Shapeshifter who has a hard time turning back into their original form because it’s really hard to objectively envision what you look like outside of your own head
Shapeshifter with body dysmorphia stuck in a cycle of slowly phasing into a more unpleasant version of themselves as their self esteem deteriorates and then trying to compensate by tucking everything back into an unrealistically polished version, having a hard time getting perspective on what they actually look like because they spend so much energy yo-yoing with their form like that.
I play with this idea with the shapeshifter Geothunder. He’s so far from what he originally was that now everything is his own memory.
Originally his body was a small woman’s, now his default ‘form’ is a large grey boulder thing, and he has enough mass he can’t really be shorter than eight feet tall unless he wants to be super broad when he’s humanoid.
The problem his memory isn’t so great so everytime he shifts back to a face from his ‘I AM TOTALLY A GIANT SCARY ROCK MONSTER’ fighting form, it’s changed slightly so by the end of the month he usually looks like an entirely different person than the one who started it.
He’s started taking photos on his phone to keep track of what he should look like. He’s grateful for large bulky clothes which mean he doesn’t have to define what his body looks like beyond arms, legs, torso.
People think he’s doing that sexy shapeshifter trope because he’s part of a romantic trio with two girlfriends, but he’s effectively asexual, though not aromantic. And once you get the clothes off, you realize he’s really sort of working with clay, not Mystique levels of control.
