Tropes Media Browse Indexes Forums Videos Ask The Tropers Trope Finder You Know That Show... Trope Launch Pad Tools
Cut List New Edits Edit Reasons Launches Images List Crowner Activity Un-typed Pages Recent Page Type Changes
Tropes HQ
About Us Contact Us Advertise DMCA Notice Privacy Policy
Go Ad-Free
  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Highlight Links

Follow TV Tropes

Following

Multiform Balance

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/deoxys_form_stats.jpg
Advertisement:

Multiform Balance occurs when creators take care to make each multiple form of a Shapeshifter, such as a Henshin Hero, a Swiss Army Hero or a Morph Weapon-type Swiss Army Weapon, useful in its own way. The easiest way to do this is to make each one suited for a certain tactical situation or to use certain tactics. For example, a werewolf doing a Partial Transformation to a Wolf Man may not be able to talk, but can still use weapons and has greater strength than a man, but isn't as fast as a wolf (except maybe if it can go onto all fours).

In essence, it's applying Competitive Balance between each of the character (or weapon)'s forms. In fact, the character types laid out in Competitive Balance or other power balancing tropes can be quite useful in describing the character's forms. To be precise, the "balance" usually only applies to "basic" forms, with a Joke Character form only being used when the character doesn't have access to the basic forms. Lightning Bruiser and Super Mode are mostly a Mid-Season Upgrade and superior to basic forms in every aspect; if the balance also applies to these forms, it's usually by making them a Deadly Upgrade, Limit Break, Hour of Power, or otherwise Awesome, but Impractical.

Advertisement:

Related to Stance System, with each form being considered as different "stances". May overlap with Evolution Powerup, especially if new forms are gained/discovered as the plot demands, although Multiform Balance can switch back and forth. Can also overlap with Swap Fighter, which often offer a set of characters that cover each others' weaknesses. When Humongous Mecha use this trope, it's usually done with Mecha Expansion Pack or Transforming Mecha. May also be done with Shed Armor, Gain Speed.

Advertisement:

Examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Kamen Rider 
This trope is a tradition for modern Kamen Rider series.
  • Kabuto also gets a Hyper Form that is more powerful and even faster than Rider Form, but it requires Mid-Season Upgrade Hyper Zecter to activate. Gatack later gets his own Hyper Form in a DVD, but it may or may not be canon to the series.
  • Kamen Rider Den-O:
  • Kamen Rider Kiva
    • Kiva:
      • Kiva: The default Vampire-themed form with balanced stats and high jump power that makes him good with an acrobatic aerial fighting style.
      • Garulunote : A Werewolf-themed form transformed by using the Garulu Saber, always wielded in the left hand. Has the fastest land speed and a stronger kick in exchange for lower arm strength despite being the sword-using form although for the finisher Kiva goes a Cutlass Between the Teeth route.
      • Basshaanote : A Gillman-themed form transformed by using the Basshaa Magum, always wielded in the right hand, and has sharp vision to make better use of it; plus it can create and maneuver on pools of water (though Kiva is never shown going underwater). Marginally faster than Kiva Form but weaker in everything else.
      • Dogganote : A Frankenstein's Monster-themed form transformed by using the Dogga Hammer. He gains Super Strength to wield it, transforming both of his arms and his upper body into heavy armor. Naturally, this costs him speed.
      • DoGaBaKinote : A one-time form transformed by using all three Arms Monsters at once and can use all three weapons at once. It's a good all-around Lightning Bruiser, while not being as strong as the base forms are in their specialties. Word of God also states that the form causes high physical stress, so it can only safely activate it for 5 minutes; but as it's only used once this is never stated or demonstrated in the show.
      • Emperor: The Super Mode activated by having Tatsulot remove his Power Limiter. Superior to the basic forms in almost every respect and can use the Arms Monsters without transforming as well as the new Zanvat Sword. In this form, Kiva can also transform into a bat-wyvern monster, called Emperor Bat or Flight Style, which he uses to combat giant "Sabbat" kaiju.
      • DoGaBaKi Emperor: A non-canon form only seen in a DVD. Activated by transforming into Emperor Form while in DoGaBaKi Form. Supposedly it's DoGaBaKi Form with Emperor Form's combat abilities.
    • Technically, Kamen Rider IXA can switch between Save Mode and Burst Mode in 2008, with Save Mode being weaker but more stable. However, Burst Mode is reliable enough by then to not need the fail-safe, so Save Mode is almost never used in '08; instead it mainly appears in the 1986 timeline when IXA was still being developed and only had Save Mode available. IXA also gets a Super Mode in '08, named Rising IXA.
  • Kamen Rider Decade is loaded thanks to Power Copying other Riders, primarily the nine preceding him, and most of their forms (he doesn't get their upgraded Lightning Bruiser or Super Mode forms, with one exception, but he doesn't get their Joke Character forms either). As the stats and abilities of Riders differ from series to series, here are some notable ones:
    • Faiz Axel form functions as a substitute for Kabuto's Super Speed and is the only upgrade form that Decade is shown using.
    • Den-O's four basic forms are Joke Characters at first. All they do is cause Decade to strike a pose and say their Catchphrase.
    • Decade also has two Super Modes:
      • Complete: In addition to the usual stat boost, it also has the ability to summon previous Riders' Super Modes to assist him in attacking.
      • Violent Emotion: A Superpowered Evil Side that's used when Decade fulfills his role as the destroyer of worlds. It allows him to use the powers and tools of other riders without changing to other forms.
    • In Kamen Rider Zi-O, Decade returns with his power set expanded to include the next ten Riders after him. A post-finale web series then gives him an enhanced Super Mode reflecting this expansion, Complete 21.
  • Kamen Rider Double
    • Double: A little more complicated than usual, due to being a Fusion Dance with mix-and-match Combo Platter Powers of Shotaro's "body" Gaia Memory and Philip's "soul" Gaia Memory, with each side providing half the form's stats and abilities.
    • Beyond the basic combinations, there are the following extra forms:
      • FangJoker: A combination of Philip's Fang Memory and Shotaro's Joker Memory. Stronger than the normal combinations. However, this form uses Philip's body instead of Shotaro's, and his weak physical body means it can't be used for long periods of time, and he might lose control of himself when using this form.note 
      • CycloneJokerXtreme: The Super Mode of CycloneJoker. Linked to the database of the Earth via Xtreme Memory, this form can analyze and counter the enemy with the best tactic. It has lower strength than FangJoker but armed with Prism Bicker, a combination of a Cool Sword and a shield that can utilize the power of four Gaia Memories to perform Maximum Drive.
      • CycloneJokerGoldXtreme: Takes CycloneJokerXtreme Up to Eleven with flight ability. Only appears in The Movie.
      • The series also puts forth the possibility of CycloneAccelXtreme, where Philip's Fusion Dance is with Terui/Kamen Rider Accel instead of Shotaro. In theory, it would be at least as strong as CycloneJokerXtreme while also being immune to psychological attacks. However, on being told the form draws strength from The Power of Hate, the heroes reject the idea and never even attempt it.
      • Late in the story, Shotaro can transform into Kamen Rider Joker using just the Joker Memory, although he's weaker than Double. In a tie-in novel, Philip does the same with his Cyclone Memory to become Kamen Rider Cyclone.
    • Accel:
      • Accel: The default form. A downplayed version of Mighty Glacier with high strength. While he isn't as nimble as his other forms, he is in no way sluggish and can morph into a motorcycle for speed.
      • Accel Trial: Gains Super Speed — fast enough to dodge lightning — by removing much of the armor of the default form. Although his strength is greatly reduced, this is remedied by his rapid-overwhelming attacks. Naturally, his defense is low.
      • Accel Booster: Uses Gaia Memory Enhancing Adapter to power-up the Accel Memory. Most of Accel Booster's stats are between the default form and Accel Trial. This form has jet boosters all over his body, making him incredibly nimble in air, and easily make up for lower strength with the boosters' acceleration.
  • Kamen Rider OOO takes Double's Combo Platter Powers Up to Eleven, combining three different animal Medals at a time and having more options available for each than Double did. In this case, though, the options are divided into groups and OOO gets a Set Bonus for using three similar Medals at once:
    • Random Combos: OOO usually uses mismatched combinations with two or three different types of Medals. They're not as strong as complete sets, but still fairly formidable and don't place as much of a strain on him. When not choosing Medals specifically to counter enemy abilities, he tends to use the TaToBanote  Combo as his default.
    • GataKiriBanote  Combo: A Magic Knight that's more agile than TaToBa but slightly weaker; however, it has the ability to create a seemingly unlimited number of duplicates.note  It tends to get used less often than the other Combos, with the In-Universe explanation that Eiji has a hard time getting back down to a single body (and the Real Life explanation that the duplication effect was prohibitively expensive).
    • LaTorarTarnote  Combo: A Fragile Speedster thanks to the Cheetah legs giving him incredible Super Speed at the cost of armor.
    • SaGohZonote  Combo: A Mighty Glacier able to deliver incredibly powerful strikes and even possessing a degree of gravity manipulation. As one might expect, its drawbacks are being incredibly slow and short-ranged (aside from its Rocket Punch attack).
    • TaJaDolnote  Combo: A Lightning Bruiser that's good in all areas and can fly. Despite being a Mid-Season Upgrade, TaJaDol is sometimes considered OOO's Super Mode since, unlike the more powerful PuToTyra Combo, Eiji can use it without becoming The Berserker (plus he's thematically tied to it since the Bird Greeed, Ankh, is his ally).
      • In the final episode, Eiji transforms using Ankh's personal Medal, creating a variation sometimes labeled the Lost Blaze version. While the Transformation Sequence is slightly enhanced, the form itself has the same appearance and it's not clear whether it actually has any more power than before. But what it does do is allow Ankh's spirit to jump in and out of the battle as an Assist Character.
    • ShaUTanote  Combo: A Squishy Wizard, being physically weaker than the other combos but incredible within its element of underwater combat.
    • PuToTyranote  Combo: OOO's primary Super Mode, possessing power and speed beyond any other combo and the incredibly important ability to destroy Core Medals, meaning it's the only thing capable of destroying Greeeds permanently. However, it has major drawbacks like driving Eiji into a berserker frenzy and gradually turning him into a Greeed himself.
    • OOO's movies introduce a number of exclusive forms that didn't turn up in the show, but occasionally pop up in crossovers.
      • BuraKaWaninote  Combo: A Stone Wall, with powerful Turtle shields on its forearms and the Cobra head capable of generating a Healing Potion-like substance.
      • TaMaShiinote  Combo: A somewhat ridiculous Fighting Clown, giving OOO the power of Momotaros and Shocker. It's technically more powerful than any of the combos aside from TaJaDol and PuToTyra, but OOO only launches a Kamehame Hadoken before the Imagin and Shocker Medals dissolved due to history being corrected.
      • Super TaToBa Combo: A new Super Mode, an enhanced version of the original TaToBa. It's even more powerful than PuToTyra Combo in all regards except punching strength, and it grants OOO Super Speed that verges on Teleportation as a result of being time-displaced.
    • When a collector's version of the Transformation Trinket was released years later, it took Medals that were programmed into the original toy and referenced (but not used by OOO) in canon and arranged them into five new Combos; however, rather than fitting a traditional multi-form structure these forms were designed with specific combat roles in mind. BiKaSonote  Combo is a Close-Range Combatant, the ShiGazeShinote  Combo is about equal to TaToBa Combo but more focused on ground combat, MukaChiRinote  Combo was designed to perform assassinations, SeiShiroGuinnote  Combo was made to operate in cold climates, SaRaMuionote  Combo was made for underwater melee combat.
    • The 10th anniversary movie adds TaJaDol Combo Eternity, yet another Super Mode as an upgrade to the original TaJaDol. Unlike the regular TaJaDol where Eiji just uses Ankh's power, this is a true Fusion Dance with Ankh possessing Eiji's body; and in a reversal of Lost Blaze it allows Eiji's spirit to manifest as an Assist Character.
  • Kamen Rider Fourze's form balance is affected by the fact that he can also equip a variety of Astroswitch weapons on his limbs:
    • Base States: A Jack-of-All-Stats, being a basic no-frills form without any kind of specialization. It also has the advantage of being the only form able to use right-arm weapons, as form changes otherwise use up that equipment slot.
    • Elek States: Portrayed similarly to a Magic Knight, as its stats are very similar to Base States (only foot speed and defense are slightly increased) but its focus is on the use of an electrified baton with a number of useful functions.
    • Fire States: A Mighty Glacier, gaining power and a fireball-shooting gun but losing speed and mobility.
    • Magnet States: The Mid-Season Upgrade, but where most Riders become Lightning Bruisers at this point, Fourze instead effectively becomes a walking turret, armed with armor and Shoulder Cannons but losing almost all mobility. It has the further disadvantage of taking up two equipment slots instead of one, limiting Fourze to leg weapons.
    • Cosmic States: Fourze's Super Mode. Besides the stat boost, it possesses the power to combine two otherwise mutually-exclusive Astroswitches' powers, the ability to generate portals (allowing him to drag Monsters of the Week out to space to avoid collateral damage), and a Cool Sword that can be powered up with the right arm-based Astroswitches.
    • Rocket States: A movie-feature form (though it does make one appearance in the series later) that takes Fourze's existing Rocket weapon and expands it to a full form change, placing a rocket on both arms. Technically another Mighty Glacier since the extra equipment weighs him down (it's even slower on foot than Magnet States), but its main feature is advanced Flight ability so he wouldn't be using the form on foot anyway.
    • Rocket Drill States: A DVD exclusive variation on Rocket States, it has more agility than Rocket but exchanges its kick strength for a lot more punching power.
    • Meteor Fusion States: A movie-exclusive alternate Super Mode, combining the power of Cosmic States with those of Kamen Rider Meteor. It's slightly stronger than Cosmic States but a little slower, but grants Gentaro the fighting skills of Meteor and his Meteor Galaxy gauntlet with its three planet-themed attacks. But like with Magnet States, it takes up two equipment slots and limits his additional weapons.
      • Meteor Nadeshiko Fusion States: An enhanced version of Meteor Fusion States in a later movie, which adds Gentaro's Love Interest Nadeshiko and the power of Rocket States (which she created) to the mix. But the drawback is that it takes three slots and might not be able to equip Switches at all.
  • Kamen Rider Wizard
  • Kamen Rider Gaim:
    • Gaim's forms:
      • Orange Arms is a Jack-of-All-Stats, the base level in all regards and armed with an orange slice-shaped Cool Sword. During a DVD-exclusive episode, it temporarily gets enhanced and becomes Fresh Orange Arms a Lightning Bruiser with strength similar to Jinba Arms (it has a little less attack power than Jinba, but is faster and can jump slightly higher).
      • Pinenote  Arms is a Mighty Glacier, gaining punching power and an Epic Flail in exchange for speed and mobility.
      • Ichigonote  Arms is a Fragile Speedster, losing power and gaining speed and agility plus kunai.
      • Jinbanote  Arms is a Lightning Bruiser that gives all of Gaim's stats a boost. It comes in four variations, each with the same stats but granting an additional superpower: Jinba Lemon is physically stronger, Jinba Cherry has Super Speed, and Jinba Peach has Super Senses. Jinba Melon only appeared as concept art and possible toy combinations, so its specialty is unknown.
      • Kachidokinote  Arms is a mix of Mighty Glacier and Stone Wall, being incredibly slow but with higher power and exceptional armor. It's also armed with the DJ Gun, which can function like a machine gun, shotgun, or cannon.
      • Kiwaminote  Arms is a traditional Super Mode and portrayed as the Finesse to Kachidoki's Force, losing some of Kachidoki's armor but regaining normal levels of mobility. Its specialty is the power of Spontaneous Weapon Creation, letting him summon any of his or the other Riders' weapons, either to fight as a Walking Armory or to fling them at an enemy as a sort of Flechette Storm.
    • Baron's forms:
      • Banana Arms is Baron's Jack-of-All-Stats, being the most balanced of his forms, but being more offensively-oriented than Gaim Orange Arms.
      • Mango Arms is a mix of Mighty Glacier and Glass Cannon, gaining punching power and a rather nasty-looking mace, but being as slow as Gaim Pine Arms and having poor defense.
      • Lemon Energy Arms is Baron's Lightning Bruiser form, stronger than Mango Arms and faster than Banana Arms, plus gaining a multipurpose bow with bladed limbs.
      • Later in the series he gets a Super Mode, but not by gaining a new Rider form: he becomes an Overlord, labeled Lord Baron, which puts him on par with Gaim Kiwami Arms.
    • Ryugen's forms:
      • Budounote  Arms is Ryugen's Jack-of-All-Stats, with statistics equal to Gaim Orange Arms; the main difference is that Budou Arms is a Long-Range Fighter with a handgun.
      • Kiwi Arms is a Close-Range Combatant to Budou Arms' Long-Range Fighter, being a little physically stronger and equipped with paired wind-and-fire wheels, but not taking any significant hit to speed or mobility in the process.
      • Ryugen's Lightning Bruiser form is... an interesting case. Instead of getting his own, he steals his brother's Melon Energy Arms Transformation Trinket and becomes the second Kamen Rider Zangetsu Shin, which is more powerful but a little slower than Budou Arms.
      • Near the end of the series he gets Yomotsuhegurinote  Arms, a Deadly Upgrade that's the strongest of his forms and gives him access to many weapons (his own and the Overlords'), but continuously drains his life. It ends up being a Power-Up Letdown that leaves him in such pain that Kouta can hold him off without transforming, and prolonged use would be fatal.
  • Kamen Rider Drive
  • Kamen Rider Ghost is another series with a large variety of forms, specifically a pool of 15 historical figures shared among the Riders, meaning some are redundant in terms of stats but have their own specialized equipment and fighting styles.
    • Ghost's forms:
      • Ore Damashiinote  is his Jack-of-All-Stats base form, while his early upgrade Toucon Boost Damashiinote  is a more powerful version of the same. Both are used as the basis that other forms build off of.
      • Musashi Damashii and Goemon Damashii are Glass Cannons, with excellent melee sword skills but little defense and no ranged options.
      • Edison Damashii is a Magic Knight. Its stats are lower in general but not terrible, with the specialties of a Lightning Gun and the ability to absorb electricity in order to "spark" ideas.
      • Newton Damashii and Benkei Damashii are Mighty Glaciers. Both are stronger but far slower; and Newton gains Gravity Master powers while Benkei wields a warhammer.
      • Robin Hood Damashii and Billy the Kid Damashii are Fragile Speedsters, faster and more agile than normal forms and wielding ranged weapons (a bow and arrow and Guns Akimbo respectively).
      • Beethoven Damashii and Himiko Damashii are Squishy Wizards, exchanging physical strength for magical powers (Magic Music for Beethoven and straight-up magic for Himiko).
      • Ryoma Damashii is a Jack-of-All-Stats, giving only small stat gains over either Ore or Toucon Boost and being proficient with both sword and gun.
      • Grateful Damashii is Ghost's Mid-Season Upgrade, channeling the powers of all 15 Damashii. Beyond general heightened stats, its main power is the ability to summon any of the 15 Heroes to aid him in battle; however, the Heroes have to work in harmony or Takeru can't use this form.note  It also has the drawback that he's monopolizing the Damashii in this form, so his allies can't use them.
      • Mugennote  Damashii is Ghost's Super Mode, more powerful than Grateful Damashii, posessing incredible defense, and lacking Grateful's weaknesses. It is the only Damashii that can permanently destroy the Gammaizer.
      • The movie-exclusive Tenkatoitsunote  Damashii is even more powerful than Mugen Damashii and gives him access to Specter and Necrom's weapons in addition to his own.
    • Specter's forms:
      • His Specter Damashii base form is his Jack-of-All-Stats, with balanced stats.
      • Tutankhamun Damashii is a Fragile Speedster, losing defenses but able to strike quickly with a scythe.
      • Nobunaga Damashii is a Glass Cannon, having more physical strength and a powerful rifle, but lower defense and speed.
      • Houdini Damashii is a Lightning Bruiser, superior to Specter in all regards as well as being capable of Flight, generating chains to attack and bind enemies, and other magic tricks.
      • Specter also occasionally borrows Ghost's Edison Damashii, becoming a Magic Knight.
      • Deep Specter is a Super Mode, stronger than all the others and roughly equivalent to Ghost's Grateful Damashii. It can also equip any of the 15 Damashii and gain their specialties, like the Riders' base forms can. Makoto can further empower this into Gekikounote  Mode, unleashing his full potential and giving him wings.
      • Sin Specter is a movie-exclusive even stronger Super Mode, even more powerful than Gekikou Deep Specter and his counterpart to Ghost Mugen Damashii.
    • Necrom's forms:
      • As with Specter, his Necrom Damashii base form is a Jack-of-All-Stats.
      • Grimm Damashii is a Magic Knight, being slightly weaker than base Necrom but having mid-range offense thanks to the extending pens on his shoulders.
      • Sanzo Damashii is a Mighty Glacier, being stronger but slower than his other forms and possessing the power to summon characters from Journey to the West (specifically Sun Wukong, Zhu Wuneng, and Sha Wujing) to aid him in battle.
      • In Specter's movie, he gains a Super Mode called Yuujounote  Burst, but only really gets to use it to perform a Finishing Move before getting knocked out by a surprise attack.
  • Mostly averted in Kamen Rider Ex-Aid, which does have multiple forms but instead has a Next Tier Power-Up setup, with each Rider's various forms ranked at different Power Levels. It is however played straight with Kamen Rider Para-DX, who has two forms at Level 50 that contrast Force and Finesse; though both are incredibly powerful, Fighter Gamer is themed around direct combat while Puzzle Gamer is more supportive and has the ability to grant himself Status Buffs. He can later merge the two into his Level 99 Super Mode, Perfect Knockout Gamer.note 
  • Kamen Rider Build is similar to Double in that he combines the powers of two bottled essences, but Build possesses a much larger collection of Bottles with thirty for each half. Also, like OOO, he gets a Set Bonus for using certain Bottles together. Because this is more than the show can reasonably give proper focus to (many pairs only make one or two token appearances, and some are relegated to being All There in the Manual), we'll only give the highlights:
    • RabbitTank Form is the Jack-of-All-Stats, being the best balanced of Build's forms but very few specialized weapons or abilities that other forms have (just a Spring Coil on one foot and tank treads on the other).
    • GorillaMondnote  Form is a Mighty Glacier, being incredibly powerful offensively and defensively but also incredibly slow.
    • HawkGatling Form is a Magic Knight, being weaker than RabbitTank all around but still being useful thanks to its combination of Flight and the Hawk Gatlinger gatling gun. It ends up being one of Build's most-used forms after RabbitTank, as he switches to it whenever he wants to try and get air superiority over an opponent or when he needs to fight on the move.
    • NinninComic Form is treated as a Squishy Wizard, relying most on a variety of ninja powers like Fire, Wind, Clone and Vanishing Jutsus. This form equips Build with the 4Koma Ninpoutou.
    • PandaRocket Form is a Glass Cannon, being strong but slow (though not to the level of GorillaMond) and being able to fly thanks to his rocket arm. Unusually for Kamen Rider, this finds more use for utility than for combat, as Sento often switches to it when he needs to blast off and make a quick getaway.
    • KeyDragon Form is a Deadly Upgrade, being incredibly powerful all around but effectively unusable because the Dragon Bottle overloads and injures Sento every time it's used. Eventually Sento retires it and gives the Dragon Bottle to The Lancer Ryuga permanently, who doesn't suffer the overloading issue and uses it to become Kamen Rider Cross-Z.
    • KaizokuRessyanote  Form is a Fragile Speedster, being one of Build's fastest forms and wielding a bow, the Kaizoku Hassyar, that gives him long-range capabilities.
    • PhoenixRobo Form is a Lightning Bruiser movie form and another powerful combo on par with KeyDragon, and it doesn't even have the overloading issue that the Dragon half does. Unfortunately, Sento is only able to use it a couple times because he usually doesn't have those Bottles in his possession.
    • RabbitTank Sparkling is Build's first major upgrade, being more powerful than any of his previous Best Matches and having free access to the Hawk Gatlinger, 4Koma Ninpoutou, and Kaizoku Hassyar in addition to his standard Drill Crusher weapon — or even more than one of those at once.
    • Matching Bottles can be upgraded to Hazard forms (RabbitTank Hazard, HawkGatling Hazard et al.), which are Deadly Upgrades; increasing their power exponentially but also overriding Sento's mind and turning him into an emotionless killing machine. Even after getting stronger, more controllable forms, Sento will occasionally use Hazard instead because of the variety of powers and fighting styles it offers.
    • RabbitRabbit Form and TankTank Form, upgrades to RabbitTank Hazard which each ramp some of that form's attributes even higher and more importantly, allow him to keep control. RabbitRabbit has enhanced speed and agility and giving Build the ability to stretch all of his limbs in long lengths, while TankTank instead has tough armor and offensive firepower.
    • Genius Form is his Super Mode, combining the powers of all sixty regular Bottles. Its stats are an even balance between RabbitRabbit and TankTank, in addition to having its own features: bursts of Flash Step, the capability to analyze opponents for weaknesses, and the ability to neutralize the Nebula Gas that's the source of everyone's powers.
    • Near the end of the series, the Rabbit and Dragon Bottles get supercharged and create two alternate Super Modes: In the movie, they combine with the Genius Bottle and activate a Fusion Dance merging Sento and Ryuga together into Cross-ZBuild. In the series finale, the resulting RabbitDragon form uses the normal Rabbit and Dragon halves only colored gold and silver; and this form is only used for the final Finishing Move.
  • Downplayed in Kamen Rider Zi-O. Kamen Riders Zi-O and Geiz have an assortment of 20 Armors between them that have different stats and abilities (plus their base forms and upgrades),note  but a rule of fighting the series' monsters is that it Takes One to Kill One. Rather than focusing on the Armors' specialties, the key instead is to acquire the specific one that corresponds to the monster they're fighting.
    • Geiz Revive, Geiz' Mid-Season Upgrade, plays this trope straight with two modes: Goretsunote  is heavily armored and physically powerful, while Shippunote  unfolds the armor into a pair of wings and grants Super Speed.
    • Downplayed with Woz' Super Mode, Woz Ginganote : It has three alternate versions in its default (aka Finaly), Taiyou,note  and Wakuseinote  forms; but there is no stat difference between them and they just have different special attacks.
  • Kamen Rider Zero-One:
    • Zero-One's forms:
      • Rising Hoppernote : Zero-One's default Jack-of-All-Stats form, with a focus on jumping and kicking ability.
      • Biting Shark: A Magic Knight form; it's not as good as Rising Hopper in general but specializes in underwater combat note  and in the use of arm and leg blades.
      • Flying Falcon: A Fragile Speedster that specializes in high-speed Flight but not much else.
      • Flaming Tiger: An attack-focused form capable of Playing with Fire.
      • Freezing Bear: A form based on being An Ice Person.
      • Shining Hopper: Zero-One's first major upgrade. It can analyze combat patterns and Flash Step to take the best angle of attack. He can also enhance the form with Vulcan's upgrade, becoming Shining Assault Hopper, which adds a set of combat drones.
      • MetalCluster Hopper: The mid-stage Lightning Bruiser form. Initially a Deadly Upgrade that placed Zero-One under the control of an insane hostile AI and commanded a horrifically destructive swarm of locust drones. The heroes eventually created a countermeasure that not only neutralizes the AI's control over Zero-One but can reverse corrupted programming in the robotic Magia monsters; though in exchange Zero-One either can't or won't command the locust swarm as effectively.
      • Kamen Rider Zero-Two: The Super Mode; a brand-new powerset created after the Zero-One system hit its limits. Besides being faster and stronger than any Zero-One form, it has improved predictive analysis over Shining Hopper. The Movie also shows off another advantage; since it's a separate system that doesn't have the same biometric locks on it as the original, Aruto can loan the Zero-Two gear out to a friend and team up with them while he fights as Zero-One.
      • Kamen Rider Ark-One: An alternate Super Mode and Evil Costume Switch. It pales in comparison to Zero-Two, but still outpaces every other Rider on the show.
      • Realizing Hopper: An 11th-Hour Superpower enhancement to Rising Hopper, boosting its strength to Super Mode levels (above Ark-One but below Zero-Two) and allowing Zero-One to go Back to Base Form in the finale without a major drop in power.
    • Vulcan's forms:
    • Valkyrie's forms:
      • Rushing Cheetah: Valkyrie's default form is a combination of Fragile Speedster and Glass Cannon; it's fast and makes Valkyrie the best melee fighter of the Riders, but defenses suffer.
      • Lightning Hornet: A Magic Knight; instead of straight combat skill it grants Valkyrie Flight and lets her command a swarm of electrified hornet drones.
      • Fighting Jackal Raider: A separate power set similar to yet disntinct from the Rider technology, she reluctantly adopts this form as an Evil Costume Switch at the insistence of her boss. While its performance stats were never formally revealed, it's portrayed as an equivalent to the Shining Hopper and Assault Wolf Mid-Season Upgrade forms.
      • Justice Serval: A Super Mode acquired in a post-series DVD — or rather, it's supposed to be, but she doesn't make a good showing using it; as it's unstable like Vulcan's Orthros and Lone Wolf forms and that affected her performance.
  • Downplayed in Kamen Rider Saber. The series uses a multi-part combination scheme with Set Bonuses like OOO and Build, but in this case the matching sets are all split up between different Riders. Saber's the only one who experiments with mismatches outside his designated set, and overall it's more of a Next Tier Powerup system where using more parts means more power than one where different combinations have noticable strengths and weaknesses.
  • Kamen Rider Revice has the twist that "Revice" is in fact two Riders, Revi and Vice, and they transform and change their forms together. Kamen Riders Evil and Live can also use their own versions of these forms for similar effects (demonstrated by both using Jackal Genome a few times).
    • Rex Genome is the basic Jack-of-All-Stats. Evil's equivalent is the Bat Genome.
    • Megalodon Genome, Lion Genome, and Kamakirinote  Genome are attack-focused forms, with Megalodon giving Revi arm blades, Lion giving both him and Vice Playing with Fire powers, and Kamakiri giving Revi a bladed bow.
    • Eagle Genome is a Squishy Wizard, specializing in Flight and Blow You Away attacks but otherwise not as strong.
    • Mammoth Genome, Kong Genome, and Brachio Genome are all Mighty Glaciers; exchanging speed and agility for more strength. Mammoth Genome gives Revi Battle Boomerangs and Vice arm shields, Kong Genome fights bare-handed with Power Fists and Rocket Punches, and Brachio Genome has no real weapons but the stat changes are more extreme.
    • Ptera Genome is a Mechanically Unusual Fighter. While Revi can use bursts of Super Speed, it's main feature is that Vice is turned into a Hover Bike.
    • Jackal Genome is a Fragile Speedster focusing primarily on agility, which is enhanced by the fact that Vice serves as a skateboard for Revi.
    • Neo Battanote  Genome: A special form featured in one of the tie-in movies (though it also appears in the series once), it features enhanced leg strength for jumps and kicks.
    • Baridnote  Rex Genome: The first Mid-Season Upgrade, which boosts Revi's stats, gives him An Ice Person attacks, and allows him to summon the "Remix" animal transformations of previous forms as separate entities and fuse them into a single enhanced beast. But meanwhile, Vice stays in his normal Rex Genome and only gets a shield.
      • Volcano Rex Genome: An upgrade to Barid Rex that boosts Revi's stats even further and swaps his ice powers for Playing with Fire, while the original Barid Rex powers are passed to Vice (except for the Remix summons, which stay with Revi) and allow them to team up for fire-and-ice combo attacks. But if Revi and Vice aren't aren't careful, they could lose control of their respective powers and hurt themselves.
    • Kamen Rider Revice: A Fusion Dance of Revi and Vice in a single body, a Lightning Bruiser with powers of wind and lightning.
      • Jack Revice: The Flawed Prototype to the full Revice form. While still stronger than either Revi or Vice alone by virtue of combining both powers in a single body, it really messed up their team dynamic and led to a permanent awkward Sharing a Body situation until it was resolved by activating the true version.

    Anime and Manga 

    Fan Works 
  • The Pieces Lie Where They Fell: omake-only character Reel, as Kamen Rider Skull the Second, has multiple Rider forms he can change between, but the omake chapters only show two: his default form, and his strongest. Word of God states that his fifth form is his Super Mode, Kamen Rider Skull Xtreme, and the form used for battle in the final omake is his sixth and final form, Kamen Rider Skull Gold Xtreme.
  • Scoob and Shag has the Preacher, who has the power to change the density of his own body, getting only the beneficial effects. Increasing a body part's density makes it much heavier and resistant to damage, but doesn't hinder his movements at all, allowing him to hit much harder. Vice-versa, decreasing a body part's density allows him to move it much faster without making it frailer. The obvious limitation is that he can't use both effects on the same part.
  • As per Kamen Rider tradition, Cinders and Ashes: the Chronicles of Kamen Rider Dante gives Hoshi some forms to play around with... But it ultimately becomes a subversion as the "balance" the forms serve are more balance patches to the previous forms as opposed to the usual "one form's strong and the other's fast", though once Hoshi gets a more stable powerset, they become this trope.
    • Ashen Mount: Joke Character, as Hoshi wrote this form for when Dante runs out of flames.
    • Fuji Mount: As this was originally the only form Hoshi would give Dante, he's by default the Jack-of-All-Stats.
    • Yellowstone Mount: Proposed to be a Mighty Glacier or even a Super Mode outright to address the power imblance with the other Creations, but due to how his powers are fueled by both fire and anger, it only served to turn Hoshi into The Berserker.
    • Sakurajima Mount: Made to address Yellowstone's Unstoppable Rage, Sakurajima releases all the pent up fire and rage and, in the process, turns Hoshi into a Fragile Speedster.
    • Toranity Mount: Made as a proper Super Mode for Hoshi and by far the most stable form of the non-Fuji Mounts, balanced out by how long it takes to get the power up going in question.

    Literature 
  • Animorphs: While each of the kids have their own unique morphs, there are several occasions when they've morphed the same animal (sometimes to exploit the fact that the animal goes into a stupor when being acquired, long enough for them to escape, like the hammerhead shark or the T. rex). The inverse of the trope bites them in the ass when they attack the Yeerk pool all in polar bear morph and nearly die.

    Live Action TV 

    Mythology 

    Tabletop Game 
  • In Pathfinder the shifter class gains access to a selection of animal aspects as they level, each of which has a minor form, where they mostly retain their original appearance but gain some kind of bonus based on the aspect chosen, and a major form, where they transform entirely into that animal. While they can eventually keep multiple minor forms active at once, it's expected a shifter will choose some aspects based on the different roles their major forms are suited to, such as turning into a tiger for combat, a mouse for stealth, and a falcon for flight.
  • The Naturalist's Form ongoings in Sentinels of the Multiverse each have their own mechanical benefits: Crocodile deals more damage and buffs a lot of damaging effects, Gazelle has a lot of recovery and control options, and Rhinoceros is durable and has access to card draw. Naturalist gameplay relies heavily on shifting between these forms to get whatever effects online that are most useful in the current situation (although the Hunted Naturalist is able to stack the symbols, just not the Forms).
  • Werewolf: The Forsaken. Each of a Uratha's five forms has its uses and weaknesses.
    • The Hishu (human) form is most likely to pass among mortals and best suited for social dealings.
    • The Dalu (wolf-man) form allows added strength and enhanced senses while retaining human form, but still pings Lunacy a little.
    • The Gauru (monster two-legged wolf) form is the strongest, most damaging form, but can only be used for a limited time and is locked in a state of rage that makes any action but attacking something a failure.
    • The Urshul (dire wolf) form is fastest of all and quite strong, but will still ping Lunacy heavily.
    • The Urhan (wolf) form will blend in most easily in nature and could maybe pass for a wolfdog in urban environments.
      • The four bestial forms can also be seen as references to different archetypes of werewolf transformation. Urhan clearly owes its lineage to most forms of actual mythological depictions of the werewolf. Dalu is based on the iconic "wolfman" form of film, first seen in Universal Horror's The Wolf Man (1941). Urshul arguably has some mythological basis, but can most easily be connected to the werewolf as depicted in An American Werewolf in London. Finally, Gauru resembles the now-iconic "manwolf" that has become heavily associated with werewolves in modern culture and which can be arguably traced back to film via The Howling.

    Video Games 
  • Breath of Fire IV: When Ryu transforms, whichever form he chooses provides a percentage boost to his stats, resulting in the following arrangements: Master of None (Aura), Jack-of-All-Stats (Wyvern/Weyr), Mighty Glacier (Behemoth/Mammoth), Lightning Bruiser (Myrmidon/Knight), Glass Cannon (Mutant/Punk) and Super Mode (Kaiser). Fou-lu's dragons roughly follow the same percentage boosts as Ryu's; just replace Aura, Wyvern and Kaiser with Astral, Serpent and Tyrant (Fou-lu doesn't have Myrmidon or Mutant, and he has a Behemoth like Ryu), respectively.
  • Kheldians in City of Heroes are another example, though they don't start out with all the forms. Nova form is a Glass Cannon, Dwarf form is a Stone Wall, and with the basic human form being somewhere in between, and having a much greater choice of attacks, including the ability to deal decent damage at close range. Some players try to specialise in only one form, but by most accounts the best choice is to make use of all three forms, swapping as necessary.
    • Unfortunately due to the way powers and slots worked actually using all three forms for combat wasn't practical. Instead most Kheldians were built to fight using only the Nova and Dwarf forms while occasionally dropping into Human form to apply buffs. The exceptions to this tends to eschew forms entirely, simply sticking with the basic human form.
  • Morphling in Dota 2 has Attribute Shift, which lets him exchange his base Strength for Agility and vice-versa over time. Since Strength gives HP and Agility increases his damage and attack speed, this means he can change between a Stone Wall and Glass Cannon or in-between whenever the situation arises. One of his other ability, Adaptive Strike, has two seperate versions of the skill where one has more stun duration and knockback the more Strength he has than Agility, and a higher damage multiplier the more Agility he has than Strength.
  • Final Fantasy X-2's version of the series' Job System allows the three playable characters to switch jobs (in this game, called dresspheres) even in the midst of battle as the situation calls for it, courtesy of the Garment Grid system.
  • The gameplay of Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams is pretty much built around this trope. Switching back and forth between Giana's cute and punk forms at exactly the right moment is the key to solving many puzzles.
  • Heroes of the Storm: This is Varian's entire gimmick. He starts out as a Master of None for the first 9 levels, but once he hits 10, he can choose between one of three Heroics to specialize. Taunt increases his health but lowers his attack speed and gives him a brief stun ability, Colossus Smash increases his attack damage but lowers his health and gives him an armour-weakening leap, and Twin Blades of Fury increases his attack speed but lowers attack damage and gives him extra movement speed after he hits a basic attack. Each of them are watered-down versions of the archetypal character of that role, and Varian's strength comes from his ability to fill any slot his team needs.
  • Kingdom Hearts II has its Valor and Wisdom Forms spiking the player's physical and magical stats (respectively) at the cost of the other. Then comes Master Form and Final Form, which balance melee attacks and magic by making both of them highly effective.
  • Marvel: Avengers Alliance
    • The player character Agent starts as a Master of None (Generalist) and can switch to any of five other classes — Glass Cannon (Blaster), Lightning Bruiser (Scrapper), Mighty Glacier (Bruiser), Jack-of-All-Stats (Tactician), Fragile Speedster (Infiltrator) — by buying and equipping the appropriate uniform. Tactical Rock–Paper–Scissors is in play, so each of those classes has an advantage over one class and a disadvantage against a second. The Agent can also remain as a Generalist, neither weak nor strong against any class.
    • Several heroes have alternate costumes, and a change in costume also means a change in class. (ex.: Spider-Man, an Infiltrator by default, can also become either a Scrapper with his Future Foundation outfit, or don the Black Suit, turning into a Bruiser.)
    • Punisher has the ability to switch classes at will, each class has its own attack unique from the other and can be either target single or group enemies.
  • Mega Man (Classic): Mega Man's ability to fuse with Rush in Mega Man 6, creating the Power and Jet Adapters. In Mega Man 7, the abilities of both adapters are compressed into a single, Super adapter.
  • Mega Man X's ability to switch between different armors in some of his games. The armors vary between each game, but Ultimate Armor would be consistent.
  • Mega Man Zero 2, Zero starts out as a Master of None (Normal), but fulfilling certain conditions in a mission unlocks specialized upgrades: Fragile Speedster (Active), Mighty Glacier (Energy and Power), Stone Wall (Defense and Erase), Lightning Bruiser (Rise and X), Glass Cannon (Proto) and finally, Super Mode (Ultimate).
  • Mega Man ZX Advent: This game allows you to take on the boss' forms after you defeat them. Your normal untransformed form and the bonus form "Model a" are Joke Characters (armed only with a non-chargeable buster and cannot dash), Mega Man forms are Jack-of-All-Stats, Bifrost form is a Mighty Glacier, Argoyle and Hedgeshock forms are Fragile Speedsters, Buckfire form is a Lightning Bruiser, Queenbee and Vulturon forms are Stone Walls (with their weak attacks and ability to fly, Queenbee is longer-ranged while Vulturon is shorter-ranged), and Chronoforce and Rospark are gimmickynote .
  • One of the weapons in Monster Hunter a player can wield is the Charge Blade, a sword and a shield with good attack, good defence and average mobility. This duo can combine on fly into a big axe with slow, hard hitting attacks and no defensive capabilities. The Charge Blade is quite well rounded but rather difficult to learn.
  • Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time has two examples:
    • The Red Stinger changes its form depending on its position on the lawn. When it's near the house, it will be a Glass Cannon. Near the middle, it gains extra defense but fires half as fast as a Jack-of-All-Stats. When it's far from the house, it will become a Stone Wall unable to attack. However, it's quite bad at defending, as it's unable to take as much damage as a proper wall.
    • The Nightshade has two modes of attack depending on whether there's a Moonflower nearby to power it up. When uncharged, it's a Close-Range Combatant that slaps zombies for heavy damage, using up one of its three petals in the process. When it's charged, it becomes a Long-Range Fighter that will fire out and regenerate these petals, at the cost of dealing halved damage.
  • Pokémon
    • The Legendary Deoxys has various forms with differing distributions of stats. Normal Forme is the Jack-of-All-Stats form (although in terms of in-game stats, it's more of a slightly less extreme Attack Forme), Attack Forme is the Glass Cannon form, Defense Forme is the Stone Wall form, and Speed Forme is the Fragile Speedster form (although in terms of in-game stats, it's actually more balanced and defensive than Normal Forme).
    • Generation V's Darmanitan has a normal form that is a Glass Cannon, but when certain Darmanitans' Hit Points go below half they automatically switch to Zen Mode, which is a Mighty Glacier. This was a poorly-done attempt, though — all the damage is received before the switch, and getting knocked out in one hit is not too unlikely in the glass cannon form. Even if they do survive, the higher defensive stats are not very useful with less than half Hit Points left.
    • Generation VI introduces the Steel/Ghost sword Aegislash. Its Shield Forme is a Stone Wall. As soon as it uses an attack, it turns into the Glass Cannon Sword Forme. Using its Signature Move King's Shield turns it back into Shield Forme.
    • A Zygarde with all 100 of its Cells and Cores is capable of switching between 10% Forme, a fast but frail canine, or the bulkier and slower serpentine 50% Forme. Either forme will have the Power Construct ability, which tranforms Zygarde into the even bulkier Complete Forme once it Turns Red.
    • Rotom has 5 alternate forms, each with a different typing based on appliances: Normal Rotom (Electric/Ghost), Heat Rotom (Electric/Fire), Wash Rotom (Electric/Water), Fridge Rotom (Electric/Ice), Fan Rotom (Electric/Flying) and Mow Rotom (Electric/Grass).
    • Both Arceus and Silvally can have different forms for ALL typings in the game.
  • The various offensive shapeshifting powers in [PROTOTYPE] are balanced like this. Claws are quite fast and have a slow ranged attack composed of spikes erupting from the ground and impaling the target from below, Musclemass is only useful for making long ranged attacks so it is almost wothless in close-combat, Hammerfist gives massively devastating splash damage attacks with really slow speed, the Whipfist has awesome range, anti-air attacks and crowd control capabilities in exchange for power and the Blade is similar to the Claws but replaces the latter's impalement attack with a brutally powerful aerial attack that can One-Hit Kill tanks.
  • Robotech: Battlecry features Transforming Mecha like the rest of the franchise, though it boils down the transformations to a few basic points.
    • The offensively-minded Fighter is the fastest of the three forms and packs the most raw firepower since it uses the largest missiles, but is the least agile due to requiring a large turning circle and has a very limited ability to use cover, relying on pure speed instead.
    • The defensive Battloid form is the slowest in terms of movement and is unable to use missiles, but is the most agile form due to its ability to put cover between itself and enemies and possesses both the best anti-missile defense and the most accurate ranged attack.
    • The middle of the road Gerwalker mode can both use cover and fire missiles while being faster than the Battloid and more nimble than the Fighter, but it lacks the defenses of the former and the speed of the latter, making it the form most vulnerable to enemy attacks.
  • The old Electronic Arts game Shadowcaster features a lead that could form pacts with various creatures to "accept the form of X", each form having its own uses.
  • StarCraft 2: The Terran race has this as a characteristic of several mechanical units.
    • Hellions are speedy but fragile off-road cars, equipped with a flamethrower that deals bonus damage to light units and can hit multiple targets in a straight line. In this form they are used for scouting or hit-and-run attacks. After you build an armory they can transform into Hellbats, small mecha which waddle at a somewhat slow pace but gain increased hitpoints, the ability to be healed by medivacs, and a flame attack that hits an arc of targets immediately in front of it. This second form is basically a replacement for the classic Firebat unit; Hellbats are typically put in the front line of a battle to get stuck in with the enemy and protect the squishier units behind them.
    • Vikings come out of the starport as air superiority fighters which can only shoot air-to-air missiles, but they can land and transform into walking mecha with Gatling guns that only shoot ground-to-ground.
    • Siege tanks come out of the factory in tank mode, in which they have normal mobility. In tank mode the gun can shoot enemies from point blank to medium distance away, and although it doesn’t do much damage per shot, the quick fire rate gives it good single-target DPS. Siege mode transforms the tank into a stationary artillery platform which can shoot even farther than it can see on its own (making forward spotters or scans helpful), and which deals devastating splash damage to clumps of enemy units at the cost of a slow fire rate. You must keep in mind that a tank in siege mode deals friendly fire if your own units are next to the enemy; that despite the massive damage of each shot, it doesn’t deal as much DPS to a single target as in tank mode because of the slow fire rate; and that it can’t shoot enemies that get into mêlée range of it, which makes undefended tanks in siege mode very vulnerable. Of course, you must un-siege your tanks every time you want to advance or retreat, and they can’t attack while they’re transforming, so it takes good judgement to know when to switch modes.
    • The Thor is a humongous mecha whose back armament can switch between missiles that deal a low amount of splash damage to multiple air targets, or big guns that deal high damage to single air targets.
  • Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U has Shulk. He's a Mechanically Unusual Fighter whose playstyle centers around a Stance System composed of 5 Monado Arts. Each of those arts boost one of his stats for a few seconds at the cost of reducing others. For example, "Jump" increases his jump distance while lowering his defense, and "Smash" increases his launch ability at the cost of weaker attacks and lower defense against launching.
    • Invoked with Zelda and Sheik in Melee and Brawl. Zelda is the Squishy Wizard with longer range specials and normals with stronger kill power, and Sheik is the Fragile Speedster who has very fast mobility and attacks, but lower damage. In Melee, there was no reason to switch to Zelda 99.9% of the time, and things weren't much better in Brawl.
    • Subverted with Pokémon Trainer in Brawl. The idea behind the character was that you had three fighters at your disposal — the lightweight Squirtle, the middleweight Ivysaur, and the heavyweight Charizard — each with their own distinct strengths and weaknesses, but they attached a "fatigue" mechanic to them, which forces you to not stick with just one Pokemon and learn to use all three effectively to master them all. Unfortunately, the fatigue mechanic proved to be a Scrappy Mechanic and the Pokémon were poorly balanced, with Ivysaur being one of the worst individual fighters in the game. Ultimate did justice to them by removing the restrictions and balancing them much better.
    • Pyra and Mythra are a Tag Team "transformation" character where both sides share the same normals, with Mythra being the faster one and Pyra being the stronger one. Their main differences are in their special moves.
  • Patty Fleur from the PS3 and Remastered versions of Tales of Vesperia. She randomly switches between multiple forms with different specialties.
    • Normal Form is balanced and can do most things well.
    • Advance Form has fast movement and attacks, but Artes have shorter range.
    • Brainiac Form has slow movement and shorter combos, but her Artes have longer range and she can cast spells faster and use support spells.
    • Critical Form is the rarest form, but it combines the advantages of every other Form.
  • Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap features this as its central hook, with the hero spent virtually the entire game involuntarily transformed into various animal-like creatures, each featuring unique abilities.
  • Druid shapeshifting in World of Warcraft is designed so each form has its own distinct use in gameplay. Unshapeshifted (AKA "caster" form) is for the Combat Medic, with a temporary treant form for emergency healing. Cat form has stealth, bursts of speed and deals melee damage. Bear form is a Stone Wall, able to take a lot of damage and keep enemies off their allies. Moonkin form has good armor, but is geared towards ranged damage. While all Druids have access to Bear Form and Cat Form, they have to specialise in one of these four roles and the other forms become situational (cat form to hide from enemies, bear form to survive heavy damage, and so on). They also have travel forms of a bird, a stag or a seal, that are entirely about moving long distances and have no use in combat.

    Webcomics 
  • The Were race in Dan and Mab's Furry Adventures. They have three forms, human, normal and 'primal' (animal), which basically form a Sliding Scale of Magicalness. As humans, they're immune to magic; in their normal form, they're Muggles with some minor bonuses; and as animals, their magical power is increased.
  • In El Goonish Shive,
    • Some of Grace's pure forms have positive and negative attributes the other pure forms or combination forms don't. Her full squirrel form is small but doesn't allow her to speak and her omega form is powerful and allows her to fly but its 3 tails can complicate things.
    • When magic "doesn't change", but does make many things that spells used to include automatically become less automatic, it's explained that there's a "balance" to how you adjust things, so you can increase one thing by reducing another, but only if the idea the two things are related makes sense to you. Eliot's superhero spell now has a distributable points system, although the points aren't "real", just a way for him to understand the system.
  • The Preacher from Scoob and Shag can either boost his own speed; or boost his defenses and strength. He also has an attack that makes him both fast and strong - but he cannot change direction while he's performing it.

    Western Animation 
  • Ben 10 has this as its core concept. The protagonist, Ben Tennyson, wears an alien watch-like device which he can use to shapeshift into a large variety of aliens beings, each with its own super-power (one has Super Speed, another is Playing with Fire, and so on). He started out with only ten, but got new forms as the series progressed, and it was explicitly stated he could potentially have more than one million.
    • The Nemetrix from Omniverse is an even more specialized variation. It's designed to specifically counteract the Omnitrix's aliens with their natural predators. Whatever power or weakness an alien has, the Nemetrix's aliens are either counters or exploiters to/of those powers/weaknesses.
  • In Generator Rex, Rex can create a variety of mechanical constructs that include the Smack Hands, the Boogie Pack, the Slam Cannon, the Block Party and the Blast Caster. Balance is mostly kept by making Rex only able to build one type of machine at a time (And even with a few season upgrades he can only create two by the end of the series) and making every machine have a secondary mode (The Smack hands can spin to create a stronger attack, the Blast Caster can generate electricity, the Boogie Pack can launch a few projectiles to grab enemies, and so on).
  • The Transformers mainly use their vehicle modes for speed/transport and their robot forms for basically anything else, namely combat. Non-vehicle alt modes often have different, more specific utilities.

Previous

Index

Next

  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Wide Load
Advertisement:

Important Links

Ask The Tropers Trope Finder You Know That Show... Trope Launch Pad Reviews Live Blogs Go Ad Free!
Advertisement:

Crucial Browsing

Community Showcase More

Top