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Rocking that dad bod.
"Eustace, let me make one thing clear: I like a gentleman of heft. Beef and beer lend a man weight".
Erin Winters, Bobbins

A Big Beautiful Man is noticeably chubby, and perhaps even obese, and yet considered genuinely beautiful and voluptuous for it.

This trope was more common centuries ago, when having some extra body fat meant people were seen as healthier (as opposed to typically malnourished masses), and was also a sign of affluence. People could truly be Fat and Proud. It has become more of a Forgotten Trope over time as most societies have themselves become more affluent and have access to more and healthier varieties of food. Such large-set people are not as usually considered as attractive by today's audience or in today's works, where they would more likely be considered Fat Slobs for their girth.

But while this is mostly true for women, it becomes a Double Standard with men. The sheer size of the Ugly Guy, Hot Wife page shows that Hollywood is more likely to let a fat man attract a lover with his personality and sense of humor. note  But per Rule of Funny, their beauty in another character's eyes is usually an Informed Attractiveness that doesn't even pretend to try to resonate with the audience.

A very notable exception is in works that appeal to gay men. On one hand, chubby men are not always considered attractive in the gay community, especially in contexts where The Twink or the Bishōnen are considered the more marketable standard of beauty (ie, the majority of Western and Japanese works featuring gay men), and the rule of Hollywood Pudgy is in full force. But on the other hand, there is a sizable niche interest that finds them sexy and even Moe — these people are termed (for better or for worse) "chubby chasers". Among these include The Bear community, where body hair is the chief point of attractiveness, but most sexy chubbiness is also usually the order of the day. If the character is middle-aged or older, don't be surprised if he was The Twink in his younger years.

The trope can also still be Played for Laughs when a chubby character sees himself as a Big Beautiful Man. Even then, it still often manages to come off as gay-for-oneself.

LGBT Fanbase often gives Big Beautiful Man status to characters that were not (specifically) intended as such. This can apply to practically any chubby character. Even Santa Claus is not immune.

The Spear Counterpart of Big Beautiful Woman. Big Beautiful Man can overlap to some degree with Acrofatic, Bara Genre, The Bear, Big Fun, The Big Guy, Charles Atlas Superpower, Fat and Proud, Hollywood Pudgy and Stout Strength. In fact, this trope overlaps with The Bear so often that some people consider them the same trope — except that technically this trope is about body fat and the other trope is about body hair.


Examples

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    Anime and Manga 
  • Musume no Iede revolves around a Chubby Chaser high school girl. She falls for fat men often, including her step-father and a local boy her age.
  • Takuma Morina from Mori no Takuma-san is a tall and notably overweight young man. However, his weight is the one problem his long time crush Karin has with him, as otherwise he's her perfect match. The series revolves around Karin letting go of her shallow mindset and loving Takuma for who he is.
  • Aggretsuko has Shirota, the polar bear that Retsuko gets set up with is quite large due to being a Big Eater and a long time of playing rugby on his youth. Even after realizing her mother clearly Photoshopped his picture to make him look more like a traditional Bishounen, she seems to be taken with him as they spend some time together, particularly when he smiles.
    Shirota: When you saw me, were you let down? (Twinkle Smile)
    Retsuko: (blushing, starry-eyed) No! Not at all!
  • Delicious in Dungeon: Senshi is normally drawn in a Gonk-ish way with cartoony round eyes, but whenever the author decides to draw him more realistically, it's shown he's a strikingly handsome stout man. At one moment, the party discusses the fact that he was always handsome and none of them noticed, and Chilchuck wouldn't want his daughters meeting him, because he's sure they'd fall for him.
  • Isami Aldini of Food Wars! stands out in a Cast Full of Pretty Boys as being the only one who is chubby. Despite this, he's no less popular than his Bishōnen twin brother Takumi, and many of his female admirers consider him adorable. That said, he does slim down during summer due to fatigue from the heat, and quickly becomes irrecognizably handsome.
  • Yuuya Sera from Haven't You Heard? I'm Sakamoto is a heavyset pretty-boy who works part-time as a model.
  • Otsu from Manly Appetites: Minegishi Loves Otsu might have a low opinion of his own looks but Minegishi outright says he's "thoroughly charming" just the way he is. He's actually downright horrified any time Otsu mentions the possibility of losing weight.
  • In My Hero Academia, Tsuyu and Ochaco absolutely adore Fatgum because he is "so round and cute."
  • Rikio Kammamoto from Project K has a quite noticeable fan base who prefer his heavyset look during the winter since it's a very tasteful aversion to the Gonk trope.
  • Shirobako has some large members on the Musashino Animation team. Their attractiveness is downplayed, but this is compensated for by their lovable personalities:
    • Seiichi Kinoshita, director of Exodus. His childlike personality and appearance are quite endearing. He is also Big Fun and turns out to be a surprisingly awesome director when the need arises. He is said to have been less heavy before his wife divorced him and he became more of a Big Eater.
    • Yutaka Honda, long-suffering Chief production assistant of Musashino Animation. Since he had to deal with all the trouble Kinoshita got them into, stress was a contributing factor to his weight gain. He gets skinny after resigning from the studio to work at a bakery like he always wanted, causing Kinoshita to reproach him for breaking their 'fat alliance'. It does wonders for his looks.

    Comic Books 
  • Same said for Blue Beetle Ted Kord during his chubby period (a kind of recursive tribute, since Dreiberg was based on Kord).
  • Archer from Archer & Armstrong, especially from Valiant's rebooted line. While he's not as large as some of the examples listed here, as noted on the Stout Strength page he does have a rather substantial gut which he carries quite well.
  • The Backstagers: Hunter is explicitly designed to be a bit overweight, with a visibly big belly, and is also genuinely handsome, attractive as well as charismatic, confident, and an unapologetic gay flirt. Jory becomes enamored with him pretty quickly.
  • In Batman: The Curse of the White Knight, the follow-up to Batman: White Knight, this continuity's version of Azrael is drawn looking incredibly thick-set. The first two pages he's in has him totally nude for a doctor's appointment, and said pages offer decent shots of his muscular arms as well as his ass, thick thighs, and a muscular gut.
  • Circles has at least two of these. Marty is a chubby skunk who is at first timid about his weight, but his new roommate Taye actually finds him incredibly sexy, like a teddy bear, for which Ken derides him as a "chubby chaser". Then there's Arthur, the artistic Basement-Dweller — he's a...bear (both socially and literally), now in his 40s, who helps reassure Marty that there's nothing wrong with being portly.
  • Mondo of Generation X had a few shirtless scenes and was most likely the biggest member of the team besides Banshee. Scott Lobdell specifically described him as big boned though.
  • Bouncing Boy from Legion of Super-Heroes, especially his reboot counterpart Chuck Taine.
    • Also from the Legion came R.J. Brande who, in one issue from the Reboot Legion's era, spent most of an issue in a towel. And from what we saw, it was quite pleasing to the eye for a man of his age and size.
  • Cornfed from Livewires, who was designed to have a body like a husky, beefy Farm Boy and is even given a Shirtless Scene.
  • In The Mighty Thor, Volstaag of the Warriors Three is a bold, boisterous, braggadocious adventurer who is very fat and utterly unashamed of it, routinely using his weight and size to his advantage in combat.
  • Watchmen: Dan Dreiberg. Once he stopped crimefighting, Dreiberg presumably stopped getting his usual exercise (read: thrashing bad guys) and put on some weight. Under that, though, he's still quite strong, and he has a pretty handsome face to go with it.

    Fanworks 
  • When fanartists create gijinkas, non-human characters who appear to be on the rounder side are often depicted as such. A good example is Whisper from Yo Kai Watch. Here are some examples by Bechnokid and Alice Chrosny Art.
  • While he isn't sexualized in the source material, Aziraphale from Good Omens (2019) often gets this treatment from fans who prefer their man-shaped beings on the rounder side. Interestingly, this was true even when fans only had the original book to consult that didn't specify Aziraphale's body build since many fans reasoned that he would realistically have some chub on him due to his love of human food and lack of fastidiousness about his appearance compared to Crowley; Michael Sheen being cast as Aziraphale in the miniseries only solidified this already-existing trend.
  • Carter from Total Drama Legacy, at least according to Marlin. Seeing Carter naked was what made Marlin realize he was attracted to men.

    Film — Animation 
  • Anastasia's boyfriend, Dimitri, the baker boy from Cinderella II: Dreams Come True.
  • Wade Ripple from Elemental (2023) is noticeably pudgy and is a very sweet and charming guy, which quickly earns him the affections of Ember.
  • Gloria the hippo's suitor Moto Moto, in Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, is clearly intended to be one. And it would seem that hippos as a species find chubbiness attractive, since Moto Moto and Gloria's flirting is made entirely of fat jokes.
  • Maui the demigod from Moana. While quite beefy, he has a hefty physique as well. He is also a legendary and respected hero, and (despite his huge ego) a genuinely humorous and valiant guy. During his song "You're Welcome", he shamelessly boasts about his looks (and many fans wouldn’t disagree with him). Probably doesn’t hurt that he is shirtless the entire movie, and his torso gets a lot of focus thanks to his sentient tattoos.

    Film — Live Action 
  • Bear City is about gay men of a certain size and the men who admire them.
  • The Lord of the Rings:
    • Samwise Gamgee has a stout build and catches the eye of the pretty serving wench Rosie.
    • 'Beautiful' may be stretching it a bit for the fat Dwarf Bombur. While not explicitly canon, it is mentioned that he is quite popular with the ladies which has resulted in up to twelve children.
  • Spider-Man 2 has Otto Octavius/Doc Ock, who is quite ugly in the comics, but gets hit with Adaptational Attractiveness for the movie. He's still a paunchy middle-aged man, but even the DVD commentary mentions how they deliberately tried to make him charming, and he is very charismatic and competent. In-universe, he's been Happily Married to a beautiful woman for many years.
  • Dale in Tucker & Dale vs. Evil is a big guy who is attractive to the female protagonist because of his size and gentleness.
  • Gabe Wilson, the good-natured Bumbling Dad in Us is played by the very tall, very thickly built Winston Duke. The contrast between his build and his sweet but protective personality only adds to his adorkable charm. The filmmakers didn't seem to be obvious to this either, considering the somewhat infamous scene in which Gabe lays down in bed with his bare thighs prominently in the shot.

    Literature 
  • In The Camp Half-Blood Series, Frank Zhang becomes this through the series. When he is first described and introduced in The Son of Neptune he is said to be a large and stocky boy, muscular enough to have a wrestler-like body but chubby enough for it to be a sumo wrestler's body. Interestingly, while he starts out as cute and cuddly (like a "Koala bear with muscles") it is pointed out that he isn't actually "handsome" due to the fatness and muscles not mixing well on him: his burly build and chubby face only make him look like a "giant baby on steroids". In The House of Hades, thanks to a blessing from Mars, he actually gets "handsome", as in a rougher and "warlike" handsome. But in the process he loses his fatness, as the blessing makes him taller and more muscular while removing his "spare tire" and "baby cheeks": in-story it is pointed out he went from a "teddy bear" to a "grizzly bear". However by The Tyrant's Tomb, Frank's natural weight caught up with this "magical growth spurt", resulting in him becoming a living example of this trope: girthy but muscular, with the warrior's rough handsomeness AND the cute chubby baby cheeks.
  • In Egalias Daughters this is the dominant beauty ideal. The protagonist worries about being too skinny, and envies a chubbier friend.
  • Hern Heslin in the The Duel of Sorcery Trilogy is at very least described as having a sweet face and beautiful eyes.
  • Nanciormis in Barbara Hambly's novel The Witches of Wenshar is unequivocally described as one. Too bad he's a skeevy, conniving Jerkass who's arguably the main antagonist of the piece, and who ultimately gets his in the end.
  • Jack Aubrey is on the sturdily built side, and many people in-universe find him attractive. (By contrast, his Heterosexual Life-Partner is described as short, skinny, and odd-looking.)
  • Perry in Cheri Bennett's Life in the Fat Lane, according to just about everyone who isn't Lara.
  • Tiny Cooper from Will Grayson, Will Grayson seems to be one. He clearly has no shortage of (fleeting) boyfriends.
  • In The Barsoom Project, "Fat Ripper" Game participants Max, Marty and Ollie are all described as attractive, despite being overweight. Max and Marty (aka Hippogryph) are both very muscular and limber despite their extra poundage.
  • Mace Tyrell from A Song of Ice and Fire has put on a lot of weight with age. He is also described as a handsome man by Sansa.
  • Robert, the main character in The Way You Are, is considered this by his love interest. Pete likes his men chubby.

    Live-Action TV 
  • Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Raymond Holt, the notably thickset (yet strongly built) captain of the 99 precinct. His subordinates generally views him with great admiration, and he is Happily Married to university professor Kevin Cozner, whose colleagues sees Holt as a "brainless bimbo". It’s also clear that his arch-enemy Madeline Wuntch is attracted to him, despite their incompatible orientations and general hostility towards each other.
  • Calvin Young of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is a bigger fellow who instantaneously attracts the eye of both Paula and Naomi on sight.
  • Glee: Dave Karofsky has had a very outspoken gay male fan base since the episode "Never Been Kissed", many of whom simply prefer men of his build.
  • The barkeeper Pree from the sci-fi series Killjoys is thicc, femme, and highly charming. He's a very popular character with the audience, due to having a good sense of humor and a unique sense of fashion (often wearing tight, sarong-like wraps or robes that show off his big butt), as well as a lovely singing voice and a badass backstory as a mercenary warlord (complete with a ruggedly handsome ex who still wants him). And eventually, he gets an extremely fit and muscular himbo of a boyfriend/husband, who utterly adores him and basically turned his entire life around after just one meeting with Pree (during which he tried to bully Pree into giving up his bar and so Pree stabbed him), starting with hiring on as help in Pree's bar in order to stay near to him and getting therapy for his anger/masculinity issues.
  • Letterkenny has Squirrely Dan, who's got no shortage of heft, but is still a good-looking man who seems to have little trouble getting attention from ladies. It helps that he's a legitimately nice guy who respects women and doesn't push their boundaries.
  • Noah's Arc: Alex sees himself this way (and Trey agrees). Additionally, like the example above, much of the fanbase does prefer a man of his build.
  • Dan from Roseanne. Portrayed as quite desirable (being portrayed by John Goodman can't hurt at all in that department), to the point where it's heavily implied (and stated, at least in a fantasy sequence) that Roseanne's best friend Crystal basically wants to do him like her taxes. Roseanne's sister, Jackie, even considers him a major catch.
  • Super Fun Night had James, Kimmie's second love interest. Although he at first appears a slob and dumb fat guy, he later develops in a funny guy that attracts Kimmie, and by the time he appears again, he is portrayed as completely attractive, by the time, he and Kimmie start dating.
  • Randy from the Canadian mockumentary series Trailer Park Boys has a rather large, hairy gut and is ALWAYS shirtless (as wearing a shirt will give him a rash). He is seen as quite sexy at various times throughout the series by the trailer park owner, Barbara Lahey, Sarah, Lucy, and of course his long-term partner, trailer park supervisor Jim Lahey. He is also seen to have several signed photos from male celebrities from his days as "Smokey" the male prostitute.

    Music 
  • The Chubby Chaser viewpoint song "Three Hundred Pounds Of Hongry," may or may not be about one: The Love Interest's gender varies by exact version of the song; however, they're definitely fat, definitely a Big Eater (which the narrator finds endearing), and decidedly attractive from the narrator's perspective.
    Three hundred pounds, as tall as he's round
    And every pound of that body's so fine
    I can hardly believe that it's all mine...
  • The late Heavy D, "The Overweight Lover". During his life, he released songs like "Girls, They Love Me", "Now That We Found Love", "The Overweight Lovers In the House", building up a reputation as one of these, and gaining a large female fanbase in the process.

    Professional Wrestling 
  • Bulgarian AEW wrestler, nicknamed “Wrestle Daddy” by lustful fans, is one wide guy.
  • Keith Lee, also of AEW.
  • Viscera, the world's largest love machine.
  • Mark Henry during his Sexual Chocolate run.
  • Bob Sapp, the Japanese heartbreaker.
  • Pro Wrestling NOAH didn't promote Takeshi Morishima where fans gravitated towards more traditional pretty boys and rugged faced but still thinner bodied KENTA. Whether they were being ironic or not, Ring of Honor fans did show "the love" when he became the heaviest champion they had seen. Allison Danger and Lacey and Becky Bayless seemed to be into him as well, enough for Becky and Lacey to put aside their differences to get close to him.
  • Mick Foley has had his share of female admirers despite being pudgy at his slimmest, missing a few teeth, and missing an ear. He's also married to a former model.

    Theatre 
  • Hercules Mulligan from Hamilton is introduced bragging about his sexual prowess and is usually played by attractive and bulky actors such Okieriete Onaodowan.

    Video Games 
  • Crusader Kings: Can be randomly (or even intentionally) invoked in the game if your male character has the "Attractive" and "Fat" traits. While the "Fat" trait does reduce attraction opinion by -5, the "Attractive" trait boosts attraction opinion by +30, meaning that this trope is in full effect.
  • Pokémon Sword and Shield:
    • Gordie, the Rock-type Gym Leader (exclusive of the Sword version) is a notably heavyset and handsome man that has many fangirls fawning over him. He seems to have inherited this from Ice Type Gym Leader Melony, who is a Big Beautiful Woman herself.
    • Chairman Rose also is quite pudgy and has quite the "dad bod", but he is very well groomed and well dressed, quite good looking and has also been seen with some fangirls.
  • Arthur Morgan in Red Dead Redemption 2 can potentially become this if the player fattens him up by eating a lot of high calorie items in a day. Unlike C.J's obesity which is Played for Laughs, Arthur is still undeniably a major Hunk. Which makes it worse when he contracts tuberculosis and gradually wastes away as a man.
  • Oleg from Saints Row: The Third is a giant Russian Genius Bruiser. He's also the object of Kinzie's affections... and probably those of quite a few of the game's female fans.
    • Similarly, because the game allows you to customize every aspect of your character, a male Boss can be one as well; he's quite tall himself and even with the "fat" slider maxed out, he still looks muscular and strong. In Saints Row 1 & 2, however...
  • Gus Ironcock in Silver Falls Gaiden: Deathly Delusion Destroyers and Ruby River has a noticeable gut and openly admits that he couldn't climb a plate of mashed potatos, let alone a rock wall. But he's Happily Married to his husband and can kill wild animals and Lovecraftian monsters with just an axe.
  • Super Mario Bros. series:
    • Bowser considers himself to be the epitome of physique and manliness. But strangely, though he is very obviously chubby, he doesn't necessarily seem to see himself as chubby, at least until a particularly amusing scene in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story.
    • Mario himself is rather pudgy (although he has seemingly leaned down over the years, especially in his more recent games where he is given a slimmer look), but is portrayed as a bit of a Chick Magnet in the RPGs, with female party members and NPCs commenting on how charming and handsome he is.
  • Robert "Bob" Richards of Tekken easily qualifies for this, especially in his appearance of Street Fighter x Tekken, portraying himself as a more handsome suave stud compared to his Street Fighter counterpart, the loud, brash and obscene Rufus.
  • Big Beautiful Men are quite common in Tokyo Afterschool Summoners, and not just the human characters.

    Visual Novels 
  • In Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, the mysteriously returning character Byakuya Togami boasts an inexplicably heavy build while maintaining his previous looks in all other respects: a clean-looking and well-dressed young man with a fresh-faced appearance and notable eyelashes. The Ultimate Imposter maintains every feature of their copied persons' appearance without concealing their notably heavy build, so combining that with Byakuya's appearance results in this trope as they impersonate him. In their final Free Time Event, they hint at their unmasked appearance as being this in a different way, asking Hajime if he'd like them if they were someone "more handsome and more disagreeable" than they've appeared thus far as Byakuya.
  • Brian Harding from Dream Daddy, one of the dating options, is this and The Bear (since both he and your character are male). He is very overweight, has a huge gut, is quite muscular and pretty attractive. He even gets a Shirtless Scene on the second date, which results in your character Eating the Eye Candy.
  • In Extracurricular Activities, every love interest is a muscular, heavy-set male.
  • Of the nine main characters of Morenatsu, three (Tatsuki, Jūichi and Kōnosuke) fall squarely under this trope.
  • Among the many, many paths The Pirate's Fate can take, Darius can be transformed into a fat bear by Circe, and the already chubby Leeko can become a tall, overweight werewolf or a fat baker depending on your choices.

    Webcomics 
  • Sed in Iron Nail Afternoon sports the arms and shoulders of powerlifter and an impressive gut. The first issue features an entire splashpage dedicated to showcasing his physique.
  • Bad Signs: Philip is a bit on the chubby side, but is easy on the eyes and is even stated by Rachel to be very handsome. Also helps that he's a Nice Guy and likes making people laugh which is always appealing.
  • Many of the guys in Blur the Lines fit this trope, which makes sense, considering half of the webcomic's reason for existing is for Author Appeal, and the author prefers big men.
  • Burt in Carpe Diem is a Big Beautiful Man who also has Stout Strength as a power-lifter. Rodney is a fat geek, but his brawny boyfriend Ken wouldn't have it any other way.
  • Brad in The Class Menagerie is both muscled and has a noticeable gut, specifically by Author Appeal.
  • The Wrong House has George, who's intially the only one of the Power Trio with a name, as well as the one with the most to offer the girl before the series was expanded and Flanderized him as a Kavorka Man and Ascended Extra that gets/has gotten/will get virtually every possible woman available, including a supposed reformed nun that became a registered sex offender for sleeping with him before he was 18, and doing his Jerk Jock/Ted Baxter friend's girlfriend right in front of him as payback for him cheating on her with a Tifa cosplayer. The apparent in-series reason why he gets so much tail: he's sincere and actually gives a damn about the girls.
  • The Meek usually draws more realistic body types and is quite liberal in showing its characters shirtless or completely naked. So Pinter and Luca have garnered quite a few gazes for those that appreciate the particular body type.
  • Monsterkind:
    • Pascal Briggs, Kip's Old Flame is a big and burly Octopus man that is capable of lifting Wallace with one arm and has ben able to charm both Kip and Wallace with his looks.
    • Ben Baker is a large sized landlord with a melancholic personality that is presented as Tall, Dark, and Handsome and even becomes Wallace's Love Interest later in the comic.
  • Steg, one half of the titular band of The Rock Cocks, is a big guy in all senses, and has just as many fans as his girlfriend Suria. Suria herself tells Steg how gorgeous she finds him more than once.
  • Norway from Scandinavia and the World; normally he has the same body shape as most of the male cast, but in more detailed depictions, he is shown to be a bit large (in a burly way rather than overweight). Best exemplified in the comics "Sand in Weird Places" and "The Fox".
  • Bae Woong, the protagonist of Sexercise, is a former judoka who had to quit after a knee injury and is looking to lose weight one year later. Despite his low self-esteem and Weight Woe, he's still drawn as handsomely as he was at the peak of his judo days and still has quite a noticeable bit of muscle. He's also fairly popular with women: Hani thinks he's cute, Yoona flatout says his weight gain hasn't affected his good looks at all, and even Soohyun privately thinks to herself that he's an attractive guy. And to top it all off, he's "big" in other areas as well...
  • Jason from Something*Positive is this. Given the cartoonish art style, though, the attractiveness part is mainly backed up by the number of women he attracts, and that can also be attributed to his brain or his big penis.
  • Jeremy Tanner from Split Screen is a Big Eater who's actually ashamed of how fat he is (and as the story progresses he gets fatter), but a lot of people, in and out of universe, think he's got a cute baby face and are attracted to him, especially Jan, who's been in love with him for years. It's implied Jeremy Really Gets Around as much as Jan does.
  • Tiger, Tiger: Arno, the owner of The Starfall with a shady past, becomes Remy's first male lover and later confidant. The older man is heavyset, and when he first propositions Remy, there's a panel that's clearly from Remy's point-of-view lingering over Arno's thick figure.
  • Two Guys and Guy: Lars, Wayne's gay cousin, is introduced as a sort of fat slob. Subsequent appearances have him still with some heft to him, but much more well groomed and wearing flattering clothes that make him look really good.

    Web Original 
  • During Critical Role's campaign 1, Matt the Game Master was insistent that the non-player character Gilmore is a very handsome man despite not being muscular or fit, and he described him as having a paunch and "meaty" hands.note  Among the player group and their guests, this character's attractiveness and sky-high charisma quickly took on almost memetic proportions. And while Gilmore is probably too femme in his fashion sense and body language to appeal to gay male viewers with bearish beauty standards, Liam was very happy to flirt with him while playing Vax'ildan - the only thing that briefly dampened his enthusiasm was the quickly discarded mental image that Gilmore was wearing the "wizard-equivalent of a track suit." However, most of the fan artists predictably ignored that Gilmore is canonically a Big Beautiful Man and depicted him as a middle-aged Pretty Boy instead.
    • On the other hand, quite a few female fans consider the Critical Role player Taliesin Jaffe to be dead sexy. Regardless of his current body size (it fluctuates, but it's never "thin"), he always has a ton of charisma and conversational wit, as well as an excentric but stylish fashion sense going for him. Plus a well-practiced British upper-class accent or a deep, growly, chest-vibrating bass voice, if he feels the need to utilize that.
    • And quite a lot of queer male viewers find the player Travis Willingham hot, no matter if he's at an absolutely pumped "Jocks Machina" level of fitness or if he's rocking the dad bod and showing off his 'proxy baby bump'.note 
  • JonTron, whose big build and noticeable Carpet of Virility only add to his charisma. He explains in his 2015 Q&A video:
    Reallemonninja: Why are you so hot?
    Jon: Well, the fat keeps in the temperature and doesn't let out the cold, so i-it's sweaty.
  • Joueur du Grenier is a popular reviewer of old video games. In his early years, he was famous for being fat and had many fangirls who found him attractive. Now, he is Formerly Fat.
  • Tails of the Bounty Hunter: Cale Tomlik is noted throughout the story for being overweight and having a plump gut. But certain characters have pointed out that this doesn't make Cale look any less attractive, with Shannon Guleen stating that she thinks big guys are cute.
  • Where the Bears Are is all about them.
  • British YouTuber Daz Black is fat, attractive, and he knows it.

    Western Animation 
  • American Dad!: Stan Smith is on the chunky side, having a nice layer of fat to accompany his noticeable muscle mass, and also suffers from Testosterone Poisoning. Although Stan's perception of his looks has been explored upon. In the first episode, he's admiring himself in the mirror wearing only his underwear and thinks he's a masterpiece, but in the second season when his family points out he's a little heavyset he becomes horrified and develops anorexia. Following this, Stan appearance has shifted to an even greater musculature, though still featuring a noticeable amount of fat, and most comments about Stan's attractiveness now pertain to his prominent backside.
  • Iroh, Prince Zuko’s chubby uncle from Avatar: The Last Airbender. He is shown to be quite a ladies’ man, and warm and humorous as he is, it’s not too hard to see why. Best exemplified the time he flirted with a grouchy ticket-selling lady after accidentally provoking her. She softened up remarkably, while commenting on how ”easy on the eyes” Iroh was.
  • The titular rapper in Chozen is on the heavyset side, but is not necessarily unattractive.
  • Craig of the Creek: Elder Barry, one of the Elders of the Creek, is significantly heavier than his friends and is quite handsome.
  • Family Guy: Peter Griffin, despite being an obese idiot, has had no shortage of women interested in him, not to mention his hot wife.
  • Subverted with Zapp Brannigan in Futurama, who is shown to be quite handsome even with his clearly visible gut (which is actually bigger than it looks due to him wearing a girdle). However, Zapp's also a moronic, self-absorbed, lecherous asshole and has only been able to get one woman (Leela) to ever sleep with him, and that was out of pity. Zapp's essentially a Fat Bastard where the "fat" aspect has nothing to do with the "bastard" part.
  • Broadway from Gargoyles is the nicest and most kindhearted of the trio, and he's the one who wins Angela's heart.
  • Gravity Falls:
    • When Mabel ranks the local males' dateability on a scale from 1 to 5, Soos somehow scores a 12. It probably helps that he's such a nice guy.
    • There's also the eponymous cherub/cupid from "The Love God", who moonlights as a rock star and is popular enough to pull off A Lady on Each Arm.
  • Bobby of King of the Hill is a young "thinks he's hot stuff" variant. However, even though he's pudgy and not terribly handsome, his rather high self-esteem translates to him having a lot of self-confidence, and so he gets plenty of female attention anyway.
  • Now that Critical Role's first campaign is getting an animated series adaptation in the form of The Legend of Vox Machina, the issue of Gilmore has come around again. This time, the creator team made very sure the character designer would draw him with a big belly and some meat on his bones, rejecting all the more conventionally attractive character design proposals until the designer got it right. And the reaction from mainstream audiences has been largely positive: At least female audiences usually take an immediate liking to Gilmore in his first appearance, due to his very camp and flirty personality, and because they don't expect this sort of openly and unconflictedly queer character in a high fantasy series. New viewers are usually surprised that the fit and slender protagonist Vax'ildan actually reponds positively to Gilmore's flirting, but by their second scene together (in episode 5), the TV-only viewers are generally just so happy that Gilmore is not a 'one scene wonder' but rather a recurring supporting character, that they accept that Vax has good reason for his attraction to the highly charming sorcerer.
  • Coop from Megas XLR. While the show makes jokes about how big and out of shape he is, his face isn't bloated and exaggerated and the animators draw him looking somewhat rugged and down to Earth handsome instead of conventionally good looking, similar to Rikio Kammamoto from Project K. It helps that he's also got a fun loving personality, is loyal to his friends, and proud of his fatness.
  • Metalocalypse: Arguably, Nathan Explosion. At least, he's a big guy, it's not entirely muscle, he has plenty of groupies in-universe (being a rock star helps) and many of the show's Periphery Demographic find him attractive.
  • In the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic episode "MMMMystery on the Friendship Express", Rarity comments that the pudgy pastry chef Donut Joe would look good in a tuxedo. Before this, when Pinkie explains how he supposedly stole the cake, she pictures him as a super spy in a tux with mares hanging on him.
  • In an odd, one time only use of this trope, Jerry from Totally Spies!. In the "Passion Patties" episode, the girls are investigating why the Happy Girls, a Girl Scouts knock off, are selling cookies that are insanely delicious and addictive and have been causing widespread riots and obesity. Jerry, despite knowing better, tastes one of the cookies and immediately becomes addicted. The next time he's seen at the end of the episode, he's doubled in size. Despite that, he has a strange sort of attractiveness for an older guy of his size and he carries his bulk rather well. Since this series tended to work in numerous kinds of kinks and fetishes, this was obviously the intended result.
  • Lord Boxman from OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes.
  • Rock from Rock Paper Scissors is a bit chubby and cute.
  • Jesús from Seis Manos essentially looks like a Latino version of Coop from Megas XLR, with a similar level of comfort in his own skin (although he's a bit more self-deprecating about it).
  • In The Simpsons, Homer Simpson is sometimes treated this way—Marge certainly finds him very attractive, but so have a number of other women over the course of the series. Of course, other times he's treated as either average and schlubby, or as hideously ugly depending on the needs of the plot and the Rule of Funny.
    • Happens briefly to Ned Flanders in "Guess Who's Coming To Criticize Dinner." Homer's stint as a food critic and glowing reviews cause several Springfielders to get fat following his example, and while Ned's usually got a sculpted body akin to a Greek God he admittedly looks adorable with chubby cheeks and his belly sticking out of his shirt.
  • Steven Universe: Greg Universe was this combined with I Was Quite the Looker; in the present, he's got a gut, a bald spot, and a farmer's tan that makes him look rather schlubby. As a young man, he had a body type closer to Rose Quartz and a full head of hair, so he looked much more like an attractive rock star. His son seems to be on the same track as of the Future arc, only the "big" part is downplayed on account of him being much taller than his dad was around the same age range.
  • Chef from South Park is overweight, but women still love his chocolate balls.
  • Henchman 21 from The Venture Bros. Even moreso after he Took a Level in Badass.
  • In the third season the Un-Cancelled Young Justice (2010) cartoon, Red Arrow seems to have gained a few pounds. His belly is more visible while in costume. This is mainly a sign of him having settled into being a Retired Badass content at being a father and owning a successful private security company. Nevertheless, he's still hot and is still physically fit, having no trouble fighting alongside Nightwing, Arsenal, and Guardian.

 
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Alternative Title(s): Chub, The Chub, Big Handsome Man

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Big Boys

A group of women sing about the benefits of shacking up with a plus-sized man for the winter.

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