About the "traditional" shifting scene

This is the place for discussion and voting on various aspects of werewolf life, social ideas, physical appearance, etc. Also a place to vote on how a werewolf should look.
Post Reply
JoshuaMadoc
Legendary
Legendary
Posts: 1257
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2005 6:36 pm
Custom Title: HERO OF NIGHTMARES
Gender: Male
Additional Details: I just don't care.
Mood: Indifferent
Location: Ausfailia
Contact:

About the "traditional" shifting scene

Post by JoshuaMadoc »

I get that the "modern traditional" way of depicting a scene of transformation involves claws emerging from nails and teeth somehow sharpening itself into fangs and somehow the claws receding back into the nailholes, and the fangs dulling back to human-shaped, but just hear me out for a bit here, because I came up with an alternative that'll at least stay here in the archives indefinitely, no matter how many of you folks look at this with varying degrees of disdain, and I just want to contribute more to the well. s***, I don't know, maybe it's not a new idea and instead it'll be a reminder.

When someone changes for the first time, it begins with them losing their nails, every strand of hair in their body, and lastly, before the change is done, all the teeth fall off. All of that is permanently replaced with claws that sprout out of the tips of the fingers and toes, the new "hair" that grows is something closer to fur, and the human teeth was being pushed out by rapidly-growing fangs.

I think the rest isn't as important as these three. Maybe I'll put up illustrations on the difference between a human and the werewolf's human form after their first change. But hey, at least with this, you won't have to explain how all those fangs magically dulled to human shape.
User avatar
Volkodlak
Legendary
Legendary
Posts: 944
Joined: Tue Aug 07, 2012 12:05 am
Gender: Male
Mood: Bored
Location: Slovenia

Re: About the "traditional" shifting scene

Post by Volkodlak »

Well showing how someone losses their nails and teeths during tf is brutal, but its tottaly possible if you try too look at werewolf as non magical creature.
Image
User avatar
Uniform Two Six
Legendary
Legendary
Posts: 1142
Joined: Wed Sep 06, 2006 8:56 pm
Location: Hayward, CA

Re: About the "traditional" shifting scene

Post by Uniform Two Six »

Sort of like the transformation scene in Cursed.

The part about the fingernails and teeth falling out reminds me too much of the transformation in Hemlock Grove though.
:sickpup:
User avatar
Phoenix Ravenwolf
Legendary
Legendary
Posts: 142
Joined: Sun Jul 17, 2005 9:31 pm
Custom Title: Sparky
Mood: Excited
Location: Phoenix AZ
Contact:

Re: About the "traditional" shifting scene

Post by Phoenix Ravenwolf »

not having seen either Cursed or Hemlock Grove.....

Seems like a plausible way around the issue. Unpleasant, sure, and a rather messy affair, but makes sense to me.
http://phoenixravenwolf.deviantart.com/
So ... um... yeah...... hi

Gchat: mikeRavenwolf
User avatar
Meeper
Legendary
Legendary
Posts: 610
Joined: Thu Apr 16, 2009 12:07 pm
Custom Title: Friendly Neighbourhood Meeper
Gender: Male
Additional Details: Wannabe mad scientist.
Mood: Busy

Re: About the "traditional" shifting scene

Post by Meeper »

Ahh, the topic of transformations. Once more into the breech.

Teeth:
Agreed, teeth falling out is pretty gross, but it happens to all of us once in our lifetime. If we're going non-magical then by god it's deeply rooted in the biology (punned!). Hemlock Grove doesn't count, as juicy as the metaphor was, the eyeballs dropping out is pretty much taking the piss, a cheap special effects hack.

Fingernails/claws:
Y'know, it amuses me how many a werewolf can grow a bunch of hair just fine, but claws need to burst through existing fingernails (which magically dissapear, only to reappear when they retract), which is another one of those cheap special effects hacks, it's visually effective, and you can build it in an effects workshop. I've said it before, I'll say it again, the existing fingernail can, like hair, grow out from its existing bed in the skin. No gore necessary. At the end of the night, a new fingernail grows under the claw, the claw shells off like a thick scale, done (oh wait, that would leave evidence, can't have that! :P ).

First time transformation:
Much of the existing depictions of the transformations, at least in most movies, is anchored by having an attractive male werewolf who can't possibly show any unforgivable physical deformation while in his human form because that's how the drama works, and he needs to be all interesting and attractive and wonderful for the love of his life :P .I'd voucher that the reality would be, in a non-magical werewolf, where such things as a second coming of "adult teeth" is proposed to occur, that the first transformation would variously and permanently disfigure the rest of the human form in very noticeable ways. Whether the human form is only disfigured to the point of having eyebrows meet in the middle, or retain extensive anatomical disfigurements, is of course up for debate, but personally I'd be leaning far more to the latter.

I am tempted to ramble on, the fun I could have elaborating on how a first time werewolf feeding frenzy might cause more severe body disfigurement and increased overall size resulting in the proverbial big bad wolf, but I think I may have slightly bent the topic a bit in my sleep deprived stupor. Shall end there. Off to sleep I go.

The Meeper.
While the empty can may rattle the most, of equal or potentially greater import is what the reputably quiet cans are really full of.
All names are but souvenirs, in the end. Make good of your stay, so that they hold happy memories ~ Some guy.
Wise men speak because they have something to say. Fools speak because they have to say something.
To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
User avatar
Uniform Two Six
Legendary
Legendary
Posts: 1142
Joined: Wed Sep 06, 2006 8:56 pm
Location: Hayward, CA

Re: About the "traditional" shifting scene

Post by Uniform Two Six »

Meeper wrote: Thu Aug 25, 2016 8:51 pm Hemlock Grove doesn't count, as juicy as the metaphor was, the eyeballs dropping out is pretty much taking the piss, a cheap special effects hack.
Not to mention, the transformed werewolf eating all the stuff that fell off, obviously, transparently there only for the gross-out effect.
Meeper wrote: Thu Aug 25, 2016 8:51 pm I am tempted to ramble on, the fun I could have elaborating on how a first time werewolf feeding frenzy might cause more severe body disfigurement and increased overall size
I sort of thought the bit in the Patricia Briggs novels, where the exact opposite is the case, was sort of cool. Werewolves who don't eat a ton of food quickly become emaciated as their own bodies begin metabolizing themselves to fuel the transformations.

And if Slim-Fast doesn't work, there's always lycanthropy! :evil:
User avatar
Meeper
Legendary
Legendary
Posts: 610
Joined: Thu Apr 16, 2009 12:07 pm
Custom Title: Friendly Neighbourhood Meeper
Gender: Male
Additional Details: Wannabe mad scientist.
Mood: Busy

Re: About the "traditional" shifting scene

Post by Meeper »

Uniform Two Six wrote: Sat Aug 27, 2016 1:57 am
Meeper wrote: Thu Aug 25, 2016 8:51 pm Hemlock Grove doesn't count, as juicy as the metaphor was, the eyeballs dropping out is pretty much taking the piss, a cheap special effects hack.
Not to mention, the transformed werewolf eating all the stuff that fell off, obviously, transparently there only for the gross-out effect.
Like the teeth and eyes, as gross as that was, it's actually a pretty plausible idea that adds realism weight to the brutality of both the transformation and the werewolf. Sadly, it's a case of a good idea being built on top of a questionable one, that itself has been spiced up to the point of silly. They probably gave themselves a pat on the back for adding it, and talked themselves into believing the other things were good as well. It's a mixed bag, but I don't blame them too much, it's easy for me to go all post-mortem on it.
Uniform Two Six wrote: Sat Aug 27, 2016 1:57 am
Meeper wrote: Thu Aug 25, 2016 8:51 pm I am tempted to ramble on, the fun I could have elaborating on how a first time werewolf feeding frenzy might cause more severe body disfigurement and increased overall size
I sort of thought the bit in the Patricia Briggs novels, where the exact opposite is the case, was sort of cool. Werewolves who don't eat a ton of food quickly become emaciated as their own bodies begin metabolizing themselves to fuel the transformations.

And if Slim-Fast doesn't work, there's always lycanthropy! :evil:
Hah, that reminds me of Dead-Zone, the coma diet, lose weight while you sleep.
While the empty can may rattle the most, of equal or potentially greater import is what the reputably quiet cans are really full of.
All names are but souvenirs, in the end. Make good of your stay, so that they hold happy memories ~ Some guy.
Wise men speak because they have something to say. Fools speak because they have to say something.
To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
User avatar
Phoenix Ravenwolf
Legendary
Legendary
Posts: 142
Joined: Sun Jul 17, 2005 9:31 pm
Custom Title: Sparky
Mood: Excited
Location: Phoenix AZ
Contact:

Re: About the "traditional" shifting scene

Post by Phoenix Ravenwolf »

Personally, I'm all for the realism. though I'm not against the more "magic" based TFs either.
How else are you going to explain the mass delta? I guess of all the weird things to bother me about a werewolf, it's the depiction of a creature that can transition between an average human and a much larger, muscle-dense creature and back again. Where does that extra mass come from, and where does it go? (things probably covered in another thread i'm sure) I guess it's the engineer in me that has that nagging voice in the back of my head screaming "Conservation of Mass!!!!!" rofl

But yeah, either way, I would agree that metabolism would be screaming hot to pull off a transformation like that. Could make them easier to pick out of a crowd with a FLIR too, with a core temp higher than average.
http://phoenixravenwolf.deviantart.com/
So ... um... yeah...... hi

Gchat: mikeRavenwolf
User avatar
Volkodlak
Legendary
Legendary
Posts: 944
Joined: Tue Aug 07, 2012 12:05 am
Gender: Male
Mood: Bored
Location: Slovenia

Re: About the "traditional" shifting scene

Post by Volkodlak »

Conservation of Mass issue:

well what if mass is constant all the time, but this would only work if transformed werewolf is not much larger than human so 8ft tall werewolf is out. Well you aldo could go for magical werewolf and so you can throw Conservation of Mass out of the window
Image
Post Reply