History Main / ForciblyFormedPhysique

[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tomfloor_4.png]]]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' deconstructs this with the ShowWithinAShow "Itchy and Scratchy", which is in many ways a response to shows like ''WesternAnimation/HermanAndKatnip'' and its more popular, LighterAndSofter cousin ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry''. While Scratchy is frequently subjected to the same brand of slapstick as Tom and Katnip, the results are less about temporary comedic deformity than extreme pain, horrifying screams, and some rather stomach-turning injuries that toe the line between BloodyHilarious and outright {{Gorn}}.

* This is a signature SightGag in ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' that almost exclusively happens to Tom as he pursues Jerry.

* A rare live-action example occurs in ''Film/{{Freaky Friday|1976}}'': Ellen, in her daughter Annabel's body, leads the police on a wild car chase through a canal (or maybe the Los Angeles River). She manages to [[CarSkiing ski]] the car through a chevron-shaped duct; the police car that follows straight through gets bent into a bizarre shape, as seen [[http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lr43ncQ7e91qhcrb0o1_500.jpg here.]]

* PlayedForHorror in ''Manga/TheEnigmaOfAmigaraFault'' -- the titular mountainside is littered with human-shaped holes that compel people to enter to a [[{{Claustrophobia}} claustrophobic doom]]. The end of the manga has people discovering that there are in fact ''exits'' of the tunnels, holes that are still vaguely man-shaped, but incredibly thin and kind of squiggly-shaped. The manga ends just as [[BodyHorror somebody starts coming out the other end]].

* ''VideoGame/SuperMario3DWorld'' has a boss named Prince Bully who is normally impervious to harm...until you push him into a suction pipe, resulting in him being shot out another pipe compressed into a small helpless cylinder that you can kick around.

* PlayedForHorror in ''Manga/TheEnigmaOfAmigaraFault'' -- the titular mountainside is littered with human-shaped holes that compel people to enter to a [[{{Claustrophobia}} claustrophobic doom]]. The end of the manga has people discovering that there are in fact ''exits'' of the tunnels, and anyone unfortunate enough to make it all the way through the increasingly thinner, smaller holes have been [[BodyHorror horribly mangled into absurdly thin, squiggly-shaped messes of flesh]].

The Forcibly Formed Physique trope describes situations in which all or part of a character's body is reshaped into an unnatural shape by some kind of force. Some of the more common methods include stretching, molding, extrusion,[[note]]a character crams themselves through an opening and emerges in the the shape of the hole[[/note]] striking, pounding, or being "cut" by a blunt object. Naturally, these physical changes are almost never permanent and rarely stick for more than a few seconds -- the character is almost always back to their default shape by the next scene. Rarely, the character ''is'' [[BlackComedy left in this shape when the story concludes]], but they're [[NegativeContinuity generally back to normal by the next episode]].

While this trope appears sporadically in different media, it is most strongly associated with the particular style of {{Slapstick}} found in American animated shorts from the UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation, and later cartoons directly influenced by them. Outside of this specific category of animation, this trope is decidedly less common than you might think, given how it's considered a big part of the visual language of Western animation. Nevertheless, it's both prevalent and influential enough that it's not in any danger of becoming a ForgottenTrope.

For obvious reasons, comedic versions of trope occur almost exclusively in {{Animation}} and SequentialArt. Human beings, and most other complex lifeforms, have pesky things like bones that would make this trope impossible to replicate in real life, and difficult to pull off convincingly in even the most whimsical of live-action media. CG has changed this somewhat in recent years, but this involves MediumBlending as CG is itself a form of animation. [[note]]While instances of this trope ''can'' appear in real life, they only occur in extremely specific situations and/or over a period of months or even years.[[/note]]

For obvious reasons, comedic versions of trope occur almost exclusively in animation and sequential art. Human beings, and most other complex lifeforms, have pesky things like bones that would make this trope impossible to replicate in real life, and difficult to pull off convincingly in even the most whimsical of live-action media. CG has changed this somewhat in recent years, but this involves MediumBlending as CG is itself a form of animation. [[note]]While instances of this trope ''can'' appear in real life, they only occur in extremely specific situations and/or over a period of months or even years.[[/note]]

* PlayedForHorror in ''Manga/TheEnigmaOfAmigaraFault'' -- the titular mountainside is littered with human-shaped holes that compel people to enter to a [[{{Claustrophobia}} claustrophobic doom]]. The end of the manga has people discovering that there are in fact ''exits'' of the tunnels, and anyone unfortunate enough to make it all the way through have been [[BodyHorror horribly mangled into absurdly thin, squiggly-shaped messes of flesh]].

* ''Webcomic/CrossTimeCafe'': Resident BigEater Kathy Grrson, who [[http://www.whiteponyproductions.com/ctc/ctc0073.htm at one point]] [[ItMakesSenseInContext turns an armchair, among most of the cafe's other furniture, into a giant Hershey's Kiss]], is later, after Florence and White Pony figure out how to turn chocolate back into furniture, [[http://www.whiteponyproductions.com/ctc/ctc0079.htm seen]], armchair-shaped, moaning "I can't believe I ate the whooooole thing".

* ''Webcomic/CrossTimeCafe'': Resident BigEater Kathy Grrson, who [[http://www.whiteponyproductions.com/ctc/ctc0073.htm at one point]] [[ItMakesSenseInContext turns an armchair into a giant Hershey's Kiss]], is [[http://www.whiteponyproductions.com/ctc/ctc0079.htm seen a few strips later]], armchair-shaped, moaning "I can't believe I ate the whooooole thing".

* In an ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' and ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' {{crossover}} episode, [[TheHero Finn]] climbs through [[CoolOldLady Tree Trunk's]] window, and is shaped into a cuboid. {{Downplayed}}, since he was already cuboidal.

The Forcibly Formed Physique trope describes situations in which all or part of a character's body is reshaped into an unnatural shape by some kind of force. Some of the more common methods include stretching, molding, extrusion[[note]]a character crams themselves through an opening and emerges in the the shape of the hole[[/note]], striking, pounding, or being "cut" by a blunt object. Naturally, these physical changes are almost never permanent and rarely stick for more than a few seconds -- the character is almost always back to their default shape by the next scene. Rarely, the character ''is'' [[BlackComedy left in this shape when the story concludes]], but they're [[NegativeContinuity generally back to normal by the next episode]].

Subtrope of AmusingInjuries, though it's worth noting that not all examples of this trope are clearly ''injuries'' in the usual sense. Supertrope of SquashedFlat, a version of this trope that specifically involves being ''flattened,'' AccordionMan, where a character is reshaped like an ''accordion,'' BeTheBall, where a character is reshaped into a ''sphere'' and then (usually) used as a ''ball in a sport'', DinnerDeformation, which is when force reshapes a character ''from the inside'', as when swallowing a very large or oddly shaped object. Contrast RubberMan, in which similar abilities are acknowledged InUniverse as a character's superpower, rather than an occasional by-product of the RuleOfFunny. Contrast also ImpactSilhouette when someone/thing crashing through/onto a surface leaves a nigh-perfectly shaped imprint or hole onto said surface.

* ''Manga/TheEnigmaOfAmigaraFault'': Human-shaped holes are found in a Japanese cliff face. People feel an irresistible need to climb into such holes (spawning the "This hole, it was made for me!" meme) and push forward. Unfortunately, due to an earthquake the tunnels have deformed, meaning the only out is forward. At the end of the manga, the other side of the mountain is shown, but the holes now looking like elongated starfish, [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/unnamed_934.png and then the first people to have gone through start emerging...]]

[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tomfloor.png]]]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Viciously deconstructed by the ShowWithinAShow "Itchy and Scratchy", which is in many ways a response to shows like ''WesternAnimation/HermanAndKatnip'' and its more popular, LighterAndSofter cousin ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry''. While Scratchy is frequently subjected to the same brand of slapstick as Tom and Katnip, the results are less about temporary comedic deformity than extreme pain, horrifying screams, and some rather stomach-turning injuries that toe the line between BloodyHilarious and outright {{Gorn}}.

* In a WesternAnimation/AdventureTime and VideoGame/Minecraft {{Crossover}} episode, [[TheHero Finn]] climbs through [[CoolOldLady Tree Trunk's]] window, and is shaped into a cuboid. {{Downplayed}}, since he was already cuboidal.

* This trope appears in almost everything Creator/TexAvery ever made, to one extent or another. One standout example appears in "WesternAnimation/BadLuckBlackie", where the titular Blackie comes out of a drainage pipe with his body round, thin, and elongated. How he managed to get his head and ''a unicycle'' through that pipe without effect, however, is anyone's guess.

** In "The Factory," Ed finds himself [[ItMakesSenseInContext flying up a rhino's rectum]] and subsequently being compressed into a variety of ridiculous shapes and forms by the rhino's digestive tract. Ultimately, he [[ItMakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext comes out in the shape of an egg carton]].
** Ed's limbs are a frequent victim of this trope, especially in "Breakneck," where his neck is stretched to about a mile long. This idea gets revisited in "Stretch Ed" and "Bendy Bird".

* ''WesternAnimation/OneHundredAndOneDalmatiansTheSeries'': The main characters fall into this several times throughout the series, such as in "You Slipped A Disk", in which Rolly squeezes himself through a crack in the wall taking a triangular shape for a few seconds. In "Leisure Lawsuit", the 3 puppies and Spot the chicken end up squeezed into a cube shape together trying to squeeze through an air vent.

** In "Pre-Hibernation Week", Sandy has all of Bikini Bottom looking for [=SpongeBob=]. Frank the bodybuilder fish picks up a smaller fish, Francis, claiming he found him. When Sandy points out that [=SpongeBob=] is square, Frank squeezes Francis into a square shape.

** Another instance occurs in "Designs On Jerry." When Tom's Rube-Goldberg mousetrap drops a floor safe on Tom (not Jerry, who'd sabotaged the blueprints while Tom slept), the safe door opens, and [[IllogicalSafe Tom steps out]]. Tom is shaped exactly like the safe's interior.