Automoderated users, Autopatrolled users, Bureaucrats, Comment administrators, Confirmed users, Moderators, Rollbackers, Administrators
213,483
edits
Lean and Mean: Difference between revisions
no edit summary
m (revise quote template spacing) |
No edit summary |
||
| (10 intermediate revisions by 7 users not shown) | |||
Line 3:
{{quote|''"Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look;
''He thinks too much: such men are dangerous."''|'''Caesar''', ''[[Julius Caesar (theatre)|Julius Caesar]]''}}
[[Evil Costume Switch|Black robes]] not fitting properly? Just try being a little more evil! [[Kick the Dog|Kicking puppies]] is good exercise after all! And don't worry about those meals you skip while you're scheming to take over the kingdom. Yes, the combination of your new villainous lifestyle and the laws of narrative causality will make those annoying extra pounds vanish before you can say "Are they even ''feeding'' [[The Emperor's New Groove|Yzma]]?"
Sometimes used for a [[Freud Was Right]] explanation, where the villain is nasty and vicious ''because'' she's so hungry. Very common among fashion-oriented shows to explain why the size 0 model is so cranky.
Line 12:
When the hero is stronger and/or dumber, this often leads to [[Brains Evil, Brawn Good]].
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[One Piece]]'': The three Admirals are all tall and thin, most notably Kizaru.
** Wapol is normally a [[Fat Bastard]], but his [[Extreme Omnivore]] powers allow him to swallow his excess bulk and become sinisterly slender. He actually describes this form as "lean and mean" in both the 4kids and [[FUNimation]] dubs.
* ''[[Hellsing]]'''s Rip Van Winkle is extremely tall and thin. For that matter, [[Sociopathic Hero|Alucard]] also counts.
Line 24:
* [[Evil Poacher|Viper Snakely]] from ''[[Kimba the White Lion]]''.
* Orochimaru from ''[[Naruto]]'' is a fairly tall, lean man. Lean like a snake is more like it.
* Beerus, the [[Big Bad]] from ''[[Dragon Ball Z| Dragonball Z, Battle of the Gods]]'' is thinner and slimmer than Goku is, despite being just as much of a [[Big Eater]].
== Comic Books ==
* Most incarnations of Ragdoll in [[The DCU]], but in ''[[The Batman]]'' it was taken to serious extremes; the Ragdoll is a tall, rail-thin thief and contortionist who is literally capable of fitting inside a top hat. Also, as he is often depicted as frail, one of The Joker's [[I Have Many Names|many nicknames]] is "The Thin White Duke of Death."
* The [[Batman]] villain [[Scarecrow]] is so thin that he was bullied as a child for his resemblance to [[The Legend of Sleepy Hollow|Ichabod Crane]].
* Many skinny aliens in [[Sillage]] turn out to be villains. Most notable of them is consul Atsukau, a corrupt politician and collector of lovers from different species, obsessed with the protagonist.
* In ''[[Johnny the Homicidal Maniac]]'', it's mentioned several times how skinny [[Ax Crazy|Johnny]] is.
* ''[[Mesmo Delivery]]'': Sangrecco, a people smuggler/hitman/demon? In his spare time he's an [[Elvis Impersonator]] presumably of the king's earlier period.
* Loki is probably the skinniest male in Asgard. He is also one of [[The Mighty Thor|Thor's]] meanest villains. Mind you, it only holds when compared to Asgradians. When compared to most normal humans, he seems pretty toned.
==
* ''[[Ratatouille]]'': [[Straw Critic]] Anton Ego is thin for someone who eats for a living. As he explains, "If I don't love it, I don't ''swallow''."
* Franklin Bean in ''[[Fantastic Mr. Fox]]'' is noted for being skinny because he subsists only on cider.
Line 46 ⟶ 45:
* Tzekel-Kan, the evil High Priest in ''[[The Road to El Dorado]]'', highlighting his asceticism and religious devotion beside the comfortably worldy (and obese) Chief Tannabok.
* From ''[[Kung Fu Panda 2]]'', we have Lord Shen, an albino peacock who is the movie's [[Big Bad]].
* ''[[Charlie's Angels]]'': Creepy Thin Man from the movie had a [[Heel Face Turn]] which triggered [[Redemption Equals Death]].
* '' [[Metropolis]]'': Joh. Fredersen, ruler of Metropolis, has an assistant only credited as "The Thin Man". And while most of his scenes got chopped out in subsequent releases, it's indicated in the 2002 restoration that he beat the crap out of Josaphat trying to find out what Freder was up to. (This may need to be edited once the full restoration with the missing scenes comes out.)
Line 55 ⟶ 51:
** [[Peter Cushing]] as Grand Moff Tarkin. Especially interesting because, despite his amazingly [[Villainous Cheekbones]] he was [[Playing Against Type]] after a career of playing [[Sherlock Holmes]] and [[Dracula|Dr. Van Helsing]].
* In ''[[Pan's Labyrinth]]'', the Pale Man.
* ''[[Home Alone]]'': Inverted in the first two movies, where short, round Harry is clearly the more malevolent half of the Wet Bandit Gang. Tall, skinny Marv, by contrast, borders on [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain]] much of the time.
* In ''[[Hellraiser]]'', all Cenobites are rather slender, except [[Fat Bastard|Butterball]], of course.
* Loki in ''[[Thor (film)|Thor]]''.
== Live-Action TV ==
* ''[[The Thick of It]]'': Malcolm Tucker keeps his weight down by [[Girly Run|running everywhere]], being permanently stressed out, and living on [[Forgets to Eat|a diet consisting mainly of coffee]]. Policy adviser Olly Reader likens him to "a thin white Mugabe".
== Literature ==
* In ''[[Harry Potter]]'', Voldemort is often described as being tall and thin, with long, thin fingers. Snape is often described as thin, perhaps to invoke this trope, even though he is not ''evil'' per se.
* ''[[A Series of Unfortunate Events]]'': Villain Count Olaf is tall and thin, and said to have a hungry look in his eyes.
* Several characters in ''[[Discworld]]'' have this aesthetic, even if they're not necessarily evil:
** Lord Vetinari is a scheming Machiavellian dictator and is thin as a rail, voluntarily subsisting on nothing but bread and water. However, while he describes himself as evil, he is never an outright antagonist and is often on the heroes' side. Strangely, his (unnamed) appearance in the first book is as a [[Fat Bastard]], and was generally considered to be his predecessor until [[Word of God]] confirmed they were the same character.
** Granny Weatherwax, a manipulative [[Good Is Not Nice]] character in the same vein, is also tall, thin and wears black, though her slimness is not quite emphasised as much. It's more obvious contrasted with her fellow witch and lifelong friend, the short, plump, amicable Nanny Ogg.
** Lacrimosa in [[
* Utilized, and oft-lampshaded, in Robert Jordan's ''[[Wheel of Time]]'' novels, in that all skinny innkeepers that the protagonists come across in their journeys are invariably up to no good.
* ''[[Timeline-191]]'': Jake Featherston, the Hitler-esque Southern dictator of [[Harry Turtledove]] alternate history series, is described as whipcord-lean.
Line 81 ⟶ 75:
* ''[[Ship Breaker]]'': Most crew are pretty lean, but [[The Heavy|Richard Lopez]], [[Archnemesis Dad]] and [[Combat Sadomasochist]] adds a naturally whippy build and an [[Drugs Are Bad|addict]]'s decaying physique, for a truly ravaged appearance.
* [[Big Bad|Professor James Moriarty]] from [[Sherlock Holmes]] is described as being very tall and thin and like a lizard.
== Music ==
* [[David Bowie]]'s late seventies persona, The Thin White Duke, although not being evil, per se was definitely a bit sharper edged than his other characters and more than a bit coke-fueled, therefore somewhat delusional. This incarnation of Bowie has been described as "an amoral zombie", "an emotionless Aryan superman", [[Aristocrats Are Evil|"a mad aristocrat"]] and by the man himself, "a nasty character indeed". As far as the lean side goes, his weight plummeted to less than ninety pounds, extremely underweight for a 5'10" frame.
* Many punk rockers in the 1970s were regarded as this by the [[Moral Guardians|establishment]].
== Tabletop Games ==
* ''[[Warhammer
▲== Theater ==
* Cassius from [[Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Julius Caesar]]''.
== Video Games ==
Line 105 ⟶ 95:
* The Spy from ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'' is incredibly impolite (the Spy has [[I Banged Your Mom|banged the Scout's mom]] and loves to boast and troll the Scout about it, which could make you feel sorry for the biggest [[Jerkass]] in the game that Scout undeniably is) and very tall and slender, which his [[Badass in a Nice Suit|badass-in-a-nice-suit]] attire makes even more noticable. Furthermore, also alongside Scout and Sniper, he's the most prone to calling the Heavy "fatty" and "morbidly obese".
** The Administrator, when she appears in the supplemental materials, is very thin, and seems to be totally amoral and have no emotions other than anger.
* Both Mitsuhide and Mitsunari from ''[[Sengoku Basara]]'' are [[Ax Crazy]] [[White-Haired Pretty Boy|White Haired Pretty Boys]] who are also tall and almost skeletal in appearance. In Mitsunari's case it's because he's too busy angsting to eat, while Mitsuhide is probably just that evil.
* Metal Face from [[Xenoblade]] while still bulky, has a much more slender, speed-emphasizing frame than most of his fellow Faced Mechon, which works well since his strategy is to jet around at high speed and cut people to ribbons with his incredibly sharp claws.
* {{spoiler|Charkravartin}} from [[Asura's Wrath]] is incredibly thin and tall, which really makes him stand out in a world full of incredibly muscular characters (Even pretty boy Sergei is muscle-bound despite being on the waifish side!) and helps to sell how alien and otherworldly he is. As for the mean part... well, he ''is'' {{spoiler|at the heart at just about everything that goes wrong in the game, all starting from the Gohma's creation}}.
* The [[Mega Man X]] series seems to be split between major villainous Mavericks that are bulky like Sigma, to thin and willowy. Among these guys are Agile of the X hunters, the cackling Geemel, pretty-boy mercenary Dynamo, [[Mad Scientist]] Gate, and {{spoiler|cold-blooded Lucifer analogue Lumine}}.
* Most of the animatronics from the [[Five Nights at Freddy's]] series of video games are all rather bulky, which is to be expected by robotic entertainers. The exception to the rule is the prize corner Marionette, who is incredibly spindly and clownish, and ''very'' mean should his music box stop playing...
** There's also Foxy who is a great deal less-heavier built than the other members of the Fazbear Four (Which probably aids in him jetting towards your office at high-speed) as well as his Toy Animatronic counterpart "Mangle", who counts even more thanks to being a snakelike, spidery mess of tangled limbs. And while her older counterpart is bulky to the point of almost being fat, Toy Chica is incredibly slim.
▲== [[Web Original]] ==
* [[The Slender Man Mythos|The Slender Man]], [http://www.mythicalcreaturesguide.com/page/Slender+Man a tall, spidery phantom] who originated from the [[Something Awful]] forums. Normally showing up in photographs, but has recently showed up in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wmhfn3mgWUI&feature=channel video format] as well.▼
* Richard from the webcomic ''[[Looking for Group]]'' is this, but it's because he's dead and therefore dried out/decomposed/missing organs/literally just skin-and-bones (and some green goop).▼
* ''[[Homestuck]]'''s Jack Noir is very lean, and very [[Complete Monster|mean]].
* ''[[Daddy Long Legs (webcomic)|Daddy Long Legs]]'' has Mr. Scapegrace, who is one of the thinnest characters seen so far and the creepiest.
* Janice Jamison, the head of Magical Research in the Souballo Empire in ''[[Our Little Adventure]]''.
== [[Web Original]] ==
▲* [[The Slender Man Mythos|The Slender Man]], [https://web.archive.org/web/20130928073702/http://www.mythicalcreaturesguide.com/page/Slender+Man a tall, spidery phantom] who originated from the [[Something Awful]] forums. Normally showing up in photographs, but has recently showed up in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wmhfn3mgWUI&feature=channel video format] as well.
▲* Richard from the webcomic ''[[Looking for Group]]'' is this, but it's because he's dead and therefore dried out/decomposed/missing organs/literally just skin-and-bones (and some green goop).
== Western Animation ==
Line 126 ⟶ 118:
** Subverted with Dr. Orpheus, who is tall and thin (and otherwise looks like a stereotypical necromancer) but is actually one of the ''nicest'' characters.
** Of course, Rusty is also bone thin, and is an [[Jerkass|amoral]], [[The Alcoholic|pill popping, alcoholic]], [[Jerkass|mean spirited]], [[Villain Protagonist|horrible excuse for a father and human being]]
*
** And now Wasp(inator), to some degree.
** Oil Slick is probably the best example.
Line 137 ⟶ 129:
* ''[[Bratz]]'': Burdine and the Tweevils.
* Lawson from ''[[Recess]]''.
* Ms. Bitters of ''[[Invader Zim]]'', in keeping with her snakelike demeanor.
* Nightmare Moon, Discord and The Flim Flam Brothers from ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' all qualify.
** So does {{spoiler|Queen Chrysalis}}.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Evil Tropes]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Sublime Rhyme]]
[[Category:
| |||