Rename?: Mode Lock

That's not this trope at all.

This trope specifically notes that it's when something that could transform under its own power is no longer able to do so. Having something outside transform them means that they couldn't transform on their own wouldn't count, because they had no way of shifting back into their original form regardless of what caused them to change shape (be it a polymorph spell, plastic surgery, getting a limb cut off, or whatever).

In short, this trope is about losing a transformation ability that one once had, not being transformed when you never had a conscious ability to change back in the first place.

Reminder: Offscreen Villainy does not count towards Complete Monster.

Using this trope for examples like that is misuse. This is a trope for suddenly having your shapeshifting abilities taken away.

Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. Dick

The To Love Ru one is definitely misuse (Baleful Polymorph). The Ranma One Half one, you can make a case for either way. ON the one hand, he can't transform of his own free will- on the other hand, he knows what triggers the change and has used it to voluntary change on occasion. The mode lock examples for him were the few times when the ability to change at all were taken away.

edited 18th Aug '11 12:28:18 PM by Wulf

They lost me. Forgot me. Made you from parts of me. If you're the One, my father's son, what am I supposed to be?

Shall we start a general cleanup project then? 316 wikilinks at this time (down from 353).

Ranma is an Involuntary Shapeshifter as part of the series's premise. Like it or not it's his "power", so yes, it can be argued that situations where he's stuck in one form because the trigger won't take effect when it should, may qualify as Mode Lock.

Baleful Polymorph et al. is not applicable for this trope because transformations from outside sources tend to be implicitly permanent. Which reminds me of something I've been meaning to add to the BP article for awhile now — if a shapeshifter gets hit with a BP this may or may not be a big deal, if they can just transform themselves out of it again. (Unless the spell includes Mode Lock on the side.)

---

Cleaning up wikilinks starting from the bottom:

• Timmy in a Well (Animorphs) - Correct
• Tiny Toon Adventures: Misuse, unsure what, pulling/quoting for context:
  • Mode Lock: The episode where Plucky Duck pulls off Daffy's famous Wild Take from the short Book Revue (dubbed the "Clampett Corneal Catastrophe" here) and gets stuck in it for the rest of the episode - in other words, he's literally a giant eyeball on legs.
• Token Nonhuman - Correct
• Transformers - Trope Namer
• Transformers War For Cybertron - Correct
• WorldOfWarcraft.Tropes A-H - Correct (Nefarius traps Druids in cat-form)
• Warhammer40000.Tropes Q To Z - Correct enough ("lose the ability to switch back"), though it's also a case of Becoming the Mask
• Troubled Fetal Position (Keroro Gunsou) - Appears correct
• Twisted-Knee Collapse (Ranma One Half) - Correct, replacing potholes with better context
• Two-Teacher School (Power Rangers) - Correct, added more context
• Two-Timer Date (WITCH) - Unable to call, removing the link and quoting for context:
  • The second season of WITCH saw Cornelia using her half-transformed Guardian state to date one of her friends' older brother by ....
• Ultraman Leo - Correct, paired with Game-Breaking Injury
• Ultra Seven - Correct, caused by loss of Transformation Trinket
• Unable to Cry (Animorphs) - Correct, but swapped pothole for better context
• Visionaries - Correct
• Voluntary Shapeshifting - Correct (sigh of relief)
• Roleplay.WALLE Forum Roleplay - Correct
• Characters.Warcraft The Dragonflights - Correct
• Characters.Warhammer 40000 Xeno Races - Misuse (already Becoming the Mask), removed
• Warlock Of Gramaraye - Misuse (already covered by Meta Origin)
• Waveform - Misuse, removed
• BewareTheNiceOnes.Western Animation - Correct
• WhatAnIdiot.Western Animation (Transformers Animated) - Correct
• Headscratchers.Whateley Universe - Seems correct, related to First Law of Gender Bending
• Characters.Whateley Universe - Misuse, was Power Incontinence instead
• When You Snatch the Pebble (Ranma One Half) - Actually correct, just needed better context

---

Stopping here, just before hitting the "Th" section. Current wikilink count stands at 279 (and I'm pretty sure I didn't do all that).

edited 19th Aug '11 10:02:03 AM by Stratadrake

An Ear Worm is like a Rickroll: It is never going to give you up.

I suppose the argument exists that a shapeshifter that knows what triggers their transformation and exposes themselves to it shift away from being completely involuntary and more towards a Power Incontinence shapeshifter. Since all the shifters in Ranma One Half know the triggers for their alts and for their original forms and can thus expose themselves to said trigger willingly without harm in normal circumstances, but can't always avoid said trigger when they don't want to transform, they all go into Power Incontinence.

Thus, Mode Lock is appropriate if they can't bring themselves to trigger it anymore (which did happen to Ranma a couple times). But in short, being able to consciously change (even if they don't always have said ability) is required before this trope comes into effect.

Reminder: Offscreen Villainy does not count towards Complete Monster.

Being able to consciously change with a trigger fits what we count as Shapeshifters. Having that ability taken by having the trigger stolen from you would cause Mode Lock.

Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. Dick

@Footsteps: Yes, and it's known as Involuntary Shapeshifting*

. Going to ensure that it's cross-wikilinked with Power Incontinence now.

edited 19th Aug '11 10:00:33 AM by Stratadrake

An Ear Worm is like a Rickroll: It is never going to give you up.

Guess I'll start with A and work my way down.

EDIT: There are a lot of examples I'm unsure about. Lots of vague "could be Power Incontinence, could be this, could be Baleful Polymorph" type ones.

edited 19th Aug '11 4:46:09 PM by Wulf

They lost me. Forgot me. Made you from parts of me. If you're the One, my father's son, what am I supposed to be?

Is it me or is the crowner missing vote buttons? Not that it matters at this point.

Blind Final Fantasy 6 Let's Play

Crwoner was put up on the 13th, locked on the 17th after it stabilized with a 6.25:1 ratio in favor of renaming.

...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.

@Wulf: Wow, did you do the entire thing? Related count is now down to 281 (including the 166 from Mode Lock) from the original 353 — that would place overall misuse at about 25%.

If you're unsure about an example then cite it in your post for somebody else to investigate — if it still "feels" wrong, remove the link and quote the context.

As for renaming:

• Adding mention to Renamed Tropes.

edited 19th Aug '11 7:01:54 PM by Stratadrake

An Ear Worm is like a Rickroll: It is never going to give you up.