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Cyd Charisse has legs that go all the way up.
'' She's got legs, an' knows how to use them She never begs, she knows how to choose 'em She's holdin' leg, wonderin' how to feel them Would you get behind 'em, if you could only find 'em?
There are many things about a woman that can catch the camera's eye. Some shows may focus on her ample chest; others, her curvy behind; and others still like to take a really long look at how lovely her legs are.
This trope deals with cases where a female character's legs are given special attention. This is in the form of Male Gaze, usually with slow pans up her legs, or her legs are mentioned at some point in the story as being an attractive feature. This is recurrent in G-rated fiction, where the Male Gaze directed to the legs is used rather than the more sexualized breasts and rear.
Zettai Ryouiki, Showgirl Skirt, Dangerously Short Skirt, Underwear/ Leotards/ Mini Dresses Of Power, Qipao, Who Wears Short Shorts? and Footsie Under the Table are also good ways to show off these features. A Kick Chick will almost always have these, as will most female Dance Battlers. The Statuesque Stunner will also have these, more often than not. Bath Kick is used to show these off as well. If the Amazonian Beauty has them, expect either the narration, other characters, or the character design to emphasize her legs' muscularity as attractive, often with special attention to the thighs.
Show Some Leg is not necessarily related, but certainly can be. Sometimes confused for Foot Focus in translations of text-contextual Japanese media, due to "足" (ashi) not differentiating between "leg" and "foot".
Examples:
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Anime and Manga
- Mariah from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure gets many comments from the heroes on her legs (never mind that she's one of Dio's followers, and therefore out to kill them).
- Princess Tutu highlights the characters' legs, but it's justified in that they're ballet dancers.
- Venus Wars: The bubbly airhead reporter Susan's legs are a subject of conversation by several male characters, to the point one character suggests she cover them up so the enemy soldiers occupying the city don't pull her over to "search" her. She doesn't have any other attire besides miniskirts for most of the movie, and the epilogue focuses on her mostly from the hips down in cutoff jeans.
- The main characters from Dangaioh (save for the lone male), are all drawn with shapely, long legs which are made all the more prominent because they dress in skintight, revealing
swimsuits spacesuits all the time.
- In Ichigo Mashimaro, this is one of the things that a drunk Nobue notices about Ana.
- Sailor Moon runs away with this trope as leg shots (courtesy of some very short skirts and risque transformations) seem to come up at least ten times per episode.
- Magic Knight Rayearth also follows the indications of the aforementioned Sailor Moon. Battle scenes and short skirts (and sometimes no skirts) seem to go hand in hand rather often in this anime.
- While her legs aren't her most noticeable feature, some of the artwork for Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle and Xxx HO Li C highlights Yuuko's ridiculously long legs.
- Kampfer, along with Zettai Ryouiki for Shizuku and Natsuru.
- In Ai Kora, Maeda lusts after Tsubame-sensei's legs.
- Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha: The Lady of War Signum has incredibly shapely legs. In fact, her combat outfit was specifically designed by her oh-so-Genre Savvy mistress Hayate to show off her legs up to the thighs.
- Mana Fujisaki in Onegai My Melody, an athletic young girl who is openly boastful about the length of her legs (and terrified of cuteness... for some reason). When a rival "steals" her legs (and her friend's breasts, and some other traits) with magic she's naturally aghast.
- Yu-Gi-Oh!, Anzu Mazaki/Tea Gardner has legs that put almost every female cast member and Duel Monster in subsequent spin-offs to shame. Not only does she wear shorts and miniskirts, she also wears thigh-high leggings to emphasize them.
- Neon Genesis Evangelion: Misato gets a lot of leg focus, especially when exiting a vehicle, as well as many low-angle shots tracking her determined marches down the Geofront's hallways.
- Nouhime, from Sengoku Basara, has a pretty nice, shapely pair of legs, and isn't shy about showing them off. Especially when she starts shooting at you...
- Tamayura: Riho, Fuu's big sister mentor, is often depicted showing off her long legs for some reason, even though the show is pretty much devoid of Fanservice.
- Tomoyo and Kyou from CLANNAD. The former is very fond of high kicks, and the latter likes to kick too and even has some Grade A Zettai Ryouki.
- Nanako Misonou from Oniisama e.... The series isn't exactly known for its fanservice, but there's still quite the focus on Nanako's very long and slim legs.
- Ookami San's titular character's legs are frequently focused on and there are a lot of opportunities to show them off due to her Action Girl status. Ookami, herself, is actually a punch girl, however.
- Ranma ½: Female Ranma's legs are mentioned and given focus from time to time. In the manga, he takes advantage of this by donning a miniskirt
 in order to attract men to Ukyo's restaurant.
- Shampoo in certain arcs as well.
- Nico Robin of One Piece has notably long legs.
- Boa Hancock's are even longer and on constant display, plus she gets to show them off due to being a Kick Chick.
- Both Makie and Hyakurin from Blade of the Immortal show a lot of their legs, wearing slitted kimonos and mini skirts with Zettai Ryouiki respectively.
- Several characters in Ah! My Goddess have shapely legs, most notably Hagall who's got a Showgirl Skirt to show them off with.
- Suzumiya Haruhi herself, as well as Tsuruya, get a lot of leg focus.
- Asuna in Mahou Sensei Negima!, who also happens to be very good at kicking.
- Code Geass: Milly Ashford has hers showcased during a humorous moment when she teases Shirley in season 1.
- In Skip Beat!, one of Ren's more frequently commented upon traits are his ridiculously long legs.
- Maya in Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin has a lot of emphasis on her legs, particularly when she's wearing her white dress with a Dangerously Short Skirt, complete with Zettai Ryouiki.
- In Fatal Fury The Movie, Kim Kaphwan's Hot Mom wife Myeung Suk was introduced legs first. Sorta justified as she was with their youngest son Jae Hoon, who was a little kid back then and barely reached up to his mother's hips.
- Kate Takayama from Boku Wa Tomodachi Ga Sukunai utilizes this trope largely due to her short nun outfit which barely covers her legs.
Comic Books
Film
Literature
- In Louis Sachar's Dogs Don't Tell Jokes, Gary Boone has an attractive teacher named Miss Langley whom he secretly calls "Miss Longlegs". (He accidentally uses the nickname out loud during his comedy routine at the climax of the book, but the audience and Miss Langley take it as a joke.)
- The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul: When Kate exits The Alleged Car, it's noted that she has the kind of legs a film soundtrack editor would feel obliged to put a smoky saxophone solo against.
- For a male example, see the Wheel of Time series. Whenever a female character comments on a male character's attractiveness, it will usually involve admiring his legs, especially the calves.
- Sisterhood series by Fern Michaels: Let's see. Lizzie Fox has them, Alexis Thorne has them, and Isabelle Flanders has them. There might be more, but those three are definitely noted for this trope.
- In Alas, Babylon, a brief flashback shows Randy meeting Love Interest Libby. He pulled his boat up to her parents dock where she was out getting some sun. All he could see was her legs (which she considers her only asset).
Randy: Hello, legs.
- It's not mentioned prominently or often, but Ellie Sattler in Jurassic Park is noted to have a nice pair of legs. In fact it's the first thing Tim Murphy notices when he meets her. Malcolm outright tells her: "I could look at your legs all day."
- Laura Dern has quite a pair herself, which get considerably more play due to the short khakis she wears as part of her costume.
Live Action Television
- Richard Diamond: In the 1950s detective show, Diamond's answering service lady Sam (played by Mary Tyler Moore) was only seen from the legs down. When she posed for a magazine spread - fully clothed, but allowing viewers to put a face to the legs - she was fired and Roxanne Brooks replaced her.
- Sally on 3rd Rock from the Sun. Subverted in that Dick et al. say they're a failing of hers along with her perky breasts and long flowing locks, and she agrees. Then Mary tries to cheer her up after a breakup by saying that she's got legs — and Sally cuts her off, saying "You don't have to rub it in!" It is presumably because Sally is implied to be a rather macho male of the species early in the series.
- Her boyfriend, Don, defends his choice to date her with "Alright, so she's crazy. But she's got legs up to her face!"
- Doctor Who: Amy Pond. Her actress, Karen Gillan, knows she has legs fit for this trope; it was her decision to stick to short skirts over wearing trousers most of the time to play up the fanservice.
- In the 6th Series premiere, the Doctor codenames River Song as "Mrs. Robinson," Rory as "The Nose," and Amy? "The Legs."
- Or as Neil Gaiman put it, "Karen's legs are impossible!"
- Tegan Jovanka, Companion to the Fourth and Fifth Doctors, referred to herself as "a mouth with legs". And the Doctor Who Role-Playing Game gave each Companion a three-to-five word description; Tegan's included "great legs."
- In The Jeff Foxworthy Show, we get one episode in which the girls — Karen, Jeff's pregnant wife; DeeDee, Wayne's girlfriend and former Louisiana stripper, and Gale, Karen's eternally depressed sister — have a girls' night where they put on make-up and dress up. The viewers see Karen hide behind a wall and shows nothing but leg in a way that shows she retains extreme flexibility despite pregnancy. Even Hollywood Homely Gale is shown to have some attractive legs. As for DeeDee, she can be summed up by stripper music playing when she appears.
- Cerie from 30 Rock: Her office attire, which usually includes a tiny denim miniskirt, is used for comedic effect as well as fanservice. The leggy outfits are a distraction to the male characters on the show, and Liz has confronted Cerie about her wardrobe to no avail.
- Shannon from LOST wears an assortment of shorts, skirts and bikinis, and was nicknamed "Sticks" by Sawyer because of her long legs.
- Entertainment Tonight hostess Mary Hart had a special "leg light" under the anchor desk just to show hers off... and, as with many of the Real Life examples, hers were insured.
- While she was hosting alongside Regis Philbin on what became Live With Kelly, Kathie Lee Gifford was well-known for displaying hers ("down there").
- Keeping Up Appearances: Despite being in her fifties, Mary Millar who played Rose had an amazing set of legs. Many of the characters even commented on them, with Emmett in particular calling her: "The one with the friendly legs."
- Despite his Fan Nickname of "Lil' Stumpy", Dean Winchester of Supernatural has had a slow pan up his legs at least twice.
- The West Wing: Amy Gardener said "I have wit, I have charm, I have brains, I have legs that go all the way down to the floor, my friend."
- Marcia Gay Harden's character on Damages spends a fair amount of time leisurely putting on her stockings after trysts with different men.
- Gossip Girl's Serena van der Woodsen, in keeping with her status on the show, possesses such things and is fully aware of how to utilise them.
- Glee's Rachel Berry. You'd figure at 5'2" they wouldn't be that impressive.
- Castle: Katherine Beckett does show those legs of hers several times. And aren't we fans glad of it.
- Chuck loves to remind viewers that Sarah has a killer set of legs. Her wardrobe frequently consists of swimsuits, bathrobes, short skirts, stockings, heels, and tight leather pants that all show off the shape of her legs, (with frequent camera focus on her stems) her fighting style often involves high kicks, and the writers even worked in a Bath Kick. Accompanied by characters frequently commenting on Sarah's leggy-ness.
- Anna Wu had her share of leg focus in the first two seasons, as she tends to wear very short skirts and heels.
- And subsequently the ladies who go by the codename Greta, especially Summer Glau and Stacy Keibler.
- The introduction of Greta #1 (Olivia Munn) is via a slow pan up her legs. During a slow-motion walk towards Chuck and Morgan. Giggety.
- Ally Dawson from Austin & Ally is another example of a short girl with long legs.
- Several of the female characters on Revenge live and breathe this trope (Emily Thorne, Victoria Grayson, her daughter Charlotte, Amanda Clarke), but Ashley Davenport is the undisputed champ - there aren't many scenes she's in where her long, very sexy legs aren't on view.
- Ruby in Once Upon A Time, especially during the first half of season one when she was usually seen wearing a skimpy diner waitress outfit. Once her true nature is revealed, her mode of dress becomes more conservative, symbolic of her maturity. This is illustrated vividly in the season 2 episode "Welcome to Storybrooke" which features a flashback to the early Season 1 era and shows the character wearing her revealing outfits again.
- Even though Rayna Jaymes towers over◊ Juliette Barnes on Nashville - for the most part - the latter matches the former in the "I've got legs and I know how to use them" department.
- In Coupling, Jeff falls in love with a woman after repeatedly seeing her leg (and, in one case, the back of her head) on the train a few rows ahead of him. Eventually fate puts the woman in the seat opposite him, and he strikes up a conversation with the words, "You look just like the back of your head." It gets worse from there.
Music
- Lady Gaga seems to like to show them off in her videos.
- Flogging Molly, "Devil's Dance Floor":
Her legs ran all the way
Up to heaven and past Avalon.
- Zebrahead: "With Legs Like That"
Here she comes again, like good medicine
Every step she takes, my blood is flowing
Her legs go on and on for days...
- Hello! Project had a duo consisting of Fujimoto Miki and Matsuura Aya, called GAM, that was centred on this trope.
- We absolutely must mention ZZ Top's "Legs", which is of course both the Trope Namer and the source of the page quote.
- Van Halen's "Drop Dead Legs".
- The Smithereens: "Behind The Wall Of Sleep".
She had hair like Jeannie Shrimpton back in 1965
She had legs that never ended
I was halfway paralyzed.
- "Leggy Blonde" by Flight of the Conchords.
- Florence Welch of Florenceandthe Machine. See the video for "Drumming Sound" for evidence.
- "Hot Legs" by Rod Stewart.
- Pixie Lott arguably owes her career to this trope.
- Park Bom, of the Korean girl band 2ne1, uses this trope as her primary fanservice, as she wears rather tight, and extremely short mini-dresses in nearly all of the band's music videos, as well as live performances. (Many fangirls and fanboys are simply waiting for the day that particular wardrobe malfunction rears it's head.)
- Australia's Giulietta is this trope. See◊ for◊ yourself.◊
- Carly Rae Jepsen loves this trope. See the coverart for Curiosity (and its first single, "Call Me Maybe") and the video for Owl City's "Good Time".
- Tina◊ Turner's◊ legs look better at age 50 than most people's do at 20.
- British singer Eliza Doolittle is well known for using this trope as Fanservice. She's rarely seen in her concerts, music videos and even in public without a miniskirt or hotpants.
- Famous among Beatles fans are the placeholder lyrics Paul McCartney used when he had the tune that would become "Yesterday", but not the words:
Oh my baby how I love your legs
- Kylie Minogue is famous for her legs and bum, possibly proven by science.
Professional Wrestling
- Former WCW/WWE employee Stacy Keibler was notable for having legs that took up half her height. She would rely on them in the ring as well, using them to choke other Divas by pinning them against the turnbuckle by the throat. In fact, one of her theme songs was a cover of ZZ Top's "Legs" sung by Kid Rock.
- What Could Have Been: "With Legs Like That" was originally intended for Stacy, but since she had left the company by then the theme was instead given to Maria. Stacy's legs were a favorite thing for the Dancing with the Stars judges to praise, since it obviously gave her an advantage in dancing. Well, that and all the years of jazz, tap and ballet training she had, which was arguably how she got those legs to begin with.
- Michelle McCool after her Face Heel Turn showed what she'd been hiding under all the tomboy ring attire. Once the Lay Cool gimmick started off, her legs were on show practically every episode of Smackdown. Layla too since they wore matching outfits a lot of the time.
- There was actually a gimmick match called a "Legs Match" when Gibbons and Hill of ZZ Top themselves hosted Raw. It was just a regular wrestling match but the four ladies involved had to wrestle in short shorts. Two of the divas in it already wrestled in hotpants anyway, but that's beside the point.
- And the ring announcer for that match? Lilian Garcia. 'Nuff said.
Theatre
Video Games
- Street Fighter
- Chun-Li has very long legs, but she also has really thick thighs.
- Elena. Even all her moves are kicks, just to show off her legs.
- Cammy's legs aren't as impressive, but they do receive special attention due to her outfit and her move-set.
- Final Fantasy:
- Tifa, in addition to being the poster girl for Boobs of Steel, is this. In one of the many, many (many, many...) Final Fantasy VII spin-offs, the guy who runs the bar she works at says he's looking for a new bartender — "With big breasts and long legs!" he exclaims. Guess who he hires?
- Rikku from Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X 2 also. In every game she appears in she is introduced by a long, loving pan up her very long legs. She seems to flaunt it, too, as she dresses in miniskirts and hotpants wherever she goes, including battle.
- Vanille from Final Fantasy XIII (notice a pattern forming?) who is also not shy about it. Her promotional pictures feature her stretching out her legs.
- Lightning is no slouch either. The cover of the game features her showing a lot of leg.
- In Dissidia: Final Fantasy, Terra has four outfits. She wears tights in her base outfit, but her three alts all remove them, leaving her legs exposed — and there's a lot of them to expose.
- In Jade Empire, if you have Dawn Star in your party when you first meet Black Whirlwind, Whirlwind will make some comments on Dawn Star's legs. Her response? "Would you like to see the damage these legs can inflict firsthand?"
- Rival Schools: School nurse and fellow Kick Chick Kyoko Minazuki from the games. She wears a short skirt that shows them off.
- Quite a few outfits in the Dead or Alive games are designed specifically to shows off female fighters' legs, notably Lei Fang and Kasumi's default outfits. Special mention goes out to Kokoro's kimono in Dimensions, which is technically worn incorrectly just to reveal her legs more often, although this could just be for ease of movement. I doubt players care much.
- In Back to the Future: The Game, according to Kid Tannen, Edna Strickland has some nice gams - though we never get to see for ourselves, as she's always wearing a long skirt that goes down to her ankles.
- Lara Croft, considering that most of the time, during gameplay at least, she's facing away from the player and wearing very short shorts.
- The novels indicate that this is what Jim Raynor was thinking about Sarah Kerrigan during the "I finished scouting the area and—you pig!" scene in Starcraft. The player can't actually tell, considering she's a low-detail sprite, but promo shots for the Vaporwear Third Person Shooter StarCraft: Ghost indicate that Ghost uniforms are practically painted on.
- Grunty in Banjo-Kazooie's Game Over screen.
- The Stinger for Super Mario Galaxy actually showed a brief glimpse of Rosalina's legs underneath her dress.
- BlazBlue: Aside of her boobs, Litchi Faye-Ling also possesses long, slim legs which due to how she dressed (not really wearing pants and wears a Qipao) and her attacks involve a lot of kicking as well as stretching her legs out. One of the special picture arts in the game also gave a comment in vein of this ("While Litchi is more known for her boobs, she also possesses long, luscious legs")
- Bayonetta is unmatched in the realm of video game women everywhere at 12 heads tall.
- A staple of Pokemon's art style.
- Kyouko Kirigiri from Dangan Ronpa. And while Aoi Asahina's other attributes are the ones more showcased, her legs are nothing to sneeze at either.
- Of all the girls in League of Legends, Elise has by far the most prominent legs, including a vigorous can-can for her /dance emote. This is unsurprising (and more than a bit disturbing) considering her title is "the Spider Queen", and she has multiple spider legs sprouting from her back even when she's not in her giant spider form.
Visual Novels
Webcomics
- An unnamed character in Lackadaisy Cats was remarked upon as having "gams up to your eyeballs!" This case was a joke panel, meant to demonstrate one character's unfamiliarity with the slang of the era, but considering all that is ever shown of the girl is her legs.
Web Original
- Cheesecake, of the Global Guardians PBEM Universe, has the power of hot legs, and she uses it to mentally manipulate weak-willed men.
- Tennyo, of the Whateley Universe, has been described several times as having disproportionately long legs given her 5'3" height.
- The Nostalgia Critic is dressed as Link in Suburban Knights. The fact that he's wearing a short tunic with no pants or tights gets a lot of attention from the camera, although Doug said later he was in so much pain from the cold that it wasn't worth it.
Western Animation
- Jessica Rabbit from Who Framed Roger Rabbit is another long-legged Disney redhead. Showcased in her brief cameo as a park ranger in the short Trail Mix-Up.
- Marge in The Simpsons, when she and Homer get "frisky". This is explicitly mentioned by Lenny in one episode.
"She's got legs from here to yah-yah!"
- Hello Nurse from Animaniacs, as noted during her eponymous musical number:
"...she's got legs, like Astaire..."
- On an episode of American Dragon Jake Long, Jake's sassy black friend becomes a cheerleader. When her friends see her in a revealing miniskirt for the first time this is their reaction. One of them goes on to talk about her legs for a while afterward, questioning why she never showed off her legs before.
- In The Great Mouse Detective Miss Kitty has quite a pair.
- Superman The Animated Series gives us Mercy Graves, Lex Luthor's bodyguard/chauffeur. She wears a ridiculously short dress (or a tight shirt with tight pants) that shows off her legs.
- The legs seem to be the go-to sexually arousing body part in the DCAU, where you can't mention the boobs or the booty in that sense. Like how B'wana Beast first met Zatanna (the quote is in the link) in Justice League Unlimited, for example. Black Canary's are also pretty long.
- The Filmation animated TV series of the 1970s and 1980s were loaded with female characters often depicted wearing mini-skirts and swimsuit-like outfits designed to show off their legs. Shows featuring characters with this particular "superpower" (just a few of many): Flash Gordon, She Ra Princess Of Power, He Man And The Masters Of The Universe (not to mention both the live-action and animated versions of Isis featured in various Filmation shows).
- Parodied in a Family Guy Manatee Gag with Peter's great-aunt Legs Go All The Way Up Griffin.
- One scene in Hercules showed Megara running in a way so that she is picking up her dress, revealing a rare shot of her legs being exposed. The other prominent leg scene is when she's halfheartedly trying to seduce Wonderboy into revealing his weakness.
- Asajj Ventress and the Nightsisters in general from Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
- Randy Cunningham is a rare guy example◊ of this trope.
- Played for laughs in the Woody Woodpecker cartoon A Fine Feathered Frenzy. Gorgeous Gal, an overweight and elderly crow wanted to marry Woody Woodpecker the second she laid eyes on him. The wealthy widow loved young woodpeckers so whenever the opportunity presented itself she grabbed him and lavished him with kisses or tried to seduce him. At one point she gets glamed up really nice with a red dress, pearls and a slightly better wig. When Woody spots her he smiles so may have taken an interest in this new look. Sitting in a chair she offers the Woodpecker with her sexy voice, "Cheescake?" She hikes up her skirt and reveals her crossed legs that are as skinny as toothpicks! With crossed eyes and a toothy grin the confused and horrified Woodpecker hops away.
- Also used for comedy in the Woody Woodpecker short "Witch Crafty." An elderly red haired witch hikes up her skirt to reveal her left leg that is quite shapely, to the effect that it causes a member of the audience to whistle. Later on she reveals her right leg which is really lumpy and disgusting.
- Femmes in Transformers have legs, and they actually vary in build enough that some are more worthy of this trope than others.
- Arcee in G1 has pretty fine legs.
- Unsurprisingly, Blackarachnia in both incarnations has much more emphasis places on her legs than her bust.
- Worryingly, in Transformers Prime, yes, we know Starscream's a guy. But there's little doubt that he's got the best legs in the franchise yet, making up almost two thirds of his height and the most distinctive feature of his art.
- In one episode the humans are standing on one side of a rising shutter and they see a pair of elegant robot legs sporting heel-like extensions. They initially believe it to be the only female Autobot, Arcee, coming to their aid. Nope, it's Soundwave.
- Animated Bumblebee practically has gymnast's legs. Shown in his transformation sequence.
- Nani Pelekai from Lilo and Stitch.
- The titular character from Pocahontas.
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