Line #63 Main/SuperpowerSillyPutty


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15	[[quoteright:250:[[ComicBook/SupermansPalJimmyOlsen https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jimmyolsen_v03_250_8215.jpg]]]]
16	[[caption-width-right:250:[[Website/{{Superdickery}} Take two shots]].]]
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22	There are characters who gain NewPowersAsThePlotDemands, and then there are ''these''. One minute, they gain [[PlayingWithFire cool fire powers]], and the very next, they lose that ability and transform into a Franchise/GreenLantern {{Expy}}, or some [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway weird and wacky powers]] that [[BlessedWithSuck they may or may not want or need]].
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24	A Sister Trope to UnfazedEveryman. Where an UnfazedEveryman is a normal person surrounded by [[WeirdnessMagnet weirdness]], but who stays normal nonetheless, someone who is Superpower Silly Putty is one who is transformed by the weirdness. Numerous times. He never keeps the powers, however; he always manages to [[SidekickGlassCeiling lose them]] just as he is getting [[SnapBack used to them]]. [[HowDoIShotWeb Don't expect him to know exactly how to use them during the duration]].
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26	Pretty much a DeadHorseTrope by now, it was used quite frequently in UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age\|of Comic Books}}.
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28	A subtrope of SuperpowersForADay.
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30	Not to be confused with ComicBook/PlasticMan, a literal Silly Putty superhero, or RubberMan, for characters with powers similar to his.
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32	----
33	!!Examples:
34	[[foldercontrol]]
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36	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
37	* Many stories in ''Manga/ToLoveRu'' involve Rito subject to some kind of transformation, almost always by Lala's devices, which like everything leads to [[SexComedy perverted antics]]. The most recurring is a [[GenderBender sex-transformation]] (AKA "Riko"; he also [[FreakyFridayFlip switched bodies]] with a girl once), while one-off transformations include a dog (also via body swap), a hamster, a thermometer (which gets used rectally), and a pair of panties. This was lampshaded in a yonkama, where Rito spends the first three panels reminiscing on his many different transformation, exasperatedly revealing in the last that he'd been turned into a '''toilet'''.
38	[[/folder]]
39
40	[[folder:Comic Books]]
41	* There was a period in UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age\|of Comic Books}} when Franchise/{{Batman}} was either getting a superpower or experiencing a bizarre transformation (alien, genie, giant, merman, flat flying disc, etc) every month. It would always SnapBack at the end of the story.
42	** It still happens every now and then. There's even an {{Elseworld}} based on Bruce Wayne becoming a Franchise/GreenLantern. (Or a pirate, or a knight...)
43	** And according to Creator/GrantMorrison, ''every single wacky [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] transformation'' is now canon. Albeit with most of them {{retcon}}ned into being hallucinations brought about by the sensory deprivation experiment he underwent in "Robin Dies At Dawn!", or by the many chemical weapons Batman's rogues tend to use.
44	* ''ComicBook/DialHForHero'' is built on this trope, with the various runs having the protagonist(s) come in possession of a mysterious artifact that looks a bit like a rotary telephone dial without the phone attached. Pressing a certain sequence on it transforms the user into a "superhero", or at least something with (usually quirky) super powers, for a short period. The original comics would have about three transformations per story: each transformation was usually unique, and the latest transformation would be met with some kind of thought like "I wish I was (some previous transformation) again", because that form would have made solving the problem easy; some of them did occur multiple times over the course of the series, though.
45	** In late 90's Comicbook/LegionOfSuperHeroes comics, we learn that by the 30th century, the Dial had wound up in a museum, and then... ''ahem...'' [[StickyFingers comes into the possession]] of a little girl named Lori Morning who uses it to become a super heroine in the AntiHero team Workforce.
46	* The ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' family:
47	** ComicBook/JimmyOlsen, who had (and lost) so many superpowers, there is an entire collection called ''The Many Transformations of Jimmy Olsen''.
48	** In the {{Elseworld}} story ''Comicbook/TheNail'' Jimmy Olsen is the aide of Metropolis Mayor Comicbook/LexLuthor because he has extensive experience of [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividual Meta-Human]] affairs due to his numerous transformations. [[spoiler:Deconstructed when it is revealed that without Superman as his best friend, the transformations have driven him insane. And then Luthor used him as a guinea pig for grafting Kryptonian DNA to a human body. One short WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity later and Olsen is the BigBad, using Luthor as a {{Brainwashed}} puppet to bring down anyone who might be a threat to his dream of "New Krypton"]].
49	** One comic (a lead-up to the ''Comicbook/NewKrypton'' story) suggests Jimmy has had this happen to him so many times that it's made his mind impossible to read. Jimmy himself figures it out while being chased by a mind reading assassin. Long story.
50	** And in ''ComicBook/CountdownToFinalCrisis'', Jimmy starts cycling through ''all'' his powers, and decides now's his moment to become a superhero... Mr. Action.
51	** Jimmy's tendency to induce these transformations on himself eventually earned him the "My Brain Says No but My Mouth Says Go" Award in Creator/CraigShutt's [[http://www.cbgxtra.com/columnists/craig-shutt-ask-mr-silver-age/the-2012-mopee-awards-ask-mr-silver-age-cbg-1697-jan-2013 final Mopee Awards]] for the ''Comics Buyer's Guide''.
52	** ComicBook/LanaLang also fell into this a lot in UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age\|of Comic Books}}.
53	** So did ComicBook/LoisLane. In fact, the sheer amount of Silver Age Superman stories where either Jimmy, Lois or Lana get superpowers is the most frequent RunningGag in Superdickery.com.
54	** At least [[DaChief Perry White]] got off scot-free, right? [[http://www.superdickery.com/perry-gets-powers-aga-wait-perry ...Oh.]]
55	[[/folder]]
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57	[[folder:Literature]]
58	* In ''Literature/{{Monster}}'', Monster Dionysus had a near-fatal exposure to basilisk venom, He wakes up with a different superpower - some awesome, some trivial, some cool but flawed - every time he goes to sleep. His skin also turns a different color for each such power, so he can usually tell what ability he'll have by checking if he's blue, green, glowing yellow, etc.
59	[[/folder]]
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61	[[folder:Western Animation]]
62	* In one of the first few episodes of ''WesternAnimation/AlienatorsEvolutionContinues'', Wayne Grey is used as a human guinea pig to develop a vaccine against a virus the aliens were attempting to spread. The cure leaves him NotQuiteBackToNormal, and from that episode on he manifests random mutations when alien activity peaks again.
63	* ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'':
64	** Despite being a BadassNormal, the titular hero will occasionally obtain a different superpower and/or go through other kinds of transformations including becoming a giant, getting turned into a dinosaur, being split in two and both sides becoming living forces of energy, gaining SuperSpeed, PoweredArmor, the ability to turn into anyone he looked again, and in one case was almost like actual putty when a formula he drunk to bulk up had the side effect of the mass going to different parts of his body.
65	** Also, while not to the same degree, Launchpad and Gosalyn occasionally go through this, such as one time when Launchpad gained psychic powers, and a time when Gosalyn ended up turning into a slime creature.
66	* ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewSchool'' takes the theme from [[WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove the film it was based on]] and runs with it, having Kuzco be exposed to transformation potions so often, he could almost be considered a VoluntaryShapeshifter.
67	* ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyTest'': Due to living with two supergenius sisters, the titular Johnny usually goes through many different metamorphosis, including becoming nearly every kind of animal there is and gaining actual superpowers on more than one occasion.
68	* On ''WesternAnimation/JumanjiTheAnimatedSeries'', Peter was often [[ForcedTransformation transformed into all kinds of humanoid animals]], usually as a sanction for [[NotCheatingUnlessYouGetCaught trying to mess with the game's rules]] or TemptingFate.
69	* Ron Stoppable is hit with this quite frequently in ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'', to the point that some fans have joked that he gives ComicBook/JimmyOlsen a run for his money. Of note is that the first superpower he obtained -- [[IKnowKungFu Mystical Monkey Power]] -- actually stuck, [[HowDoIShotWeb he just couldn't get it to work full-time]] until learning to do so became a storyline throughout the final season.
70	* ''WesternAnimation/MartinMorning'' changes into a new character (spy, robot, eskimo, etc.) every morning, although not all of his transformations are actually superpowered.
71	* Agent Jay from ''WesternAnimation/MenInBlackTheSeries'' has undergone several mutations throughout the series: having been host to a shape-manipulating symbiote, shrunk to the size of a mouse, turned into one of the Worms, gained SuperIntelligence one episode, SuperSpeed another, became a Human Torch {{Expy}}, and one time gained literal Swiss Army superpowers.
72	* ''WesternAnimation/PaperPort'': Every day, Matilda wakes up with a random power. Usually, it's of the WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway variety, although that doesn't preclude her from still having fun adventures.
73	* Clover in ''WesternAnimation/TotallySpies'' tended to be subject to fanservice inducing transformations.
74	** Similarly, Alex would always be the one to trade faces with the villain in the cases of a partial body swap machine. (Yes, there were multiple cases of this) Except when it came with a good dosing of physical transformation, then it belonged to Clover.
75	[[/folder]]

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