History Main / MirrorReveal

* In the introductory episode of ''Anime/ZombieLandSaga'', [[Characters/ZombieLandSagaSakuraMinamoto Sakura Minamoto]] was seemingly attacked by several zombies and ran into the rainy streets at night. She tried to get help from a police officer, but when he flew into a panic and threatened her with his gun, she looked in a street mirror and discovered that [[TomatoInTheMirror she was a zombie too]]. Then it turns out she and the other zombie girls had been resurrected and recruited to form an idol group.

In ''WesternAnimation/{{Wolfwalkers}}'', after Robyn becomes a [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent Wolfwalker]] and leaves her human body as a wolf for the first time, she doesn't fully realize what's happened to her until she sees her reflection in the window next to her bed.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove'', Kuzco only sees that he's been transformed into a llama when he rushes to a pond to look at his reflection after seeing that his hand has become a hoof.

* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDramaRama'': In "[[Recap/TotalDramaRamaS2E22WigginOut Wiggin' Out]]", Bridgette, Leshawna, Izzy, and Owen look for a method to quickly grow a lot of hair so they can donate it. After suffering many ineffective methods, Bridgette finds a recipe for an almond butter amalgamation that includes skunk spray as the final ingredient. Done with it all, Leshawna pushes Bridgette into the concoction so she can act as guinea pig for a change. Bridgette steps out covered in so much hair that her whole body is hidden by it. The other kids don't dare tell her about it and just hand her a mirror. Bridgette screams in horror and runs to hide amidst the vegetation of the overgrown yard.

* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDramaRama'': In "[[Recap/TotalDramaRamaS2E22WigginOut Wiggin' Out]]", Bridgette, Leshawna, Izzy, and Owen look for a method to quickly grow a lot of hair so they can donate it. After suffering many ineffective methods, Bridgette finds a recipe for an almond butter amalgamation that includes skunk spray as the final ingredient. Done with it all, Leshawna pushes Bridgette into the concoction so she can act as guinea pig for a change. Bridgette steps out covered in so much hair her whole body is hidden by it. The other kids don't dare tell her about it and just hand her a mirror. Bridgette screams in horror and runs to hide amidst the vegetation of the overgrown yard.

* In ''[[WesternAnimation/TotalDrama Total Drama Revenge of the Island]]'', when Dakota starts morphing into a radioactive monster, the other campers look horrified and Chris gives her a mirror. At first she thinks it's just a picture of a scary monster, but when Scott tells her it's a mirror, she gets even angrier at Chris for what he has done to her.

-->'''Daffy:''' That's strange, all of a sudden I don't quite feel like myself. Oh, I feel alright, and yet I... I, uh... (''sees himself in the mirror'') EEK! (''angrily, at the animator'') You know better than that!

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1614051814079410300
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[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/Shrek2 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shrek_human_reveal.png]]]]

[[folder:Anime And Manga]]

* In the ''Anime/{{Tamagotchi}}'' episode "What? Swapping Personalities", Mametchi doesn't realize that he's [[FreakyFridayFlip in Chamametchi's body]] until he looks in a mirror.

* In ''Animation/TheFrogPrincess'', [[EvilSorcerer Koshchei]] tells Vasilisa to look at a magical mirror after she rejects him. The mirror is actually the artifact which transforms her into a frog, meaning she is ForcedToWatch the process.
* In ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'', after Tiana is accidentally turned into a frog for kissing Naveen (because she's not a true princess like he thought), she doesn't realize her transformation until she gets a look at her reflection in a hand mirror.
* ''WesternAnimation/BrotherBear'': When Kenai tries to tell Tanana what happened on the mountain, she only hears ursine growls and snorts. She tells him that she doesn't speak Bear, causing him to check his reflection in the water, thus revealing, to his horror, that he's been transformed.

* Subverted example: in the first ''Film/TheFantasticFour'' movie, the future Human Torch convinces the guy who we know to be the one who turns into The Thing that something terrible and irreversible has happened to his face. He slowly lifts the mirror, and he looks totally normal.

* In the book ''Literature/ThingsNotSeen'', Bobby Phillips doesn't know that he's become invisible until he ''doesn't'' see himself in the mirror.

* ''Literature/TheManInTheMirror'' (1910, by Hudson Douglas) has "Bolter" Baxendale awaken after a night of partying in a very ornate room, and dressed in finery befitting a prince. When he sees his reflection in one of the mirrored walls, Baxendale thinks it's someone come to greet him. It's not until his hand, extended for a handshake, bumps against the glass that Baxendale realizes that it's himself looking so dapper. Prince Juric of Jetland arranged this so that Baxendale could pose as the prince in order to safely scope out his potential bride, Princess Ingrid of Marque.

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'': Happens to Thomas Raith in "[[Literature/SideJobs Back Up]]". Whilst on the trail of a dangerous Stygian Sorceress, she casts an illusion upon him that causes him to resemble an evil looking older man (in the hopes of tricking his brother Harry into mistaking him for the villain and killing him). Thomas doesn't realise until he sees his reflection in the mirror, which allows her to escape.

* In the episode of ''Series/TheXFiles'' [[Recap/TheXFilesS04E11ElMundoGira "El Mundo Gira"]], the MonsterOfTheWeek only realizes that he has become this by looking at himself in a mirror.

* ''Series/HouseOfAnubis'': When Amber is cursed to turn old, she first only gets a personality change and complains about things like joint-pain or hearing problems. Then Nina catches her in her room, and is shocked by what she sees; Amber is forced to check the mirror to find that she's now covered in wrinkles.
* Downplayed on ''Series/TheLastManOnEarth''. After Mike shows up and starts living with the group, Phil wakes up one morning and goes to prepare for the day. When he looks at himself in the mirror before doing so, he discovers that Mike somehow shaved the hair off one side of his head.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E12TheDoctorFalls The Doctor Falls]]", Bill loses consciousness after undergoing TransformationHorror at the hands of the villains, and when she wakes up she's apparently returned to her usual self. Then the Doctor hands her a mirror, and the reflection shows that she's still transformed and her mind is rejecting the reality to keep her sane.

* ''Series/ImpracticalJokers'' did this when the four guys all got a GagHaircut punishment at the end of Season one, when the stylist turned the barber chair towards the mirror. Joe, who hates having long hair, was revealed to have been given a sparkly mullet. Q, who sports wavy black hair, was revealed to have bright red curly locks (think ''[[Theatre/{{Annie}} Little Orphan Annie]]''). Sal's head was shaved down the middle, and the hair in the front of his head was bleached. Murr was given the hairstyle of a [[Film/TheWizardOfOz Munchkinland]] resident.
* In ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', the episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E13FaceOfTheEnemy Face of the Enemy]]" has Deanna Troi wake up, look in the mirror, and realise that she's been given a Romulan's face.
* ''Series/AlteredCarbon'': When Takeshi Kovacs realizes he's been [[BodySurf resleeved]] in the [[Recap/AlteredCarbonS01E01OutOfThePast first episode]] he threatens the medical staff with a scalpel and demands a mirror over the doctor's objections that it wouldn't help his psychological state. One of the techs hands him a metal tray, in which he momentarily hallucinates his [[Creator/WillYunLee birth sleeve]] before stabilizing and seeing his [[Creator/JoelKinnaman new face.]]
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Giles realizes that Ethan Rayne turned him into a Fyarl demon when he sees his reflection in the mirror. And then he [Giles] breaks some household items during his reaction.

* While Art of ''Webcomic/SequentialArt'' was passed out during holiday merriment, his two flatmates shaved his head in strip #122. A contrite Kat shows him the results in a mirror. Art is shocked at first, then displeased. Strangely, Art's huge eyebrows were left intact.

* A slight variant occurs in the ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse2002'' series. After Keldor is transformed into Skeletor, a horrified Evil-Lyn shows him his reflection. Skeletor sees his head is now nothing but a skull.... and starts laughing manically.

* The scene from ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' where Lisa gets braces, she's given a mirror and she breaks it. That scene was parodying the Joker scene from the original Batman movie.

* "WesternAnimation/DuckAmuck": WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck has his body erased by a devilish artist, then redrawn as [[CartoonCreature some bizarre quadrupedal creature]]. Daffy remarks that he feels strange, but can't pinpoint what's wrong. It's when the artist draws a mirror for him that Daffy sees how hilariously he's been mutated, and rages at the animator.
-->'''Daffy:''' That's strange, all of a sudden I don't quite feel like myself. Oh, I feel alright, and yet I... I, uh... (''sees himself in the mirror'') EEK! (''angrily, at the animator'') You know better than that!
* ''WesternAnimation/RabbitOfSeville'' has WesternAnimation/BugsBunny pose as the barber during a stage production of Music/GioachinoRossini's ''Theatre/TheBarberOfSeville''. WesternAnimation/ElmerFudd gets duped into acting as Bugs's customer. At one point, Bugs massages Elmer's bald scalp with hair restorer, then with Figaro Fertilizer. In seconds, tendrils start rising from Elmer's scalp, and Bugs holds up a mirror so that Elmer can gaze at the sudden growth on his head. Then the gag kicks in: Those aren't hair strands, they're flower stems. Blooms suddenly adorn the tendril ends, causing Elmer to snarl and reach for his trusty firearm.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS8E22WhatLiesBeneath What Lies Beneath]]", Ocellus encounters two unreformed changelings who refer to her as "Your Highness". Confused, she looks into a reflective rock, and discovers (to her horror) that she has turned into Queen Chrysalis.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'', Demona undergoes this at the end of the episode "[[Recap/GargoylesS2TheMirror The Mirror]]" when she is at first very happy and overjoyed to notice that she is now no longer turning to stone in the day, likely realizing she now has extra time to carry out extermination plots against humans...only to then walk by a mirror and realize, to her horror, that she's now been enchanted into transforming from a gargoyle [[YouAreWhatYouHate to a human]] during the day instead!
* In the ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends'' episode, "[[Recap/ThomasAndFriendsS2E25WoollyBear Wooly Bear]]", a crate of treacle falls on Percy when he goes to the harbor, and his crew are unable to get the treacle off despite their best efforts. On his way to meet Thomas at the station, a windstorm tosses hay about, causing some of it to stick to the treacle on Percy. When Percy finally arrives at the station, everyone laughs at him, and Thomas calls him a hairy caterpillar. When Percy's driver shows Percy what he looks like in a mirror, he suddenly realizes why everyone laughed at him. He asks his driver to clean him before Toby comes back to the sheds, but by this time, Thomas tells Toby all about what happened to Percy, and the two make jokes about wooly bear caterpillars, much to Percy's ire.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/BuzzLightyearOfStarCommand'' episode "Opposites Attract", Gravitina uses a special ray on Buzz that causes his head to grow as large as hers (as well as giving him her gravity powers). He's unaware of this until XR shows him his reflection in a mirror, and even then he thinks it's a funhouse mirror until Mira shows him that ''her'' head is the same size in the reflection.

* "WesternAnimation/DuckAmuck": WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck has his body erased by a devilish artist, then redrawn as [[CartoonCritter some bizarre quadrupedal creature]]. Daffy remarks that he feels strange, but can't pinpoint what's wrong. It's when the artist draws a mirror for him that Daffy sees how hilariously he's been mutated, and rages at the animator.

* ButtMonkey WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck in his cartoon "Duck Amuck" has his body erased by a devilish artist, then redrawn horribly OffModel. Daffy remarks that he feels strange, but can't pinpoint what's wrong. It's when the artist draws a mirror for him that Daffy sees how hilariously he's been mutated, and rages at the animator.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends'' episode, "[[Recap/ThomasTheTankEngineS2E25WoollyBear Wooly Bear]]", a crate of treacle falls on Percy when he goes to the harbor, and his crew are unable to get the treacle off despite their best efforts. On his way to meet Thomas at the station, a windstorm tosses hay about, causing some of it to stick to the treacle on Percy. When Percy finally arrives at the station, everyone laughs at him, and Thomas calls him a hairy caterpillar. When Percy's driver shows Percy what he looks like in a mirror, he suddenly realizes why everyone laughed at him. He asks his driver to clean him before Toby comes back to the sheds, but by this time, Thomas tells Toby all about what happened to Percy, and the two make jokes about wooly bear caterpillars, much to Percy's ire.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/ThomasTheTankEngine'' episode, "[[Recap/ThomasTheTankEngineS2E25WoollyBear Wooly Bear]]", a crate of treacle falls on Percy when he goes to the harbor, and his crew are unable to get the treacle off despite their best efforts. On his way to meet Thomas at the station, a windstorm tosses hay about, causing some of it to stick to the treacle on Percy. When Percy finally arrives at the station, everyone laughs at him, and Thomas calls him a hairy caterpillar. When Percy's driver shows Percy what he looks like in a mirror, he suddenly realizes why everyone laughed at him. He asks his driver to clean him before Toby comes back to the sheds, but by this time, Thomas tells Toby all about what happened to Percy, and the two make jokes about wooly bear caterpillars, much to Percy's ire.

* Mike O' Donnell, from ''Film/SeventeenAgain'', drives home after falling into a river, looks into the mirror while showering the mud off of his clothes, and sees his transformed teenage self in the mirror, causing him to freak out.

[[/folder]]

* In the introductory episode of ''Anime/ZombieLandSaga'', Sakura Minamoto was seemingly attacked by several zombies and ran into the rainy streets at night. She tried to get help from a police officer, but when he flew into a panic and threatened her with his gun, she looked in a street mirror and discovered that [[TomatoInTheMirror she was a zombie too]]. Then it turns out she and the other zombie girls had been resurrected and recruited to form an idol group.

* In ''Anime/TheTwelveKingdoms'', after Youko is pulled into another world, she undergoes a transformation that is subtle, but apparently significant enough that her schoolmate Yuka doesn't recognize her. When Youko asks what's wrong, Yuka silently pulls out a compact and shows it to her.
* In the ''Anime/{{Tamagotchi}}'' episode "What? Swapping Personalities", Mametchi doesn't realize that he's [[Main/FreakyFridayFlip in Chamametchi's body]] until he looks in a mirror.

[[folder:Fanfic]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* In the introductory episode of ''Anime/ZombieLandSaga'', Sakura Minamoto was seemingly attacked by several zombies and she ran into a street, where she looked in a street mirror, discovering that [[TomatoInTheMirror she's been zombified all along]]. Said zombies and she was recruited by a necromancer to form an idol group.

[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/disney_gargoyles_the_mirror_demonas_reaction_to_being_human.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"[[WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}} Who is that girl I see staring straight back at me?]]"]]

* In ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' #41: The Familiar, Jake doesn't realize he's woken up 10 years into a BadFuture until he sees his reflection in a metal door.]

* In ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' #41: The Familiar, Jake doesn't realize he's woken up 10 years into a BadFuture until he sees his reflection in a metal door.
--> I stopped suddenly as I studied my fist. It was big. I mean it was rough and callused and had veins that pumped across the hairy, muscular forearm like I belonged to Gold's Gym and actually used my membership.

--> ''It was the hand and arm of a grown man.''

--> My heart started up again, pumping now at record speed. I probed the polished steel door frame for my reflection, for the face I knew.

--> And yes, there! I saw my eyes, dark as midnight. My strong, broad face. My…

--> I swallowed hard.

--> ''My short-cropped hair? My six-foot frame? My day-old beard?!''

--> I brought a hand to my face. My fingers scraped across my chin. Stubble like sixty-grit sandpaper. I needed a shave.

--> My breath got choppy. My head felt about ready to explode.

--> [[OvernightAgeUp The Jake staring back at me was an adult!]]

* In ''Literature/Animorphs'' #41: The Familiar, Jake doesn't realize he's woken up 10 years into a BadFuture until he sees his reflection in a metal door.

** --> I stopped suddenly as I studied my fist. It was big. I mean it was rough and callused and had veins that pumped across the hairy, muscular forearm like I belonged to Gold's Gym and actually used my membership.

* In the introductory episode of ''Anime/ZombieLandSaga'', Sakura Minamoto was seemingly attacked by several zombies and she ran into a street, where she looked in a street mirror, discovering that [[TomatoInTheMirror she's zombified]]. Said zombies and she was recruited by a necromancer to form an idol group.

* In the introductory episode of ''Anime/ZombieLandSaga'', Sakura Minamoto was seemingly attacked by several zombies, and she ran into a street, where she looked in a street mirror, discovering that [[TomatoInTheMirror she's zombified]]. Said zombies and she was recruited by a necromancer to form an idol group.