Badass Arm-Fold

One of the few ways to indicate that you are a Badass or at least hellishly ambitious. Badasses tend to fold their arms in front of them. When you see one doing such pose, you know they are Badass or hellishly powerful, or so calm they got the situation in control or at least harbors a great ambition. It is also a symbol of cockiness. Bonus points if they have impressive muscles.

So basically, if you see people folding their arms, this is a good indication to see that they are Badass. Even if they're not, they're still showing determination/stubbornness/toughness.

Note that crossing arms below the ribcage speaks a whole other body language, and involves bringing shoulders forward defensively. This tends to denote sulkiness or defensiveness. To cross arms over chest, one must spread shoulders back, which juts out the chest and straightens the spine, making the figure stand slightly taller, and raises the chin. Each of these elements alone convey confidence, the total posture sums them up to a Badass Arm-Fold. If you wanted to add, say, the Kubrick Stare you would have to consciously lower the chin, but this tends to net more Badass points than it gives away.

Sometimes combined with I Have the High Ground. Often leads to Rebel Relaxation, but this is when they aren't leaning.

Examples of Badass Arm-Fold include:

Advertising

Mr. Clean.
Much as the Dreamworks Face is seemingly mandated by law to be on every animated movie poster, attempts at a Badass Arm-Fold now seem to pop up on every print ad for reality television, even if the subject matter is something like digging up meteorites or running a pawn shop.

Anime and Manga

Vegeta is prone to doing this in Dragonball Z.
- So is Piccolo.
- Vegetto combines this with Extremity Extremist.
Volfogg is prone to this in GaoGaiGar. Considering he's a ninja policecar robot, well, it's certainly justified. His VA then went on to do Kamina.
Subverted in the OVA of Super Robot Wars Original Generation. Only Lamia Loveless have the gall to wait for an exhibition to begin all while folding her arms in front of her. Amongst her group, she probably is the calmest and most Badass (but not the most between the whole cast). Unfortunately, for the rest of the OVA, she never gets to show her Badass qualities.
The title mecha of Gunbuster is famous for it. See its intro scene.
- Gunbuster is associated with this trope enough that anime fans tend to refer to it, when combined with the proper leg positioning and facing forward, as the Gunbuster Pose.
- Which is a case of the Weird Al Effect. Gunbuster is a mish-mash of references to Kamen Rider and other super robots, with that pose being a nod to the signature pose of Getter Dragon.
Lordgenome from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann pilots his mecha this way. Also how the SuperGalaxy Gurren Lagann is introduced, in a Gunbuster homage. Super Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann also does the pose.
- This pose is Kamina's default stance when he's not sitting down, or in his heaven piercing pose.
- Not to mention what Simon does in what's arguably the series' most famous scene.
In Sailor Moon, Tuxedo Mask often does this as he delivers his prebattle speeches.
- Makoto and Rei demonstrate.
Izumi and Sig Curtis from Fullmetal Alchemist. Ed does it a few times when he's sulking, but he's still just as Badass as the others. If I'm not mistaken, Scar had his arms crossed once in Episode 24 of the anime.
Treecko/Grovyle/Sceptile does this often in the Pokémon anime (and man is it badass).
- Ash's Buizel has this, no matter if it's serious or relaxed.
- In Pokémon Special, all of Chuck's Pokemon (And Chuck himself) do this, even while fighting. They're quite badass too.
Two Words Commander Sampson
Two more Words: Master Asia
- And the... King of Heart or whatever Domon and Rain shoot in the finale. Who cares what it was, it rocked all the same.
Voltaire of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha has a tendency to do this, as shown during the final mission in StrikerS. Considering its size and black color scheme, maybe it's a subtle Gunbuster reference?
Naruto has a habit of doing this when he's feeling particularly confident, or after having accomplished a Big Damn Heroes moment.
- Naruto, what about Gaara? He pretty much doesn't leave that position, especially not in battle; after all, his ability doesn't actually require him to move unless he's crushing someone, and even then he only needs one free hand. The armfold is practically his signature stance!
Dynamis from Negima! fights in that position. He still has two hands free, though.
Kaiba from Yu-Gi-Oh!.
Stardust Dragon does this in the fifth opening of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's.
All three Team Shots in the first three anime season openings feature Zelgadis of Slayers doing this.
This is the signature stance of Aldebaran, Rasgado and Ox; all different incarnations of the Taurus Saint.
Space Pirate Captain Harlock does this from time to time, especially when he's behind the Arcadia's ship's wheel.
During the climax of G Gundam, Domon and Rain's final technique summons the King of Hearts, who performs a badass arm fold as he blows a hole in the Final Boss.
Ranma ½: In the manga, Ranma Saotome does this on a regular basis.
Kirino's pose on the cover of the first volume of Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai! is more tsun-tsun than badass, but it's enough to undergo Memetic Mutation as seen here (NSFW).

Comic Books

Doctor Doom does this all the time.
Green Lantern Guy Gardner complained that he wasn't able to do this pose when he turned in a woman (with a physical trait common with an superheroines) in an issue of issue of Guy Gardner: Warrior.
The Silver Surfer did this to Mephisto.
Several characters in the X Wing Series comics do this, including Wedge while pondering The Chains of Commanding.
Commonly done by Superman, who stands and/or floats with arms crossed with a derisive look on his face after his opponent's attacks have failed to even make him flinch.
- Also done whenever he's chiding a crook for acting like a Jerkass, usually with a "I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed" attitude. Being Superman, this is really effective.
- Black Adam uses this all the time. All. The. Time. Normally while hovering a few inches off the ground. Alexander Luthor one time called him on it, saying that his constant hovering was creeping people out.
Cyclops of the X-Men is also prone to this when he's doing the Team Leader bit. Also, he has that "impressive muscles" part down to an absurd degree.
Thor does this (or something very similar) when he is facing down Tony Stark on the subject of Ragnarok (aka Clor)and the superhuman registration act. Tony wildly underestimates how powerful Thor actually is, and hits him with the full power of his repulsors when Thor refuses to play ball. When the dust clears, Thor is shown unharmed, and a mix of angry and disappointed with Tony. He then proceeds to beat the crap out of Tony while chiding him for not acting as a friend should.

Live-Action TV

Top Gear: When not driving, The Stig is only ever seen with his arms crossed over his chest or with his hands on his hips.
- Lampshaded in the episode where he was forced to take public transport. They wheeled him on using one of those Hannibal Lecter gurneys so he wouldn't break his cooler-than-thou pose.
Captain Jack Harkness often folds his arms in Torchwood, usually when he's in the Torchwood hub.
Just take a look around the Stargate wiki. Weir summoning this trope simply reeks of awesome.
Kamen Rider Odin tends to be in this pose most of the time.
Xena: Warrior Princess, especially effective when combined with her Kubrick Stare.
Captain Marvelous' default stance.
- Leads to a great moment in the first episode: Everything is exploding, the scenery is falling apart, and the rest of the team is ducking for cover. Marvelous? Standing unfazed, not giving a damn.
The opening credits sequence for Iron Chef America shows all of the program's chefs assuming this pose, in a visual What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome? gag.

Professional Wrestling

ECW wrestler Taz (not so much WWE's Tazz).

Video Games

Ryu from Street Fighter gives us the classic 'wind blowing' win pose, which involves this. M. Bison is also fond of this pose.
Kazuya Mishima from Tekken likes folding his arms in front of him, whether it's opening sequence, or it's winning pose. He's been doing this since his debut.
In Guilty Gear XX, whenever Sol Badguy fights a certain people (eg: Dizzy, I-No, Slayer), he folds his arms, fire comes out around him.
- And let's not forget that Justice loves doing these as well.
Amongst the three rulers in Dynasty Warriors, Cao Cao is the most ambitious. Thus, he is prone to be portrayed in this pose (especially his DW 5 official art).
Kira Daidouji from Arcana Heart is also highly ambitious and condescending and her fighting stance has her striking this pose. Her ambitions comes from her desire to, you guessed it, Take Over the World.

M. Bison: OF COURSE!!!

In City of Heroes, your character does this during his/her/its idle animation every cycle. It fits, because you play as a Comic-Book style Superhero.
Shadow from the Sonic the Hedgehog series folds his arms on a regular basis.
- Sonic does the same thing when he's bored.
Vincent Valentine from Final Fantasy VII frequently poses like this.
- Montblanc from Final Fantasy XII always does this fold. If not he only lets his arms open for a few seconds, then he does it back. He is The Captain of Clan Centurio after all...
- And in Final Fantasy X, both Kimahri and Bahamut, a seven-foot-tall lion-man and a twelve-foot tall metallic dragon respectively, do this whan standing in place, radiating Badassery. Wakka too, sometimes.
- Kain from Final Fantasy IV does this for his Victory Pose in Dissidia Duodecim.
Yuffie in Kingdom Hearts II and Final Fantasy VII.
Bang Shishigami, the hot blooded Ninja turned superhero from BlazBlue does this.
Hotsuma in the PlayStation 2 Shinobi folds his arms when standing or walking.
Falco in the Super Smash Bros. games.
Both Franziska von Karma and her father Manfred do this in the Ace Attorney series. As does Apollo.
Commander Shepard in Mass Effect is rather prone to doing this.
- DEAL WITH IT.
During the Dark Side ending to Knights of the Old Republic Revan does this while looking out over the assembled Sith armies.
As mentioned earlier in the anime and manga section, Master Asia is fond of this, as seen here in Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2 even domon indulges in it.
In the Touhou fighting games, this is the neutral stance of Gensokyo's resident Time Master Ninja Maid, Sakuya.
Legendary Ninja Fuuma Kotaro's default stance in Sengoku Basara. Takeda Shingen does it too, when he means business. Also Date Masamune rides his horse sitting like this.
Kratos Aurion in Tales of Symphonia does this quite often.
Ansem (or Xehanort's Heartless) has this as his battle pose in the Kingdom Hearts series, mainly because he lets his Guardian Heartless do all the work.
Liquid Snake did this alot in Metal Gear Solid.
It's Disgaea's very own main characeter's default pose. Laharl seems to be quite aware of it's indication, as the trope description suits him really well.
- Kurtis is doing one in his Disgaea 3 and 4 character portrait, and in his cut-in portraits starting from 2. Despite being a Prinny, it's still effective.
Duke's Idle Animation in The King of Fighters Maximum Impact is to slowly fold his arms. He's an SNK Boss.
Shuma-Gorath is known to bust out a Badass Armfold with tentacles ever so often in the Marvel vs Capcom series.
Doctor Doom has this as his idle pose in Marvel Vs Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds along with his signature cape. And it is awesome.

"Turn and run now, and I will mercifully pretend this never happened."

In Rift, this is the default idle pose for a male bahmi character on a tartagon mount.
There's two variants of this in City of Heroes. One is a sort of casual random pose your character will perform if you leave the controls alone for a while. The other is a slightly wicked take, with your legs together and your character staring slightly downward. Look GREAT if you're hovering!
As might be expected from the large number of badasses in the franchise, Hokuto Musou has quite a few of its characters do this, especially after Musou attacks. Most notable is Souther/Thouzer, whose Badass Arm Fold and Evil Laugh are both weaponized as part of his Nanto abilities.
Luigi of the Super Mario Bros. series does this as a victory pose. Granted, he grins happily when he does it.

Web Comics

Union of Heroes: The Evil Wittener does this when The Master finds out that he is in fact the former hero named "The Man From The Booth"
Kamina pulls one of these while standing on a car full of whores in the early pages of Double K. The author notes that he simply had to do it, since he never did in the main series.

Western Animation

Kim Possible: Ron Stoppable does this at the end of "So The Drama", when Dr. Drakken remembers his name.
Aladdin: The Return Of Jafar. Jafar comes out, folds his arms, hovers hugely and ominously, then leans in really close. I'd hate to be Abis Mal.
- He can pull off a Badass Arm-Fold as a human as well, just look at the scene of Aladdin where Prince Ali visits.
Chernabog's awakening in Fantasia. Seriously, that's what criminals see when Batman emerges from the shadows.
Robin and Cyborg from Teen Titans do this from time to time.
In The Legend of Korra this pose is favored by Avatar Korra, and is the stock pose she sports on her character page at nick.com, all the better for her to showcase that Sleeves Are for Wimps.
On Regular Show, Mordecai folds his arms at Rigby to show that he is pissed off at him. He even does it slowly just to show he means business.

Rigby: Don't you dare!
Mordecai: Too late. It's already in motion.

Real Life

One case of this in real life: bouncers outside of clubs. They fold their arms in front of them to make their arms look bigger and look more threatening. Similar groups, such as security guards tend to do the same.
Rugby players' pictures are often taken in this style.