Monday, July 29, 2013

The Golden Ass (Donkey Transformation)

Here's a treat for my readers--the granddaddy of all transformation stories! The Golden Ass (aka The Metamorphoses of Apuleius) is a novel from Roman times, written by Apuleius, namesake of yours truly. Dating from the second century A.D., it concerns a young man named Lucius, the victim of a spell gone wrong: instead of turning into a bird, he becomes a donkey and has many picaresque adventures. After eating a crown of roses, he turns back into a human.

Apuleius derived his story from a now lost work, possibly written the Greco-Roman satirist Lucian. Another very similar work was also derived from this source. Called Lucius, or The Ass, it offers the first version of the donkey transformation:

So Palestra stole softly into the room and fetched me the bottle. I tore off my clothes and rubbed the stuff all over me--but the result was not at all what I intended. A tail shot out behind me, my fingers and toes disappeared and were replaced by four great nails, exactly like hooves, my hands and feet lost all resemblance to human ones, my ears grew long and pointed, and my face swelled up to a monstrous size. I turned around to look at myself, and found that I was nothing more or less than a donkey.

Apuleius closely followed this description, but added an amusing detail:

I hastily tore off all my clothes, dipped my hands eagerly into the box, drew out a good quantity of ointment, and rubbed all my limbs with it. I then flapped my arms up and down, imitating the movements of a bird. But no down and no signs of feathers appeared. Instead, the hair on my body was becoming coarse bristles, and my tender skin was hardening into hide. There were no longer five fingers at the extremities of my hands, for each was compressed into one hoof. From the base of my spine protruded an enormous tail. My face became misshapen, my mouth widened, my nostrils flared open, my lips became pendulous, and my ears huge and bristly. The sole consolation I could see in this wretched transformation was the swelling of my penis...

Incidentally, the above translation is from the Oxford World's Classics edition, which I recommend to anyone who wishes to read this still-amusing novel for themselves. The influence of The Golden Ass is hard to underestimate--it likely inspired the donkey transformation scene in Carlo Collodi's Pinnocchio, leading to Walt Disney's classic adaptation, which features the most famous donkey transformation of them all.

But we're here to discuss a comic adaptation of The Golden Ass by the great erotic artist Milo Manara. Le metamorfosi o l'asino d'oro is an abridged but faithful retelling of Apuleius, and I'm happy to offer my readers several scans in English. However, since this is a Manara comic, keep in mind that these pictures are not safe for work.





It's hard to see how a film would do better than this. Manara's excellent draftsmanship vividly conveys the bristly hair growth and grotesque, rubbery facial contortions of the original transformation. And he doesn't forget to do justice to the "sole consolation" of being a donkey!

Here we see Lucius return to his studly human form:



Wasn't that fantastic? I love it when I can cover two thousand years of transformations in one post. Many thanks to Lucian, Milo, and good old Apuleius!



Tara Duncan (Werewolf Transformations)

Tara Duncan is a French fantasy cartoon. One of its minor characters, Fabrice, happens to be a werewolf, and he's seen transforming in episodes 6 ("Frère de crocs") and 15 ("Le regard de Claire"). The first two transformations in this clip are from the former, the last TF from the latter. The transformations are somewhat disappointing, since rely too much on the old cheat of having glowing light obscure the changing body parts.

Rated A For Awesome (Monkey Transformation)

Rated A For Awesome is a computer animated series made in Canada. In episode 12 (or 24, since each episode consists of two stories), the main character Les gets his DNA mixed with a monkey's. The first part of his transformation starts at school--sadly the second part occurs off camera. I've roughly edited together a  video for your enjoyment...

Wolfenjump (Werewolf Transformation)

Wolfenjump is an online anthology of indie/anime comics that have a wolf theme. One of these comics, titled "Luna," also has a werewolf transformation. See it here.

Saturday, July 13, 2013

Versipellis (Werewolf Transformation)

Many thanks to Werefan for making this clip possible.

The clip below is from a hard-to-find Italian short film. The transformation itself is abbreviated (and it looks like the rest of it would have involved skin-ripping), but as werefan points out, the real glory of the film is the werewolf suit, with its excellent design and menacing face. Proof yet again that old-fashioned special effects can still kick CGI's ass.



Hor Taew Taek Waek Chi-Mi (Werewolf Transformation)

Hor Taew Taek Waek Chi-Mi  apparently is the third installment of a transvestite ghost-comedy franchise. (yeah, you heard me right), and this time werewolves and vampires are involved. It's an incredible farrago, but here's a quick and shoddy werewolf transformation, with added slow-motion replay at the end.

Apparently the werewolf (the hunk with the chin beard) is confronting the vampire (the hunk in the pool who can get changed quickly). Or so I think. It's not as if explaining it would make this clip make sense. But at least the werewolf is a stud.




Le Collège Invisible (Werewolf and Zombie Transformations)

This comedic bande dessinée is about some teenagers attending a school for magic (sounds familiar?). In Volume 2, Thomas (the hero William's best friend) contracts lycanthropy, giving rise to the following dialogue:
-- Uh ... William, I'm growing hair.
-- At our age that's normal Thomas. It's puberty, your body changes, it's nothing to be ashamed of.
--No, I'm really growing hair.


The comic than skips ahead a couple pages before returning to the transformation:
I'm not going to translate the whole page, but "couché" obviously is equivalent to "sit!"


After Thomas wakes up human the next day, he's told of his condition, and asks if he was bitten last month. That should be easy to verify, says William:
"Ah," says William, "you see, I was right...you can still see the mark. Crazy! My friend is a werewolf. My cousin will be jealous--his friend is just a redhead."


Later we get a one-panel transformation:


After this, we get another one-panel TF in Volume 4, when Thomas is in a magic competition with someone who foolishly generates a fool moon...


Lastly, in Volume 7 Thomas is held at gunpoint and comes up with a visual simile:


And that's all. The series has reached 10 volumes, but with no decent werewolf transformations in the last three entries. However, as a bonus I'm throwing in a zombie/ghoul transformation from Volume 5. Enjoy mes amis!