History Main / Heavyworlder

* ''WebOriginal/OrionsArm'' has numerous races designed and redesigned for high gravity planets. Also comes in handy on accelerating spaceships.

** Creator/ElliotSMaggin, a prominent Superman writer, once wrote that Krypton's gravity was so great that every explorer from another planet who had landed on, or even approached Krypton was unable to to ever return. Krypton gained an ominous reputation as a "black hole planet", whose gravity was inescapably strong.

* The S't'ach in ''Literature/StarTrekTitan'', who resemble [[Disney/LiloAndStitch metre-high four-armed blue teddy bears]], but are denser than they appear. In early books they are said to be superdense, but in a later book one points out the perils of having a lot of mass on a high gravity world. Apparently, this is a rumour spread by the S't'ach themselves; they're aware of how cute they look to humanoids, and want to discourage them from trying to pick them up and cuddle them.

* The creature in the BMovie ''Film/ItConqueredTheWorld'' (1956) was originally conceived as short and squat, due to the heavy gravity of its native planet. Actress Beverly Garland was unimpressed by the vertically-challenged villain -- approaching it within hearing of director Roger Corman she cried "So, you plan to take over the world do you? Take that!" and kicked it in the head. Corman agreed to redesign the creature to [[http://www.planetvideo.com.au/blog/2009/01/03/beverlygarland3.jpg more menacing proportions]].

* Charlie-27 of Creator/MarvelComics' original ''ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' is a Jovian, a member of a human subspecies genetically engineered to colonize Jupiter. As such, he's broadly-proportioned, super-strong, muscular and [[MadeOfIron very tough]]. Implicitly he's even stronger and tougher than the typical Jovian, as he was a career military man. He's also not short at all -- the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe lists him at an even 6', slightly taller than the average adult human male[[note]]Given that the original ''Guardians'' took place in the 31st century and average human height has tended to increase over time (due to improved medicine and especially nutrition), it seems likely that 6' would be fairly average for human male height a thousand years in the future.[[/note]], and he's often drawn as the tallest of the team, at times even taller than Yondu's fin.

* ''Literature/StarWarsLegends'':

* ''Film/ANewHope'':
** Officially, Jek "Piggy" Porkins -- callsign Red Six, the first pilot to die on the run against the Death Star -- was from a high-gravity world. This made him [[StoutStrength somewhat overweight but still strong]], and likely killed him. In the ComicBook/XWingSeries, a surviving squadmate reminisces that Porkins dialed back his fighter's ArtificialGravity a bit more than usual, which could be why he insisted that he could pull out of his fatal dive into the Death Star's surface.
** Several minor characters and extras in the Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse are also mentioned to be Heavyworlders -- however, unlike Jek, they're generally portrayed as being short and stout. It's possible that Jek Porkins was adapted to a heavy world, and gained weight from the sudden drop in exercise upon moving to standard-gee worlds.

* The [[ChooseYourOwnAdventure "1 on 1" gamebook]] ''Battle for the Ancient Robot'' had Kan-Tal from Jupiter as one of the human player's allies. His vital stats are given as 5' 2" and 492 pounds.

** The Saiyans hail from Planet Vegeta, with gravity 10x that of Earth. Goku and Vegeta also routinely train in high-gravity chambers, with Vegeta once turning it up to ''450 G''. This was used hilariously when a lower level EliteMook in the beginning of the Buu saga challenged the Saiyans, thinking that changing the environment to ''his'' home planet, which had 10 times Earth's gravity, would give him a sizable advantage. ''Boy'' [[CurbStompBattle was he wrong]].

* ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' protagonist Samus Aran is a Heavyworlder, though she rarely gets a chance to show this off due to her [[PoweredArmor Power Suit]]. She was fostered by the Chozo on the high-gravity planet Zebes, and had to undergo some BioAugmentation to survive there. Just how much is debatable -- [[WritersCannotDoMath one number thrown around is that Zebes had]] ''[[WritersHaveNoSenseOfScale 950 times Earth's gravity]]'' -- but the fact remains that even as a child, Samus was able to leap forty feet high in Zebes' increased gravity, and could stick a ThreePointLanding off a cliff that resulted in a small crater. If she ever took the suit off and ran around on a planet like Earth, Samus could probably bench-press several tons. Naturally, she avoids the usual squat-broad Heavyworlder body type, and as of ''VideoGame/MetroidSamusReturns'' she's depicted as an AmazonianBeauty.

* According to ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'''s [[AllThereInTheManual official data]], the Covenant has a few Heavyworlders in its ranks. The [[PredatorPastiche Sangheili/Elite]] homeworld Sanghelios has 1.375G, Doisac (the [[KillerSpaceApe Jiralhanae/Brute]] homeworld) has 2.1G, and the [[InsectoidAliens Yanme'e/Drones]] call Palamok, with 2.2G, their home. Fittingly, all three races are quite physically strong -- Elites & Brutes can match [[SuperSoldier Spartans]] in close combat, and Drones are strong enough to lift full-grown armored human marines into the air. Additionally, Te (the [[TheWormThatWalks Lekgolo/Hunter]] homeworld) has ''4''G. Appropriately, the Lekgolo are actually small wormlike creatures that live in massive colonies, and the only reason they didn't develop space travel despite their [[HiddenDepths surprisingly advanced technological civilization]] was because they couldn't overcome said high gravity.

* According to ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'''s [[AllThereInTheManual official data]], the Covenant has a few Heavyworlders in its ranks. The Sangheili/Elite homeworld Sanghelios has 1.375G, Doisac (the Jiralhanae/Brute homeworld) has 2.1G, and the Yanme'e/Drones call Palamok, with 2.2G, their home. Fittingly, all three races are quite physically strong -- Elites & Brutes can match [[SuperSoldier Spartans]] in close combat, and Drones are strong enough to lift full-grown armored human marines into the air. Additionally, Te (the Lekgolo/Hunter homeworld) has ''4''G. Appropriately, the Lekgolo are actually small wormlike creatures that live in massive colonies, and the only reason they didn't develop space travel despite their [[HiddenDepths surprisingly advanced technological civilization]] was because they couldn't overcome said high gravity.

* Earth, at least compared to the other known exoplanets that could support earth-like life, has an unusually deep gravity well. If we ever find any {{Human Alien}}s, we would very likely be Heavy-worlders compared to them.

* Charlie-27 of Creator/MarvelComics' original ''ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' is a Jovian, a member of a human subspecies genetically engineered to colonize Jupiter. As such, he's huge, super-strong, muscular and [[MadeOfIron very tough]]. Implicitly he's even stronger and tougher than the typical Jovian, as he was a career military man. He's also not short at all -- the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe lists him at an even 6', only slightly taller than the average adult human male[[note]]Given that the original ''Guardians'' took place in the 31st century and average human height has tended to increase over time (due to improved medicine and especially nutrition), it seems likely that 6' would be fairly average for human male height a thousand years in the future.[[/note]], though he's often drawn as the tallest of the team even so.

* In ''Literature/LastAndFirstMen'', Olaf Stapledon describes a realistic version of Heavyworlders engineered to colonize Neptune ([[ScienceMarchesOn at the time it still seemed possible]]): they're simply midgets who take advantage of the SquareCubeLaw. Subsequent Neptunian species engineer themselves to be taller than the original terrestrial men, but it's made clear that they're [[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens so advanced]] they're not limited by petty biological constraints.
* The short story "Heavy Planet" by Lee Gregor is probably one of the earliest examples of this trope. The planet's gravity is so intense that the alien describes the metal of a crashed human ship to be like rubber, poking a hole in it with his bare finger.
* Creator/EEDocSmith:
** The ''Literature/{{Lensman}}'' series featured a company of Valerians, the next-millennium descendants of Dutch colonists on a high-gravity world (the ''g'' of Valeria is 27 m/s^2, nearly triple the 9.8m/s^2 of earth), serving in the Space Marines of the [[BadAssArmy Galactic Patrol]]. In close quarters, their WeaponOfChoice was the [[RecycledInSpace space]]-[[AnAxeToGrind axe]], essentially a solid-metal combination axe and warhammer pragmatically adapted for zero-G [[InertialDampening and inertialess]] combat in a universe [[KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter where force fields can't handle the "slow" but lethal implement]].
** Another of his great sci-fi series starred the Family d'Alembert, a circus troupe of Heavyworlder secret agents and [[BadassFamily incredible badasses, one and all]]. While the Valerians fit the larger type, the d'Alemberts are the short and stocky variant.
* The Jinxians of Creator/LarryNiven's Literature/KnownSpace are one of the rare short Heavyworlder variety (described by one character as "five feet tall and five feet wide"), realistically so, since human growth patterns are determined in part by the weight of the body. They are strong enough to bend crowbars, and black-skinned regardless of ancestry, since the star they orbit, Sirius, is far brighter than Sol, particularly in the ultraviolet. They got this way after only four hundred years of selective breeding, but the downside is heart problems and short lifespans even with the life-extending drug "[[SpiceOfLife boosterspice]]". Culturally, they are mainly scientists and [[HurricaneOfPuns punsters]]. ''Literature/{{Ringworld}}'' even features [[LightBulbJoke a joke about them]]:
-->Q: How many Jinxans does it take to paint a building?\\
A: Three. One to hold the paint sprayer and the other two to shake the building up and down.

* The setting of Creator/AnneMcCaffrey's ''Literature/PlanetPirates'' series and ''Literature/DinosaurPlanet'' series may actually be the TropeNamer. The genetically-enhanced Heavyworlders, due to their history, resent and distrust "lightweights" to the point of being open to manipulative propoganda and conspiracy theories by the titular criminals. In [[{{Veganopia}} a greater society of near-universal vegetarians]], they also have to eat meat due to their altered metabolism.
* The Literature/CoDominium universe has the inhabitants of Frystaat, a DeathWorld with high gravity, intense heat, blinding sunlight, and native life with MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily. A mere six hundred years of mutation and natural selection has [[HollywoodEvolution rapidly transformed]] them into superhumans with strength, stamina, senses, and reflexes beyond the human norm (almost a match for the [[SuperSoldier Saurons]]). They are, however, very vulnerable to cold.
* ''Literature/HonorHarrington'':
** The eponymous heroine of the series is from a world with heavier-than-normal gravity, and the "Meyerdahl Beta" genetic enhancements built into her ancestors to best thrive in heavy gravity are part of what make her kick so much ass. She's actually a fairly marginal example of a Heavyworlder, though. Meyerdahl Betas' modifications were specifically designed to be subtle in the face of widespread prejudice against genetic modification, and Sphinx isn't THAT heavy, only about 1.3 ''g''.
** On the other hand, the series also has San Martin, at 2.7 ''g'' the highest gravity planet inhabited by humans, with several minor characters being from there. San Martinos are much more classic examples of the trope -- in its squat-but-wide form -- noted for their prodigious strength and muscle mass, and tend to be quite tall as well. San Martin's gravity is actually so high that humans can't even survive at sea level: the increased air pressure makes the atmosphere toxic.
** The third of the Manticore system habitable planets, ~1.5 ''g'' Gryphon, is somewhere in between, and its inhabitants often lack the genetic mod most Sphinxians sport, becoming short and squat instead. Anton Zilwicki, a stereotypical Gryphon highlander, is 163 cm (5'6") tall and was shown to dismember a SuperSoldier with his bare hands, so the comparisons to the dwarf lords are thrown about him quite routinely.
** The most extreme example is probably Thandi Palane, who comes from a very high gravity world that did its own share of genetic engineering. One character actually notes that for a non-intelligent animal the changes would probably be extreme enough for them to be considered a separate species. The book also discusses the pros and cons of her genetics. She's incredibly strong but her density is high enough that she can't swim without help and while she has great endurance she needs to eat a LOT of food and will starve much faster than most people if she doesn't get enough.

* ''Hour of the Horde'' and some short stories by Creator/GordonRDickson add a forgotten corollary: things fall faster (or rather, accelerate at a higher rate) on a high-gravity world. One alien from such a world is somewhat stronger, but ''much'' faster, because falling over on such a planet is a '''bad''' idea and being able to catch falling things is usually helpful too.
* The S't'ach in ''Literature/StarTrekTitan'', who resemble [[Disney/LiloAndStitch metre-high four-armed blue teddy bears]], but are denser than they appear. In early books they are said to be superdense, but in a later book one points out the perils of having a lot of mass on a high gravity world. Apparently, this is a rumour spread by the S't'ach themselves; they're aware of how cute they look to humanoids, and want to discourage them from trying to pick them up and cuddle them.
* The ''Literature/PerryRhodan'' universe features human colonists that come in short-and-squat, physical giant, and even relatively normal looking superman form depending on their exact planet of origin. (Ironically, these just happen to be listed in order of increasing homeworld gravity -- so the most ''normal''-looking ones hail from the world with the most extreme conditions. Oxtorne is rated at 4.8 Gs and the locals' idea of "mild" weather would be considered a full-blown hurricane elsewhere.)
* The Brobdingnagian, from the ''Literature/{{Hoka}}'' story "The Napoleon Crime." Who's also a GentleGiant and a Japanophile, and [[CuteGiant would be obnoxiously cute if he weren't huge]].

* Used in Creator/GeorgeRRMartin's "Thousand World" stories. In the short story "The Hero", the planets Wellington and Rommel have habitable climates but higher-than-Earth gravity, and their populations were recruited by the Federal Empire of Earth as soldiers.
* The [[ChooseYourOwnAdventure "1 on 1" gamebook]] ''Battle For The Ancient Robot'' had Kan-Tal from Jupiter as one of the human player's allies. His vital stats are given as 5' 2" and 492 pounds.
* ''Literature/HyperionCantos'':
** The people of Lusus, a very massive planet and industrial powerhouse with settlements buried underground, are described as being rather short, rather stout, and very strong . This includes Brawne Lamia, a PrivateDetective from Lusus who fell in love with a clone/reconstruction of Creator/JohnKeats who had lost his memory... and long story short, that's how she ends up one of the main characters of the first novel.
** The people of Sol Draconi Septem, which in addition to being very heavy was covered in a mostly-frozen atmosphere (or something), are described in the third novel (''Endymion'') as being rather like short, stout Inuit.
* The inhabitants of the planet Mesklin (which not only has very high gravity, but a very rapid rotation) in ''Literature/MissionOfGravity'' by Creator/HalClement are adjusted to this by looking somewhat like flat centipedes. The Mesklinites are the main characters of the story, which tells how a brave sea merchant retrieves a probe fallen from the sky for a strange space alien (i.e., a human).
* Saval Bork from Steve Perry's Literature/MatadorSeries is from a heavy-g world, and has some genetic modifications to help him survive there. He also spends a lot of time weightlifting, when he's in places with lighter gravity. His personal record in the bench press is 360kg, or approximately 790 pounds.
* Averted (as per usual) in the ''Literature/SectorGeneral'' series, with the FROB Hudlar (homeworld in excess of 3G, body plan more or less spherical with six prehensile tentacles) and FGLI Tralthan (homeworld 2G, rather like a hexapedal elephant, can easily be killed by a fall).
* The Starwolves in Edmond Hamilton's ''Starwolf'' trilogy are Vikings InSpace from the heavy world of Varna. They can endure higher-acceleration maneuvers than anyone else they've encountered, which is what makes them so dangerous and hard-if-not-impossible to catch. "When a Starwolf gets killed, they declare a holiday on all decent worlds."

* The Masters in ''Literature/TheTripods'' had evolved in a higher gravity world and built domed cities to maintain a higher pressure to accomodate both this and their need to breathe an atmosphere other than Earth's. It didn't have a good effect on their human servants.
* Reconstructed and downplayed in ''The Right Hand of Dextra'': While Dextra's gravity isn't ''that'' much higher (the real challenge is the MirrorChemistry), the protagonist speculates that the colonists' descendants will be Heavyworlders, albeit a more realistic take on the idea (short, stocky, and thick-limbed). [[spoiler:At that point, however, he wasn't counting on people [[WasOnceAMan mutating themselves]] into [[OurCentaursAreDifferent centaurs]].]]

* Torin Kerr of the ''Literature/ConfederationOfValor'' series is a mild version of the trope; her homeworld has 1.2 times Earth's gravity. This works to her advantage in a BarBrawl in the first book since the planet she's on has 0.8 G.
* Members of Literature/TheCulture can do this ''at will''. One character lives on a high-gravity world but visits a world with lighter gravity, and his body begins to adapt, shedding muscle and bone mass. He plans to return home soon, so he imagines a stick figure standing on a sphere, and he makes the sphere larger in his mind. His body automatically reverses the changes and builds up muscle and bone again.
* Ia, protagonist of the ''Literature/TheirsNotToReasonWhy'' series, is from a 3.2g planet. The Corps requires her to practically ''live'' in a weighted suit to retain her consequent strength and reflexes, a suit that doesn't have enough connection points for weights to fully mimic Sanctuary's gravity. There's a mention that heavyworlders in this {{verse}} are usually smaller and more compact than lightworlders, but Ia is an exception, and her brothers are even bigger than she is.
* ''Literature/AllTomorrows'': The Lopsiders were an... [[BodyHorror unusual]] take on this trope, having been genetically modified from human stock by the [[AbusivePrecursors Qu]] for life on a high gravity world by being made flat and flounder-like, crawling along on paddle-like limbs and with their sensory organs crowded on one side of their face.

* In ''Literature/CaptainFrenchOrTheQuestForParadise'', the people of San Brendan are unattractive by most standards thanks to living on a world with a higher gravity than Earth norm. They are short, stocky, and grey-skinned. However, after thousands of years, the San Brendan colonists who have re-settled the planet Transformation (renamed from Brunnershabn) have changed to normal-sized (and attractive) humans. Bioscrupture may have been involved. French even mentions recognizing facial features common to Slavic and Scandinavian people.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* In ''Franchise/StarTrek'', Vulcan is said to have higher gravity than Earth, and Vulcans are consequently around three times stronger than humans. This explains why Spock, in spite of being a nerd, can kick most people's butts in hand-to-hand combat. Well, that and the fact that while Vulcans turned away from their previous [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy proud warrior race]] society thousands of years ago, they kept teaching the old (and very effective) martial arts as a matter of tradition.

* An episode of the [[Series/BuckRogersInTheTwentyFifthCentury Buck Rogers TV series]] had an unassuming man of average build named Toman who was secretly from a high-gravity planet, giving him great strength, which he used as a hit man who never needed weapons.
* The Sontarans, a race of cloned galactic warriors from ''Series/DoctorWho''. Although Sontarans 'grew' in size over the course of the series, the new series took the trouble to restore them to their original short height, leading to the inevitable HurricaneOfPuns from the Doctor.

* The ktrit'zal in ''Literature/JunctionPoint''. Their homeworld has five times the surface gravity of Earth, and they are appropriately squat quadrupeds. Liu mentions that Rudak's arms are nearly as thick as her torso, and apparently females are even ''bigger''.
* Humans in ''Literature/TheJenkinsverse'' are heavyworlders compared to the rest of the galaxy. While the difference between Earth gravity and galactic standard is comparatively small, it was just enough for natural selection to prefer our comparatively denser and harder bones and simpler but powerful muscles over the fragile silicate bones and multifunctional but weak muscles most aliens have. Humans are also comparatively short, the only shorter sentient creatures are the Corti (whose diminutive physical size is the result of genetic engineering) and the Gaoians (who come from a planet with a gravity fairly close to Earth's and are borderline deathworlders themselves).

%%* The Kree are a Franchise/MarvelUniverse race stronger than humans and just as [[HumansAreBastards bastardly]] -- think Nazis with ''Franchise/StarTrek'' technology. Only a small pacifist cult and the occasional [[DefectorFromDecadence superhero]] keeps them from falling into AlwaysChaoticEvil.

* In ''Series/TheOrville'', Alara Kitan's race, Xelayans, come from a high gravity world. In Earth-like conditions, they can smash through concrete and make great leaps. Surprisingly, despite their reputation for great strength, they're a [[ProudScholarRaceGuy Proud Scholar Race]], who scoffs at military service as beneath their intellectual pursuits. Alara's parents constantly berate her for her choice of career and ask when she's going to stop this foolishness and get a proper education.

* [[AllThereInTheManual Officially]], Jek "Piggy" Porkins from ''Film/ANewHope'' -- callsign Red Six, the first pilot to die on the run against the Death Star -- was from a high-gravity world. This made him [[StoutStrength somewhat overweight but still strong]], and likely killed him. In the ComicBook/XWingSeries, a surviving squadmate reminisces that Porkins dialed back his fighter's ArtificialGravity a bit more than usual, which could be why he insisted that he could pull out of his fatal dive into the Death Star's surface.

** Another of his great sci-fi series starred the Family d'Alembert, a circus troupe of Heavyworlder secret agents and [[BadassFamily incredible badasses, one and all]].
*** Noteworthy, the Valerians fit the larger type, while the d'Alemberts, are the short and stocky variant.

* The eponymous heroine of the Literature/HonorHarrington series is from a world with heavier-than-normal gravity, and the "Meyerdahl Beta" genetic enhancements built into her ancestors to best thrive in heavy gravity are part of what make her kick so much ass. She's actually a fairly marginal example of a Heavyworlder, though. Meyerdahl Betas' modifications were specifically designed to be subtle in the face of widespread prejudice against genetic modification, and Sphinx isn't THAT heavy, only about 1.3 Earth's gravities. On the other hand, the series also has San Martin, at 2.7 ''g'' the highest gravity planet inhabited by humans, with several minor characters being from there. San Martinos are much more classic examples of the trope -- in its squat-but-wide form -- noted for their prodigious strength and muscle mass, and tend to be quite tall as well. San Martin's gravity is actually so high that humans can't even survive at sea level: the increased air pressure makes the atmosphere toxic. The third of the Manticore system habitable planets, Gryphon, with ~1.5 ''g'' is somewhere in between, and its inhabitants often lack the genetic mod most Sphinxians sport, becoming short and squat instead. Anton Zilwicki, a stereotypical Gryphon highlander, is 163 cm (5'6") tall and was shown to dismember a SuperSoldier with his bare hands, so the comparisons to the dwarf lords are thrown about him quite routinely.
** The most extreme is probably Thandi Palane who comes from a very high gravity world that did its own share of genetic engineering. One character actually notes that for a non-intelligent animal the changes would probably be extreme enough for them to be considered a separate species. The book also discusses the pros and cons of her genetics. She's incredibly strong but her density is high enough that she can't swim without help and while she has great endurance she needs to eat a LOT of food and will starve much faster than most people if she doesn't get enough.

* The people of Lusus, a very massive planet and industrial powerhouse with its settlements buried underground (called Hives and many of them [[WretchedHive fitting the description]]), are described as being rather short, rather stout, and very strong in Creator/DanSimmons' ''Literature/HyperionCantos''. This includes Brawne Lamia, a PrivateDetective from Lusus who fell in love with a clone/reconstruction of Creator/JohnKeats who had lost his memory... and long story short, that's how she ends up one of the main characters of the first novel.

* Taken to an extreme by the '[[FanNickname lobster]]' form that [[TheSymbiote Kheldians]] can take in ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes''; a previous common host for Kheldians were the inhabitants of a ''white dwarf star''.
* The Cabal of ''{{VideoGame/Destiny}}'' are such people; they are so adapted to their own worlds that they have to wear specially-pressurized suits just to survive on Mars.

* The Elcor from ''Franchise/MassEffect'' absolutely fit the bill: they come from Dekuuna, world that is teeming to the brim with life not unlike Earth, but has a crushing gravity on top of it. This not only shaped the elcor into being [[MightyGlacier extremely strong and durable]], but it also colored their psychology as a species that's always careful and conservative. Rather amusingly, the elcor communicate through pheromones than facial cues or vocal inflection, leading them to having [[CreepyMonotone a monotone voice]], leading to the necessity to [[ThatMakesMeFeelAngry state their emotions to prevent misunderstandings with other races]].
** In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', their status as [[MightyGlacier Mighty Glaciers]] comes to prove incredibly beneficial in the scheme of things; if Shepard rescues the elcor survivors trapped on Dekuuna, they're awarded the remnant army of the elcor to combat [[EldritchAbomination the Reapers]], who use their status as [[HeavyWorlder Heavy Worlders]] to act as ''[[ShoulderCannon Shoulder Cannon-wielding infantry]]'', made even more capable with complex VI systems. While there's a TearJerker to be found in the elcor ambassador breaking down at [[spoiler:how only a few elcor survived the onslaught of the Reapers]], one can't deny what the elcor ambassador describes as "living tanks" are nothing short of an OffscreenMomentOfAwesome.
** ''Franchise/MassEffect'' also has the Volus. The Volus homeworld has a high pressure atmosphere and a gravity of 1.5gs making the Volus rather short. They have to wear a pressure suit to keep their skin from splitting open when in environments that are suitable for the other council species.
* Gravitas in ''VideoGame/{{Meteos}}'' is the planet in the game with the strongest gravity. Its inhabitants have little leisure time. They are about 1 meter in height and seem to be angular in shape.
** There are a number of other planets with very heavy gravity too, though they don't have it as their defining trait like Gravitas. They're reflected in gameplay by everything falling quickly (and thus tend to be more difficult planets to work with).

* DanDare: The short and stocky Verans from Jupiter are a good example of this trope. When one visited Earth, he fell flat on his face and needed a couple of industrial cranes to get back on his feet.

One factor common to nearly all Heavyworlders is [[SuperStrength prodigious physical strength]] (even though logically, physical ''stamina'' would be more important when carrying around twice your weight every day). Many versions will therefore be TheBigGuy, because size is so commonly associated with strength. Other (some might say more realistic) depictions will be short and squat, because basic mechanical considerations and the SquareCubeLaw show that it's much more advantageous for a Heavyworlder to have a compact, stout, but ''short'' body, not unlike common portrayal of Dwarves in fantasy.

** In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', their status as [[MightyGlacier Mighty Glaciers]] comes to prove incredibly beneficial in the scheme of things; if Shepard rescues the elcor survivors trapped on Dekuuna, they're awarded the remnant army of the elcor to combat [[EldritchAbomination the Reapers]], who use their status as [[HeavyWorlder Heavy Worlders]] to act as [[ShoulderCannon Shoulder Cannon-wielding infantry]], made even more capable with complex VI systems. While there's a TearJerker to be found in the elcor ambassador breaking down at [[spoiler:how only a few elcor survived the onslaught of the Reapers]], one can't deny what the elcor ambassador describes as "living tanks" ''aren't'' an OffscreenMomentOfAwesome.

* The Elcor from ''Franchise/MassEffect'' absolutely fit the bill: they come from Dekuuna, world that is teeming to the brim with like not unlike Earth, but has a crushing gravity on top of it. This not only shaped the elcor into being [[MightyGlacier extremely strong and durable]], but it also colored their psychology as a species that's always careful and conservative. Rather amusingly, the elcor communicate through pheromones than facial cues or vocal inflection, leading them to having [[CreepyMonotone a monotone voice]], leading to the necessity to [[ThatMakesMeFeelAngry state their emotions to prevent misunderstandings with other races]].