History Main / MyBrainIsBig

* An episode of ''AquaTeenHungerForce'' revolves around the Aqua Teens' attempts to defeat Wayne the Main Brain in a sports bar trivia contest.

** [[http://www.mycomicshop.com/comicbooks/item?IID=5385671 The Super-Genius Baby]]

* ''{{Warhammer 40000}}'' has Tyranid Zoanthropes which have stunted bodies with tiny vestigal limbs and a [[{{Aliens}} xenomorph]] like head with extra brain sticking out the back. It uses it's psychic powers to float around and act as psionic artillery.

* "The Sixth Finger" episode of the original ''TheOuterLimits''

* There was a Far Side comic that had the hero rushing into the villain's headquarters, which had your typical MyBrainIsBig guy as well as some huge-bodied, tiny-headed mooks and shouting, "Who's the brains of this operation?"

* Averted in there ''ResidentEvil'' series. Lickers have a large, exposed brain but while they're more intelligent than the zombies they were made from (to the point where they can follow orders), this isn't saying much.

* Guldo, the psychic member of the Ginyu Force from ''{{Dragonball Z}}''

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]
* In Edmond Hamilton's ''The Man Who Evolved'', a scientist has [[YouFailBiologyForever accelerated his own evolution]]. Five examples are shown; first a giant human, then two cases of the trope, then a naked brain.
* Taken to its logical conclusion in ''Last and First Men'' where the Fourth human species were basically giant, immobile brains. They were created as the equivalent of computers, [[AIIsACrapshoot and naturally rebelled against their creators.]] But in an interesting subversion, having wiped out the Third species they realized that their intellectual powers were crippled by the lack of bodies and created a Fifth species that was closer to natural humanity.
** Earlier in the novel, we meet the Second human species early in their evolution, when they had evolved larger brains than the First Men (that would be us) but unfortunately [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel hadn't yet evolved larger skulls.]] It basically drove their entire species insane and almost wiped them out, leaving behind only a very twisted literary corpus for future generations.
* ''Chessmen of Mars'', one of the JohnCarterOfMars books, gave us the Kaldanes, who look like oversized heads with crab legs and tend to travel around on rykors, creatures that look like idealized human bodies without heads. The result appears as this trope.
** In "The Giant of Mars", the novella forming the first half of the final book in the series, this trope is inverted with Pew Mogel, an EvilGenius ArtificialHuman, who keeps his brain elsewhere and thus has a ridiculously tiny head.
* Used [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel horrifically]] in C.S. Lewis' ''[[TheSpaceTrilogy That Hideous Strength]]'', where the evil scientists [[spoiler:have taken the head of an executed criminal and are keeping it alive(-ish) it to channel demonic forces; they've removed the top of the head and its "augmented" brains are bulging out over the top, pulsating under membrane.]] [[ThisIsWrongOnSoManyLevels AAARGH]].
* Used by HGWells when he designed the ''WarOfTheWorlds'' Martians.
* It's a plot point in ''Evolution's End'', a 1941 short story by (IIRC) Robert Arthur. In a far future, humans have evolved into huge-headed, hyperintelligent and [[StrawVulcan emotionally devoid]] beings. One of them invents a machine that accelerates evolution, tries it on some volunteers and is horrified to discover [[spoiler:that in 100,000 years human brains will grow big enough to collapse under their weight]]. Also a textbook example of EvolutionaryLevels.

* The Neo Mega sub-brood of Neosapiens in ''{{ExoSquad}}''

* ''{{Family Guy}}''

**** The brain has to process the sensory imput from the whole body, and elaborate an appropiate motor response. Seeing that cell size and cerebral cortex structure don't change with body size, and that larger animals have quite a bunch more of sensorial structures; the brain has to be larger and with an even more folded surface just to process the incoming information. Doesn't take away the fact that Hominids, Elephantids, Delphinids or Corvids have larger that expected brains and extensive processing areas.

* Subverted by Neanderthals: While they had a brain size comparable and even slighty larger that those of modern humans, the shape of the skull was quite lower that ours, and the effect was the opposite of this trope.

** The LegionOfSuperheroes guest-star Evolvo Lad (Evolvo in the reboot) has a head that actually ''gets bigger and smaller'' when he uses his powers. [[FreudWasRight Does Freud know]] about this guy?

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mekon01.jpg

* In Edmond Hamilton's ''The Man Who Evolved'', a scientist has accelerated his own evolution. Five examples are shown; first a giant human, then two cases of the trope, then a naked brain.

[[AC:{{Other}}]]

!!Examples:

* ''{{Comic/E-Man}}'' 's first foe, The Brain From Sirius, was ''nothing but'' a gigantic BrainInAJar the size of a house!

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* Morbo from ''{{Futurama}}'' is likely a parody of the "generic alien" version

* ''Futurama'': "Our calculations are always correct, for we are gigantic brains."

* Subverted in ''InvaderZim'', where Dib faces continuous ridicule concerning his "big head" (a [[RunningGag gag]] in and of itself, since [[InformedDeformity it isn't actually any larger than the other characters').

* Exedore/Exsedol's retconned form from the {{Macross}} universe (left out of the {{Robotech}} continuity).
* Void, the leader of the God Hand from ''{{Berserk}}'' is a particularly nightmarish example.
* The {{Digimon}} [[http://wikimon.net/Vadermon Vademon]]
* Yue from MahouSenseiNegima, although her intelligence isn't shown immediately due to a serious case of BrilliantButLazy.
* Guldo, the psychic member of the Ginyu Force from ''{{Dragonball Z}}''

** [[http://www.comiccollectorlive.com/LiveData/Issue.aspx?id=95ced61d-68bd-426f-be1f-930f49baa633 It happened to Jimmy Olsen]]
** [[http://politedissent.com/archives/615 And Lois Lane]]
** [[http://www.mycomicshop.com/comicbooks/item?IID=5385671 The Super-Genius Baby]]
* {{Marvel Universe}} examples:

* The Mekon of Mekonta, arch-villain of the British ''DanDare'' comics (see image above), specially bred to be his civilization's Supreme Scientist and ruler, exemplifies this trope with his huge head and withered body.
* An early storyline in Bongo's ''Simpsons'' comics had most of the cast becoming superheroes; Maggie became "Brainbaby"
* ''{{DNAgents}}'' villains Ape-X and Doctor Vlasov both had huge craniums; Vlasov's was under a huge glass bubble helmet for full {{Squick}}y visibility.
* ''{{Comic/E-Man}}'' 's first foe, The Brain From Sirius, was ''nothing but'' a gigantic BrainInAJar the size of a house!
* Appropriately, this is the appearance of [[spoiler: Veidt's fake alien]] in ''{{Watchmen}}''

* The iconic Metalunan Mutants from ''ThisIslandEarth''; their humanoid masters might also qualify as a more subdued example of the "super-smart" type.
** Possibly an inversion, as the Mutant didn't seem to be very smart.
* ''Invasion of the Saucer Men''
* Explicitly invoked in ''MarsAttacks!'' - though possibly a subversion as when the scientists later actually study a Martian corpse they find the head seems to be full of green slime.
** Brains typically are near-liquid, anyway.
* In SkyHigh there is Dr. Medulla, who teaches Mad Science, has a huge head.
* The {{Coneheads}} are extremely intelligent and have huge heads shaped like cones.

* The Talosians of ''{{Star Trek The Original Series}}'', parodied in the ''The Simpsons'' example below.
* This was one of the forms of John Crichton in the "My Three Crichtons" episode of ''{{Farscape}}''.
* "The Sixth Finger" episode of the original ''{{The Outer Limits}}''
* Some second season episode of ''SpaceCases''.
* The inhabitants of Logopolis, in the classic ''DoctorWho'' serial [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E7Logopolis of the same name.]]
* The Asgard from StargateSG1.
* ''LoisAndClark'' has Dr. "Fat Head" Mensa, who uses [[NinetyPercentOfYourBrain Ninety Percent Of His Brain]]
* Happens temporarily to [[ButtMonkey Xander]] as the result of a "spell of intelligence" in ''PowerRangersMysticForce''. It was depicted with a fishlens effect distorting part of the actor's head instead of prosthetics.

* In Edmond Hamilton's ''The Man Who Evolved'', a scientist has accelerated his own evolution. Five examples are shown; first a giant human, then two cases of the trope, then a naked brain.
* Taken to its logical conclusion in ''Last and First Men'' where the Fourth human species were basically giant, immobile brains. They were created as the equivalent of computers, [[AIIsACrapshoot and naturally rebelled against their creators.]] But in an interesting subversion, having wiped out the Third species they realized that their intellectual powers were crippled by the lack of bodies and created a Fifth species that was closer to natural humanity.
** Earlier in the novel, we meet the Second human species early in their evolution, when they had evolved larger brains than the First Men (that would be us) but unfortunately [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel hadn't yet evolved larger skulls.]] It basically drove their entire species insane and almost wiped them out, leaving behind only a very twisted literary corpus for future generations.
* ''Chessmen of Mars'', one of the JohnCarterOfMars books, gave us the Kaldanes, who look like oversized heads with crab legs and tend to travel around on rykors, creatures that look like idealized human bodies without heads. The result appears as this trope.
** In "The Giant of Mars", the novella forming the first half of the final book in the seires, this trope is inverted with Pew Mogel, an EvilGenius ArtificialHuman, who keeps his brain elsewhere and thus has a ridiculously tiny head.
* Used [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel horrifically]] in C.S. Lewis' ''[[TheSpaceTrilogy That Hideous Strength]]'', where the evil scientists [[spoiler:have taken the head of an executed criminal and are keeping it alive(-ish) it to channel demonic forces; they've removed the top of the head and its "augmented" brains are bulging out over the top, pulsating under membrane.]] [[ThisIsWrongOnSoManyLevels AAARGH]].
* Used by HGWells when he designed the ''WarOfTheWorlds'' Martians.
* It's a plot point in ''Evolution's End'', a 1941 short story by (IIRC) Robert Arthur. In a far future, humans have evolved into huge-headed, hyperintelligent and [[StrawVulcan emotionally devoid]] beings. One of them invents a machine that accelerates evolution, tries it on some volunteers and is horrified to discover [[spoiler:that in 100,000 years human brains will grow big enough to collapse under their weight]]. Also a textbook example of EvolutionaryLevels.

* Played so straight it's [[{{Narm}} hilarious]] in a 1953 [[http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2006/08/15/how-nuclear-radiation-can-change-our-race/ article]] in ''Mechanix Illustrated'', warning us of the [[ILoveNuclearPower terrible danger of nuclear radiation]] which, as [[YouFailBiologyForever everyone knew]] in TheFifties, would [[EvolutionaryLevels accelerate our evolution]] and produce a race of giant-brained {{mutants}} who would [[TranshumanTreachery turn against us]] and [[WhatMeasureIsANonSuper consider us inferior]].

* In one ''CalvinAndHobbes'' arc, this is an "unanticipated physiological consequence" of the thinking cap Calvin uses to give himself an intelligence boost.
** Strangely, this doesn't seem to alarm his parents. Then again, they never notice anything, anyway.
* In {{Dilbert}}, Dogbert once tried to invoke this. He ended up tying meat to his sides to fake it.
** Also in ''Dilbert'', the representative of Mensa is naturally big-brained.

* {{Warhammer40000}} has Tyranid Zoanthropes which have stunted bodies with tiny vestigal limbs and a [[{{Aliens}} xenomorph]] like head with extra brain sticking out the back. It uses it's psychic powers to float around and act as psionic artillery.
* Double Subverted with Orkses. Their brains are bigger but are less intelligent than humans.
However, [[LargeAndInCharge the larger ones]] are more intelligent than the smaller ones.
* The Columi in the first ''Star Wars'' RPG.

* Blitzkreig from ''FreedomForce vs The Third Reich'' not only has pulsing veins across his head, they [[PowerGlows glow]] due to his PsychicPowers.
* The Psilons ([[BattlestarGalactica no relation]]) from the ''MasterOfOrion'' series.
* Averted in there ''ResidentEvil'' series. Lickers have a large, exposed brain but while they're more intelligent than the zombies they were made from (to the point where they can follow orders), this isn't saying much.
* The Spider Mastermind and the Arachnotrons from ''{{Doom}}'' and ''[[{{Doom}} Doom II]]''
* The BFB from MDK2.
* Dr. Nefarious from ''[[RatchetAndClank Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal]]''. Before he was a robot, at least.
** Also, the Terachnoids from the same series... Who actually have multiple brains. They've been voted smartest race in the universe for 3,000 years, and weakest race for 4,000 years.

* The "[[http://ads.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=081111 Brain Digbot]]" from ''SluggyFreelance'' is designed to look like the lobes of the brain, even though, as a robot, there'd be no reason for it to have a human-like brain.
* Parodied in [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1 this]] SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal strip. The big brain is only good if the ''useful'' parts get bigger.
** Although it can still have [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=321#comic other]] uses.

* ''OrionsArm'': The [[http://www.orionsarm.com/xcms.php?r=oaeg-view-article&egart_uid=47ed99bea6c67 Highbrows]].

* Dexter from DextersLaboratory gained one of these in a dream sequence. Mandark also has this to some degree.
* The evolved mice from the ''Itchy and Scratchy'' cartoon "Planet of the Aches", in ''{{The Simpsons}}''
** Ken Griffey Jr. after drinking too much nerve tonic.
* The Lobe from ''{{Freakazoid}}''
** Also [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] by [[MeaningfulName Mo-Ron]], an alien who turns out to be a (literally) fat-headed imbecile.
* The Brain and Snowball from ''{{Pinky And The Brain}}'', though a slightly less extreme design than most
* The titular ''{{Chowder}}'' after an overdose of Brain Grub. It even stretched out his NiceHat!
* Mojo Jojo from {{The Power Puff Girls}} hides one under his glass dome.
* Morbo from {{Futurama}} is likely a parody of the "generic alien" version
** Although in a subversion, his head is shown [[BizarreAlienBiology inflating and deflating in hot weather...]]
* Professor Zygote of ''{{Mighty Max}}'' evolved himself into an example of this trope.
* When Sheen gained superintelligence on ''JimmyNeutron'', he got a swelled head both figuratively and literally.
** Don't forget the titular character having a humongous cranium.
* In one episode of ''{{Superfriends}}'', a scientist turns himself into a megalomaniac "man of the future" complete with swollen bald head. He also zaps Wonder Woman with the device and she [[TranshumanTreachery becomes his accomplice]].
* Brainulo, a supervillain from ''{{The Venture Brothers}}''
** Not to mention Master Billy Quizboy, Boy Genius. Really a middle-aged little person with hydrocephaly, but in all fairness he's a competent surgeon and good with mechanical prosthetics.
* A few episodes of {{Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot}} had a giant scientist that got in the way of a particle beam and a spider (or something) that could suck out people's brains. With each brain that he absorbed, his head got bigger. Also, the company's CEO's nephew (a teenage {{Expy}} of the CEO) also got in the way of the particle beam, and received the same power.
* Dr. Badvibes from ''C.O.P.S.''
* Charles/Brainchild from ''{{The Tick}}''
* Subverted in InvaderZim, where Dib faces continuous ridicule concerning his "Big Head" even though it's more a product of the art style than actually big. He's not all that bright, either and it can be argued either that he is more perceptive than the regular humans, or that he's a complete loon who happens to be right just this once (as none of his supposed sightings of ghosts, yetis, vampire hamsters or bigfeet have ever been confirmed).
** Also parodied with Throbulator, a creature of pure headache!
* The Neo Mega sub-brood of Neosapiens in ''{{ExoSquad}}''
* Brainard from ''MenInBlack: The Series'' is a partial subversion. In spite of his huge brain he's pretty dumb, although he possesses telekinesis.
* The super-intelligent Omnitrix aliens in ''[[BenTen Ben10]]'' and ''Ben10AlienForce'', Grey Matter and Brainstorm respectively, have proportionally larger heads than Ben's other forms. Brainstorm can actually open the top of his head to shoot lightning from his brain as his main mode of attack.
* ''{{Family Guy}}''

* One {{Totally Spies}} plot involved the villain transmitting the intelligence of Nobel Prize winners into his son. The results? [[http://www.woohp.org/gallery/displayimage.php?album=58&pos=87]]
* [[MeaningfulName Brain]][[http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_h5El_bULuPc/Rt-0aD55beI/AAAAAAAAAM4/ggqCGdvpwCw/s1600-h/brain-child.jpg child]] on {{The Ren and Stimpy Show}}.

* ''Futurama'': "Our calculations are always correct, for we are gigantic brains."

* Spoofed in [[http://www.dialbforblog.com/archives/241/ this post]] at Dial B for Blog.
* ''Garbage Pail Kids'''s Brainy Janey

* Maybe humans, maybe not. On the one hand, humans really do have pretty huge brains. We have the largest brain-to-body ratio of any animal on Earth. We're born with unusually well-developed brains so we can start learning complex ideas at a relatively young age, and that's the main reason childbirth is so painful and potentially dangerous-- even our baby brains are just too big to fit. On the other hand, there are numerous species with a larger brain in absolute terms, which are nonetheless far less intelligent than human beings. For example, both sperm whales and elephants have brains around the 7.5 kilogram range, which is roughly 5-6 times that of the average human. Apparently, size really doesn't matter, it's what you do with it.
** That's what she said.
** It would seem that the brain's size relative to the body is the decisive factor.
** There is certainly a correlation, among humans, between brain size and intelligence. There are exceptions of course, but a positive correlation has been proven. Which is only common sense.
*** Although it is abused by those who subscribe to "scientific racism", a subset of racism developed in a vain attempt to make it acceptable in the modern age. Characterized by throwing around claims like "black people have smaller brains", then pretending that was ''all'' you meant.
*** No confirmed correlation has ever been scientifically discovered. Women on average have smaller brains than men, but they make up for it with denser neuron distribution, for example. Also, the ''Corvidae'', crows and ravens have brains the size of a walnut, yet are almost as intelligent as the great apes.
* This is often a consequence of hydrocephalus, which actually disturbs mental functioning in a lot of cases.
** Actually a subversion, as the brain is swollen with fluid, and has no more actual tissue than any other (and is subject to damage from the abnormally high fluid pressure).
* [=~Conan O'Brien~=]. That is all.
** Conan who self deprecatingly refers to his "big fat Irish head" studied history at Harvard and wrote a thesis on the use of children as symbols in the works Of William Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor.

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