History Main / RandomizedTransformation

--->'''Dexter (as Dee Dee):''' Why not. I’ve been everything else today.

* The page image comes from ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' where in one strip both titular characters fight with Calvin's transmogrifier gun by turning each other into different animals or objects.

* ''WebVideo/DougDoug'': ''Skyrim but EVERY HIT turns people into a random species'' is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin; every punch transforms the recipient into a random creature, which raises countless issues, especially when accidentally hitting quest important NPCs and needing to repeatedly fight them until they turn back into a human again.

Most often this is a game trope, where the ability to randomly transform something or someone is hard-coded and can affect how you play. You might end up getting what you always wanted... or you might be stuck with something horrible. You choose to roll the dice, gambling over potentially permanent changes just for the thrill of it. In Tabletop Games this is often flipped into being an attack or defense ability that randomizes things for your opponent.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove'': Due to how poorly (if at all) Yzma labels her potions, it's always a wild guess on what each of them do. Because of this, when Pacha and Kuzco get a hold of a bunch of potions to change Kuzco back into a human, they go through a roulette of animals while on the run, never knowing what Kuzco will turn into, until they are down to the last potion.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Moana}}'': When Maui recovers his magic fishhook from Tamatoa's back, he tries to turn into a giant hawk, but 1000 years without practice causes him to turn into a small fish, and then into random animals. Moana has to save him from Tamatoa, and [[HeroicBSOD his spirit is broken]] because he cannot control his transformations. It takes a while and a lot of encouragement from Moana and Mini-Maui for him to try again, but it works when they suggest that Maui start with small animals. He successfully becomes a bug, then a lizard, then a shark and finally a giant hawk.

* ''Series/KamenRiderGeats'': The first quarter ends with the Riders gaining access to the Fever Slot Raise Buckle, a slot machine that can roll any of the previous six main Raise Buckles and its associated superpowers, a Jackpot result where they gain two of the same Buckle with vastly increased power, or a bust where they instead get a garbage weapon. The slot machine can be rolled any number of times, but with no guarantee of a better result each time.

** The Sibriex is a type of demon that has the power of flesh-warping, and can force a random transformation on a creature that is affected by its Warp Creature ability or that willingly submits to being transformed. Example transformations include the target's arms and legs swapping places (preventing them from moving unless they crawl), growing an additional head or their eyes pushing out of their head on stalks.

* ''VideoGame/BalanWonderworld'': The Box Fox costume gives the ability to transform into an iron box that smash things... but it can't be manually. It happens at random "when it feels like it", sliding down slopes and [[PowerUpLetDown causing a chance]] for the player to fall off the platform.

** Tainted Eden's gimmick is that every single time they take damage that's not considered self-harm by the game[[note]]Sacrifice Room spikes, blood donation machines, Razor Blade and so on[[/note]], their entire stats list and item inventory is re-rolled, as if they rolled a [=D4=] die with every hit. Birthright helps offset this, as items Tainted Eden already had before picking up Birthright will be safe from further randomization.

* ''VideoGame/DiceyDungeons'': The [[Literature/HarryPotter Polyjuice Potion]] and [[TransformationRay Mutate gadget]] in the Halloween Special turn the enemy into another random enemy of the same level. Using the former twice will transform the enemy back, while using it on yourself will turn you into a random contestant instead for the rest of the run. Like with [[spoiler:the Bear]], clearing it will still count as clearing it as the contestant you started with.

* ''VideoGame/HeroesOfTheStorm'': Brightwing's Polymorph ability turns the target into a crab, squirrel, or pig at random. There's no mechanical different between any of the forms though, it's just for flavour.

* ''VideoGame/SkyChildrenOfTheLight'': Downplayed with the Resize spells, which permanently change the height of your in-game avatar to a random value between "child-sized" and "a head taller than the default". The only way to change your height if you don't like the result is to use another Resize spell and to hope for a better roll.

* ''VideoGame/WizardsCastle'' is an old text-based {{Roguelike}} dungeon crawl game. Within the castle are three magic pools on each of eight levels. Drinking from a pool has a random effect on the player, even with multiple drinks from the same pool. The player's strength may be raised or lowered, as might one's intellect (needed for spellcasting) or one's dexterity (to dodge enemy attacks). The pool can also change the player's race (elf / human / dwarf / hobbit) or the player's gender. It's possible to enter the castle as a weakling male hobbit, and emerge (or perish) as a mighty female elf.

* ''WebComic/ElGoonishShive'': The MagicMirror in the "Title Pending" arc has the ability to save any magical transformations it sees and copy them for later. Due to the mirror's faulty design however, it became overloaded when it copied too many spells and released a pulse that transformed almost everyone present into someone else at random. Although [[TransformationComic given the kind of comic they're in]], most of them are used to being transformed by that point.
* ''Webcomic/{{Goblins}}'': The author of the comic tended to have wildly random elements. One is a wheel found in Cursewalk, and spinning it causes a transformation into another species. Idle got Goblin as the first spin, and did a second spin to have it land on Rabbit.

* ''Website/{{Neopets}}'': While most methods of altering your pets informs you of what the transformation will be, there are a few ways to get a completely random result:
** The most famous way is to just go to the Secret Lab and let your pet be experimented on, with a chance of having their color or species changed. The same is true of Petpets and the Petpet Lab Ray. The ray is one of the only way to get certain colors.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfVoxMachina'': When Scanlan tries out a spell scroll found in a dragon's lair, he finds himself transformed into a frog. In his attempts to get back to normal, he turns into a unicorn and a elven female version of himself in short order before getting back to his gnome self. [[spoiler:He later figures out how to control the transformations by singing the incantation.]]

* ''Manga/HunterXHunter'': Whenever Kite calls upon his Nen conjuration ability called Crazy Slots, his energy morphs into a physical weapon. However, due to the inherently roulette nature of his ability, the received object is randomly selected out out of nine possibilities. He has to be creative and make do with whatever he gets if doesn't want to die.

* "Manga/{{HunterXHunter}}": Whenever Kite calls upon his Nen conjuration ability called Crazy Slots, his energy morphs into a physical weapon. However, due to the inherently roulette nature of jt, the received object is randomly selected out out of nine possibilities. He has to be creative and make do with whatever he gets if doesn't want to die.

* ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'': A gadget of the week, the "Wordplay Transformation Capsules", allows users to turn into the first object they see, and into assorted stuff via wordplay in which the first letter of the new object must start with the last letter of the previous one. Nobita tries using this gadget to impress Shizuka, but being TheDitz Nobita accidentally turns himself into assorted random stuff including turnips, a katana, an onion, a piece of dried squid, a handbag, a {{pegasus}} and finally a ''T-Rex'' in the final page.

* In ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': ''Literature/TheLastContinent'', The Librarian catches a magical disease where every time he sneezes, he transforms into a random creature or object. Although he always [[MorphicResonance keeps the red fur of his usual orangutan form]].

* "Manga/{{HunterXHunter}}": Whenever Kite calls upon his Nen conjuration ability called
Crazy Slots, his energy morphs into a physical weapon. However, due to the inherently roulette nature of jt, the received object is randomly selected out out of nine possibilities. He has to be creative and make do with whatever he gets if doesn't want to die.

* ''WebVideo/CriticalRoleCampaignTwo'': In a moment of {{Bathos}} near the climax, Caleb's spellcasting in a difficult fight triggers a WildMagic surge that turns him into a sheep. Caduceus gambles on invoking ShapeDiesShifterSurvives and brains him with his quarterstaff, restoring him.

* In ''VideoGame/Diablo2'', Charsi the Blacksmith will imbue an item for you after you complete her quest. The item will become more useful and powerful, but the effects are completely random, cannot be undone, and she'll only do it once. For this reason players often wait until they have a really good item before having her imbue it.

** The spell ''{{reincarnat|ion}}e'' brings the target back from the dead in a new body of a random species. Prior to 3.5 Edition, the new form was most likely to be an animal; later editions at least limit the options to humanoid species.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'', before Mei gains voluntary control of her giant red panda transformation she experiences random {{Partial Transformation}}s.

[[folder:Web Comics]]