Noodle People: Difference between revisions

This tends to take one of two main forms:

* One step up from [[Stick Figure Comic|stick figures]], where the torso has some thickness and heads and extremities have more realistic detail, but the arms and legs are essentially lines. This seems to be rather popular in gothic and emo art, and may apply to all the characters, or just one or two. Example: Jack Skellington from ''[[The Nightmare Before Christmas]]''.

 

Has nothing to do with [[Noodle Incident|incidents]] or [[Noodle Implements|implements.]] Contrast with [[Puni Plush]].

{{examples}}

== Everybody ==

* ''[[Naruto]]'' uses this trope on occasion, whenever something rather jarring (usually [[Played for Laughs]]) is revealed. Is coupled with [[Blank White Eyes]], [[Quivering Eyes]], and [[Face Fault]].

* The series that Sunrise did immediately after ''[[Code Geass]]'', ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]'', also has a decidedly noodly cast, this time designed by Yun Kouga (of ''[[Loveless]]'' fame).

* ''[[One Piece]]'', though mostly just with women.

** Monkey D. Luffy is drawn in this style. Additionally, he has an elastic body, making him a noodle person on two levels. His noodliness seems to be inversely proportional to the seriousness of the scene. He has a much more defined shape and visible musculature whenever he's kicking butt, but in very comedic scenes he is so much of a noodle person that he doesn't always even have elbows or knees. However, Sanji is pretty much always a noodle man and Usopp is always a puppet/stick man (except recently when he got really fat, {{spoiler|and then after the [[Time Skip]] where he got fairly muscular}}). As well as new crew member Brook, though only because he is only a skeleton now

** Justified (?) during the fight with Kalifa of [[CP 9]]. Her Awa Awa no Mi (Bubble Bubble Fruit) gave her the ability to "clean off" power. It also smooths out the curves of the target's body, making them look very noodle-like.

* ''[[Nabari no Ou]]'': It doesn't start out this way, but gets considerably worse [[Art Evolution|towards the later volumes]].

* ''[[Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei]]'', especially the schoolgirls.

* ''[[Loveless]]''

* This style was first popularized in anime by [[Leiji Matsumoto]], though his more comedic characters are usually short and round.

* Mamoru Nagano also makes extensive use of it in his character designs. Even his [[Humongous Mecha]] designs are often quite spindly, most notably the Jagd Mirage from ''[[The Five Star Stories]]''.

** Then again, they are cyborgs whose biological parts were created by merging the DNA of both humans and [[Eldritch Abomination]]s, so them not strictly following the laws of nature was probably unavoidable.

** Possibly explained by the Bebop crew's chronic lack of food, and Spike's highly athletic lifestyle.

* Since author Kaoru Shintani once worked as an assistant to [[Leiji Matsumoto]], the characters of ''[[Area 88]]'' tend to be rail-thin. Especially noticeable with women and [[Bishonen|Saki and Shin]].

* The characters of the lesser-known mangaka, Hakase Mizuki. [http://www.minitokyo.net/Mizuki+Hakase Just look at some of them!] Half of them ''must'' be walking on stilts.

* Kouta Hirano of Hellsing does something like this; his characters tend to be very streched. Unlike most examples of this trope, however, his thick-lined, angular style still give limbs a lot of weight despite their elongated proportions.

* The drawings of ''[[Hajime no Ippo]]'' evolved into a variation of this over time: during fights, the characters have a muscular torso but impossibly thin limbs. Especially glaring during the fight between {{spoiler|Itagaki and Saeki}}, or in Mashiba's later fights.

 

* The art period known as [[wikipedia:Mannerism|Mannerism]]. Most notable offenders:

** Parmigianino: [[wikipedia:File:Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola - Madonna with the Long Neck.jpg|Madonna with the long neck]].

** El Greco: [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Saint_Martin_and_the_Beggar_%28c1597-1600%29_by_El_Greco_-_Chicago.jpg Saint Martin and the beggar]

* [http://www.dailyartfixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Diego-Alberto-Giacometti.jpg Alberto] [http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/11/blind-spot/ Giacometti] [http://www.dailyartfixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Walking-Man-Alberto-Giacometti.jpg anyone?]

 

 

* [[Jhonen Vasquez]] as said above, utilizes noodle people. This is especially evident in his comics ''[[Johnny the Homicidal Maniac]], Squee!,'' and ''I Feel Sick''. It's less noticeable in ''[[Invader Zim]]'', where most of the characters are either children or very short, but it can be seen at times when adults appear. Apparently Happy Noodle Boy himself doesn't count.

** Hell, Jhonen ''himself'' is pretty close to a [[Real Life]] example.

 

 

* The [[Gorillaz]], excluding [[Gentle Giant|Russell]] and child-Noodle. It's most noticeable with 2D and adult/teen Noodle (who's aptly named).

 

 

* Somewhat with the Mudokons of ''[[Oddworld]]''.

* A good majority of the characters in the ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' series, including the eponymous character himself, especially after the''[[Sonic Adventure]]'' reboot.

 

 

 

 

* ''[[Hanna Is Not a Boy's Name]]'' has a [http://vert-is-ninja.deviantart.com/art/Next-To-You-I-m-Really-Short-151903123 decidedly noodley style], although it's at least justified in the case of [[The Undead|Zombie]] because he's sort of... dead and emaciated.

* The "[[Art Shift|Hero Mode]]" versions of the characters in ''[[Homestuck]]'', which are more typical drawn panels, as opposed to sprites. See [http://mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=004032 here] and the page immediately following for a good comparison.

 

 

* [[Tim Burton]] used such a style for the puppets in ''[[The Nightmare Before Christmas]]'' and ''[[Corpse Bride]]''. He also draws like this, judging by his various storyboards.

* ''[[Aeon Flux]]'', big time. The long limbs and large chests of the characters in the show were perhaps due to the action being set on a planet, not very Earthlike, with low gravity and thin air. Admittedly, that's probably an [[Epileptic Tree]], but a ''petit mal'' one.

== Individual characters ==

 

* Rem and Ryuk, two of the [[Shinigami]] from ''[[Death Note]]'' kinda look like this, especially compared to the human characters.

* Alan Gabriel in ''[[The Big O]]''.

 

 

* [[The Sandman|Dream of the Endless]]. And his servant/librarian/confidant Lucien is even taller than him. About half the other Endless - Desire, Death, and Delirium, specifically - fall into this [[Depending on the Artist|at least in some illustrations]].

* [[Fantastic Four|Reed Richards]], [[Rubber Man]] extraordinaire, whose power very often manifests itself in a very noodly manner.

 

 

* [[Avatar (film)|The Na'Vi]]. They're basically 12-foot-tall, hairless blue bipedal lemurs.

* The {{spoiler|original "zombie"}} in ''[[REC]]''. The actor is Javier Botet, and he is that tall and lanky because of Marfan syndrome. The rest were just well applied makeup and great acting.

 

 

* In [[Michael Chabon]]'s ''[[Literature/Gentleman Of The Road|Gentleman Of The Road]]'', one of the protagonists, Zelikman, is described as looking like a "slight, thin-shanked fellow" and a "scarecrow".

* In ''[[Harry Potter]]'', Ron, Percy, and Arthur are all described as tall, gangly, and quite thin. Ron probably loses most of his noodle status after the fifth book, though.

 

 

* Morticia in ''[[The Addams Family]]'', especially the original [[Charles Addams]] cartoons in ''The New Yorker''.

 

 

* Waluigi of ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]''.

* [[Humanoid Abomination|The Tall Man]] of the ''[[Chzo Mythos]]''. Couple this with his extreme height, speed and strength, and he's pretty efficient [[Nightmare Fuel]].

 

 

* [[Salad Fingers]].

 

 

* Anna in ''[[Anders Loves Maria]]'', contrasting with the more realistic build of the other characters.

 

 

* [[The Slender Man Mythos|Slender Man]]... at least, There's only one of him. Probably.

 

 

* Dee Dee in ''[[Dexter's Laboratory]]''

* Olive Oyl in ''[[Popeye]]''

[[Category:Cartoon Characters]]

[[Category:Noodle People]]