Best and Worst Superhero change scenes

[STARTOUNZ]

From all the superhero or otherwise action shows you've seen over the years, which shows do you think had the best (as well as worst) sequences where the ordinary guy (or girl) changes into their mighty superhero alter ego?

To start things, I was always impressed with Prince Adam's transformation into He-Man in the original series from the 80's. As cheesy as the series looks these days, this is still one of the best moments to see in an episode as he raises his sword, incants "By the Power of Greyskill" and in come the major special FX as the sword draws bursts of lightning while the background of Castle Greyskill comes into view. The sequence concludes as Adam's transformation to He-Man ends with an exploding burst of energy. Then comes the closeup as he holds the sword horizontally and says "I-IIIIII HAVE THE POW-ERRRR!!! And if his cowardly green and orange-striped tiger Cringer is with him, He-Man points the sword toward him, and directing its energy, causes him to increase in size and instantly change into the brave, leather-saddle wearing Battle Cat, letting out a mighty roar as his courageous alter ego is unleashed as well.

Among other change sequences I liked were the Bruce Banner to Hulk scenes in the 80's Hulk series, the Storm change from her regular outfit to X-Men costume in TAS (Yeah, I know it lacks credibility, but it still looked cool) , the Firestar and Iceman transformations in Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends, the formation of Voltron (there were two; the original looked a little lame, though. The better one was the second where the blue and yellow lions attached to the black before the red and green), and mainly for amusement, that crazy sequence in Filmation's Ghostbusters where Jake and Eddie change into their ghostbusting gear.


Among the worst change sequences IMO were first, the Iron Man sequence in the mid-90's series, where Tony Stark is somehow able to have his armor compressed as his briefcase which pops open, he walks inside, the lame theme music plays, and then it switches to a stupid CGI sequence as he puts his helmet on and springs into action. Luckily, that was dropped in season 2 and there were various other (as well as faster and cooler) change sequences. Also bad were the Spider-Man changes in the CGI series a couple of years ago. As fast as Spidey is, we all know from all the previous series that it takes him a good amount of time to change into his costume. This series somehow has him leaping out of a scene and somehow instantly in costume in a split second. The worst though was in "Mind Games" (Pt. 2) which looked more like a Superman sequence where Peter runs and the costume appears on him just like that! As for the women, the worst was the Adora to She-Ra change. Definitely not as spectacular as the He-Man transformation. This sequence starts off OK, but the magic swirl really does nothing and it concludes as this sprinkle of magic comes from nowhere and changes her from head to toe. Kind of ridiculous if you ask me. But enough about me! What were your favorite and least favorite change sequences?

 

[Christopher Glennon]

I actually like when Hulk transformed in the 90's series (into either green or gray), not to mention Bruce Wayne's change into Batman while running up the stairs in the first Clock King episode.

Least favorite? 90's Avengers EASILY. Those costumes were horrible and unrecognizable, the music was lame, and it took too much time out of the episode (it's like Iron Man times 10).

 

[Merilee]

Mine.

Well, I liked both the He-Man and She-Ra change sequences in the 80's. (I have two brothers I was forced to watch He-Man. Never cared for the 90's remake, though. Thank God they never upgraded She-Ra.

To me the worst was Sailor Moon transformation. It was too slow and took far too long. Unless you can tell me she somehow froze the bed guys in time (never saw the Japanese version, only the Americanized one) they would have gotten away by the time she was done!
Merilee

 

[Dark Fact]

To me the worst was Sailor Moon transformation. It was too slow and took far too long. Unless you can tell me she somehow froze the bed guys in time (never saw the Japanese version, only the Americanized one) they would have gotten away by the time she was done!

Now do you really mean that in the constructive criticism way or are you just saying that because you don't like anime at all? :rolleyes2

 

[Merilee]

Constructive critiism

Now do you really mean that in the constructive criticism way or are you just saying that because you don't like anime at all? :rolleyes2

Constructive criticism, cause I did see a few eps of the series and the transformation just didn't make any sense, it was far too slow, and there wasn't even that much of a costume to put on! By the time she finished the bad guys would have gotten away, seriously!
Merilee

 

[Michael24]

that crazy sequence in Filmation's Ghostbusters where Jake and Eddie change into their ghostbusting gear.

If I remember correctly, that was an awesome sequence. Been soooooooooo long since I've seen the Filmation GHOSTBUSTERS, though.

Don't know about worst, but one of the best (for me, at least) was always the "Bionics On" sequence in BIONIX SIX whenever the family powered up, the camera swirling around Bionic One's body as it goes transparent and you see his bionically-enhanced skeleton and everything. Always thought that was cool.

 

[NozeNuggets]

And who loved Lynda Carter spinning from Diana Prince into Wonder Woman, hmmmm? Especially us guys for known reasons.

 

[Anthonynotes]

My favorite? Guess the Man of Steel's classic "phone booth" change sequences (mostly in the Fleischer theatrical cartoons, back when phone booths were made out of privacy-providing wood, and not visible-to-all glass).

 

[STARTOUNZ]

And who loved Lynda Carter spinning from Diana Prince into Wonder Woman, hmmmm? Especially us guys for known reasons.

I do agree with that, but it's not animated, so it really doesn't count here.

Another change sequence I liked which I forgot to mention was Captain Caveman's in the Flintstones Frolics series. This was the only one where he had the alter ego of Chester the copy boy at the Daily Granite newspaper where Wilma and Betty worked as reporters. Key to the change was the trusty old coatrack where he managed to slip into and hide from plain view as various firework-type special FX went into display as Chester removed his glasses and converted his bow tie into his sabertooth tiger-skinned cape. He then slips out into plain view and most times lets all of Bedrock know guess who is on the case in his classic roar; CAP-TAINNNNN CAAAAAAAAVE-MAAAAAAAAN!!!!!

Another change that goes into the worst category would be Brett Matthews into Turbo Teen in the same-titled mid-80's series. There was a recent post on that show and not only did it remind me how bad it was, but it left me wondering quite a few things as to how he could live a life of switching from kid to car.

 

[Majin_Megabyte]

I'm surpise no one have mention Gohan becoming The Great Sayiaman, and his silly poses, when Gohan transform into Sayiaman. Remember the Great Sayiaman rap is silly, but wrong.

 

[Mighty_Bojingo]

I seem to find the transformations of Stripperella amusing. I think her alter ego is erotica, can't remember. But she always finds the worst place to transform. And I find it funny. Like this one place she runs into one of those clear, see-it-all phone booths and changes to her outfit and everyone in the area is sitting there watching her (There goes her secret identity). But Just about every episode, she transforms in obvious crazy methods.

Another instance, she runs in an ally way to change, but comes out in homeless clothes, and a homeless man in the ally way is wearing her uniform. HAHAHA.

 

[AdamYJ]

Least favorite? 90's Avengers EASILY. Those costumes were horrible and unrecognizable, the music was lame, and it took too much time out of the episode (it's like Iron Man times 10).

Yeah. I'm one who didn't mind the armor too much, but the transformation scenes took too long. I remember one episode where they had to do it twice in the episode and it just seemed to take up most of the show. Also, you have to wonder why it was that some characters got decked out in armor while others had to go out and risk themselves in plain old cloth.

Best.

He-Man's. I don't remember the one from the old show, but the new one was pretty good.

Also, Digimon's digivolution scenes are pretty good. The only one that had real hero transformation scenes was season 4, but it was still pretty good. Spirit Evolution!

 

[The Weed Of Cri]

In the '80's, there was a Ruby-Spears cartoon called The Centurions in which the heroes wore suits that had attachment points for weapons and other equipment. The power-up sequences were well animated and the way the suits worked made a kind of sense (in a cartoon way, of course).

On the anime front, Saint Seiya and Samurai Troopers had cool transformation sequences. In fact, when it comes to stock footage transformations, I think anime has American cartoons beat seven ways to Sunday. Sailor Moon, Mew Mew Power, Gatchaman, Sonic Soldier Borgman....

And then, of course, there's Cutie Honey....

 

[Beat]

Cutie Honey's transformation >>> Everyone else's transformation.

 

[LightShadow1890]

Well, I liked both the He-Man and She-Ra change sequences in the 80's. (I have two brothers I was forced to watch He-Man. Never cared for the 90's remake, though. Thank God they never upgraded She-Ra.

To me the worst was Sailor Moon transformation. It was too slow and took far too long. Unless you can tell me she somehow froze the bed guys in time (never saw the Japanese version, only the Americanized one) they would have gotten away by the time she was done!
Merilee

Yeah, I see what you mean. Even though I was a Sailor Moon fan, I did wonder why she wouldn't be attacked. My only answer was the enemies were a little courteous...or they just stared in awe of all the glitter, ribbons, feathers, and lights (oh..and music). The transformations are all just for show. The transformations just take a second in real life. And as for the "wasn't much of a costume to put on" I agree with you a little. But what I will say won't help. Even saying that the Scout/Senshi uniforms were based on the Sailor-type school uniform won't help either; it might cause prejudicial thoughts.

Well, I almost went to thinking you just said that due to your unlike of anime (which is okay up to a point, but if that you totally bash it for bad reasons, then I take it as offensive).


Well, the Sailor Scouts transformations are basically the only transformations which were good in my taste (sure there were some transformations in anime I did see, such as Knights of Zodiac and Ronin Warriors, but I don't remember those). Also saw the girl's transformations in the WITCH series (books, only read three of those). I can't say it's bad...but I just wished they didn't show them in the nude.

As for bad, He-man's transformation in "He-man: Masters of the Universe" (I'm sure that's the title, it's the one shown on Toonami). I thought the ending sequence was corny, with the lightning and the "I HAVE THE POWER!!!!!1!"

 

[Gokou Ruri]

Best: WITCH. Quick, flashy, and to the point; moreso in the comics.

Worst: Any that take more than 30 seconds. It's kind of sad how 4 minutes of a 20 minute episode of Sailor Moon revolved around all the girls transforming. Megas XLR even made fun of how long it took. The magical girl spoofs kept on spinning around and Jamie just stared at them waiting for something to happen, then it switched back to the girls doing nothing but spinning and back to Jamie again. Kudos for them.

 

[STARTOUNZ]

Another good transformation that just came to mind was in Fangface. This, like the Ghostbusters sequence falls into the amusing category, where Fangs looks at the moon (or a picture of it), then an alarm bell rings as his eyes light up with stars and swirls and his face contorts like rubber into various shapes before he spins fast and in a burst of smoke becomes the hairy werewolf, howls loudly, and immediately goes after Pugsy to either eat him or just rough him up a little.

 

[A.Magik]

Since He-Man gets mentioned, I'll add She-Ra's transformation as a constant rewind scene on my copy of The Secret of the Sword movie. Dig that music! ("She-Ra--a...She-Ra!").

I love the first season transformations in Sailor Moon (especially the group ones in the Venus debut episode and the final Beryl battle), and may I get stoned for it, I prefer the dub music rendition of it over the Japanese. Although those scenes take long in our outside view, I doubt they last more than a second in the 'real time' of the show.

The transformations in Digimon Frontier are also cool. Ditto Domon's Gundam assimilation in G Gundam. I'm just a guy who loves transformation scenes!

A.Magik

 

[Scirel]

Digivolve to Champion in Digimon Tamers, that has to be the most painful transformation ever. All the other digivolutions either spin or "grow" into their new forms. In this one, the skin actually peeled off in fleshy clumps and their wireframe skeleton bent, then the new skin glopped on around them in the same manner the old skin came off. ouch.

But as a kid, the original warp digivolve of Metalgarurumon/Wargreymon knocked my socks off.

For worst I would have to say american dragon jake long. Usualy he just "burns" into his dragon form, but sometimes, a really poorly done CGI version of the dragon with a goofly look on its face spins around first. The only transformation to make me laugh unintentionally.

 

[Merilee]

Exactly!

Worst: Any that take more than 30 seconds. It's kind of sad how 4 minutes of a 20 minute episode of Sailor Moon revolved around all the girls transforming. Megas XLR even made fun of how long it took. The magical girl spoofs kept on spinning around and Jamie just stared at them waiting for something to happen, then it switched back to the girls doing nothing but spinning and back to Jamie again. Kudos for them.

Exactly wat I was saying. Also what I meant in 'There wasn't much of a costume' is that they didn;t wear any masks, no capes, her voice didn't change... nothing really remotely different. Their dresses changed...but that's it! I mean anyone could look into the face of Sailor Moon and know she was just Serena. So much for a secret identity.

Hee,hee, that sounds like a real funny episode...cause it;s so true!

WITCH had the girls transform in the NUDE?! HELLO!!! Please tell me that's just for the books....
Merilee