Transformation Discretion Shot

"I physically can not look at you. We swap places every time, but the editor cuts out the horrific, demonic, transformation for the audience's sake."

—EtriJames, Watchtower Database

Sometimes, a protracted Transformation Sequence just isn't called for.

Here, a director decides to leave a transformation either partially or completely unseen, most commonly by cutting away to the reactions of observers or shooting it from the POV of the transformed, though flashes of light and scenery censors are not uncommon substitutes. A popular variant involves the audience being allowed to witness the beginning of the sequence before cutting away. In the case of total cuts, there may be a Shapeshifting Sound involved in such transformations, just so that the audience knows that the transition has actually taken place.

Often, this is due to budgetary concerns: on-screen transformations require costly special effects, after all. In other cases, it's due to simply lacking the technique or the technology to make the transition appear believable, a trope common in animation because of the insane level of skill required to draw or animate the transition between forms. Time constraints may also be a factor - after all, the biggest budget and the best talents in the world won't help a transformation sequence if there's no space left on the timetable to actually create it.

Even in cases where the production does have the skill, the time, and the budget to display transformations on screen, it's still possible to find examples of this technique alongside the sequences. Here, once the presence of a shapeshifting character or transmogrifying power has been established through one visually extraordinary sequence, it's not uncommon for all the other transformation scenes to be obscured through the discretion shot unless they're considered really important to the plot.

On occasion, the use of a cut is a stylistic choice rather than a budgetary one: having shapeshifting occur entirely through a complete or partial cut can help disguise the fact that a transformation has occurred, if the nature of the shapeshifter has to be concealed until later; or it can be used to obscure the shapeshifter's new identity, hiding their latest face behind POV shots or reaction shots in order to hold back the reveal until the most dramatic possible moment. If the transformation is a horrific one, withholding the details can heighten the fear by inviting the audience to fill in the blanks. Similarly, transformations may not be fully shown because they're too scary for the target audience or age rating for the work. And sometimes, it's a simple matter of wanting to save time that can be better spent elsewhere. In other cases, some scenes of reversions, where shapeshifters turn back to normal, may not be shown.

As such, this is a Sub-Trope of Coconut Superpowers.

Often an example of Obscured Special Effects.

May overlap with the Shadow Discretion Shot, along with Take Our Word for It if the transformation is meant to be suitably impressive or gruesome.

Compare and contrast the Gory Discretion Shot.

---

Examples:

Advertising

• One ad for Brahma Beer (WARNING, NSFW) features a boyfriend and girlfriend getting seriously overheated on a sunny day at the beach, to the point that they literally start to melt once they get up to leave. The process itself is shown in detail, with the pair melting steadily closer to the ground as they hurry to the nearby bar for help until they're little more than puddles from the shoulders down. Fortunately, the bartender is able to give them two ice-cold Brahmas, and as they start to drink, the two slowly begin to rise from their flesh puddles; then we cut to the bartender's bemused reaction as the reversion plays out. Cut back to the two beachgoers, who are now back to normal... but the man is now wearing his girlfriend's bikini and the woman is now topless, much to their embarrassment.
• This advert for Signal Toothpaste features a middle-aged woman and her twenty-something-year-old lover being targeted in their sleep by a man armed with a strange device; apparently aiming for the woman, the intruder can't get a clean shot because she's still cuddled up with her bedmate, but his boss orders him to take the shot anyway. We see him zap the pair with the device... and then cut to the next morning, where the woman wakes up to find herself in her twenties again, having apparently regressed after being zapped. Overjoyed at having her youth back, she runs from the bathroom to the bed and wakes up her lover... only to find that he's now a child, much to her shock and dismay.
• In this 2011 advert for Steri Stumpie, a 10-year-old kid tells his mother that if a mother and son drink Steri Stumpie at the same time, they will both get ten years younger. After a disinterested reaction from the mother, they both take a healthy swig of their respective bottles; cut to a shot of a mirror on the wall next to the mother as she notices that her hair and facial features have regressed by ten years. Then, there's a sound of a bottle hitting the floor; in another cut, the mother turns around — only to find that her son is missing, and she's now nine months pregnant. For added fun, we then cut away just as the mother is muttering "oh for f—".

Anime & Manga

• Chainsaw Man often shows Weapon Humans' weapons bursting out of their arms and faces, but their faces' biomechanical transformations are usually between pages or happen when they're obscured from view. For instance, Denji first turns into Chainsaw Man while under a zombie Dogpile Of Doom. The main exception is Bomb Woman, who blows her own head up for it to reform as a bomb. Unusually, them transforming back is shown more often, with the metal parts melting off.
• Log Horizon has Akatsuki getting an appearance-changing potion from Shiroe, to take on a form more comfortable for her. What the audience sees is a brief shot of her shadow writhing in pain, accompanied by her screams and what sounds like the crunching of bones, followed by the two other characters present reacting with horror. Afterwards, she's shown in her new form, wearing clothing that is now way too big for her.
• Though many transformations in Paprika occur in detailed sequences, just as many are obscured or occur only in cuts, befitting the weird and inconsistent atmosphere of a dream:
  • During the opening credits, Paprika uses her Dream Walker powers to journey across the city, often transforming through stylistic trickery along the way. In one case, while biking down the highway, she happens to pass a truck with a cartoon mascot riding a rocket on its side - only for the mascot to transform into her as she passes over it and fly off, going from a simple graphic to a three-dimensional being in a cut.
  • When Atsuko/Paprika confronts Himuro in the the Parade nightmare, we see an ordinary doll turning to face her... and then a cut to Paprika's POV reveals that it's suddenly wearing Himuro's face. Paprika ends up literally tearing Himuro's head off in her attempts to capture him, only to find herself holding the head of an ordinary doll in another cut.
  • During Paprika's second therapy session with Detective Konakawa, the detective becomes uncomfortable - then suddenly regresses to a much younger man in a cut. Then, when the Parade breaks into the movie theater, Konakawa is suddenly back to his middle-aged self in yet another cut.
  • After discovering that Chairman Inui is behind the Parade nightmare and the theft of the DC Mini, Atsuko and Dr Shima attempt to confront him in the real world... only for her to suddenly realize that she never awoke from the dream where she discovered the truth. As a result, Atsuko immediately transforms into Paprika via a cut. Worse still, the same cut reveals that Dr Shima is actually Osanai in disguise.
  • Shortly after this scene, Paprika is forced to flee from the Big Bad and The Dragon as they unleash their powers on the dreamworld, using her own abilities to escape into different dream environments, transforming along the way. Though her transformation into the sphinx in Gustave Moreau's Oedipus And The Sphinx is seen in full, the rest occur in cuts: when "Oedipus" AKA Osanai knocks Paprika into the ocean, her transformation into a mermaid isn't revealed until we cut beneath the surface; then, when the Chairman eats her alive as a whale, he blasts her out through his blowhole - revealing that she is now a clown doll that lands amidst the parade.
  • In the climax, Atsuko and Paprika finally merge into one united personality in order to defeat the Chairman once and for all, transforming into a giant baby that matures into an adult dream goddess. However, though the process of growing from infancy to adulthood is seen in full, the moment in which the two personalities merge and actually become the baby is obscured by the fact that it takes place inside the body of a Humongous Mecha.
• Jusenkyo transformations in Ranma ½ may or may not be literally instantaneous, but they always occur between panels in the manga and in the anime are almost always obscured by the water that triggers them. The very rare exceptions in the anime use a simple transformation sequence where the affected briefly flash rapidly between forms before settling.

Comic Books

• Late in Captain Britain: A Crooked World, Vixen makes an ill-advised attempt to assassinate her former ally Mad Jim Jaspers following his descent into reality-warping madness, only for Jaspers to retaliate by turning her into a fox (in other words, a real vixen). Instead of showing the transformation in full view — as was the case with Vixen's unfortunate henchmen — the scene is displayed through two panels of Jaspers seen from Vixen's point of view as she shrinks down, then a third-person view of Jaspers bending over to pick her up; in the fourth panel, we finally see the now-transformed Vixen being cuddled helplessly in Jaspers' arms.
• Immortal Hulk: Initially seems to be the case with Betty and her "Red Harpy" form, the change never being shown on panel. Late in the series, it's established that no, Betty just transforms extremely quickly.
• Lord Cornwall of The Magic Order introduces his shapeshifting power in a three-panel process, during which we can see his face briefly contorting as he transforms into one of his previous victims complete with a knife through his brain. However, all his other transformations in the story occur off-panel: most prominently, Madame Albany demands sex from Cornwall before they head out for their latest assassination, ordering him to take on an interesting form so she can "fuck something legendary." The next panel reveals that Cornwall has become a stark-naked doppelganger of Albany herself — much to the real Albany's delight.
• Most transformations in Meet the Skrulls are depicted either through detailed sequences or by a distinctive shimmering effect around the shape-shifting character. Early in the comic, however, "Alice" transforms into a butterfly to avoid being bullied by the resident Alpha Bitch — off-panel; one moment, she's standing behind the bully as the teacher demands to know what's going on, and a couple of panels later, the teacher is wondering where Alice vanished off to. Cut to a previously-unseen butterfly sitting on the garden wall...

Fan Works

• In Facing the Future Series, when Sam triggers the Ghost Portal to give herself ghost powers, rather than mention what she's going through, it focuses on Jazz's perspective as she hears Sam's pained scream.
• In People Turning Into Smith Clones, when Ava is finally transformed into a smith clone, we only see her legs getting covered in the Ominous Obsidian Ooze that transforms people into smith clones. The rest of the sequence just focuses on the rest of the gang’s shocked faces.

Films — Animated

• In Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters, Meatwad normally keeps his transformations on camera as he did in the animated series. However, when Shake chastises him for not being tall enough to ride the roller-coaster, Meatwad responds by shaping himself into an office building, with nobody realizing until we cut away from Shake.
• During the dragon's rampage late in Beowulf (2007), we follow the monster into the burning wreckage of a building as it assumes its human form and confronts one of the survivors (Unferth). This scene is shot from the perspective of the dragon, so the audience doesn't realize that it has transformed until a rather human-looking shadow is cast on the wall in front of it and a humanoid hand slides into view to begin gesticulating at Unferth. For good measure, this also conveniently hides the fact that the dragon is Beowulf's son until he finally announces it to Unferth.
• Brave: When Elinor turns into a bear, she is not seen on-screen and is only visible as a growing shadow. The same is done when she turns back to normal in the end.
• Ciao Alberto: The sea-monster to human (and vice versa) transformations that occurred in the film are absent in the short as Alberto's transformations occur off-screen.
• Near the beginning of The Emperor's New Groove, Kuzco begins to become a llama due to Kronk accidentally feeding him the llama transformation potion instead of killing him with poison, he stuffs Kuzco into a bag, and by the time Pacha finally finds him, Kuzco is already now fully transformed into a llama. We also never see Kuzco transform back into a human after Yzma is finally defeated.
• Mavka: The Forest Song: At the end, when Kylina regresses to her baby stage due to bathing in the Fountain of Youth, we only see her disappear and her baby self getting out of her now-empty adult clothes.
• My Little Pony: The Movie (2017): While the Mane Six's transformations into Seaponies were seen onscreen, we do not get to see them get changed back when Novo banishes them, instead cutting right to them emerging from the water gasping for air.
• NIMONA (2023):
  • Initially, Nimona's true nature is hidden by concealing her transformations with cuts, with her shifting into a new form off-screen and back again in order to get around Ballister's hideout in a hurry. Consequently, it looks if she's using Offscreen Teleportation at first.
  • During the big reveal of her shapeshifting powers in the broom closet, Nimona is briefly seen glowing and getting taller, only for the camera to abruptly cut to a POV shot of Ballister's stunned expression as Nimona's perspective lurches upwards. Cut to the corridor outside as Nimona's rhino form explodes out of the closet and through the waiting guards. From here on, as the ensuing chase sequence demonstrates, most of Nimona's subsequent shapeshifts occur in full view of the camera.
  • In the finale, after a Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure and a flashback to her traumatic past, Nimona transforms into a Kaiju-sized monster. However, in order to hide the new form until the big reveal scene, we only see Nimona's face beginning to change she gives into her despair, her eyes and mouth glowing white as Ominous Obsidian Ooze begins to replace her skin - before abruptly cutting away to a long shot of her body erupting outwards across the park.
• Pinocchio: Lampwick's transformation into a donkey is mostly shown on-screen, but when he fully assumes a donkey's body and calls out for his mama, all that's shown is his and Pinocchio's shadow.
• The Princess and the Frog:
  • When Dr. Facilier turns Naveen into a frog, the initial stages of the transformation are obscured by the haze of green energies surrounding him; the next shot is from Naveen's perspective, with Facilier appearing to tower over him as the cursed prince begins to shrink. We then cut to a shot of the back of Naveen's chair, with Lawrence looking on in horror as the transformation concludes.
  • Naveen's attempt to break the spell by getting Tiana to kiss him immediately results in a vivid flash of light; consequently, the audience doesn't realize that Tiana has been transformed into a frog as well until the shocked Naveen looks down and notices the empty pile of clothes on the floor.
• In Shrek 2, the effects the Happily Ever After potion have on Shrek, Fiona, and Donkey are only shown as flashes of light from a distance, with it shown that Shrek and Fiona became human while Donkey turned into a stallion in the following scene. Furthermore, when the effects of the potion wear off, Donkey is the only visible seen turning back to normal.
• Sleeping Beauty: Maleficent's transformation into a dragon is partially obscured by a layer of clouds, through which we can see a dark silhouette of her humanoid form stretching below the clouds, then emerging as a much more defined draconic shape above them. The camera cuts to a close-up of the horrified expressions of Prince Philip and the fairies, before cutting back to a fully-materialized dragon Maleficent emerging from the clouds.
• The Swan Princess:
  • Odette can only transform back into a human when the moon is shining on the lake. Whenever the transformation occurs, it's always obscured by water swirling around her body until it's finished.
  • Meanwhile, Rothbart's shapeshifting is triggered by flinging a magical spell to the ground and enveloping his body in bright yellow light before reappearing as the Great Animal, a giant bat-like creature.
• Transformations in The Sword in the Stone commonly occur on camera via a variety of effects. However, during the Shapeshifter Showdown between Merlin and Madam Mim, several offscreen transformations occur in quick succession: in one case, Merlin gets the better of Mim's elephant form by becoming a mouse and chasing her off-camera... only to suddenly do an about-face as Mim chases him back as a tiger. Soon after, Merlin tries to take a bite out of Mim's tail, only to find that Mim has changed in a cut and the tail now belongs to a snake. Finally, Mim seemingly defeats Merlin by becoming a dragon and seizing his mouse form in her talons... but when she opens her claws, he appears to have vanished. He's actually become a germ and infected Mim with a rare disease, thereby winning the match.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem: A flashback sequence early in the film depicts how Splinter and the Turtles first became mutants around 15 years prior to the events of the film. Splinter's paw is seen from his perspective as it absorbs some of the mutagen and begins to crack into a more human shape, but the rest of his transformation is only shown as a shadow on the wall of the sewer before showing him completely transformed, though his pained screams make it clear how horrific it is. As for the Turtles themselves, their transformation from regular baby turtles to mutant baby turtles, which happens at the exact same time, occurs completely off-screen.
• In Turning Red, Ming's transformation is not shown other than a poof of pink smoke and the Shapeshifting Sound that accompanies it.
• Wallace & Gromit, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit: A slow mutation begins when Wallace transforms into a Were-Rabbit, growing huge buck teeth and large rabbit ears. These changes presumably continue as Victor, his dog, and Gromit all regard the transformation with growing apprehension. The next time Wallace is in shot, he's become a towering bunny that beats his chest like a gorilla and howls at the moon.
• Near the end of Wreckit Ralph, we never see King Candy /Turbo transform into a Cy-bug after he gets eaten by one, causing them both to fuse together.

Films — Live-Action

• When David Bowman finally appears in physical form in 2010: The Year We Make Contact, he repeatedly shifts between different stages of his existence in cuts. Initially, he looks exactly as he did before entering the Monolith at the end of the previous film, but when Dr. Floyd follows him around a corner, he finds that Bowman has become the older version of himself from the alien mansion; then, while Floyd is asking a question, Bowman suddenly appears back to normal and moves to examine HAL up close — only for a close-up shot to reveal that he has transformed into the ancient, dying version of himself. Finally, after he returns to normal in a closeup shot, Floyd all but begs him for an explanation as to what will happen when they follow his advice... only for a cut to reveal that Bowman has become the Star Child again. He then vanishes.
• Unlike in the original, Beauty and the Beast (2017) actually shows the Beast's transformation at the beginning, cutting to his shadow.
• One possible ending for Black Mirror: Bandersnatch features Stefan opening his dad's safe and finding the toy rabbit that was taken from him when he was a child. Stefan's dad then appears in the room — sporting a haircut he hasn't used in decades; cut to a shot from Stefan's POV as his view of the world abruptly shifts downwards... and then cut to a wide shot of the room, revealing that Stefan has once again traveled through time and become his five-year-old self.
• Gremlins 2: The New Batch:
  • One of the Gremlins becomes a female, with it appearing transformed after cutting away after one becomes electric.
  • When Mohawk drinks the spider potion his transformation is seen by shadow, with him reappearing transformed in the next scene.
• Holidays: The "Easter" segment ends with the little girl getting a glimpse of the Easter Bunny which is an Easter Bunny/Jesus hybrid; as a result, the little girl is forced to take his place and is transformed into a new Easter Bunny - but during the transformation, the camera pans over to the shadow on the wall instead of showing it.
• In the Mouth of Madness:
  • During his second appearance in the film, Sutter Cane sprouts a conjoined monster from his back right in the middle of a kiss with a freshly Mind Raped Linda Styles; though we hear the ripping sounds of the transformation, Cane appears normal up until we cut to a shot of him from the back. For good measure, Cane never demonstrates this trait again in the story.
  • Following exposure to Cane's eldritch novel, Linda begins to transform like the other readers, though the actual transitions are either obscured or off-camera. In one case, John Trent sees her sprouting unknown appendages behind a pane of frosted glass and catches a brief glimpse of tentacles snaking under the door, but when Linda actually opens it a cut later, she appears normal. Later, after the two of them seemingly manage to escape from Hobb's End, Trent stops the car by the side of the road, is briefly distracted by the mysterious kid/old man on a bike... and then hears crunching sounds from the car and a loud moan from Linda; moments later, Linda herself creeps into view on all fours, her body hideously contorted.
• In Inception, Eames always demonstrates his shapeshifting powers via cutaways; in the first level of the dream heist, he's seen preparing to impersonate Christopher Browning in front of a dressing room mirror, with his reflections slowly turning into Browning in cuts; once Cobb's finished briefing him, Eames turns away from the mirror and is suddenly Browning in the next cut. In the next level, an attractive blonde woman flirtatiously approaches Saito in an elevator... only for a cut to the mirrored walls behind her to reveal Eames among the multiple reflections of the woman; cut back to Saito irritably pushing a smirking Eames away.
• During the climactic fistfight in The Lighthouse, Winslow is knocked flat against a piece of furniture and left staring in shock at Wake; a cut reveals that Wake has apparently transformed into the mysterious blond man from his dreams a.k.a. the real Ephraim Winslow. After some more struggling, we cut to a shot from Wake's POV as two very female hands slide into view and begin caressing Winslow's face — and a cut to the other man's POV reveals that Wake has now become the mermaid that's been haunting him for most of the film. Finally, Winslow leans in for a kiss... only for a cut to a third-person perspective to reveal that the mermaid is now Wake, here manifested as a Proteus-like sea god, trying to throttle Winslow with his tentacles. It's left deliberately ambiguous as to whether the younger of the two lighthouse keepers has finally lost his grip on reality or if there really is something supernatural afoot.
• Marvel Cinematic Universe:
  • The Incredible Hulk (2008):
    • Bruce's transformations into the Hulk. The first time, they're largely hidden in the shadows, the second he's obscured by smoke. Third time around, the transformation begun only after he's plummeted to the ground.
    • Emil Blonksy turning into the Abomination is shown in silhouette.
  • In Avengers: Age of Ultron, unlike the first movie, all of Bruce Banner's transformations into the Hulk happen off-screen. In one notable case right before the climax, Natasha gives Banner The Big Damn Kiss... before pushing him down a shaft, from which he then re-emerges in Hulk form.
  • In Werewolf by Night (2022), Jack's transformation isn't directly shown. Rather, the camera shows Elsa while Jack's shadow on the wall behind her writhes and crunches, eventually forming a werewolf silhouette.
• A triple dose of this occurs in the intro to Men in Black II: Serleena initially starts out as a small green plant/worm creature left in the middle of Central Park; then, after she encounters a discarded magazine with a Victoria's Secret advert, countless little tendrils start to pour out of her mouth and take on new shapes until they all but envelop the screen — before we cut back to the advert on the ground nearby. Then we cut to a Feet-First Introduction and slow pan up her new form, a woman in high heels and black lingerie based on the model in the advert. Then a rapist makes the mistake of dragging her offscreen, only to be brutally eaten alive before he can even try anything; seconds later, Serleena walks back into view with a huge Balloon Belly. Quickly realizing that her new disguise is causing problems, she walks back off-camera, audibly pukes up the dead rapist and walks back into shot with her belly normal-sized again — only this time she's carrying her victim's clothes.
• My Favorite Martian: Lizzie uses the Veenox 7 nerplex gum to save Tim from the guards. However, it cuts away from her after she puts it in her mouth, with her reappearing onscreen when she grabs one of the guards with her tentacles.
• In Scooby-Doo: Monsters Unleashed, while in Jonathan Jacobo's underground laboratory, Scooby drinks a potion and begins to experience a Bit-by-Bit Transformation; however, the camera then cuts to Shaggy, who turns around and sees a fully transformed monster version of Scooby.
• Throughout Society, the Transformation Horror is brought to life through impressive prosthetics, but most of the actual transformations occur in cutaways.
  • Early on, Jenny is having a shower when Billy enters the bathroom and sees that her body has twisted around at an angle that leaves her breasts on the same side of her body as her ass... but when Billy opens the shower door for a closer look, Jenny is back to normal (and rather annoyed at the intrusion).
  • Similarly, after sleeping with Clarissa, Billy is shocked to discover that his bedmate is somehow capable of meeting his gaze even though the lower half of her body is once again facing the opposite direction (though this time, her naked torso is hidden by the blanket). Yet again, he finds that Clarissa appears perfectly normal up close and is acting as if nothing happened.
  • In the climax, Dr. Cleveland shapes his head into a giant hand while the camera is focused on Billy's horrified reaction, eventually cutting back to reveal the fully transformed head; however, the sight of his actual hand stretching out like elastic to grab Billy is shown in full.
  • Finally, in the aftermath of the Shunt, the merged mass of flesh is seen collapsing out of view but not actually dividing back into its original participants — who are seen clambering back into shot a few seconds later in various states of undress.
• The T-1000's shapeshifting is demonstrated quite openly throughout Terminator 2: Judgment Day. However, during its visit to Pescadero mental hospital, it's seen walking down a hallway in the form of Lewis the security guard when the camera shifts away from it for a moment; when the camera pans back, the T-1000 has returned to its default form. This all happens in one unbroken take with a subtle sound effect to sell it.
• Prior to the climax of Van Helsing, Dracula's infrequent transformations into a giant bat-creature are seen only in shadow, with the creature itself only being glimpsed as a silhouette or from a distance. It's not until the final battle that he goes full-blown One-Winged Angel in full view of the camera.
• The mouse transformations in The Witches (1990) take place largely on-camera, with each stage of the process accomplished either through makeup or puppets, as is the case with Bruno. The exception to this rule is Luke's transformation: the audience only gets to see him suffering the distinctive twitches after being force-fed Formula 86, and the rest of the transformation is conveyed through shots of the jeering spectators from Luke's increasingly distorted POV, concluding with a shot of an enormous Grand High Witch laughing down at him as he shrinks backwards into his clothes.

Literature

• Discworld: Invoked by Captain Angua, the Watch's resident werewolf. While her transformation is fast and painless for her, and her two forms are indistinguishable from a normal human and wolf, she doesn't want anyone to see the stages in between. It's apparently very unpleasant to watch, and she'll duck behind whatever's handy to prevent others from seeing.

Live-Action TV

• Animorphs features a great deal of this despite the once-groundbreaking morphing effects; since most of the transformation sequences tend to be focused on the character's face, it's quite common for the camera to cut away once the facial stages of the morph are over — as Rachel demonstrates in the second episode. In other cases, the morph itself isn't even shown on screen at all: Visser Three going One-Winged Angel in the first episode is seen only via shadows cast on the wall and a single prosthetic claw sliding into view, while Marco demorphing from rat form in the second episode isn't seen at all — there's just a clatter of noise as Marco staggers into shot with the rat's exercise wheel hanging off his head.
• In the Black Mirror episode "USS Callister", Robert Daly uses his power over the simulation to transform Lowry into an arachnajax as punishment for Nanette's disobedience; the audience has a clear view of Lowry collapsing to the ground and the first couple of spider-legs erupting from her back... and then we cut away to Daly still performing his signature Magical Gesture, with the rest of the transformation occurring through sound-effects until the fully-transformed arachnajax is led away to the brig.
• Creepshow: In the episode "Drug Traffic", Mai's transformation is censored thanks to her being behind Beau's counter.
• Doctor Who: In the two-part story "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances", an alien technology is causing people to mutate. The transformation is shown in full once, then subsequent transformations are only shown in glimpses between reaction shots of a terrified bystander.
• Doom Patrol (2019):
  • During her plot thread in "Therapy Patrol", Rita starts off waking up in the morning as a huge puddle of shapeless flesh under the covers; the camera remains fixed on the discarded poster of Rita in the trash can while Rita herself audibly transforms back into a human, until Rita emerges from under the sheets a cut later, back to normal with Shoulders-Up Nudity. Similarly, when she loses control again, we briefly see her foot beginning to melt through a heating grate in the floor and a close-up of her slowly dropping out of sight, but we don't see the results until Rita — now a blob from the shoulders down — finally manages to ooze her way out of the furnace.
  • In "Cyborg Patrol", Cliff is able to smuggle a liquefied Rita into the Bureau of Normalcy via his hollow mechanical body; after he ends up getting forcibly attached to the ceiling of a holding cell, Rita exits via his mouth to land on the floor far below him and begins audibly reshaping herself back into human form. We then cut to Cliff, and a few seconds later, we cut back to find Rita polishing off the last of her transformation with a bit of Toplessness from the Back.
• Farscape:
  • The finale of "A Human Reaction" features the Ancient who's been impersonating Jack Crichton reverting to his true form so that he can have a heart-to-heart with John Crichton in person; however, the transformation is hidden by a flash of light, with Jack being fully human in one shot and an insectoid alien created by the Jim Henson Creature Shop in the next.
  • Early in "Die Me Dichotomy," John begins suffering a Split-Personality Takeover and appears to morph into Harvey (as portrayed by John's actor in Harvey's makeup) and back again; however, with this established, any further instances of Scary Symbolic Shapeshifting over the course of the episode occur entirely through cuts.
  • "Thanks For Sharing" features this as a means of disguising a plot point: after Rinic Sarova is wounded by a bomb blast, we cut to a POV shot of someone approaching her... and then the next day, she turns up in a wheelchair with no explanation for what had happened. It's not until the end that it's revealed that Sarova was the victim of a Kill and Replace by a Corlata shapeshifter, said reveal occurring via a horrific and largely visible transformation sequence.
  • The Scary Symbolic Shapeshifting makes a reappearance in "Daedalus Demands" and "Icarus Abides" when Harvey once again takes over Talyn John's mind in a cut, this time claiming that John is "gone." He's bluffing, having suffered fatal damage as a result of Ancient Jack's psychic intervention; after trying and failing to get Aeryn to kill his body, Harvey dies, resulting in John returning to normal in another cut.
  • An extended fantasy sequence in "Revenging Angel" results in Moya John and several other characters in his imagination transforming into cartoons; however, only Harvey actually undergoes the transformation in full view of the camera, with John and D'Argo shifting into their cartoon forms in cuts — most often at the very moment when the live-action scenes transition to fully-animated sequences. In the same episode, Aeryn rebels against John's imagination by shapeshifting into various sexy personas — this time through Wonder Woman-style Spectacular Spinning.
  • In "Twice Shy", though Talikaa's Wolaxian Arachnid form is seen in all its CG glory several times, her actual transformation is never seen on camera. In her showdown with Crichton, she's seen approaching him in humanoid form; we cut to Crichton firing his pulse cannon at her — and in the next shot, Talikaa is dodging the blast in the form of a giant emotion-eating spider.
  • "Bringing Home the Beacon" features a masseuse with shapeshifting technology at her disposal transforming several times on camera to demonstrate her massage skills; however, when Chiana asks too many questions about confidential client details, the masseuse's next move paralyses her from the neck down and the camera remains on Chi's horrified expression as the masseuse audibly transforms again; the next cut reveals that she's back to normal and jamming her long fingernails into Chiana's pressure points.
• Fraggle Rock:
  • In "Believe It or Not", Skenfrith's transformations tend to involve the camera cutting to him in his next shape.
  • In the episode "Wembley and the Mean Genie", the titular genie hypnotizes everyone but Wembley, then begins singing "Do You Want It?". Midway through the song, there's a cut to the mesmerized Fraggles suddenly standing with their arms to their sides and wearing army-like uniforms.
• Frank Herbert's Children of Dune: Scytale the Face Dancer is never seen transforming on camera. During his first assassination, the scene cuts away just as he approaches Lichna; consequently, we don't know that he's pulled a Kill and Replace until a seemingly unharmed Lichna appears before Paul Atreides — who privately recognizes her as a Face Dancer in disguise. When the time finally comes for Scytale to reveal his true form to Paul for the sake of his big We Can Rule Together speech, "Lichna" lowers her head out of shot so that only her veil is in view, then reaches up to remove said veil... and Scytale's face is behind it.
• In The Genie from Down Under episode "Baby Talk", Penelope makes a very poorly-worded comment that gives Bruce the opportunity to turn her into a baby as revenge for her abusive treatment. The actual regression is a morph sequence that remains in full view of the camera; by contrast, once Penelope finally gets Bruce to undo the wish, she reverts to her true age in a cutaway — being a real baby in Bruce's arms in one shot and a onesie-clad teenager being lowered to the ground in the next.
• Goosebumps (1995): In the ending of "An Old Story", Jon turns back into a baby off screen by eating a jar of baby food, an antidote for Aunt Dahlia's magical prunes.
• Over the course of In From the Cold, only Jenny/Anya's first shapeshifting scene is shown in all its CG glory, with all the others occurring mainly through cutaways. Most of these scenes feature Jenny's skin glowing and the lights around her beginning to flicker right before she collapses out of shot — as the transformations are usually extremely painful; we then cut, either to the reactions of the onlookers or Jenny's transforming shadow being cast on the wall, then cut to the completed transformation.
• Often used in The Incredible Hulk (1977). The original pilot movie had an impressive and realistic transformation sequence. The series had a smaller budget (which was reduced even more over time), so instead of the full transformation, they would simply use Banner's eyes turning white and then a few brief shots of his clothes ripping as he transformed. To cut time spent filming and save even more money, Banner would often get pushed out of the picture, the transformation music would play, and then a fully transformed Hulk would reenter the frame.
• Misfits:
  • In the first episode of season two, Lucy gets one big scene to demonstrate her shapeshifting powers, featuring Transformation Horror, flickering electric lights, and some effective CG. For the rest of the episode, however, all of her transformations occur in cutaways: in one scene, she becomes a mouse by ducking out of sight, the only indication that she's just transformed being the signature light-flickering; in another, she reverts back from her Kelly disguise before turning into Simon, but we only see her manifesting Black Eyes of Evil as each transformation begins before the camera cuts to the real Simon's reaction.
  • Season 3 features Curtis swapping his uncontrollable time-travel power for the much more controllable ability to become a woman at will; most of these transformations are never given a full Transformation Sequence, instead occurring in cutaways or behind closed doors, and the most detailed shot of the transition is an Orbital Shot in which the morph occurs while Curtis has his back to the camera.
• The Sandman (2022):
  • In "Dream A Little Dream Of Me," Ethel Cripps gives John Dee the Amulet of Protection, knowing it will mean the end of her immortality. Once he reluctantly accepts the amulet, she leans forward and hugs him... and when she draws back, a cut reveals that she has already aged into an old woman. As John reacts in shock and horror, she stumbles forward, collapsing in his arms — another cut revealing that her true age has finally caught up with her and she is now dying.
  • "A Hope In Hell" features Choronzon challenging Dream to a formal duel for ownership of the Helmet — and calling upon Lucifer as his representative. Lucifer, still dressed in their gleaming white robe, smirks... and as they step towards Dream, a cut reveals that their robes have transformed into a black leather getup.
  • When she first appears in "Playing House", rogue nightmare Gault reveals her shapeshifting powers in a fully visualized transition from her otherworldly true self to Jed Walker's mother. When Dream finally tracks Gault down and forces her to reveal her true form later in the same episode, he simply waves a hand across her (and by extension, the screen), hiding the transition from view.
• In She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, Jen's transformations into She-Hulk usually occur partly or completely offscreen. This gets a Lampshade Hanging in the season 1 finale when K.E.V.I.N. asks her to turn back into Jen before they can talk because "you are very expensive" and to do so when the camera is off her. When she's about to head back into the show and wants to turn into She-Hulk again, she asks what the most budget-friendly way to do that is. Cut to the retreat, where she's already She-Hulk.
• Stargate SG-1: Normally, the process in which characters Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence is shown in full, the character transforming into a being of pure light and vanishing with only their clothes left behind. However, in the episode "Dominion", the moment in which Adria cheats death by Ascending is not depicted in its entirety: we only see Vala looking on in horror as a harsh white light is cast on her, eventually cutting back to reveal Adria's empty clothes on the bed.
• In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Odo's shapeshifting is usually portrayed on-screen in fully rendered cg sequences. Every now and again, though, the show opts for a more understated approach, either for dramatic effect or simply for the sake of budget.
  • "Vortex" begins with Odo infiltrating one of Quark's secret meetings by disguising himself as a glass, but the transition is disguised in a cut: we see one shot of Odo thoughtfully eyeing the tray of four glasses, then cut to Rom turning away from the tray to fetch a bottle of liquor from behind the bar, then turning back to pick up the tray... completely failing to notice that there are now five glasses on it. When Odo reverts, we only see the now-broken glass coalescing into Odo's liquid form, then we cut away until the reformed Odo lunges in from the side to tackle Croden.
  • As a result of being exposed to alien gas in "The Alternate", Odo periodically loses control of himself and transforms into a primordial Blob Monster. He only has one actual transformation scene, however, and it's broken up by cuts: after being confronted with the truth by Dr Mora, Odo begins to look increasingly sweaty and feverish, then slams his hands down on the control panel in front of him in a rage, causing his fingers to lengthen into tentacles (via CG); then cut back to Odo's face, revealing that his features have begun to melt (via makeup)... and then we cut to Dr Mora looking on in horror, gaze shifting upwards as the monster takes shape before him - before he hastily backs out of the room and runs for it.
  • In "Tacking Into The Wind," for example, Odo is found to be suffering from the Morphogenic Virus but shapeshifts in order to conceal it - up until the strain of using his powers so often prompts a seemingly normal-looking Odo to collapse in the middle of a mission, falling out of shot. Cut to Odo crashing to the deck, horribly deteriorated and on the brink of death.
• In the Star Trek: Voyager episode "The Thaw", Harry Kim has to be left behind in the simulation while Torres goes for help, leaving him on the receiving end of the Clown's limitless power over the virtual world. As a result, he's aged into an old man, then regressed to infancy, then reverted to normal again — each transformation being hidden by a cut back to the Clown.
• Wolfblood: Whenever a character changes into their werewolf form, it starts with the camera zooming in through their eye as their veins and organs mutate before zooming back out to show they're already fully transformed.
• In the Failed Pilot Episode of W.E.I.R.D. World (1995), Dr O’Reardon's plotline comes to a head when she uses credit-stealing partner Dr Mayhew as a test subject for her youth serum. Given the low-budget effects, Mayhew's regressions all occur via editing or visual trickery: beginning his regression after narrowly avoiding a head-on collision with Bob Provost, he is found to be very suddenly missing his wrinkles and arthritic joints. He stops at a gas station to call O'Reardon about this, and he looks to be back in his twenties on arrival... but as Mayhew moves between shelves, he regresses again and steps back into view as a teenager in an oversized suit. By the time he gets back to the lab, he's regressed to childhood, much to O'Reardon's amusement - especially once another cut leaves him down to about four years old.

Toys

• Transformers: Done in various ways over the years, depending on the medium.
  • In the original toy commercials, longer ones would have a quick montage of steps to transform a toy (e.g. unfold legs, swing head out). The shorter versions would simply Smash Cut to the toys in their other modes.
  • In some episodes of The Transformers, Transformers would occasionally transform off-screen, accompanied by the distinctive transformation sound. They would then re-emerge on-screen in their other mode. An example might be Megatron ordering the Decepticons to attack, followed by the sounds of transformation after which the Decepticons then run on-screen. This trick would be used in just about any animated iteration (e.g. Transformers: The★Headmasters, Beast Wars) since it would greatly save on animating. Some animated series would rely on Stock Footage (e.g. Transformers: Super-God Masterforce, Transformers: Cybertron), making this unnecessary for the most part.
  • Sometimes, Transformers would be shown transforming in a flash of light or a motion blur, as if the movement was so fast it couldn't be followed by the naked eye. On at least one occasion, Star Saber went from his starfighter mode into his Star Saber mode in an instant (normally there's an extended Stock Footage sequence of him separating from his V-Star attachment, transforming into robot mode, transforming again into torso mode, and then docking with an also-transformed V-Star to form Star Saber). In Transformers: Animated, Transformers sometimes changed form hidden by a motion blur.
  • In The Transformers (Marvel), sometimes Transformers would be shown transforming hidden by some sort of energy discharge. The artwork of the time wasn't exactly geared towards loving depictions of transformation in action, so nearly all transformation scenes were hidden behind movement lines or motion blurs.
  • In some of the live-action films, like the above animated examples sometimes Transformers will transform off-screen before stepping on-screen in their robot modes. In the first film, there were at least two sequences where Bumblebee is shown driving towards the screen, followed by the next shot depicting him doing a leap in robot mode and in the scene where the Autobots first land on Earth, a truck drives between Optimus Prime and the camera, and when it leaves the frame, he has scanned and transformed into a copy of it.

Video Games

• Batman: Arkham Asylum:
  • During the visit to the penitentiary, it's possible to run into Basil Karlo a.k.a. Clayface — thankfully imprisoned in an airtight cell. Over the course of this encounter, Karlo will try to trick Batman into releasing him by impersonating first Aaron Cash and then Warden Sharp; in the event that you don't learn his true identity via detective vision, he will finally shapeshift into Commissioner Gordon and laugh mockingly. In each case, the transformation only occurs when the player turns away from the cell, only given away by the faint slurping sound; by the time you turn back, Clayface has taken on a new persona.
  • The effects of TITAN are demonstrated quite openly on Bane and two of the Joker's henchmen, with all stages of the transformation remaining in shot. However, when Joker himself takes a dose of TITAN prior to the final boss battle, we only see his eyes beginning to glow green as the serum takes effect; then we cut to the exterior of Arkham Asylum as the fully-transformed character clambers out onto the roof with Batman in tow.
• Trying the Bucking Bronco vigor for the first time in BioShock Infinite results in Booker's hands suddenly cracking open with bloody fissures, shown in full detail; however, rather than actually showing these deformities healing as is the case with the other vigors, there's a flash of light, and when it fades, Booker's hands appear to be back to normal.
• In Blood 2: The Chosen, the final boss undergoes such a transformation. The camera slowly spins around from him to the protagonist, declaring he's "changing into something unpleasant", and when he's shown on camera again, he's become a huge spider-like creature.
• Bloodborne: When the player locates Vicar Amelia, one of the game's bosses, she is shown kneeling in front of an altar praying while clutching a medallion in her hands. The camera then cuts to her shadow as Amelia's body painfully contorts into a wolf-like beast with deer antlers, spraying blood onto a nearby statue as she does so.
• In Conker's Bad Fur Day, Count Batula turns himself and Conker into a bat when he drinks his blood. However, it cuts to the villagers bursting through the door.
• Most transformations in The Darkness 2 take place on screen and in full detail. However, during Jackie's visit to the Darkness's Asylum, the true identity of the mysterious janitor is revealed in a cut: after escorting Jackie into the supply closet, he orders him to shut the door behind them, and when Jackie turns back to face him, the Janitor has become the Darkling.
• Early in Darkwatch, Lazarus grows a huge pair of batlike wings in order to pursue Jericho and Cassidy across the desert, though the transformation is seen only in shadow. Bizarrely enough, he undergoes a much more intense transformation scene on-camera after absorbing the power of the Deadlight Prism, so presumably the earlier Shadow Discretion Shot was a purely stylistic choice.
• Dragon Age: Origins:
  • The game doesn't have a morph animation, so whenever a transformation is called for outside of cutscenes — whether it's a mage with the shapeshifter specialty, a demon going One-Winged Angel, or the player character during the "Lost In Dreams" quest — the transition is just a flash of light, followed by the new shape appearing out of nowhere.
  • During the Mage origin, the Harrowing results in players gaining a companion in the form of "Mouse," the lost soul of a mage trapped in the Fade during his Harrowing and forced to adopt the form of a mouse in order to escape the demons. Whenever you talk to him, there'll be a bright flash of light and the camera will cut to him in human form.
  • At the end of the same mission, players finally encounter their real opponent: Mouse isn't an ex-mage after all, but the Pride Demon that student mages like you are sent to match wits with. Smirking, the demon begins to glow as it reverts to its true form — and then we cut to an over-the-shoulder shot of the player character looking up in mounting dread as the unseen demon grows steadily taller and taller until it towers over you.
  • In the finale of "Broken Circle," players catch Uldred and his henchmen in the act of forcibly converting mages into Abominations; the unfortunate victim is briefly seen writhing around on the floor in agony, then beginning to glow as the transformation takes hold... and then we cut to a reaction shot of First Enchanter Irving and the other captive mages. A moment later, we cut back as the fully-transformed Abomination rises into view.
  • During Morrigan's personal mission, they are pitted against her infamous mother and Witch of the Wilds, Flemeth. In the event that you don't accept Flemeth's offer to just walk away with the items you wanted from her, she will gleefully accept your challenge, beginning to glow... then cut to the player's horrified expression as they look up at something huge towering over them; another cut reveals that Flemeth has become a dragon.
• In Fire Emblem: Three Houses, in the cutscene directly preceding the final level of the Azure Moon route, the camera cuts to black just as the Final Boss Edelgard goes One-Winged Angel.
• In Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach, the fairly drastic transformation between Sun and Moon is given a Hand Wave by never being depicted onscreen. The only time the switch is actually depicted has Sun falls off a desk below camera and rises up again as Moon. Understandable, given how the animatronic isn't designed with any visibly transformable parts (save for Sun's retractable rays), and especially given that the two forms have different color schemes and fabrics.
• In Gnarled Hag, Enforced. Technically you do have the option to see the witch enter One-Winged Angel, but running from her afterwards is basically futile, so truly your only option is to run once you've axed her.
• In inFAMOUS 2, Joseph Bertrand's Behemoth transformation is seen on camera only once, albeit partially obscured by the green gas cloud surrounding it. In all other occasions, the transformation occurs out of view: in one case, if the player chooses to expose Bertrand's true nature to the public, the character can be seen storming off-screen in a rage, with green gas and sound effects from off-camera being the only indication that he's transformed. Later, during the final confrontation, he's seen leaping over a ledge in a shot pointed at the building behind him; a cut to the opposite angle reveals the gas cloud and the Behemoth rising high over the surrounding area.
• The Legend of Zelda:
  • The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess: Zigzagged. While Link does transform into a wolf on-screen in a cutscene, during normal gameplay, his form just darkens while he's crouched down until it takes on the shape of a wolf, and the process is reversed whenever he changes back. Whenever he travels through a portal, his human form disintegrates into the typical black squares of the Twilight Realm and then rematerializes into a wolf after exiting, requiring the player to almost always have to transform back into a human every time they use portals.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has Zelda transform into a dragon. The only change that is visibly shown are their eyes before a huge beam of light envelops them and they complete the transformation while obscured by the light. Similarly, Ganondorf goes through the same thing, but their transformation is shown a bit more before a dark red and black beam covers them to finish the rest of the transformation.
• The final chapter of Little Nightmares: Secrets Of The Maw ends with the Runaway Kid being caught by the Lady and transformed into a Nome — between cuts. One shot, the Kid is hovering in the air as the Lady works her magic on him; then we cut to black, and gradually fade in on a Nome sitting in the Runaway Kid's vacant clothing.
• In the climax of [PROTOTYPE], Alex discovers that Captain Cross, his apparent ally, is actually the final boss in disguise, having performed a Kill and Replace sometime prior to the mission. After getting flung across the room, Alex looks up... and then we cut to a shot of Alex from the final boss's POV, rising steadily higher into the air as he goes full-blown One-Winged Angel. Cut back to Alex's side of the screen, where the fully-transformed villain is now advancing on him.
• Przygody Reksia: When The One Who's So Terribly Confusing turns into a bat, the screen goes dark as if in a thunderstorm and the transformation is accompanied by the sound of thunder.
• Resident Evil Village:
  • Lady Dimitrescu, after being stabbed with a poisoned dagger, flings Ethan through a window as she becomes a Draconic Abomination, meaning that he can't see the full extent of her transformation from behind the window frame. We see her sprouting a gigantic pair of wings, but then she lurches out of view as the transition continues, and apart from the shadow of a tail, we don't see anything more of Dimitrescu until she plows through the nearby wall, ready for battle.
  • Lord Moreau's transformation into his huge aquatic form is never seen in full. The nearest we see to it on camera is during his confrontation with Ethan on the lake: here, he's just changed back and is not wearing his cloak, so we can see tentacles beginning to erupt from his body as Moreau loses control again. He then totters over to the edge of the water and tumbles in... and a split second later, his mutated form begins hurtling through the lake in search of prey.
  • Just prior to his boss battle, Lord Heisenberg unleashes his magnetic powers on the room around him, simultaneously beginning his transformation into his Mechanical Abomination form and forcing Ethan out of the room; the last thing seen of him is the debris gathering around him, and then a mound of scrap metal covers the door, hiding Heisenberg from view. Then, a huge buzz saw-tipped arm tears through the door, revealing that Heisenberg is now a huge mass of machinery, fungus, and flesh all fused together.
  • In the climax, Mother Miranda reveals herself and her shapeshifting powers by appearing as Mia Winters; a huge set of black wings then emerge from behind her as she reverts to her true form until they unfold to reveal Miranda herself. Briefly dissolving into a flock of crows, she then walks behind a tree, emerging on the other side as Mia again; another disappearing act behind a tree then results in her transforming into the Hag as well.
  • The final battle features Miranda summoning up a huge growth of roots from the ground just before the boss fight begins, hiding herself behind them as she transforms into her One-Winged Angel form.
• Return to Zork:
  • During a visit to Canuck's shack, the eccentric mage offers to shrink you down until you're small enough to retrieve a piece of the Flying Disc of Frobozz from the ship-in-a-bottle. However, because the game takes place entirely in first-person POV, the budget is spared having to animate your character being shrunken down; instead, the virtual camera cuts to your POV getting lower and closer to the bottle until you can simply climb inside.
  • Once you've obtained the piece and returned to normal size, Canuck is possessed by Morphius and tries to eliminate you by turning you into a duck. However, if you're armed with a mirror or something suitably reflective when you return from the bottle, the spell will be reflected back on him. Here, we cut directly from the close-up shot of Canuck casting the spell to a wide shot of the shack interior, where — with a flash of light — Canuck has been transformed into a duck.
• Because the The Shapeshifting Detective is based entirely around POV shots, the player never sees their character actually shapeshift; the only indication that a transformation has taken place is a distinctive buzzing sound, a slight trembling of the screen, and Sam testing out their new voice. It's also possible to get reaction shots from onlookers — though only if you disobey orders and reveal your powers.
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic has no morph animation, so all transformations in the game are concealed, most commonly by visual effects:
  • Anyone infected with the Rakghoul plague will eventually transform into another Rakghoul, but the exact point where the metamorphosis begins is hidden by a flash of light and a glowing cloud similar to an ion grenade being detonated; when it fades, a fully-formed Rakghoul has replaced them — with no sign of what happened to their clothes, incidentally.
  • Shapeshifting assassin Rulan Prolik always transforms while accompanied by another flash of light and cloud effect; in his introductory cutscene, the Wookie he's disguised as is seen descending out of view as the glowing cloud expands, with his new form — Jolee Bindo — rising up a moment later, implying further detail to his transformation. By contrast, the boss battle features Rulan's One-Winged Angel form, his tach form, and even his deceased true form simply materializing out of the cloud with no other evidence of transition.
  • In an Easter Egg ending to the game, Darth Malak can be transformed into a Twi'lek dancing girl by the player character — once again with the distinctive flash of light and glowing cloud.
• Most transformation scenes in Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines occur with a visible transition, from Gangrel player characters to NPCs like Beckett and Andrei. However, when Ming Xiao reveals that she was the one who framed Nines Rodriguez for the murder of Alistair Grout, the moment where she shapeshifts to demonstrate the fact is concealed by a bright flash of light; when the light fades, her new form (that of Nines himself) is just standing there in front of you.

Web Animation

• Spooky Month: In "Unwanted Guest", a demon possesses the exterminator Lila called, and chases her through the house before she smacks him with a ruler. This just angers the demon and his horns sprout out of the guy's head, framed as Lila looking up in terror with his shadow covering her.
• RWBY, having two bird-based voluntary shapeshifters in the cast, would often showcase their transformation by having something conveniently placed in the foreground so that when their bird form passed through it their human forms would pass through the other side and vice versa.

Webcomics

• Skin Horse: When Tip is temporarily turned into a werewolf his transformations between human and wolf form are off-screen, albeit accompanied by a squelchy sound effect and the grossed out reactions of other characters.
• Magical Boy has several transformations, but in the chapter where Max first transforms, it's the only time we see the transformation in full (with a deserved Content Warning for gender dysphoria beforehand), with subsequent versions being a simple flash.

Western Animation

• The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius:
  • In "Attack of the Twonkies", whenever the Twonkies are Hulking Out from hearing music, we never really see them transform and they are always offscreen before they finish, likely because their transformations were too difficult to animate in the early days of CGI.
  • In "The N-Men", when Jimmy is Hulking Out, his transformation is only visible as a shadow on the wall which is witnessed by Goddard, before emerging from the lair completely bulky and monstrous.
  • In "Nightmare in Retroville", Jimmy transforms Carl and Sheen into a vampire and werewolf respectfully for Halloween costumes, but they both end up taking on the characteristic of the creatures they've become. While Jimmy escapes them and tries to fix the problem, both boys run into Cindy and Libby and promptly bite them offscreen. Unsurprisingly when Jimmy runs into his friends again, Cindy and Libby have been turned into a vampire and werewolf respectfully.
• Animaniacs: In the episode "Brain Meets Brawn", when Brain first transforms, it is partially concealed via a Shadow Discretion Shot as we cut to Pinky cowering as we see Brain's shadow warp into his larger, monstrous form.
• Beast Wars: In "Optimal Situation", as Optimus Primal is housing the spark of Optimus Prime, the shock of doing so sends him off-camera, where we hear him screaming in pain with his shadows showing him turning into a bigger transformer like Prime.
• While Ben 10 often depicts Ben changing into his alien forms using a Stock Footage Transformation Sequence equally frequently will we see Ben simply engulfed in a flash of light from the Omnitrix while he transforms as well as other instances where we see characters around him bathed in the aforementioned flash of light. In some cases, the transformation isn't seen at all, but of particular note with one exception we never get a Transformation Sequence of Ben transforming from alien to human, nor from one alien to another.
• The Care Bears Family: In "Care Bear Carneys", whenever Shreeky turns someone into a stuffed toy and back with her special fragrance, the shapeshifting is not seen onscreen, save for when she demonstrates such on Beastly.
• In the first episode of Danny Phantom, "Mystery Meat", during Danny's first ghost fight, his transformation is seen offscreen, with him reappearing onscreen when he changes back to human form.
• Dexter's Laboratory: In the episode "The Big Sister", Mom eats experimental cookies left out by Dexter that turn her into a giant alien monster, but her transformation is not seen onscreen and is seen transformed at the end telling Dee Dee and Dexter to clean up the mess in the city.
• The Garfield Show:
  • In the episode "Curse of the Were-Dog", when Garfield turns into a were-cat, sounds of him transforming are heard, with him appearing transformed after Jon, Odie and Professor Bonkers run away.
  • In the episode "Prehistoric Pup", when Odie gets stuck in the gum, he gets exposed to a meteorite that turns him into a giant green prehistoric dog. But when he transforms, it is offscreen.
• Jackie Chan Adventures: In the episode "The Powers That Be Part 2", Drago's final transformation begins with him sprouting a pair of wings, with his shadow's chin then shown sprouting tentacles before it cuts away to Uncle getting aid from the Enforcers. When it cuts back to Section 13 storming the junkyard, Drago is shown emerging from the clouds, now looking like a conglomeration of his aunts and uncles.
• Kid vs. Kat: In the episode "Me Coop, You Kat", when Kat turns Coop into a caveman using the game controller, it transitions to daytime with him appearing transformed the next day.
• The Legend of Zelda (1989): In "Kiss 'n Tell", when Link kisses the Gibdo disguised as a maiden, a bright flash that obscures both occurs and we cut to Zelda exclaiming Link's name. After the flash disappears, we see Link having turned into an anthropomorphic frog and the maiden into a Gibdo. At the episode's climax, after Link gets knocked out by a blast of Ganon's magic when he tries to kiss Zelda to undo his curse, we see him revert to his normal self after Spryte, the princess of the fairies, kisses him.
• Loonatics Unleashed: In the episode "The World Is My Circus", The Ringmaster and Otto turn a bunch of children, along with Zadavia and the Loonatics, into mutant animal creatures for their space circus. In Zadavia's case, it was a cheetah-monkey creature. While one of the children, along with Ace, Lexi, Tech, Slam, and Rev's transformations occur on-camera, the scenes involving the rest of the children and Zadavia turning into mutants occur offscreen and their reversions are shown near the end.
• Marvel's Spider-Man:
  • John Jameson studies and experiments on the Lunar Crystal, which later turns him into the Man-Wolf in "Halloween Moon". However, this transformation is never shown.
  • In the five-part episode, "Spider-Island", everyone gains spider powers and later turn into spider creatures, some of which occur offscreen.
• My Little Pony: Equestria Girls:
  • In the first movie, when Twilight and Spike first enter the human realm, we never see their transformation into a human and dog respectfully. Twilight already changed by the time Spike reaches the other side of the portal and we only see things from Spike's point of view before were shown their changes in full.
  • In "Mirror Magic", when Sunset comes back to Equestria, again the shift from human to pony is offscreen. And likewise in reverse when Starlight goes with her back to the human realm with us only seeing her groggy vision for a moment before she notices she now has hands.
  • In "Spring Breakdown", when Sunset and the human versions of Rainbow Dash and Twilight fall into a portal to Equestria, they find themselves in a dark cave and we only see their eyes until they manage to get a light source and find they've all been turned into ponies.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
  • In "Bats", after being affected by Twilight's botched anti-vampire fruit bat spell, Fluttershy's transformation gets started when she gets a whiff of an apple while out trying to find the culprit that drained some of Applejack's orchid. Her craving kicks in and she starts to drool and lick her lips right as her eyes change color and her teeth form into fangs. When next when we and the rest of the Mane Six see her, Fluttershy has turned into a bat pony hybrid with pale fur, a disheveled mane, and bat wings. The only other part of the transformation we see onscreen after that is her ear shifting to be more bat-like.
  • Done twice in "The Ending of the End Part 1", first when Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow empower themselves with the Bewitching Bell, with only their shadows showing them transformed, then again when they use the Bell on "Grogar" to steal his magic, causing him to change back into his true form of Discord.
• Nate Is Late: In "The Werewolf'', when Nate and Malika come across Pat, Nat inadvertently triggers her werewolf transformation by pulling out his sandwich. We don't see it fully other than Pat's eyes going slit, fangs forming in her mouth, her skin changing color, hands turning to claws and the ears forming through her hair before her fully morphed shadow looms over the two kids and we cut to her in full wolfed out form. Likewise after Nate is scratched, we only see snippets of his incoming transformation throughout the episode (Dog ears, tail, fangs etc). Just when Malika and he are leading Pat to the park's greenhouse with the amulet to control her changes, he cringes as they're crossing over a bridge and the camera cuts away from him which causes Malika to briefly stop and turn around. When it cuts back, he's fully transformed into a werewolf.
• The Owl House:
  • Eda's transformations into the Owl Beast aren't always shown in full, such as in its first appearance where the fact that the monster invading the Owl House is actually Eda is meant to be a twist and so she transforms offscreen without any of the other characters realizing what happened. From the same episode, Eda transforming back to normal isn't shown either; it cuts from the Owl Beast being incapacitated to Eda waking up, mostly back to her normal self after King and Luz gave her the cure while she slept (and she has to quickly drink some more of it to remove the last traces of the Owl Beast).
  • When Lilith succumbs to the curse and transforms into the Raven Beast for the first time, we see the beginnings of the transformation with Lilith's eyes turning black and feathers sprouting from her face, but then it cuts to King and Hooty looking on horrified as the Raven Beast's shadow is cast over them.
  • While trapped within a force field, Luz convinces Gus to switch her and Hunter's appearances so she'll be captured in Hunter's stead. However, the moment the illusion is actually cast, the camera cuts to the force field shattering, concealing the fact that Hunter and Luz have swapped places from the audience. Somehow, it also works in-universe and Hunter doesn't notice what's happened until Luz is gone.
  • Played for Laughs when Hooty 'transforms' into Porta-Hooty; we see Hooty darting offscreen, then we cut to the bewildered, disgusted reactions of the onlookers, and then we cut to the finished transformation... and then we cut to the onlookers, who are shellshocked, crying, or just trying not to puke.
• The Ren & Stimpy Show: One of the bumpers at the end of an episode features Stimpy being blown up like a balloon. After some uneven inflating, we cut to Ren's expression as he watches and sees a shadow fall over him. Then we cut back and Stimpy is now perfectly round and floating like a balloon. Then for no explained reason, Ren pops Stimpy, killing his friend and leaving deflated bits of Stimpy everywhere.
• The 7D: In the episode, "Once in a Purple Moon", while Happy is the only one where we see him transform, but when the others transform any time, it's offscreen.
• The Simpsons:
  • In "Bart Simpson's Dracula" (the third and final story of "Treehouse of Horror IV"), Bart gets captured by Burns' vampire minions and presented to Burns himself who flies into the room and morphs into human form. We see him bite Bart and later show back up in the dining room where Bart clearly has two bite marks on his neck. But Bart's vampire transformation happens offscreen and next we see him, he's floating outside Lisa's window along with several other kids he's bitten (likewise turned offscreen) and trying to get her to join them.
  • In "The Island of Dr. Hibert" (the third and final story of "Treehouse of Horror XIII"). Marge finds something off with Dr. Hibert's island and comes across his main base only to be captured by Hibert himself and taken into it. We don't see him transform her, but only hear Marge's scream from outside suddenly turning into growls. When she returns to Homer later, she's been turned into a panther. Likewise, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie were captured at some point and turned into animals as well offscreen.
• Spider-Man: The Animated Series: In "Enter The Punisher", Spider-Man's growing spider mutation kicks in at a bad time while he's trying to get away from the Punisher. Eventually he ends up in a warehouse and the transformation begins to ensue to which we see his hands ripping through his costume as they turn to claws. We only see him from his back afterwards as he grows bigger, his arms change colors and he rips through his face mask. By the time Punisher has found Spider-Man, he finds to see himself face to face with him now turned into a Man-Spider.
• In the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "I Was A Teenage Gary", while Spongebob's transformation into a snail is entirely on-camera, Squidward's transformation into a snail occurs offscreen; he's last seen accidentally injecting himself with the snail plasma, before appearing fully transformed alongside Spongebob and Gary singing on a fence. There was an urban legend that the transformation actually happened on-screen in the original airing, but this has since been debunked.
• In Transformers: Cyberverse, when Megatron and the Decepticons try to start a fight in Maccadam's bar, he transforms into something that terrifies Megatron. We never see what he transforms into, and the only part that's visible is its shadow.
• Transformers: Rescue Bots: In the episode "Feed the Beast", Graham and Mayor Luskey are turned into sasquatch-like werebeasts after eating Fo-Foo. While Graham's transformation occurs on-camera, Mayor Lusky's transformation occurs offscreen.
• Ultimate Spider-Man: In the episode "The Savage Spider-Man", Spider-Man becomes infected with a poison that mutates him into a Man-Spider while he and Wolverine were trying to help Ka-Zar find and save Zabu from Kraven and Taskmaster. When he transforms, he grows extra arms and mandibles. He attacks them and uses a campfire on the T. rex, burning its tail and setting it on fire. To help get him back to normal, Ka-Zar picks up a skunk-like creature to use as medicine on him, but we never get to see him changing back after he used it on him, in the next scene, he's back to his normal self.
• Winx Club:
  • The Winx's Enchantix Transformation Sequence is completely obscured in Season 4, Episode 6, but was given a few insulting comments by Ogron.
  • When Mitzi and her friends are turned into dark fairies by Ogron in Season 4, Episode 15, all we see is a shot of the manhole above as the energy shines outward from the cap. It occurs again when they revert to human form in the end.
  • In the Season 5 episode "The Gem of Empathy", when Stella gets her hands on a pin with an age changer spell in it which turns her into a three-year-old toddler, the camera is offscreen when she ages down.
  • In Season 7, Kalshara's shapeshifting is triggered by a dramatic zoom-in on her eye, as her pupil changes its shape to the form she's going to take on before the camera fades up on her already changed to that form.

---