History Main / BigGuyLittleGuy

* WesternAnimation/YogiBear and Boo-Boo. While Yogi is "[[CatchPhrase smarter than the average bear]]", Boo-Boo seems to have more common sense, often playing StraightMan to his friend.

* ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'': Scratch and Grounder overlap this with {{fat and skinny}}, with Scratch being a tall skinny robot, and Grounder being a short fat robot.

* Rosewood and Taggart from ''Film/BeverlyHillsCop''.

* ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'' has Jacuzzi Splot's bodyguards, Nick and Donnie. This might be a case of Big Guy, Bigger Guy, Little Guy. And of course Nice.

* Waver Velvet and Rider from ''LightNovel/FateZero''. Of course, since Rider is a legendary warrior king on top of being a seven foot bear of a man, he doesn't settle for being the subservient one of the pair and dominates Waver from the moment he's summoned by him.

* Most recurring and regular human characters in ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' can be considered a Big Guy when using whatever Pokémon he or she is most associated with. Ash with Pikachu naturally, Gary with Umbreon, and Brock with Croagunk. There are a few exception, however,like when Brock uses Onix, which is ''much'' larger than he is.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV: A Realm Reborn'' has Biggs and 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.

* Groot and Rocket from ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy''; Rocket is a three-foot-tall [[UpliftedAnimal uplifted]] raccoon, while his partner Groot is a ''ten'' foot tall alien tree-creature.

* 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.

* 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.

* The titular characters of the Sam and Max 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]].

* 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.

* ''ComicStrip/MuttAndJeff'' has BigGuy Mutt paired with LittleGuy Jeff.

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 often in charge – unless, of course, he's a [[Film/AustinPowers "Mini-Me"]] to the big guy. The big guy 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]].

The little guy is usually listed first, since he's the leader, and they are always listed together, [[TheDividual as if they are one entity]]. In fact, some episodes may center on the fact that they can't live without each other. Although these guys are seen most often in kid's shows, they are also played seriously.

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 often in charge -- unless, of course, he's a [[Film/AustinPowers "Mini-Me"]] to the big guy. The big guy 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]].

Almost always a case of SmartJerkAndNiceMoron as well. See also ThoseTwoGuys, HugeGuyTinyGirl, and TinyGuyHugeGirl. SuperTrope for LittleGuyBigBuddy, where the bigger of the two protects/looks after the smaller, and BullyAndWimpPairing, where the bigger one bullies and manhandles the shorter one. Add a skinny guy and you've achieved a BigThinShortTrio.

* A variation in ''Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe'' when the BigBad summons his henchmen. First a squat heavyset man lumbers into the room, looking like the standard thug. Then Jaws enters, played by seven-foot-high Creator/RichardKiel, and we get a sense of just how big he is from the way he towers over the first guy.

* ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'' has Jacuzzi Splot's bodyguards, Nick and Donnie. This might be a case of Big Guy, Bigger Guy, Little Guy. And of course [[TheChick Nice.]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Big Chuck and Li'l John, who hosted movies on TV in Cleveland, OH.
* Terence Hill and Budd Spencer.
* Stand up comedians Creator/PattonOswalt (5'7") and Creator/BrianPosehn (6'6") joke that they look like something out of a horror movie when they're seen walking together.
* Magic/comedy duo Creator/PennAndTeller features 6'7" Penn Jilette opposite 5'9" Teller. Teller isn't particularly short, but the sheer difference between them causes this effect regardless. It's also an inversion in which the BigGuy (Penn) is seen as the "leader" of the two, generally because he does all the talking.
* Creator/VanKootenEnDeBie: Wim De Bie was the tall one and Kees Van Kooten the smaller one.
* Within the [[KosherNostra Jewish mob]]: Bugsy Siegel (the big guy) and Meyer Lansky (the little guy).
* As a female example, Creator/MaisieWilliams (5'1"/155 cm) and Creator/SophieTurner (5'9"/175 cm) have become close friends while filming ''Series/GameOfThrones''. It helps that they're around the same age.
* Creator/GeneSiskel was tall and skinny; Creator/RogerEbert was short and fat, and they spent their personal and professional lives as VitriolicBestBuds. Naturally, this was played up in the marketing for their ''Series/SiskelAndEbert'' show.
* Creator/CheechAndChong are respectively the little guy and the big guy.
* Shane Madej and Ryan Bergara of WebVideo/BuzzfeedUnsolved are the big guy and little guy.
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* ''VideoGame/LoveAndPies'': Sven is the tallest character game, towering over everyone else. His husband, Angus, is very short, barely coming up to his waist.

* 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 ons 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.

* In one episode of ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'' there was Ohara and Kohara, two Ra Yellow students who became partners to get revenge upon the Obelisk students by assuming the identity of the "Duel Giant". (Ohara was a big guy who wasn't the best duelist, while Kohara was a real little guy who ''was'' good, but had stage fright; so the plan involved Ohara disguisng himself with a mask and Kohara directing his moves with a radio headset.)

* In ''Anime/MarvelDISKWarsTheAvengers'', Edward Grant is the youngest of the five kids. His biocode is linked to Power-class heroes, and he's paired up with the ''ComicBook/IncredibleHulk'', who can literally fit Ed's entire torso in one hand. Later on, he gets [[ComicBook/LukeCage Power Man]].

* [[GalacticConqueror Lord Hater]] and [[TheDragon Commander Peepers]] from ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder''. In this case the former is the physically powerful and visually terrifying face of an EvilEmpire and the latter is [[HypercompetentSidekick the mastermind behind it]]—though it's implied that Lord Hater was himself no slouch of a conquerer before he became subject to InUniverse VillainDecay, and now and then [[LetsGetDangerous that side of him still comes out]].

* The Gruesome Twosome, individually known as [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Big and Little]], riding the Creepy Coupe in ''WesternAnimation/WackyRaces''. In [[WesternAnimation/WackyRaces2017 the 2017 reboot]], their names are respectively changed to [[IronicName Tiny]] and Bella.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV: A Realm Reborn'' has Biggs and Wedge, a Roegadyn and Lalafell duo from the Garlond Ironworks who team up with the Scions of the Seventh Dawn after you first join a Grand Company.

* Of the ''Literature/HIVESeries'', morbidly obese teenager Franz Argentblum and his scrawny, geeky roommate Nigel Darkdoom demonstrate. May be subverted later as we know Nigel's father, [[AwesomeMcCoolName Diabolus Darkdoom]] is tall and handsome, and Nigel may lose his sickly appearance as he ages.

* The fraternal twin brothers Julius and Vincent in ''Film/{{Twins}}'', played by 6'1" Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger and 4'10" Creator/DannyDeVito.

* WesternAnimation/RobinHood has the titular protagonist (Little Guy) and his trusty sidekick Little John (Big Guy).