Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Difference between revisions

 

{{quote|''"Tiny, but '''fierce'''."''

 

When a small person is accosted by a larger opponent, most people expect the latter to win, but in fiction the smaller a combatant, the more ass they can kick.

 

{{examples}}

** [[Dragonball Z|How about a piece of candy?]] Majin Buu turned Vegeto into a piece of candy to eat him, but [[Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth|was just as powerful]] ''and'' too small to hit! Buu was forced to turn him back.

** There's also Young Gohan, Young Trunks, Goten, The Saibamen, The Cell Jrs., and Kid Buu.

** And Goku again in ''[[Dragon Ball GT]]''

** Vegeta. Woe betide anyone who dared to mock [[Omnicidal Maniac|Majin]] [[Blood Knight|Vegeta]].

* Kenshin Himura in ''[[Rurouni Kenshin]]'', aka the Hitokiri Battousai, is towered over by most of his friends but routinely takes down people twice his size. He's based on a real life assassin named Kawakami Gensai, who was regularly mistaken for a woman, but who was known as the most fearsome assassin of the Meiji Era and was noted for assassinating a man in broad daylight.

** Kenshin is also a subversion of sorts - ''because'' his school of swordsmanship was designed for far more muscular men (like Hiko, his [[Cynical Mentor]]) he ends up {{spoiler|unable to fight as well as he once could at the end of the series}}.

* Yugi Mutou, from ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh (anime)|Yu-Gi-Oh]]''. Granted he does have an extremely powerful alter ego in his head {{spoiler|but the final episode of the series proved that he could kick ''his'' ass as well.}}

* Daikichi Komusubi of the [[Eyeshield 21|Deimon Devilbats]] is 4'11. And a lineman. He's regularly holding off, or even pushing back, larger, more intimidating players, and speaks/writes in a language known as "Power-Go", which only 'truly strong men' can comprehend.

*** He would be somewhat average in [[Real Life]] but seeing that he is shorter than almost every other character, there's no way he's average in his fictional world. Thus, he fits this trope to a T.

** Zoro when he was little. [[Posthumous Character|Kuina]] even moreso.

* ''[[Blame]]!'' has a weapon example. Gravitational Beam Emitter is some of the smallest weapon in the series and really small even in today's standard. The firepower, on the other hand, [[Wave Motion Gun|can put]] [[Lyrical Nanoha|Divine Buster]] [[Weapon of Mass Destruction|to shame]].

* The Power Card in ''[[Cardcaptor Sakura]]''. This card spirit takes the form of a fluffy-looking, pink-clad little girl. (Who can't be any more than 3 feet tall.) But she has the strength of several grown men, and proves to be an immense challenge to Sakura.

** And ''[[Digimon Tamers]]'' takes it [[Up to Eleven]] with MarineAngemon—a ''Mega'' with the size and appearance of an In-Training.

** And now ''[[Digimon Xros Wars]]'' gives us Zamielmon, an evil digimon who's small enough to sit in someone's palm yet is strong and fast enough to give Mega level a hard time. {{spoiler|However he's actually a gigantic [[Sizeshifter]] and [[Lightning Bruiser]]}}.

** Or for that matter, [[Apocalypse Maiden|Rei]] [[Cloning Blues|III]] who's equally as strong, if not stronger.

* Taki of ''[[Hyakujitsu no Bara]]'' is tiny in comparison to his lover Klaus but consistently demonstrates that he is the last person you want to anger. Not only did he single-handedly beat up the group of military students who came to haze him, he has twice bested [[The Big Guy|Klaus]] in combat (granted never very conclusively), showing he packs far more power and fighting skill than his scrawny body would suggest.

* Tamaki Kawazoe is pretty much the central focus of ''[[Bamboo Blade]]'' for the fact that, despite being a first-year in high school (and a tiny girl, at that), she's easily the most competent fighter on the kendo team (since she had been trained by her father from a very young age). In one match, she sends a competitor twice her size flying '''''with one deft strike.'''''

* The whole cast of Part 1 ''[[Naruto]]''. The characters were 12 year old monsters, with some of them being even younger and still destroying mountains.

* In ''[[Tsukigasa]]'', the short, girly-looking Azuma is capable of beating up 5 guys in a fight and leaving them with broken bones. His skill is part of why the damage is so extreme when he attacks his friend Kuroe later, cutting off his left arm in one strike.

* In ''[[Saint Beast]]'', despite looking younger and smaller than all of the other angels of his rank Gai has one of the most powerful elementals in the show and loves a good fight.

 

* The Mouse Police in ''[[Fables]]''.

* [[Wolverine]]. 5'3". One of the two or three most dangerous non-super-strong characters in the [[Marvel Universe]] in close combat.

* [[Spider-Man]], while average by real life standards (5'10"), is practically a midget compared to the vast majority of his allies and enemies. [[Wolverine]] being the notable and perhaps only exception.

* Rorschach in ''[[Watchmen (comics)|Watchmen]]'' is an unassuming man who stands 5'4, yet frequently kicks bar-fulls of ass. Interestingly, he wears thick-soled shoes to make himself look taller.

* Lately, [[X-Men/Characters/90s Members|Jubilee]]. A petite teenaged girl who, on the [[New Warriors]], used [[Power Fist|power gauntlets]] to become the most physically powerful member of the team.

* Monica from Brazilian comic ''[[Monica's Gang]]''.

* Young Scrooge in ''[[The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck]]''. He is only half the size of most other ([[Petting Zoo People|dog-nosed]]) characters, but he fights like a force of nature. And for that matter, also [[Disney Ducks Comic Universe|Old Scrooge]], his [[Donald Duck|nephew Donald]] and some other members of their family show tendencies in that direction.

 

* In ''[[Dungeon Keeper Ami]]'' Ami is a small, fifteen-year-old girl. Using keeper powers, she manages to fight on par with a horned reaper - in melee combat; a duel that amounted to a thinly-disguised public execution sponsored by a Dark God she'd angered. She won.

* Ringo in ''[[With Strings Attached]]''. Granted, he's not ''that'' short (5'8”), but at one point, when he had been traveling almost nonstop for about four days, had hardly slept at all during that time, and felt like utter shit, he was forced to enter single combat against a 7-foot muscleman with a giant flail. [[Curb Stomp Battle|Three seconds later]]: “I think I win. Can I ''please'' go to sleep now?”

* Spur in ''[https://my.w.tt/v4IffEriLU Final Stand of Death]'' was able to take out [[Blink-182]], including Mark's mecha, despite being about 7'2" as the mecha a third taller.

 

* ''[[Kung Fu Panda]]'' had Mantis, a praying mantis, as the Pint Sized Powerhouse.

{{quote|'''Po:''' Wow, you guys are The Furious Five! You're all just like your action figures, only bigger! Except for you, Mantis, you're about the same.}}

* [[Monica Keena]]'s character in ''Crime and Punishment in Suburbia'' takes down her abusive step-father, played by [[Michael Ironside]], with considerably less trouble than [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]] had in ''[[Total Recall]]''.

* [[Joe Pesci]] in anything.

* ''[[Grindhouse]]'': El Wray.

* Sir Didymus in ''[[Labyrinth]]''.

* The [[Wave Motion Gun|Noisy Cricket]] weapon from ''[[Men in Black (film)|Men in Black]]''. The size of a holdout pistol, but its recoil alone [[Recoil Boost|sends the wielder flying]].

* ''[[Star Trek (film)|Star Trek]]'': L'il Spock.

* Luther, played by 5'6" David Patrick Kelly in ''[[The Warriors (film)|The Warriors]]''. While his outward personality is that of an obnoxious pest, he's actually a very dangerous individual, as you can work out from the "[[Oh Crap]]" expressions on the Warriors faces when he shows up at their hideout.

* Tinkerbell in ''[[Hook]]''. When she first appears, the adult Peter thinks she's some psycho-firefly and tries to swat her with a newspaper; she quickly seizes it from him and returns the favor.

 

== [[Literature]] ==

* In ''[[Discworld]]'' the smaller races (such as the Nac Mac Feegle and the Dwarves) are explicitly stronger than humans because all the same amount of physical strength is focused into a smaller body.

* The Gallivespians in ''[[His Dark Materials]]'' are a few inches high, but they have poisonous barbs on their heels that make them deadly in a fight. You do not want to mess with one.

* Reepicheep and his relatives in ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia]]'', though they teamed up sometimes as well. A common tactic involved slashing various tendons and then, when the taller opponent fell, a quick slash across the throat.

** We also have the Red King, who is slightly over five feet and is quite possibly the single most [[Badass]] vampire in the world, with the only possible exceptions being the Kings of the other two courts at full power {{spoiler|or rather, he ''was''}}.

** Compared to all of his enemies, Harry (and other Wizards) count as this. He regularly takes on things at the very ''least'' half his (admittedly greater-than-average) height again.

** And then there's also Triel Baenre, daughter and successor of Old Matron Baenre, the [[Big Bad]] in many of the novels. While elves are not phisically imposing to begin with and dark elves are even considerably shorter, Triel is frequently described as being exceptionally short even by the standards of other dark elves, which puts her, as effective queen of the most powerful nation of an [[Exclusively Evil]] race, at a hight of about 4'7, or 1,45m. In contrast, her younger sister Quenthel is always described as very tall and muscular, but never has attempted to gain a [[Klingon Promotion]].

* In the ''[[Warlock of Gramaraye|Warlock in Spite of Himself]]'' series, the Wee Folk are [[The Fair Folk|to be feared]], Puck especially. And dwarfish Brom O'Berin can outfight nearly any man in Gramarye.

* ''[[Time Scout]]'': Ann Vin Mulhaney, Sven Bailey, and Margo Smith are all petite and incredibly deadly.

* ''Sisterhood'' series by [[Fern Michaels]]: Yoko Akia. She is 4 feet 8 inches (1.46304 metres) tall, she weighs 90 pounds (40.82 kilograms), and just about everything about her is tiny. She can flatten just about anybody in a fight and her fellow Sisters and Vigilantes call her "the 90-pound stick of dynamite"!

 

* ''[[Firefly]]''. River is easily capable of dropping many men much larger and apparently tougher than her, thanks to being a [[Psychic Powers]] [[Super Soldier]].

* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'':

** Buffy Summers, 5'3", and has fought gods.

** Faith LeHane, another slayer, 5'5", equally badass.

* ''[[The Sarah Connor Chronicles]]'': Cameron is barely over five feet tall, and looks to weigh in at less than a hundred pounds. [[Robot Girl|And she will punch you through a wall without trying]].

* Djaq from ''[[Robin Hood (TV series)|Robin Hood]]''. A popular icon of her image includes the tagline: "and then I ripped his lungs out..."

* ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' brings us The Trickster, by far the shortest guy in the whole series, who not only tricks the brothers onto believing he's dead (more than once), becoming one of the few monsters of the week the Winchesters can't kill, but it's also revealed in the 5th season that {{spoiler|he's really the [[Archangel Gabriel]], one of the four most powerful beings in the show, posing as the pagan god Loki.}}

* The title character of the Korean TV series ''[[Strong Girl Bong-soon]]'' is 5'2" and slender -- and is capable of flinging grown men a hundred feet into the air and stopping a runaway bus. She did a [[Bare-Handed Truck Stop]] on a speeding car with one hand -- ''at age eight''.

 

== [[Music]] ==

* [[ACDC]]. Most of them are under 5'6". ''AC-freaking-DC''.

 

* [[David Versus Goliath|David 1, Goliath 0]]. David is a youngster at that point in [[The Bible]], but [[Fanon|depictions]] often make him even younger.

* [[Norse Mythology]]; Thor's son Magni was the embodiment of strength. One myth states that Thor fought a giant named Hrungnir, but while Thor was victorious and killed Hrungnir, the giant's body fell on him, pinning him to the ground and leaving him helpless. After no-one else was able to so much as budge the giant's heavy corpse, Magni - who was only ''three days old'' at the time, was able to lift it off his father effortlessly.

* [[Bryan Danielson|Daniel Bryan]] anyone?

* Midget wrestlers. There is one story of such a wrestler picking Gorilla Monsoon (who weighed 400 lbs) in a fireman's carry and carrying him around a ring.

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

* May from ''[[Guilty Gear]]'' is a cute, child-like [[Pirate Girl]] who stands 4-foot-something, but uses ''her ship's anchor'' (which is as big as she is) as a weapon. Her pet dolphin may qualify too, as he's about the size of a surfboard and used by May as such, meaning it has to carry May ''and'' the anchor.

* The cuccos in various ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]'' games. Dear God, the cuccos.

* The Poison Headcrabs from ''[[Half-Life 2]]'' deplete your heath to one hit-point with a single bite. This is less due to the strength of their jaws and more the strength of their namesake poison, however.

* A metagame example from ''[[World of Warcraft]]''. Smaller character models are harder to select and thus attack. Of the player races, this means the very tiny Gnomes are particular nuisances. And since Gnomes can be both Warriors and Death Knights, they can also be stupidly powerful and durable. Goblins, who will be added in an upcoming expansion, will be much the same. Dwarves aren't nearly as small, but are still pretty shrimpy, and can be Warriors, Paladins, and Death Knights - all the main tanking classes besides Druid.

** That said, since the aforementioned expansion the only race that has ''all'' of the tanking classes available to them are the typically 8 foot tall Tauren.

** Vulpera in the ''Battle for Azeroth'' expansion. Survivalists to the extreme, the typical Vulpera is gnome-sized, but can take down a [[Dumb Muscle|Naga brute]] without breaking a sweat. Mecha-gnomes are a sub-class of gnomes from the same expansion that can be even stronger, given their cybernetic limbs.

* Minion Soldier in ''[[Gunstar Heroes]]''.

* Suika Ibuki of the ''[[Touhou]]'' has the appearance of an 8-year old girl, yet is physically the strongest character of all. And that's before she uses her power of density manipulation to [[Sizeshifter|grow several times her size...]]

** Cirno is probably the smallest named character in the games, being a child fairy. But even though her [[Overshadowed by Awesome|incompetence]], [[Baka|stupidity]] and supposed [[Small Name, Big Ego|"weakness"]] are [[Memetic Mutation|legendary]], none of the named Touhou characters are to be trifled with. Cirno holds her own against some of the powerhouses of Touhou in ''Hisoutensoku'' and in ''Fairy Wars'' is strong enough to give trouble to [[The Hero|Marisa]] [[Badass|Kirisame]]. Did I mention that Cirno is ''completely immortal''?

* Kirby, in well, ''[[Kirby]]'', is 8 inches tall, at least when not sized up in ''[[Super Smash Bros.]].''

** Do note, this eight inch tall puffball has torn at least ''eight different [[Eldritch Abomination]]s to'' '''''shreds.'''''

** Classic Sonic. He can [[Rolling Attack|tunnel through solid rock]], and he eats big, strong, ''fast'' things for breakfast. No giant battlemechs lived to talk about him, and the aforementioned Knuckles got [[Curb Stomp Battle|thrashed.]]

* A good number of characters in ''[[Disgaea]]'' series are one of these. [[Disgaea: Hour of Darkness|Laharl]], for example, is a stick-thin, [[The Napoleon|4'3"]] thirteen-year-old capable of [[Curb Stomp Battle|curbstomping]] a ''starfleet''.

** Without her magical energy, Saber is very frail; maybe even Sakura has more physical strength since no one is smaller than tiny old Saber.

** Aside from being strong Saber is also fast enough and skilled enough with the sword to win against [[wikipedia:Sasaki Kojirou|Sasaki Kojirou]] so her failure to defeat Archer (who fell to his knees unable to stand while parrying overhead blow from her sword) came more from emotional reasons than anything else.

* [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass|Daxter]] from ''[[Jak and Daxter]]'' is one of these, [[Took a Level in Badass|at least in the later games]] and ''especially'' in his [[Gaiden Game]]. {{spoiler|And if he ever gets his Precursor powers...}}

** Jak himself fits as well. According to his stats in ''Jak X'' he is 5'8" in ''[[Jak II Renegade]]'', which definitely ''seems'' average... until you compare him with the other characters, that is, and realise he is only at about chin height with most of them. And of course, those are only the humans.

** Also, [[Little Bit Beastly|Mak]][[Ms. Fanservice|oto]] [[Hot-Blooded|Nan]][[Moe|aya]], who is only a small girl of about 5'4 and weighs about 108 lbs, but is capable of punching a massive crater into the ground, outrunning [[Sociopathic Hero|Carl]] [[Fragile Speedster|Clover]] while carrying an injured [[Badass Bookworm|Tsubaki]] over her shoulder and sending people [[Blown Across the Room|flying]] with her punches.

* Emilia, of ''[[Blaze Union]]''. She is eleven years old, just barely four feet tall, and is a [[Game Breaker|stupidly powerful]] [[Blood Knight]] who is capable of turning a one-sided battle in her enemies' favor into a complete rout... ''the first time she ever picks up a weapon.'' And that's not even getting into her [[Super-Powered Evil Side]]. At that given point in time, she is essentially the most powerful person in the world--{{spoiler|Gulcasa would be ''stronger than this'' if he ever lost control of his demon blood, but he never does}}.

* In ''[[City of Heroes]]'' there are a number of 3-foot tall tanks with the [[Flying Brick|Super Strength]] powerset.

* ''[[Chrono Cross]]'' gives us Marcie at first. Age? 9. Occupation? Bratty half-pine killer of thousands as an elite of the Acacian military, one of the four Devas. Max strength of 86 on her own. For reference, Serge (that's you) maxes out at 88. Her coworkers Zoah and Karsh hit 90. But the worst offender? Leah. Age? 6. Occupation? Abandoned child in the wilderness. Max strength? 93. Max HP? 999. Both highest without any outside help.

** {{spoiler|Considering that Leah is implied to be [[Chrono Trigger|Ayla's]] mother...}}

** [[The Ditz|Merrill]] in ''[[Dragon Age II]]'' is a young elvish woman, definitely the smallest member of the main cast (Varric may be a bit shorter, but Merrill is a lot thinner), and capable of unleashing a horrendous firestorm of offensive magic.

* ''Everything'' in their universe absolutely ''dwarfs'' both [[Ratchet and Clank]]. Clank is especially noticeable, since he plays the part of [[Awesome Backpack]] most of the time. Ratchet is, supposedly, 5'1. Not ''too'' short by our standards, but almost everyone towers over him in-universe... even his fellow lombax, Alister Azimuth. This becomes even more puzzling when you see him in [[Playstation Move Heroes]], where he doesn't even come up to Jak's shoulder. Jak, for the record, is in the running for shortest human(ish) character in [[Jak and Daxter|his own series.]] As to the 'powerhouse' part of the trope? Ratchet is a [[One-Man Army|one lombax army]] with an unbelievable arsenal of [[BFG]]s, and Clank's a robotic secret agent with loose control over time (depending on the game). You do the math.

* The Inklings in ''[[Splatoon]]'' are pretty tough for a gang of kids with ink-guns, but they truly become "powerhouses" in ''[[Super Smash Bros|Super Smash Bros Ultimate]]'', where they can quite possibly "smash" better than any other new character.

* Titania in ''Warframe'' can turn into one of these with her Razorwing ability, shrinking to 1/4 of her original size but gaining the ability to fly at high speed, a pair of [[Hand Cannon|big machine pistols]] that can shred enemies and a sword that easily rivals the best melee weapons in the game in terms of DPS, while not losing anything in terms of durability and even gaining a whooping 50% evasion against enemy gunfire. Investing in Ability Strength, reducing the hefty energy drain of this ability and modding the aforementioned weapons make Titania a miniature death machine.

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]]'' has Molly's pet alien [[Ugly Cute|"tentacle bunny,"]] Snookums. Snookums began life as a [[Kaiju]], but then got [[Incredible Shrinking Man|shrunk]] to the size of a basketball. However, he still [[Shapeshifter Baggage|has all his original mass]] and is strong enough to move around freely. Hence, the ground shakes when he hops, and he can defeat almost any opponent by hopping into him like a battering ram.

* ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' has Bun-Bun, a mini-lop rabbit who might very well be [[Killer Rabbit|the most dangerous being in the universe]].

* ''[[Digger]]'' has at least one example: [http://www.diggercomic.com/?p=269 Lady Surka, Warrior Shrew] and professional [[All Trolls Are Different|troll]].

** Digger herself is a slightly more minor example.

* Kiwi, the tiny fairy in ''[[The Dreamland Chronicles]]'', has the magic to carry or slam around much bigger characters.

* Basically any Racconan in ''[[Tales of the Questor]].'' They top out at around two and a half feet tall, but their "magic" powers, martial traditions, and sheer love of overkill make them a hazardous handful.

* Da'kor from ''[[Inverloch]]''. They are the size of a human child, but in a fight an ''unarmed'' da'kor has a fair chance of defeating a human swordsman.

* Ixnay from ''[[Elf Blood]]'': She's a pixie, literally around as tall as a pint glass. She's not strong enough to operate human/elf-sized door handles. She can easily take down a seven-foot tall, armoured hulking brute in a fight through guile and magic.

* In ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'', the titular mercenary ends up eating a plasma grenade, which destroys most of his body mass. Being a carbosilicate amorph, Schlock's distributed body system meant that he survived, but as a much smaller version with child-like innocence and little memory of his past. But though he's only about the size of a human head, don't mistake him for being any less dangerous, as he managed to ''shoot down a cruiser'' when he got loose inside it.

 

== [[Web Original]] ==

* Reiko Ishida of ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'' v4 is 4'9, which has been noted to technically make her a midget. However, she was an athlete before the island.

* Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Penny Polendina and Neo from ''[[RWBY]]'' are all tiny, slender girls or women who all punch ''way'' above their weight class.

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

** Well, he does lift Scooby and Shaggy with one hand at least once. So he has the strength for it... he just tends to borrow his strategies from [[Leeroy Jenkins]].

* ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' had Henery Hawk.

* ''[[Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers|Galaxy Rangers]]'': The Kiwi species are sci-fi [[Hobbits]] in most senses of the word. They're a meter high, their [[Planet of Hats|planet and culture specialize in agriculture]], and they're generally a good-natured bunch. [[Beware the Nice Ones|Not that they can't dole out the whoop-ass - it just takes them a while to get them angry enough]]. [[Ambadassador|Ambassador]] Zozo wears the planetary Hat to an extreme. He frequently takes on [[Mooks]] twice his size and wins - including a flying tackle onto the [[Eldritch Abomination|Scarecrow Entity]].

* Both Aang and Toph from ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]].'' '''Especially''' Toph. She's the shortest of the [[Fan Nickname|Gaang]], but she can levitate giant boulders into the air and smash them down on her enemies.

* Meap the alien from ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]''. He's a tiny white snowman like alien with big blue eyes and a pink bunny ear hat, but is able to beat up opponents many times his own size and he is actually a police officer on his planet.

** Agent Perry the Platypus too.

** Also there's Agent S aka Sergei the Snail, who despite his small size and lack of limbs can somehow toss Doofenshmirtz around like it was nothing.

{{quote|'''Doofenshmirtz:''' [[Monty Python and the Holy Grail|That snail is dynamite!]]}}

 

== [[Real Life]] ==

* Digging beetles have to be quite strong.

** Rhinoceros beetles are about 60 mm long, and can lift up to 850 times their own weight.

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDllYLasHxU Liam Hoekstra: The world's strongest toddler]. He has a rare genetic disorder that makes him have a (incredibly high) metabolism, and has 40% more muscle than the average kid. In short: he's three and has a six pack. How does that make you feel, [[Self-Deprecation|nerd]]?

* Tim Lincecum of the San Francisco Giants, a skinny rod of a guy if there ever was one, is one of the most dominant pitchers in baseball today. [[Hilarious in Hindsight|When he was in college, most major-league scouts thought he was too small to play major-league ball.]]

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Badass]]