Shapeshifter Mode Lock / Live-Action TV

• Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.:
  • Agent 33 gets electrocuted to the face while wearing a high-tech mask that can be programmed to disguise the wearer as anyone, fusing the mask to her face and locking her in her current disguise (Agent May), with the addition of a nasty disfiguring scar over her right eye. Eventually she gets the mask repaired. It's still fused to her face, but now it's functional again, so she just programmed it to "disguise" her as herself (she can also just shut it off, but she prefers this method since it hides the scar).
  • Creel has the ability to absorb the properties of anything he touches. When he's finally defeated, he goes through a Shapeshifter Swan Song before turning to stone, seemingly permanently. But as Coulson mentions, "He could always do that," and recommends treating him as a dangerous prisoner rather than a corpse.
• Buffyverse:
  • On Angel, during the Pylea arc, Angel in the other dimension would get stuck in the "super" version of his vampireness. The whole demon would emerge, instead of him just vamping out whenever he wanted. He would be stuck as the Van-tal for a really long time, until he could calm down.
    • It's heavily implied that the Van-tal demons were the original progenitors of the Vampire race. Which would mean that, by definition, vampires are themselves demons always mode-locked in a human body.
    • After Illyria, a primordial Old One, had her powers mostly drained, she was effectively trapped in Fred's body. She did retain the ability to shapeshift... but only into Fred's human appearance.
  • In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Amy the witch turned into a rat and couldn't turn back for 3 seasons. She was never really quite the same...
    • Anya was trapped in her human form when she lost her powers, and was stuck impersonating a high school student ('And I'm flunking math').
    • In the Halloween Episode "Fear Itself", Oz is forced to live out his worst fear, which results in him suddenly starting to transform into a werewolf and getting stuck halfway.
    • Also, ancient vampires like the Master and Kakistos are permanently stuck in Game Face. The result is really quite disgusting, but since it's a reflection of their extreme age and power, it's considered a mark of status in vampire society and they're generally quite proud of it.
  • The comics create a new breed of vampires that are immune to daylight and can change their shape. But only at night, during the day, do they have to walk around in their normal shape.
• Doctor Who:
  • The Doctor's TARDIS possesses a "chameleon circuit" which, under ideal circumstances, disguises the machine by making it appear to be an inconspicuous object in the time and place it's parked. Due to a malfunction the Doctor's never been able to fix, however, it is permanently stuck in the shape of a 1960s British police box. The Doctor did fix it for one story, but then it broke again. It's later stated that they don't even try to fix it anymore, because they like it that way. Other Time Lords that appear in the series have TARDISes with normally functioning chameleon circuits.
    • At one point the Doctor says they smashed the circuit with a hammer, so it would NEVER work again. In a more recent episode, they claim that whenever they repair or replace the circuit, the TARDIS herself deliberately shorts it out. They both prefer her as a Police Box.
    • It was finally revealed in the 50th anniversary Doctor Who Magazine comic strip that the initial malfunction — as in, the one that broke the circuit in the first place — was caused by the Doctor going back in time and intentionally breaking it, so that it would gain its iconic shape and become a symbol that lived on in the minds of whoever he saved.
    • In another episode, it's stated that the chameleon circuit is working properly. It analyzes a huge area of its surrounding environment, extrapolates an inconspicuous form for its exterior, then shifts that appearance to... a 1960s British police box. Every time. But it is, technically, functional.
  • In "Hell Bent", Clara and Ashildr/Me get their own TARDIS (complete with instructional manual) but their chameleon circuit also breaks (suggesting they are the first thing to go on any TARDIS) so theirs is stuck looking like a diner.
  • The Weeping Angels have a natural defence mechanism that turns them to stone whenever in the sight of any living thing (including each other), forcing them to remain that way until they are no longer being looked at. Those who are incredibly lucky can manage to trick two angels into an eternal staring contest with the other, causing them to remain permanently frozen. This is hard to do, though, as the angels are well aware of this weakness and thus will usually hide their face with their hands to avoid it (hence the "weeping" part of their name).
  • In the Doctor Who Magazine strip, shapeshifting companion Frobisher got stuck as a penguin for a while. Even before and after that, however, it was the form he most preferred.
• On Fringe, the shapeshifter at the beginning of Season 2 is stuck in the body of Agent Charlie Francis after its shapeshifting device is broken. The shapeshifters' devices are unique so using another's would be pointless. The only way out is to complete its mission and go back before it is too late. This doesn't happen because Olivia Dunham shoots it in the head.
• Happened to David Banner one time on The Incredible Hulk (1977), but in an incredibly strange way: in the two-parter "Prometheus", Dr. Banner got a little too close to a radioactive meteorite, and got stuck halfway between himself and the Hulk. For the duration of the Shapeshifter Mode Lock, he retained his consciousness and intelligence, but had difficulty concentrating and focusing, and also possessed a fair portion of the Hulk's strength. Later in the same episode, he effectively got Mode Locked AS the Hulk after being captured and imprisoned by the military; his futile attempts to break free of his cell kept him pissed off enough to stay green.
• In season 4 of Legends of Tomorrow, the Legends encounter a shapeshifter and, as per their SOP, try to send her to hell, assuming her to be evil. However, Charlie isn't actually evil, just rebellious, and takes the team on a Shapeshifter Guilt Trip, shifting into several shapes to drive the point home. They eventually relent, but Constantine casts a spell on her that locks her in her current shape, which happens to be that of Amaya (who has left the show last season).
• Lost: Happened to the Man in Black twice. First, after killing Jacob he got Mode Locked in Mode Locke. He could still change back to the Smoke Monster form, but couldn't assume other human forms anymore. Then, the removal of the Island's cork in the Finale took that ability away as well, locking him in a mortal body as opposed to the invulnerable Smoke form, allowing the Heroes to kill him.
• In Misfits, one of the super-powered teens has some trouble after his gender bending power leaves him stuck as a woman due to his self-induced pregnancy; luckily, all is well by the end of the episode.
• Played for laughs in the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode "The Undead" when the shapeshifting witch from this week's experiment visits the Satellite of Love and loses control of her powers. She eventually winds up stuck as a bottle of bleach, though she can still communicate. ("This is so annoying!")
• This happened to the character Tommy Oliver in Power Rangers: Dino Thunder when the actor playing him had real life commitments; the character was stuck in his suit, then invisible for the best part of a season.
• In Sanctuary, a pregnant HAP's body will go into lockdown to protect the fetus, because shapeshifting also changes the protean's insides.
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine:
  • In "The Die is Cast", Garak uses a device on Odo that prevents his shapeshifting. Since he cannot take his natural liquid form, his body begins to deteriorate.
  • Later, in "Broken Link", Odo has his powers taken away by his people and is forced to become (and stay) biologically human.
  • Still later, in the latter days of the Dominion War arc, all of Odo's race (including Odo) fall under the influence of a disease which makes them unable to liquefy, slowly killing them as above. This is revealed to be a biological weapon invented by the shadowy, rule-evading part of Starfleet. Unfortunately for their plot, they have to infect the race through Odo, which means the good guys race to find the cure in the nick of time.
• Supernatural: God chooses to appear as a God in Human Form in order to interact with his creations. After it is revealed that God Is Evil, his power is eventually usurped by his grandson Jack who then becomes the new God. This leaves God as simply an ordinary human, doomed to grow old and die one day.
• Super Sentai: One episode of Dengeki Sentai Changeman dealt with Hiryū Tsurugi is stuck in his Change Dragon form. Unlike in other instances where it is treated as a minor annoyance at best, here it is treated as a real threat.

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