History Main / BigGuyLittleGuy

* Lugnut and Blitzwing from ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated''.

** Sully and Mike in ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc''

This trope describes a pair of guys who always fight together, are best friends forever, and quite often have a very obvious hierarchy: the Little Guy is typically the one in charge -- unless, of course, he's a [[Film/AustinPowers "Mini-Me"]] to the Big Guy. The Big Guy usually plays the DumbMuscle role, but there's a catch, and this is important: oftentimes, the Big Guy will have some pretty good ideas. The Little Guy often ignores the Big Guy's suggestion, only to [[GladIThoughtOfIt come up with the idea himself just a split second later]], as with Timon and Pumbaa of ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'' fame. Even if he's not [[ObfuscatingStupidity obfuscating]], meaning he really is just [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass a big dumb lug with occasional brainstorms]] and he often doesn't know his own strength, the Big Guy has [[DumbassHasAPoint many a flash of insight]].

!!Examples include:

* ''WesternAnimation/FanboyAndChumChum'': Fanboy is the tall guy and Chum Chum is the the short guy.

* In 2003, Creator/{{Apple}} ran an ad for its [[UsefulNotes/AppleMacintosh PowerBook]] [=G4=] with two men sitting next to one another on a plane. On one side: Verne Troyer, an actor with dwarfism who stood all of 2'8" (81 cm), best known as Mini-Me in the ''Film/AustinPowers'' franchise. On the other: Yao Ming, then-current [[UsefulNotes/NationalBasketballAssociation NBA]] star, at 7'6" (229 cm). The ad also includes an inversion, in which Troyer reaches for his 17" [=PowerBook=] and Yao for a 12" version. %% Yao is Chinese, so his family name comes first.

* ''Manga/SamuraiDeeperKyo'': the first people he kills are a giant with a [[DropTheHammer comically oversized hammer]] and a midget nicknamed "Wind".

This trope describes a pair of guys who always fight together, are best friends forever, and quite often have a very obvious hierarchy: the Little Guy is typically the one in charge – unless, of course, he's a [[Film/AustinPowers "Mini-Me"]] to the Big Guy. The Big Guy usually plays the DumbMuscle role, but there's a catch, and this is important: oftentimes, the Big Guy will have some pretty good ideas. The Little Guy often ignores the Big Guy's suggestion, only to [[GladIThoughtOfIt come up with the idea himself just a split second later]], as with Timon and Pumbaa of ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'' fame. Even if he's not [[ObfuscatingStupidity obfuscating]], meaning he really is just [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass a big dumb lug with occasional brainstorms]] and he often doesn't know his own strength, the Big Guy has [[DumbassHasAPoint many a flash of insight]].

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E57ThePrimeMover The Prime Mover]]", Ace Larson bosses the much larger and nicer Jimbo Cobb around so that he will use his telekinesis to help Ace's gambling. However, Jimbo eventually fakes the loss of his power so that Ace loses and moves on from his {{Greed}}.

* In ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', it's common for ogres to be teamed up with smaller races like orcs (who tend to be the big guy in most other evil humanoid pairings, and generally not that smart, but are smarter and weaker than ogres), goblins, or hobgoblins. This usually lasts until the ogre gets bored, hungry, or angry and forgets that it isn't supposed to eat its smaller companions.

* ''VideoGame/WarcraftIIIReignOfChaos'': The Goblin Alchemist hero is a goblin riding an ogre.
* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'':
** Sillas Darkmoon, the well-dressed gnome owner of the Faire, and his hulking ogre bodyguard Berth.
** [[ThoseTwoGuys The ever-recurring]] VitriolicBestBuds Asric and Jadaar. Asric is a wiry little blood elf; Jadaar is not only a draenei, but one with a slightly outsize model.

* ''VideoGame/DarkForcesSagaIIJediKnight'': The bosses Gorc and Pic are a Dark Jedi pair consisting of a huge Gamorrean and a tiny Kowakian Monkey-Lizard.

* ''VideoGame/{{WarCraft}} III'''s Goblin Alchemist hero is a goblin riding an ogre.
* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarCraft'' has Sillas Darkmoon, the well-dressed gnome owner of the Faire, and his hulking ogre bodyguard Berth.
** And then, there's [[ThoseTwoGuys the ever-recurring]] VitriolicBestBuds Asric and Jadaar. Asric is a wiry little blood elf; Jadaar is not only a draenei, but one with a slightly outsize model.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Arcanum}}'', half-ogres are employed by gnomes as bodyguards (this becomes a plot point later on).
* ''VideoGame/{{Drakengard}}'': Seere (a six-year-old) and Golem (Who's so big his attacks come from the sky)
* Kimahri and Yuna in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX''. Less noticeable now, but Kimahri is over seven feet tall (still short for his race) and probably wasn't much shorter when he traveled with Yuna when she was a child. Also, when summoning Ifrit, she sits on his shoulder for a second, then gives him orders.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV: A Realm Reborn'' has [[RunningGag Biggs]] [[ShoutOut and]] [[Franchise/StarWars Wedge]], a Roegadyn[[note]]Seven feet tall and built like a tank[[/note]] and Lalafell[[note]]Three feet tall and resembles a toddler[[/note]] duo from the Garlond Ironworks who team up with the Scions of the Seventh Dawn after you first join a Grand Company.
* [[EvilGenius Zexion]] and [[TheBrute Lexaeus]] from ''Franchise/KingdomHearts''. They [[PlayingWithATrope both]] possess copious amounts of Brains ''and'' Brawn, seeing as Lexaeus is a GeniusBruiser and Zexion is a BadassBookworm.
* [[ShorterMeansSmarter Maloof]] and [[HuskyRusskie Mikhail]] from ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}''.
* ''Franchise/DonkeyKong''
** [[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong]].
** And before that, [[VideoGame/DonkeyKong Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr.]]
** And when Diddy was kidnapped along with Donkey, Dixie was given her own big guy in Kiddy Kong.
** Donkey Kong is the big guy to little guys Diddy, Dixie, and Cranky Kong in ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryTropicalFreeze''. All three can stand on his back.
* The Franchise/SuperMarioBros themselves, Mario (the little guy) and Luigi (the big guy). Ditto for their {{evil counterpart}}s, VideoGame/{{Wario}} and Waluigi.
* Pepperoni (a giant fairy) and Goto (who resides in a suit that is barely half of the main characters' height) from ''VideoGame/ManaKhemia2FallOfAlchemy''.
* ''[[VideoGame/DarkForcesSaga Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight]]'' had bosses Gorc and Pic, a Dark Jedi pair consisting of a huge Gamorrean and a tiny Kowakian Monkey-Lizard.
* ''VideoGame/{{Gekido}}'' have a recurring DualBoss duo, [=RK21=] and [=RK22=], two robots always seen together. The former has yellow armour and towers over the players, while the latter is red and roughly the player's size, and a lot faster than it's comrade.
* Chang Koehan (a large chubby man with a big iron ball on a chain) and Choi Bounge (a midget with [[Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet Freddy Krueger-esque]] claws) from ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters''. To be precise, according to their official bios Choi is five-foot-nothing while Chang is ''seven-foot-eight''. Most evident in ''VideoGame/CapcomVsSNK2'' where you control Chang and Choi together as a single character (with Choi occasionally performing some of his special moves).
* In ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'', there's, well, Banjo and Kazooie, a big bear and a smaller bird who work as partners.
* ''VideoGame/JitsuSquad'' have this dynamic between the BigBad, Lord Origami, and TheDragon, Dash Kobayashi. The former is a gigantic demon mask that takes up the entire background, while the latter is roughly the same size as your character. It's especially evident in the FinalBoss battle, when Origami attacks as a BackgroundBoss spamming projectiles, and as you fend off his attacks and try retaliating, Dash will attempt getting in your way and repeatedly distract you.
* ''VideoGame/LoveAndPies'': Sven is the tallest character in the game, towering over everyone else. His husband, Angus, is very short, barely coming up to his waist.
* Ferra/Torr in ''VideoGame/MortalKombatX''. Torr is the big brute and Ferra is the chirpy little girl. A unique situation in that this is a ''Fighting Game'', but both characters work as a team, Ferra riding on Torr's back most of the time and combining their attacks against their opponent.
* [[FragileSpeedster Dragonslayer Ornstein]] and [[MightyGlacier Executioner Smough]] of ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' infamy show just how [[ThatOneBoss deadly]] these two guys can be. [[spoiler: Ultimately subverted, at least in the case of Smough as it's strongly suggested that he'd held a hidden disdain for Ornstein as a result of being denied membership into the Knights of Gwyn. If you happen to bring down Ornstein first, [[KillSteal Smough will finish him off instead.]]]]
* Vector and Espio from ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog''.
** Big the Cat and Froggy from ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure''. Their personal theme song, "Lazy Days (Livin' in Paradise)" even names the trope word for word in the lyrics:

* The protagonists of ''VideoGame/OfOrcsAndMen'' are Arkail, a massive orc barbarian who functions as a tank and Styx, a goblin rogue who functions as the GlassCannon.

* ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' has [[MadBomber Junkrat]] and [[FatBastard Roadhog]], two Australian outlaws who wreak havoc wherever they go. While Junkrat is fairly tall at 6 ft 5 in, he's also scrawny is constantly hunched forward, while Roadhog is 7 ft 2 in and 550 lbs.
* In a number of the earlier ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' games, [[FrankensteinsMonster The Creature]] is often accompanied by Igor, an invincible (and incredibly annoying) flea-man that only dies when you kill off The Creature.
* ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'': Mission (small-built Twi'lek teenager) and Zaalbar (BIG Wookiee adolescent) look like LittleGuyBigBuddy, but they're really closer to this trope. Zaalbar isn't stupid by any stretch, but he's [[ShrinkingViolet painfully shy]] and can't speak Basic or Huttese (understands them, but his species lacks the ability to speak them), even remarking to the player character that he can't be much help unless you need something broken. This leaves Mission to do most of the talking and planning and "Big Z" to back her up when brute force is needed. Mission also has the least hit points of the party while Zaalbar has the most. They are, indeed, a shoutout to Han and Chewie above.
* Similar to the Ferra/Torr example, ''VideoGame/OutlastII'' has Nick and Laird as the big guy/little guy respectively, with Laird being a DepravedDwarf riding on the DumbMuscle Nick.
* ''VideoGame/TreasurePlanetBattleAtProcyon'': The two main characters, Jim Hawkins and his First Mate, Mr. Onyx. Jim Hawkins is normal-sized, while Mr. Onyx is an 8 foot tall {{Rock Monster}}.
* The main characters of ''VideoGame/OldSchoolMusical'' are brothers Tib (little guy) and Rob (big guy).
* While Mad Rat of ''VideoGame/MadRatDead'' is small (being a rat and all), his companion [[OrganAutonomy Heart]] even smaller, to the point where he can fit in Mad Rat's chest cavity with room to spare, due to being Mad Rat's heart. However, the end of the game reveals [[spoiler:that Heart is a cat, thus reversing the positions of the dynamic.]]
* The titular characters of the ''VideoGame/SamAndMax'' series follow this trope. [[InvertedTrope Only it's Sam (the big dog) who's the wise one and Max (the short rabbit) is the muscle]].

* Baseball and Nickel from ''WebAnimation/InanimateInsanity''.

* Played with in ''Webcomic/TheBugPond'' with Flash and Eldwin. While Flash is the smaller of the two and often orders Eldwin around, Eldwin is obviously the more competent.
* In ''Webcomic/{{SSDD}}'' Anne [[http://www.poisonedminds.com/d/20090105.html compared]] Norman and Richard, when they were kids to "the big guy, ordered around by the little guy in Mad Max three". Richard grew out of it but Norman didn't and still sticks around. To a lesser extent Norm has resumed playing the "big dumb thug" to his [[AmoralAttorney lawyer]], Gary Hart, when they go out doing dirty work for the [[MasterComputer Oracle]].
** In the future arcs, subverted by [[http://www.poisonedminds.com/d/20061107.html Adviser Krutz and his bodyguard]].
* Mutemaster and Noisemaster from ''Webcomic/CucumberQuest'' are a villainous Big Guy and Little Guy, respectively. They are the two Disaster Masters of the Melody Kingdom, and they were created at the exact same time, meaning that they have a special bond compared to other Disaster Masters. The difference between the two doesn't really seem to be in intelligence, though--rather, it's how many lines they have. Mutemaster (as the name suggests) doesn't really speak as much as [[TheUnintelligible talks in "mmm"s and grunts]] ([[IntelligibleUnintelligible through Noisemaster seems to have no problem understanding him]]). Noisemaster (again, as the name suggests) is the talkative one, putting on a DJ-like persona to have fun with people while [[FauxAffablyEvil also talking about leveling cities and killing thousands.]]
* Al and Vincent, washed-up psychic soldiers from ''Webcomic/{{Goud}}''. Al makes up for his much smaller size with sheer ruthlessness. Vincent often goes along with Al's schemes in order to placate him.
* [[TheBully School Bully]] Johnny (small guy) and his sidekick Ollie (big guy) from ''Webcomic/{{Paranatural}}''. Note that although Johnny has most of the ideas, Ollie is actually much smarter. Not that that's difficult, [[CloudCuckoolander with Johnny]].
* Tork and Vector, a pair of thieving Geckoids from ''{{Webcomic/tinyraygun}}''. Unusually, Vector, the smaller one, only ''thinks'' he's in charge, while his larger, smarter partner Tork doesn't take him particularly seriously.
* Blossom and Hilda serve as a [[GenderFlip genderflipped]] example in ''{{Webcomic/Rhapsodies}}''.

* Trinket and Cissy from ''WesternAnimation/PepperAnn'', the closest this series has to an AlphaBitch (they're [[ValleyGirl vain]] rather than mean, and lack the numbers and power to constitute a [[GirlPosse posse]]). Cissy is a DumbBlonde HugeSchoolgirl. Trinket is short, although [[TeensAreShort compared to her other classmates]] not by much; and as the one with the most common sense of the two (which again is not saying much), she's undoubtedly the leader. And you can count with one hand the number of episodes where they don't show up together, or at least one alongside the other.

* Vector and Espio from ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog''.