| Term |
Definition |
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| Qanekelak |
The name given to a whale entity by Native Americans of northwestern Canada. The creature had the body of a whale and the torso of a human (apparently a merman-type morph) until he transformed into a human and became the ancestor of the killer whale clan. |
| Quange |
A term coined by Roy D.Pounds II. A centaur with a horse's head rather than a human head. Also known as an Equitaur. |
R
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| Radiation / Rays |
A source of energy that radiates out, caused either by radioactive decay, artificial means, or the sun or other interstellar source. Used as a way to grant powers or cause transformation in fiction. In real life, such transformations may occur as random mutations in one's unborn children after being exposed, and such changes are usually more harmful than good. |
| Ranma 1/2 |
Title of a popular Japanese manga / anime series, centered around a young martial artist Ranma Saotome who transforms into a girl every time he is splashed with cold water, and turns back into a boy when he is doused with hot water. This is due to a dunking in the legendary "Training Ground of Accursed Springs"(see entry) which cursed him, and many other supporting characters of the comic with this unique affliction. The transformations are usually instant in nature or are obscured by water. While it is a martial arts comic, there is plenty of humor involved during the battles, and of course the periodic hunt for a cure to the curse of the springs. |
| Raven |
A culture-hero of Northwest Pacific and Alaskan Native American tribes. Raven is a trickster, and a shape shifter, able to turn from a man into a Raven and back. He is often portrayed in artwork of the region as his namesake, a black raven. In Alaskan totem poles, he is often shown in conjunction with his wife, Fog Woman, who created salmon (A primary food source for many tribes). When Raven took her for granted, she left, turning into fog and taking the salmon with her. She returns as fog with the Salmon when the salmon return to their rivers to spawn. |
| Red Kryptonite |
A radioactive mineral used in DC Comics "Superman" stories in the 1950's-early 1980's that would cause weird unexplained changes in Kryptonians. Among those changes were Superman being turned into a flying snake, getting a giant ant head, being turned into a monkey (as Superboy) and so on. Such changes were temporary, lasting 24 hours or the end of the comic, whichever came first. Red Kryptonite (Along with Gold, which would remove a Kryptonian 's powers, White which was fatal to plants, Blue, which would affect Bizarros, and Jewel, which was never really given any noteworthy attributes) was largely removed from the DC Continuum when the DC Universe was reinvented and revamped in the mid 1980's, leaving only Green Kryptonite which is fatal to Superman. |
| Regeneration |
1. The process by which a missing limb or organ is regrown. Primitive creatures, such as starfish have this ability. 2. The process by which an entity is completely healed and restored. The best example of this is from the British BBC series "Doctor Who" where the Doctor (a Time Lord) has the ability to regenerate and create a new body (and personality) for himself when the old body was too severely injured to be repaired.- he could regenerate up to twelve times before he died. In practical terms, it allowed an outgoing actor who played the part of the Doctor to leave the show, and the new actor would come in as the regenerated Doctor.. Thus the half-hour series managed to stay in production for some thirty years. |
| Reincarnation |
An alternative to the afterlife, the concept is that once a person dies, they are reborn again on Earth. The concept is most well developed in Buddhism and other Eastern religions, where how you act in your current life dictates how you are reborn. A particularly evil person could find themselves reborn as a snake or a cockroach. A particularly good person would ascend to the next spiritual plane. In most cases their past lives are forgotten. |
| Remote |
Often referred to as "The Ultimate Remote" this is a transformation inducing device that resembles a remote control for a television set. While it's functions vary from story to story, just like remotes vary from one set to the other, a few buttons remain constant; mute of course, quiets the subject it is used on; the change channel button transforms the subject, often into a famous personality; the number buttons are used to assign values; and the volume buttons are sometimes applied to increase or decrease size. Extra function buttons are often added for specific Transformations that the writer wishes to have done. Sometimes the remote projects the person holding it right into the television set and they become part of the program. Although the origins of the concept are obviously rooted in TV, the basic inspiration for it may have come from the movie "Stay Tuned" where people are sucked into a demonic television network, and the key to getting around and out is the TV remote. A similar remote was used in the movie "Cat Women from the Moon" although it was not a central feature. See also: Computer. |
| Rings |
Possibly the most commonly used form of jewelry in passing on wishes, curses, power and enchantments, due to its small size, and former significance as performing as a seal or signature for its wearer. Disney's "The Shaggy Dog" movie had a cursed ring that changed the wearer into a dog periodically. The Lord Of The Rings Series has the :"One True Ring" which on the surface at least, grants the wearer invisibility, although it slowly transforms them into a horror like Gollum. DC Comics has several characters called "Green Lantern" who use a power ring to project whatever they want, although it must be recharged from a lantern-like "battery" |
| Rhyme |
A spoken verse. Rhymes are sometimes used as spoken spells. Sometimes magical creatures talk in rhyme to show how clever they are, or as an indication of rank. One rhyme that causes a transformation comes from DC Comics, and applied to a character named Jason Blood, an immortal cursed knight from Camelot. By his, or someone else saying in his presence "Gone, gone o form of man/ rise the demon Etrigan" changes him into a yellow demonic creature named Etrigan who proceeds to raise havoc until a counter-rhyme is said. In proper form, Etrigan is also a rhyming demon (although some writers don't do this). |
| RPG |
Role Playing Game. |
| Robots |
In fiction, robots often have the option of transforming, or appearing as a human, although their physical and mental abilities exceed human levels considerably. One of the first takes on this was in the 1927 silent movie "Metropolis" where a robot is disguised as a woman to replace the labor caste's leader and the main character's love interest - and as an instrument of destruction. The "Terminator" film series took this to an extreme level in the 1990's Terminator 2 movie where a robot from the future was made of a amorphous material that could reshape itself to duplicate the form of any human, as well as repair itself. Other robots with transforming powers from comics and pop culture include: the Adaptiod, Amazo, The Metal Men, and The Transformers. |
| Rokurokubi |
A type of Japanese demon that appears as normal person (generally female) but have the ability to stretch their necks out to impossibly long lengths to scare or spy on people. |
| Rubber- |
Rubber is one of the oldest known stretchy substances (although it's first use was to 'rub out' pencil marks like today's eraser- hence the original name "Rubber") As a result, contortionists who often went by the title "India Rubber Men" began to appear in sideshows and other entertainment circuits. Not to be left out, comics adopted rubber to their super hero power line up. Such rubber heroes tend to have the ability to stretch an elongate their bodies in a variety of ways, although they tend not to have the ability to completely reshape their bodies into a duplicate of other objects - such as a toaster or lamp. Those who are able to do that fall more into the "Plastic" category (See Plastic-) Rubber type heroes include Elastic Lad, Elongated Man, Madame Rogue, and Mr. Fantastic. |
| RUCT |
(?) Rarely Used Creatures in Transformation. A term coined by Jaggs for a contest for artists and writers to utilize less commonly used creatures for transformation (ie, insects, amphibians, mollusks, etc). |
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