Husky Russkie: Difference between revisions

[[File:zangief-end-sfa2-3 5976.gif|link=Street Fighter|frame|Wrestling bears for Mother Russia.]]

 

 

 

Ah, [[Mighty Glacier]]. Strong, brutish, big, [[Department of Redundancy Department|strong]], [[Dumb Muscle|not so bright]] [[Genius Bruiser|(unless that is point)]], [[Rule of Three|strong]]... Because [[Mother Russia Makes You Strong]].

 

{{examples}}

* Argo Gulskii from ''[[G Gundam]]''. He is [[The Big Guy]] of the [[Five-Man Band]] and relays heavily on brute force when fighting, but outside the ring he's a very calm and honorable [[Big Brother Mentor]] towards the group. In fact, Argo is so calm and strong in mind and heart that {{spoiler|he didn't show mental/emotional damage after being [[Brainwashed and Crazy]] via DG Cells.}}

** Commander Yuri Kerane from [[Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team]] is another Gundam example, though not he's not explicitly described as Russian and [[Reasonable Authority Figure|is a pretty competent commander]] [[A Father to His Men|who cares about his men]] despite having all the social charm of [[Beauty and The Beast|Gaston]]. It's still obvious what the writers were getting at, though. Interestingly, Ginias Sakharin could be considered a complete inversion of this trope, because despite also having implied Russian heritage (his surname), [[Bishonen|his]] [[Sissy Villain|design]] [[Ambiguously Gay|and mannerisms]] are anything but husky and brutish. {{spoiler|And for even more irony, Ginias actually causes Yuri's death towards the end of the series.}}

* Boris from [[Black Lagoon]]. He also subverts it by being under the orders of a somewhat shorter woman named Balalaika... who, on the other hand, is a [[Magnificent Bitch]] as well as a ''very'' powerful [[Dark Action Girl]].

 

** Also, aside from the spattering of Russian words that some writers (notably [[Chris Claremont]]) liked to spatter into his dialogue, Colossus speaks English with an American accent, thanks to being taught the language telepathically (this detail is easy to miss, which is why he speaks with a Russian accent in the cartoons).

* The Russian from ''[[The Punisher]]'', although the comic book version was a truly over-the-top version... even when he got [[Gag Boobs|huge breasts]]. He's a big, ''big'' man with inhuman physical might—and a near-total invulnerability to harm.

* [[The Hulk]] has his nemesis Emil Blonsky, The Abomination. A gamma radiated one at that.

* In the Marvel ''[[G.I. Joe]]'' comics, [[Boisterous Bruiser]] Horror-show, the heavy weapons expert of the Oktober Guard, seems to fit this trope (His action figure was codenamed "Big Bear"), although he's technically Georgian. Subverted by the rest of the Guard, who have similar builds as other members of G.I. Joe and COBRA.

 

* Ivan Drago from ''[[Rocky IV]]''. Drago's pretty lean compared to Rocky, but he's ''much'' taller and has a ''much'' longer reach.

* Ivan Checkov from ''[[The Boondock Saints]]''

* [[Rule of Three|Ivan Danko]] from ''[[Red Heat]]''

* Though not technically an Ivan, Boris the Blade from ''[[Snatch]]''

* "The Russian" from ''[[The Punisher (film)|The Punisher]]'' (2000's). [[No Name Given]] if memory serves, but probably named Ivan.

** [[No Name Given]] indeed. He has no name other than "The Russian" in the comics, and he is a recurring villain with some decent evolution. Knowing that he suffered several brain damages (punches, bullets, ''airplane crash''), it's arguable whether ''he'' knows his own name.

* Petrov, [[The Dragon]] from the [[Bruce Lee]] movie ''[[The Chinese Connection]]''.

 

* Var Varovitch (Raven) from [[John C. Wright]]'s ''[[War of the Dreaming]].''

* Mikael, from Ulises Silva's novel ''Solstice'' is described by Io as "a Russian native, 6'5'', 280lbs of pure muscle" with thickly-accented English.

 

* Many of pro wrestling's [[Evil Foreigner|Evil Russians]] are big bruisers to boot; [[World Wrestling Entertainment|WWE]]'s Vladimir Kozlov is simply the latest iteration of the model.

** In a subversion, only a handful of them were actually Russian. Kozlov is at least close in being Ukrainian. (That is, close in that "[[Viewers are Morons]] that can't tell the difference" sense.)

** More classic examples are Nikolai Volkov and AWA's Russian Brute, who both played up the "I must break you" kind of thing.

 

* Boris Kolenkhov is described in the script of ''[[You Can't Take It with You]]'' as "enormous, hairy, loud, and very, very Russian." Though he's a dance tutor, he recommends wrestling as a hobby to Mr. Kirby, on whom he performs some wrestling moves to demonstrate.

 

* [[Fighters History|Karnov]], by [[Data East]].

* Vodka Drunkenski in ''[[Punch-Out!!]]''

*** The funny thing being that the contender mode montage (instead of the tougher Title Defense mode) features him performing rustic workouts like Rocky did in that movie.

* Likewise, Bayman from the ''[[Dead or Alive]]'' series, although his character seems to be a touch more intelligent than the usual. But just a touch.

* Mikhail in ''[[Psychonauts]]'' is a kid version of this. He wants to fight bears, thinks that American girls aren't any good for wrestling, and eventually becomes Maloof's body guard. It doesn't hurt that he's telekinetic. Also physically huskiest amongst the kids.

** But then, ''Snake Eater'' was set in Russia; they didn't have much choice on his nationality.

*** Like thats stopped Metal Gear before.

* The Heavy of ''[[Team Fortress 2]]''. Though he acts the part of the [[No Indoor Voice|Exceptionally Loud]] [[Mighty Glacier]] on the battlefield, he displays traces of intelligence in his Meet the Heavy video. Also, [[Berserk Button|don't get between him]] [[I Call It Vera|and Sasha.]]

** Subverted in that the blurb for "Meet the Heavy" outright states that the Heavy is not [[Dumb Muscle]] even though he speaks simply in English. In the [[Bilingual Bonus|Russian version of the video]], [[Eloquent in My Native Tongue|he's more eloquent]].

* The Draenei of ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' could arguably be classified as an ''entire race'' of Husky Russkies, due to their vaguely Eastern European accents (though [[Mileage Varies]] on how "Russian" they sound).

* In ''Super Dodgeball Brawlers'', while the team with the highest average Power stat is Saudi Arabia, Russian team captain Moldof is tied for most powerful single player (with series headliner Kunio).

* While not the absolute strongest, Ivan in ''[[Jagged Alliance]]'' and its sequel is a powerhouse. The absolute strongest character? A Polish ex-firefighter.

* ''[[Alpha Protocol]]'' has Championchik, an Olympic Champion boxer who serves as the bodyguard for Surkov. Mike has to eventually deal with him, but seeing as Championchik relies totally on his boxing skills, he could always just pull out a gun on him.

* Potemkin of ''[[Guilty Gear]]'' is from Zepp, which has many parallels with [[Ruritania]].

* Ivan the Bear from ''[[Brutal Paws Of Fury]]'' isn't the tallest fighter, but he is the heaviest and hits the hardest (three fierce punches will knock out any opponent).

* Mr. Hammer and Mr. Sickle, a.k.a. the Abramovici brothers, from ''[[Batman: Arkham City]]''.

 

* Exile on ''[[Road Rovers]]''.

** Doubly so as Exile is, in fact, a Siberian Husky dog.

* Moosk from ''[[Codename: Kids Next Door]]'', one of the few adults whom Numbuh One befriends.

 

* In ''[[Lackadaisy Cats]]'' the bartender/rum runner/former muscle Viktor embodies this trope. He's not actually Russian, he's Slovakian (Strapping Slav?) but the accent is similar enough when rendered in text.

* ''[[Dead Winter]]'' brings us Yuri, one of the members of the bloodsport assassin hunting 'game' that privides part of the subplot, though he is mostly seen during the intermission strips.

 

* From ''[[Open Blue]]'''s v4, [[Four-Star Badass|Admiral Flota]] Vladimir Ilyavich Tokarev, '''[[Shout-Out|HERO OF]] [[Ciaphas Cain|THE TRIBES]]''', is like this only when fighting hand to hand or pissed off. Otherwise, he's a cunning strategist who would rather blow you up with his ultra-long-ranged rocket launcher than [[Leeroy Jenkins|charge straight at you without thought]] if he thinks it more efficient. Of course, he's just as likely to be firing off said rocket launcher while charging straight at you without thought...

* From ''[[Darwin's Soldiers]]'', Piotr Kozlov is a hulking Siberian [[Funny Animal|grizzly]] [[Everything's Worse with Bears|bear]] with muscles to match his [[Genius Bruiser|brains]].

 

*** Russian males tend to fall distinctly into either the "before military service/dodged the draft" tall thin Backstreet Boy teenagerish look or the "post military service" brawny type. Almost no ambiguous middle ground exists and next-to-no males (but more than a few females) are obese, rather than bulky and muscular, so it's very much an either/or, no third choice given. The former is generally a college kid stuck at a perpetual high school senior level of social development and living up the image, while the latter is bullish, boorish, likes faux gangsta talk, and wears an immense quantity of bling. Due to the fall of the Soviet Union and older generations' inability to adapt, youthfulness is associated with success; also, social attitudes are that anyone who actually managed to get conscripted was "too dumb or poor to buy or cheat his way out of the draft", so the ex-army image is damaging to one's social status. Hence, a borderline gayboy image is often carefully crafted and maintained to radiate status and success. Also, due to a natural propensity for height and bulk in the population, keeping a "big guy" persona is harder to pull off, since non-exceptional mass is merely average.

*** Average sizes for comparison: jeans 31-32, tshirt L, jacket 40Long USA (50-52 tall Russian/Euro) for the whippet thin boys, jeans 40, 2XL, jacket 46 (58-60 Russian/Euro) for the big guys. Literally everyone seems to wear one of these two size sets. Height/weight wise, it's 175–190 cm/60–75 kg for the eternal youths, and 170–200 cm/120 kg for the bruisers. For reasons unknown, ALL unusually short or unusually tall (by local standards) males fall into the bruiser category only. Extremely short = about 5'8" or under, noticeably tall starts at 6'3". .

* Vasili Alexeyev, the famous champion Olympic weightlifter, is an almost embarrassingly stereotypical example of this trope.

* Alexander "The Experiment" Karelin, a Greco-Roman wrestler who has won three Olympic, nine World Championship and twelve European Championship gold medals. This at-the-time 286-pound man routinely won matches with his "Karelin Lift", which involved him picking up similarly-sized men and slamming them down onto the mat like a rag doll often as they lay flat to avoid being thrown. Can best be summarized by [http://www.badassoftheweek.com/karelin.gif this image].

 

{{reflist}}