Top-Heavy Guy: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

A type of caricature style of drawing the human male figure, as having really huge torso and arms, but legs that are too small to support the upper body, either by being too skinny and/or too short. The effect is usually a triangle with legs (heck, some drawing books actually say to draw the male torso as a triangle). The form of this can range from a moderately large torso and legs that are just a bit too skinny (usually when the rest of the cast is drawn with realistic proportions), to legs that are short and stubby, and the torso is freakishly huge to keep the guy still at normal height (usually when the rest of the cast has cartoonish figures). And even then, there can be other variations.

* Rattigan from ''[[The Great Mouse Detective]]'' has this build. Being a...um...big mouse {{spoiler|RAT!!!}} he has very broad shoulders, a wide chest, and overall is extremely muscular in the upper body. However, he has a teeny tiny waist and very short legs, easily fitting into a triangle shape. His head is also quite small compared to his shoulder width, despite his genius IQ.

* In the animated ''[[Hellboy]]'' movies, Hellboy is drawn with a huge upper body but mere human-sized legs.

 

 

== Films -- Live-Action ==

 

 

== Literature ==

* Played straight (huge torso and stubby legs) and inverted (incredibly skinny torso and massive legs) in the beach scene in ''[[Where's Waldo]]''.

 

* ''[[Donkey Kong Country]] 2'' takes this to an insane degree with [http://www.donkeykongwiki.com/File:Klubba.jpg Klubba] and [[Palette Swap|Kudgel]].

* [[media:captain_qwark.jpg|Captain Qwark]] of the ''[[Ratchet and Clank]]'' series, and a few enemies and bosses, such as [http://en.ratchet-galaxy.com/images/rg/personnages/Shellshock.png Shellshock], the [http://images.wikia.com/ratchet/images/9/96/Thug_and_thugs.png Thugs-4-Less leader], and [http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20080807184812/ratchet/images/7/78/Slag.png Captain Slag.]

* Groose

* The Tank from ''[[Left 4 Dead]]'' has a massive upper body, supported by fairly normal-sized legs. It actually walks like a gorilla, using its massive arms to help support itself.

** In the sequel its mass has increased to the point where its lower jaw has either been forced off, or crushed, by massive pectoral muscles.

* Minotaurs in ''[[Dragon Nest]]'' have this appearance. They drop an item called Joint Treatment that lampshades it. After all, their poor tiny knees have to support gargantuan tops.

* Inspector Grosky of the [[Professor Layton]] series has a ''huge'' chest. His pecs are so big, the collar of his shirt is actually down near nipple level, tie and all, with his prodigious bush of chest hair poking out.

* [http://spyro.wikia.com/wiki/Agent_Zero Agent Zero] ''[[Spyro the Dragon|Syro: Ripto's Rage]]'' has extremely tine legs.

* A common complaint about male draenei and worgen in ''[[World of Warcraft]]''.

* The titular character in ''[[Odin Sphere]]'' has arms that comprise over half of his body weight. This is unfortunately not even played for humor, it is just part of the game's bizarre art style.

* This is what your character becomes in the browser game ''The Douchebag Life'' when you bulk him up.

* [[Johnny Bravo]], [[media:JohnnyBravo3.gif|as can be seen here]].

* Joe Swanson from ''[[Family Guy]]''. Even when he got the use of his legs back, his legs were small.

** Slightly toned down between the [[Pilot]] and the main series.

* Hego, Shego's [[Super Strength|super-strong]] brother from ''[[Kim Possible]]''. The cartoon style makes you wonder how he stands up.

** Steve Barkin, Brick Flagg, Pain King and Steel Toe, Dementor's minions (Dementor himself has short legs, but is more boxy), and even Drakken to a lesser extent (almost normal-proportioned, but still with shorter-than-average legs, although this is best seen when he's not in his usual lab coat; re: "Dimension Twist" and "Rappin' Drakken"). In fact, any male character who's not rail-thin (like Ron) is almost guaranteed to have short legs.

* Vlad of the ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' series, most noticeable in his ghost form less so as a human. Dash and Kwan as well.

** Skulker is a more blatant form.

* Duncan from ''[[Total Drama Island]]''. He tends tower over most of the other characters [http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20101126070306/totaldramaisland/images/3/33/Glare.PNG when they're all sitting down], but since his legs are less than a third of his total height, he's actually one of the shortest males on the show.

* ''[[Transformers Animated]]'' has [http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Grandus_(Animated) Grandus].

* Standard in [[Batman Beyond]]. Batman/Terry himself is an example (even when he's not wearing the suit), but so are Bruce, most of the bad guys, even Superman when he guest stars.