Basic Trope: A transformation that is spread virally.
- Straight: Bob is bitten by a zombie, and becomes one himself. If he bites other people, they too will become zombies.
- Exaggerated: The zombie just has to touch someone in order to turn them into a zombie.
- Downplayed: Bob gets some zombie-like qualities after being bitten.
- Justified: The zombie virus is a virus; it contains pathogens that rewrite one's DNA.
- Inverted: The virus prevents shapeshifting.
- Subverted: It seems the virus turned Bob into a werewolf. He was actually always one, and the virus's symptoms just make him an Involuntary Shapeshifter.
- Double Subverted: He DID get turned into a werewolf by a virus however.
- Parodied: Turning into a zombie is treated as a viral disease like the common cold. Bob can avoid it by washing his hands.
- Zig-Zagged: The transformation is caused by a pathogen, but it's a type of bacteria rather than a virus.
- Averted: The transformation is not spread virally.
- Enforced: It's how most vampires, werewolves, and zombies occur in fiction.
- Lampshaded: "So is this the kind of virus that puts you in the hospital, or the kind that makes you crave brains?"
- Invoked: A Mad Scientist deliberately creates a virus that transforms people, then releases it into the water supply.
- Exploited: The Government is using the "sickness" to create an army of Super Soldiers.
- Defied: All efforts are put into creating a vaccine for the disease, preventing it from spreading.
- Discussed: "Why do so many sicknesses cause weird transformations? It can't be that common, right?"
- Conversed: "Why exactly would a virus transform people into monsters? There're plenty of better ways to spread."
- Implied: Bob mentions getting bit by a wolf. He later begins scratching his ear with his foot.
- Deconstructed: The transformation is so taxing on the body that it kills most of its hosts. This causes the virus to die out very quickly.
- Reconstructed: The change happens very slowly and subtly. The body has time to adjust.
- Played for Laughs: Instead of werewolves, the virus turns people into chihuahuas.
- Played for Drama: Bob must constantly struggle with his growing monstrous instincts as the virus takes control.
- Played for Horror: A straight Zombie Apocalypse story.
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