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"Less talking, more hitting!"
"I know, I know! You're thinking, 'A big strong guy like him would be great to have along!' Right?"
The Big Guy on the Five Man Band can be subdivided into four subspecies:
If the team has a Robot Buddy, he'll often be this guy, or The Smart Guy, or both.
Powers and skills common to the big guy are:
This bandmate is rarely a woman, unless it's anime and the ''whole team'' are women. The Big Girl can be classified into two subspecies:
- The Cute Bruiser -- she who packs a surprising amount of punch. Traditionally a little girl, but can be stretched to any woman who is not obviously of amazonian stature. May be a martial artist or some other form of athlete. In cases of truly ridiculous strength, she may be a cyborg, robot, mutant, alien, possess Charles Atlas Superpower, or have some other justification for unusual power. Usually just as cute and/or pretty as more typical female characters.
- Alternatively and more unusually, she's a giantess, and thus plainly strong. She's rarely masculine but rarely conventionally attractive. (There's also nothing stopping her from being a robot, mutant, alien, etc. It's just that the surprise is gone.)
An exuberant Big Girl is either The Toblerone or a Genki Girl. If she's instead a Jerk With A Heart Of Gold, her softer side is often a secret cache of feminine traits or one particularly girlish habit.
Besides gender, there are two common ways to subvert the trope:
The Five Bad Band's Evil Counterpart is The Brute. Not to be confused with that other Big Guy.
Examples:
Video Games
- Kanna Kirishima from Sakura Taisen, a rare female Big Guy -- who is an amazonian musclebound type with rough-hewn manners, but also a cheerful and smiling attitude.
- The Heavy Weapons Guy of Team Fortress 2 doesn't really fit into any of the four choices. Considering his weapon of choice is a minigun weighing over three hundred pounds which costs $100,000 to fire for twelve seconds and that he cackles insanely while using it in battle, he's not a Gentle Giant, but at the same time he's not mean, withdrawn or scarred. He's most likely to be the Toblerone, but if his presence is bigger than his physical size, this troper is scared to think how big his presence must be.
- That's easy. It's about the reach of reasonable accuracy on his minigun. He will make his presence felt! Moreover, while other characters use things like bonesaws and fire axes as close combat weapons, the Heavy relies on his own fists.
- Also on Team Fortress 2, the Soldier is a type 1 leaning towards type 4.
- Dekao from Rockman.EXE (known as Dex in the American dub. Which reminds me...)
- Bowser in Super Mario RPG and Super Paper Mario. He's also the Id in Super Paper Mario's Power Trio. He ping-pongs between being Type 1 and Type 4--he's technically a bad guy, and he won't hesitate to remind you of this fact, but he mostly just comes off as obnoxious as opposed to downright evil.
- Double H in Beyond Good And Evil. He's largely a Type 3--while he acts quite tough, especially when it gets down to brass tacks, he's quite affable and fun-loving beneath it all.
Anime and Manga
- Kugayama from Genshiken, who's a Gentle Giant.
- Hap from Eureka Seven.
- Mori from Ouran High School Host Club.
- Chad from Bleach.
- Arale from Dr. Slump is a textbook example of a Super Powered Robot Meter Maid.
- Kagura from Gintama.
- Millie Thompson from Trigun is an example of the "Giantess" version of the Big Girl.
- A female example who's not at all feminine: Jeanie of Rune Soldier Louie, who towers over her teammates and could be mistaken for a guy if not for the sports-bra-like top. (Of course, opinions vary.)
- From Beet the Vandel Buster: Bluezam, the wielder of the Boltic Axe in the hunting group 'The Zenon Warriors'. His status as 'the big guy' is emphasized when Beet is seen wielding the Boltic Axe for the first time. The weapon is so large and unwieldy (for the small Beet) that misses in combat tend to destroy walls, rocks and any teammates who might be nearby.
- Aisha from Outlaw Star is a rare example of a female Big Guy outside of an Amazon Brigade.
- Takashi "Jumbo" Takeda from Yotsuba&!, probably in an attempt to make the cute protagonist look even cuter.
- Yuki Nagato's true 'position' (Haruhi sees her as The Smart Guy) is most likely a form of the Cute Bruiser. Compare Superpower Lottery - She can do just about anything. But when she can't do something (Haruhi's powers at full action, Snow Mountain Syndrome chapter) you know it means trouble, which is The Worf Effect in a distorted way.
WesternAnimation
- Subverted in Teen Titans with Cyborg, who is also the Smart Guy. Arguably, the Big Guy could also be Starfire.
- Actually, Cyborg is a subversion in being a large-sized Smart Guy but NOT the actual Big Guy of the team. Starfire is clearly The Chick despite her considerable offensive power. Arguably, the Big Guy is actually... Beast Boy, who can become much larger (and stronger) than anyone else by turning into bears, dinosaurs, or whales. He's also the most reliant on sheer physical ability, as opposed to firepower, magic, or formal martial arts.
- Subverted with Bulkhead of Transformers Animated. He's got the clumsiness and the slightly oafish voice, but is a Gentle Giant as well as quite intelligent, especially in battle (like how he countered Lugnut's Rocket Punch) though still quite far from a Genius Bruiser. Lugnut himself is also a subversion: he's neither is, nor even appears stupid, but his overzealous devotion to Megatron often clouds his judgment.
- Not to mention in the original Transformers, Ironhide fits this quite well for a group much larger than 5, although there's certainly a group that's considered more central than others. Also a good example of this trope from the original would be Brawn, who despite actually being SMALLER than most of the autobots, otherwise fits this trope extremely well.
- Bunnie from SatAM Sonic The Hedgehog is a female example by virtue of her being a Hollywood Cyborg and her girliness being outweighed by Antoine's qualifications as a male Chick.
Webcomics
Comic Books
- In the Dynamo 5, this role is shared by Scrap and Scatterbrain. Scrap is a Cute Bruiser, while Scatterbrain has sheer size on his side (he's a star football player.)
- "Gothic Lolita" from Adam Warren's short-lived Livewires miniseries is a textbook Cute Bruiser.
- The Thing of the Fantastic Four.
- Colossus of the X-Men, replacing Genius Briuser Beast.
- "Strong Guy" of X-Factor, whose name came from him explicitly Lampshade Hanging this trope during a press conference.
- Atom Smasher (formerly Nuklon) was the Big Guy and Gentle Giant for the original Infinity Inc, an incarnation of the JLA and much of the JSA, until he did a Face Heel Turn (he later turned back). His godbrother Damage has more or less taken up this role in the current Justice Society Of America, who until Gog repaired his face was definitely a Class 1. Atom Smasher is presumably a reserve member and still drops in on occasion, usually when the team takes on Black Adam.
Live Action TV
- Teal'c from Stargate: SG-1.
- Ronon Dex from Stargate: Atlantis.
- Worf from Star Trek The Next Generation.
- Gunn and Connor from Angel. Gunn was even poited out as "the muscles" once, and Connor was something of a subverted Big Guy, his slight, boyish appearance contrasting with his incredible strength and ferocity.
- Jayne Cobb from Firefly.
- Dean Winchester from Supernatural is also a subverted Big Guy. He's tiny compared to Sam and looks girly and vulnerable (those pouty lips, the general pretty-boyness and the huge Bambi eyes) but is an incredibly brutal fighter.
Literature
- Tazendra from Steven Brust's Khaavren trilogy. She's considered very attractive.
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