History Main / BigShadowLittleCreature

* In ''PippiLongstocking'', two crooks see Mr. Nilsen's oversized shadow at Pippi's window, and mistake it for that of a large, formidable man. Mr. Nilsen is, of course, a small monkey.

* Joe's entrance into the Giant Scary Stadium in {{Idiocracy}} makes it looks like he's driving a Monster Truck, just like his opponents ... until the Reveal, when we see his vehicle is more on the scale of a Smart Car.

Sometimes a diminutive hero will invoke this trope to try to impress or intimidate someone. Whether or not it succeeds depends largely on the intelligence of the person being intimidated -- and on the RuleOfFunny.

* Sam Gamgee employs it as an intentional tactic in ''[[TheLordOfTheRings The Lord Of The Rings: The Return of the King]]'' in order to gain an advantage on some orcs.

[[quoteright:300:http://www.honhera.com/images/Mushu_Shadow_1.jpg]]

* This is how [[AvatarTheLastAirBender Momo]] gets his introduction.

* This is how [[AvatarTheLastAirBender Momo]] gets his introduction.

* The Warner Bros. ''[[LooneyTunes Merrie Melodies]]''cartoons

* Mushu, the [[NonHumanSidekick dragon sidekick]] in Disney's ''{{Mulan}}'' does this: he casts a nice dragon-shaped shadow, until she realizes he's only a foot high. This scene is repeated in the game, ''KingdomHearts'' II, which Sora and the gang initially mistaken for a heartless attacking Mulan.

'''Examples:'''

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

[[AC:{{LiveActionTelevision}}]]

[[AC:{{Manga}} and {{Anime}}]]
* Done in ''MakaiSenkiDisgaea'' with Laharl.

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

[[AC:VideoGames]]
* At one point in ''[[MetalGearSolid Metal Gear Solid 2]]'', Snake sees the shadow of a boss who unambiguously ''died'' in MGS 1; it turns out it was cast by a flashlight a few inches behind an action figure.
* Occurs in the opening scenes of ''{{Snatcher}}'', when the main character's RobotBuddy (also named Metal Gear) enters the room. Both its silhouette on the wall and the background music echo the FinalBoss fight of the original ''Metal Gear'' ({{MSX}}).
* This turns up in ''[[{{Castlevania}} Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia]]'' with a slight twist. The little creature is one of the bosses, and the big shadow is [[NightmareFuel what he uses to attack you]] - and deals more damage than almost any other boss, unless you [[GuideDangIt complete a specific quest to unlock the accessory that reduces Darkness damage]].
* One of the secrets in ''SeriousSam - The Second Encounter'' has a demon shadow on the spiral staircase room in The Pit. The caster of the shadow is a very tiny variation of one of the enemies.
----

* At one point in ''[[MetalGearSolid Metal Gear Solid 2]]'', Snake sees the shadow of a boss who unambiguously died in MGS 1; it turns out it was cast by a flashlight a few inches behind an action figure.

* Done in the ''{{Disgaea}}'' Anime with Laharl.

* Mushu, the [[NonHumanSidekick dragon sidekick]] in Disney's ''{{Mulan}}'' does this: he casts a nice dragon-shaped shadow, until you realize he's only a foot high. This scene is repeated in the game, ''KingdomHearts'' II, which Sora and the gang initially mistaken for a heartless attacking Mulan.

Generally played for laughs, we see a large, terrifying shadow on the wall. It turns out to be cast from something tiny (which may or may not turn out to be [[KillerRabbit dangerous]]).

Sometimes a diminutive hero (or sidekick) will invoke this trope to try to impress or intimidate someone. Whether or not it succeeds depends largely on the intelligence of the person being intimidated - and on the RuleOfFunny.

This is the shadowy brother of DepthDeception, and the inverted relative to ShadowDiscretionShot.

* Sam Gamgee employs it as an intentional tactic in ''TheLordOfTheRings: The Return of the King'' in order to gain an advantage on some orcs.
** Only in the film version. Tolkien's idea was more involved, but presumably it had to be simplified in visual terms.
* When Mini-Me first appears in ''AustinPowers: The Spy Who Shagged Me'', we see his full size shadow first, before we see what size he really is.

* ''Zathura'', when the Robot first appears.

* The Warner Bros. ''[[LooneyTunes Merrie Melodies]]'' cartoon "Scaredy Cat". In the scene where ''a group of killer mice have Porky bound, gagged, and on his way to be decapitated'', large shadows of the mice (with one carrying an executioner's axe) appear on the wall.
** Another example is the opening of "What's Opera, Doc?", where the muscular shadow commanding the elements belongs to Elmer Fudd in an ill-fitting armor.

* The second ''[[TheLandBeforeTime Land Before Time]]'' movie does this with a recently hatched T. Rex.
** The first movie had a more poignant example: Littlefoot sees a large shadow and mistakes it for his mother. Only when he approaches it does he realizes it's his own shadow.
*** Used again in Land Before Time V where Little Foot gets stranded on an island and cowers from the shadow of an approaching Sharptooth, which turns out to be a slightly older Chomper.
* Mushu, the [[NonHumanSidekick dragon sidekick]] in Disney's ''{{Mulan}}'' does this: he casts a nice dragon-shaped shadow, until you realize he's only a foot high.
** This scene is repeated in the game, ''KingdomHearts'' II, which Sora and the gang initially mistaken for a heartless attacking Mulan.

* Both played straight and terrifyingly subverted in the 1990s version of ''Series/{{X-Men}}'' when the [[KillerRobot Ultimate Sentinel]] Nimrod - ''[[{{Determinator}} a robot that would give a Terminator nightmares]]'' - shows up. We see the massive shadow on the wall as [[FutureBadAss Bishop]] yells '' [[OhCrap "Oh, no! It's NIMROD!"]] '' - when a [[RealMenWearPink man-sized, pink robot]] appears, and [[HopeSpot everyone breathes a slight sigh of relief...]] which disappears completely as Nimrod [[CurbStompBattle then promptly proceeds to beat everyone present like a red-haired stepchild.]]
* {{Catscratch}}: Waffles runs away from home and tries to live life on the streets as a dog. From there he meets another visitor: [flames develop and a dark shadow appears] "Who dares enter the sanctity of my domain? Name yourself!" Waffle: "W-W-Waffle. Wh-who are you?" Dark Shadow: "History has given me many names. You may call me...[Shrimpy dog arrives] Barkmeat."

* At one point in ''MetalGearSolid 2'', Snake sees the shadow of a boss who unambiguously died in MGS 1; it turns out it was cast by a flashlight a few inches behind an action figure.
* This turns up in Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia... with a slight twist. The little creature is one of the bosses, and the big shadow is [[NightmareFuel what he uses to attack you]] - and deals more damage than almost any other boss, unless you [[GuideDangIt complete a specific quest to unlock the accessory that reduces Darkness damage]].

<<|StockVisualMetaphors|>>
<<|NarrativeDevices|>>

* Mama Odie's introduction in ''ThePrincessAndTheFrog''. The DVDCommentary references ''WhatsOperaDoc'' as an inspiration.

** PleaseElaborate.