History Main / GeekPhysiques

** Mostly justified in that he has a chronic illness ([[spoiler:which later becomes terminal]]) and has to walk with a leg brace and cane or crutch. Averted by his partner Jayce, who's built like a football linebacker and fights with [[DropTheHammer a massive hammer]].

* Luz from ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' is a RareFemaleExample, being a scrawny fantasy geek who in the first episode cursed her "weak nerd arms" for being unable to pull a lever. [[StrongAsTheyNeedToBe However, later episodes]] show that her time on the Boiling Isles has gotten her into much better shape [[MusclesAreMeaningless despite maintaining the same physique]], to the point that it takes several people to restrain her when she's delirious with a fever in "Eclispe Lake".

* Wesley from ''Series/{{Degrassi}}'' fits very cleanly into the thin and dorky mold, his geek cred being science and academics based. Adam, meanwhile, was the short thin comic book nerd variety.

* Glenn the hacker from the first ''{{Film/Transformers}}'' movie.

* One of Lisbeth Salander's few friends in Stieg Larsson's ''Literature/MillenniumTrilogy'' is an obese geek with poor social skills (except online).

* ''Film/JurassicPark'': Dennis Nedry

Occasionally coupled with a NerdyInhaler and/or a [[NerdyNasalness nasally voice]] to try and [[JustifiedTrope justify]] it. {{Badass Bookworm}}s often, but not always, avert this. May overlap with FatAndSkinny if both are in the same scene together. Related to BrainsVersusBrawn.

* ''{{Literature/Discworld}}'': Ponder Stibbons, a computer/science geek wizard who is "by [his] own admission, a wet and a weed". (Interestingly, when he first appeared as a student, he was the overweight version, described as the beginnings of what decades of big dinners does do senior wizards. After a few years of instead working feverishly in the High Energy Magic Building and living on the occasional slice of pizza, later books portray him as decidedly scrawny, at least by wizard standards.)

* ''{{Literature/Discworld}}'': Ponder Stibbons, a computer/science geek wizard who is "by [his] own admission, a wet and a weed".

* Luz from ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' is a RareFemaleExample, being a scrawny fantasy geek who in the first episode cursed her "weak nerd arms" for being unable to pull a lever. [[StrongAsTheyNeedToBe However, later episodes show that her time on the Boiling Isles has gotten her into much better shape [[MusclesAreMeaningless despite maintaining the same physique]], to the point that it takes several people to restrain her when she's delirious with a fever in "Eclispe Lake".

* Luz from ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' is a RareFemaleExample, being a scrawny fantasy geek who in the first episode cursed her "weak nerd arms" for being unable to pull a lever. [[StrongAsTheyNeedToBe However, Luz is sometimes shown]] as [[MusclesAreMeaningless much stronger than she looks]]; for instance, she could easily BridalCarry Amity in "Wing it Like Witches".

* ''Literature/SkippyDies'': Ruprecht, a string-theory obsessed TeenGenius with NoSocialSkills, is very fast and is constantly eating.

* Arguably [[HotScientist Verde]], [[NerdsAreSexy Shouichi]], and Spanner, from ''Manga/Reborn2004''. All three are rail-thin (especially Verde), and painfully intelligent (especially Verde) in their respective fields (science for Verde, mechanics for Shou, and robotics for Spanner). The three of them hardly ever leave their labs (once again, especially Verde).

That thing where geeks and scientists are always fragile, skinny guys without a shred of muscle to their names. Except when they're morbidly obese and/or neckbearded. Rarely do we see an athletic, rugged, or only mildly pudgy geek, because they are {{Squishy Wizard}}s.

Occasionally coupled with a NerdyInhaler and/or a [[NerdyNasalness nasally voice]] to try and [[JustifiedTrope justify]] it. {{Badass Bookworm}}s often, but not always, avert this. May overlap with FatAndSkinny if both are in the same scene together.

* ''VideoGame/ShovelKnight'' has [[GadgeteerGenius Tinker Knight]], who's not only fat, but also the tiniest member of the Order of No Quarter, and he prefers to work on his inventions rather than exploration like the others do. His boss battle shows this, as the only thing he does is running in panic while [[WrenchWrack throwing wrenches]] everywhere and breaking his nose on the ground. [[spoiler:When he pilots or commands at distance his [[HumongousMecha Tinker Tank]], however, it's another story.]]

* [[MadBomber Plague Knight]] from ''VideoGame/ShovelKnight'' is without hesitation the skinniest of the Enchantress' knights, and he largely prefers to stay in his obscure lab experimenting new explosive potions. However, he's one of the hardest bosses to fight, as he [[TeleportSpam teleports everywhere]] and has various potions he throws in every directions, and his solo campaign shows that [[GeniusBruiser he's a capable adventure]] as (if not more than) Shovel Knight himself.

* Discussed in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6275865/1/ Remus Lupin, PI'', where Voldemort that wizards tend to be skinny or fat, depending on their metabolism, lifestyle and how much they love their food, but there's never a fit wizard because magic makes physical fitness practically unnecessary.

* Creator/EddieDeezen, famous for playing (among other roles) stereotypical nerd Eugene in ''Film/{{Grease}}'', Malvin in ''Film/WarGames'', and Eddie Lipschultz in [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092210/ The Whoopee Boys]].

* Karl Hadrika's "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcchrgJgryo&t=655s Becky Prim]]" proof-of-concept {{pilot}} has Norville, who's described in Hardika's Website/{{Tumblr}} [[http://karlhadrika.tumblr.com/ blog]] as a "horny sock puppet", which is not too far off of a description as he's pretty skinny chump with a [[LongNeck pencil neck]] that takes up a majority of his body.

* In Cory Doctorow's ''[[http://baens-universe.com/articles/When_Sysadmins_Ruled_the_Earth When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth]]'', the main character is "a type-one admin, with an extra seventy or eighty pounds all around the middle, and a neat but full beard that he wore over his extra chins. His tee said HELLO CTHULHU..."

* In ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' Kevyn, resident MadScientist, has a bit of [[https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2007-03-21 a potbelly]]. Warrant Officer Thurl used to be obese before he got his head ripped off and the regeneration bot insisted on [[https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2001-11-07 fixing the problem]].

* Matt from ''Manga/DeathNote''. For someone who spends most of his time sitting around [[VideoGameCulture playing video games]] and appears to have a taste for junk food, he does have [[http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/deathnote/images/c/c1/35.png/revision/latest?cb=20110507203616 nice biceps]]!

While both versions of geek have been around for some time, the "geeks are fat" version has become more dominant with the rise of world obesity rates. Inactivity and unhealthy eating habits can explain this in fiction and [[TruthInTelevision in real life]]. The other form also has justification in the "ForgetsToEat" aspect of things, or possibly because they have [[CrackIsCheaper an expensive hobby]] that eats up the bulk of their food budget. (The BasementDweller doesn't run into this problem, so they're far more likely to be portrayed as fat.) The reverse is also true as those entering such industries age and realize they're losing their youthful metabolisms and as such professions become more of a career and less a stepping stone to bigger and better things. Regardless, both versions have staying power as long as neither is considered conventionally attractive (hence why geeks are rarely portrayed as muscular.)

While both versions of geek have been around for some time, the "geeks are skinny" image is slowly being displaced by "geeks are fat" as the world obesity rate rises. The hours of inactivity and unhealthy eating habits are sufficient justification and can cause this to be TruthInTelevision. The older form also has justification in the "ForgetsToEat" aspect of things, or possibly because CrackIsCheaper and therefore the geeks only spend the bare minimum amount of money on food that they need to in order to stay alive while pouring the rest of their income into their hobbies (which explains why the BasementDweller is almost always a fat geek; he doesn't buy his own food so he has more of it to eat). The reverse is also true as those entering such industries age and realize they're losing their youthful metabolisms and as such professions become more of a career and less a stepping stone to bigger and better things.

* Lenny the obsessive Powerpuff Girls nerd in ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' episode "Collect Her".