History Main / BigLittleMan

* In the WesternAnimation/PinkPanther short "Pink Press", Pink tries to interview a "Mr. Big"--Howard Huge-- at his home. He turns out to be a few inches tall and lands in a wastepaper basket when Pink sneezes.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}''. Our first glimpse of Lord Farquaad involves him striding dramatically along a corridor, camera focused on his face or body [[HitlerCam at a strange angle]], then when the camera and scenery go still, he's revealed to be maybe half the height of the guards. The gag is repeated when princess Fiona first meets Lord Faarquaad: he arrives on horseback, propped into a sort of prosthetic armor that apparently enables his controlling the horse, and makes him look like he has normal-sized arms and legs. Then arrives a guard who helps his lord dismount by picking him up like a teddy bear. Her previously favorable reaction... dies.

->'''Number Two''': He is exactly like you in every way... except 1/8 your size.\\
'''Dr. Evil''': Breathtaking. I shall call him... Mini-me.
-->-- ''Film/AustinPowersTheSpyWhoShaggedMe''

* The first episode of ''Anime/{{Slayers}}'' doesn't give any way of determining Lina's height until she meets up with Gourrey.

* ''Film/BlackRobe''. Father [=LaForgue=] is harangued by the shaman Mestigoit, who is filmed close to the camera -- it's only when he comes face-to-face with [=LaForgue=] (who is sitting down) that we realise how short he is.
* Played with in ''Film/{{Transporter 3}}''. Frank Martin battles his way through a gang of mooks; after disposing of them another man enters the room, shown via the standard HitlerCam to make him look big, but in close-up so we don't see how big. Frank says, "Let me guess. You're the smart one." The mook replies, "No. I am the big one." and knocks Frank across the room. Then we see he's not just the standard big mook, but a GiantMook OneHeadTaller than Frank!

* ''Film/{{Spaceballs}}''. Our introduction to the villainous Dark Helmet. His height isn't obvious as he strides across the bridge of his MileLongShip, as no-one's close to him and we keep cutting to {{Reaction Shot}}s of his terrified crew. After an AntiClimacticUnmasking reveals the face of geeky comedian Creator/RickMoranis, he's then shown shouting up at the towering Colonel Sandurz.

* '' Film/AntManAndTheWasp''.

* In the first episode of ''Manga/UruseiYatsura'', after being knocked down by a ball Ataru appears to have an enormous monk towering over him; it's only when he gets to his feet again that we realize the monk is half his size.

** ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': In "The Corbomite Maneuver", the ''Enterprise'' encounters an alien vessel, and is able to get a video feed revealing the bridge, which shows the alien captain, Balok, to be a [[http://www.startrek.com/database_article/corbomite-maneuver-the scowling monster]] that looks to be about 7 feet tall. However, later they manage to get onboard, revealing they had actually been watching an elaborate puppet show, and [[http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20233812_20527844,00.html the real Balok is no larger than a child]].

* In the ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'' episode "Prehistoric Stimpy" the Tyrannosaurus Ren is hyped up as being the biggest dinosaur ever only to be shown to be smaller than a flower. All the other dinosaurs laugh at him for being so puny.

* In one episode of ''Series/MyHero'', the main characters spend a while worrying about the dreaded (*glances around* *whispers*) [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=oTjs7msqV7E#t=444s Grand High Arbiter of Misuse of Power]] coming from Ultron to punish George for cheating in a lottery. The arbiter eventually arrives preceded by an earthquake and we see a figure in a black robe, seen from below, filling the screen and taking menacingly in a booming voice. Then we see that he's two inches tall and standing on a table. Janet squashes him.

* ''Film/BadBoys''. A hacker is helping the heroes and gets into an argument with one of them. When he stands up to start shouting, it's revealed that he's much taller than "the short one" who's arguing with him.

* ''WesternAnimation/BountyHamster''. The eponymous hamster Marion is introduced in a HitlerCam shot interrogating people in a BadGuyBar. They're not impressed as a RevealShot shows he's standing on a ladder just to get him up to bar level. Likewise a flashback in the TitleSequence to when Cassie first Marion has him posing as a large robot, which then falls to pieces to reveal an abashed Marion standing on stilts.

* Likewise an episode of ''Series/TheGoldenGirls'' had Rose meeting a man at a bar and making a date with him, then he gets off the barstool and is revealed to be a dwarf (leading to the date becoming a huge round of IgnoreTheDisability).

* An advert for Thinkbox features an alien named Zod taking control of the world's TV broadcasts to (presumably since it's in an alien language) express its intent to invade Earth. Huge amounts of people gather at its landing point and the alien triumphantly exits it's ship...only for its landing to have gone unnoticed as its ship actually about the size of a mouse and its ship is then ran over by the camper van of an alien conspiracy theorist, who naturally didn't see it and is left staring at the empty sky waiting for the alien to arrive. This all causes Zod to facepalm at how much of a failure it all was. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTyeLJtOprE It can be viewed here.]]

** Susan Murphy is captured by the government after [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever growing to a height of 49 feet 11 and 1/2 inches]] and wakes up in a large, empty room with furniture the same scale as her. At first she (and the audience) is unsure whether she is normal size or not, until she steps on a normal-sized chair and crushes it.

* In ''WesternAnimation/PenguinsOfMadagascar'', [[spoiler:Dave]] at first appears to have been turned into a giant towering over New York City, but in reality he is now tiny and [[spoiler:trapped in one of his snow globes.]]

* Played with in ''Film/{{Transporter 3}}''. Frank Martin battles his way through a gang of mooks; after a disposing of them another man enters the room, shown via the standard HitlerCam to make him look big, but in close-up so we don't see how big. Frank says, "Let me guess. You're the smart one." The mook replies, "No. I am the big one." and knocks Frank across the room. Then we see he's not just the standard big mook, but a GiantMook OneHeadTaller than Frank!

* A particular variation seen is a woman is chatting up a man, sitting down, and then realizes he's very short when he stands up, thus inducing uncertainty over whether she should continue with him. It happened to Jessie in ''Series/SavedByTheBell'' (she angsted about how she can't date a shorter man, because it makes her feel tall and awkward), Samantha on ''Series/SexAndTheCity'' (she agrees to give him a chance, but ends up going back and forth on him, but sticks with him when she realizes he's really funny and great in bed), and Roz on ''Series/{{Frasier}}'' (he realizes she's pregnant at the same time, and they both turn and walk in opposite directions).

** ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': In "The Corbomite Maneuver", the ''Enterprise'' encounters a alien vessel, and is able to get a video feed revealing the bridge, which shows the alien captain, Balok, to be a [[http://www.startrek.com/database_article/corbomite-maneuver-the scowling monster]] that looks to be about 7 feet tall. However, later they manage to get onboard, revealing they had actually been watching an elaborate puppet show, and [[http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20233812_20527844,00.html the real Balok is no larger than a child]].

** Done as a CliffHanger reveal in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS21E5PlanetOfFire Planet of Fire]]", where it turns out the Master has accidentally shrunk himself to a small size, and has been directing the shapeshifter robot that everyone thinks is him from a control box.

* In the first episode of ''Series/{{Taxi}}'', Louie (Creator/DannyDeVito) spends most of his time in the dispacher's cage. When he exits it the better to yell at someone and we see how short he really is, it's a big joke.

* In one episode of ''Series/GoodGuysBadGuys'', Elvis has an enforcer sitting on the other side of his desk threatening him. Elvis does not find him particularly intimidating, until he stands up. In an action that can only be described as unfolding himself from the chair, he keeps standing up till he is looming over Elvis. It helps that the enforcer is played by the 6'8" actor Creator/BruceSpence.

** In the episode "Red Belt", Marco has to fight the clerk of a VHS store to get a rare tape. Marco accepts, since the clerk looks like a fat, dumpy nerd. But then the clerk stands up from behind the desk, revealing himself to be tall and muscular.

* In an episode of ''[[ComicBook/LuckyLuke Les Dalton]]'', during a ShotgunWedding plot involving Joe Dalton and an Indian tribe, the bride is often longing after her missing fiancé, who is shown in a flashback to have a HeroicBuild. When he finally reappear to challenge the marriage, he's at first given the HitlerCam treatment to look more impressive. When the camera finally pulls out, he's revealed to be no taller than Joe Dalton.

* Mushu from ''WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}'' put a lot of effort into his BigEntrance. He's the size of a small lizard.

* There was a yonkoma omake of ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' invoking this, in which Edward claims he's about 160 cm in height. The next panel immediately zooms out to show that he has an "antenna" in his hair and is wearing elevator shoes.

* In the Filipino ''Film/JamesBond'' parody ''Film/ForYourHeightOnly'', the dwarf secret agent tracks down the unseen Mr Big, but discovers the BigBad is a dwarf himself.

* In the Pink Panther short "Pink Press", Pink tries to interview a "Mr Big"--Howard Huge-- at his home. He turns out to be a few inches tall and lands in a wastepaper basket when Pink sneezes. Also in Rocky and Bullwinkle a Mr Big is just a few inches tall but had cast a big shadow produced by a flashlight

[[quoteright:231:[[WesternAnimation/{{Goofy}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/big_little_man.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:231:Well, he ''is'' their star player...]]

* In the Filipino ''Film/JamesBond'' parody ''For Your Height Only'', the dwarf secret agent tracks down the unseen Mr Big, but discovers the BigBad is a dwarf himself.

* In ''Zootopia'' gangster Mr Big, who lives in a huge mansion and is guarded by massive polar bears, turns out to be a tiny arctic shrew.

* ''Thrud The Barbarian'': A couple of thugs enter the bar and push Thrud away, thinking him to be their size. Turns out he was sitting.

* In the Pink Panther short "Pink Press", Pink tries to interview a "Mr Big"--Howard Huge-- at his home. He turns out to be a few inches tall and lands in a
wastepaper basket when Pink sneezes. Also in Rocky and
Bullwinkle a Mr Big is just a few
inches tall but had cast a big shadow produced by a flashlight