Transformation / TF

About

Transformation, or TF, is a type of fetish featuring a character developing, or “transforming” from their own species into an animal or an inanimate object. This fetish is most common in furries and cartoon fans. TF art is usually drawn in a sequence or a comic, showing the stages of a transformation, although a single-pane mid-transformation picture is also common.

History

Origin

The idea of transformation has existed for centuries, and can go back as far as the stories of skin-walkers in Native American legends or the Selkies in Northwestern Europe mythology. The idea of lycanthropy and vampires also contributed to the origins of transformation, as did fairy tales like the Frog Prince. In modern times, various cartoons and films of the 1980’s and 1990’s like Street Sharks, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Rock-a-Doodle and An American Wolf in London played a great factor in the development of the internet-age TF fandom.

The earliest known transformation-related website is the Transformation Story Archive^[1] which was created by Thomas Hassan in 1995^[2] to archive amateur TF work. From 1996 to 2001, the 54-part children’s book series Animorphs, written by K.A. Applegate was published, inspiring further development in the fanbase and is known by many as the reason for joining the fandom.

A popular variation of TF is Transgender (often abbreviated as TG), which involves a transformation of sex change, usually male to female. Typically most TG arts are used in conjunction with TF itself, which results in the combined abbreviation “TGTF”.

Spread

In 1997, the TF archive site “Transfur” was established, and in September of 1999 the cartoon TF archive website “Shadowlord Inc.” was created. As early as 2003, transformation art has been put onto DeviantArt, and since the creation of the website FurAffinity in 2005. The first Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games were released in late 2006, drawing further development of younger TF fans and attributing greatly to the “Pokémon” subset of TF. Many cartoon-oriented bureaus also focus on transformation art. Transformation has also been known as a focus of the webcomics “El Goonish Shive” and “The Wotch”.^[3]

The audience of TF is extremely diverse. In furry-oriented sites such as FurAffinity or Inkbunny, most TF have adult patrons and tend to be more explicit in nature. In DeviantART, however, a sizable number of TF fans are below the age of 17. The TF works in DA are usually SFW, less serious and often of low quality due to general lack of talent.

Inanimate TFs

Inanimate TFs are a specialized subset of TF featuring one or more victims transforming into an inanimate object, like dolls, plushies, or crystal statues, possibly influenced by stories with unusual polymorphs. Extreme cases may include non-corporeal objects such as furniture, electronic devices, a surreal deformation of the victim’s body, or even another fetish or genitalia itself.