#fat characters

[sceptixfakemon]

we deserve to have media with fat characters that like being fat and that are confident and happy in their fatness and they do not want to change that one bit im being very reasonable here

[seventeendeer]

as a fat person who's always clamoring for more interesting fat characters in media, I honestly think one of my all-time favorite depictions of a fat character is Jumba from the original Lilo and Stitch - both visually and personality wise

from a design perspective, even though he's an alien, he has so many little anatomy quirks that make him a more believable fat character than many fat human designs in other media. I love the realistic sag and layering of the fat on his arms, the lack of neck definition, the rim of chub around his face and upper back, the way his back is rounded. his clothes pull taut and pinch in anatomically accurate places (e.g. shoulders are firmer = smoother outlines, the sides and back are squishier = bumpier outlines).

and he's stylized so well! all these great details boiled down to some simple shapes and pen strokes. IMO the Lilo and Stitch art style is extremely appealing - it's warm and clean and visually pleasing, but every character is super unique. Jumba isn't supposed to be pretty, but even though he's a very large, very fat, bald older guy who spends most of the movie in crop tops, the way he's stylized and staged makes it clear the audience is supposed to find him interesting to look at, and variably intimidating/cool/powerful/capable. he's often funny, but the physical aspect of his comedy is derived from being so hefty the other characters struggle to prevent him from barreling ahead and doing whatever he wants; being fat makes him come off more in control of the funny situations he gets into, not less. also, because the art style is what it is, a lot of his character acting also just makes him look kind of cute ... though that's universal across the cast

I also really like the fact that his size clearly gives him both realistic advantages and realistic disadvantages. along with having a stronger sense of agency in the comedic scenes, his size in combination with his impulsivity also makes him a more intimidating antagonist. you never know what he's going to do, and his size makes it difficult for other characters to stop him when he's made up his mind. at the same time, it seems to take him longer to catch his breath, he sometimes grunts when moving around a lot to imply it takes more effort, and he clearly struggled to find clothes that fit him when putting together his disguise. I think it's awesome that the character's size impacts how he interacts with the world so much, and again, in relatable ways

and personality wise, it is ALWAYS great to see fat characters portrayed as intelligent - not only is Jumba an accomplished scientist, he's also crafty and witty! a few quiet scenes imply a philosophical side, as he ponders on Stitch's existence and feelings as a living weapon. with Stitch explicitly being made in his own image to an extent, I'd argue there's even room to interpret some of the things he says about Stitch being hints to how he sees himself; we never learn much about Jumba's past, but it's clear he's a social misfit and strongly defiant. I don't think it's a stretch to assume some of what he said to Stitch about being a monster who can never belong anywhere was intended to read as projection (which makes it all the more heartwarming when both of them find a place to belong on Earth)

it's also a nice twist that toward the end, Jumba is the one who is unexpectedly compassionate toward Nani, while Pleakley tries to urge him to ignore her. again alluding to a level of emotional depth and intelligence that is often missing from even well-intentioned depictions of fat people. his character isn't even fully explored, and yet he's one of the most dynamic and interesting supporting characters in a movie full of fantastic characters. the audience is expected to find him fascinating and even sort of mysterious, and he is!

the sequels and spinoffs were more merchandise-driven franchise fluff for kids than the artsy direction of the original movie, but even so, I remember Jumba went on to become Lilo's lovable, amoral uncle figure, which I also thought was so fun as a kid. I love that they committed to the fact that he was more caring and compassionate than he seemed. not only was he a cool evil mad scientist character, but he was also eventually ... a friend ...

and he was even gay

[venus22j2]

rating even more fat characters, pt. 6

1). Thistle Man, Alice Isn't Dead. 7/10. Sounds interesting! I'd probably like it better if I read/listened to the source material.

2). Briggsy, Legends of Avantris. 7/10! crocodile!

3). Samantha Strong, Beneath The Trees. 100/10 hello hello heloo hello hello hello evil bear woman. HELLO HELLO HELLO HELLO HEL

4). Bubble Bass, Sponge Bob. 5/10. i knew this one was coming. bless that one selfshipper shes way stronger than me

5). Ursula, The Little Mermaid. 10/10 COME ONNN how did i forget to add her sooner. she is THE moment, she is sexual and she is beautiful

6). Kingpin, Spiderman. "...but more importantly, that one segment from the comic where hes stripping and it turns out hes actually pretty jacked." <- i hope i got the right image youre thinking of because WOOF 10/10 HELLO?? look at those HANDS.

7). The Major, Hellsing Ultimate. 100/10 im usually not a fan of anime but this man oozes pure raw sex appeal that its overcoming my dislike for the medium. good lord. yes please!

8). Lyle, Look Outside. 8/10. i see it

9). Moguro Fukuzou, Laughing Salesman. 2/10. i do not see it

10). Pale Intruder (human version), No I'm Not A Human. 10/10 this is a weird one because its more of a fanon character than canon, but there is SOME canon material of him... dunno. included my own art, hope no one minds

11). Bob, Tekken. 100/10 the way my jaw dropped and i started drooling and panting and rolling around on the floor and gasping for air and maoning and

12). Heavy, TF2. 10/10 come on. COME ON.

13). Louis Fyne, True Stories. 9/10. not familiar with this movie but i like the look of him. very pastel. NICE

14). Russel, Gorillaz. 10/10 hes so mf fine and his VOICE DUDE im going to. wait hold on 11/10. no. 12/10. GOD

15). Whitney Haggis, Cowboy Bebop. 8/10 sorry for the shitty photo! i remember him being a bit of a dickhead but he gets brownie points for being fat

16). Sweet Tooth, Twisted Metal. 7/10 i really like the fat clown thing but i am worried hes one of those characters that spams cheesy one-liners. if he doesnt (and he has aura) i will give him a 9/10

17) Flynn Rider (test animation, prototype design), Tangled. 11/10 fucking look at him LOOK AT HIM. WE COULD HAVE HAD A FAT SUAVE FLYNN RIDER god DAMN IT.

got so mad about the fact he isnt real that i drew him giving backshots. okay thats all thank you for reading

[daydreamodyssey]

More fat characters who are complex heroes, serious love interests, funny without mentioning their weight, brooding anti-heroes, compelling antagonists, random bystanders without comments toward their looks

[killjamxxx]

Shout out to canonically fat characters in audio dramas. You’re not just “huggable” or whatever condescending bullshit, you’re hot as FUCK 😎

[autistictrekky]

10th reference: Ashas!! 6 more to go!

[emmabirb8]

Y'know... not to bring this up, but as a fat girlie I feel like it needs to be said-

Nandermo getting decimated after the build-up of what was seeming to be something grand and amazing up thru s3 not only for queer representation but also a fat character finally getting to have a happy ending with their more conventionally attractive love interest just feels like such a letdown in, like, five categories at once, lmao

Shadows started going downhill for me after the s3 finale, and luckily some other hyperfixations swooped in to occupy my brain by the time s5 rolled around, so I'm not nearly as bitter about the whole thing as I could have been. But still. STILL.

We really lost out on SO MUCH. And for what?? So the writers could stay in their dumb little comfort zone??? Gimme a fuckin' break.

We could have had a CANON VAMPIRE/HUMAN MIXED RACE MIXED WEIGHT EXPLICITLY ROMANTIC GAY PAIRING, but they decided "sitcom vibes" and shoehorning in "lol throwbacks" to s1 were more important (and truthfully, those aspects only made the finale that much more unfunny).

Anyway, in short, Nadja's hypnosis tragically did NOT work, and another fat character got cheated out of a satisfying culmination to (what was once) a stellar narrative lmao

[micoz-field-of-dreamz]

everytime someboady doesnt draw pim and/or charlie fat an angel loses its wjngs