpowers, at least among the younger generation.
- Plastic Man is regarded as the most powerful shapeshifter in the modern setting, with the ability to take virtually any shape, change color, and survive numerous attacks that seem tailor-made to hurt shapeshifters, such as being frozen and shattered.
- Beast Boy from the Teen Titans: any animal regardless of size, but he will always be green. Madam Rouge from the animated version has no such weakness.
- Martian Manhunter from Justice League had blob-form powers and disguise forms, as well as a few other notable abilities.
  - Like the ability to survive being ripped in half.
- Clayface from Batman the Animated Series could assume human forms, and the blob attack after he was found out.
- Inque from Batman Beyond had a body made of a black viscous fluid, and could shape herself at will.
Elf Quest has a number of examples. The original High Ones shapeshifted into elfin forms, which most of them retained (and which bred true) after crash-landing on the magic-poor World of Two Moons. A few, such as Timmain and Haken, were able to painfully force their shapeshifting abilities despite the planet's lack of magic. Most notably, Timmain often shapeshifted into a wolf (becoming the wolf-mother of the story's main tribe) and, many generations later, taught Kimo how to do so as well. Winnowill was able to shapeshift into human form, as was Jink centuries after that. When Winnowill's spirit was absorbed by Rayek, she sometimes succeeded in taking control of his body and reshaping it into her own form.
- To elaborate: shapeshifting in Elf Quest is an extension of "shaping" magic, i.e. rock-shaping, tree-shaping, and in this case, flesh-shaping. It's a painful process, but it follows the same basic logic as healing. This means that elves with healing powers are always potential shapeshifters but, in most cases, find the very idea unnatural and disturbing at first. Exceptions appear more and more often as the story progresses: Tyldak asks Winnowill to shape him into a bird-elf, Mender chooses not to grow a beard as he gets older, Skywise asks Leetah to make him into a pure elf instead of a wolf-elf (when he thinks all the other elves have died), and Suntop asks Leetah to shape him into a mer-elf temporarily so that he can spend time underwater with his lifemate.
The Marvel Universe's Skrulls are an entire race of voluntary shapeshifters, something they use to great advantage in the current (as of this writing) Secret Invasions crossover event.
The Marvel Comics character Sleepwalker, who had his own title in the early 1990s, is a variation on this trope. While he can't change his own physical shape, his warp vision can be used to alter the physical shape of any inanimate object within its radius, and affect its physical characteristics to a lesser degree.
Shakira from The Warlord can change into a black cat at will.
The character E.V.E. from Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog title was able to shift shapes to become stronger after each defeat by the titular hedgehog. She did this so flawlessly that Sonic even thought he was being attacked by multiple opponents. After reaching her ultimate form, however, this power was no longer used and may be an example of Mode Lock.
The Incredible Hulk developed the ability to do this at one point in the early 1980s when Bruce Banner had taken complete control of the Hulk's form. While he normally stayed in his basic human body, Banner could transform himself into the Hulk at will and retained full control of his body while doing so. The emotionally reserved Banner couldn't get as angry as any of the actual Hulk personalities and so wasn't as strong, but he made up for it by using his scientific smarts to fight as a Genius Bruiser.
Shifty, a prominent member of the Confederacy of Crime in The Incredibles comic series.

Jareth from Labyrinth can turn into an owl.
The 80's film Cat People featured people who could turn into black panthers.
Jim Carrey played The Mask in the movie with the help of groundbreaking makeup and animated effects.
Gozer from Ghostbusters.
The titular ghost from Beetle Juice.
It Came From Outer Space (1953). The aliens can copy humans and their memories, but give themselves away through their awkward speech patterns and ability to stare into the sun without blinking.

The Helghasts from the Lone Wolf series (and its spin-off Legend of Lone Wolf novels) are undeads able to take human shape, making them perfect spies and assassins for the Darklords. And the Nadziranim ("dark sorcerers") can turn into vicious monsters when they have to fight.

The entire point of The Immortals quartet by Tamora Pierce. Daine has Wild Magic, allowing her to communicate with, heal, command, and change into animals. Stemming from her minor god of a father, the books deal with her bringing her powers under control. She can also partially shapeshift, doing things like putting her human head on an eagle's body.
- Though sometimes her clothes go with her when she shifts and sometimes not. However, when returning to human form she is invariably nude.
The Metamorphmagus and Animagi in Harry Potter.
Half the cast of Animorphs had the ability to transform into any animal (or, indeed, alien life form) they touched thanks to Imported Alien Phlebotinum.
Beorn from The Hobbit can transform into a bear at will.
- In The Silmarillion, Finrod Felagund disguises himself, Beren and their companions as Orcs, probably by singing (which is how Sauron later strips them of their disguise.) A little later, Lúthien turns Beren into a werewolf and herself into a bat-like creature.
- This is a standard ability of all Ainur with a couple of exceptions- the wizards gave it up as part of the limiting of their powers, and Morgoth was Mode Locked into his Evil Overlord form because he became too attached to it. Sauron was noted to have a particularly strong talent at this himself, being able to even decieve elves or Numenoreans, though after the Downfall of Numeor he lost the ability to conceal his true nature.
Pennywise the Clown from Stephen King's IT, who can also read your mind.
In the Star Wars Expanded Universe (in particular, the "Galaxy of Fear" series), the race known as the Shi'ido can shape-shift. Also, Clawdites can shapeshift.
Albert from Norman Linsey's childrens story The Magic Pudding and the animated movie adaptation.
Author Amelia Atwater-Rhodes has shapeshifters in her books known as Elavie, most notably in her Kiesha'ra series. These shapeshifter usually only have the ability to change into one animal, sometimes with a half-form as well.
- Particularly strong vampires in her world can shapeshift as well, but, unless the vampire was Elavie before being turned (such as Jaguar), it's more a case of having a very good sense of self and an understanding of one's own shape and the shape of the animal.
Many creatures in the Mercy Thompson series can change shape voluntarily. The titular character can turn into a coyote at will, there are werewolves aplenty, and all fae can disguise themselves with basic illusion magic.
Saint Dane in The Pendragon Adventure can shift into nearly any form suited for any Territory, even if the Territory is inhabited by cat people (which Eelong is). Sometimes he creates an alias, sometimes he steals one, sometimes he even changes genders. He also has the form of a black crow for quick movement. If it weren't for his icy-blue eyes and tendency to want to reveal himself, he'd be near-impossible to find.
Sun Wukong, the magic monkey of the Chinese epic novel, Journey to the West, has among his many powers the 72 transformations. Despite the name, this ability allows him to transform into absolutely anything.
- Also worth mention is Zhu Bajie (aka Pigsy) who only knew 36 transformations, half as many as Sun Wukong (aka Monkey). He makes up for it with being better at fighting underwater (despite being a Pig-man).
The main characters of Switchers, by Kate Thompson, have the ability to transform into any animal they wish at will... at least until they turn 15.
HP Lovecraft's Nyarlthatotep is an interesting case. He has over 1000 different forms, although it's never really made clear whether he can switch between forms or is he stuck to the one he manifests in. It might also be possible for him to manifest in more than one form at once (being the herald and soul of the Outer Gods means he can ignore pesky things like the laws of our space-time continuum).
- While it's not quite clear whether or not he can switch between forms, some of his forms are able to shapeshift.
Many characters in John C Wright's Chronicles of Chaos — by many different techniques.
The goblins in Tom Holt's J.W. Wells books can shift instantaneously into any human form, although whether they can take other forms has not been mentioned. The vainer goblins in the series, such as Rosie Tanner, enjoy transforming into a different supermodel-gorgeous human every day, wearing bodies the way some Hollywood film stars wear clothes — always the best, and never the same outfit twice. It is emphasized that while goblins actually change the structure of their bodies, other creatures like the Fey prefer the simpler methods of glamour and illusion, which take less magical strength than actual shapeshifting.
The character of Emma Anyanwu from Octavia Butler's Patternist series has total conscious control of her body at a cellular level. She can regenerate from any injury, stop herself from aging, alter her DNA at will, and take the form of any human or animal regardless of gender. Although she can mimic the outward appearance of any creature she sees, to become a truly accurate replica of another living organism she has to ingest and analyze a sample of that organism's DNA, e.g. through a bite of animal meat or a drop of blood.
The character Geloë from Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series is a practitioner of what might be regarded as Druidic magic, including the ability to shapeshift, primarily into birds. Handled fairly realistically in that it does not affect her clothing.
Shapeshifting is a standard ability of sorcerers in David Eddings' Belgariad and Mallorean series. Their version conveniently incorporates a form of Hammerspace for clothing and held items and also confers some of the personality traits of the assumed shape.
Dax Jones from The Shapeshifter series can take multiple animal forms, like his alien mother's species and has to regularly or suffer stroke like symptoms.
The Kandra from Mistborn can change into anything they want — but they can't produce a rigid skeleton. Because it's almost impossible for them to replicate an individual's features without digesting them first, they generally just use the original bones anyway. Among themselves they use metal skeletons called "true bodies" which particularly creative Kandra often make into wild and fanciful shapes to show off their abilities.
- They aren't limited to humanoid shapes, either; it's just something of a taboo, because they consider it extremely demeaning to be forced to wear nonhuman bones. One of them is forced for a time to wear the bones of a wolfhound, and he eventually grows rather fond of the form, mostly because of the physical advantages (speed, natural weapons) of being in the body of a big damn dog.
The Dutch YA novel De Wortels Van Het Woud (The Roots Of The Forest, by Tais Teng) has a main character who can modify his body with various animal characteristics. It turns out that he and his sister are among the last of a race of shamans. Although his sister (whose powers are not related to shapeshifting) is utterly freaked out by the revelation, the boy eventually chooses to stay in the world of magic and live his life in the Forest in millions of animal forms.
The si'lura in The Banned And The Banished by James Clemens are a race of Shapeshifters that are able to take the form of any living creature. The are also able to communicate in any form through an image based telepathy that requires eye to eye contact. Spending too long in one form can cause the shifter to settle and be unable to change again.
Mr. Nobody rom the Wild Cards books— there are several other shapeshifters in the series as well.

Flabber from Beetleborgs has this as one of his powers, being that he's a magical Phasm and all (and a rather obvious Genie/Mask Captain Ersatz, with the looks of the Joker). Early on in Beetleborgs Metalix, the kids get the ability to turn into actual beetles by shouting "Bug Out!" to turn into bugs and "Bug back!" to turn back into themselves.
The main character in Manimal: any animal, though he seems to fixate on a panther, a hawk, a snake, and other creatures for which the producers had sufficient stock footage.
- The transformations into a bull or cat were done OFF SCREEN though.
The Changelings, including main ensemble member Odo, from Star Trek Deep Space Nine have a very flexible and almost undetectable transformation power. Their natural state is a fluid.
- Also Daledians, featured in Next Generation episode "The Dauphin".
It can be argued that the Game Face presented by Buffyverse vampires is their real appearance (after all, they're demons!) and they "shape-shift" to appear as normal humans as necessary.
Metal Heroes: Space Sheriff Gavan's partner Mimi had shapeshifting powers through a device around her neck, but she only used it to turn into a bird and occasionally alter her clothing.
- Likewise, Sharivan's partner Lily was able to perfectly impersonate one of the female villains down to voice and face though that might have been due to makeup.
Most Time Lords from Doctor Who appear able to exert some measure of control over regeneration: choosing their next form, forcing a regeneration, or refusing to regenerate (which results in death). The Doctor himself, however, seems unable to control his regenerations.
Raven from the titular kids TV game show. Guess what he transforms into?
Meego, from the short lived TV series of the same name, possessed shape shifting abilities although they were only seen in the first episode. To prove to one of the main characters that he was an alien, Meego transformed from his normal, humanoid form into a bug eyed furry monster, a sumo wrestler, then into an attractive blonde in a bathing suit before changing back to normal.

Quite a few dragons have this ability. The mileage may vary.
In Japanese mythology, tanuki (raccoon dogs) usually have this ability; sometimes kitsune (foxes) and jorogumo (spiders) can do this as well.
Happens in Celtic Mythology too from time to time.
Loki, the Norse god of mischief, and to a lesser extent, Odin. Both gods held the power to change shape at will, and most of Loki's stories hinge on this ability.
Proteus from Greek Mythology was a demi-god that specialized in shifting his shape, most likely to hide how horrifically ugly he was.

Dungeons & Dragons is filled with creatures, races, classes, spells, and items that allow characters to shapeshift.
- Creature example: Dopplegangers.
- Race example: Changelings (actually descended from dopplegangers).
- Class example: Druids, with their Wild Shape ability (and the prestige class "Master of Many Forms", which focuses pretty much on that ability alone).
- Spell example: The Polymorph subschool.
- Item example: The mask of many faces.
- Monster example: True lycanthropes (i.e. born, not infected).
  - Infected lycanthropes can learn to control their shifting to an extent, but voluntarily changing into hybrid or animal form automatically changes their alignment based on which variety they are.
In the World Of Darkness Werewolf games, your character is a lycanthrope with up to 5 forms ranging from man to wolfman to wolf. Shapeshifting is controlled by the player for the most part. The game is based on werewolves, but sourcebooks allow players in the Old World to play a variety of were-animals, including big cats, ravens, rats, coyotes, spiders, bears, lizards, crocodiles and sharks. New World sourcebooks open up an even wider range of shapeshifters.
- Also in the World of Darkness Vampire games, there is a vampiric discipline known as Protean which allows for limited shapeshifting. Though the first few levels allow the changing of a single feature (eyes, claws, get fur and such), higher levels allow a character to shift into any form normally associated with vampires (i.e. wolves, bats, mist).
- Old World Of Darkness Mages can also shapeshift (depending on the magic used). Life is a pretty common one.
In Exalted, Lunar characters have the ability to change into animals that they have eaten. Also humans, though they can eventually learn to add new human forms to their repertoire non-lethally. Also...Well, actually, there aren't really all that many limits on what a Lunar can and can't turn into. This is Exalted, bitch!
- The Lunars' patron Luna, the shapeshifting god/dess of the moon, is able to take virtually any form in existence (and some that aren't).
Curiously, Manra shapechangers seem to be the only beings in Talislanta with this power.
GURPS has lots of ways to do this but the Morph version of Shapeshifting allows the user to become virtually anything he or she has seen before (within point limits). There are numerous spells that allow the user to alter their shape as well.

Bionicle has quite a few. One example is a character that can transform, perfectly imitate and even gain some memories of any living thing she sees. Another example is the Makuta, a race of evil beings, one of which is the Big Bad, that are made of energy and have shape shifting armor.

Shang Tsung in the Mortal Kombat series has the ability to shape shift. In the first game during his battle, he would change randomly into any of the characters. In the second game, he could only transform into Kintaro as a fatality. The third game (and its editions) marks the only time he could transform into any of the characters as a playable feature (though it took loading time). While it was limited gameplay wise, it's implied storywise that he could transform into anyone he wishes to.
The title character in the Playstation game Muppet Monster Adventure is Kermit's nephew Robin. In it Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzi, Gonzo and Clifford have been turned into the following monsters: Frankenstein-like thing, Bride Of Frankenstein-like thing, Werebear, vampire, and muck monster. And in the game you can get the powers of those monsters after collecting amulet pieces — Robin takes on a form similar to that of the monster his powers are from.
SNES video game Super Morph featured a ball-like thing with shapeshifting powers: main forms include a raincloud and a few others.
Samus in the Metroid series gets to transform into a "Morph Ball" form to fit into tight spaces, set bombs, activate switches, and even roll up magnetic walls. In Metroid Prime Hunters, other bounty hunters appear, who have their own "alt forms". Gandrayda in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is a more traditional version.
Jenova from Final Fantasy VII (and anything with its cells) is essentially a semi-sentient viral colony that can can read people's minds and assume the form, voice, and memories it finds there. The Jenova-infused protagonist is a coalescence of himself, his best friend and his girlfriend's memories.
Devil May Cry 4 has the Gladius type of demon, a horribly annoying thing that shifts between a sword and a flying reptile form.
Dr Muto for Playstation 2 has a shapeshifter for a main character.
Primal has a female main character who can shapeshift into unique monster-like forms.
Tekken has quite a few including Ogre. Also in Tekken Tag Tournament Kazuya can turn into Devil.
Legend of Dragoon had this with most of the members of your character's team.
Bloody Roar games have a whole lot of characters with this ability.
Virtual Bart has this in a few levels with Bart in them. Also in The Simpsons Game Homer can transform into Homer Ball, Gummi Homer, and Helium Homer. A few of the other family members have transformations too, including Bart.
While I don't know about the book, the game Death Gate features Sang-Drax, a dragon who uses shapeshifting as defence. Whenever you try to attack, he simply changes to a form that is invulnerable to it. You can either catch him off-guard or get some world-shaking magic that no one is invulnerable to. The latter happens, taking the form of the force of the Interconnection spell, which throws Sang-Drax deep into The Vortex.
- They can shapeshift in the book too; I remember them disguised themselves as various other races. They tended to go into battle in their native giant-death-slug forms though.
- Technically, in the books they have no true form that mortals can wrap their minds around- they giant snakes is just as close as it comes. They can change into literally anything, from people to dragons to mist, and since at heart they're pure spirit, they can even regenerate if killed (and the process explicitly makes them stronger).
Mario in Super Mario RPG.
- Moreso in Paper Mario 2, where he can take the form of various papery things like a paper plane to fly over gaps or a paper ship to move across water.
- The Paper Mario series also has two shapeshifter characters, Mimi from Super Paper Mario (see image) who can take the form of various characters as well as become some horrifying Thing-esque spider monster, and Doopliss from Paper Mario 2 (who can also apparently steal the body/physical appearance) of another character, leaving them a blank shadow.
Druids in the War Craft series are pretty much defined by this ability. The player version in World of Warcraft can change into a bear, a cat (like a panther), another cat (for faster movement), a lion seal or a bird, as well as an owlbear or a treant if properly specialized. Non-playable druids can sometimes take other forms as well, such as a serpent.
- The Shaman class also has the ability to shapeshift into a wolf for faster movement, while Warlocks can temporarily turn into a demon. Lesser forms include the dwarven racial Stoneform, the Death Knight Lichborne ability (which grants them immunity to many status effects) and the Priest abilities Shadowform and Dispersion.
  - Shapeshifting into a humanoid form (usually human or elf) is a common ability among dragons in the series. Some demons can do this too.
Kheldians in City of Heroes are symbiotic alien energy beings that grant their hosts various powers, including the ability to assume the forms of their previous hosts. In practice, this allows their human hosts to assume two different forms: "nova" and "dwarf".
Axl of Mega Man X had this and served as a plot point for both X7 and X8.
- Played straight as the main gimmick of Mega Man ZX with Model A being able to take on the shapes previously defeated bosses.
Prototype has Alex Mercer, whose main power is this and includes shifting his body into weapons or armor — and becoming people he has absorbed, complete with their memories and skills.
The Laguz from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn are able to transform into their respective animals (be they beast, bird or dragon) for offensive purposes.
Dragon Quest IV has Elisa, Solo/Sofia's best friend. Thanks to her magic, she's able to take different forms, something she uses to play pranks... and leads into her Heroic Sacrifice via Death Faked For You.
The Harmonixers from the Shadow Hearts series have this as their main ability. Yuri, from the first and second games, is the most versatile, being able to take at least 20 forms. Shania's more oriented towards fanservice.
How could Kirby not have been mentioned after all this time?
Morrigan in Dragon Age: Origins has this power, and can teach it to other mages in the party, as well. Her mother Flemeth is even better at it.

In the Strong Bad Email shapeshifter, Strong Bad points out all the downsides to shapeshifting, such as the restrictive rules like only being able to turn into balloon animals, or half of a person, and the unintended consequences, like turning into a $100 bill, being picked up in the wind, and being stuffed in someone's sweaty pocket.
- Another "rule" that he points out is that all shapeshifters need to have a cool shapeshifting sound effect, such as "DWAYNE!"

Grace in El Goonish Shive: an escaped partly alien lab experiment, she can assume several human or part-human forms. While she can only take on forms she has had before, or combinations thereof, she can effectively create new forms whenever she needs to by means of her Mad Scientist boyfriend's Transformation Gun. Several other characters in the series are also shapeshifters (either naturally or using the TFG — especially the gender-swapping settings), Grace is the more effective and flexible of the main cast.
Brian Parker from Abstract Gender can change his sex whenever he likes. His friend Ryan, who was in the same experiment, wasn't quite so lucky — he also became a girl, but can't change back.
Gunnerkrigg Court has a few. Mort is a ghost who can change his form at will. Reynardine can currently alter the shape of the stuffed toy he's possessing. Ysengrin received new arms from Coyote: arms that he can shape into weapons. Coyote's size and proportions are constantly changing.
The Dragon and Cubi races in Dan and Mabs Furry Adventures are all natural shapeshifters, though learning to use it effectively takes practice. In addition Mad Scientist Jyrras invents "patches" (a pun on the use of software patches in the original Furcadia) which can modify one's appearance.
Supposedly an angelic ability in Misfile, only Cassiel has used it so far on screen and she isn't so great at it.
Felucca's power in Earthsong. She shapeshifts into a huge dragon.
Lisa from Experimental Comic Kotone, a fox-girl, has this ability. According to a legend among her people, a fox-person's true love should be able to see through their disguises. This has caused her much consternation and confusion, since everyone has seen through her disguises.
Princess Voluptua in The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob uses a shapeshifting device to appear human, her natural form being insectoid. It has been stated that the unrealistic curvaceousness of her assumed form was unintentional on her part, but she shows no signs of wanting to reprogram the device to correct the error.
The Order of the Stick has as a prime example with Sabine the Succubus, who can take various humanoid forms.
- Since the webcomic is based on D&D, you can easily find other examples, such as the druidic and magical versions.
Drel from Corner Alley 13 is a magically altered werewolf with this ability. The prequel Weakness reveals that he must remain at a set mass while transforming.
Decoy Octopus from The Last Days of Foxhound can take on the shape of anyone. However, to do so, he needs to drink some of their blood (with a special ingredient added).
Ariel from Drowtales.

A lot of the characters in the webfiction Whateley Universe have this. It ranges from "can only copy other people" (Bogus or Chaney) over "can turn into any natural predatory animal" (Feral) and super-stretchy abilities (Plastic Girl) to "can change into almost anything you can think of without regard to size" (Jimmy Trauger). Jimmy T can turn into an 80-foot-giant, or 300 pounds of carnivorous protoplasm, or something from Alien. He just can't control what shape he'll be when he wakes up, and it takes him hours to revert back to his real form.
- And those are just some of the mutants. The universe also features lycanthropes (like the tribe whose land the school itself stands on) and shapeshifting spirits and demons. For example, Carmilla's father Gothmog is normally an Eldritch Abomination...but he's also quite capable of taking human form when interacting with humans.
Facsimile of The Descendants has no known limits on her powers, and has been implied to have given up on 'real' clothing in favor of creating it all with her shapeshifting.
Many Nanocyborgs in Orions Arm are capable of shapeshifting, but like everything else in that universe they're limited by the laws of physics.

Aku from Samurai Jack, who even refers to himself as "the shape-shifting Master of Darkness". Luckily, he never got the hang of changing his color-motif along with his shape.
- Have you not seen the episode Jack & the Warrior Woman?
- Aku wasn't able to shed his color motif even in that form.
Peter Griffin develops this in the Family Guy episode Viewer Mail 1# in the segment Super Griffins.
Genie from Aladdin may be the best known of the trickster subtype.
Technically, Transformers, GoBots and other Transforming Mecha: one or a few "alt-modes", usually turning into a vehicle or an animal.
- Worth noting is that the Transformers, at least, tend to choose new alt modes to blend in with new surroundings.
Goo from Gumby was the most clay-like of the Claymation characters therein.
Morph by Aardman, the creators of Wallace And Gromit. Those skits aired on Nickelodeon during the 90's.
- Originally part of the Take Hart art show hosted by Tony Hart.
There was shapeshifting of the "aquatic" kind in the 80's cartoon Tiger Sharks. The main characters could turn into human-fish hybrids when they entered the fish tank.
Ben Tennyson from Ben 10, of the gadget variety. Can transform into aliens, originally choosing from a set of ten, though more have since been added. A future, 30-year-old incarnation of the character is stated to have 10 thousand aliens to choose from.
- Taken much further in Ben 10 Alien Force. In addition to a completely different set of ten aliens from the orignal series, the season 2 finale has the Omnitrix's creator, Azmuth, activate the trueMaster Control function, allowing Ben to choose from 1,000,903 total alien species' from across the Milky Way galaxy.
- This Troper always wondered how long it took him to restart the master control — else, he'd have to turn the dial a couple of hundred times to find the form he actually wants to use.
The Wondertwins of Superfriends. They even had catchphrases for their transformations too!
- Played with in an older Cartoon Network commercial. Zan and Jana are there to present to the child viewers the difference between real and imaginnary scenarios, but the PSA is cut just short of revealing their "simple phrase" when Zan realizes (and begins complaining about) how he's always turning into something water-related, regardless of the situation at hand.
The Catatonian Bounty Hunters in the 2006 revival of Biker Mice from Mars are shapeshifters as demonstrated in "Once Upon a Time on Earth Parts 1-3."
To a very limited extent, Meatwad from Aqua Teen Hunger Force. He can form a hotdog (made out of meat), or an igloo (made out of meat). Occasionally he takes other forms (meat bridge, Samurai Lincoln).
The Fairly Oddparents has mainly all of the fairies in fairyworld who can shapeshift at will due to their magic powers. Cosmo and Wanda can also do this — except in one episode where Cosmo's fagiggly gland acted up causing just the opposite to happen to him.
Nergal Jr from The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy.
Courage from Courage the Cowardly Dog.
The shapeshifting experiment Morpholomew from the Lilo and Stitch cartoon series.
Beetlejuice
The Simpsons has had plenty of this. For more info see this link.
Chase Young in Xiaolin Showdown.
The Polymorphic Specters from Code Lyoko.
David Bowie (yes, that David Bowie) has shapeshifting powers in the Venture Bros world. In one scene he transforms into a bird and flies away, prompting Hank to comment that "the guy from Labyrinth turned into a bird and flew away!"
Ralph, The All Purpose Animal from Twice Upon a Time.
The Fleeblebroxians from the Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers episode "Dale Beside Himself" can shapeshift into whatever they want to. One of them spends half of the episode as a Dale Doppelganger.
In an episode of South Park, the kids are captured by aliens. Their leader is a shapeshifter who initially takes the form of Stan's dad. The kids denounce this as stupid (a Take That against Contact), and he goes on to take a variety of forms ripped from pop culture, all of which the kids reject. Finally, he asks them what they want — and they settle on "a taco...that craps ice cream", a form he assumes for the remainder of the episode.
Jacklyn from Igor pulls this off using special pills.
Hordak, the main villain of SheRa Princess of Power, used cybernetics to transform either parts of or his whole body into different weapons and vehicles as he needed. Typically his transformations were all metal and some form of his face was present on the vehicle he turned into.
- Similarly, his sidekick Imp could change shapes as well, utilizing his abilities to spy on the Great Rebellion. He also didn't have the same limitations as his master, able to conceal his features, and even his color scheme in a chosen form. (Interestingly he could also manifest his face on an shape if he wanted to, allowing him to communicate with others.) His only limitation seemed to be he could only become something that approximated his physical size (i.e. he couldn't become a giant T. rex or shrink down to be a lethal virus).
Every member of Oberon's Children from Gargoyles was a Shapeshifter. Heck, "changeling" was another name for them used by the titular characters.
Clone from Blackstar was a rare example of a good-aligned shapeshifter, using his powers to combat the forces of evil and once to even sneek into the Big Bad's hideout.
Widget from the Widget the World Watcher series can shapeshift to pretty much anything as long as he isn't upside down.
Two episodes of Exo Squad featured a Neosapien who was transformed into a blobish creature that could shapeshift by Automutation Syndrome and medical experiments.
Beast Boy from Teen Titans, of course, can change himself into any animal that has ever lived, earth-based or alien- he just seems to need to know what it looks like. Madame Rouge, one of the main villains from the fifth season, however, puts him to shame, being able to transform into anything, period, in addition to the ability to reform herself if killed. She's generally considered to be the deadliest one-on-one opponent in the show, barring the demon characters.
In the fourth season of Winx Club there's the shapeshifter Duman who is one of the Wizards of the Black circle. Later on his powers became unstable, which eventually killed him. Oh, and Darcy can also turn into other people with her illusion powers. Actually, I think Icy and Stormy have been able to do this as well in order to disguise themselves.

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