Adrenaline Makeover

All dressed up from head to toe to mostly undressed from head to toe.

"I bet when Scully took her exams to become a Doctor she never foresaw a day when she would be suited and booted in riot gear, clutching onto a forbidding firearm, and taking part in a domestic terrorist sting."

— Doc Oho on The X-Files, "Tunguska"

The Adrenaline Makeover is a particular form of Character Development for action genre entertainment that disguises itself as a Love Trope. It's what happens to a Shrinking Violet, or a Girl Next Door who finds herself embroiled in an adventure situation. It is most common in movies, but has been known to turn up in other media.

The Adrenaline Makeover candidate is almost always or was Beautiful All Along. But at the beginning of the story, our heroine is mousy, shy, wearing the bad glasses, the frumpy clothes, etc.

Sometimes she's secretly, unknowingly, the Hot Librarian, or a case of late-blooming gorgeous. Sometimes she's gorgeous but shy, mild-mannered, aloof or standoffish because she has to work twice as hard to be thought of as half as good in a male-dominated field, being sexy equals not being taken seriously, and women are punished for displaying any aggression. If she is used to being overlooked for being mousy and plain, this can also result in I Can't Believe a Guy Like You Would Notice Me at some point during the transformation.

The usual progression of the trope has the character starting out blinded to the world by their academic pursuits. She's in trouble that she needs assistance to get out of, resulting in a hero showing up and helping her through an epic adventure. The adventure distracts her from maintaining her frumpiness; the hero is there to rescue her, to help her de-frump, and to fall in love with her, making her realize as she returns his affections that if she'd just shaken out the hair and dumped the glasses before, she might have gotten a hot hero guy that much sooner.

By the end of the movie, she's come out of her shell, cast off her shyness, and come into her own in her own field. She takes a level in badass, amps all the way up to Action Girl, and joins the guy in his field, and they become a Battle Couple.

This often happens to make a female character more palatable to men (and sometimes, "more exigent" females), and to add that romantic element so that action movies can also be date movies. The recipient of the Adrenaline Makeover is almost Always Female, though a Non-Action Guy can occasionally also get a Makeover.

The Adrenaline Makeover may be seen as contradicting the Be Yourself trope. This trope can also be viewed as implying that a woman is not desirable just as she was; she was not worth noticing or the hero's interest until her adventure-triggered transformation took her from plain to pretty.

Summing up: Adventure is good for you. It makes you more active and attractive. Falling in love is good for you. It makes you less uptight. Put 'em together and you got a shiny new Love Interest for the hero.

Basically Fanservice Pack as Character Development. The opposite of Chickification.

Subtrope of Took a Level in Badass and Fanservice Pack. May involve a Significant Wardrobe Shift. Related to The Power of Love. Compare Xenafication, when there is no Character Development at all and a Fanservice Pack is optional. Contrast Seriously Scruffy (for when a change in someone's appearance makes it clear that the stress is getting to them, rather than making them more badass).

Examples

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Anime & Manga

After she saves Athrun's life and ends up having to defect from ZAFT as a consequence, Meyrin Hawke from Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny switches from a rather modest cadet uniform and Girlish Pigtails to a tighter jacket/pants combination and wearing her long hair loose. Subverted in the Grand Finale, when she puts on her cadet uniform again when she hops back into a ship as a Bridge Bunny for Lacus and Kira's groups.
Youko Nakajima from The Twelve Kingdoms is a more subdued version. She starts shy and mousy in her dark grey school uniform, becomes a Fiery Redhead Action Girl in Chinese clothing after being Trapped in Another World, later is seen in regal clothing when crowned as the Queen of the Kei Kingdom... then switches to her traveler outfits whenever she leaves the palace.
In UFO Robo Grendizer, when Hikaru Makiba decides to toughen up and become an Action Girl, her wardrobe changes from flowing dresses to miniskirts and boots. Inverted with Maria Grace Fleed. When she first appears, she wears skin-tight bodysuits; when she properly joins the cast, she keeps them as fighting clothes and begins wearing dresses and flowing skirts as civilian outfits.
Subverted in Detective School Q. Kuniko Tooya drastically changed her looks between a very traumatic incident and her arrival to Class A, going from a normal school uniform to ko-gal-like clothes, but takes her much more than that to fully blossom. In fact, the Class Q people are plainly weirded out when they realise who she is. And it doesn't hurt that in the process she'd been a case of Beware the Nice Ones from the start...
Fushigi Yuugi: Byakko Ibun gives one to Reipin/Neiran. After she finally strikes up a friendship with Nirusha, she gains more confidence in herself; to seal this, she puts on some new clothes that Nirusha gives her as a thank you gift and she begins styling her hair differently, and won't take the abuse from her family anymore.
Please Save My Earth has Alice. She doesn't change her appearance too much, but she becomes more extroverted and able to speak her mind, even rushing in action to try to do something herself compared to how she previously was so shy, she had difficulty making friends in her new school.
Blade of the Immortal has Rin Asano, who starts out so weak that she hired Manji in order to protect her life while she tracks down the man who ordered the murder of her father and rape/murder of her mother. Cut to about 20 volumes later, when Manji has vanished without a trace. Rin starts kicking ass and taking names all the way into Edo Castle and doesn't stop until she's in Manji's cell. When he finally sees her again, he doesn't recognize her right away.
Shirin Bakhtiar from Mobile Suit Gundam 00. After being an assertive and outspoken adviser to princess Marina Ismail in the first season, while wearing presumably typical flowing court dresses, she switches to baggy pants and tight T-shirts when she becomes a rebel against the Federation in the second season.
Monster: Tenma is a rare male example as he grows his hair long and gains a Perma-Stubble, which is odd, considering that the hotter he gets, the more the other characters will tell him that he looks awful and too skinny. Actually, this is Fridge Brilliance at it's finest. For the circle Tenma is in (doctors, people of great importance, and educated fellows) a guy with long hair and a beard is seen as uneducated and ugly, however, for normal persons like us. It's the opposite. We find it attractive because it's not acceptable as social norm, but, in part, what we wish.
Homura Akemi from Puella Magi Madoka Magica, who lets her long hair down and gets rid of her glasses after going through several different timelines and failing to save her beloved Madoka in every single time. This is a plot point: she changes her looks specifically so Madoka won't recognize her as the quiet Meganekko with long braids that she befriended at the beginning. In the Rebellion Story movies, this is definitely sealed when she switches to Evil Wears Black after here Face–Heel Turn, opposite Madoka's white-clad Physical Goddess.
In a male example from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Simon goes from adult Simon to a taller Kamina look-alike when he's going to go save Nia from the Anti-Spirals.
A rare villainous example happens in Victory Gundam. War orphan Katejina Loos starts the series rather modestly dressed and with a headband keeping her long blond hair in order. When she joins the Zanscare, she starts using tight military uniforms and puts her hair in Braids of Action. By the end of the series, as she has become a really Ax-Crazy Dark Action Girl, she gains more cleavage and lets her hair loose.
Persona 4: The Animation gives the male Yu one, involving letting his uniform jacket hang open.
Gunslinger Girl. This is a Justified Trope with Triela (already a badass cyborg Action Girl) reflecting her changing relationship with her handler, former German police officer Victor Hilshire. All the cyborgs have been brainwashed to obey their handlers and this strongly influences the way they dress and act. Hilshire however doesn't know how to relate to his cyborg child killer, so keeps an emotional distance. Therefore Triela starts the series wearing Badass Longcoats. Later Hilshire works to bridge the gap between them, so Triela dresses the same as he does as if she's his police partner. When Triela starts thinking of Hilshire as a Parental Substitute, she ends up wearing a pleated schoolgirl skirt as if she's his daughter.
Blue Comet SPT Layzner:
- Both Anna Stephanie and Simone Reflanne go through this after the Time Skip and joining La Résistance. Anna switches from a Tomboyish Ponytail to a Motherly Side Plait and wears a slightly adorned red minidress with Proper Tights with a Skirt; Simone cuts her Boyish Short Hair even shorter, ditches her pink hair stripe and wears a blue and skin-tight Spy Cat Suit.
- Eiji can be said to be a Rare Male Example, as he wears a white space suit most of the time but when he returns after the same Time Skip he's seen in denim clothes and with a more tough guy-like appearance in general.
Tokyo Ghoul provides a male example in the form of Kaneki. He starts out as a Shrinking Violet prone to wearing frumpy clothing and is criticized by Touka for being too skinny. After the Time Skip, he's become a white-haired Anti-Hero that runs around in a form-fitting black Sexy Backless Outfit and gets a good amount of Workout Fanservice to show off how much he's filled out. However, when they're finally reunited, Touka isn't particularly pleased by the change and calls him out on his claims of having done it all to protect everyone.
In Naruto, the changes in Hinata's design, from childhood to teens to young adulthood, easily fit this trope. In Part I, she has short hair and very baggy clothes. In Part II, she lets her hair grow and while her clothes don't show skin, they cannot hide her growing curves. Finally, in The Last, her hair reaches her hips and she ditches the baggy coat/pants combo in favor of a sleeveless sweater, short shorts, and even Zettai Ryouiki.
Chi-Chi of Dragon Ball undergoes this in order to meet with Goku again. Starting from the original series, she goes from a scared twelve-year-old with a knack for accidentally vaporizing anything that threatens her to a skilled martial artist able to make it to the finals of the World Martial Arts Tournament. Unfortunately, this would last up until her defeat to Goku, as after he proposes to her in the arena, she undergoes instant Chickification during Dragon Ball Z (which is justified as that's the lifestyle she always intended to have with Goku in the first place).
At the start of Usogui, Kaji sported an unflattering buzzcut and frumpy tracksuits- a far cry from the protagonist's dapper suit and wavy white hair. He changes his look as he develops as a person and becomes more efficient at high-stakes gambling, growing out his hair and swapping out his trackies for black dress shirts that are more fitting for a gambler. By the end of it all, he's easily as much of a Pretty Boy as the protagonist.

Comic Books

Green Lantern: After rejoining the Reds in Red Lanterns, Guy Gardner eventually grows out his hair as well as a mustache.
She-Hulk: Mousy lawyer Jennifer Walters becomes the 6'6" green supermodel superhero She-Hulk, though it's not adrenaline that does it so much as deadly radiation. It's played with in more recent stories, where she starts taking her normal meek persona more seriously and comes out of her shell as Jen as well, without letting her hair down or taking off the glasses.

Fan Works

In The Secret Life of the Backyard Kids, Achmed gives Sam a "rocker chick" makeover in chapter 9, however, she's never seen in that look for the rest of the story.
A Growing Affection: Hinata is nearly killed, losing a big chunk of her hair and her jacket in the process. Afterwards, she embraces Naruto's emotional support, gets an Important Haircut and a more revealing (though not Stripperiffic) uniform.

Films — Animation

In The Incredibles, there's no Love Interest involved, but it's fighting for her life and her family that causes Reluctant Hero Violet Parr to come out of her shell, learn a new power, and quit hiding behind her hair. In the same movie, getting back in the hero game inspires her bored father Bob to slim down (and bulk up) and have more fun with his family. Incidentally, the guy at school Violet was pining after only notices her post-adventure. Rather understandable, since before she only had the confidence to lurk behind the scenery staring at him and now she can talk to him.
The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part: After spending years stranded in Undar of the Dryar system, Alternate Emmet/Rex Dangervest wields his anger at being forgotten to will himself to move in the real world. His first act upon escaping is to remodel himself to look like a '90s Anti-Hero, complete with a new edgier vest, a messier hairstyle and drawing new features such as sharp cheekbones and Perma-Stubble on his face. Doubles as an Evil Makeover.
Mulan is a reverse example of this, as in order to become a kickbutt swordswoman she has to hide her beauty, but that doesn't stop her from looking fantastic in the final battle with Shan-Yu where she wears a simple but still cute dress and has her hair down.
A male version of this happens to the titular cobbler in The Thief and the Cobbler, combined with Clark Kent Outfit.
How to Train Your Dragon:
- Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III in How to Train Your Dragon (2010) suits himself up with dragon-riding gear, gains some confidence, and finishes out the movie looking even more hardcore with a prosthetic limb. Taken even further in How to Train Your Dragon 2.
- As of How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World the entire gang has full-blown combat armor made from their dragon's scales. Previously, only Hiccup had armor.
Jane Porter's clothes and hair change in Tarzan over the course of the film. It starts with her wearing her hair in a bun and in a large yellow dress. When she brings Tarzan back her hair is loose, and she starts wearing a shirt and skirt and occasionally goes barefoot. When she falls in love she's wearing loose-fitting clothing, and by the end of the film, she's wearing animal skin like Tarzan^note.
Up: Carl Fredricksen becomes more rugged-looking after the climax.

Films — Live-Action

Emilie in Lockout does this when she stands up to the evil Scottish brothers. Snow, overhearing her via the comm. system, turns back to rescue her, realizing that her new upgrade makes her more desirable and awesome.
Chris in Adventures in Babysitting is played from a slightly different angle. She finds out during a night of running from gangbangers and criminals that her boyfriend is cheating on her because she won't put out. She gets everybody safely home, parents none the wiser, and gets a nicer, new, upgraded boyfriend when all is said and done — all without changing her look. Then again, she doesn't really need to change her look — a running gag/subplot of the film is the Identical Stranger who is the current Playmate of the Month, for whom she is repeatedly mistaken.
The Babysitter (2017): Cole starts off as a nerdy kid who wears glasses and gets bullied at school. But after spending the night defending himself and his 12-year old neighbor (Melanie) from his babysitter, who leads a Satanic cult, Cole ditches his glasses for a T-shirt and jeans. It becomes his new "look" by the film's conclusion, to reflect his newfound confidence in himself. Plus, he now has a girlfriend: Melanie.
Fantastic Four (2005): Sue Storm, a.k.a. the Invisible Woman. She was acknowledged as extremely beautiful from the very beginning but she was the "hair in a bun, glasses on the face" science girl. Starting from the moment they get back to Earth, she starts wearing the hair down and ditches the glasses. The movie progresses through her reconciling with Reed, and by the end of the movie, they're an Adventure Duo plus two. By the sequel, she's way more skilled with her powers and takes no crap, even from Reed.
The Hills Have Eyes (2006), when the nerdy pacifist protagonist shed a few layers of clothing, broke out the weaponry, and stomped off to avenge his family and cause some serious mutant pain.
The Indiana Jones movies avert this trope. All the women in Indy's life are spitfires. Yes, they still fall in love with him, but they don't go from frump to bombshell in the process.
- Willie Scott goes from bombshell to frump and back, but remains thoroughly useless the entire time.
The Mummy Trilogy: Evy is a dressed-down Hot Librarian as the first movie begins. She's prim, easily offended, and rather stiff, but brainy. But because she's the object of desire for the Card-Carrying Villain, of course she has to be dressed up properly to be a Virgin Sacrifice (or the closest thing to it). Along comes Rick, and along the way, they fall in love. By the end of the movie, she's completely calm about all the insanity she's encountered and madly in love with her rescuer. By the sequel, she's leveled up, and she and Rick are a Battle Couple, which carries over into the animated series. Not only that, but she is a Mama Bear as well.
Romancing the Stone: Joan Wilder is a mousy, reclusive romance novelist. But when she gets in over her head in Colombia, Jack T. Colton is there to help her out — for a price. Along the way, after he chops the heels off her shoes and tosses her suitcase full of sensible business suits into the jungle, they ride a mudslide, swing on vines, and do the sort of things she writes about in her novels. By the midpoint of the movie, her hair is down and she's dip-dancing in Jack's arms. By the end of the movie, she's no longer mousy or reclusive. By the sequel, Joan's backslid a little and goes through the transformation a second time.
The Saint (1997): Emma is a shy, nervous nuclear physicist who is brilliant enough to have invented Cold Fusion. She meets Simon in one of his aliases, and it's Love at First Sight. Once she gets over being astonished that a man like him would notice her, she's so worked up she has to take her heart medication before they go to bed. But he betrays her. Incensed, Emma throws off the meek mouse persona and tracks him down. Along the way, they're pursued by the Russian Mafia, and by the end of the movie, she can do a 100-yard dash and doesn't need her pills anymore. In the original ending, she was going to die of heart problems, but test audiences didn't like it.
Sarah Connor in The Terminator is a simple young woman who has a waitress job at a family restaurant. By her own admission, she can't even balance her own checkbook. She's meek, and mild-mannered, but smart enough to know bad things are happening when people with her name start dying. Then Kyle shows up. Once she's done being scared to death of him, they fall in love, and by the time the movie ends, she's got the first few experience points toward taking her level in badass. By the time of the sequel she's a full-fledged Mama Bear you don't want to mess with. In the Genisys timeline, where she was raised by a T-800 from the age of 9, she doesn't sport her '80s waitress hair and instead has a 2010s ponytail.
Helen Tasker in True Lies. The meek housewife ditches the glasses, the hairdo, and the frumpy clothes that concealed her incredible physique, notably in her "seductive mission" at the hotel where she does all the previous to make herself more attractive. By the final scene, she and her husband are apparently a Battle Couple.
Tristan in Stardust is a male example, as he gets a makeover in the mundane sense from the Camp Gay Captain Shakespeare. At the same time, he becomes a more competent and heroic character.
In Tank Girl, Jet Girl is meek and mousy, and lets the Water and Power mook push her around until she makes friends with Tank Girl. By the end of the movie, Jet has quit stuttering, is telling off people on the radio, cowing the Reavers when they cross her, and even killing the mook who sexually harassed her.
Lucy in The Frighteners starts out as a beleaguered widow, a little frumpy, and a doctor who's not taken seriously by the patients of the male doctor she occasionally replaces. After the events of the movie, she ends up with Frank, the hero, in more ways than one.
Ellie Sawyer of My Science Project starts out as a dowdy, glasses-adorned nerd, eventually losing her hairpins and glasses in the midst of the action. In the end, though, she's still a nerd — just a more attractive one.
Over the course of the three films, Elizabeth Swann of Pirates of the Caribbean loses the corset, lets her hair down, and gets the upgrade from Damsel in Distress to Action Girl (Captain Swann!)(Pirate King Swann!), which debatably results in better outfits in the process (not to mention a tan and sun-bleached hair!)
Somewhat of an inversion with Annie from The Invisible. She starts out brutal, violent, and dressed in guys' clothes, no to mention the leader of the school bullies. As she realizes the consequences of her violent life, her bad choices, and the fact that Nick was more like her than she gave him credit for, she feminizes — beginning to wear her hair down, and her clothing less gender-neutral.
David/Bud in Pleasantville starts the film as a shy, downtrodden loner who gets beamed into his favorite wholesome 50s Sitcom. Halfway into the story, he's forced to help the town firemen put out a fire (all they did previously was rescue cats from trees), subsequently gets a date with a cheerleader, and rescues his mother from a gang of thugs. From that point on, he becomes a strong, competent leader whose insights and bravery eventually bring color and life to the previously sterile black-and-white world he's (temporarily) living in.
MST3K alumnus Alien from L.A. is built on this trope, as applied to Kathy "Dull Surprise" Ireland's adventures Beneath the Earth in search of her Disappeared Dad.
Wesley in Wanted is a quiet nebbish who hates his life and apologizes for everything, even things that aren't his fault out of reflex. He knows his best friend is sleeping with his girlfriend, and just takes it. The morning after he meets Fox about 25 minutes into the film, he goes back to the life he hates. His boss Janice gives him crap, and he realizes he could take Fox up on her offer. He walks out, showing the first inkling of being a badass. The transformation continues into the movie.
Another male example, Morgan Sullivan of Cypher begins as an awkward and insecure mid-level suit who takes a job in industrial espionage. In the process of inventing and adopting personality and character quirks for his cover, confidence noticeably grows in his posture and speech patterns, he begins smoking and knocking back scotch casually, then loses the glasses and tie while dressing and hairstyling more fashionably.
Evey Hammond of the V for Vendetta film begins as a meek, conventionally pretty pushover of a woman, but after V's done with her (most noticeably her shaved hair) she is independent, fearless, and for many much more striking.
In Tremors, the Kevin Bacon's character is disappointed to discover that the girl scientist he's sent to meet is not particularly attractive, in that she's wearing a floppy hat and glasses. When the graboids start attacking, however, she loses some of her clothing and becomes more attractive to him.
Gwen gradually gets this over the course of The Wolfman (2010). Initially, she comes off as a very proper and somewhat quiet woman. However, as she becomes determined to find a cure for Lawrence towards the end of the movie, she starts to wear less fancy attire and her hair is noticeably a little unkempt from her nights of searching for answers. By the finale, her hair is down, she is wearing a slightly lower cut and dirtier looking dress than her earlier attire, and carries around a silver bullet loaded pistol. In the novelization she takes off her shoes and ran barefoot across the forest at the climatic chase, trying to run faster from the Wolfman.
Arguably the original version of this was Amy Kane (Grace Kelly) in High Noon who fires a decisive gunshot despite being a pacifist (and openly telling Gary Cooper's sheriff to get out of town) through most of the film. While it may not be as adrenaline-charged as other examples above it is a pretty major shift in terms of the character!
In Jurassic World, Claire goes from stiff and sleek with her white formal look as gerent of the park, to a disheveled sweaty woman of action with unkempt hair during the course of the film searching his nephews and after Velociraptor and T-rex chases. In the novelization she ended barefoot, full of sweat and dirty.
Inner Space has a literal example. Tuck in his tiny ship literally stimulates Jack's adrenal gland. But the harrowing adventure he has gone through cures him of his nervous hypochondriac tendencies and turns him into a full-on Action guy ready to take on the bad guys without hesitation.
Independence Day: Resurgence: A male example that plays with the trope. It's love and action that fuel the makeover, but not romantic love. Former President Thomas Whitmore is badly battle-scarred from the events of the invasion 20 years ago. He's shaky, easily agitated, suffering nightmares and visions. He can barely stand without his cane. But when the aliens come back, he struggles from bed and goes to warn the current President. As events progress he rapidly goes back to his old self, first abandoning his cane, and finally shaving his Beard of Sorrow, suiting up and getting behind the stick again to defeat the aliens in order to protect his adult daughter.
Marci Eyre from the 2000 film Spiders is a young scientific reporter is forced to survive giant spiders, she pretty much starts with curlier hair, glasses and wears more clothing, but during the movie, after she's forced to survive against the spiders her hair becomes wavier, loses the glasses and loses most of her clothing, remaining in just a tank top.

Literature

In The Mortal Instruments, after getting turned into a vampire and everything, Isabelle notes Simon's gotten more attractive.
In The Red Vixen Adventures Salli gets one when she sets out to rescue her own bodyguard after they're attacked by space pirates.

Live-Action TV

On Xena: Warrior Princess, Gabrielle goes from a mousy wannabe bard to a sai-wielding Action Girl over the course of the series, inciting a very◊ dramatic change in retrospect.
Willow from Buffy the Vampire Slayer starts out as a wimpy nerd and becomes one of the most powerful characters in the series by the end of the show, with the most notable shift being between seasons 3 and 4. Although she has a few romances along the way, her transformation isn't a direct result of any one of them.
In Angel:
- Fred is first seen as a dowdy librarian, eventually gets her kicks, and ends as Illyria.
- Wesley began his role on Buffy as a relatively stuck-up, bespectacled Watcher who always wore suits and was not a fighter by any means, viewing the fight against evil from more of an academic lens. Over the course of Angel, he comes up against evil on a more face-to-face basis and starts to loosen up, wear more casual clothing, and grow confident in himself. After his near-death experience in Season 3, it's taken a step further, where he ditches his glasses, grows out a light stubble, and wears darker and more depressing attire (black shirts, jeans, a leather coat) to match his disheveled personality. It's reined in a bit in the final season after getting his memories of Connor wiped, where he's more put-together and wears more work-friendly clothing, though it's still a far cry from the buttoned-up look he presented in his first Buffyverse episodes.
Juliet from Lost had many traits of someone before the makeover: meek and somewhat of a pushover. Her hair was even styled very intricately. Then she joined the Others. Flashforward to her introduction in the series where she let her hair down and was the badass Stoic who didn't take crap from anyone. Not even her boss.
Sherlock: John started off as a meek, quiet, shy, depressed doctor and then as the series continues, winds up as an adorable adrenaline junkie that you do not want to mess with. Oh, and, possibly pre-Series 3, he was practicing medicine when he thought his best friend died.
Dana Scully of The X-Files started off the series as a painfully serious, straight-laced, everything-by-the-book agent who wore unfashionable blazer/skirt combos. By the end of the series, she is no longer as uptight and has embraced the idea of the paranormal. The frumpy plaid pantsuits are gone, replaced by more flattering clothes.
Game of Thrones has a few examples from two of its main heroines.
- Arya Stark is seen wearing dresses in the same style as her sister Sansa and has an intricate hairstyle. At the end of the first season, her hair is cut short and she is forced to dress as a boy, but for the rest of the series is a fully-fledged Action Girl.
- Daenerys Targaryen starts out in the series as a meek little girl under the thumb of her cruel brother and is dressed like a doll in flowing gowns. However, after her marriage to Khal Drogo, she begins to embrace her status as Khaleesi of the Dothraki and dresses in their fashion with leathers and Braids of Action. In the books, it is explicitly stated that her brother Viserys was killed off because of his refusal to change his ways to adapt to the Dothraki.

Theater

Scaramouche gets one in We Will Rock You when she and Galileo make it to the Bohemians. However, she started out as a Deadpan Snarker and became a stripperiffic deadpan snarker after the makeover.

Video Games

Final Fantasy:
- In Final Fantasy IX, Princess Garnet starts off very shy, awkward around commoners, and unsure of her future status as Queen. She's still beautiful and useful in combat (especially after she gains her summons), but has this whole Disney Princess thing about her. But about 3/4 through the game, she decides to be more daring and uses Zidane's dagger to cut her hair short, and her personality becomes more forward. Even her profile pic changes to a front-facing smile instead of the previous distant stare.
- Yuna in Final Fantasy X is very shy, quiet, and is almost ready to apologize for anything that happens to people, even if it's not her fault at all (she even apologizes for being kidnapped!). After spending her journey with Tidus and seeing how far he is willing to go to make a difference in the world, Yuna sheds her shy personality for a much more outgoing and cheerful one in Final Fantasy X-2 and is also willing to take a stand for what she believes in. Yuna's appearance changes as well; she goes from a summoner with a staff and very modest clothing to a sphere hunter with more revealing clothing, has a long ponytail and uses guns in combat (which is a huge deal since guns were seen as complete evil in the past).
Tenchu: As seen in Tenchu 2 (a prequel), Ayame never took ninja training seriously, and thought of it all more of a game than anything. But then the guy she loved got amnesia, killed the whole village where she was trained in, killed his master (who was also her foster father), fell in love with another woman; and Ayame was forced to kill him. Some years later she became a Deadpan Snarker Action Girl, naturally.
Jak and Daxter: Keira was stuck in the same crop-top and capris ensemble for the first five games. When she finally goes on an adventure with Jak and Daxter in Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier, she gets a new shirt, new jacket, new pants, new boots, and two pistols. The only part of her original outfit are her goggles.
Gears of War:
- In the first two games, Anya was Mission Control and wore a non-combat outfit. In the third game, she becomes an Action Girl and wears combat armor while fighting on the frontlines. Justified because humans are going extinct, and Word of God states that every available body is needed for battle.
- Also applies to Queen Myyrah, who, after the flooding of the Locust Hollows and the current Lambent Invasion, has donned her battle armor and personally leads the remnants of the Locust in battle from atop her Tempest warmount.
Elizabeth from BioShock Infinite undergoes three. She starts out in a white blouse and full-length skirt, matching her status as a naive Girl in the Tower. After killing Daisy Fitzroy and getting covered in her blood, Elizabeth changes into a corset and getting a haircut. In the Burial at Sea DLCs, she has changed her outfit to fit in with the aesthetics of Rapture. Her much more ruthless personality is reflected by her Hotter and Sexier outfit, which includes a tight white shirt, a tight skirt, fishnet stockings, and heels.
Fallout 4: Travis, the DJ of Diamond City Radio, is rather shy, awkward, and unsure of himself... not exactly the sort of personality you'd expect to hear on the radio. But his friend the bartender wants to help him out; after a (staged) bar fight, date, and (genuine) rescue mission, he becomes much more confident and smooth on-air.
Lester the Unlikely: Once he defeats the Killer Gorilla and gets a Smooch of Victory, Lester's posture improves, he no longer flails his arms while running, and he loses his cowardice.

Webcomics

Zig-Zagged with Ciem: Candi undergoes so many transformations that are either straight adrenaline makeovers or attempts at hiding, that it gets downright confusing. When she dyes her hair red and cuts it, she could be said to look less attractive.
In Nightmare Factory, Emai's braided hair get loose during her confrontation with Phirre. And depending on the reader, after she kills him, she can even make being drenched in green blood somehow look good.
Tower of God features the spear counterpart: Twenty-Fifth Bam, after taking a level in badass during the time skip, changes his appearance quite a bit. Most notably, he has become a Troubled, but Cute anti-villainous Agent Peacock. The motivation behind this change is darker than the usual examples.
In Rascals, it seems to happen to Issy whenever she awakens her hidden powers.
Between the adventure in Castle Wulfenbach and her re-appearance in Mechanicsburg after somehow escaping the castle Sleipnir O'Hara of Girl Genius, cuts her hair short and trades in her frumpy jumpsuit for a revealing halter-top, and very... "fitted" bodice and pants.

Western Animation

Kim Possible: Over the entire fourth season, Ron Stoppable slowly worked toward becoming cool enough to be Kim Possible's boyfriend. In the finale, when a threat downs the girl who can do anything, the sidekick steps up and embraces his Monkey Kung Fu.
In Steven Universe, Connie Maheswaran gets this in the opening titles. In the first season, when she was mostly defined as Steven's adorkable best friend, she was shown with a dress and big floppy hat, carrying A Wrinkle in Time. In the revised second season titles, starting with "Sworn to the Sword" (in which Pearl trains her in swordfighting), she's wearing shorts, a sleeveless top, no hat, and the book is replaced with Rose Quartz's sword, which is nearly as large as Connie herself.

Adrenaline Makeover

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