Badass Arm-Fold

The caption text (and a bunch of space monsters) just fled in terror.

One of the few ways to indicate that you are a badass or at least hellishly ambitious is to fold your arms straight in front of your opposition. When you see one doing such a pose, you know that they are badass or remarkably powerful, or so calm that they have the situation under control or at least harbor great ambition. It is also a symbol of cockiness. Bonus points if they have impressive muscles.

So basically, if you see people folding their arms, this is a good indication to see that they are badass. Even if they're not, they're still showing determination, stubbornness or toughness.

Note that crossing arms below the ribcage speaks a whole other body language, and involves bringing shoulders forward defensively. This tends to denote sulkiness or defensiveness. To cross arms over your chest, one must spread shoulders back, which juts out the chest and straightens the spine, making the figure stand slightly taller, and raises the chin. It's also "closed off" body language, indicating resistance to influence. Each of these elements alone convey confidence, the total posture sums them up to a Badass Arm-Fold. If you wanted to add, say, the Kubrick Stare you would have to consciously lower the chin, but this tends to net more badass points than it gives away.

This trope goes excellently with Multi-Armed and Dangerous, although more than six arms tends to ruin the effect.

This can be one of the Modeling Poses if the product is meant to convey strength and determination.

See also Reverse Arm-Fold (this pose's more laid-back cousin) and Dynamic Akimbo. Sometimes combined with Dramatic High Perching. Often leads to Rebel Relaxation, but this is when they aren't leaning. Among Anime fans, this is known as the "Gainax Pose" because so many badass Studio Gainax characters used it (including the page image).

---

Examples:

Advertising

• Mr. Clean.
• Much as the Dreamworks Face is seemingly mandated by law to be on every animated movie poster, attempts at a Badass Arm-Fold now seem to pop up on EVERY print ad for reality television, even if the subject matter is something like digging up meteorites or running a pawn shop.
• It’s also fairly common in ads for watches, especially those designed for “extreme, high-tech” occupations like pilots or divers, as it lets the wearer look cool and intense with their wrist in a prominent position.
• Jean-Claude Van Damme in the "Epic Split" ad for Volvo. While doing his signature full leg split. Suspended between a pair of trucks.

Anime & Manga

• Angel Beats!: Kanade Tachibana does this in episode 4 when she's wearing her baseball couch clothes.
• Space Pirate Captain Harlock does this from time to time, especially when he's behind the Arcadia's ship's wheel.
• Dragon Ball:
  • Many rival characters are very prone of this. Namely, Tenshinhan, Piccolo, Vegeta, Hit, and Jiren. All of them are also very serious dudes.
  • Vegetto combines this with Extremity Extremist.
  • Freeza and Cell. The former combines this with Extremity Extremist on one occasion, too, until he loses his cool.
  • Among the spectators of the Tournament of Power, some of the cooler Gods of Destruction, e.g. Bermod and Geene do this a lot.
  • Piccolo often stands like this, usually adding Badass Cape on top of it.
• Izumi and Sig Curtis from Fullmetal Alchemist. Ed does it a few times when he's sulking, but he's still just as badass as the others. Special mention goes to Greed/Ling (Greed being dominant) while he descents slowly in the elevator of the government's central building; about to destroy the Amestris' soldiers below.
• Volfogg is prone to this in GaoGaiGar. Considering he's a ninja policecar robot, well, it's certainly justified. His VA then went on to do Kamina.
• Getter Robo: This pose is THE signature pose of Getter Dragon, the first Humongous Mecha to use it.
• The title mecha of GunBuster is famous for it. GunBuster is associated with this trope enough that anime fans tend to refer to it, when combined with the proper leg positioning and facing forward, as the Gunbuster Pose. Which is a case of Parody Displacement. Gunbuster is a mish-mash of references to Kamen Rider and other super robots, with that pose being a nod to the signature pose of Getter Dragon.
  • In it's sequel, Diebuster, Buster Machine 7 combines the Gunbuster Pose with More Dakka, in that Nono just stands there, arms folded, with her Idiot Hair directing a massive swarm of attacks. And later, with Diebuster, she's straddling literal planets with her Gunbuster Poses.
• In JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, a variation of this (legs almost closed and leaning back a fair bit, because the standard pose is clearly not fabulous enough) is Dio Brando's signature pose.
• Lyrical Nanoha:
  • Voltaire of has a tendency to do this, as shown during the final mission in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS. Considering its size and black color scheme, maybe it's a subtle Gunbuster reference?
  • Dearche, the Large Ham leader of the Dark Materials in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha INNOCENT, does this pose so often that even the Super-Deformed computer-controlled avatar based on her does it when it's on standby.
• Mazinger:
  • Mazinger Z: Kouji Kabuto sometimes does this. A good example in an episode in which Mazinger-Z is nearly completely depleted from energy during a battle, the control deck is smoking and giving off sparks due to the strain, the weapons don't work, Prof. Yumi is ordering — repeatedly — for Kouji to retreat because he'll die otherwise... and Kouji simply folds his arms across his chest as he calmly waits for one chance to blast the Beast down! It is hard to convey how badass he seemed right then.
  • Great Mazinger: Tetsuya Tsurugi used this position more often than Kouji due to him being less light-hearted and more serious and angry than Kouji.
  • UFO Robo Grendizer: Duke also used the position every now and then.
• Mobile Fighter G Gundam: Two more words: Master Asia. And the actual King of Hearts that appeared as part of the Sekhia Love-Love Tenkyoken in the finale. Who cares what it was, it rocked all the same.
• Naruto:
  • Naruto has a habit of doing this when he's feeling particularly confident, or after having accomplished a Big Damn Heroes moment.
  • This is often Gaara's default position. Justified, as his absolute sand defense and sand armor prevent much of anything from touching him.
  • Madara in the Fourth Great Shinobi War also holds this as his default stance when he's not in combat. He also enters this when using his Susano'o, as he no longer needs to move his body at all to fight.
• Dynamis from Negima! Magister Negi Magi fights in this position. He still has two hands free, though.
• One Piece: There is a reason why Roronoa Zoro is the page image for Made of Iron. Imagine all of the pain from your captain was transferred to you while you were already clinging to Death's Door. Zoro survived that. The armfold was the cherry on top.
• Pokémon:
  • Treecko/Grovyle/Sceptile does this often in ''Pokémon: The Series' (and man is it badass).
  • Ash's Buizel has this, no matter if it's serious or relaxed.
  • Ash's Infernape can be seen in this pose while taking a picture with Ash and the rest of his Pokémon at the end of Best Wishes!.
  • This is pretty much the default pose (and cover image) of Ash's Greninja whether he's in battle or not or if he's transformed into Ash-Greninja, though when he drops this pose, this lets one know things are about to hit the fan.
  • When she learns Surf in SM099, Lana's Popplio has one while she and Nagisa are riding on it.
  • In Pokémon Adventures, all of Chuck's Pokemon (And Chuck himself) do this, even while fighting. They're quite badass too.
• Ranma ½: In the manga, Ranma Saotome does this on a regular basis.
• In Sailor Moon, Tuxedo Mask often does this as he delivers his pre-battle speeches. Makoto and Rei also demonstrate this.
• Saint Seiya:
  • Taurus Aldebaran in the original series and the Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas spin-off. He even fights multiple opponents (and wins!) in this position.
  • This is the signature stance of Harbinger, Aldebaran, Rasgado and Ox; all different incarnations of the Taurus Saint.
• All three Team Shots in the first three anime season openings feature Zelgadis of Slayers doing this.
• Space Patrol Luluco: Luluco does this in Episode 12 while standing on the bow of her mother's Cool Starship in a clear Shout-Out to GunBuster.
• ST☆R: Strike it Rich: During her introduction at the start Valkyria's fisrt tournament, Riko has her arms crossed across her chest, emphasizing her muscules and showing that she is confident in her chances of winning.
• Subverted in the OVA of Super Robot Wars Original Generation. Only Lamia Loveless have the gall to wait for an exhibition to begin all while folding her arms in front of her. Amongst her group, she probably is the calmest and most badass (but not the most between the whole cast). Unfortunately, for the rest of the OVA, she never gets to show her badass qualities.
• Lordgenome from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann pilots his mecha this way. Also how the SuperGalaxy Gurren Lagann is introduced, in a GunBuster homage. Super Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann also does the pose.
  • This pose is Kamina's default stance when he's not sitting down, or in his heaven piercing pose.
  • Not to mention what Simon does in what's arguably the most famous scene.
  • Exaggerated in the finale with the entire cast pulling this as Simon saves Nia from the Anti-Spiral. Then in the second movie: this is the pose first assumed by the Super Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (a Humongous Mecha just over half the size of the universe) in the film's climax, managing to top the above action by Diebuster when it manages a Gunbuster Pose that straddles galaxies.
• Several characters from Yu-Gi-Oh!, especially Yami Yugi, Seto Kaiba and Yami Marik, all of them do this most of the time. The three of them do it even on the same screen once (and Jonouchi being only one on the screen who doesn't do it).
  • The Machine-Type Monster Jinzo is usually seen doing this.
• Stardust Dragon does this in the fifth opening of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds.

Comic Books

• The Batman's first in-story appearance (Detective Comics #27) had him on a rooftop with this pose confronting baddies in the middle of a break-in. One of the most luminary first entrances in comic fiction.
• Kate Kane does this fairly often, whether in uniform as Batwoman or not.
• Fantastic Four:
  • Doctor Doom does this all the time.
  • Mr. Fantastic, being a Rubber Man, is able to do this and Dynamic Akimbo at the same time.◊
• Green Lantern: Guy Gardner complains that he isn't able to do to this when he is turned into a woman (with a physical trait common with most comic superheroines) in an issue of Guy Gardner: Warrior.
• The Mighty Thor does this (or something very similar) when he is facing down Tony Stark on the subject of Ragnarok and the superhuman registration act. Tony wildly underestimates how powerful Thor actually is, and hits him with the full power of his repulsors when Thor refuses to play ball. When the dust clears, Thor is shown unharmed, and a mix of angry and disappointed with Tony. He then proceeds to beat the crap out of Tony while chiding him for not acting as a friend should.
• New Gods: Slight variation with Darkseid, as the Lord of Apokolips tends to fold his arms behind his back.
• If Richard Dragon decides to interrupt someone with a smirk paired with an armfold they're about to have their day ruined if they're not smart enough to run or have some level of Nigh-Invulnerability.
• Shazam!: Black Adam uses this all the time. All. The. Time. Normally while hovering a few inches off the ground. Alexander Luthor one time called him on it, saying that his constant hovering was creeping people out.
• The Silver Surfer did this to Mephisto.
• Supergirl does this every so often.
  • In the Red Daughter of Krypton arc, in which she was a Kryptonian Red Lantern (one of the most obscenely overpowered possible combinations in The DCU), she did this pose several times. One of those times happened during a battle: she flew in the battlefield, punched an enemy across the city, folded her arms and glared.
  • In Elseworld's Finest: Supergirl & Batgirl, Supergirl crosses her arms across her chest when she confronts Batgirl for first time. Captain Marvel and Big Barda also do this when they argue with Batgirl after arriving on Gotham.
  • In Convergence #6, pre-Crisis Kara folds her arms as she stares down at the enemy army◊.
  • In Many Happy Returns, Kara folds her arms across her chest and stares Rebel down after warning that if he attacks her, she will hurt him.
• Commonly done by Superman, who stands and/or floats with arms crossed with a derisive look on his face after his opponent's attacks have failed to even make him flinch. Also done whenever he's chiding a crook for acting like a Jerkass, usually with a "I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed" attitude. Being Superman, this is really effective.
• X-Men:
  • Cyclops is prone to this when he's doing the Team Leader bit. Also, he has that "impressive muscles" part down to an absurd degree.
  • The genocidal supervillain Apocalypse can often be seen looking superior in this pose.
• Several characters in the X-Wing Rogue Squadron comics do this, including Wedge while pondering The Chains of Commanding.

Comic Strips

• The Phantom: One of the standard poses of the titular hero.

Fan Works

• All of the four except Ringo do this a few times in The Keys Stand Alone: The Soft World, particularly the Nigh-Invulnerable Paul, who likes to do it when he's quietly daring someone to attack him.

Film — Animated

• Jafar from Aladdin can pull this of well, like the scene where Prince Ali visits. In the sequel, Jafar comes out of the lamp as a huge red genie, folds his arms, hovers hugely and ominously, then leans in really close, scaring the living crap out of Abis Mal, who babbles incoherently in utter terror.
• Nod on the cast poster for Epic (2013).
• Chernabog crosses his arms over his chest when he awakens in Fantasia.
• In Turning Red, Mei strikes this pose in one of the pictures taken during the panda hustle montage.

Film — Live-Action

• Snow in Lockout. In spite of being under arrest, seating around men of authority standing over him, and being dictated the terms of his suicide mission, Snow just sits there with his arms crossed, unimpressed.
• Star Wars: The end of Revenge of the Sith sees the newly-minted Darth Vader join the side of Emperor Palpatine as they survey the initial building of the Death Star. Vader's arm-crossing amply displays not only his utter badassery, but his contempt for the nascent "technological terror" being constructed.

Literature

• Visser Three from Animorphs makes use of this on the cover of VISSER.
• In The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, on those occasions when Lord Foul takes on a physical or partially physical form, his default pose is generally to stand with his arms folded while regarding his enemies with profound contempt.
• In Dark Lord—The Rise of Darth Vader, Vader, getting used to his armor, is learning which poses are most intimidating. He folds his arms often, and also plants his fists on his hips.
• Inspector Javert's default pose in Les Misérables. When he stops doing it, he's in trouble...
• Kirino's pose on the cover of the first volume of Oreimo is more tsun-tsun than badass, but it's enough to undergo Memetic Mutation as seen here (NSFW).

Live-Action TV

• Doctor Who: The Ninth Doctor was fond of doing this.
• The opening credits sequence for Iron Chef America shows all of the program's chefs assuming this pose, in a visual Mundane Made Awesome gag.
• Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger: Captain Marvelous' default stance. Leads to a great moment in the first episode: Everything is exploding, the scenery is falling apart, and the rest of the team is ducking for cover. Marvelous? Standing unfazed, not giving a damn. The S.H.Figuarts figure of Gokai Red even comes with the option to replace his poseable arms with folded ones.
• Kamen Rider Ryuki: Kamen Rider Odin tends to be in this pose most of the time.
• Everyone does this in the opening of Pawn Stars in an attempt to make a couple of chubby, ordinary men look cool.
• Dr. Perry Cox from Scrubs has a tendency to do this whenever he's about to kick some ass or go off on a rant. Amusingly enough, it is paired with a quick nose rub which actor John C. McGinley admits he borrowed from Robert Redford.
• Just take a look around the Stargate wiki. Weir summoning this trope simply reeks of awesome◊.
• In one episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, this week's Insane Admiral orders Worf to put Captain Picard under arrest. Worf simply glares at him and crosses his arms.
• Constable Odo from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, is exceptionally fond of this trope, in keeping with his image as a stoic, badass frontier lawman. If he's not doing one of these, then he's usually rocking its counterpart, the Reverse Arm-Fold.
• Star Trek: Voyager.
  • In "Distant Origin", Captain Janeway tells her alien captor to hold onto something as his spaceship is about to be attacked. He defiantly does this trope instead. His confidence is justified when the attack is a No-Sell.
  • Subverted when the holographic Doctor does this in "Revulsion". It just leaves the mobile emitter on his shoulder exposed to a blind swipe, shutting down his program when it's struck.
• Top Gear: When not driving, The Stig is only ever seen with his arms crossed over his chest or with his hands on his hips. Lampshaded in the episode where he was forced to take public transport. They wheeled him on using one of those Hannibal Lecter gurneys so he wouldn't break his cooler-than-thou pose.
• Captain Jack Harkness often folds his arms in Torchwood, usually when he's in the Torchwood hub.
• Ultraman Tiga: This is Captain Megumi Iruma's default posture, considering that she is The Captain of GUTS, remaining calm and collected even when under constant pressure with monster and alien attacks. Hell, she is seen with her arms folded in the second opening credits.
• Xena: Warrior Princess, especially effective when combined with her Kubrick Stare.

Pro Wrestling

• Taz did this during in-ring introductions in ECW (not so much in WWE.)
• Jazz used to do this, combined with never speaking. It helped her stand out as a badass at a time when WWE pushed women purely on how sexy they were.

Theater

• In Pokémon Live!, Giovanni does this in "You Just Can't Win" after pushing Ash away from him.

Video Games

• Both Franziska von Karma and her father Manfred do this in the Ace Attorney series. As does Apollo.
• Kira Daidouji from Arcana Heart is also highly ambitious and condescending and her fighting stance has her striking this pose. Her ambitions comes from her desire to, you guessed it, Take Over the World.
• Asura's Wrath has a few characters that do this, like Yasha, Augus, and Asura himself. Asura even does this when in outer space, very similar to Nono and even does it on the tip of his personal flagship similar to The Original GunBuster.
• Bang Shishigami, the hot blooded Ninja turned superhero from BlazBlue does this.
• In Brain Dead 13, Lance makes a pose like this in resurrection scenes and in the final confrontation, showing that he is brave in the face of certain death.
• In Chrono Trigger, Magus does this on the world map if the player waits too long.
• There's two variants of this in City of Heroes. Your character does this during his/her/its idle animation every cycle. The other is a slightly wicked take, with your legs together and your character staring slightly downward. Look GREAT if you're hovering! It fits, because you play as a Comic-Book style Superhero.
• It's Disgaea's very own main character's default pose. Laharl seems to be quite aware of its indication, as the trope description suits him really well.
  • Kurtis is doing one in his Disgaea 3 and 4 character portrait, and in his cut-in portraits starting from 2. Despite being a Prinny, it's still effective.
• A few dragons in Dragalia Lost do this as their standard idle pose in artwork and in the Dragon's Roost; Pazuzu and Aria.
• Dragon Quest V: Grandmaster Nimzo's first form◊ keeps his arms crossed over his chest during the whole battle.
• Amongst the three rulers in Dynasty Warriors, Cao Cao is the most ambitious. Thus, he is prone to be portrayed in this pose (especially his DW 5 official art).
• As mentioned earlier in the anime and manga section, Master Asia is fond of this, as seen here in Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2 even Domon indulges in it.
• EXTRAPOWER: Giant Fist: Not only does World's Strongest Man Zophy do this regularly throughout the story, but he can be made to do this during gameplay with a simple button combination, for no benefit but that it looks cool.
• Final Fantasy:
  • Vincent Valentine from Final Fantasy VII frequently poses like this.
  • Montblanc from Final Fantasy XII always does this fold. If not he only lets his arms open for a few seconds, then he does it back. He is The Captain of Clan Centurio after all...
  • And in Final Fantasy X, both Kimahri and Bahamut, a seven-foot-tall lion-man and a twelve-foot tall metallic dragon respectively, do this when standing in place, radiating Badassery. Wakka too, sometimes.
  • Kain from Final Fantasy IV does this for his Victory Pose in Dissidia Duodecim.
• As might be expected from the large number of badasses in the franchise, Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage has quite a few of its characters do this, especially after Musou attacks. Most notable is Souther, whose Badass Arm Fold and Evil Laugh are both weaponized as part of his Nanto abilities.
• In Genshin Impact, Zhongli's Elemental Burst Planet Befall has him do this as a giant metorite falls on his opponents.
• Proto Bahamut from Granblue Fantasy has its hands tied up but still ends up looking like this.
• In Guilty Gear XX, whenever Sol Badguy fights a certain people (e.g.: Dizzy, I-No, Slayer), he folds his arms and fire comes out around him. Justice loves doing these as well.
• Ansem (or Xehanort's Heartless) has this as his battle pose in the Kingdom Hearts series, mainly because he lets his Guardian Heartless do all the work. His previous persona Terra-Xehanort also had a badass arm-fold. To add they also both examples of Power Floats.
• Yuffie in Kingdom Hearts II and Final Fantasy VII.
• Duke's Idle Animation in The King of Fighters Maximum Impact is to slowly fold his arms. He's an SNK Boss.
• During the Dark Side ending to Knights of the Old Republic Revan does this while looking out over the assembled Sith armies.
• Marvel vs. Capcom:
  • Shuma-Gorath is known to bust out a Badass Arm-Fold with tentacles ever so often.
  • Doctor Doom has this as his idle pose in all of his appearances along with his signature cape. And it is awesome.
    "Turn and run now, and I will mercifully pretend this never happened."
• Commander Shepard in Mass Effect is rather prone to doing this. During the first game, they tend to switch to a Reverse Arm-Fold when speaking to superior officers or the Council however.
• Liquid Snake did this a lot in Metal Gear Solid.
• Mortal Kombat's Kintaro◊ takes up this pose. This is also Stryker's winning pose in Mortal Kombat 3.
• In the old Data East medieval-themed wrestling/fighting game Mutant Fighter (aka Death Brade), This was Pazuzu the Demon's default pose. He even did it while performing his super attack.
• Izanami default pose when fighting her first form in Persona 4.
• In Perfect Dark, one of Trent Easton's bodyguards takes this pose as he accompanies him to a meeting in the G5 Building.
• Pokémon Sword and Shield has Gigantamax Cinderace take this stance while standing atop its massive Pyro Ball; the fact that the Pyro Ball has a face rapidly brings that scene from TTGL to mind.
• A lot of characters do this in Project × Zone but this is hilariously parodied in the sequel Brave New World where Kage Maru does this while Akira Yuuki is rowing the boat all by himself.
• In Rift, this is the default idle pose for a male bahmi character on a tartagon mount.
• Legendary Ninja Fuma Kotaro's default stance in Sengoku Basara. Takeda Shingen does it too, when he means business. And Date Masamune rides his horse with arms folded (not holding the reins).
• Hotsuma in the PS2 Shinobi (2002) folds his arms when standing or walking. As does his successor in Nightshade (2003), Hibana.
• In Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment, Specter Knight has an unlockable "Cold Shoulder" ability, which is a Taunt Button that makes Specter Knight fold his arms and stand menacingly while his cloak flows in the wind. He retains this move as one of his taunts in Shovel Knight Showdown.
• Sonic, Knuckles and especially Shadow from the Sonic the Hedgehog series fold their arms on a regular basis in cutscenes, official artwork, or idle animations.
• Soul Series: A few playable characters have a knack with this posture from Cervantes to Algol. Special mention goes to Taki, as this has becoming one of her postures before battle. She is always seen with her arms folded in the Character Select screens for Soulcalibur II and Soulcalibur IV.
• Borf, the evil alien commander from Space Ace does a Badass Arm-Fold and a Cheshire Cat Grin during his "You cannot win!" taunting of the player after the player makes a bad move.
• The Final Boss of Splatoon's single-player mode, being an octopus, keeps two of his arms folded while using another pair to operate his Humongous Mecha-slash-turntable.
• Ryu from Street Fighter gives us the classic 'wind blowing' win pose, which involves this. M. Bison is also fond of this pose, as is Sagat. Starting with later games, Akuma has picked up the habit as well.
• This is Strider Hien's idle pose in Strider 2, in contrast of Hiryu's battle-ready stance. Hiryu himself later borrows it as his idle pose in Strider (2014).
• Luigi of the Super Mario Bros. series does this as a victory pose. Granted, he grins happily when he does it.
  • Bowser does this constantly in artwork for the games and he hits most of the notes in the description.
• Falco in the Super Smash Bros. games.
• Kratos Aurion in Tales of Symphonia does this quite often. Succeeding him in Tales of Xillia and Tales of Xillia 2 is Gaius, who's almost always doing this when he's idle. He even does it in battle while he's participating in Rowen's Dual Capriccio link arte (Which has him take a short ride atop a magically produced air glider). The rest of the cast lampshade this and one victory pose even has a few of them copying him while he looks on in bafflement.
  • Yuri Lowell from Tales of Vesperia does this in a skit pose.
• Kazuya Mishima from Tekken likes folding his arms in front of him, whether it's opening sequence, or it's winning pose. He's been doing this since his debut.
• In the Touhou Project fighting games, this is the neutral stance of Gensokyo's resident Time Master Ninja Maid, Sakuya. Considering she is a walking Dio Brando reference, it makes sense. Amusingly, it's also the neutral stance of the fairy Cirno; no doubt an attempt to look stronger than she is.
• In The Wonderful 101, Supreme Overlord Jergingha does this in the first portion of his final fight segment.
• In Xenogears, Grahf and his Gear pose like this in almost every scene they appear. It reflects his immense power and confidence.
• Albedo from Xenosaga in one image. You can find it in the Image Links.

Webcomics

• Aurora (2019): Kendal assumes this pose while delivering a "The Reason You Suck" Speech to a tyrannical god.
• Basic Instructions: Though most of the comic's original run, resident superhero Rocket Hat silently appears in the same not-very-heroic pose with all of his effortless beatdowns of the Moon Men's Emperor occuring off-camera. Toward the end, he finally adapts this trope's pose.
• Kamina pulls one of these while standing on a car full of whores in the early pages of DOUBLE K. The author notes that he simply had to do it, since he never did in the main series.
• One-Punch Man: This is King's default pose in battle, and many fear what would happen if he ever uncrossed his arms. He's actually standing like this because with his arms crossed, it's easier for him not to flip out and run away.
• Union of Heroes: The Evil Wittener does this when The Master finds out that he is in fact the former hero named "The Man From The Booth"

Web Originals

• Dreamscape: Its Melissa's default pose, and reflects her arrogance.
• Firebrand pulls it at the end of the 11/11/12 livestream video in Tribe Twelve. "YOU'RE FUCKING WELCOME."

Western Animation

• Code Lyoko: XANA-William does this in "Hot Shower", since even he doesn't need to do anything since XANA's plan is absolutely perfect. Heck, too perfect.
• Gargoyles: Goliath can pull off a very intimidating one, if the situation calls for it.
• The title character of Danny Phantom does this at the end of the theme song. Once in a while he'll do it in the show as well.
• Kaeloo: In "Let's Play Streetball", the gang makes their own rap music video and Mr. Cat, Stumpy and Quack Quack do this.
• Kim Possible: Ron Stoppable does this at the end of "So The Drama", when Dr. Drakken remembers his name.
• The Legend of Korra:
  • This pose is favored by Avatar Korra, and is the stock pose◊ she sports on her character page at nick.com, all the better for her to showcase that Sleeves Are for Wimps.
  • Toph Beifong does the behind-the-back version for most of her "fight" with Korra. Note that bending normally requires sweeping arm gestures, she's just that good.
• This is one of the signature poses of The Powerpuff Girls. Especially with Buttercup, which means she's either very irritated or she's ready to rumble.
• On Regular Show, Mordecai folds his arms at Rigby to show that he is pissed off at him. He even does it slowly just to show he means business.
  Rigby: Don't you dare!
  Mordecai: Too late. It's already in motion.
• In South Park this is PC Principal's default stance, when he's not beating up politically incorrect people (or sentient Advertisements), or ranting about Social Justice.
• Star Wars Rebels: Agent Kallus has a tendency to do fold his arms, and pair it with a smirk, when he's in control, or thinks he's in control of a situation.
• Robin and Cyborg from Teen Titans do this from time to time.
• Winx Club: In "Welcome to Magix", Tecna is standing with her arms folded and an angry glare when she finds a trio of Wicked Witches bullying her suitemate, Bloom.

Real Life

• This is the typical stance of the bouncer, making them look more intimidating and impassive to your puny attempts to scam your way inside.
• The painting of Benjamin Franklin used for this very wiki.
• Athletes such as Mixed Martial Arts fighters and Rugby players' pictures are often taken in this style.
• Played with in psychology. This stance denotes one of two things: (a) the person is in a state of deep thought^note an aversion or (b) the person is in a state of insecurity.^note an inversion The actual badass (and intimidating) pose would have good posture and hands on the hips denoting the person is purposefully opening themselves up for attack but they're confident enough with themselves to do it anyway.
• The most famous clip of Benito Mussolini features him crossing his arms after a speech in a rather cartoonish show of machismo. Allied propaganda frequently used this clip to characterize him as an inflated bully.
• Many amusement parks, such as Six Flags, actually discourage employees from using this pose when speaking to guests, since it can be interpreted by guests as being "closed off" from the other party, and make the staff member seem less welcoming and friendly and more uncompromising and emotionless. The exception to this, of course, is park security personnel, which like the bouncer entry above are supposed to be uncompromising when it comes to dealing with unruly guests.
• The president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has this on his page on The Other Wiki.

---