History Main / ShapeshiftersDoItForAChange

* In ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'', M'gann once turned into ComicBook/BlackCanary for a roleplaying make-out session with ComicBook/{{Superboy}}. The real ComicBook/BlackCanary was not pleased when she saw the security tape, though ComicBook/MartianManhunter tried to explain that this was a common "game" on Mars, since everybody's telepathy made [[BedTrick actual deception]] impossible. It's also worth noting that [[spoiler:her real Martian form looks like a huge, hulking beast by human standards]]. Superboy presumably prefers her standard Earth form, but [[spoiler:he already knew the truth before they hooked up anyway]].

** From the same mythology dept., the (not-yet [[BlindSeer blind]] seer) Teiresias. (Although no "natural" shapeshifter -- he killed the female of a pair of snakes having sex, and got turned into a female. 100 points if you find out how he turned back without using Wikipedia.)
* Myth/NorseMythology: OlderThanPrint: Loki, Norse god of [[TricksterArchetype mischief]], is a shapeshifter. He was born a male, and two different goddesses have borne some of his children; by the giantess Angrboda, he sired the elder wolf Fenrir, the world snake Jormungand, and the half-dead Goddess of the Norse land of the dead, Hel. By the Aesir Sigyn, he had two sons: Nari (and/or Narfi), and Vali. In the form of a mare he also bore the eight legged horse Sleipnir, fathered by an actual horse. In one story, Odin accuses Loki of having spent several years living on Midgard as a human woman, including birthing several children. This is after Loki has just insulted everyone else present, so whether it is true or just Odin giving some payback is uncertain, but it was certainly deemed ''plausible''. Even more interesting, Loki shoots back by claiming that Odin had done the same. Since at least one other saga alludes to this, it is possible that there were now-lost legends that tell about both of these stories.

* In ''[[Literature/{{Patternist}} Wild Seed]], the immortal shapeshifter and healer Anyanwu was born female and thinks of herself as such, but her ability to transform her body includes the ability to change her sex. At one point, she tells another character that she can indeed father children, but only girls; it's implied that she learned this through experience, but the details are left to the reader's imagination.

* The shapeshifting [[VampireMonarch vampire lord]] Alucard in ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'' spent at least some time during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII as a girl. He also flirts quite openly with [[UsefulNotes/HMTheQueen Queen Elizabeth II]] while waxing nostalgic about "old times." She would have been an 18-year-old [[EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses princess]] around that time. Do the math.

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* ''Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry'' [[PlayedForLaughs plays this for comic effect]]: Martia, Rura Penthe's resident MsFanservice, can shapeshift between various forms for various purposes, such as changing into a big male to get into a part of the prison where women aren't allowed, or to easily slip out of her chains by changing into the form of a young girl. [[spoiler: During her fight with Kirk, she shifts into Kirk's form, leading to a joke about their previous makeout session and [[{{Narcissist}} what it implies about Kirk.]]]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/SupermanVsTheElite'', when Clark Kent and Lois Lane are looking at an old lady claiming to know one of the Elite:
-->'''Lois Lane:''' If she knows anything, I'm the ComicBook/MartianManhunter.\\
'''Clark Kent:''' [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar There go all my fantasies]].

--->'''Lois Lane:''' If she knows anything, I'm the ComicBook/MartianManhunter.\\

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

* Electro of ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' fame once had a shape shifting girlfriend. He would apparently ask her to [[FoeRomanceSubtext turn into Spider-Man during sex]].

* Morph of the {{Comicbook/Exiles}} gave this a brief try when he found out his crush was lesbian, but she [[DefiedTrope very quickly pointed out]] that whatever he might make his physical body look like, his gender was still unmistakable.

[[folder: Film]]

* ''Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry'' [[PlayedForLaughs plays this for comic effect]]: Martia, Rura Penthe's resident MsFanservice, can shapeshift between various forms for various purposes, such as changing into a big male to get into a part of the prison where women aren't allowed, or to easily slip out of her chains by changing into the form of a young girl. [[spoiler: During her fight with Kirk, she shifts into Kirk's form, leading to a joke about their previous makeout session and [[{{Narcissist}} what it implies about Kirk.]]]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

* Elves in ''The Hound and the Falcon'' generally do have a gender identity, but most of them have no problem with taking on a form of the opposite gender. The protagonist, who was [[RaisedByNatives raised by humans]], finds this squicky but can't come up with a good reason why (and his love interest suggests that he just needs to spend some time as a girl.)
* Happens all the time in the [[Literature/TheCulture Culture]] books.
* This is the entire point of Creator/NeilGaiman's short story "Changes".
* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire,'' Varamyr Six-Skins, a warg (able to control and possess animals), has experimented with inhabiting the bodies of both male and female wolves while they mate, just to see what it's like. His warging mentor told him that such things were an "abomination," but Varamyr didn't have much use for his rules.

--> ''"Small breasts? Large breasts? ''Extra''-large breasts? Picking a bust size is vital to a lady's evening preparations!"'' '''(Later)''' ''"I solved the problem. I'll go as a fellow... Um, is this a problem?"''

[[folder:Mythology]]
* OlderThanFeudalism: As a trope involving shapeshifting and sex, [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Zeus]] ([[DoubleStandardRapeDivineOnMortal GOD OF HORNDOGS]]!) naturally gets in on the action--with a twist. Most of the time, when Zeus decided to shapeshift in order to bang someone he found attractive (male or female, with or without permission), it was in the form of a male. However, when Callisto caught his eye, he was much chagrined to find that she had taken a vow of chastity in order to serve Artemis. However, he noticed that the vow of chastity left a loophole in that she ''could'' have sex with Artemis. Naturally, Zeus changed himself to look just like his huntress-goddess daughter, and had his way with Callisto. Somehow this got her pregnant, which, long story short, [[JustSoStory is why Ursa Major and Ursa Minor look like long-tailed bears, and also why (the Greeks thought) there are werewolves]].
** From the same mythology dept., the (not-yet [[BlindSeer blind]] seer) Teiresias. (Although no "natural" shapeshifter - he killed the female of a pair of snakes having sex, and got turned into a female. 100 points if you find out how he turned back without using Wikipedia.)
* OlderThanPrint: Loki, [[Myth/NorseMythology Norse god]] of [[TricksterArchetype mischief]], is a shapeshifter. He was born a male, and two different goddesses have borne some of his children; by the giantess Angrboda, he sired the elder wolf Fenrir, the world snake Jormungand, and the half-dead Goddess of the Norse land of the dead, Hel. By the Aesir Sigyn, he had two sons: Nari (and/or Narfi), and Vali. In the form of a mare he also bore the eight legged horse Sleipnir, fathered by an actual horse.
** In one story, Odin accuses Loki of having spent several years living on Midgard as a human woman, including birthing several children. This is after Loki has just insulted everyone else present, so whether it is true or just Odin giving some payback is uncertain, but it was certainly deemed ''plausible''.
*** Even more interesting, Loki shoots back by claiming that Odin had done the same. Since at least one other saga alludes to this, it is possible that there were now-lost legends that tell about both of these stories.

[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]

*** In one chapter of [=OKShark=]'s Eberron story, [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3703661/1/Eberron_Welcome_to_the_Jungle "Welcome to the Jungle,"]] one of the protagonists, a female changeling named Sam, talks about how her father actually gave birth to her due to getting pregnant in female form after picking the short straw and having to seduce a senior Thranish diplomat who was infatuated with Cousin Ailia as part of a plot to secure some incriminating correspondence for blackmail purposes. Her lover Neana (the other protagonist), is rather squicked about the whole thing. Since Neana is very much a lesbian, Sam does not take male form when the two of them get intimate.

* In TabletopGame/EclipsePhase, transhumans can change bodies with only a little more effort than changing clothes (it's expensive and integration can take a while, but...). Gender identity is thus just that; it's quite likely that at some point you'll end up in a body of the other sex.

[[folder: Video Games ]]

[[folder: Webcomics ]]

* [[Webcomic/TheDragonDoctors Sarin]], master of transformation magic, refers to herself as a "shapeshifting perv" but says that, despite this, she doesn't really have that much girl-on-girl experience.

[[folder:WebOriginal]]
* Jimmy T in the Literature/WhateleyUniverse can shift his shape to look like anyone or pretty much anything. By the end of Halloween, he has a boyfriend/girlfriend who changes gender on a cycle. Which means Jimmy would be changing his apparent gender whenever they date.

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'', M'gann once turned into ComicBook/BlackCanary for a roleplaying make-out session with ComicBook/{{Superboy}}. The real ComicBook/BlackCanary was not pleased when she saw the security tape, though ComicBook/MartianManhunter tried to explain that this was a common "game" on Mars, since everybody's telepathy made [[BedTrick actual deception]] impossible.
** It's also worth noting that [[spoiler:her real Martian form looks like a huge, hulking beast by human standards]]. Superboy presumably prefers her standard Earth form, but [[spoiler:he already knew the truth before they hooked up anyway]].

--->'''Lois Lane''': If she knows anything, I'm the ComicBook/MartianManhunter.\\
'''Clark Kent''': [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar There go all my fantasies]].

** Slightly averted when she had to avoid a hug and kiss from Contess Fontaine (Nick Fury's lover) while posing as Fury. Mystique had precisely copied his fingerprints, voice print, and retinal patterns to get past security, but if the Contessa hugged her, she would quickly notice that "Fury" was skin and bones, since Mystique didn't have enough body mass to duplicate all his muscles, and her abilities don't allow her to create or assimilate extra tissue.

** None of the other characters, however, show any sign of wanting to... "experiment" with sex changes, beyond Tedd and Grace occasionally swapping bodies with each other ([[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2005-02-11 yes, the fact that Tedd doesn't have any problem being attracted to himself has been noted]]). It has been brought up occasionally, and rejected each time. Most of the characters find the idea of their sexuality changing to be quite a disturbing concept.

This trope is for the confused sexuality of [[VoluntaryShapeshifting shapeshifters]]. As many shapeshifters can [[GenderBender change sex]] willingly, they may [[JumpingTheGenderBarrier jump the gender barrier]] to accommodate a lover, or just for a change of pace. They may even be able to shift to a form which is [[NoBiologicalSex completely sexless]], [[{{Hermaphrodite}} or has facets of both sexes]]. Because of this, it's somewhat common for shapeshifters to be [[BiTheWay willing to get it on with either sex]], especially if [[TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody their sexuality is tied to their current sex]].

-> As the saying goes: there’s homosexuality, heterosexuality, bisexuality, and Shifter sexuality.

* Jimmy T in the WhateleyUniverse can shift his shape to look like anyone or pretty much anything. By the end of Halloween, he has a boyfriend/girlfriend who changes gender on a cycle. Which means Jimmy would be changing his apparent gender whenever they date.

-->-- '''"Sara's Little Purple Book"''', WhateleyUniverse

* In the Franchise/MarvelUniverse, Xavin of ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'', who is technically male, takes on a female form for the sake of his/her lesbian fiancée. (S)he now has a female ShapeshifterDefaultForm. The Human form, his/her Skrull form is usually male. The characters are confused too, including Xavin.

* Electro of SpiderMan fame once had a shape shifting girlfriend. He would apparently ask her to [[FoeRomanceSubtext turn into Spider-Man during sex]].

* In the MarvelUniverse, Xavin of ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'', who is technically male, takes on a female form for the sake of his/her lesbian fiancée. (S)he now has a female ShapeshifterDefaultForm. The Human form, his/her Skrull form is usually male. The characters are confused too, including Xavin.
* ComicBook/{{Mystique}}, also of Marvel, is made of this trope. Although not as much as Creator/ChrisClaremont wanted; she [[ExecutiveVeto was meant to be]] Nightcrawler's ''father'', [[HomosexualReproduction not his mother]].
** Just to fuck with genetics some more in true ComicBook/{{X-men}} style. Y-chromosome? She ''shapeshifted her chromosomes,'' because she's just that badass.
* Averted by Hulkling of the YoungAvengers. Though he could presumably become a girl if he wanted to, he never has, and his boyfriend probably wouldn't like it if he did. Interestingly, this wasn't always going to be the case. Hulkling [[WhatCouldHaveBeen was originally going to be a girl]] who posed as a man to fight crime, causing Wiccan to [[SweetOnPollyOliver question his sexuality]]. Then creator Allen Heinberg began to have second thoughts and asked for permission to make the couple unambiguously gay.

** Just to fuck with genetics some more in true ComicBook/{{X-men}} style. Y-chromosome? She ''shapeshifted her chromosomes,'' because she's just that {{badass}}.

* [[TheDragonDoctors Sarin]], master of transformation magic, refers to herself as a "shapeshifting perv" but says that, despite this, she doesn't really have that much girl-on-girl experience.

->- "Sara's Little Purple Book", WhateleyUniverse

* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', Grace was transformed into a male (and felt attraction to females) during much of her birthday party but [[http://egscomics.com/?date=2006-08-14 changed back to female]] when Tedd (at the time transformed into a female) got over his fear of liking a guy (however temporary that person was a guy) long enough to kiss her.

** None of the other characters, however, show any sign of wanting to... "experiment" with sex changes, beyond Tedd and Grace occasionally swapping bodies with each other ([[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2005-02-11 yes, the the fact that Tedd doesn't have any problem being attracted to himself has been noted]]). It has been brought up occasionally, and rejected each time. Most of the characters find the idea of their sexuality changing to be quite a disturbing concept.

* In a slight twist, characters from ''{{Simoun}}'' are all originally female and able to choose their sex during a ceremony that marks them as adults. This of course means that one person in a relationship will give up being female to raise a family with their lover, with a few noteworthy exceptions, including one where ''both'' wound up male for various reasons, but eventually wound up together anyway.

** From the same mythology dept., Teiresias. (Although no "natural" shapeshifter - he killed the female of a pair of snakes having sex, and got turned into a female. 100 points if you find out how he turned back without using Wikipedia.)

* Mystique, also of Marvel, is made of this trope. Although not as much as Creator/ChrisClaremont wanted; she [[ExecutiveVeto was meant to be]] Nightcrawler's ''father'', [[HomosexualReproduction not his mother]].