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Does This Make Me Look Fat?

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"No, it makes your butt look purple."
"Is there any answer I can give that won't result in a prolonged beating?"
"Darn it, that was going to be my morning cardio!"
— The Bunny System, "The Definition of Dilemma"

Said whenever a nervous character is trying on a new set of clothes, especially before a date: "Does this (shirt, pair of pants, etc.) make me look fat?" Sometimes variations are used such as "Do I look fat?", "Does this make my butt look big?" or "I think I've gained some weight, what do you think?"

This is a trick question that brings terror to husbands in all Dom Coms (as she's not asking how the clothes make her look as much as how she looks), as he is never able to answer in a way that won't make his wife angry (saying "No" will convince her he's just saying what she wants to hear). Unless of course he just doesn't give a damn, in which case the answer is either "Yes" or "No, that doesn't make you look fat. Your fat makes you look fat, because You Are Fat."

In the UK the usual phrasing is, "Does my bum look big in this?"

This is mostly a Discredited Trope (if not a Dead Horse Trope) now, so a character will rarely ask it except when the question is really absurd. For instance, if the character is blatantly fat or skinny, or has a hideous facial scar that will draw more attention, or is a man going Disguised in Drag. One way that it still works is often when a woman is Obviously Pregnant. Since she is getting noticeably bigger (if not fatter, at least larger and often swollen), this leaves the husband in a particular bind. However, there is still some element of Truth in Television. If someone ever asks you this question in Real Life, the answer is always, "You look great." You'll notice that doesn't actually answer the question, but you'd best check your rationality at the door.

Evolving beauty standards have contributed to the trope becoming discredited: with societal pressure to be skinny having been largely supplanted by pressure to be curvy, the implication that a woman has a big butt is a lot less likely to be considered a bad thing. Nowadays, telling a woman that her butt looks big is more likely to be considered flirting (or sexual harassment) than an insult.

Subtrope of Morton's Fork. For serious angst over looking fat, compare Weight Woe.

Examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Advertising 
  • GEICO:
    • One commercial shows a wife asking her distracted husband, "Honey, does this dress make me look fat?", to which he — not really hearing the question — cheerfully murmurs "You betcha" in response. The voiceover adds: "In the time it takes to pull out the sleeper sofa, you can save hundreds on car insurance."
    • Another Geico ad has Mary Todd Lincoln asking this of her husband, who, being "Honest Abe", spends about a minute scrutinizing her backside before holding up thumb and forefinger close together and saying "Perhaps." Of course, she's upset.
  • In a Twix commercial, a husband finally manages to come up with the right answer to the question - by chomping into a Twix bar then mumbling something incomprehensible around it, thereby allowing his wife to interpret it however she wants.
  • In a commercial for a local sofa store, as the couple was preparing to go to bed, the husband says to the wife "remember that dress you tried on today? on second thought it WAS a little tight" turns out he said it just so she would make him sleep on the couch... the new big very comfortable couch that they just bought from the sofa store.
  • An Australian ad for Dare iced coffee has the man replying honestly (after taking a swig of Dare) to the question "Does my bum look big in this?" with "At least it takes the attention off your face". Riffed on by another company's ad (for cheap mobile phone plans) which has the man replying "No" without looking up from his newspaper (the wife is facing away from him at the time).
  • In the closing moments of a radio commercial for garage doors, a woman asks "Does this garage door make my house look fat?"
  • A commercial for G4TV's video game review show X-Play invoked the trope to advertise the show's "brutally honest" reviews. A woman trying on pants asks her husband/boyfriend if the pants make her butt look big, and he responds, completely disinterested, "No, you just have a really huge ass. The jeans are fine."

    Anime and Manga 
  • In the Cyborg 009 2001 TV series, when Francoise/003 has to put on a Chinese dress to help out in Chang/006's Chinese restaurant, she asks the others if she looks fat on it.
  • In the Magic Knight Rayearth anime series, Umi has to wear a very Stripperiffic odalisque outfit when captured by the Chizeta princesses, and one of the reasons why she's NOT happy to dress up in it is that she's sure she's put on weight lately.
  • A variant in Muromi-san, where Muromi asks Takurou about his preferences regarding breasts. When Takurou plays out the scenes in his mind, all three of his hypothetical answers involve in him getting slapped. He chooses to run away.
  • In odd version in The Movie for Yes! Pretty Cure 5 GO!GO!. While the Cures are enjoying themselves in the Sweets Kingdom, Karen haphazardly mentions that they probably shouldn't eat so many sweets. Suddenly, Urara, Nozomi and Rin just ham it up as they tell her that she's right and they have to give up the sweets, dramatically bidding it all farewell. Karen's absolutely gobsmacked by the reaction and after turning to Komachi briefly, she turns back and apologizes. Thankfully, Chocola, the person who brought them to the place, lets them know that they will not be affected by the sweets and they can have as much as they can.

    Comic Books 

    Fan Works 
  • A Growing Fire In My Heart: When Thorax demonstrates his shapeshifting abilities to Ember by transforming into her, she takes a look for a moment before asking if her butt is really that big.
  • In A.A. Pessimal's Discworld-themed epic Strandpiel, one of her teachers has the horrific thought about the overly frank and candid schoolgirl Shauna O'Hennigan - that she might end up mis-employed as a sales assistant in an upmarket clothes shop. She fantasizes about how Shauna might approach this, and shudders.
    Faith, darling, you look like a great big sack of shite tied in the middle, so you do. I'll find you something from the Fat Girls' section, how's that? Now come away from the window, your feckin' great fat arse is blocking out the daylight, so it is.
  • Myrmidons: A close variant. A mildly eccentric (but harmless by Starfleet standards) admiral confuses Cadet Sheri Walford for Rear Admiral Kanril Eleya's nonexistent daughter. Way later, Eleya is eyeing the signs of aging on in a mirror, and wonders aloud to her boyfriend Captain Reshek Gaarra if she looks old enough to have a teenage daughter. (The scene ends before he tries to respond, but he had a mouthful of toothpaste at the time, anyway.)
  • The Second Try; in one of the future chapters, Asuka asks this of Shinji while heavily pregnant. Shinji (knowing the perils of this trope), answers that he loves her for more than just her physical beauty (though that's a nice bonus), which Asuka accepts before lamenting she no longer fits into her favorite pair of pants.
  • This fanart has Alia asking X and Zero if her Mega Man X8 redesign makes her butt look big, referencing how she was redesigned to look more feminine and curvaceous compared to the previous games.

    Films — Animated 
  • From a trailer of Brother Bear, Rutt asks if the camera was making him look fat. Tuke merely retorts "No, it's the fat that makes you look fat!"
  • Mulan disguises herself and her comrades as concubines to fool the bad guys. After she asks if there are any questions, Yao (who is short and dumpy with a disfigured face) says "Does this dress make me look fat?" He's heard getting slapped for it offscreen.
    • Doubles as an inside joke, since Yao is voiced by Harvey Fierstein, who often performs in drag.
  • Sev Trek: Pus in Boots (an Australian CGI spoof of Star Trek: The Next Generation) has a shapeshifting alien mimic Worf and ask him "Tell me honestly — does my bum look big in this form?" The real Worf informs him that today is a good day to diet.
  • In Toy Story 2, Buzz is looking at one of hundreds of unopened Buzz Lightyear toys in Al's Toy Barn on display, wondering, "Am I really that fat?"
  • In Todd Haynes' 1987 Barbie film Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, which is based on the life of Karen Carpenter, Karen tells her mother Agnes that she "will not wear that hip-hugger thing" because it "makes me look really fat". Of course, this has a depressing Reality Subtext given Carpenter's struggles with anorexia.
  • SCOOB!: When Scooby is admiring himself in his Falcon Force uniform and asks this kind of question to Shaggy, he responds with a shot at his Acquired Situational Narcissism.
    Scooby: Does this make my ears look big?
    Shaggy: Makes your ego look big.
    Scooby: What did you say?
    Shaggy: I said, uh, fine. You look, uh... fine.
    Scooby: It sounded like you said "ego".
    Shaggy: Nope. Must be in your head.
    Scooby: Hmmm...
    Shaggy: Your giant, inflated head.
    Scooby: What?!
    Shaggy: Nothing.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • In Bye Bye Love, this made it into the trailer:
    Claire. We had to take back the graduation dress.
    Emma. It made me look fat.
    Paul. You couldn't look fat if you wanted to!
    Emma. Why would I want to look fat?
    Paul. You wouldn't! You couldn't!
  • Tagline for D.E.B.S.: "Do these guns make us look fat?"
  • The tagline for the historical comedy Gladiatress is "Does my Gluteus Maximus look big in this?"
  • Referenced in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, as Jack Sparrow answers a string of questions that two prostitutes apparently asked him offscreen just prior to one of the film's final scenes.
    Jack Sparrow: "Ladies! Will you please shut it? Listen to me. Yes, I lied to you. No, I don't love you. Of course it makes you look fat. I've never been to Brussels. It is pronounced 'egregious'. By the way, no, I've never met Pizzaro but I love his pies. And all of this pales to utter insignificance in light of the fact that my ship is once again gone. Savvy?"
  • Cissy asks her brother Brandon this (after he has seen her naked in the bath) in Shame. When he declines to answer, she pinches him angrily and exclaims "Fuck you!"
  • Male example from Tommy Boy:
    Tommy: Hey, does this suit make me look fat?
    Richard: No no no, your face does.

    Literature 
  • According to Dave Barry, the answer is "flee the continent".
  • In Full Tilt, Maggie's self-esteem issues are established early on when she asks this question after looking in a funhouse mirror (not joking in the slightest.) It gets a Call-Back in the Hall of Mirrors, where the question reveals to Blake that she's the monster pursuing him.
  • Dodged around in Starfighters of Adumar, when Red Flight has to wear the hated New Republic dress uniforms, which include body stockings that reveal any extra weight an image-conscious pilot might be carrying.
    Hobbie: "I feel fat."
    Wes: "You're not fat. Except — never mind."
    Hobbie: "What?"
    Wes: "Nothing."
    Hobbie: "No, tell me. I've been working out. I've been good. You just can't work on everything."
    Wes: "That's right. It's scarcely noticeable."
  • The "Does My Butt Look Big In This?" variant was referenced by the title of Randa Abtel-Fatah's book about a Muslim girl who decides to start wearing the hijab, Does My Head Look Big in This?.
  • In the novel Webs Upon Webs, a FBI Agent asks this to her partner - because they're trying not to look like how they normally do for this mission. It's a rare case where 'no' gets groaning and more clothing changes. It's also a male case, as it's harder to make someone look thinner and much easier to just make himself look bigger.
  • Blue Belle, by Andrew Vachss. Michelle does a fashion makeover for Belle, recommending vertical stripes to slim out her large butt. When she tries her pants on however Burke notices that the stripes work fine until they reach her waist, then they "ran for cover in opposite directions. Flesh beats fashion every time."
  • Justified in Accelerando when one character gives the trope while shopping, then it's revealed she's at a retro shop buying a Victorian Pimped-Out Dress with a bustle that would indeed "enhance your derriere".
  • In The Women In Black by Madeleine St John, Magda asks her husband Stefan if the two-piece bathing suit she's trying on makes her look fat. He tells her that it doesn't, but she doesn't believe him, remaining convinced that he does think she looks fat and just doesn't want to say so. After several go-rounds, Stefan declares that if this goes on much longer he's going to go mad, and Magda decides to go back for a more modest one-piece bathing suit.
  • The Stranger Times: A woman comes to ask this of Cogs, a man who is cursed to only tell the truth. Much to her relief, he confirms that her outfit does not make her look fat and ugly, as she is neither fat nor ugly. Cogs is normally a prickly individual, but he reacts compassionately in this instance and and tells the woman to leave whoever is making her so insecure.

    Live-Action TV 
  • In The Nanny, Brighton (who was probably 14) explains this to his father:
    Brighton: Dad, when are you gonna learn? Does this make me look fat? NO. Do you like my hair this way? YES. Is my tush wider than usual? There is no right answer for that one.
  • Subverted in Married... with Children, "Episode 809: No Ma'am":
    Al Bundy: It's not the dress that makes you look fat—it's the fat that makes you look fat!
  • Also subverted in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "The Freshman":
    Vamp Minion: Does this sweater make me look fat?
    Sunday (Vamp Leader): No, the fact that you're fat makes you look fat. That sweater just makes you look purple.
  • Subverted in Scrubs: Turk advises JD that the only difference when dating a black girl vs a white girl is that if his African-American girlfriend asks if her ass looks big, he should reply "Hell, yeah!"
  • In the Lost episode "Tricia Tanaka is Dead," Sawyer teaches Jin the only three phrases he needs to know in English: "I'm sorry," "You were right," and "Those pants don't make you look fat."
  • Jeff on Community once wanted to know if a hard-boiled egg he was holding made him look fat, and was hurt/indignant when that comment bred laughs.
    Jeff: It was a particularly small egg! That's why I was asking.
  • On Friends, Ross and Rachel help Chandler in the aftermath of a fight with Janice:
    Chandler: Okay, well, Janice said "Hi. Do I look fat today?" and I looked at her...
    Ross: Whoa. Whoa. You looked at her? You never look. You just answer. It's like a reflex. "Do I look fat?" "No." "Is she prettier than I am?" "No." "Does size matter?"
    Rachel: "No."
    Ross: And it works both ways.
  • Used in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles when someone asks this question of Cameron. She briefly examines the questioner and responds, "Yes".
    • In a later episode Cameron, who's starting to get the hang of this teenage communication thing, asks a male student if the two pizza slices she's eaten make her look fat. The student, his proverbial tongue hanging out, naturally replies that she looks just fine.
  • According to Joss Whedon: What were Summer Glau's first words on the set of Firefly? "Does this cryogenic chamber make me look fat?"
    • Speaking of Joss Whedon, there's a clip of him floating around the internet sitting in a school bus filming the final episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
    Joss Whedon: Does this series finale make my butt look big?
    Voice from off-camera: No. You make your butt look big.
    Joss Whedon: (fake crying) Waah.
  • Tony DiNozzo references the trope in the NCIS episode "Faking It," as part of an ongoing argument with Ziva about men lying to women: "'Honey, does my butt look big in these pants to you?' Actually, yes, sweetheart, your butt looks as big as Alabama. Didn't want to say anything, but you've got the 'bama butt going on."
    • Ziva looks offended after Tony said, "Didn't want to say anything, but you've got the 'bama butt going on.". Tony then tries to clean his mess up by saying, "Not that your butt is big, not that I've even looked." Ziva calls him a liar for saying he's never looked.
  • The Fast Show has a character called "Does My Bum Look Big In This?".
  • In the Leverage episode "The Wedding Job", one of the bridesmaids asks Parker, her wedding-dressmaker, and Sophie, her wedding planner, if the dress makes her look fat. Sophie reassures her but Parker, being Parker, says "Of course it does! Why do you think I had to expand the seams? To make you look less skinny!?"
  • In an early episode of Living Single Kadijah asks friend if he clothes make her butt look big, The friend says yes. This pleases Kadijah, because that's exactly the effect she was hoping for.
  • In Doctor Who, sprinkle in a little Hypocritical Humor and it shows one way how this trope can still work. In "Amy's Choice," Rory, Amy, and the Doctor all have a shared dream where Amy is very, very pregnant.
    Amy: Yes, I was huge. I was a boat.
    Rory: So we had the same dream, exactly the same dream.
    Amy: (angry) Are you calling me a boat?
  • In one episode of The Red Green Show, Red explains that the life of a middle-aged man is just as risky as the life of a young man who does extreme sports. One example of a risky situation is a husband being asked this question by his wife.
  • The short-lived sitcom Married People had a variation in the first episode... and a twist.
    Elizabeth: Does this dress make me look pregnant?
    Russell: You are pregnant.
  • Titus gave us a pretty awesome example from the title character's dad.
    Ex-Wife: Ken, does this dress make me look fat?
    Ken Titus: (Not looking up from the television) When you're too fat, I'll letcha know. Your stuff will be out on the lawn.
  • Mock the Week: "Lines You Wouldn't Hear In A Costume Drama"
    Andy Parsons:"Do you think wearing this bustle makes my arse look big?"
  • On the hidden-camera series Girls Behaving Badly, episode Size Matters, the actresses deliberately try on clothing several sizes too small, then prank male shoppers by asking if the outfits make them look fat.
  • In Sister, Sister, Lisa gets work designing dressed for a VIP (might have been the mayor or someone), and keeps insisting that her dresses look great on her, even though they don't. When she finally confesses the customer is annoyed, telling Lisa that she really did want an honest answer.
  • Supernatural. In "Slash Fiction", Bobby Singer has a shapeshifter chained up in his basement. At one point he takes on Bobby's form and quips, "Does this skin make me look fat?"
  • In The Flash (2014), while Barry is trapped in a mirror, Iris takes a look at her posterior and this exchange ensues:
    Barry: What are you doing?
    Iris: Do these pants make my butt look big?
    Barry: (giving off a You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me! glance) I am literally stuck in a mirror!
  • In French sketch show Vous Les Femmes, Judith Siboni and Olivia Cotê are clothes-shopping together. The visibly slender Judith takes a summer sundress from a rack and asks Olivia for a honest opinion at to whether she'd look fat wearing this. Olivia suggests trying it on. Judith retreats to the changing room. When she comes out, she is visibly about four clothes sizes larger under the new dress.note . Olivia takes a critical look and says "Yes, it does make your bum look bigger".
  • WandaVision: In episode 3 Dottie asks her long-suffering husband if her earrings make her look fat, fortunately Wanda's labor pains cause their power to go out so he has an excuse not to answer.
  • Knight Rider. In "Knight of The Juggernaut", KITT and Michael Knight are squabbling Like an Old Married Couple. Knight tries to soothe things by mentioning how KITT's turboboost saved his life earlier. KITT snarks back, "Thank you Michael, but how did I look?"

    Music 
  • In Ludo's song "Good Will Hunting By Myself," the singer's list of insults directed at his ex eventually comes around to "Yes, your ass does look fat in those jeans!"
  • In "Weird Al" Yankovic's song "Confessions Part III" from his 2006 album Straight Outta Lynwood, a lyric near the end of the song says, "And I lied - yes, that dress makes you look fat." Also, in "If That Isn't Love", he claims that his willingness to tell her she looks fat if she needs to know is proof of his affection.
  • "Nice Guys" by Nigahiga and Kev Jumba is about guys being jerks to their girlfriends. When Ryan's girlfriend asks if she looks fat in a dress, Ryan's response is particularly crass.
    "Hell yeah, you do! Wait, let me speak your language: 'Cows go moo!'"
  • In the video for "I Wanna Go", Britney Spears is asked by a man "Does this suit make me look fat?".
    Yes, it does.

    Newspaper Comics 
  • Baby Blues featured Wanda asking this question. While her husband Darryl dives for cover, her daughter Zoe answers with an honest "Yes", which Wanda calmly accepts, to Darryl's surprise.
    Darryl: I didn't think it was possible to answer that question and live.
    Wanda: I wouldn't suggest trying it.
    • This trope was used in another Sunday strip around the same year; Darryl and Zoe are playing the game where the parent says "How big is my baby? Soooo big!" Wanda, not realizing what they're doing, happens to walk in on them, asking how her butt looked in a pair of jeans, to which Darryl inadvertently responds "Sooooo big!" This, of course, has a hilariously violent result for poor Darryl.
  • In one Blondie (1930) strip, the eponymous character asks whether a dress she is trying on makes her look fat. Dagwood responds by asking whether she means from the waist up or from the waist down, which he insists is a legitimate question. Blondie doesn't get mad but agrees with the saleswoman that she shouldn't have brought her husband along.
  • A variation occurred in For Better or for Worse shortly after Deanna became pregnant. One night after dinner she commented that she looked bloated and asked Michael if it was because of what they ate, or that she looked pregnant. Michael tried to tip-toe around it, saying it was too soon to tell. Finally, he caved and said it was because she looked pregnant. It turned out to be the right answer.
  • FoxTrot: In one strip, Andy asked Roger if he thought she could lose some weight and asked him to be honest. He said "Maybe a pound or two" and she collapsed in tears, claiming she had wanted him to be honest, not brutal.
    • In another, he tells her the pants don't make her look fat. Unfortunately, Bumbling Dad that he is, he goes on to say her shirt is what's making her look fat. Cut to next panel, with Roger wearing it (about six inches too short in every dimension including the collar).
    • Another strip has Paige asking if her watchband makes her nose look big.
  • Garfield: During an Arbuckle Family Reunion, a woman asked if her pants made her hips look big and somebody answered "it's not the pants".
  • In Retail a woman asks her partner if the dress makes her look fat. He asks Marla how much the dress is, and upon finding out it's $400, says it does.
    Marla: Wow, that's cold.

    Radio 
  • Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me: Referenced during the 2007-08 financial crisis for the title of an irregular panel segment on recession-related news items — combined with another trope.
    Peter: Now it's time for a new segment we're calling...
    Carl: (melodramatic sting) Does this barrel make my butt look fat?

    Stand-Up Comedy 
  • Every straight male comedian ever, and probably a few lesbian comedians have done a joke based on this. It usually doesn't end well for them. Bonus points if the wife/girlfriend happens to be pregnant at the time, allowing the exaggerated, hormone-induced personification of rage (no, not 4chan) to toss a bus full of Girl Scouts at whoever dares to answer the question. Then she eats all the Girl Scout cookies. Dipped in tartar sauce. With a glass of breast milk from an endangered leopard.
  • Jeff Foxworthy brought this up in one of his bits, which had his wife telling him, "Honey, I want you to tell me if I start getting fat." Jeff's response was "All right. You tell me if I start getting retarded!"
  • Robin Williams brings up a variation of this in his "Live on Broadway" special:
    Robin: Shhhhh! There's a gay mafia! "The Mauve Hand!" The fairy Godfather—(lisping) "Does this pistol make my butt look big?"
  • In Amy Schumer's standup special Growing glows over her loving and honest husband, who is on the Autism Spectrum, his honesty does prove inconvenient especially when it comes to avoiding awkward social situations or if she comments a dress makes her look fat, he with a straight face can reply that she can change her outfit.

    Theatre 
  • In 13, Lucy thinks Brett broke up with her because (She thinks) she's fat.

    Video Games 
  • In the PS3 version of Tales of Monkey Island, when Guybrush Threepwood shrinks La Esponja Grande with the Diet of the Senses, the result is a silver trophy the player is rewarded with. Surprisingly, the trophy is labeled as, "Does This Corpse Make Me Look Fat?"
  • This exchange in Dragon Age: Origins between the Warden, and the golem, Shale.
    Shale: I see it found some augmentation crystals. I was not even aware it knew about them... well done! So? What does it think? They don't make me look any wider, do they? I find I am already too wide as it is.
  • From Poker Night 2. If Sam is eliminated from the Venture Bros. set first, he gets taken away by Doc's glitchy teleporter. Ending up with a clear view of his backside warped into the wall.
    Sam: Is it me, or does this teleporter make my keister look big?
  • Juliet Starling from Lollipop Chainsaw is self-conscious about her so-called "ginormous ass", and asks her boyfriend Nick during the game if pink makes it look "less ginormous" or if a costume shows "too much booty".
  • The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim: One piece of random dialogue that an NPC in the Soul Cairn can say is, "All I said to Potema was I thought she looked a little portly in that gown. How was I supposed to know?" Seeing as the Soul Cairn is inhabited by people who have been soul trapped, it's fairly easy to guess how Potema responded.
  • Mutant Football League: One of the ridiculous penalties the referee gives you is this:
    Referee: Hey! I heard that, [team name]. That's a 10 yard penalty for talking about me behind my back. And for your information, this jockstrap does not make my butt look big.

    Webcomics 

    Web Originals 
  • in The Strangerhood, Catherine is captured by evil Tovar. Among the evil things he does to her is tell her that her tiara makes her butt look big. Nikki tells her it doesn't.
    Nikki: But your fat ass sure does make your tiara look small.
  • Germaine from Neurotically Yours once asked this to Foamy. Being the short-tempered sociopath he is, Foamy angrily answers "Yes, you are a fat bastard! Now shut up!"
  • The Slipstream Forums once had a discussion on the topic "Why isn't Andromeda (A warship with a female AI) shaped like a ball?" Someone said:
    who'd want to answer Rommie, armed with 40 missile tubes, plus AP and plasma cannon, PDLs, combat drones, Tweedles, and slipfighters, when she asks, "Does this hull make me look fat?"
  • The LoadingReadyRun video Is This A Date?, in the style of a dating show, demonstrates three very bad responses to this question. One of the bachelors embarks on a lengthy explanation of how he appreciates some "cushion for the pushin'", one awkwardly compares the woman to a bear hibernating for the winter, and one angrily tells her that she needs new pants, or to lose some weight.
  • According to fan list of "Space Marine Commandments",
    71. Power Armour never makes a Sister look fat.

    Western Animation 
  • From Phineas and Ferb:
    • In the episode "Out to Launch". The boys give Candance a space suit, and when they fill it with air, it all goes to her butt. She then asks if the suit makes her butt looks big.
      Phineas: Yes. Yes it does.
    • The episode where Candace and Perry swap bodies is titled "Does this Duckbill Make Me Look Fat?"
  • In the Daria episode "Gifted", Tiffany keeps asking if different outfits make her look fat, and when Quinn assures her they don't, she nevertheless changes clothes and asks again. Eventually Quinn gets annoyed and yells "You're not freaking fat, okay?!," leading Tiffany to kick her out. (This has provided Fanfic Fuel that Tiffany has an eating disorder or other body image issues.)
    • In another episode we learn that the Fashion Club wants to replace a certain bathroom mirror at school because it "adds at least two pounds." ("It haunts me," Tiffany shudders.)
  • In a Spongebob Squarepants episode, Sandy Cheeks asks this while wearing a superhero suit that makes her completely invisible.
  • Hank Hill in King of the Hill lampshades this:
    Hank: You see, Peggy, that's what you call a loaded question. No matter how I answer, there's a bullet in every chamber designed to blow my brains out.
  • There was a cartoon involving two pythons. "Tell me the truth. Does swallowing this pig make me look fat?"
  • Another variation occurs in Avatar: The Last Airbender, during the Ember Island Players' rendition of the group's adventures: when Actor!Sokka dresses up as a Kyoshi Warrior, he asks Suki, "Does this dress make my butt look big?" Even more hilarious considering a) the real Sokka was extremely mortified to have to dress like a woman and b) Suki found this moment in the play just as funny as the viewers did.
  • In The Fairly Oddparents, the mayor asks the town mascot this question.
  • One Robot Chicken sketch was a parody of Highlander replacing the Immortals with Hollywood starlets. After receiving her Quickening, Lindsey Lohan sputters "Does this power make me look fat?" before collapsing.
    • Then played straight in another skit, with the guy replying "For the last time yes!"
  • In a Code Monkeys episode, Todd asked if a prison uniform made him look fat. Claire responded with, "No, Todd. Vision makes you look fat."
  • In the first episode of HOOD, Loona asks this about her inflation power.
  • Chowder:
    • Inverted when Chowder asks Mung to tell him if his butt made the dress he was wearing look big. No answer was given.
    • In another episode Ceviche asks this about his leotard. Cut to a close-up of his gut suddenly expanding.
    • During one of the ending credits, Truffles asks Mung if her dress makes her look fat. Mung hesitates to answer, which anger Truffles, who responds that she doesn't love him anymore.
    • In another episode Truffles, after destroying the city in a Disaster Dominoes effect with her “large barge” straight up asks Mung if he thinks she’s fat. Mung tries dodging the question while Chowder blurts out that yes, she’s fat causing her to cry and Mung teaching Chowder life’s first lesson: never tell a woman she’s fat.
  • In Lucky Luke and the Ballad of the Daltons, the Dalton Brothers had to kill the judge and the jury that sentenced their Uncle Henry to death so they could claim the inheritance he left them. Their first target was a man who ran a laundry. Rather than just killing him, Joe decided to have him wash their prison uniforms first. Once they realized their target wouldn't get back, they just put on random clothing so they could leave the shop. When Joe suggested they stopped at the next town to buy new clothes before tracking their next target, Averell agreed on the grounds the dress he (Averell) was wearing made him look fat.
  • In one episode of The Simpsons, Homer has to work undercover for the government. He asks his family whether the tape recorder under his shirt makes him look fat. Lisa says no, it makes him look like a government stooge. Homer insists "But not fat, right?"
  • In Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Batwoman asks "Does this suit make my butt look big?"...while in Batman's body. Nightwing and Batgirl are understandably wigged out.
  • The Powerpuff Girls (1998):
    • In the episode "Makes Zen To Me", Mojo Jojo tries to roust Buttercup from her meditation by insulting her, topping it unsuccessfully with "You look fat in that dress!"
    • At the end of "Equal Fights", after the Powerpuff Girls send Femme Fatale to jail, she exclaims "You can't do this to me! Horizontal stripes make me look fat!"
  • In the Futurama episode, "Naturama".
    Elephant Seal Randy: Does this kelp scarf make me look fat enough?
  • In Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers, one of the Beagle Boys disguises himself as Princess Minnie in order to name Pete king. When he is first seen in disguise, the first thing he says is "Does this crown make my ears look big?"
  • In the WordGirl episode "Two-Brains Forgets", one of the people Dr. Two-Brains hears through his giant mechanical ear is a woman asking "Does this dress make me look fat?"
  • In the 6teen episode "The Sushi Connection", a very plump girl tries on a lavender dress and asks Nikki if it makes her look fat, which Nikki answers yes.
Would more examples make this page look fat? No, honey, you look good just the way you are.

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