History Main / CompensatingForSomething

** When looking at Richtofen's portrait in the Kino Der Toten map of ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps'' Zombies, the player's character can be heard saying, "His portrait's bigger than anyone else's. Must be trying to compensate for somethin'."

* ''LetsPlay/EmpiresSMP'' Season 2: Being an 11-foot god who is almost twice as tall as the average player, Joel has a tendency to build ''enormous'' builds, likely to accommodate his great height. However, several of his server-mates do not believe this to be the case.

-->'''Dumbledore''': Nice staff – you compensating for something?

-->'''Alexis:''' Do you hear that screeching? That man doesn't need to prove ''anything.'' That noise is just a high-pitched jumbo-wang alarm.
-->'''Sienna:''' He's gonna need that screeching to block out all of my ''moaning.''
-->'''Rhonda:''' And check out the ''windshield!''
-->'''Sienna:''' He must have cracked it with his colossal junk!

* When looking at Richtofen's portrait in the Kino Der Toten map of ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps'' [[VideoGame/NaziZombies Zombies]], the player's character can be heard saying, "His portrait's bigger than anyone else's. Must be trying to compensate for somethin'."

* ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'': "That is quite an impressive body you've built. But I believe only 30% of it is truly necessary. Are you perhaps, compensating?" -- [[LittleMissBadass Rachel Alucard]] on defeating [[HollywoodCyborg Iron Tager]].

* In the ''Series/{{Cheers}}'' episode "From Beer To Eternity", Diane confronts Gary, the arrogant rival of Sam's who has made it an obsession to prove his own bar as superior to ''Cheers''. In a polite and classy TheReasonYouSuckSpeech which for the most part consists of rebuking him for choosing "silly competition" over art and music, Diane innocently throws in a speculation that "perhaps you are compensating for some physical shortcoming"....
* ''Series/TopGear'':
** They stick nearly all flashy supercars in the "Uncool" section of the Cool Wall for this very reason:
--->'''Jeremy Clarkson:''' Let me put it to you this way: you would have to have literally no penis at all to buy a car like that. [...] The flashiness of your car is inversely proportional to the size [of your penis].\\
'''James May:''' Is that right? And you're saying that to a man with a 1.2 litre Fiat Panda? Mister swollen-wheel-arches Mercedes CLK Black.\\
'''Richard Hammond:''' He does have a point there. He does...\\
'''Jeremy Clarkson:''' You've got a Ford Mustang!\\
'''Richard Hammond:''' [[ChangeTheUncomfortableSubject Let's move on!]]
** Hilariously, the Hummer H3, one of the most flashy and preposterous cars they ever had on the show, ended up being an exception to this rule because it is a giant middle finger to political correctness and it pisses off environmentalists.
** More hilariously, the H3 is just a soccer-mom's Chevrolet Colorado/GMC Canyon cosplaying as a military vehicle. It has about as much in common with a military Humvee as a Prius does.

** In "Robot", the Doctor, speculating about what the robot's motivation could be, starts talking about Freudian psychology and "compensation". Cut to the Brigadier [[PhallicWeapon blasting the robot with a disintegration ray by firing from the hip]]. Causing the robot to get taller.

** When the Eleventh Doctor meets his earlier incarnation in "The Day of the Doctor", they whip out their sonic screwdrivers to establish [[IconicItem each truly is the Doctor]]. Ten is disconcerted to see that Eleven's sonic screwdriver is bigger and fancier than his, even after he [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything extends the tip]].

** In [[Recap/DoctorWho2021NYSRevolutionOfTheDaleks "Revolution of the Daleks"]], Yasmin Khan (having [[SeenItAll been the Doctor's companion for a while]]) regards Jack Harkness' square gun as an UnusuallyUninterestingSight. When he acts miffed, she asks if he's feeling insecure. "Cause you do seem to need a lot of praise."
* ''Series/{{Farscape}}''. In "Green-Eyed Monster", Aeryn gets annoyed over the TestosteronePoisoning between Crais and Crichton and asks the LivingShip they're on: "Talyn, you've seen them both naked. Perhaps you can tell us who's bigger?"
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'':
** Happens in the episode "Playthings".
--->'''Dean:''' Of course, the most troubling question is, why do these people assume we're gay? \\
'''Sam:''' Well you are kind of butch, they probably think you're overcompensating.
** On another occasion, Dean implies that Cas is doing this when Cas boasts to another character about how large his true form is.
* ''Series/StargateSG1''. Shortly after returning as a regular cast member, Vala makes an accusation of this [[spoiler:to the chairman of the [[HauledBeforeASenateSubcommittee Senate Committee on Appropriations]].]] General Landry is not amused.
* In an episode of ''Series/{{Friends}}'', "The One Where They All Turn Thirty", Ross buys himself a sports car:

* In the episode "Night of the Nearly Dead" of ''Series/FatherTed'', the character Eoin [=McLove=] is an arrogant manchild who gets what he wants regardless of the effect it has on other people. Eventually, his PA makes him apologize and he confesses to Ted and Dougal: "I haven't got a willy."

-->'''Noah:''' Wow Wade, that's one big truck. Hope you're not compensating for anything.\\
'''Wade:''' Nah playa, it's all good in my hood.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'':
** In "The Zeppo", Xander, trying to establish a cool identity for himself, shows up at school in his uncle's flashy '57 Chevy convertible, referring to it as "my thing". Buffy asks "Is this a penis metaphor?"
** Giles gets the MidlifeCrisisCar version when he replaces TheAllegedCar with a red, BMW M3 convertible.
-->'''Giles:''' I don't know, I just--I was so at loose ends, I found myself searching for... some way of feeling more...\\
'''Buffy:''' Shallow?
** Vampire Spike gets a RestrainingBolt that prevents him from attacking humans, and a RunningGag involves this situation being compared to impotence. In one episode he tries out a pistol, but finds he can't even aim it at someone. He responds by demanding a bigger gun.
** Averted when Spike fights Buffy for the first time in "School Hard". They're both holding weapons and Buffy asks if they're really necessary. Spike replies; "I just like them. They make me feel all ''manly''." He then tosses his weapon aside.
** In "Seeing Red", [[StrawMisogynist Warren]] gains strength and power via [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything two magic orbs that he wears on his waist]]. After [[FeministFantasy Buffy]] beats him by breaking his balls...err, orbs, Warren then goes and [[MundaneSolution buys a gun to take her on]].

** Detective Carter is threatening a wife beater.
--->'''Kovacks:''' You come after me, and I will exercise my Second Amendment rights. ''[looks her up and down and smirks]'' [[DoubleEntendre I promise you, I've got a pretty big gun.]]\\

** In "God Mode", our heroes break into a lockup to find a [[CoolCar Ferrari]]. Shaw promptly hands her SPAS-12 shotgun to Reese.

* Mentioned by Wayne in ''Series/{{Letterkenny}}''.
-->'''Wayne:''' You drive a jacked-up truck but not so jacked that people start to question the size of [[UnusualEuphemism Big Jim and the Twins]].
* ''Series/{{Titus}}'' has Ken take child Titus into a sporting goods store, where Christopher is in awe at the gun another customer is holding.
-->'''Titus:''' Dad, I want a gun!\\
'''Ken:''' You don't need one of those, Christopher. The men in our family have ''penises''!
* In one episode of ''Series/BarneyMiller'', Wojo finds out that he's sterile after being hit with a paternity suit, and then gets sent out on a call to deal with an armed suspect. As usual for the show it's described after the fact, by Dietrich, who starts the story of Wojo running into an alleyway and ''throwing a full trash can'' at the suspect like this:
--> "...and then the Wojo Express rolls in."
* On ''Series/{{Cybill}}'', Cybill referred to a sportscar as a "driveway penis".

* In the pilot of ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'', Elliot makes an offhand comment on the witness stand that suggests this as the motive for a defendant accused of exposing himself in public. This enrages the flasher, who promptly decides to [[Funny/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit disprove this notion]] in open court.
* ''Series/Batwoman2019''. In "Down Down Down", Tommy Elliot has a lifelong jealousy towards Bruce Wayne. Knowing that he's Batman, Tommy steals a handheld railgun that Bruce Wayne developed to kill him. When Kate discovers this Tommy pulls a Glock on her, whereupon Kate quips that Bruce's gun is clearly bigger.
* In the second season of ''Series/{{Krypton}}'', when Lobo isn't threatening, mocking, and/or trying to kill Seg-El and Adam Strange, he's complaining about Brainiac. One of his rants mentions Brainiac's "massive, clearly overcompensating for something, ship".
* Series/{{Frasier}} gets into an argument with his neighbor and SitcomArchNemesis Cam Winston when Cam parks his [[HummerDinger Humvee]] in the space next to Frasier's BMW and blocks him in. Cam accuses Frasier of using the car as a "subsitute for masculinity". When Frasier insinuates that Cam's doing the same thing, Cam simply replies that his is still [[BiggerIsBetterInBed bigger]].

** The [[WesternAnimation/Shrek1 first movie]] includes this exact phrase as a joke, with Shrek talking to Donkey about Lord Farquaad's giant castle. Kids take away the meaning of [[TheNapoleon compensating being short]], and [[ParentalBonus adults take away]] the [[TeenyWeenie other]]. The less innocent interpretation is apparently how Donkey understood the comment, as when he later reports it to Fiona he adds "which I think means he has a really--" before Shrek silences him mid-sentence.

** The [[WesternAnimation/Shrek1 first movie]] includes this exact phrase as a joke, with Shrek talking to Donkey about Lord Farquaad's giant castle. Kids take away the meaning of [[AcceptableTargets compensating]] for [[TheNapoleon being short]], and [[ParentalBonus adults take away]] the [[TeenyWeenie other]]. The less innocent interpretation is apparently how Donkey understood the comment, as when he later reports it to Fiona he adds "which I think means he has a really--" before Shrek silences him mid-sentence.

* If you choose to upgrade [[BladeOnAStick The Ravager]] in the ''VideoGame/BaldursGateII'' expansion Cespenar wonders if this is why.

** Xol, the smallest and weakest of [[EldritchAbomination the Worm gods]], feels the need to give himself grandiose titles like "the Will of Thousands" (in contrast to his siblings, who mostly use simple titles like "Honest Worm"). He also picks up [[BlackSheep Nokris]] as his [[TheDragon Dragon]], mirroring Hawthorne's above-mentioned joke about insecure men surrounding themselves with similar people.

* ''Franchises/{{Shrek}}'':

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'':
** The first movie includes this exact phrase as a joke, with Shrek talking to Donkey about Lord Farquaad's giant castle. Kids take away the meaning of [[AcceptableTargets compensating]] for [[TheNapoleon being short]], and [[ParentalBonus adults take away]] the [[TeenyWeenie other]]. The less innocent interpretation is apparently how Donkey understood the comment, as when he later reports it to Fiona he adds "which I think means he has a really--" before Shrek silences him mid-sentence.

* A non-sexual example in ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen''. Characters/MarvelComicsSabertooth has a reputation as the "poor man's ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}" and feels deeply insecure about being compared to his rival. As such he had ''four'' adamantium claws implanted in each arm.

* A non-sexual example in ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen''. Characters/MarvelComicsSabertooth has a reputation as the "poo man's ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}" and feels deeply insecure about being compared to his rival. As such he had ''four'' adamantium claws implanted in each arm.

* ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex''. The war veteran in NIGHT CRUISE appears to be a potential "lone gunman" assassin, brandishing a [[HandCannon Desert Eagle]] and fantasizing about killing a politician. When he's thrown out of a brothel after failing to perform with a prostitute, his pistol is taken off him by a Yakuza thug whom he cowers in front of. At the end of the episode we discover his lower regions are prosthetic, thanks to a nasty STD virus he caught during the war, and he'll never carry out his assassination fantasies.

* Female example in ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnlineAlternativeGunGaleOnline''. Karen Kohiruimaki is explicitly ashamed of her [[HeightAngst unnatural height]] and [[NoGuyWantsAnAmazon lack of feminine charm]], so when she fires up GGO, LLENN is deliberately made to be as small, cute, and pink as possible.

If you actually ''have'' a [[TeenyWeenie small penis]], it would unfortunately make you an {{Acceptable Hard Luck Target|s}}.

* {{Parodied}} in [[https://xkcd.com/1615/ this]] ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' strip.[[note]]For wavelengths of light, blue is shorter than red...[[/note]]

See also PhallicWeapon, MidlifeCrisisCar. This can be gender-inverted, though rarely, if a woman is trying to compensate for something like ACupAngst or [[MyBiologicalClockIsTicking a ticking Biological Clock]]. And of course, a similar phenomenon can occur with male ''or'' female examples of TheNapoleon, who often try to compensate for [[HeightAngst lack of inches in a different context]] (cf. SmallGirlBigGun).

* In a rare female example, one furry comic called ''Vitaboob'' has this as the punchline. The main, female fox girl in it (selling some kind of [[BreastExpansion breast enhancement]] drug which she gleefully tells you she uses regularly) has '''ENORMOUS''', perfectly spherical breasts bigger than her head, a '''HUGE''' poofed out tail twice as long and big as her body, and '''MASSIVE''' feathered Farrah Faucett '80s hair, and you kind of wonder why she needed her breasts enlarged in the first place... except she's like a tiny, little, itty-bitty thing about 4'10" tall. See, she's really small, and [[BuxomIsBetter wants to make up for it by being as big as possible]]. What was that Rev. Lovejoy said? "To compensate for my own smallness"? Yeah, she's got you beat there Reverend.

* One of the group victory quotes of ''VideoGame/TalesofXillia2'' has its resident BFS wielders [[TheAtoner Alvin]] and [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority Gaius]] perform [[SwordBeam Demon Fangs]] one after another with Gaius' being larger. Alvin immediately says he feels inadequate, and Gaius informs him that the difference is in the size of the blade.

** Lrrr is given horn extensions when he informs a plastic surgeon that Omicronian horns [[BizarreAlienBiology house their testes]].

* ''Literature/{{Jingo}}'': Angua says "[[YouKnowWhatTheySayAboutX You know what they say]] about men who like big weapons." Her boyfriend Carrot says he doesn't know what they say, and Angua says, "They're, er, rather small." Carrot still doesn't get it and thinks she's referring to their height, since [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame dwarfs]] and short watchman Nobby love big weapons. (Specifically, he says dwarfs love a big "[[AnAxeToGrind chopper]]"... one of those points where the reader wonders if Carrot is really as naive as he lets on.)

* Colonel Richard Strickland from ''Film/TheShapeOfWater'' is a veritable study in Freudian overcompensation; he is driven to depravity by his bland, mediocre home life; he conforms obsessively to societal standards of masculinity (namely regarding [[ARealManIsAKiller violence]], [[AManIsAlwaysEager sexuality]], and [[SmallNameBigEgo "being in charge"]]); he's [[GeneralRipper aggressively preoccupied with asserting his dominance over others]] and [[HeManWomanHater proving his superiority to women]] (even having a perverse sexual attraction to women who don't talk); he [[PhallicWeapon carries around a long cattle prod]] as his WeaponOfChoice (even calling it a "dingle" at one point); he [[MidlifeCrisisCar buys a fancy new Cadillac to feel better about himself]]; and he [[ProfessionalButtKisser desperately craves the approval of his superior officer]].

* While the various ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'' games aren't exactly subtle with the indications that Laharl is overcompensating for his [[TheNapoleon short height]], the guidebooks are quite explicit that the whole reason he styles his AntennaHair so high and wears such a billowing scarf is to present himself as bigger than he is. While not as explicit, it's worth noting that his WeaponOfChoice in official artwork is a {{BFS}} (though he's equally adept with axes and fists in the game itself).

* {{Parodied}} in [[https://xkcd.com/1615/ this]] ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' strip.

* In ''Fanfic/Ignited Spark'', upon finally meeting Katsuki at the entrance exam, Itsuka notes that she had thought that Ochako was overstating it, but then realizes that Katsuki really did have 'small dick energy'. Katsuki does not take that well.