Transhuman Treachery – TV Tropes

Posted: July 9, 2015 at 3:40 am

When given powers or made non-human, characters gladly betray humanity and side with their creator. Part of the Horror of being infected by The Virus is its ability to corrupt the mind of a victim, subordinating them into a Hive Mind or outright making them a sociopathic shell of their former self, intent only on killing or infecting their former loved ones. But then there's times that a transformation doesn't brainwash, de-soul, drive insane, or demonically possess the victim. Other times the Viral Transformation causes changes that are purely cosmetic, granting amazing abilities albeit at great cost and (usually) a horrifying appearance. So what do these unwilling tranformees do? Become Phlebotinum Rebels or Vampire Refugees and use their powers to fight these monsters? Nope. They engage in Transhuman Treachery. They sell out humanity and ally with who- or what-ever did this to them, regardless of whether or not they wanted to kill all vampires, robots, mutants, or aliens five minutes ago. There is no shock, only joy at becoming "more" than human and being able to flout society's rules. If this Face-Heel Turn is too quick, it gives the impression that one of the other things is going, like The Dark Side, or With Great Power Comes Great Insanity. However; this trope may be justified a couple of ways. If The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body it doesn't matter that vampire Dan doesn't want to drink human blood, he has to, and trying to be friendly won't last. Alternately, someone seeking the Curse That Cures may make the painful choice to switch sides to save their life. If the setting has an ongoing "race war" against what the character has become, if they don't join their new race they'll quickly face death. However most of the time the switch in alliances comes about with alarming speed and lack of concern. At best you'll see these Big Bad Friends offer the transformation to a friend or loved one... and kill them if they refuse. The Dark Side, they have cookies. It seems resisting these new biological impulses or avoiding becoming drunk on power is reserved solely for protagonists with Heroic Willpower. A possible cause of Beware the Superman, this is the third sin in the Scale of Scientific Sins. Compare Sheep in Wolf's Clothing and Species Loyalty. Contrast Monsters Anonymous. May lead to forming an Anti-Human Alliance. Opposite Trope to Pro-Human Transhuman or Humanity Is Infectious, depending on the details.

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Transhuman Treachery - TV Tropes

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