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Adaptational Curves

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https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/luke_buff.png
"Use the weights, Luke!"

Sex Sells, and (at least supposedly) people find muscular men and buxom women more attractive. So when adapting a work from the page to the screen, executives often decide that certain liberties can be taken with casting in the interest of getting more viewers. A character described as scrawny or flat-chested in a novel thus magically obtains a six-pack or hourglass figure in the film based on that novel.

May overlap with Adaptational Attractiveness, though there's no guarantee that the new appearance is necessarily more attractive. May also be a result of Dawson Casting or an Age Lift. Male examples of this trope often go hand-in-hand with Adaptational Badass. When fan artists do this, it can be a case of Self-Fanservice. If this happens gradually within the same series, see Fanservice Pack.

Contrast Adaptational Slimness, where a character's figure is slimmed down in the adaptation.

Examples

    open/close all folders 

    Anime & Manga 
  • General Esdeath from Akame ga Kill! was around Sheele's breast size in the manga, who was of average cup size. The anime increased her to Leone's size.
  • Attack on Titan:
    • Mikasa Ackerman is flat-chested in the manga, as illustrations of her in a sports-bra and a magical girl costume demonstrate. In the anime, on the other hand, she is given a noticeable bust, as displayed in the second opening and a bonus episode where she does exercises.
    • In the manga, Hange's gender was never specified. In fact, they went out of their way to avoid answering that particular question, apparently just as an inside joke for the fans. When adapting the story as an anime, they realized that it would be much harder to keep up the joke in an animated medium. So they didn't even bother trying; in the anime, she's a girl, complete with a set of boobs that her manga counterpart lacked.
    • Season 4 and the studio change from WIT to MAPPA saw and update to the artstyle. Many characters of all ages and genders such as Levi, Hange, Armin, Eren, Mikasa, Sasha, Gabi, and Pieck are bulked up compared to their manga counterparts. This helps to underscore the Time Skip between the two seasons as the older cast has grown and matured in the intervening years.
  • Casca from Berserk; while quite curvy and muscled in the manga, she isn't very busty. In the Berserk: The Golden Age Arc movies she is.
  • Black Clover: In the manga, it's implied that male mages aren't particularly fit, with the exception of Yami, but in the anime adaptation, all of them are as muscular than Asta, if not more, which undercuts the point that Asta has spent his life training his muscles and is more physically strong than most mages.
  • Miu of Blend-S is noticeably bustier and taller in the anime. Canonically, she has a small chest and is shorter than Kaho: in the anime, Miu is much taller than her.
  • Ruiko Saten from A Certain Scientific Railgun was flat-chested in the manga, but not so much in the anime. Compare this◊ to this◊.
  • The Electric Tale of Pikachu: Misty is notably (as in frequently shown to be) more developed than either her game and anime counterparts.
  • Fate/stay night [Unlimited Blade Works]: Saber is given a larger bust than she had in Fate/stay night, as is Saber Alter in Fate/stay night: Heaven's Feel.
  • Gate: In the manga, Hamilton is flat-chested and teased for looking like a boy. In the anime, she has small breasts.
  • The manga Go! Go! Our V Gundam!! depicted Marbet Finghut with a larger bust size than she had in Mobile Suit Victory Gundam.
  • High School D×D: In Hero, Koneko, Venelana, and Asia are significantly more buxom than they were in either the light novel, manga or the anime's first three seasons. In Asia's case, her bust matches her light novel's counterpart.
  • In Hoshin Engi, Hiko Ko's sister Koshi in the manga was quite tomboyish and petite. In the 1999 anime adaptation, not only she plays a different role, but her breasts are much bigger and her clothing shows them off better. The same goes for Dakki in her anime-only One-Winged Angel. The second adaptation, Hakyu Hoshin Engi keeps the manga designs for most characters but gives slightly larger breasts to Dakki.
  • Hunter × Hunter:
    • Kite is lanky in the original manga but the 1999 anime adaptation made him well-built. His appearance in the 2011 anime reboot is Truer to the Text.
    • Neferpitou is portrayed with an androgynous design and slim straight body in the manga, but the anime gives them a more distinctly feminine figure with wider hips and a noticeable bust.
  • Downplayed with Maho Fujiwara in Kaguya-sama: Love Is War. In the manga, she's shown to be "flat as a board", in a sharp contrast to her more buxom daughters. When she makes a cameo in the movie, she has a slightly more noticeable bust line, though she's still on the smaller side.
  • Monster Musume:
    • Doppel is flat-chested in the manga and anime. In the mobile game, however, she is much more buxom. Uniquely, this is justified due to her abilities as a shapeshifter — though she hasn't demonstrated this particular aspect of her abilities in the source material.
    • Papi has a noticeably larger chest in the anime, presumably to make her look a bit older.
  • My Hero Academia:
  • Naruto:
    • In the anime Sakura has thickness◊ in◊ places she most certainly didn't in the manga. Naruto Shippuden even gave her a noticeable bosom at certain points, whilst in the manga she's permanently A-Cup Angst
    • While Hinata is well endowed, the anime makes her figure extremely overt◊.
    • In Naruto the Movie: Road to Ninja Shizune has huge breasts that she notably lacks in the regular universe.
    • Happens to Momoshiki in Boruto, where he gets a new design for his transformation. Compared to the demonic red Oni he became in the movie, he now sports a leaner and slimmer, yet muscular, look.
  • One Piece:
    • In the Dressrosa Arc, the anime conspicuously enlarges Rebecca's breasts, especially noticeable in filler episodes that focus on her fights.
    • Starting with Nami's Enies Lobby outfit, her breasts are noticeably larger in the anime than in the manga. The movies exaggerate this with Nami as well as Robin, and in certain films like Movie 7.
    • Usopp in Movie 8 has biceps as big as Zoro’s. In the manga and anime Usopp distinctly lacked such musculature at that point.
    • Wano arc anime does to Luffy and Sanji, while both are pretty muscly in the manganote  they're still quite lean compared to the extremely jacked Zoro. In the anime Luffy has a way more pronounced Heroic Build while sumo wrestling and training in Udon Prison and Sanji in his extended Raid Suit Transformation Sequence is far more ripped than he is in the manga.
    • Ann from Romance Dawn, in the manga she was drawn before Oda’s Hotter and Sexier Art Evolution with female characters meaning she had a simple slim figure with small breasts◊. The anime special however makes her more curvy and has her breasts bounce at one point.
  • Kaede Hozuki from ONIMAI: I'm Now Your Sister! has an average sized bust in the manga, but the anime adaptation makes her much more buxom and the camera puts quite a bit of focus on that.
  • The Story of Pollyanna, Girl of Love: Inverted. Pollyanna's fatter in this version, while in most iterations (such as the original novel) she's a slim girl.
  • Pokémon Adventures
    • Jupiter is the most well-endowed of the two female Galactic Commanders even in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, and her outfit is already more form-fitting than Mars there as well. But whereas in the games her outfit just fitted her body, here her outfit is absolutely skintight, resulting in her boobs and butt bulging out of it and making her curves much more noticeable.
    • In the Sun and Moon chapter , Professor Kukui is much beefier than his game and anime counterparts. That's what happens when you use Dwayne Johnson as a drawing reference...
  • Pokémon: The Series: Lorelei (Prima in the English dub) has a roughly average sized chest in Pokémon Red and Blue, while her anime appearance has noticeably upgraded her, and the camera even seems to conspire to show her assets off whenever possible.
  • Powerpuff Girls Z:
    • The titular girls infamously lack ears, noses, proper joints, and digits in the original cartoon. They have them all here, in addition to more developed bodies due to their Age Lift from kindergartners to eight graders.
    • Mojo Jojo is a subversion. He retains his normal size as a chimpanzee post-mutation in the original cartoon, while the mutation in this version (though now a macaque) seems to have caused him to grow to the size of an adult human. It is later revealed that Mojo is just manning a Mini-Mecha underneath his Ominous Opera Cape.
    • The Mayor is much taller compared to the original cartoon, who was infamously short.
    • As she is classmates with the girls in both versions, Princess Morbucks is also taller (though now shorter than the girls instead of being the same height as them) and has a more developed body due to Age Lift.
    • As they are an Evil Knockoff of the girls like in the original, the Rowdyruff Boys received the same treatment as the girls above except for a slightly younger Age Lift (they went from kindergarten-age to pre-teens instead).
  • In Sengoku Basara manga Ransei Ranbu this is applied to Kasuga: while ingame she's rather modest, in the manga she's got incredibly large breasts, which makes some of her male disguises (As Kenshin and later as a soldier to assassinate Masamune) improbable.
  • Torture Princess: Fremd Torturchen: Elisabeth is quite modestly endowed in the art for the light novel, but goes up at least one cup size in the manga (her Stripperiffic dominatrix dress makes this rather obvious). Mangaka Hina Yamato talks in the liner notes about having had a few problems keeping her bustline at a consistent size.
  • Transformers: Cybertron: While the toy version of Thunderblast does have feminine hips and legs, her chest is somewhat blocky and Gundam-y. GONZO opted to hollow out the chest armor - specifically the underside - and make her the first Transformer in history with Underboobs. With nipples.
  • Tsugumomo: The anime version of Kiriha is far more buxom and shapely than her manga counterpart even after the latter's Plot-Relevant Age-Up.
  • When the girls of Negima! Magister Negi Magi make an appearance in the anime of UQ Holder!, most of them are considerably larger chested. This is especially noticeable with Natsumi and Yue, who are very flat-chested.
  • In the second anime adaptation of Ushio and Tora, Kagari the kamaitachi is more voluptuous in her human form, compared to her slimmer manga self.
  • In the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX anime, Asuka has large but not unreasonable breasts and long legs. The manga ramps both up a few inches for a more exaggeratedly curvaceous figure.
  • Link does a lot more growing in the manga for The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (2016) than he does in the game, including physically, to meet the demands placed on him. So while he starts off a bit slighter than his game counterpart◊, manga Link comes to fill out his tunic more impressively than game Link◊ by the final battle.

    Comic Books 
  • Salem is larger in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina than he is in Sabrina the Teenage Witch.
  • In the comic book adaptation of Guards! Guards!, the single panel flashback to Mistress Garlick the witch declaring that Carrot's sword is "the most unmagical sword I've ever seen", does not fit the "peas on an ironing board" description in Wyrd Sisters (although it's clearly an interpretation of Magrat otherwise).
  • Jem's IDW comics changed the body types of several characters. Aja and Stormer gained weight, Shana is curvier, Roxy is more muscular, and Rapture has larger hips.
  • Most comic-book adaptations of the John Carter of Mars books have seen fit to portray Green Martian females with breasts. In the original books, it's not clear that they have breasts, or that they nurse their young.
  • The comic adaptation of Lost in Space has more curvy versions of both Penny and Judy.
  • In the Metal Gear comic book adaptations, the women all become smouldery and hypersexual in a Sasha Grey-esque way, to the extent that it's impossible to distinguish even women of different races from each other in some panels. Their outfits also become more revealing, with Naomi's breasts becoming more prominent and Fortune being drawn with exaggerated cameltoe. Raiden is less sexualised overall, but goes from a Bishounen to a masculine character, and we actually get to see his dong in his Full-Frontal Assault scene.
  • Power Rangers comics tend to portray the women as more curvaceous and gives all the male heroes a Heroic Build, making them much more muscular than the relatively thin stuntmen and women that play them in the live-action show.
  • Sally Acorn and Bunnie Rabbot of Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM) had somewhat feminine proportions, but were still identifiable as Funny Animals. Many artists of the Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics) comic book have drawn the two (and many other recurring Mobians) with even more human proportions, with Bunnie's cyborg limbs even canonically redesigned just to fit this. This can be easily seen when the comic was drawn by Steven Butler and Ron Lim, who were both Marvel Comics artists. This was downplayed later as as the comics redesigned the in an attempt at better emulating the games' design style more.
  • Wonder Woman

    Fan Works 
  • While fairly curvy in canon, Nabiki Tendo in Anything Goes Game Changer is not only more obviously fit, but has a bust comparable to Akitsu.
  • Arcadia: Due to the side effects of his blessing combined with a very intense workout regimen starting when he was still going through puberty, by the time he is 17 years old Jaune Arc is four inches taller and much more muscular then he was at that age in canon.
  • The Black Emperor: Owing to some intensive training with Sayoko, Lelouch has a more muscular build than his canon counterpart does.
  • In Child of the Storm, the formerly short and skinny Harry hits a growth spurt thanks to his grandmother correcting malnutrition stunted growth and setting a proper diet and being a teenager whose dad happens to be Thor. Additionally, hand to hand combat training leads to him putting on additional muscle, something noticed and appreciated by an increasing number of straight/bi female students, and gay/bi male friends. The result is that part way through 3rd year, he can pass for 15/16, and by the time he's around 14 and a half, he can pass for 17/18 - which is sometimes Played for Drama, as characters have to remind themselves that for all that he looks and acts rather older, he is still not much more than a child.
  • Citadel of the Heart does this with a lot of characters who are given an Age Lift, but the strangest of the numerous examples would be Mewtwo; Mewtwo is a genderless Legendary Pokémon who isn't depicted any differently as far as age goes, but in terms of physical appearance is consistently drawn by MF217 as being completely shredded. Older artwork from MF217 that have nothing to do with Citadel of the Heart also depict Mewtwo as being beefier than normal, indicating that this is perhaps Author Appeal.
  • Code Geass: The Prepared Rebellion:
    • Lelouch is a good deal more muscular than in canon, thanks to being more willing to exercise.
    • Sayoko is quite a bit bustier than she was in canon, having D-cup breasts.
  • Convergent Devil: Alvida is far more muscular than she canonically was after eating the Slip-Slip Fruit, with the author stating stating the fruit merely got rid of her fat rather than the muscle built up from swinging her heavy iron mace around.
  • Coreline: Multiple Alternate Self versions of characters that appear are mentioned to have more muscles than their canon version. Justified because many of those Alternates (that have appeared so far) are superhero versions of a character and several of these are shown (or at least heavily implied) to have taken Boxing Lessons for Superman (or at least gotten some exercise as a general part of their taking as level in badass). One specific example would be the Alternate of Kairi that appears in the "PROGENY Research" Arc, an amalgamation of her and Spider-Gwen mentioned in her initial description to be muscled like a gymnast (when her canon KH version could be best described as "waifish").
  • In Empath: The Luckiest Smurf, Smurfette originally had the same flatchested body as her normal mainstream media counterpart, but over time was redrawn to have breasts which she developed when she was changed from her original "un-Smurf" appearance through magic.
  • Evangelion 303: Due to being twenty-one, stopping exercise due to a plane crash that rendered her comatose for several months and a change in diet, Asuka is more stacked than she was in the original show.
  • A Green Dragon's Hoard:
    • Izuku is reasonably muscular in canon. But here, he's built exactly like Kaido, making him a veritable wall of muscle.
    • Manami's curves are exaggerated to the point that her breasts are each bigger than her head and her poofy pants are actually skintight.
    • Inko is mentioned as having a noticeably larger bust than canon.
  • Heroes of the New World: Yamato is depicted (both in the fic proper and in fanart) as being more muscular than depicted in Oda's art style, though she still retains her buxom figure.
  • The Marvelous World Of DC: Jack Napier, the future Joker, is mentioned as "muscular" at one point, implying he's more physically toned than his canon counterpart.
  • My Huntsman Academia:
    • Izuku earned his six-pack abs like in canon, but he slowly gets brawnier as he continues training, to the point that he's practically bursting out of his old combat school uniform (fitted to his old Geek Physique) when he tries to wear it for a formal occasion. He's also the most frequent source of eye candy in the story.
    • Nora (as biased as she is), says that Izuku's muscular body is an 8.5/Ren, implying that Ren is quite muscular under his loose-fitting clothing.
    • Yang is about as slim as most of her peers in RWBY, but in this story she's described as leanly muscular and Ruby says Izuku's biceps are "almost as big" as Yang's at the start of the story.
    • Both Ruby and Weiss take up weightlifting to overcome their Fragile Speedster tendencies and come out more muscular for it.
  • Velma in now that i can see your face (i can stand up to anything.) is fatter than in canon.
  • Pokémon Reset Bloodlines:
    • Misty has a more impressive figure than she did in the anime. This is justified, because she's five years older than she was in the original timeline and closer in age to her sisters in the original show, who were quite curvy.
    • This applies to other characters who have aged up compared to their canon counterparts, including Ash and May. Iris however is stated to not be particularly curvy.
  • Warriors Redux: ThunderClan cats in Warriors Redux are known for being large, muscular, and fluffy (thanks to their medium-length fur). Humans would compare them to Maine Coons. In the original Warriors book there's no standardized ThunderClan design, they're generally ordinary looking (though bigger than most housecats), and they're mainly short-furred.

    Films — Animated 
  • Batman Ninja: As is fitting for an anime, this is one of Catwoman's most voluptuous appearances.
  • Pohatu from BIONICLE had scrawny arms and a tiny upper-body (what with his gear-function being in his hip) as a toy, but, overlapping with Adaptational Attractiveness, has a normal body and more proportional arms in the Direct to Video film (in the film, all of the male Toa have the exact same body-type). Sidorak from the third movie is also much more buff than his scraggy toy.
  • Disney Animated Canon:
  • Dragon Ball:
  • Green Lantern: Emerald Knights does this to Bolphunga the Unrelenting in Mogo's story, an adaptation of the classic Alan Moore story "Mogo Doesn't Socialize". The Emerald Knights incarnation of Bolphunga is noticeably way more muscular than how he appeared in the comics.
  • Peter B. Parker AKA Spider-Man in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is given quite the pizza gut that his skinny comic counterpart lacks, although it's only noticeable when someone points it out. In the sequel he's slimmed down due to having put his life back together after the events of the last film.
  • Miguel O'Hara AKA Spider-Man 2099 in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse has a much more bulkier and imposing physique when compared to his comic counterpart and his cameo appearance in The Stinger of the previous film. Normally, Miguel is just as lean as the rest of the Spiders.
  • In The Wizard of Oz, Aunt Em is more stout than her standard portrayal.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • Batman & Robin turns Mr. Freeze, who is typically thin if not average built, into Arnold Schwarzenegger, even adding some dialogue stating that he was a decathlete in college to justify a scientist with a bodybuilder physique. Director Joel Schumacher said he wanted someone who looked "chiseled out of ice", and it makes sense because Freeze's equipment is heavy - both a Freeze Ray and a Powered Armor that keeps him cold - so he had to be a fairly strong guy to carry it.
  • Baywatch (2017) has this in spades - compare David Hasselhoff's Mitch Buchannon to Dwayne Johnson's, Alexandra Paul's Stephanie Holden to Ilfenesh Hadera's, Alexandra Daddario's Summer Quinn to Nicole Eggert's.
  • Daredevil (2003): In the comics, the Kingpin embodies Stout Strength, but in this film he's played by the chiseled Michael Clarke Duncan.
  • Dragonball Evolution: Chi-Chi is much more curvaceous than she is in the manga and anime. She's even curvier than the movie version of Bulma whose anime counterpart is a prominent Ms. Fanservice.
  • In the original novel Emmanuelle: The Joys of a Woman, the eponymous character becomes fascinated by Bee because the latter is almost breastless. In the film Emmanuelle, Bee was played by Marika Green, who was definitely not flat-chested.
  • In the Fat Kid Rules the World book Curt is described as emaciated looking and distressingly thin. In the film he's played by a skinny, but not sickly looking, actor.
  • Enola Holmes: Sherlock Holmes in the novels has a wiry build that hides surprising strength. Here, he's played by the obviously muscular Henry Cavill.
  • Fighting with My Family has A.J. Lee, who was famous for her skinny, waify frame, being played by the much curvier and better endowed Thea Trinidad.
  • Godzilla himself gets this in the Legendary Pictures MonsterVerse reboot, while obviously still massive either way, the Legendary's version of Goji is noticeably more stocky◊ than his Toho counterpart's design◊. Japanese fans even commented on Godzilla being "fat" when the 2014 film hit theaters in Tokyo, leading to western fans making reactions of Godzilla having Weight Woe in response to the perceived fat-shaming.
  • Some characters in the Harry Potter movies were more muscular than their book counterparts.
    • Ron, for instance, is described as tall and skinny in the books, while Rupert Grint was rather buff in the later movies.
    • Neville is short and chubby in the first few movies, fitting his appearance in the books, but puberty was really kind to Matthew Lewis, who became tall and muscular in the later films.
    • Stanislav Ianevski as Viktor Krum is quite handsome and has a burlier physique compared to the books, where he is described as being tall and thin with a sallow complexion.
  • The Hunger Games: When Jennifer Lawrence was chosen to play Katniss Everdeen, some book fans complained that she was too voluptuous for the role, imagining that she should look waifish due to suffering near-starvation most of her life.
  • Laura: In the film Waldo Lydecker is played by the very slim Clifton Webb, whereas in the original novel he is portrayed as obese.
  • The American-made Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie featured the characters wearing redesigned costumes that were plated like Power Armor rather than the usual spandex, and made the characters look more muscular than they do on the regular TV show.
  • In On Her Majesty's Secret Service Blofeld is portrayed by Telly Savalas, a fairly buff dude. In the books, Blofeld is described as someone whose "muscle has all turned to fat."
  • James Bond himself by the time of the Daniel Craig era. In the books while in good shape he's described as skinny and at one point in Thunderball Bond envies the musculature of a nearby swimmer. The Daniel Craig version, however, is very muscly himself, with his Sexy Surfacing Shot being the trope image for the film page of Mr. Fanservice.
  • Oz the Great and Powerful: The Wicked of the Witch of the West, thanks to being played by Mila Kunis is quite curvaceous for a usually Lean and Mean character.
  • Resident Evil Film Series: Wesker in the reboot Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City. In the games, while decently built, he’s still skinnier than Chris (not that really affects his fights with the hero later on). In the, film Wesker is played by Tom Hopper, who’s huge.
  • In the book of The Running Man, protagonist Ben Richards is described as "scrawny" and "pre-tubercular" since he lives in a dystopian society with rampant poverty and pollution. In the film, he's played by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Although, in the film he's also a disgraced police commander formerly employed by the regime, not just some random plebeian, so presumably he would have access to better resources to justify such a physique.
  • In Silent Hill and Silent Hill: Revelation 3D, Pyramid Head is a lot more muscular than his leaner video game counterpart.
  • Star Trek (2009): Not a person, but a starship! The USS Enterprise from the Kelvin-timeline has a much curvier design than its iconic counterpart from the original timeline.
  • Star Wars:
    • Some versions of the poster for the original Star Wars movie exaggerated Princess Leia's proportions, to a Ms. Fanservice-ish degree. Not to be out-done, Luke can also be much more buff in these posters as well, with his shirt open to show his developed pecs.
    • The late-90's toy line based on the series had a tendency to make the male characters far more muscular than they were in the films, much like the poster art mentioned above. It got to the point that Mark Hamill saw a figurine and remarked, “Dear God, they put me on steroids!"
    • Both of these phenomena (exaggerated proportions for Princess Leia, as well as the tendency to make the male characters far more muscular than they were in the films) very frequently appear in the licensed comics of the franchise, also.
  • Street Fighter: Cammy in the earlier games was very slim and small breasted, whereas in the film she's played by Kylie Minogue who is much curvier.
  • Suicide Squad (2016) and The Suicide Squad:
    • The Joker is nearly always portrayed as a skinny creep or just out of shape, in the first Suicide Squad he's played by Jared Leto who's in good shape.
    • Ratcatcher was gangly in the comics but thanks to a Gender Lift is played the shapely Daniela Melchior.
  • Super Mario Bros. (1993): Mario thanks to being played by Bob Hoskins is stockier than he is in the games, whilst Luigi the skinny brother is played by a young and fit John Leguizamo who has a Shirtless Scene at one point.
  • Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese get this in Terminator Genisys. In the original The Terminator, Sarah is played by the skinny Linda Hamilton and Kyle is played by Michael Biehn, who is lean and malnourished-looking (which is completely appropriate since he comes from the war-torn Bad Future). In Terminator Genisys, Sarah is played Emilia Clarke, who's very curvaceous and Kyle is played by a muscly and healthy-looking Jai Courtney.
  • Tintin is a fairly athletic man, but most versions have a normal physique. The actor who played Tintin in the live action movies (Jean-Pierre Talbot) was ripped, as his Shirtless Scene shows. His clothes are still loose enough to hide it.
  • What's Love Got to Do with It (1993): Tina Turner is portrayed in the film by Angela Bassett, who is much more muscular than the real Tina was. It also raises the question as to why she took Ike's beatings for so long when she's more buff than he is (though she does eventually fight back).
  • X-Men Film Series: Angel Dust in the comics was flat in the chest department and petite. Deadpool (2016) cast Gina Carano, who's very muscular and busty, to play her.

    Live-Action TV 
  • Arrowverse:
  • Ahsoka:
    • As noted by some disgruntled fans Thrawn here as played by Lars Mikkelsen has got more of a “dad bod” i.e quite a bit gut whereas the Legends and Rebels versions of Thrawn were Lean and Mean. Obviously it doesn’t really impact the standout performance and it can be argued Thrawn doesn’t need to be in good shape as The Chessmaster.
    • Hera Syndulla in Rebels is very petite, here on the other hand due to being played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead she’s quite curvaceous with a suspect number of shots focused on her butt. Given she’s a female Twi'lek it’s probably appropriate.
  • The 2000 Syfy adaptation of Dune cast the noticeably voluptuous Barbora Kodetova as Paul's love-interest Chani, who was supposed to be slender and devoid of body fat. It's probably just a coincidence that the uncensored version of the mini-series featured Kodetova in a topless scene...
  • Game of Thrones:
    • Daenarys is described as slim and small breasted in the books, but due to being played Emilia Clarke in show, she’s more curvaceous and well endowed. Though worth noting Dany’s appearance is books was justified, since she’s thirteen, while the show gives her an Age Lift into a grown woman.
    • Missandei is quite a few years older than her counterpart in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, who's only about eleven, and thus more shapely.
    • In the books, Brienne has a stocky, masculine physique and no bosom at all. Osha is lithe and barely looks like a woman. Both have more feminine figures in the show.
    • Xaro Xhoan Daxos shares almost nothing in common with his book counterpart aside from being a merchant prince of Qarth. The show's version is a Big Beautiful Man and is shown in a shirtless scene sharing his bed with the handmaiden Doreah. In the books, Xaro is described as looking like an exotic bird with a thin and pale build and wears jewels in his nose, giving him an outlandish appearance.
  • The Mandalorian:
    • Boba Fett as seen by in the comics both Legends and canon is pretty lean and his original actor Jeremy Bulloch was pretty skinny too. In canon due to Temuera Morrison being older he’s more thick set though as his almost naked “out of the Bacta tank” fight with Krrsantan in The Book of Boba Fett shows, still in pretty good shape.
    • Ahsoka Tano as seen in Clone Wars or Rebels is quite skinny, in The Mandalorian however she's played by Rosario Dawson and is much more curvy as a result.
  • One Piece (2023): Since a lot of the characters are Noodle People in the source material they tend to get this by default.
    • Sanji while quite muscular underneath his suit is still largely drawn like a stick figure. Here’s he’s obviously muscular with his actor Taz Skylar having had to train hard to get into high kicking shape for the role.
    • Benn Beckman is a trim pirate in the source material while here he’s played Laudo Liebenberg who’s much more stout.
    • Helmeppo starts off as a skinny fop and he along with Koby only becomes muscly when Garp puts them through Training from Hell. Here Helmeppo as evidenced by his hilarious and out of nowhere nude scene is in good shape from the start.
    • Nami as well as Kaya, Nojiko, Belle-mère and Makino rather than being supermodel petite with hourglass waistlines like in the source material are due to the show being a Pragmatic Adaptation realistically curvy. Trying to replicate Oda’s Jessica Rabbit-like female character figures in live action would’ve likely required corsets.
  • Power Rangers: What the movie and comics do for the show, the show itself does compared to its Japanese Super Sentai material. In Sentai, the boys are Bishounen and the girls are often reverse-Dawson Casting cases; everyone's younger and slenderer than you'd expect. In PR, you'll find considerably more muscles on the boys, and more curves (and muscles, though the full-on Amazon-looking cases are rare) on the girls. One of the best cases is is Gekiranger/Jungle Fury. Rio looks like he belongs in a boy band. He looks masterful in a smooth, aristocratic sort of way. Dai Shi looks like he could dismantle you without summoning his battle armor, and fitting with the lion theme is generally more feral-looking.
  • Riverdale:
    • In the Archie Comics Archie Andrews is a skinny and unathletic dude, in the show thanks to being played by KJ Apa he's extremely ripped and plays football. This is debatable though since Archie's been depicated as a football player even in the comics.
    • In the comics Ethel Muggs is an awkward beanpole of a brunette. As played by Shannon Purser on she's got reddish hair and a much curvier figure. And she lost the comical buck teeth.
  • Parodying Emma Watson's noticeable difference in appearance between the first two Harry Potter films, Saturday Night Live had a skit in which guest host Lindsay Lohan (then 17) played 13-year-old Hermione, returning to Hogwarts after summer vacation with a pair of gigantic breasts, and unintentionally drawing so much attention to them that neither Harry nor Ron can keep his eyes off them. This also was Lohan poking fun at herself, as many people were speculating that her naturally large breasts were fake. Coincidentally or not, this exact scenario is also a well-worn plot device in Harry Potter fanfiction.
  • The Walking Dead (2010)
  • The Witcher (2019): Geralt in the Witcher books is described as pretty skinny and provides a case for Muscles Are Meaningless, in the show he's played by Henry Cavill who's provides a very strong case for Muscles Are Meaningful.
  • Wonder Woman (1975): The original comic books up until The '70s portrayed Wonder Woman as a very slim and athletic build. Despite wearing what was essintially a bustier the character usually had no visible cleavage in costume and even when it was drawn she was a B Cup at most. Not only did the live action series have more cleavage by virtue of choosing to stick with the outfit on a moving breathing woman, but it also cast legitimately tall and curvy beauty pagent winner Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman, forever transforming the comic book character. In-Universe, she's considered one of (if not the) the world's most beautiful women.

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  • Quote and Curly Brace in Blade Strangers are given more adult bodies compared to their cutesy sprites in Cave Story with Curly being curvaceous and Quote muscly.
  • Promotional art from BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle has the cast from RWBY depicted with more notable busts than they had in their original series. Even Yang.
  • In Castlevania: Judgment Sypha Belnades is given a large bust despite being a Sweet Polly Oliver in her originating game, also Carmilla is even made even more curvaceous than usual which is saying something.
  • Double Dragon: This and Adaptational Slimness often happens to Linda Lash, whom was originally an ordinary woman with some muscle tone. Adaptations tend to make her bust or muscles more exaggerated.
  • An in-universe version occurs in Dragon Age II, where Varric's initial story makes Bethany much bustier than she is in the "true" story.
  • Fate/Grand Order: Saber (Altria) — and by extension her Alter form — is given much larger breasts than she had in Fate/stay night.
  • Final Fantasy VII Remake: While the remake tones down Tetsuya Nomura's more exaggerated proportions in his original art of the original game, there are still some examples of this trope applying to some characters:
    • Cloud is much more muscular than he was in the original game, where he had a slim figure.
    • Zig-Zagged with Barret; his cartoony physique is toned down, but he still retains his Heroic Build.
    • Jessie's bust size is much more defined compared to her original design.
    • While not as noticeable, Yuffie also has more tracts of land◊ than she did in the original game and following titles.
  • Fire Emblem Heroes is notorious for this. Almost all the female characters (and some of the male ones) are noticeably Hotter and Sexier than in their original artwork, with much more ample curves and costumes (and poses, and Clothing Damage) redrawn to heighten the Fanservice.
  • Mamiya in Fist of the North Star is fairly skinny in the manga and anime, in the musou game however she's particularly thic◊.
  • God of War Ragnarök: Zig-Zagged. According to Norse mythology, Thor was never really given a definitive description as there are minimal hints to his physical appearance. In The Saga of Olaf Tryggvason, he's described as handsome and possessing a red beard, whereas, in the Poetic Edda, Thor is described as having long hair, a long beard, and fierce eyes. So when Santa Monica released their interpretation of Thor, an unkempt, burly, red-headed powerlifter, fans were split down the middle. One side of the fanbase was more accustomed to Marvel's version of Thor where he was played by the blond, muscular, and attractive Chris Hemsworth. The other half of the fanbase was intrigued by the design and Scandinavian fans found this design a lot more accurate to their vision of Thor.
  • When adapting the manga to a video game, Capcom noticed that Jojos Bizarre Adventure Heritage For The Future was lacking in female characters, so they asked mangaka Hirohiko Araki to redesign one of the female antagonists who only briefly appeared to be "something like a belly dancer". Her original single panel appearance depicted a middle aged woman in a dress who's face couldn't even be seen. Her appearance in Heritage For the Future is the aforementioned much thinner belly dancer.
  • Metal Slug Code J, fitting enough for a 3D remake of a 2D game, have it's four core characters — Marco, Tarma, Eri and Fio — going through this, especially for the two female commandoes, with the intro screen following Eri's... uhm, assets.
  • Metroid's Zero Suit Samus was actually pretty lean◊ in her debut, later games such as Other M and the Smash Bros series make her much more voluptuous◊. However, the latest version of Smash, her physique has been changed to be more athletic, and she has a more realistic bust. According to interviews, Sakurai expressed that this had to be done in order to avoid having an older ratingnote . However, Metroid Dread, not having to worry about avoiding a T rating, went back to a busty portrayal of Samus (though her Zero Suit model never appears in-game outside of the death animation and can only be studied up-close by hacking the model). She's even slightly more endowed than she was in Other M.
  • Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire: Magma Admin Tabitha is quite muscular in the original games. Not so much in the remakes, where he's a Fat Bastard.
  • Jill Valentine is made much curvier in the 2002 Gamecube Remake of Resident Evil than she was in the original game and art, she's even given Jiggle Physics in the 2015 Updated Re Release. Her impressive curves carry over into her appearances in later games such as Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil: Revelations. Indeed, the Resident Evil 3 (Remake) has her in more modest attire compared to the original, but adds Jiggle Physics.
  • Promotional art by Tetsuya Nomura for Smash 4 depicts Cloud Strife with the muscle mass of a superhero◊, in the original FFVII art and other media Cloud is way leaner.
  • Sonic Boom (and its accompanying animated series) feature a more muscular version of Knuckles than has appeared in previous works.
  • Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town:
    • Harris has gone from very skinny to fat.
    • Official art depicts Lillia as slightly larger than she originally was.
    • Gotz has traded in his muscles for body fat.
  • In Super Robot Wars T, the second Combination Attack of the three Rune Gods has the Transformation Sequence of the girls lifted straight from the opening of the anime, only they end up curvier and bustier. (Even though they're fourteen.)

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Alternative Title(s): Adaptational Muscles, Adaptational Physique

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