Viral Transformation: Difference between revisions

''"Of course not. Not unless you design it to. Here's how."''|'''''[[GURPS|GURPS: Bio-Tech]]'''''}}

 

 

 

Those responsible for infecting the victim may expect a [[Face Heel Turn]] because the shock at the change will make them run to others like them, as well as [[Fantastic Racism]] making it likely they'll be alienated by their friends and family (this is especially likely if the transformation is [[Body Horror|less than cosmetically appealing)]]. However; [[Stages of Monster Grief|the choice to do so remains with the victim]]: they can consciously choose [[Transhuman Treachery]], to stand apart and [[What Measure Is a Non Super|above of humanity]], become [[Fully-Embraced Fiend|Fully Embraced Fiends]] who enjoy their condition, to be [[Friendly Neighborhood Vampires]] and live among if not entirely in harmony with humanity, or even be a [[Pro-Human Transhuman]] and act the [[Sheep in Wolf's Clothing]] while becoming a [[Vampire Hunter]].

* The Eclipse infection in ''[[Magical Record Lyrical Nanoha Force]]''. The good news is that, when infected, you gain powerful magic, [[Healing Factor]], [[Anti-Magic]], [[Plot-Powered Stamina|inexhaustible endurance]], and a whole buttload of other stuff. The bad news is that, if you want to keep your life and sanity, [[Horror Hunger|you need to keep on killing to keep the infection in check]].

* Becoming an Homunculus in the world of ''[[Busou Renkin]]'' sounds great - increased strength, a range of superpowers, [[Immortality]], immunity to disease... but the fine print is that [[I'm a Humanitarian|your diet now consists of people.]] And if you're not a super-special-awesome Human-type Homunculus, you go insane and become dominated by your instincts.

 

 

== Comic Books ==

 

* ''Druuna'' comics have diseases that change people into tentacled monsters.

* The "Monstar Virus", pretty much [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin]], in the ''[[Amory Wars]]''. {{spoiler|Used to turn Coheed and Cambria into "The Monstar" and "The White Ruineer" respectively.}}

* This is the basis for the ''[[Wild Cards]]'' series of books. An alien virus gives some people super-powers and transforms others into "Jokers", who are sometimes not even recognizable as having been human.

** Well, at least if your particular [[Superpower Lottery|draw]] included the ability to infect others. Despite the fact that ''xenovirus takis''-A was a ''literal'' virus, it wasn't (normally) communicable.

* In Jeff VanderMeer's ''[[Ambergris|Shriek: An Afterword]]'' a fringe historian Duncan Shriek is the only human to discover a safe method to enter the underground realm of the Graycaps under the city of Ambergris, but this involved getting an esoteric fungal infection, which would in the course of the years transform him into [[Body Horror|a man-fungus hybrid]] who could only retain human shape through constant mental effort.

** The novel also features common people getting less extreme, though still bizzare-looking fungus infections out of the fungus bombs used during the civil war. And the sequel, ''Finch'', has Partials, people who voluntarily go through this process to become akin to fungus cyborgs.

** ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'': The Iratus bug retrovirus designed to "cure" Wraith does this. First it turned a female Wraith and then Sheppard into human/bug hybrids. Once perfected, it turned Wraith into humans. Michael, one such victim, took it and used it to make Wraith/human hybrids.

** ''[[Stargate Universe]]'': {{spoiler|Chloe was infected with a virus by some aliens which appears to be turning her into one of them, or something close. At first it was mental, but then [[It Got Worse]]}}.

* Ilyria was played as a variant of this on ''[[Angel]]'', infecting Fred after she inhaled dust from Illyria's sarcophagus and then turning her slowly into the shell.

 

== Video Games ==

 

* In ''[[Lost Souls MUD]]'', a local implementation of [[Nethack]]'s "eating a mind flayer makes you smarter" makes it so that eating the neural tissue of the vlekthid (read illithid) or gogtzul (read Star-Spawn of Cthulhu) races results in that neural tissue colonizing your own nervous system, making you smarter and less emotional, and giving you both psionic powers and often-crippling mental disorders.

* ''[[Borderlands]]''' first expansion, the horror movie themed ''The Zombie Island of Dr. <s> Z</s>Ned'', has both zombies and Wereskags (skags being the planet's equivalent to dogs/wolves). Both transmit their infection/curse via bites.

* Albert Wesker of ''[[Resident Evil]]'' is infected with such a virus. It is not particularly transmissible, but it does make him something of an unstoppable badass.

** Assuming that you haven't been eating all the civilians, anyway.

* Everyone is infected in ''[[Left 4 Dead]]''. If you're lucky, nothing about you changes and you become a carrier/survivor. If you're unlucky, you become a common infected. If you're EXTREMELY unlucky, you become a special infected.

* Mitochondria Eve of [[Parasite Eve]] fame is basically a sentient and controlled version of this by manipulating the mitochondria cells in any biological lifeform, whether it be man or beast. The beasts get some pretty wicked transformations. The humans however...[[Spontaneous Human Combustion|not so]] [[I'm Melting|much]]

 

== Web Original ==

 

* A [[Shared Universe]] called ''The Blind Pig'' - and its reboot/successor [http://shifti.org/wiki/Pig_and_Whistle Pig and Whistle] - take place after a virus with unknown origins spreads throughout the Earth. A lot of the people who get it die. Some percentage of the survivors transform. A smaller percent of ''them'' get unusual abilities.

 

== Western Animation ==

[[Category:Shapeshifting]]

[[Category:Horror Tropes]]