For me, its "Power, Trancendence, and Secrets".

Similar to my superhero fetish , I love the secret identity aspect - a powerful supernatural creature hiding in plain sight, disguised as a normal, weak person from a previous human existence.

Of course, there's also the abandonment of humanity and embracing the untamed forces of the wild. Mysterious, dangerous, yet beautiful.

Hmm, superheroes and TF do sound pretty similar now that you mention it, especially since there are superheroes who shapeshift. XD

I'm not sure, whether you mean the process itself, or the result, but it's mainly the wish of making new experiences, master abilities you'd like to have. Deal with problems, that were always too big for you.

For example: have the power to fight against dangerous animals/thugs. Become part of the animal hierarchy.

I just meant TF as a whole.

That sounds interesting. A way of dealing with problems and to better yourself.

I feel like I should comment my thoughts seeing as I made this journal.

I see TF as breaking free from restrictions society places on you or the restrictions you place on yourself. Not being self-confident or even assertive, I feel like TF subjects end up having confidence. But the thing is, TF subjects really lose their minds so there's really no sense of confidence. That's the downside. That's the extreme. They can't control themselves in a sociological manner. I guess what I'm trying to say is that people don't give a fuck about other people after they TF. I'm always worried about what people think. Sure there's embarrassment and power that comes with TF but I think it has to do with the freedom to be yourself and have the self-esteem, confidence and self-respect without anyone else critically judging you.

Well, that and some psychological changes in perspective.

I prescribe to the belief that werewolves think themselves as wolves primarily, wearing the "skin" of their previous human existence and identity to blend in with human society. And as such there's a certain empowerment and increased self-confidence that the morals and restrictions of human society doesn't apply to a werewolf.

Werewolves are comfortable with their body. ;) So nudity comes naturally and the shape of the human form should be irrelevant. Only the wolf form is their true self.

Well, those are some of the "rules" I developed over the years. Your mileage may vary. XD

That's very intriguing, especially given that most werewolves in media are the opposite. They have this angst about it. So instead of accepting the wolf form as their true self, they fear it. It's the Jekyll and Hyde scenario.

Your idea makes sense, especially when it translates to empowerment and self confidence. Though I think that werewolves can be able to hold a healthy balance of the human/wolf duality. But it just comes down to figuring out how to do that.

I wonder, if there are degrees of the impact, than an TF has on the subject. We portray TFs as the change of certain body parts, but not all would be as radical. I'm not an expert on Dragon Ball, but if the protagonist only ends up having a monkey tail, he continues to be mostly human afterwards. The implications would be almost neglectable.

In a light-hearted and battle-heavy shonen anime such as Dragon Ball, they kinda glance over implications, because after every fight, I suppose they would show cities trying to rebuild themselves.

Every full moon, the protagonist turns into a giant monkey, loses his mind, and destroys everything. Next morning, he wakes up naked not knowing what happened. He gets some clothes and goes off to the next adventure with his friends. Hardly any realistic real-world implications. The only stand-out one is that he accidentally stepped on his adoptive grandfather, killing him. Every other day and night, he's just a kid with a monkey tail. He doesn't keep fur anywhere else on his body. People get weirded out by the tail, but that's all. So... basically the guy's a giant were-monkey. Sometimes characters destroy the moon to stop him from TF-ing. (But it gets brought back later.) If the protagonist's tail were to be cut off, he won't be able to transform again. It's later introduced that he's from an alien race that does basically the same thing. Some characters from that race use their TF in battles, but that's it. Also when the protagonist grows up, he has a kid that turns into a giant monkey too. But that problem's basically solved in the first or second season. So the Dragon Ball example has little to no implications. It's just how I got into TF. XD

I'm pretty sure there are other pieces of media that explore implications as well as the impact I think you're talking about.

I finally get, what Dragon Ball is all about... ^^

It's more like fighting, yelling, fighting, more yelling and even more yelling. XD

Isn't this Pokemon in a nutshell?

With more beating each other up, bleeding, and explosions.

No longer bound or restricted by the rules of society or reality, being free to act entirely on instinct