Transformation Sequence / Western Animation

Transformation Sequence
Mediums: Anime & Manga - Live-Action TV - Video Games - Western Animation

• Filmation uses this trope a lot in general. In addition to the ones with their own entries in this section (He-Man, She-Ra, Shazam), there was also Web Woman, Super Stretch and Microwoman, Fantastic Voyage, Filmation's Ghostbusters (the 1986 cartoon), and Bravestarr (30-30 had transformation sequences when he went from bipedal to quadrupedal and back, though these rarely lasted more than a few seconds), just to name a few.
• Hanna-Barbera:
  • This studio was great at filling time with these sequences. In addition to the Thing (mentioned below), there was the Mighty Mightor (with a sequence very similar to He-Man, but predating it by twenty years), the Arabian Knights, The Impossibles, The Super Globetrotters, the Super Friends (in the Wonder Twins' segments), Wonder Wheels, Mighty Man and Yukk, the Drak Pack, and even the SWAT Kats.
  • Hanna-Barbera also spoofed this trope with one version of Captain Caveman. On The Flintstones Comedy Show, he worked as a copy boy named Chester at a stone-age newspaper, disguising himself only with a pair of glasses and his cape folded into a bowtie. Despite the minimal disguise, he still required a coat rack and an overly-elaborate transformation sequence (which included heroic music, explosions, lightning bolts, rockets, fireworks, glittery stars, foghorns, and was so loud that the entire city of Bedrock could hear it) to become Captain Caveman — even though the actual "transformation" part just had him straightening out his cape and hanging the glasses on the coat rack.
• Atomic Puppet: Joey and AP have one when Joey puts AP on his hand to transform into Atomic Puppet. It doesn't appear in every episode, and sometimes it's just a partial version of the full sequence, but when it happens, it's awesome.
• Avatar: The Last Airbender:
  • The Avatar State has this happen with a pause that is clearly in real time, with most people just too scared to react when they see it. Azula commits a dire breach of anime etiquette when she takes advantage of Aang's Transformation Sequence to shoot him from behind with a lightning bolt. ^note The DVD Commentary actually mentions that is a vulnerable opening and part of mastering the Avatar State is not doing that.
  • He learned from that event, though, and by the time the Avatar state kicks in again later, it's instantaneous; his eyes glow for a moment as he gathers power, and then he uses it under full control... most of the time.
• This was one of the reasons that The Avengers: United They Stand was so poorly received by fans of the comic. Ant-Man, Wasp, Falcon, and Hawkeye all got elaborate Transformation Sequences that involved being covered by armor that was, for the purposes of their abilities, completely unnecessary.
• In Bananaman it's triggered whenever Eric eats a banana. Its most famous form is in the Opening Credits, in which Eric sprouts muscles and grows two feet.
• Ben 10:
  • Ben has ten unique, albeit recycled, sequences, one for each alien creature Ben has the ability to change into (though Grey Matter's didn't actually get used until Season 2). Two more are added in Season 2, but one was lost after the events of "Ghostfreaked Out". Some are longer and more detailed than others, but all follow the same pattern of showing the change progressing outward from his wrist. Sometimes a simple green flash of light is substituted for the transformation, and red light is always used for Ben changing back. Seasons 3 and 4 added more new aliens, but no new sequences, oddly enough. Future-Ben supposedly had ten thousand alien forms but we (obviously) didn't see all of them.
  • Pop-up trivia versions of some first season episodes noted that the detailed sequences are slowed down compared to reality, which is the green flash of light.
  • One-shot villain Doctor Viktor gets his own Transformation Sequence, going from oversized scientist into Frankenstein-ish monster. It's only used once, though.
  • Ben 10: Alien Force also has the sequences, and he's gained a tendency to say the name of each creature he's turned into when he's done. The changes are actually instantaneous, as he's shown an ability to simply switch between forms in seconds when needed. It also regularly shows him changing back. Both of the latter use the same "glowing green dots" effect.
    • Early episodes of Alien Force use near identical sequences for every alien, with only the final shot of the alien form changing, although they quickly became more varied.
    • Interestingly, most of the transformation sequences either transition smoothly back into the scene, or the alien is only revealed when it cuts back.
    • One particularly humorous moment has Ben's parents (who have forbidden him from using the Omnitrix) managing to catch him in the act during one of his (around 10-second) sequences, in episode 20 of Alien Force.
    • The third season episode Ghost Town marks the only time a transformation sequence was used to represent Ben changing back (recycling the footage seen earlier, naturally), perhaps due to it being Ben wrenching control back from an attempted takeover by Ghostfreak and forcing the change.
    • Ben 10: Omniverse has flashbacks to the original series era, and has a lot of new sequences in the old style. As for the present, such scenes are rare. However, the in-scene transformation shows more actual changing than in years past, using a green silhouette visibly shifting between them (the original series had a green flash; Alien Force and Ultimate Alien had a green flash with Kirby Dots.)
• The Bionic Six had one, touching a ring on one hand to a bracelet on the other arm, while shouting "Bionics On!" Bionic-1 and Karate-1 also had solo versions, and all the heroes had brief non-stock footage versions as well. Karate-1 once subverted the "transformation" part by activating his bionics without changing his outfit, leaving him looking exactly the same. The villains had their own non-stock footage version, where they'd bring their fist to their chest and declare "Hail, Scarab!", but this was used to transform back to their normal form when disguised, rather than transforming from their normal form to a super-powered one.
• Centurions — About a 15-second sequence, as all the various parts of the chosen weapons system would beam in and attach to the hero's exo-frame one at a time, most ending with the helmet rudely clamping on to the head. Often showed all three heroes transforming back-to-back, and had the same trigger phrase: "Power Xtreme!" (Later episodes of the show usually skipped the stock footage, and just showed the pieces appearing and attaching all at once. The two Sixth Rangers added later never even got the stock footage versions).
• Danny Phantom:
  • The transformation sequence here is refreshingly simple and short, while still being rather stylish with a chance to play around with it and not use Stock Footage. Whenever the titular character wants to transform into the titular alter-ego he simply focuses for a few seconds, a ring of blue white light appears, bisects and travels over him, leaving one superhero in place. Easy, done.
  • Big Bad and Evil Counterpart Vlad has an almost identical Transformation Sequence, except that his ring of energy is black.
• In DC Super Hero Girls 2019, all of the Super Hero and Villain Girls have Magical Girl-esque sequences.
• At least Once an Episode on Dino Squad when the teens morph to dinosaur form.
• The first time Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera suits up in the Gizmoduck armor in DuckTales (2017), it's accompanied by an impressive one of these. In later episodes, he may or may not have a more abbreviated Transformation Sequence when he suits up.
• Freakazoid!:
  • In one episode, Freakazoid meets a werewolf, who used the classic Universal sequence of a still of the human actor, a series of transitional paintings, and finally the actor in full makeup. Freakazoid then says "I can do that too!" and sits in the same chair, transitioning through a series of paintings of him doing weird faces, plus a few random cameos from other characters, before arriving at himself.
  • Subverted with Dexter Douglas' own transformation into Freakazoid, which is a simple brief in-scene flash of light, activated by Dexter saying "Freak out!", and changing back to Dexter in a simple flash of light by saying "Freak in!" One episode featured him changing into random celebrities instead of into Dexter when he said "Freak in!", much to his consternation.
• Hanna-Barbera's late 1970s Fred and Barney Meet the Thing featured The Thing from the Fantastic Four as a teenager (stated in several episodes to be due to a cure gone wrong), but he could become the Thing by touching his rings together and announcing "Thing Ring, Do Your Thing". This also had a reverse transformation sequence, without a required phrase. See both transformations here. The series was mostly humorous in intention, and it even spoofed itself. At least one episode had the hero retreat to a nearby doorway to transform, only to be interrupted by an old woman exiting the door. She stopped long enough to give him a lecture.
• The Nickelodeon TV movie Groove Squad was about three cheerleaders who could transform into] superpowered cheerleaders by drinking a magical red juice. After they drank said juice, the girls went through a rather overdone transformation sequence to change into their superheroine forms.
• He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1983):
  • When the show was a Filmation production, the studio got maximum mileage out of Prince Adam's transformation into He-Man with lots of digital pyrotechnics for very little physical change. (He-Man looked identical to Adam except for a tan and a deeper voice; how nobody put two and two together is baffling.) If Cringer was present, his transformation into Battle Cat would further pad the scene.
  • In the follow-up series, The New Adventures of He-Man, He-Man had a shorter and less impressive sequence, along with a new transformation phrase, "By The Power of Eternia!" Like the 1983 series, he still looked mostly the same afterwards — his hair changed to a crewcut, and his voluminous robes were replaced with pants and not much else — but the physical changes served to make him look a little smaller than his non-powered form.
  • She-Ra: Princess of Power: He-Man's twin sister She-Ra had a similar sequence, but it was actually longer (and more sparkly), and her physical change was getting longer hair instead of a tan. Like Cringer becoming Battle-Cat, She-Ra's talking horse Spirit would become the winged unicorn Swiftwind. A video of He-Man and She-Ra's transformations.
  • He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2002): He-Man's transformation here seems to be even longer and more dramatic than the original, though it retains its predecessor's Stock Footage ability to be used time and time again.
  • He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2021): He-Man and Battle Cat are no longer the only ones to be powered by Grayskull, as he shares the power freely with Teela, Duncan, and Krass so they can transform into Sorceress, Man-At-Arms, and Ram Ma'am. Skeletor would eventually be able to power his minions with Havoc, transforming them into his Dark Masters.
  • Downplayed in Masters of the Universe: Revelation. Only Adam gets a transformation sequence since he's The Chosen One, while others who steal the Sword just get a column of power obscuring their form. And since the series spends most of its time keeping the Sword away from Adam, the sequence is only seen in the beginning and the end. (And half of one in the middle, which is interrupted by Skeletor stabbing him).
• Spoofed in an episode of Invader Zim. Gir begins a Transformation Sequence, complete with music, lights, and midair spinning... and then simply steps into his dog costume and zips it up.
• Iron Man: The Animated Series had a terrible-looking CGI sequence for having his suitcase unfold into his suit, which he steps into and has it close around him.
• Jade Armor: Jade Armor, the Crimson Lord and Black Tiger each have one whenever they transform, regain their body or change into their outfit respectively.
• Subverted with Jerrica "Jem" Benton of Jem, which is only a "Showtime, Synergy" to summon the Jem hologram and a "Show's Over, Synergy" to remove the Jem hologram — the answer is usually a pink light and very quick.
• Kaeloo, Once per Episode. It shows her standing on a red ground with cracks in it and magma underneath while she starts Hulking Out, part by part. Somewhat odd as she has been shown on many occasions to be able to transform into her Bad Kaeloo form near-instantly. From Season 3 onwards, she transforms into Bad Kaeloo instantly without the transformation sequence.
• The 90's cartoon King Arthur & the Knights of Justice had a transformation sequence for each of the knights as they put on their battle armor. Sometimes it was further padded by transforming their horses.
• From France, we have Lolirock, where the three main characters get their own transformation sequence. Talia and Ariana's sequences are sometimes shown together, though.
• Magic Adventures of Mumfie gives Scarecrow one in "Scarecrowella". He also has a changing back sequence.
• Lampshaded and spoofed in Megas XLR: when a group of Magical Girls confront Jamie, they transform. Jamie just stands there waiting patiently and bored, until they finally finish after more than a minute. Even better, the Sailor Moon Expy had a longer sequence than the others, so while the other girls were already done and posing, she kept spinning and spinning and spinning... to the point where by the end of the sequence, the other girls were already looking at her to see if she was done.
• Mike the Knight puts on his armor via a contraption that looks a bit like a Clock Punk version of Iron Man's assembly robots.
• Miraculous Ladybug has stock footage sequences for Marinette/Ladybug and Adrien/Cat Noir, both following the Magical Girl transformation sequence formula to a T (minus the disappearing clothes). Marinette's first transformation, however, went slightly less smoothly. In later seasons, other Miraculous users get their own sequences, including the Big Bad himself. (Spoilers for Hawkmoth's identity starting at 3:29)
• Monster Buster Club: "MBC, poooooooower up!!"
• Mummies Alive! had this. "With the strength of Ra!"
• Most of the time after the first few episodes this happened in Static Shock, even though his costume was just regular clothes altered by the hero to obscure his identity. Though it was used less and less as the show went on, it was sometimes used to great effect if it happens when Static finally finds a power source to charge his electricity after running low for a while, signifying how powerful he is at full charge.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
  • In "A Canterlot Wedding –- Part 2", the evil queen Chrysalis of the Changelings has a monstrous transformation sequence when she regain her true form.
  • "Princess Twilight Sparkle –- Part 1": Though in real-space instead of a fancy background, we get a point-by-point transformation of Princess Luna into Nightmare Moon in a flashback to her final battle with Princess Celestia a thousand years ago. The teeth reshaping themselves to becoming pointy is the part that looked like it really, really ought to hurt (and when the reformed Luna resumes her old appearance for the Halloween episode, getting into the spirit of things by scaring some kids, she transforms via magic but the teeth are artificial; maybe it really does hurt).
  • "It Ain't Easy Being Breezies": Twilight Sparkle turns herself and the rest of the Mane Six into Breezies in order to help the other Breezies get home before it's too late. Which includes a transformation sequence when they're transforming into Breezies.
  • In "Twilight's Kingdom –- Part 2", the Mane Six assuming their Rainbow Power forms is accompanied by a brief Ball of Light Transformation.
  • Even Big Mac gets in on this in "Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep" — before you ask, it is in a dream. His is a homage to the Magical Girl genre — the music and glowing in particular is a take on Sailor Moon.
• The Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero episode "Ninki Ninja Fight Town" features Sashi undergoing a transformation that's a parody of Sailor Moon's -- all of Sailor Moon's, getting fancier and fancier as it continues. It lasts so long she's disqualified from the tournament.
• The Powerpuff Girls: In the episode "Super Zeroes," the girls each try to change their look to be more like the super hero in their favorite comic books, complete with such elaborate transformations that, by the time they're done, the monster has left town. Blossom gets a suiting up sequence to turn into a Wonder Woman-inspired hero, Buttercup gets a dark magical transformation into a Spawn-inspired anti-hero, while Bubbles... crawls under the bed, emerges in a magical land, slides down a rainbow, and finds a bunny costume to wear.

• An Animated Adaptation of Shazam featured Billy, Mary, and Freddy, and a drawn-out transformation sequence. Unlike most, they had sequences for transforming back to normal as well, and a variety of different stock sequences for various combinations of the main characters, transforming singly, in pairs, or all three at once.
• She-Hulk's transformation scene in the 1990s Incredible Hulk episode "Doomed" is still venerated for graphic depictions of female muscle growth and Breast Expansion while Jennifer Walters apparently has an orgasm.
• She-Ra and the Princesses of Power:
  • Adora has a transformation sequence, though it's often frequently averted (with the transformation being an instantaneous flash of light instead), with the full transformation reserved for more dramatic moments.
  • She gets a new outfit and a new sequence to go with it in Season 5 after she gains better control of her powers after her sword is broken and she needs to learn how to transform without it. The new outfit and sequence incorporates Glimmer's wings into her shoes, Bow's heart on her chest, and Catra's mask on her tiara
  • Swiftwind doesn't have a proper transformation sequence when he's introduced (he's accidentally transformed from a normal horse early on, and remains a winged unicorn from then on), but he gets a spoof sequence in a short, even calling it a transformation sequence.
  • Mermista gets a brief one in an Imagine Spot where she transforms into "Sea-Ra." Keep in mind that she is narrating the whole thing to her friends.
    Mermista: Then it's like, sparkle, sparkle, dolphin, sparkle.
    Adora: Mermista.
    Mermista: I get shoes that are slightly better than my normal shoes. There's probably another dolphin.
    Adora: Mermista!
    Mermista: Then I twirl, and my hair does this thing where it looks all messy, but it's actually, like, super-beautiful.
  • In Season 5, we get to see the transformation sequence of the previous She-Ra, Mara.
• Mon-Star, main villain of SilverHawks, has a very similar transformation sequence to Mumm-Ra. One interesting note is that he grows metal spikes from various parts of his body, which is animated in a way that looks fairly painful, but no mention of pain is made.
• Once the Skysurfer Strike Force activated their transforming watches, they would transform into heroes and their cars would become rocket boards.
• Parodied in the South Park episode "Good Times With Weapons," in which the kids buy some real ninja-weapons that — in their imaginations — transform them into crime-fighting ninjas through a lightning-transformation sequence... and who end up almost putting Butters' eye out with a ninja-star, as a parody of the potential harm caused by violent cartoons.
  • Done again in "Coon vs. Coon & Friends", when Bradley plays a superhero called Mint-Berry Crunch who has superpowers he could call upon by turning in place and saying the magic word, "Shablagoo!"
  • There's also "Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery", in which the band is faced with a lynch mob of townspeople and titular pirate ghosts. Although they're generally a parody of archtypical protagonists in Scooby-Doo-type mystery shows in this episode, Korn launches into an obtuse transformation sequence that turns them into... various types of corn. Even the pirate ghosts are stunned.
    Jonathan: (after the band changes back) Alright! Great job, gang!
    Cartman: That didn't help at all.
    Head: We know. It's just cool to do.
• In Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, Spider-Man's amazing friends could do it, to his envy (since he has to actually put on his costume).
  Iceman and Firestar: "For us..." Flash! "...it's easy!"
• In the Too Good to Last 1999 animated series Spider-Man Unlimited (nothing to do with the comic with the same name) he finally got one via nanotech. When he's going to the Darker and Edgier war zone that is Counter-Earth, he trades his old threads for a Stark tech suit made of nanites that surround him during an anime-style sequence.
• The Spider-Woman cartoon series features a transformation sequence for Jessica Drew to change into the title heroine wherein she spins around like the live-action Wonder Woman series (including the explosive flash in the middle).
• Star vs. the Forces of Evil:
  • As befitting its Magical Girl-inspired themes and style, Star performs one when unlocking her Golden Super Mode at the end of "The Battle for Mewni". It looks like something out of Sailor Moon or Pretty Cure.
  • More humorously, she uses her Radiant Shadow Transform spell to change her outfit in order to infiltrate St. Olga's School For Wayward Princesses in the episode of the same name.
• In the Steven Universe episode "Beach Party", the Crystal Gems change outfits by posing over flamboyant backgrounds and shouting their names one by one. Inverted somewhat because what they're "transforming" into is just normal, casual outfits meant for partying on the beach.
• Super Duper Sumos: The sumos goes through a transformation sequence to become "Sumo-Sized."
• Super Monsters has one at the beginning of each episode. The episode Book Ends with a detransformation sequence as well.
• Super Why! has a sequence where the four protagonists turn into their hero forms before going into the book they need to solve their problem. In Season 2, their dog Woofster gets into the act, too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpfk5PH1To0
• Sym-Bionic Titan has this when the three mechas (Manus, Corus and Octus) form into the eponymous robot.
• Teamo Supremo featured a rather drawn-out transformation sequence in each episode, activated (somehow) by the team jumping Brenda's jump-rope together at a high speed.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987), of the monstrous variety:
  • In an episode, April O'Neil is turned into a wasp and you see the wings and antenna emerge from her.
  • She also became a Cat Girl in "The Catwoman of Channel Six", though the only on-screen part of the sequence was right at the end. Most of it was a Slow Transformation instead.
• In Teen Titans, Cyborg had a rather epic one in The End: Part 1. He connects himself to the main Titans Tower power system, unloads some very big guns against a glowing white background with crackling electricity and shoots Slade and his minions with the mother of all sonic blasts. ...Doesn't stop Slade, but it was worth a shot. Unfortunately, this is never used again.
• In Thunder Cats and reboot Thunder Cats 2011:
  • The Hero Lion-O's weapon, the Sword of Omens, has a stock transformation sequence via By the Power of Grayskull! where the blade lengthens from dagger to longsword while sparking impressively and shooting Sword Beams, recreated shot-for-shot in the reboot.
  • Mumm-Ra, lead villain has a stock transformation sequence with a By the Power of Grayskull! into a more intimidating One-Winged Angel, plus maybe a few unique ones. Incidentally, he also becomes a lot less clothed in the transformation.
• Played with in the Tiny Toon Adventures short "The Amazing Three", when Babs breaks out the "Acme Little Wonder Makeup Kit" — complete with a outer space-themed Love Bubbles background and Orbital Shot. On the other hand, the actual "transformation" just involves manually putting on makeup and changing clothes; and they're not getting any superpowers, they're just getting ready to go to a party.
• Curiously, the original appearance of the Transformers in the West did not include overt transformation sequences. The characters would make the switch between robot and vehicle/device forms wherever they were standing in complete continuity with the scene (although they always transformed the exact same way). This is more cultural than cost; newer series such as the shows of the Unicron Trilogy, which were actual anime, frequently featured such scenes, and the Japanese Alternate Continuity third season of Generation 1 featured transformation sequences for new characters only (old ones kept scene continuity).
  • One exception to the stock footage: in the 1986 animated movie, Hot Rod never transforms the same way twice. This is possibly because Hot Rod wouldn't need a transformation sequence for the series since he becomes Rodimus Prime at the end so there didn't need to be one in place. Other characters who premiered in the movie and then went on to the next season of the show, like Kup and Arcee, did have standard transformation sequences.
  • Transformers: Animated is generally in-scene but faster than G1, unless the bot in question is about to do something important (e. g., Megatron transforming for the first time after being rebuilt and telling the Decepticons to "Transform and Rise Up"). Then you get full-on Japan-esque transformation sequences, mostly for dramatic effect. However, we don't the "[name], transform!" call the actual Japan-original series have.
    • Magical Girl-esque variant with Sari in "Transwarped".
  • Beast Wars didn't have the music and lights, but did consider them a free action, such as Cheetor going into robot mode while outrunning a fireball.
    • The were more or less free actions considering that many of them had forms that had the same parts for legs or otherwise the ability to fly (in the above Case, Cheator shifts while leaping in mid air, so never actually slows down, and was still able to pull it off without the transformation itself being any faster than usual). Rattrap shows this shortly after acquiring his transmetal form and used the momentum from his motorized wheels to transition into a flying leap so that he could aim a few gunshots at Megatron without stopping.
  • Transformers: Prime has only one prolonged transformation sequence, which ironically is given to Nemesis Prime, the only non-Cybertronian transforming robot in the show. This is presumably to emphasise his imperfect mechanical nature, whereas actual Cybertronians have far faster and more fluid transformations.
  • Rescue Bots is probably the first western Transformers series to use transformation sequences on a regular basis. Sadly lacking the traditional "[name], transform!" command used in RID (the old one) and the UT, without which such scenes seem kind of... naked.
  • The '15 series Transformers: Robots in Disguise will be utilizing flashy transformation sequences as evidenced by the teaser trailer.
• In the Voltron Force episode "Flash Form a Go", the force meets an enemy that refuses to follow transformation chivalry, ramming the lions apart whenever they try to form Voltron, an act that takes precisely 36 seconds, according to Daniel.
• Voltron: Legendary Defender has the Combining Mecha variety of this: when the characters shout "form Voltron," we see the Lions interlocking into each other and powering up into the titular Voltron. Occasionally skipped, but usually if it's a big important feel-good moment, we're getting this trope.
• Winx Club and its Spin-Off Pop Pixie: The Winx fairies each have completely unique transformations for each fairy form. As of Season 8, they have had basic fairy, Charmix, Enchantix, Believix, Sophix, Lovix, Harmonix, Sirenix, Bloomix, Mythix, Butterflix, Tynix and Cosmix, though Sophix and Lovix were one-time transformations. With six girls, plus four for Roxy, Diaspro, Daphne and Miele, this makes 67 different transformations. Add in the movie versions of Enchantix and Believix, as well as the basic form getting a revamped transformation in Nick's specials, plus the redone sequences in Season 8, and the number is brought up to 89.
• W.I.T.C.H. gets a full-on anime-style sequence. The Barbie Doll Anatomy "naked" silhouette part is dropped in Season 2.