Basic Trope: Physical transformations are not a pleasant experience.
- Straight: When Luna the werewolf transforms, she goes through agony.
- Exaggerated:
- The change is slow, her body distorts horribly, and we hear all the squishing and crunching that goes her bones shifting around.
- The transformation isn't only excruciatingly painful, but also fatal.
- Every single transformation shown in the work is incredibly painful-looking.
- Not only does the transformation hurt physically, it also hurts a lot mentally.
- Downplayed:
- Luna's transformation is mildly uncomfortable.
- The transformation doesn't feel very good, but is over within about a minute or so, so Luna doesn't get too worried about it.
- Luna isn't necessarily transforming into anything as drastic as a werewolf, but is doing multiple exercises that build her muscle mass, which are causing some pain.
- Justified:
- Her muscles, bones, and organs shifting around have got to affect her nerves somewhat.
- This does actually have an element of Truth in Television to it. While obviously full-on shapeshifting is impossible in real life, many people do experience "growing pains" throughout the process of growing up, and exercises that build muscle mass actually do involve your muscle tissue repeatedly tearing and reforming.
- Luna isn't used to being in this form, so it's understandable that it'd cause her pain (this especially makes sense if it's Luna's first time transforming into a werewolf, or if she's transforming into something else entirely...)
- Inverted:
- Luna's transformation feels good.
- Luna experiences pain if she goes too long without transforming.
- Luna doesn't feel anything at all during her transformation. In fact, she may not even realize she's transforming sometimes.
- Subverted:
- Luna braces herself for her first transformation, but when it happens, it doesn't hurt at all.
- Pain is what triggers Luna's transformation, but the pain doesn't last through her transformation.
- Double Subverted:
- That's only the first stage. The next is very painful.
- Pain triggers the transformation, and it only gets worse.
- Parodied:
- By the time she reaches wolf form, she limps away with her tail between her legs, whimpering like a sad puppy, as her transformation has left her incapable of being any danger to anyone. Her friends decide to take her to a vet.
- Luna's transformation is very clearly extremely painful, to the point in which someone can see and hear her bones literally breaking and rearranging, some even rupturing the skin. She doesn't react with anything besides a mildly inconvenienced "Ouch, that doesn't feel so good."
- The transformation happens in a split second; Luna responds with a flat "Ow."
- Luna is a Magical Girl with a typical sparkly light show of a Transformation Sequence; however, she lets out agonising screams the entire time. When the sequence is over, she appears and acts completely unharmed and brushes off any concerns for her wellbeing.
- Zig Zagged:
- While Luna's transformation is painful, other werewolves in the story appear to shapeshift painlessly.
- Luna's transformation was painful because it was her first time. After her body adjusts, subsequent transformations are much easier...unless it's a full moon, when it's always painful no matter how many times she's done it before.
- Whether or not Luna's transformation is painful seems to differ. Sometimes it's excruciating, sometimes it only feels mildly uncomfortable, sometimes it happens instantaneously with no pain, and sometimes it even feels good. There can be reasons for this (e.g. whether or not it was voluntary, how many times she's already transformed, etc) or it can just be completely random.
- Averted:
- Luna can change from human to wolf and vice versa with no pain.
- Nobody ever transforms.
- Enforced:
- "We need to show why Luna will only transform as a last resort."
- This, potentially among other reasons, is used to avoid someone with lycanthropy becoming Cursed with Awesome.
- "I don't think the audience will believe it if transformations are completely painless, considering the extreme changes that the body has to go through."
- Lampshaded:
- "Whenever werewolves evolve to transform without pain, it'll be a miracle..."
- "Whoever said 'Change is good' was a lying bastard!"
- Invoked:
- The villain keeps Luna in a confined space too small for her werewolf form as she transforms in order to cause as much pain as possible.
- The curse placed upon Luna is intentionally supposed to be as painful as possible.
- Someone injures Luna shortly before she becomes a werewolf so that she'll be in worse pain as she transforms.
- Exploited: One of Luna's potential victims takes advantage of Luna's crippling agony in order to get away safely.
- Defied:
- Luna takes a large dose of painkillers every full moon before the transformation.
- Someone curses Luna and makes her into a werewolf, but intentionally makes sure that the transformation is painless because Even Evil Has Standards.
- Discussed: "Oh, God, I am not looking forward to seeing the full moon tonight."
- Conversed:
- "Hmm...I'm not so sure being a werewolf's actually that awesome anymore now that I've seen that. Ouch."
- "Whenever someone transforms in fiction, they're often screaming a lot, why's that?" "Well, I don't entirely believe someone's body changing that much would be entirely painless."
- Implied:
- Luna is never seen transforming, but she does mention that it isn't a pleasant experience.
- During Luna's transformation, she is heard making some sounds/facial expressions that could be interpreted as signs of pain or discomfort, but it's left ambiguous whether she's actually in pain or if she's just distressed in some way.
- Luna transforms offscreen, but sounds of screaming can be heard from where she is.
- Deconstructed:
- Luna slowly goes crazy from her transformations.
- Luna passes out in mid-transformation, and is killed while unconscious.
- The pain, among other reasons, contributes to Luna's self-loathing about being a werewolf, especially once it proved too much for her Heroic Willpower to overcome and she hurt her friends from losing control.
- Reconstructed:
- Luna is a hero, and her transformations, though painful, are worth it because they let her fight evil.
- Luna learns to handle the pain and stops losing consciousness during her transformations.
- In a world where Transhuman Treachery and other Jerkass behavior spreads like rabies amongst those with lycanthropy, Luna's situation strikes the right balance between getting the support from her friends to help her out of her self-loathing that threatens every time she feels the pain and not getting too big a metaphorical head from the power she has.
- Played For Laughs: Luna always winces before she has to transform, and rather than bloodcurdling howls, she lets loose a trail of expletives (or at the very least, Angrish) when shifting to wolf form.
- Played For Drama:
- Luna's particular lycanthropy means each transformation is essentially a battle of her Heroic Willpower against the more base and savage tendencies of her wolf form; if her willpower were ever to be completely overwhelmed, she would remain in her savage wolf form forever. The pain of her body shifting forms is one of the big things that saps her mental strength as she tries to maintain control of herself each night...and full moons are when the wolf howls strongest...
- Luna is starting to transform against her will, but her attempts to Resist the Beast are only making the pain worse, and by the time it's over she's aware she'll lose control.
- Luna is in a situation where transforming would be useful, but she's incredibly reluctant to do so out of fear of being in extreme agony.
- Played For Horror: Transformation Horror
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