What's Missing: Loss of Strength

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Originally Posted by DollyBonnie

My brother and I were talking about shrinking today and we both realized one thing we don't see a lot of is how someone who is in the process of being shrunk would get weaker.

The way we figure it, as a person gets smaller, everything around them gets bigger. And if we ignore the "Ant-Man" premise of reduction, then those items would relatively gain weight. For instance, your shirt would suddenly become too heavy and actually help "trap" you. I always favored the idea that a person who is being shrunk would be forced down onto their knees or fall down as their clothes become heavier.

Just something that I think adds to thrill of the reduction. Anyone else like this little detail or is it just us?

Sure, though it's worth considering how much it plays into the scenario. I've seen tropes about being trapped by clothes or trying lift formerly small objects as a given in a broader shrinking story, but how about where strength is a major focus? It can be in 2 ways:

1) A strong woman becomes tiny, thus negating their power except compaired to other tiny women: an inch-tall Wonder Woman can lift a penny over her head, but is still no match for a normal sized person's hand.

2) The shrinking process is more about body transformation leading to loss of muscle and stature: a burly 6ft tall amazon who can toss boulders becomes a skinny 4ft tall pipsqueak who can't lift a sword.

I think part of the thrill of transformation is affecting one's identity and, while not being able to hold up regular sized clothes would be jarring to anyone, I think having strength being more tied to who a person thinks they are and then sapping them of it would have a bigger impact.

Does that make sense?