Line #36 PintsizedPowerhouse/RealLife


1	[[foldercontrol]]
2
3	[[folder:Martial Artists]]
4	* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weng_Weng Weng Weng]]. He was a martial arts movie actor. 83 centimetres tall (2'9").
5	* In some cases, being short can be an asset in a fight, as short people have a lower and more stable center of gravity. For this reason, it is actually much easier for a woman to suplex or lift a man on her shoulders -- since, on average, women tend to be a bit smaller than men.
6	* Most short kendo practitioners. While the big guys may be able to hit harder, the smaller ones move faster and hit more areas, which is what counts in kendo. Case in point: a 5'1" man beating a 6'3" guy within ten seconds. Quite impressive.
7	** This is even more prominent in competitions, where points are only granted for perfect technique, not strength. In fact, training with the katana teaches the wielder to strike with finesse and smooth, flowing motions, since relying on muscular strength can very easily damage the blade. In other words, katana wielders are trained to end fights with the first attack, using as little exertion as possible.
8	** This is also the reason why women and men practice and often fight together in the same series. Size or strength really doesn't give any advantage in kendo.
9	* Johannes Lichtenauer, one of the prominent Medieval figures in [[UsefulNotes/EuropeanSwordsmanship German School of Swordsmanship]] considered an ideal knight to be rather small and concord in stature than big and well-built, and having rather stamina than strength. Strong, tall, and well-built men would make fine [[AnnoyingArrows archers]].
10	* Morihei Ueshiba, founder of UsefulNotes/{{Aikido}}. Many pictures of O-Sensei, as he is known, show him in the process of [[http://aikidofaq.com/bilder/osensei/osensei06.gif serenely]] [[http://aikidofaq.com/bilder/osensei/osensei81.jpg trouncing]] people quite a bit taller and younger than [[OldMaster him]].
11	* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobuyoshi_Tamura Nobuyoshi Tamura]], a former student of Ueshiba, sensei of the French Aikikai, a 77-year-old, quite small man (compared to his French and European students) who has no qualms about making his younger, taller and stronger students crumple to the ground.
12	* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gozo_Shioda Gozo Shioda]], an early student of Ueshiba and founder of Yoshinkan Aikido, "was a small man, standing at around 5'1" to 5'2" (155–157 cm) and weighing around 102 lb. to 108 lb. (46–49 kg)", according to that Wikipedia page.
13	* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hidenoyama_Raigor%C5%8D Hidenoyama Raigoro]], the 164 cm (5'4") [[SumoWrestling Sumo wrestler]] who had a win rate of 84.2%, won 6 championships and became Yokozuna (the highest Sumo ranking) in 1847.
14	* While size does make a major difference among ''evenly skilled'' fighters in the martial arts scene, the smaller competitors are still formidable fighters capable of impressive feats; many ostensibly lower weight-class fighters have fought in the heavyweight divisions and done quite well. Also, when weight classes were introduced to competitive judo, many of the small judoka left the sport, saying that building the skills to overcome larger opponents were an integral part of it.
15	* Creator/BruceLee. The man was seriously tiny and scrawny for what was considered a good build for [[Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger action]] [[Creator/JeanClaudeVanDamme hero]] [[Creator/SylvesterStallone badasses]]. That really didn't stop him, and it was theorized that pound for pound, he was probably one of the strongest men alive.
16	** Martial arts masters, physical trainers, etc. all universally note that the key to Lee's power wasn't the unnecessarily large muscles one usually associates with "strong men;" instead, Lee's body was toned so perfectly that he had somewhere in the range of 0 to 5% body fat, with every muscle being trained solely for absurd explosions of strength and speed without any wasted effort or force. The result was a musculature more defined and proportionally perfect than most anatomical models.
17	* Boxer Creator/MannyPacquiao is 5'6", and tends to come weighing in the mid-140-pound area. He's one of the best boxers in the world. You can underestimate him because of his size, goofy smile, and friendly manner if you want to, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEPtojKdQuU but he will fuck you up if you do]].
18	** Most boxers in his weight class would qualify. Sure, they'd probably lose to heavyweights who are trained boxers, but some schmoe off the street isn't likely to fair so well, even if he outweighs the light weight by 50 pounds.
19	* 5'1'' MMA fighter Nakai Rin certainly counts.
20	* Foil Fencers are often going to be better if they are both short and skinny, and they are harder to hit, and can get in close more easily. Short historical fencers who know what they're doing are nothing to sneeze at, either, when you realize that you have to bend at the knees (bending over exposes your head) to hit anywhere except for the head, which is far easier to defend against than your legs, which is their primary target.
21	* Creator/JackieEarleHaley: 5'5" and has black belts in taekwondo and kempo.
22	* Benny Urquidez stands at 5'6 and weighs only about 145 pounds but became a truly epic ass-kicker nonetheless, training in [[MasterOfAll nine different martial arts style including Judo, Aikido, Taekwondo, Shotokan Karate, Kung Fu, Jujitsu and Kickboxing]] and even creating some of his own and amassing a nineteen-year-long fighting career in which he often fought much larger men and by knockout on fifty-seven occasions and was only defeated once.
23	* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Lau Grace Lau]] participated the Tokyo [[UsefulNotes/OlympicGames Olympics]], and won a Bronze medal. She has won several medals in her karate career. Not to mention she only stands ''151cm'' tall.
24	* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Volkanovski Alexander Volkanovski]], MMA fighter, current UFC featherweight champ, and former rugby player is 5'6. He began his career fighting at welterweight against significantly taller and bigger opponents before slimming down to 145 pounds, where he is still among the shortest fighters in the division. This also extended to his rugby career where he played as a forward prop, a position usually occupied by the largest members of a rugby team. When Volkanovski moved up a weight class and challenged lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, a distinguished wrestler known for his strength in wrestling and grappling positions, Makhachev described him as "short but strong" after their fight (which he won).
25	* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Buttrick Barbara Buttrick]], pioneer of Women's Boxing. Known as "The Mighty Atom of the Ring", she fought 32 fights having won all but one of them, and paved the way for Women's Professional Boxing.
26	[[/folder]]
27
28	[[folder:Sports other than Martial Arts]]
29	* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Altuve#2018/ Jose Altuve]], the second baseman for the Houston Astros, is the shortest active player in Major League Baseball at 5'6" tall. He holds numerous titles, including American League MVP (2017), Gold Glove (2015, second base), and five All-Star appearances.
30	* Muggsy Bogues managed to hold his own against many of the best basketball players in the NBA despite being 5'3" (160 cm) tall - the shortest man to ever play in the league. Bogues had several pictures of him with the ''tallest'' NBA player ever, the 7'7" (231 cm) Manute Bol. [[http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/multimedia/photo_gallery/0908/nba.cbk.remember.when.hoops.style/images/manute-bol-muggsy-bogues.jpg There was a 28-inch (71 cm) difference between their heights]]. Bogues and Bol were actually teammates for one season--Washington Bullets owner Abe Pollin was the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Veeck Bill Veeck]] of the NBA. [[note]] It helped that Bogues and Bol had been friends right from the time they entered the NBA.[[/note]]
31	* The 5'7" (170 cm) Lionel Messi and the 5'5" (165 cm) Diego Maradona are generally agreed to be two of the 10 greatest soccer players ever. Lorenzo Insigne, an Italian international who joined Toronto FC in UsefulNotes/MajorLeagueSoccer during that league's 2022 season after signing the richest contract in league history, is shorter still at 5'4" (163 cm), and in his 9-year stint at Napoli (his boyhood club) he was one of the best wingers in Serie A.
32	** Like the aforementioned martial arts examples, a low center of gravity can be very useful in soccer, as combining that with a strong core and lower body can make a player who is tough to steal the ball from and nimble enough to dribble in tight spaces. See Messi and Maradona's fellow Argentine forward Sergio Agüero (5'8"/1.73m), Spain's World Cup-winning midfield magicians Xavi (5'7"/1.7 m) and Andrés Iniesta (5'7"/1.71 m), and Chile's Alexis Sánchez (5'7"/1.69 m).
33	* Chris Paul is one of the best and most feared players in the NBA, despite being one of the shorter ones (at 6' in height).
34	* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDllYLasHxU Liam Hoekstra: The world's strongest toddler]]. He has a rare genetic disorder that makes him have an (incredibly high) metabolism and has 40% more muscle than the average kid. In short: he's three and has a six-pack. How does that make you feel, [[SelfDeprecation nerd]]?
35	* "World's Strongest Woman" [[http://boredomtherapy.com/worlds-strongest-woman/?as=701aol&bdk=a701aol Varya Akulova]] was able to lift ''nine times her body weight and ''carry her father and two other adult men on her back'' when she was only six years old. Even as an adult, her physical strength is unheard of for a woman her age and height.
36	* Tim [[Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail "The Enchanter"]] Lincecum, a skinny rod of a guy if there ever was one, was one of the most dominant pitchers in baseball in the early 2010s with the San Francisco Giants before injuries killed his career. [[HilariousInHindsight When he was in college, most major-league scouts thought he was too small to play major-league ball]].
37	* Many small ice hockey players (David Krejci, who ended his career with the Boston Bruins, and Theoren Fleury, who most famously played for the Calgary Flames) can play a style better suited for players way larger. Krejci's hit opponents so hard, he gained the nickname ''Wrecking ball''.
38	* Maurice Jones-Drew from the Jacksonville Jaguars. He was passed over in the draft until the second round because most scouts thought he was simply too short (he's listed at 5'7" and that's probably being generous). He's consistently been one of the NFL's top rushers while spending most of his career on Jaguars teams that didn't have much else of anything in the way of offense.
39	** Doug Flutie was the same height as Jones-Drew and was thought to be too small to play QB, partly because he theoretically couldn't see downfield over his 6-foot-plus offensive linemen. In spite of this, he had a respectable career in the NFL, and stars in one of the most memorable plays in college football history.
40	* Philippine national hero Jose Rizal, author of ''Literature/NoliMeTangere'' and ''Literature/ElFilibusterismo'', is only 1.5 meters tall. He is not only a [[BadassBookworm polymath]], but he is also a gym buff, a gifted fencer, a sharpshooter, and a wrestler. He challenged a bigger bully to a fight and won.
41	* [[https://notalwaysright.com/needs-to-press-paws/76697/ Tiny Asian woman takes on big angry customer]]. Tiny Asian woman wins effortlessly.
42	%%* Creator/DannyTrejo is also this, standing 5'7" tall.
43	* South Korean golfer KJ Choi is a bit on the short side at 5'8", especially standing next to peers like 6'4" Ernie Else or 6'5" Dustin Johnson. Despite this, he's always had a reputation as a reasonably long hitter (though not as long as Johnson), probably as a result of him being a competitive powerlifter as a junior, who could squat 350 lbs as a 95 lbs 13-year-old.
44	* Dustin Pedroia, who played his entire MLB career with the Boston Red Sox, is known for his short stature. His listed height nowadays is 5'8", though USA Today once listed him as 5'7" when he was in college. The ambiguity isn't helped by his rumored desire to be measured while wearing his baseball cleats, standing on a hard surface. Either way, Yankees fans gave him endless shit about his height and he was one of the best second basemen in the league. In addition to being a very good fielder and "contact" hitter, he had surprising power at the plate.
45	* Four of the most prominent members of the [[Film/TheBonesBrigadeAnAutobiography Bones Brigade]] -- Creator/TonyHawk, Creator/RodneyMullen, Lance Mountain, and Creator/SteveCaballero -- were kids at the time when they were recruited but Steve was the most prominent example as Stacy commented in Film/TheBonesBrigadeAnAutobiography that Steve was the smallest skateboarder he has ever seen, even compared to other kids like Tony Hawk, yet Steve is able to do tricks that he shouldn't be able to do,[[note]]Besides the fact that Steve was born with scoliosis hence his tendency to lean his head to the right, though his spinal condition hasn't affected him all that much.[[/note]] Stacy wanted him to be on the Bones Brigade. [[https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2021/nov/11/blurt-skateboarder-steve-caballero-goes-pop-punk/ Even when all grown up he is still considerably shorter than most people]].
46	* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mirMEsFI07o Kacy]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfZFuw7a13E Catanzaro]], the only woman to complete a City Finals course on ''Series/AmericanNinjaWarrior'', is 5'0", 100 lbs of badass.
47	* Male gymnasts often fall under this. Since gymnastics tend to favor smaller bodies, and male gymnastics place a lot of emphasis on upper-body strength, the end result is a lot of short guys that are utterly jacked. One Olympian commented that when the male gymnasts go out together in the Olympic Village, they look like packs of [[Franchise/StarWars Ewoks]].
48	* Two words: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simone_Biles Simone Biles]]. On the short side even for a gymnast, has the single hardest skill in the gymnastics Code of Points named for her, and hasn't lost an all-around competition since 2013. At the 2018 Gymnastics World Championships, she won a medal in ''every single event''. While battling a kidney stone.
49	* Jewish strongman Joe Greenstein was only 5'4", but he became known as "The Mighty Atom" for his incredible strength and toughness. This was a man who could drive spikes through sheet metal using his bare hands and once walked off being shot in the head. He was also said to have interrupted [[ThoseWackyNazis a Bund meeting]] and [[CurbStompBattle put 18 Nazis in the hospital, with only a black eye for his trouble]].
50	* Tie Domi, a former NHL tough guy, stands at 178cm (5'10"), which is quite short considering his role as an enforcer. Nevertheless, he would frequently take on players much taller than him and would always put up a good fight.
51	* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Newhouse Robert Newhouse]] was 5'10" and 209 lbs. for a fullback, but played 12 years and retired as the Dallas Cowboys' fourth-leading rusher.
52	* [[TheAce Ace]] major league baseball pitcher, Tim Lincecum, was short and scrawny for a starting pitcher at 5'11, when most starters are well above 6'0 feet. He was called "the freak" for being able to pitch like a powerhouse twice his size. Throughout his career during the late 2000s and 2010s, he won two Cy Young awards, pitched two no-hitters, was a four-time all-star, and helped lead teams he pitched on to three world series titles overall.
53	[[/folder]]
54
55	[[folder:Individual Soldiers]]
56	* General Ulysses S. Grant. He was often described as a rather short man, especially by his enemies, but was still a ''very'' skilled soldier and brawler, so much so that he was positive he could have [[MyGreatestFailure stopped Lincoln's assassination if he was there.]] And that's not even mentioning [[GeniusBruiser his abilities as a strategist.]]
57	* Creator/AudieMurphy: At 166 cm/5'6", the Marines and paras rejected him for being too short. His company commander tried to have him sent to a cook and bakers' school after basic, but he'd have none of it. He went on to win every military award (some multiple times) in the US up to and including the Medal of Honor. And a few French and Belgian decorations on top of all that (little trinkets like the ''Légion d'honneur''). And he had malaria at the time.
58	* UsefulNotes/SimoHayha, at 5'3" (160 cm), was likely the greatest sniper of all time. He is officially credited with killing around 500 Soviet soldiers over roughly 100 days of combat.
59	* Many combat-specific soldiers are shorter, around the 5' range or even less, and a Napoleon complex isn't uncommon. But in a Real Life aversion, it's a common complaint among drill sergeants in Combat Arms [=OSUTs=] that 'the skinny ones break too easily', while the overweight recruits develop muscle mass from fat with fewer injuries.
60	* The Voltigeurs of the [[UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars Grande Armée]] were a whole unit of these. They could be no taller than 5'3" but had to be extremely sturdy and skilled with a musket. There were also specially selected for their aggressiveness, so you could say that they were soldiers of Napoleon's army with an actual Napoleon complex.
61	* Exact accounts of Aaron Burr's height vary from "scarcely over five feet" to "the same height as Alexander Hamilton" (Hamilton was 5'7"), but the one thing every description of him seems to agree on is that he was short, with his lifelong nickname having been "Little Burr" for that reason. He also had a successful military career during the American Revolution.
62	* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bantam_(military) Bantam units]] in the British Army during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI consisted of men below the minimum regulation height of 5 ft 3 in (160 cm), instead the bantams had to be between 4 ft 10 in (147 cm) and 5 ft 3 in (160 cm).
63	* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Severin_Roche Albert Severin Roche]], originally refused entry into the French army on account of being both scrawny and short (158 cm/5 ft 2 in); long story short, by the end of UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne he had been wounded nine times, been captured and escaped after killing his interrogator, brought back at least two wounded officers behind French lines, and had personally captured 1,180 prisoners (42 of whom were during his own escape from captivity, ''while carrying his wounded lieutenant on his back'') and had carried out an incredible number of successful missions; Marshall Ferdinand Foch, learning of his exploits at the end of the war, excaimed "He has done all this, [[AlmightyJanitor and he has no rank!]]" and named him "the First Soldier of France".
64	[[/folder]]
65
66	[[folder:Single Ships & Small Naval Groups]]
67	* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_ship_Revenge_(1577) HMS Revenge]] may be the single most extraordinary example of this in all history. At her last stand, the Battle of Flores, the ''Revenge'' stood alone against '''53''' Spanish ships, even though she was outclassed by each individual enemy vessel; the Spanish flagship ''San Felipe'' alone weighed three times as much as she did. ''Revenge'' was also seriously undermanned, with half her crew sick from fever (the reason why the Spanish caught her in the first place was that her captain [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Grenville Sir Richard Grenville]] waited to bring the sick onboard instead of fleeing at once). Despite every disadvantage, the ''Revenge'' sunk or disabled '''16''' enemy ships, and surrendered only when all her masts had been shot away, she was totally out of gunpowder and had just 16 men left unwounded out of a crew of 250. Her courage was memorialised in [[http://www.online-literature.com/tennyson/726/ a poem by Tennyson]].
68	* Taffy 3, a small group of destroyers, destroyer escorts, and escort carriers, which fought off a major Japanese assault on the Leyte Gulf landings during the [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Battle Off Samar]]. Their opponents included the enormous battleship ''Yamato'', which alone exceeded the displacement of the entire task group ''combined''. Taffy 3 fought with such ferocity that Admiral Takeo Kurita of the ''Yamato'' chose to retreat because he believed that he was fighting a much larger group and couldn't sacrifice one of the three most expensive ships the IJN had.
69	** The destroyer USS ''Johnston'' fought so hard that when she was sunk she was reported by the Japanese as being a heavy cruiser of the ''Baltimore''-class, a ship class nearly seven times the displacement of the typical World War II destroyer. ''Johnston'' not only managed to cripple the heavy cruiser ''Kumano'' by blowing off its bow, forcing the heavy cruiser ''Suzuya'' to stop to assist it, then after already taking heavy damage, but she also engaged a Japanese cruiser and destroyer column in order to save the retreating escort carriers. Her actions so impressed the Japanese that the crew of one of the Japanese ships that finished her off [[WorthyOpponent manned the rails and saluted]] as she sunk.
70	** The destroyer escort[[note]]a class of warship even ''smaller'' than a destroyer[[/note]] ''Samuel B. Roberts'' made her heroic attack run, passing the now heavily damaged ''Johnston'' as she was retiring from a similar attack. After expending her 3 torpedoes damaging one Japanese heavy cruiser, ''Samuel B. Roberts'' maneuvered so close to a Japanese heavy cruiser that the Japanese crew could not depress their guns low enough to return fire, leading to considerable damage to the Japanese cruiser. ''Samuel B. Roberts'' was eventually crippled in the exchange, and while retreating, was hit and sunk by the battleship ''Kongo''. It was said of the ship afterward that she was a "destroyer escort that fought like a battleship."
71	** The escort carrier ''White Plains'' and an unknown aircraft finished the job for the little ''Sammy B'', ''White Plains'' blowing up ''Chokai'''s type 93 "Long Lance" torpedoes with a well-placed 5/38 shell (5 in. diameter, 38 cal. length barrel) — in the only engagement in history in which an aircraft carrier destroyed another ship with direct gunfire — and the aircraft dropping a bomb in the forward machinery room, according to The Other Wiki. The destroyer ''Fujinami'' had to scuttle her. ''Chokai'' lost all hands, while ''Fujinami'' was later blown up with all hands, which, by the way, still had all of ''Chokai''[='=]s survivors aboard.
72	** This trope applies to destroyers in general, [[FragileSpeedster small ships relying on powerful engines and sharp turns rather than thick armor for protection]], commonly called the "Tin Can Navy" whose [[AttackAttackAttack primary tactic]] against larger ships is to charge in, zig-zagging while peppering the enemy with shellfire, until they get close enough to launch torpedoes. A ''Fletcher''-class ship like the ''Johnston'' is fitted with five 5"/cal. 38 guns, each one capable of firing [[MoreDakka fifteen 37-pound exploding shells per minute]], and can fire ten torpedoes at once.
73	* For carriers of the time, the Yorktown Class were very much on the small side. That didn't stop ''Enterprise'' and ''Hornet'' from fighting Japan's ''Kido Butai'' at every turn, managing to HoldTheLine until the Essex Class had been completed.
74	[[/folder]]
75
76	[[folder:Countries & national armed forces]]
77	* Israel is one of the tiniest countries in the Middle East. It's also a well-known [[UsefulNotes/IsraelisWithInfraredMissiles military powerhouse]] and is acknowledged for having the uncontested best-trained air force in the world. Not to mention that [[UsefulNotes/TheSamsonOption its nuclear capacity]] is one of the world's [[OpenSecret worst-kept secrets]]. Likely because it is almost always dealing with violence in some way or another.
78	* Similar to the Israel example is [[UsefulNotes/FinnsWithFearsomeForests Finland]], [[UsefulNotes/SwissWithArmyKnives Switzerland]] and (during the Cold War) [[UsefulNotes/SwedesWithCoolPlanes Sweden]]. All nations with populations below 10 000 000 inhabitants and armed forces counting numbers close to the million.
79	** This is the origin of a joke: A [[UsefulNotes/PrussiansInPickelhauben German General]] meets a Swiss General.
80	--->'''German General:''' How large is your army?
81	--->'''Swiss General:''' We can field a hundred thousand men.
82	--->'''German General:''' And what if we show up on your border with a million men?
83	--->'''Swiss General:''' [[MathematiciansAnswer We will all shoot ten times]], [[BadassBoast then go home.]]
84	* This trope may be a reason why Singapore requires its male citizens to undergo two years of military service.
85	* Nepalis are known for their small size. Despite that, the Gurkhas have a remarkable reputation as soldiers. During the 60s the Gurkhas usually carried the American [=M16=], rather than the British SLR. The reason for this was that the [=M16=] was lighter and easier for the Gurkhas to fire.
86	* Finnish Air Force. Never consisting of more than two fighter regiments, one bomber regiment, and one reconnaissance regiment, it nevertheless managed to score more than 1500 confirmed victories against the Soviets and create 106 [[AcePilot fighter aces]] in WWII (many of them flying obsolete Brewster Buffalo fighters). Even today, Finnish pilots flying F-18 Hornets managed to score 100-6 against their NATO opponents in Frisian Flag 2013 exercise.
87	* Likewise, the [[UsefulNotes/IsraelisWithInfraredMissiles Israeli Air Force]]. There are more Israeli jet aces than there are jet aces together in the rest of the world. There exists a [[FunTShirt gag tee shirt]] with the slogan "IAF. The World's Leading Supplier Of MiG Parts."
88	* Kingdom of Serbia during UsefulNotes/WorldWar1 , managed to give shocking defeats to Austria-Hungary, who was 10 Times larger than Her in territorial and demographic area. The Serbian Army once again proved its reputation gained during the Balkan Wars against Ottoman Empire. It twice overcame far superior and better-equipped Austro-Hungarian armies (in August and December 1914). As part of the Five Nation Army, Serbians, along with French, managed to break Salonika Front in October 1918. This breakthrough was significant in defeating Bulgaria and Austria-Hungary, which led to the final victory of World War I.
89	--->“It is a shame that this small nation is not my ally”. ~ German Kaiser Wilhelm II
90	--->“Until this war, we, the Japanese, enjoyed the reputation of being the soldiers with the strongest spirit of warriorship. This time, we have to admit that the Serbian soldier has taken this primacy from us. Don’t mind, dear Serbs, that we are also slightly jealous of that.” ~ A Japanese professor at the school of medicine in Tokyo, chief of the Japanese Red Cross mission in Paris during the First World War
91	--->“I’d like to use this opportunity to note that we have come to know Serbs as worthy enemies. I considered them, and I consider them still, the strongest of our enemies in the military sense. Undemanding, clever, cunning, particularly mobile, well armed, abundantly supplied with ammunition, skilled at using the land, very well managed, stirred to battle by hate and enthusiasm, they inflicted much more difficulty to our troops than the Russians, Romanians and Italians did.” ~ Austrian general Alfred Krauss
92	--->"Disgraceful! 62,000 Serbs decided the war!" ~ German Kaiser Wilhelm II, in his telegram to Bulgarian Tsar Ferdinand I
93	* A staple of the first two UsefulNotes/WarsOfItalianIndependence:
94	** The Kingdom of Sardinia amounted to what now are the Italian regions of Sardinia, Piedmont, Liguria, and Aosta Valley, plus the now French territories of Savoie and Haute Savoie (the historical region of Savoy) and the arrondissement of Nice. While the second largest of the Italian states it was positively ''tiny'' compared to the Austrian Empire... And yet always managed to put up a hard fight, though it ultimately lost the first war once the other Italian states abandoned the war and needed French help to win the second.
95	** Garibaldi would always lead volunteer forces that caused much disproportionate damage to the enemy. His greatest feat was the Expedition of the Thousand, in which he led a badly-armed force of about a thousand soldiers against the Kingdom of Two Sicilies and its well-equipped army of 90,000 and ''conquered it all'' (in no small part due to a combination of his larger-than-life persona and status prompting many enemy soldiers to desert if not outright ''defect to his side'').
96	* UsefulNotes/{{Estonia}} is this when it comes to computer science and security. The country was an early adopter of [[EverythingIsOnline putting government and business services on the Internet]]. In 2007, in response to the removal of a Soviet war memorial from the center of Tallinn to a military cemetery, Russia perpetrated what was, at that time, the largest-ever cyberattack, which disrupted the country for weeks. Fearful it might happen again, [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower Estonia embarked on a national effort to make its IT infrastructure robust]] and train just about everybody in the basics of computer security, along with widespread instruction in programming. Nowadays, NATO's cybersecurity headquarters is located in Tallinn, and they are considered a world leader in information security and anti-hacking practices.
97	[[/folder]]
98
99	[[folder:Animals]]
100	* Mustelids in general fit under this category, the [[WickedWeasel entire]] [[BadOlBadger species]] has a [[KillerRabbit reputation of taking down prey much larger than themselves]].
101	** The wolverine is maybe about the size of a medium-sized dog or a large badger and can take down reindeer. Wolverines have been seen bullying an entire pack of wolves and stealing their food, and there have even been documented cases of them fighting off ''bears'' (including one case of a captive wolverine escaping its enclosure and strangling a polar bear to death)! Against a wolverine's hell of a bad temper, the [[ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} eponymous]] SociopathicHero is comparatively more of a DeathbringerTheAdorable.
102	** The Ratel, or [[FluffyTheTerrible Honey Badger]], is an animal only three feet long. It is also [[TheDreaded the most feared animal in Africa]]. [[MemeticMutation Honey badger don't give a shit]] about lions, cobras, etc. since their skin is thick enough to protect them against most animal stings and bites and actually too tough to be pierced by a spear or an arrow and it can withstand several machete blows, they have been known to chase away adult lions and steal their kills, they raid henhouses by actually tearing off the planks from their walls... short of actually being bulletproof, there is little they can't withstand. Further, when faced with a mammalian opponent of the male gender, their preferred method of defense is a straight-up GroinAttack. They are also related to the above-mentioned wolverines.
103	* The mustelids' feliform equivalent, the mongooses, are just as daring, relentless, and downright psychotic predators. Besides being famous for killing venomous snakes (and being the ones to instigate the fight), mongooses have been filmed standing their ground against several lions, not unlike a honey badger while also being even smaller.
104	* The shrew is among the tiniest mammals in the world, and they can take down things that, proportionately, would ruin a wolverine's day. Some of them are even venomous!
105	* Humans, too. 80 kg man can hunt almost any prey using tools. Without them, however, a man still can defeat an alligator or survive an encounter with a bear, if lucky. If you take into account the muscle mass, humans are incredibly strong.
106	* Arabian Horses. Most range from 12-14 hands high (the technical size of ''[[AllGirlsLikePonies ponies]]'') and are renowned for three things: Their delicate beauty, being gentle enough that children can ride ''stallions'', and having so much natural speed and endurance that it's ''illegal'' to race them against any other breed. [[GameBreaker Because it just wouldn't be fair to the other horses]].
107	* [[UsefulNotes/EquestrianSports Show jumping and eventing]] at the international level often favor taller (16.2 and up), more powerfully built horses, because their longer legs make it easier for them to get over the very high jumps in use at this level[[note]]this isn't an issue at lower levels, or in hunter-jumper classes, where fences are shorter and most breeds of horses and taller ponies can compete on equal ground[[/note]]. Yet the silver medalist in show jumping at the 1968 Olympics was Stroller, a 14.1-hand pony. Similarly, the 14.2-hand Theodore O'Connor captured team and individual gold medals in eventing at the 2007 Pan-American games. The 16-hand, slightly-built thoroughbred mare Touch of Class won individual and team gold medals in showjumping at the 1984 Olympics (over the 17-hand Trakehner stallion Abdullah), and the 15.3hh mare Headley Brittania is one of only a handful of horses to have won all three of the top eventing competitions in the world (Badminton and Burghley in the U.K. and Kentucky in the U.S.).
108	* A common misconception about medieval warhorses/destriers is that they were tall and lumbering draft horses, but [[DatedHistory historians constantly correct it.]] Draft horses (and horse BREEDS in general) are much NewerThanTheyThink at only a few hundred or so years old, so they wouldn't have existed in the medieval period. Even if they had, accounts of medieval warhorses were far closer to this type than drafts: Existing horse armor usually fits regular horses at 15 or 16 hands high, and their key difference was an ''extremely'' muscular build at 1200-1300lbs (compared to average riding horses, who are easily 200lbs lighter). Most records of warhorses either name or describe Iberian/Spanish-type horses, who kept much the same height and build as their ancestors, and were famously sought for their agility, speed, and NervesOfSteel--something that draft horses, being {{Gentle Giant}}s, are ''not'' known for.
109	* Rhinoceros beetles. They are about 60 mm long and can lift up to 850 times their own weight.
110	* [[PantheraAwesome Leopards]] are the smallest of the big cats, and not only kill animals that are bigger than they are, but have been known to drag carcasses twice their own weight into trees. See [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzr7czsMxOE here]] for a leopard carrying a zebra nearly as big as itself straight up a tree and making it look totally effortless.
111	* Ants can carry [[StrongAnts 20 times their weight]].
112	* Tarantula hawk wasps are strong enough to drag around tarantulas over three times their size. They can even take down and drag away Goliath Birdeaters, which can be the size of dinner plates.
113	* Methocha wasps are the size of ants but can take down and drag away the enormous tiger beetle larva, which normally preys on ants.
114	* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantis_shrimp Mantis Shrimp]] and related groups. On average, they grow to be less than one and a half feet long. They are able to swing their claws with an average acceleration of over 100,000 meters per second (330,000 feet per second). Because of this ability to swing their claws so rapidly, they also generate cavitation bubbles that collapse with enough power to produce instant forces of 1,500 newtons. This means that even if their attack misses, the resulting shock wave will be enough to stun or even kill their prey.
115	* Dromaeosaurs. Even the biggest of them were small by dinosaur standards, but with their speed, agility, and wickedly sharp claws, they were capable of taking down pretty hefty prey; there's a fairly famous fossil of the smallish, birdlike ''Velociraptor'' locked in battle with a much bulkier ''Protoceratops''.
116	* ''Pygmy owls''. They look like [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter Ridiculously Cute Critters]], being [[CuteOwl tiny, round owls]] no larger than a robin. But they are quite possibly the strongest birds in the world, capable of carrying off victims that weigh far more than they do. A 2.5-ounce pygmy owl can take off with a squirrel or a quail, both of which can weigh up to twice as much as the owl itself. There is even a well-authenticated account of a pygmy owl killing and eating a 6-pound chicken, a bird 38 times its size.
117	* Shetland Ponies. They are the smallest of all pony breeds, however, pound for pound they are the strongest and can pull twice their body weight in circumstances where a draft horse can pull only half theirs. On top of this, they are known to be clever, "cheeky" and brave.
118	* The Skyros pony is a rare breed, and is short and sturdy; it is even said that they pulled the chariot of [[Characters/TheIliad Achilles]].
119	* The marsupial lion was basically the Pleistocene Australian equivalent of a leopard. Despite being less than five feet long from nose to tail, they were immensely robust and powerful, able to kill prey animals much larger than themselves and drag their carcasses up trees to feed. As if that weren't enough, it was able to successfully compete with predators over four times its size, such as the giant monitor lizard ''Megalania'' and the huge terrestrial crocodile ''Quinkana''.
120	* The Blue-Ringed Octopus. A very tiny species of octopus, topping out at 8 inches and 100 ''grams'' at biggest. But also happens to be one of the most lethally venomous creatures on the entire planet. Its bite bringing death within minutes. ''Single digit'' minutes. What's more, there's no known antivenom - the only treatment is to hook someone up to a ventilator and wait until the venom exits the body.
121	* Norwegian Forest Cats are one of the largest breeds you can possibly own, but they've been known to chase off bears...and in one case, [[https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2450732/Outfoxed-Fearless-Forest-Cat-turns-guard-dog-chases-rival-fox-land.html they've even chased off foxes]]! These are likely the breed that would have been depicted [[Characters/NorseMythology drawing Freya's chariot]].
122	* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvkfpgjBt5k A single Adelie penguin manages to scare off a petrel attacking a group of Emperor chicks.]] The chicks in question are a good head and a half taller than the Adelie.
123	* Mulgaras are tiny little marsupials, most closely related to Tasmanian devils and quolls. Like their relatives, mulgaras are voracious (and carnivorous) predators who'll eat anything they can take down. This includes hopping mice, which are about the same size as they are.
124	[[/folder]]
125
126	[[folder:Machines]]
127	* The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_Lancer_Evolution#UK_models "FQ" series]] produces anywhere from 300 to '''400''' horsepower. The engine is a two-liter straight-4. Most consumer-level cars with that engine produce under 200 horsepower.
128	** Current UsefulNotes/FormulaOne engines (as of 2022) are restricted to a maximum of ''1.6 liters''. They produce well over 600 horsepower.
129	** Most modern turbocharged engines (as in "designed from scratch to be turbocharged", not as "someone added a turbo") are incredibly strong and also ''light'' for their size: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Volkswagen_Group_petrol_engines#1.8_R4_20vT_110-221kW VW/Audi 1.8T]] (it can be easily modified to run over 400hp), [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subaru_Impreza#WRX_STI Subaru 2-liter boxer]] (even street versions kick serious ass, but it has been modified for drag racing to give a whopping '''700''' hp), [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault_M%C3%A9gane_Renault_Sport Renault Megane RS 2-liter turbo]] and so on.
130	** Any car with small exterior dimensions/short lengths and [[EnormousEngine powerful large engine sizes]] do count. Shelby Cobra, AMC Gremlin, and Chaparral 2J, for example.
131	* Pretty much any dive bomber in [=WW2=]. It was really cheap to build, but any well-placed bomb could destroy a ship.
132	* For a while during the later parts of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar, the [[CoolPlane Panavia Tornado]] could certainly count. Although it wasn't small by European standards, it's smaller than many ''American'' Fighters, and could carry more ordinance then most of them until very recently. However, where an American attack on an Airfield could require several aircraft performing various tasks to take out, RAF and Luftwaffe doctrine only required two Tornadoes, each packing a [=JP233=] Bomblet Dispenser. After just one pass by both aircraft, a Runway would be both cratered, and [[LandMineGoesClick mined]], rendering it useless for days or weeks. Oh, and to add insult to runway cratering injury, the Tornado is a multi-role aircraft and is just at home in a dogfight as it is in a Runway attack.
133	** The [=JP233=] has since been pulled from service citing several advances in cruise missile technology that can mitigate the risk to the Tornado and its crew. On top of that, when the bomblets are dropped, the [=JP233=] has to be carried back to base, not exactly a good thing to have when you're trying to outrun a bunch of very pissed-off fighters that managed to get off the runway before you ensured they couldn't return to it.
134	** Oh, and to really give some nightmares, the Tornado can also carry up to ''four'' [=B61=] Nuclear Weapons. In short, one Tornado can level four cities in one mission. Sleep well enemies of NATO!
135	* While not exactly a small aircraft by any standards, the [[CoolPlane B-25 Mitchel]] of US Army Air Force fame in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII was still smaller than most other bombers of the war, but it was probably the single most versatile bomber of the war as a result. The most widely used version, the [=B-25J=], was used in just about every attack role imaginable. Aside from the defensive machine guns (which the B-25 had in abundance), the bomber also had 4-6 .50cals fixed forward for strafing duties, with a later version even mounting a 75mm cannon in the nose. It would be this bomber's small size and still impressive bomb capacity (3,000lbs) that would make it the perfect choice to launch the Doolittle Raid with since the bomber was small enough, and[[note]]after shedding unnecessary weight[[/note]] light enough to launch from the Aircraft Carrier Hornet. Compared to the damage [=B-29s=] would do some years later, the raid itself did little physical damage, but [=B-25s=] were still able to send the message to Japan that they really DID wake a sleeping giant.
136	** It should be noted that [=B-25s=] were so versatile, easy to fly, and so maneuverable, that several foreign Air Forces bought up surplus Mitchels, or bought some during the war and held onto them. The last B-25 was retired from active service in ''1979.'' Not bad for a medium bomber that first flew in 1940.
137	* Quiz: What's 40ft long, 27.5ft wide, 15ft tall, flies at .85mach, has a pair of 20mm cannons, and can level a few small cities with B61 Nukes? If you guessed the A4 Skyhawk, then you'd be right. This tiny bomber first flew in 1954, and wouldn't stop serving until 2015. And despite being designed as a 'light' bomber, it saw use in nearly every role imaginable thanks to its simple design, including serving as an aggressor aircraft for dissimilar combat training.
138	* The HAL Tejas is a positively tiny warplane designed by India--it has an empty weight of only 6,500 kg. The single-engine Tejas has a maximum takeoff weight of 13,200 kg, just over twice its empty weight. In contrast, the US-made twin-engined Raptor weighs 19,700 kg and a maximum takeoff weight of 38,000 kg, which is a bit ''under'' twice its empty weight. In case you are under the impression that the Tejas buys this relatively greater lifting power at the expense of agility or speed, it is, in fact, a highly maneuverable supersonic multirole fighter, meant to challenge both enemy aircraft and ground targets. On top of that, two of the featured weapons in its loadout are fuel air explosives and incendiary bombs. That means that this little monster will cheerfully bring a disproportionately large amount of fiery death to your door and remind you exactly why the named it [[MeaningfulName the "Radiant"]].
139	* Likewise, [[FluffyTheTerrible Folland Gnat]] and its descendant, HAL Ajeet. Gnat was originally designed to be a budget alternative for bigger and faster fighters, and fighter version of Gnat F.1 was first operationally flown by Finnish Air Force in 1958. It proved extremely manouevreable and a skilled pilot could easily challenge a [=MiG=]-21. The Indian Gnats proved superior to Pakistani Sabres and Starfighters, and the Indians developed Gnat further into HAL Ajeet ("Unconquerable"). Finnish Gnats were withdrawn from service in 1972 and Indian Ajeets [[LongRunner in 1991]].
140	* With sufficient advancements in the efficiency of computer components, [[https://www.reddit.com/r/sffpc/ PC enthusiasts have built workstations and gaming-grade powerhouses that take up only a few liters of space]].
141	* Usually subverted in UsefulNotes/RobotCombat. While many successful machines appear to be dwarfed by their opponents, robots are almost always very close to the maximum weight for their weight class. Packing the same mass into a smaller physical size allows them to have thicker armor. However, several robots played this straight:
142	** Chaos 2 of RobotWars weighed only about 80 kg while its opponents weighed up to 100 kg after Series 4. However, it remained a serious contender due to its speed, skilled driver, and powerful flipper.
143	** Sewer Snake and Megabyte are normally heavyweights, but fought with some success in the Superheavyweight class, going up against robots 50% heavier than they were.
144	** Crash and Burn are a heavyweight "Multibot" consisting of two small robots fighting as a team, with a combined weight less than their opponents. This is usually not an effective strategy because the opponents of multibots can pick them off one at a time, but Crash and Burn took on two of the most destructive robots in their weight class - Megabyte and Last Rites - and won by knockout both times!
145	* Inanimate example. One uranium pellet possesses energy equivalent to either 149 gallons of oil, 1780 pounds of coal, or 17,000 cubic meters of natural gas.
146	* Many electric locomotives fall into this category; for example, the now-retired [=AEM-7=], despite being over 20 feet shorter in length than a typical diesel freight engine, produces over twice the amount of horsepower.
147	[[/folder]]

Context PintsizedPowerhouse / RealLife