History Main / BigLittleMan

* The ''{{NCIS}}'' episode "Once a Hero", where Abby went to government-oriented science exhibition to look for someone who could lend her usage of a very specific device of... some kind, required to identify a particular evidence, and this trope happens, as the person at the stand is revealed to be much smaller than he looks. Abby doesn't look surprised.

* In one episode of ''MyHero'', the main characters spend a while worrying about the dreaded (*glances around* *whispers*) [[http://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, and we see a figure in a black robe, seen from below, filling the screen and taking menacingly. Then we see that he's two inches tall and standing on a table. Janet squashes him.

* In one episode of ''MyHero'', the main characters spend a while worrying about the dreaded (*glances around* *whispers*) [[http://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, and we see a figure in a black robe, seen from below, filling the screen and taking menacingly. Then we see that he's several inches tall and standing on a table. Janet squashes him.

* Sir Everglot in ''CorpseBride'' is first shown talking face to face with his wife. Then the camera pans out and it turns out he is standing on a stool and is really half her height.

* At the way end of the KirbyOfTheStars anime, [[spoiler:It turns out that Nightmare Enterprises' salesman, seen only chest-upward on a screen up to that point, has little more than feet beyond that.]]

* Sir Everglot in ''CorpseBride'' is first shown talking face to face with his wife. Then the camera pans out and it turns out he is standing on a stool and really half her height.

* ''DoctorWho'' did it as a CliffHanger reveal in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS21E5PlanetOfFire The 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 "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E1DestinyOfTheDaleks Destiny of the Daleks]]" Romana is [[CostumeTestMontage trying out different bodies into which to regenerate]], while the Doctor is crouched on the floor fixing K9. Romana reappears as a blue-skinned alien babe, towering over him.

** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYFfR-fXPRY&feature=related This Doctor Who spoof video.]]

* Likewise an episode of ''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 SammysGlassEye).

* In one ''LooneyTunes'' short, Beaky Buzzard finds a small reptile peeking through some rocks. Noting that the creature seems shorter than him, Beaky tries to grab it and take it home for dinner. Turns out "Shorty" is just the small head of a '''huge''' dragon.

* The "Inki and the Mynah Bird" ''Looney Tunes'' shorts often introduce the Mynah Bird with [[BadVibrations ominous shaking]], mountains cracking, animals heading for cover... and after all the commotion, out comes a 5-inch bird hopping at a leisurely pace.

* In one episode of ''TheSimpsons'', Moe has a date set up with a dwarf girlfriend, but he thinks she's bigger since her online photo was of her looking tall in front of the Empire State Building (actually the one in Lego Land).

* ''[[MenInBlack Men in Black 2]]''. Serleena's spacecraft which flys around blowing up planets turns out to be smaller than a dog. And lets not forget how our entire universe is inside an airport locker.

* In ''The Twelve Tasks of {{Asterix}}'', one of the tasks is to fight Cilindric the German. Asterix and Obelisk are taken to an area where there's an enormous pair of doors...which open to reveal a very short judo expert.

A VisualPun where an extremely short character is introduced in a manner that makes them appear much taller than they actually are. Also the inverse, where someone (or something) of great size or height is made to appear normal-sized at first, or perhaps introduced in a shorter or chibi-like form.

** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E1DestinyOfTheDaleks Destiny of the Daleks]]" Romana is trying out different bodies into which to regenerate, while the Doctor is crouched on the floor fixing K9. Romana reappears as a blue-skinned alien babe, towering over him.
-->"I thought I'd try this one, but it's a bit short."

-->"Well lengthen it then, go on."
-->''(Exit Romana. The Doctor crawls along the floor for a while and then bumps into a toga-wearing beauty. He stands up...only to find he only goes up to Romana's shoulders).
-->"Too tall, take it away!"

* In the first episode of ''{{Taxi}}'' Louie (Danny [=DiVito=]) 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.

* {{NCIS}} episode "Once a Hero", where Abby went to government-oriented science exhibition to look for someone who could lend her usage of a very specific device of... some kind, required to identify a particular evidence, and this trope happens, as the person at the stand is revealed to be much smaller than he looks. Abby doesn't look surprised.

** Romana is trying out different bodies into which to regenerate, while the Doctor is crouched on the floor fixing K9. Romana reappears as a blue-skinned alien babe, towering over him.

-->''(Exit Romana. The Doctor crawls along the floor and bumps into a toga-wearing beauty. He stands up...only to find he only goes up to Romana's shoulders).

* ''StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' epiaode "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]].

A subtrope is BigShadowLittleCreature, where this is done via a large shadow cast on the wall. DepthDeception is the SuperTrope -- all examples that don't involve people should go there. May involve the use of HitlerCam.

* ''BadBoys''. Ahacker 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.

Examples:

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
* ''{{Futurama}}''. When Bender wonders what it would be like to be [[AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever 500 feet high]], we're shown a towering Bender...who then turns out to be a normal-sized robot constructing the giant Bender.
* In one ''LooneyTunes'' short, Beaky Buzzard finds a small reptile peeking through some rocks. Noting that the creature seems shorter than him, Beaky tries to grab it and take it home for dinner. Turns out "Shorty" is just the small head of a '''huge''' dragon.
* In one episode of ''TheSimpsons'', Moe has a date set up with a dwarf girlfriend, but he thinks she's bigger since her online photo was of her looking tall in front of the Empire State Building (actually the one in Lego Land).
* The reveal at the end of the ''{{SpongeBob SquarePants}}'' episode "Blackjack".
* The "Inki and the Mynah Bird" ''Looney Tunes'' shorts often introduce the Mynah Bird with [[BadVibrations ominous shaking]], mountains cracking, animals heading for cover... and after all the commotion, out comes a 5-inch bird hopping at a leisurely pace.

[[AC:ComicBooks]]
* In ''The Twelve Tasks of {{Asterix}}'', one of the tasks is to fight Cilindric the German. Asterix and Obelisk are taken to an area where there's an enormous pair of doors...which open to reveal a very short judo expert.
* ''ThrudTheBarbarian'': A couple of thugs enter the bar and push Thrud away, thinking him to be their size. Turned out he was sitting.

* ''{{Futurama}}''. When Bender wonders what it would be like to be [[AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever 50 feet high]], we're shown a towering Bender...who then turns out to be a normal-sized robot constructing the giant Bender.

* Mushu from ''{{Mulan}}'' put a lot of effort into his big entrance, {{Incredibly Lame Pun}}.
* ''MonstersVsAliens''. Susan Murphy is captured by the government after [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever growing to a height of 49 feet 11 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 small chair and crushes it. The inverse happens a short time later when a vast door opens and General W. R. Monger (tiny compared to the [[AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever 49'11 1/2"]] Ginormica) comes out.

* In ''TheAdventuresOfBaronMunchausen'', the Baron and friends fall on a pit and see Mars, the God of War, towering above them. It's only when he pulls them out of the pit that they see that Mars is [[OneHeadTaller a head shorter]] than the Baron.

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

* At the way end of the KirbyOfTheStars anime, [[spoiler: It turns out that Nightmare Enterprises' salesman, seen only chest-upward on a screen up to that point, has little more than feet beyond that.]]

* ''{{Futurama}}''. When Bender wonders what it would be like to be [[AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever fifty feet high]], we're shown a towering Bender...who then turns out to be a normal size robot constructing the giant Bender.
* In one ''LooneyTunes'' short, Beaky Buzzard finds a small reptile peeking through some rocks. Noting that the creature seems shorter than him, he tries to grab it and take it home for dinner. Turns out "Shorty" is just the small head of a '''huge''' dragon.
* I do recall a ''Simpsons'' episode where Moe has a date set up with a dwarf (is that the right term?) girlfriend, but he thinks she's bigger since her online photo was of her looking tall in front of the Empire State Building (actually the one in Lego Land).
* The reveal at the end of the ''SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "Blackjack".
* The "Inki and the Mynah Bird" ''LooneyTunes'' shorts often introduce the Mynah Bird with [[BadVibrations ominous shaking]], mountains cracking, animals heading for cover... and after all the commotion, out comes a five-inch bird hopping at a leisurely pace.

* In the Filipino JamesBond parody ''For Your Height Only'' the midget secret agent tracks down the unseen Mr Big only to discover the BigBad is a midget himself.

* In ''TheAdventuresOfBaronMunchausen'', the Baron and friends fall on a pit and see Mars the God of War towering above them. It's only when he pulls them out of the pit that they see that Mars is [[OneHeadTaller a head shorter]] than the Baron.
* ''BadBoys''. Ahacker is helping the protagonists 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" he's arguing with.

* In the pilot episode of ''GetSmart'' KAOS is run by the mysterious "MisterBig" (as opposed to Siegfried). It's only when Mr Big and Maxwell Smart are in the same room do we realise that Mr Big is actually a midget.
* There's an episode of ''QuantumLeap'' where Sam leaps into a guy who works at a carnival. While he's checking out his new reflection in a funhouse mirror, one of the other carnies walks up and starts a conversation. At first we only see his reflection, which looks the same height as Sam, but when Sam turns to reply to him, he's revealed to be a midget.
* The episode of ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' "Fear, Itself" had [[MonsterOfTheWeek Gachnar the Fear Demon]]... who is four inches tall. Buffy stomps him like a bug.

* ''StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' (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 intentionally in-universe in DeepSpaceNine. Bashir and O'Brien are just back from a mission [[IncredibleShrinkingMan that involved them being miniaturised]]. They stand at the bar boasting about their exploits, when Quark and Odo both note that a waitress seems oddly tall next to them, sending them scurrying away to check their height in sickbay. The waitress then stands down, off the step she'd been put on by Odo and Quark, revealing the entire thing to be a gag.
* ''DoctorWho''. Done as a CliffHanger reveal in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS21E5PlanetOfFire The 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.
** Romana is trying out different bodies to regenerate into, while the Doctor is crouched on the floor fixing K9. Romana reappears as a blue-skinned alien babe, towering over him.

* In a sketch on ''TheBennyHillShow'' Benny and Jackie Wright (a small man, under 5 feet tall) see a pair of wallflowers sitting at a dance. They decide to ask the girls to dance - Benny will ask the tall one and Jackie will ask the short one. The girls accept and stand up, revealing that - due to how the chairs they were sitting on were designed - the "tall one" is short and the "short one" is tall.

[[AC:Literature]]

[[AC:Comics]]

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

* ''DoctorWho''. Romana is trying out different bodies to regenerate into, while the Doctor is crouched on the floor fixing K9. Romana reappears as a blue-skinned alien babe, towering over him.

* An episode of ''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 SammysGlassEye).

* I do recall a ''Simpsons'' episode where Moe has a date set up with a dwarf (is that the right term?) girlfriend, but he thinks she's bigger since her online photo was of her looking tall in front of the Empire State Building (actually the one in LegoLand).

* In a fear-based episode of ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', The MonsterOfTheWeek turns out to be inches tall. Buffy stomps him like a bug.

* In one episode of ''MyHero'', the main characters spend a while worrying about the dreaded (*glances around* *whispers*) Grand High Arbiter of Misuse of Power coming from Ultron to punish George for cheating in a lottery. The arbiter eventually arrives, and we see a figure in a black robe, seen from below, filling the screen and taking menacingly. Then we see that he's about a foot tall and standing on a table. Janet squashes him.

* "Your Robot is Defective" from {{Zathura}}.

* Mushu from {{Mulan}} put a lot of effort into his big entrance, {{Incredibly Lame Pun}}.

* {{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 armour 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 favourable reaction... dies.

* In the Filipino JamesBond parody "For Your Height Only" the midget secret agent tracks down the unseen Mr Big only to discover the BigBad is a midget himself.

* Sir Everglot in ''CorpseBride'' is first shown talking face to face with his wife. Then the camera pans out and it turns out he is standing on a stool and really half her height.