[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/FeedTheKitty https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mac_7644.png]]]]
A size-mismatched duo, and a subtrope of BigGuyLittleGuy. The smaller/weaker character gets protection from his naïveté by the larger. What the larger character gets out of the deal varies more, although sometimes he is just a GentleGiant.

Sometimes overlaps with the BadlyBatteredBabysitter if the "protected" character is especially given to walking blindly into dangerous situations and environments.
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!!Examples:

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[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* Kenpachi and Yachiru from ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', though Kenpachi never seems to be actively trying to protect her. Especially since it's been hinted that she doesn't ''need'' the protection (to be more specific, she's the 11th division's assistant captain. Considering [[RankScalesWithAsskicking how division members are ranked]], that means Kenpachi is the only one more powerful than her).
* On ''Anime/CodeGeass'', Charles Di Britannia and [[spoiler: his "older" twin brother V.V. are a Jupiter and Mercury pair, with Charles being over 7 feet tall and V.V. having the appearance of a prepubescent boy since he physically stopped aging when he gained immortality]].
%%* Ilya and Berserker from ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight''.
%%* Mei the goat and Gabu the wolf from ''Literature/OneStormyNight''.
%%* In ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'', Supposedly a pilot and his or her Evangelion unit.
* In ''Manga/OuranHighSchoolHostClub'', this is basically the appeal of [[TokenMiniMoe Honey]] and his [[TallDarkAndHandsome tall, dark]] [[TheStoic and silent]] bodyguard, [[TheQuietOne Mori]]. It's lampshaded a lot.
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[[folder:Comics]]
* [[ComicBook/GreenLantern Guy Gardner and Kyle Rayner]] fit this. Guy is the larger, older, more experienced and more physically powerful of the two, and while Kyle doesn't exactly need protection, not even God can help you if you hurt Kyle in front of Guy. Kyle is also one of the few people who can bring out Guy's well hidden tender side.
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[[folder:Film -- Animated]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Dumbo}}'' offers a size inversion, with the small but worldly Timothy Q. Mouse protecting the large but naïve title character.
* ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc1'' has the big monster Sully become attached to the innocent toddler Boo when she strays outside of the human world into his, including a "Feed the Kitty" homage when Sully thinks Boo has been mashed in a trash compactor.
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[[folder:Literature]]
* George and Lennie in ''Literature/OfMiceAndMen'', another inversion where the little guy is the one guiding the bigger guy. [[spoiler:At least until the end]].
* In the ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'', Chase is this to Richard while Richard is growing up. Richard and Gratch both have this role with each other at one point or another. Richard to Warren.
* In ''Literature/CodexAlera'', Max is this to Tavi when they're academs. Subverted in that Tavi saves Max just as much as Max saves Tavi.
* In ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'', the Gruffs are a chain of this. (They're based on the Billy Goats Gruff from fairy tales - or more likely in this universe, the fairy tales are based on ''them''.) Some of them are the size of bulldozers. [[spoiler: Partial subversion since the Eldest Gruff is five feet tall, and one of the strongest Summer warriors, ranking him in the top few-hundred deadliest creatures in existence.]]
** At 6'8" with a crippling HeroComplex, Harry is often a Big Buddy himself. Notably in ''Dead Beat'' where he protects the diminutive Waldo Butters for most of the book.
* ''Freak the Mighty'' features the viewpoint character taking the little kid under his wing.
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[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/GilligansIsland'': [[TheCaptain The]] [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Skipper]], a BoisterousBruiser sailor, and [[ManChild Gill]][[TheDitz igan]], his skinny first mate, are HeterosexualLifePartners. The Skipper even occasionally refers to himself as Gillgan's "big buddy."
* Sam the CuteBruiser protecting Carly the girly girl on ''Series/ICarly''.
* This is hinted at for Jayne and Kaylee in the pilot episode of ''Series/{{Firefly}}'', but never really shows up again.
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[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
* Wrestling/{{Hornswoggle}} [[GrievousHarmWithABody was originally used as a weapon]] by Dave Finlay, but he didn't take too kindly to Wrestling/MichaelCole calling him a "little bastard". A [[HeelFaceTurn face turn later]] and this became the two's relationship, with Wrestling/VinceMcMahon instructing Finlay to look after Hornswoggle, whom he mistaken believed to be his bastard son.
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[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
* ''Series/TheMuppetShow'' has Sweetums and Robin, which is a complete change from their debut in the Muppet version of "Literature/TheFrogPrince", where Sweetums tried to eat Robin. The name was originally ironic, not the accurate description it would later become.
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[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': Ogryns are abhumans used by the Imperial Guard as huge shock troopers, who have the approximate intelligence and personality of a three-year-old child. They're often assigned to bodyguard important individuals like commissars who do the thinking for them.
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[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Bioshock|1}}'' and ''VideoGame/Bioshock2'' has the Big Daddies and Little Sisters, heavily mutated men grafted into diving suits protecting little girls with slugs in their bellies. In the second game, you play as a Big Daddy and kill others to take their Little Sister. As an unfortunate splicer (and the player) learn in the first game you '''never''' mess with a Little Sister when her Daddy is near (unless you have the firepower).
* ''VideoGame/BaldursGate 2'' has Minsc, a [[BoisterousBruiser cheerfully loud tough guy]], and his pet "miniature giant space hamster", Boo. ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'' also had Minsc protecting Dynaheir, his "witch", as part of a rite of passage. Though she doesn't appear in the second game, a dialogue can occur between him and another female caster, where he decides that now ''she's'' his witch. In either case, if his ward were killed in the game, [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge he'd go berserk]].
* {{Subverted}} in Creator/{{BioWare}}'s ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic''. Mission is a Twi'lek teenager (using the smallest adult female model) and Zaalbar is a Wookiee - two meters and change of walking carpet (and probably about 80 to 100 years old, given Wookiee lifespans). While the big fellow does back Mission up in a fight, his [[TheUnintelligible language barrier]] and painful shyness means that Mission does most of the talking. ''She'' is also the street-smart one, though both of them are naive to varying degrees.
* Inverted (kind of) with Tae and Bollikin of ''VideoGame/{{Lusternia}}'': the former a massive, hulking (but endearingly simple-minded) God, the latter a tiny and extremely intelligent (but also incredibly compassionate) God. They compliment each other perfectly, and are implied to be lovers.
* Starting from the second ''VideoGame/{{Darkstalkers}}'' game, we get two: Donovan the vampire hunter, who is accompained by EmotionlessGirl Anita, trying to make her emotions return, and Huitzil, the huge Aztec robot who takes care of a young boy named Cecil, thinking Cecil is his new master.
* Seems to be the intended dynamic for [[VideoGame/SonicAdventure Big the Cat and Froggy]], their theme song even referring to a "big guy" and "little guy."
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' gives us Biggs and Wedge, a Roegadyn and Lalafell duo. Biggs is the combat capable one... until Wedge gets a suit of {{Magitek}} armor.
* ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' has Nunu & Willump, a young boy riding atop a four-armed yeti.
* Junkrat and Roadhog have this dynamic in ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}''. He's far from helpless what with being a bomb-chucking maniac and all, but Junkrat is an obnoxious loudmouth who's prone to making ''very'' stupid decisions and has a target painted on his back due to knowing secrets about a treasure that other dangerous criminals are gunning for. This leads to his hulking, soft-spoken bodyguard Roadhog coming off as an irritated babysitter when he has to jump in and keep him out of trouble.
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[[folder:Webcomics]]
* The relationship between Nepeta and Equius from ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' falls into this, but unusually for this trope, Nepeta actually gives back by [[MoralityChain preventing Equius from going on a sweaty rampage]].
* Sadick had this relationship with the much taller Breck before his banishment in ''Webcomic/CharbyTheVampirate''.
* ''Webcomic/PixieAndBrutus'' could easily be the trope exemplar. Pixie is a tiny, very naive kitten with a tendency to accidentally get in over her head. Brutus is a retired military German Shepherd with a strong BigBrotherInstinct toward Pixie.
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[[folder:Web Original]]
%% * ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'' has Strong Mad and The Cheat.
* A ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GZ32821pf8 animated short]] has the GentleGiant Snorlax befriending a tiny Cubone, letting the little Lonely Pokemon bounce on its belly and keeping it warm during winter.
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[[folder:Western Animation]]
* The page illustration is a still of Marc Antony and Pussyfoot, who were the former TropeNamer. They starred together in a series of five Warner Bros. cartoon shorts, the most famous of which was the first, "WesternAnimation/FeedTheKitty". A big, and strong dog becomes the self-appointed parent figure and protector to a cute kitten.
%%** Chester and Spike/Alfie from "Tree for Two" and "Dr. Jerkyl's Hide".
%%* Pipsqueak and The Duke in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender''.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'':
** Rita and Runt have a similar big dog/little cat relationship, although in this case the little one is sophisticated and the big one is dumb (mistaking the cat for another dog).
** Dog Buttons and baby Mindy are the BadlyBatteredBabysitter version.
* ''WesternAnimation/BigGuyAndRustyTheBoyRobot'': The title characters work like this, the four footish Rusty partnering with the twelve foot tall goliath Big Guy. Rusty is actually more powerful, but he's also inexperienced and young, so Big Guy is there to help train him. Played with in the fact that Big Guy isn't actually a robot, but a mech piloted by a human.
%%* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': The episode with Cartman and [[spoiler:Cthulhu]]. It even directly [[ShoutOut homages]] scenes from "Feed the Kitty".
%%* WesternAnimation/YakkyDoodle and Chopper (a duckling and a bulldog, respectively) on ''[[WesternAnimation/YogiBear The Yogi Bear Show]]''.
%%* With the same dynamic as the ''Yogi Bear Show'' example, there's Lambsy and Bristle Hound in ''[[WesternAnimation/TheCattanoogaCats It's the Wolf]]''.
* Inverted by WesternAnimation/TheGreatGrapeApe and Beegle Beagle: GentleGiant Grape Ape tends to be more childlike than his smaller canine partner.
%%* An evil version for Imp and Hordak in ''WesternAnimation/SheRaPrincessOfPower''.
* [[WesternAnimation/TheRuffAndReddyShow Ruff and Reddy]]. The former is a kitten, the latter is his pal, a dog.
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