History Main / ARottenTimeToRevert

The consequences of such a reversion can range from the merely embarrassing to the downright life-threatening, especially if you happened to be flying or swimming at the time -- or in a battle to the death with the BigBad. In some cases, it might not even look like a bad time at first, but only becomes one due to an unexpected development, like an enemy or {{muggle}} walking in at the wrong moment, in which case the shapeshifter may find themselves having to escape being captured/killed or go to extreme lengths to avoid breaking the {{Masquerade}}.

* ''Anime/DragonBall'': Oolong the Pig has the ability to shapeshift; unfortunately, due to taking shortcuts with his training, his powers have limitations, with one of them being that he can only transform for five minutes and needs a minute to recover afterwards. This was on display when Goku first met him, with Oolong taking the form of a rocket to flee while Goku gave chase on his [[FlyingOnACloud Flying Nimbus]], during which his five minutes expired and he turned back while in midair. Fortunately, Goku caught him before he fell to his doom.

* ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'':

** When girl Ranma takes the Tendo sister's place as Picolet de Chardin's fiancee, part of her bridal training is [[ClingyCostume being locked into]] [[OfCorsetHurts a corset]] made of steel. It's fit so tightly that Ranma's slightly larger male form ''can't breathe'' in it, [[ShapeshifterModeLock effectively trapping her in girl form]]. Ranma takes advantage of this when preparing for the CookingDuel that can nullifying the engage, using hot water, and thus strangulation, [[TrainingFromHell as negative enforcement]].

* ''WesternAnimation/KassaiAndLeuk'': Marana's curse that turns her into a gazelle during the day turns out useful for once, when the heroes must follow a bridge made of silk so fragile they need to "tread as lightly as a gazelle". Cue eclipse, turning her back human while still on the bridge...

When it comes to shapeshifters, not all of them can remain in a single shape indefinitely: in the case of transforming characters who are still bound by {{Drama Preserving Handicap}}s, they may have to revert to their ShapeshifterDefaultForm every now and again to recharge their batteries. Others are only shapeshifting due to a one-off incident and will have to permanently return to normal eventually. Even those who can theoretically stay transformed indefinitely aren't above having to revert in the case of a ShapeshiftingFailure or similar incident. In some cases, the shapeshifter may have to change back or experience extremely negative symptoms, or they may simply revert back regardless of whether they want to or not.

Subtrope of HourOfPower.

* ''Manga/AyakashiTriangle'': [[MalfunctionMalady Shirogane getting a cold]] messed with the [[GenderBender male-to-female transformation]] he inflicted on Matsuri. Matsuri briefly [[PartialTransformation has his penis alone return]], right when Rochka undressed him to treat ''his'' cold. Rochka understand human biology so poorly she offers to ''freeze it off''.

* ''Anime/DragonBall'': Oolong the Pig has the ability to the shapeshift; unfortunately, due to taking shortcuts with his training, his powers have limitations, with one of them being that he can only transform for five minutes and needs a minute to recover afterwards. This was on display when Goku first met him, with Oolong taking the form of a rocket to flee while Goku gave chase on his [[FlyingOnACloud Flying Nimbus]], during which his five minutes expired and he turned back while in midair. Fortunately, Goku caught him before he fell to his doom.

[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bernardmegamindkiss_8.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[OhCrap Maybe he shouldn't have let her touch the wrist with the hologram watch.]]]]

* ''Fanfic/{{Medicated}}'': Anne fully reverts back into a human for the first time when she has to take the potion that turns her into a frog for 32 hours in the afternoon, but the tax collectors slap her vial of potion out of her hands before she can drink it. Fortunately, she uses her human form to scare them away.

* ''ComicBook/TheUltraverse'': Prime was a teenage boy with the power to grow an external body that looked like an adult man and had FlyingBrick powers (he didn't actually change his shape, it was more akin to an organic suit of PowerArmor). Unfortunately, he couldn't maintain this form for very long so whenever he used it for an extended period of time he risked de-Priming while in a fight, flying, or some other circumstance that put him an profound risk.

* In E.M. Goldman's novel ''Shrinking Pains,'' the literal FountainOfYouth's effects are only temporary, leaving the main characters at risk of getting caught while busy with their various antics. More dangerously, the climax features the villains capturing Doug, Milo, and Cass while the former two are still regressed, tying them up in a basement with a DeathTrap. Though our heroes initially think that reverting to their true ages might allow Milo and Doug to break out, Milo realizes that the ropes will fatally slice open their wrists in the process... and they've only got a few minutes left before then. [[spoiler: Fortunately, Cass uses a bottle of Fountain water to regress out of her restraints and cut Doug and Cass free before they revert.]]

* In the climax of ''[[Literature/{{Hagwood}} Thorn Ogres Of Hagwood]]'', the eponymous monsters attack the Werling village in pursuit of the stolen SoulJar. Naturally, the Werlings use their shapeshifting powers to escape as per usual... but unfortunately, thanks to Terser Gibble's cowardice, the Thorn Ogres now know the MagicalIncantation normally used to undo ShapeshifterModeLock, and [[CorruptedContingency begin reciting it throughout the attack]], reverting the Werlings to normal and leaving them at the mercy of the attackers. The only character who escapes this is Gamaliel, and that's only because [[spoiler:he's accidentally turned himself into a ShapeshifterMashup that's immune to the spell.]]

* ''Literature/Cinderella'' and its various adaptations commonly feature Cinderella's gown, coach, and assorted servants all reverting to their lowly true forms WhenTheClockStrikesTwelve, usually while Cinderella is struggling to get home before anyone notices her absence.

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[[folder:Fan Fiction]]

* In ''WebComic/{{Narbonic}}'', Dave and Artie-the-super-intelligent-gerbil are trying to escape a self-destructing moonbase while [[ItMakesSenseInContext Artie has temporarily transformed into a clone of Dave]]. As they run for the escape pod, Artie complains as he starts to fall behind:
-->'''Artie:''' I'm not used to this body! If only I weren't some huge, flabby, imperfectly bipedal ape, I could...
-->''(abruptly transforms back into a gerbil)''
-->'''Artie:''' (thinking) Oh, sure, but when I say "if only Congress would unilaterally withdraw troops from the Middle East", ironic wish-fulfillment ''never'' kicks in.

** "[[Recap/TheBoysS0204NothingLikeItInTheWorld Nothing Like It in the World]]": Homelander is found to be carrying on a rather bizarre secret relationship with [[ShapeshiftingTrickster Doppelganger]], who uses his shapeshifting powers to appeal to Homelander's sexual peccadilloes in various ways. Unfortunately for both parties, maintaining a shape for long periods of time is painful for Doppelganger. Consequently, while in the form of Madelyn and being used as a LapPillow by Homelander, he inadvertently reverts to his obese true form -- much to Homelander's irritation.

** Ranma only appears to his mother Nodoka in girl form, pretending to be Akane's cousin "Ranko", because he's afraid his mother [[HonorRelatedAbuse will make him kill himself]] if she finds out about the curse. Naturally, Ranko then becomes a magnet for things like spilled cups of tea or broken hot water pipes. One particular incident has Nodoka give Ranko a new girly outfit and a trip to a spa, including a hot water treatment. Girl Ranma puts the clothes back on an tries to bail, but the hot water comes out unexpectedly, and so when Nodoka sees him running away she believes he's an anonymous sexual predator who mugged Ranko for her clothes.

* ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'': Saotome Ranma was born a boy but fell into a cursed pool while sparring with his father in mainland China. Now, [[SexShifter Ranma is cursed to transform into a girl whenever he's doused with cool water]] and is restored to male with warm water. It is while Ranma is transformed into a girl that he substitutes for Tendo Akane in a rhythmic gymnastics match against the shameless minx Kuno Kodachi. Kodachi tries splitting open a hot tea kettle, aiming to scald Ranma with it. Amid the cloud of steam, Ranma reverts to his male body, though still in a girl's leotard. Fortunately, Akane is able to douse Ranma with cold water before anyone notices that Ranma isn't a girl anymore.