Just waiting for five hats.
The
Fat Best Friend is a common sidekick to the
Main Character. There's three variants of this trope:
Type A: The
Big Fun, brash character. This character is usually the jokester and extroverted compared to the
Main Character. While the
Main Character is uptight and tactful, the fat friend is funny and/or confrontational. They know they're fat and they don't care about losing weight and will throw their weight around, so to speak.
Type B: The
Shrinking Violet. They
know they're fat and it's one of their biggest insecurities. They are shy, awkward and generally have low-self esteem. Cue the
Main Character being their ego booster, letting them know they're special and valued, and they're beautiful/handsome. In contrast to Type A, the
Main Character is highlit as a caring, non-judgmental character.
Type C: The
Ralph Wiggum/
Cloud Cuckoolander type. This type can be profoundly stupid or simply airheaded or plain weird. They can have some Type A traits, particularly being extroverted. They always speak slowly or walk slowly.
What makes this different from most of the other Fat tropes is that this character is always a
Satellite Character and we rarely see things from their perspectives. They're there to enhance the
Main Character's traits and to simply be a friend. See
Fat Girl,
Big Fun and
Fat And Skinny. Compare to
Black Best Friend,
Pet Homosexual, and
Satellite Character.
Examples
Type A
Comic Books
- Ganke is the best Friend of the v3 Ultimate Spider-Man, he's more intelligent and extroverted than Miles.
- Tubby from Little Lulu would be a Type A, as he mostly tries to play pranks on Lulu. Despite this, he is a good friend to Lulu.
- Etta Candy, Wonder Woman's sidekick from the forties and early fifties, was a rare female version.
Literature
Live Action Television
- Piper, the best friend of Anna on short-lived TeenNick series, Gigantic.
- Kim Parker, Moesha's best friend. She later broke out the mold and got her very own show.
- Mo Maskour from Degrassi, along with Bruce the Moose.
- Eddie from Thats So Raven, though his weight doesn't come up at all really.
Western Animation
- Heffer from Rockos Modern Life. He loves to eat, is brash and annoying, but he is a good friend to Rocko.
Type B
Anime
In
Zero No Tsukaima,
Malicorne
is this to resident
Bishonen Guiche. He has a huge appetite and has a hard time getting dates until he falls for Irukukwu.
Film
- Gaz's best friend, Dave, in The Full Monty is a tubby bastard and he hates it. He's always trying to lose weight and he feels so bad about it he can't even get it up for his wife. Of course Gaz pushes him into stripping to earn a bit of cash; nothing can go wrong there.
Literature
- Samwell Tarly in A Song Of Ice And Fire is a good friend of hero Jon Snow and is a very extreme Type B, having terrible self esteem due to being constantly demeaned by his abusive father. Jon and others have tried to make him feel better about himself but it hasn't really taken yet.
Live Action Television
- Terri Macgregor from Degrassi. She is friend to both the Alpha Bitch and Lovable Alpha Bitch in the show and their personalities just completely dominate hers. She's shy and withdrawn and thinks she can never get a boyfriend.
Web Original
Western Animation
- The whole trope is inverted with King Of The Hill, with fat kid Bobby and his satellite friend, Joseph. Joseph is especially awkward around girls as opposed to Bobby.
Type C
Literature
Western Animation
- Patrick Star, from Spongebob Squarepants.
- Juicy, Calvin's slow witted friend on The P Js.
- Barry, Steve's school friend in American Dad is a Type C with shades of Type B. Granted his Kindhearted Simpleton persona is actually the result of some perscribed vitamins that mellow his personality, unknown to him, he is actually a ruthless conniving sociopath without them.
- Stimpy acts as a Type C with elements of Type B to Ren in Ren And Stimpy, being compassionate and dim witted in comparison to the smart yet manic Ren.
Live Action Television
- Gibby from iCarly, who is so completely eccentric and odd that it dazzles the rest of the cast.
Unsorted
Literature
- Chet Morton is the best friend of The Hardy Boys, and has been described as fat, plump, chubby, stout, heavy-set, etc. He has a huge appetite, and vacillates between types A, B and C as the plot dictates.
Live Action Television
Western Animation
- Though Homer Simpson himself is pretty fat, his drunken buddy Barney Gumble is even worse. He can lean as all three types Depending On The Writer (especially since quitting alcohol).
replies: 14 
