Expecting Someone Taller: Difference between revisions

[[File:FirstBite_SomeoneTaller_2836FirstBite SomeoneTaller 2836.jpg|link=Chick Tracts|frame| <small>Jack Chick: "First Bite"</small> ]]

'''Anakin:''' General Grievous. You're ''shorter'' than I expected.|''[[Revenge of the Sith]]''}}

So it's been a while since you answered the [[Call to Adventure]], and you've had some successes. ''Spectacular'' successes, even. Everyone has [[Famed in Story|heard of what you've done]] and everyone knows your name. . . but they don't know what you look like, and you don't exactly [[Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance|look the part]]. Maybe you're the [[Kid Hero]], [[Little Miss Badass]], [[Cute Bruiser]], [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old]], a [[Lady of War]] with a [[Tomboyish Name]], or maybe you just [[Hollywood Homely|lack the movie-star looks]] everyone associates with a heroic role.

* ''[[Black Cat (manga)|Black Cat]]'': This happens occasionally to Train Heartnet -- mostlyHeartnet—mostly in the manga. Having been the strongest member of [[Nebulous Evil Organization|Chronos]] and a legendary and feared assassin, many people are shocked when they find out how young he is. Of course, an extreme example of this occurs when Train gets transformed into a child after getting hit with the Lucifer bullet. Chronos assassins who want to kill him are rather shocked when he claims to be the Black Cat.

* In ''[[Baccano!]]'', a couple of [[The Mafia|Russo-affiliated thugs]] are given the task of hunting down a man who managed to single-handedly destroy and rob ''eighteen'' of their speakeasies in a single night. And just who is that implacable, [[One-Man Army]] of [[Badass|Badassery]]ery, you might ask? [http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v44/Dragynstorm/Baccano_9.jpg This guy]. No, not the one with a gun. The guy in the vest who's bawling his eyes out.

** The only things known about Vash is that he's tall, has blonde hair, and a red coat. Some other details occasionally pop up, but those are as often wrong as right (such as him using a boomerang) from seeing people mistaken for Vash.<br /><br />The first episode of the anime focuses on several bounty hunters who become suspicious of each other as they try to figure out who the real Vash is. Conversely, in the manga, the cities are festooned with wanted ads featuring his ''picture'', so this isn't an issue.

* When Shuji from ''[[Durarara!!]]'' set out to interview the most fearsome man in Ikebukuro, he was expecting to find a large, over-muscled monster of a man covered in scars and tattoos. What he got was Shizuo, a slim, quiet young man who insisted that he hated violence. Of course, nobody told Shuji that Shizuo had both a [[Hair-Trigger Temper]] and [[Super Strength]], and thus Shuji found himself tossed around like a baseball after asking exactly one too many questions. Ironically, Shuji notes that the only thing that ''did'' match his mental image of Shizuo was that he was just about as tall as he expected.

* Used in ''[[Kirby: ofRight theBack Starsat Ya!]]''. When the residents of Pop Star learn that a mighty Star Warrior is coming, Tiff pictures a handsome, sword-wielding hero vaguely similar to [[Fire Emblem|Roy]]. Instead, she gets... [[Kid Hero|Kirby.]]

* ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20101018085427/http://www.spike.com/video/star-wars-episode/2663936 Star Wars Episode III: A Lost Hope]''. ...

* In the film ''[[Road House]]'', Patrick Swayze's character -- acharacter—a legendary bouncer -- getsbouncer—gets this from several characters, who mention that they "thought he'd be bigger" at completely random intervals and as if they were [[Strange Minds Think Alike|somehow aware that several people have said it to him before and are joking about it now]].

* ''[[Kung Fu Hustle]]''. [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|The Beast]] is a legendary killing machine, locked away in an asylum. When Sing is sent to retrieve him, he's a little surprised to see a balding old man, in flip flops.

* Arthur from [[Garth Nix]]'s ''[[Keys to the Kingdom]]'' books is an asthmatic 12-year-old. By the third book, someone has taken to writing fictionalised versions of his already fairly impressive accomplishments that portray him as seven feet tall and looking akin to a Greek God. People tend to be somewhat disappointed upon meeting him in person.<br /><br />His [[Sidekick]] Suzy Turquoise Blue is similarly transformed from a 16th-century English street urchin with [[The Dung Ages|historically accurate hygiene]] to a Ninja assassin killing machine. Dame Primus, the incarnation of the last will and testament of the universe's creator, becomes a were-bear-frog. Ironically, this makes it ''much less terrifying'' than it is. Arthur subverts this trope as his constant usage of the Keys causes him to get taller.

* ''[[The Dresden Files]]''

** In ''Small Favor'', Harry has been fighting the Billy Goats Gruff, and each successive set of brothers becomes a hell of a lot taller -- withtaller—with the third wave, consisting of a single gruff nicknamed "Tiny" being about the size of a double-decker bus. Then Eldest Gruff shows up while Harry is hiding inside a building, and Harry levels his staff at the roof of the little shack. He hears Eldest thumping along as he approaches, and aims a little higher. Then, Eldest walks in. {{spoiler|[[Pint-Sized Powerhouse|He's five feet tall]]. Five-two, ''tops''.}}

** ''[[Discworld/The Light Fantastic|The Light Fantastic]]'': When Rincewind meets Cohen the Barbarian for the first time, he doesn't expect Cohen to be a [[Badass Grandpa|senior citizen]].

** Also played with when he meets Cohen's daughter Conina in ''[[Sourcery]]''. The whole town is looking for a mysterious master thief who turns out to be an attractive barbarian woman. Rincewind admits that she is different from what he had expected. It seems like we would get an Aesop about gender equality and not judging people based on looks but instead he just says that she's a bit taller than he imagined.

** Taken to the extreme by Miss Butts, the headmistress of the Quirm College for Young Ladies in ''[[Soul Music (novel)|Soul Music]]''. Her demeanordemeanour is so strict, domineering, and pervasive that most people don't realize she's short even when they meet her ''in person''.

* In the [[Barbara Hambly]] book ''[[Literature/Dragonsbane|Dragonsbane]]'', this is a major component of the surprise that Gareth feels at his first encounter with the titular dragon-slayer, John Aversin -- althoughAversin—although he is too well-bred to comment.

** Also inverted when Corum meets the Sidhe known as Goffanon the Dwarf, who he is expecting to be, well, dwarf-sized, but who turns out to be about eight feet tall. Which makes him a dwarf by Sidhe standards (Goffanon's brother Ilbrec is 16ft16&nbsp;ft tall).

* In ''[[Flashman]] and the Redskins,'' Flashy is saved from death at the hands of the Apache by none other than Kit Carson. Carson takes it upon himself to take care of Flashy, travel with him, etc. At one point they're somewhere public when a man comes barging in; he had heard that the great Kit Carson was around and wanted to shake his hand. The small, mild, diffident Carson steps up, while the tall, stalwart Flashy remains in the background. The man can't believe Carson is so small--sosmall—so Carson gives an almost imperceptible nod to Flashy, at which point the man rushes over and shakes Flashy's hand (and sneers at Carson for trying to fool him). Other Mountain Men hanging around can't stop laughing.

** The first time Buffy met Angel (as opposed to the first time he ''[[Retcon|saw]]'' her), he tells her "I thought you'd be taller." -- Lampshading—Lampshading the fact that Buffy was played by a different actress in the movie.

* ''[[Total Drama Island]]'': In the first episode Beth runs up to Chris, the host of the show, and hugs him; after letting go she comments, "Wow, you're much shorter in real life."

* [[Re BootReBoot]]: Rare villainous example in Season 4's Supervirus [[Big Bad|Daemon]]. Given what [[One-Winged Angel|Supervirus]] [[Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever|Gigabyte]] looked like and that Daemon was even MORE powerful, few were expecting a [[Affably Evil|sweet]], [[Light Is Not Good|shiny]], [[Bright Is Not Good|brightly-colored]] [[Joan of Arc]] [[Expy]].

{{quote|'''Mike''': [[Oh Crap|You're... Daemon, aren't you?]]<br />

'''Daemon''': (gently) Yes. Did you expect something else?<br />

* A great many fictional stories have someone meet the president of the United States (or some other important leader) and find him shorter then expected. Although it might not be the likely in [[Real Life]] much, since the last short president was [[Harry S. Truman]]. A number of political experts believe that height gives an enormous advantage to your odds of being elected president.