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]].

* ''[[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]].

* ''[[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]]''.

** 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]].

* Humans in ''[[Digimon]]''.

* ''[[Star Driver]]'', likely taking influence from CLAMP.

* The ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' girls when drawn by [[Naoko Takeuchi]].

* The female characters of ''[[Space Battleship Yamato]]''/''[[Star Blazers]]''. Starsha in particular looks impossibly gawky in an elegant sort of way.

* ''[[Claymore]]'': all the Claymores, and many of the other characters who aren't specifically meant to be fat or hugely-muscled.

* 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.

 

** 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]]''.

* Most of the slim characters in ''[[Bayonetta]]''; the main exception is Lucca, and only because of layers of clothing obscuring his body.

* Thinner [[Nintendo Wii|Miis]] count, when their limbs are visible.

* Everyone in ''[[The Dishwasher]]'', including the title protagonist. The incredible amount of violence in the game, in addition to the monochrome art style, certainly is evocative of [[Johnny the Homicidal Maniac]].

* [[Yggdra Union]]

 

 

 

 

* 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.

 

 

* ''[[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.

* The normal human characters in [[Courage the Cowardly Dog]].

* Classic [[Disney]] characters like Goofy (especially Goofy) and Mickey Mouse.

== Individual characters ==

 

* Yoite (and Miharu, sort of) in ''[[Nabari no Ou]]''.

* Megumi Shimizu from ''[[Shiki]]''.

* Done terrifyingly in ''[[The Enigma of Amigara Fault]]''. What makes it scary? {{spoiler|The art style is very realistic, meaning that the characters ''actually look like that'', and they ''started out normal-looking''.}}

 

 

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

* Mercury of the [[Metal Men]]. Justified in that he is a robot. In fact, he loses his noodliness when the team got remoulded into human forms in a [[Retool]] late into their original run.

 

 

* 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 ''[[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.

 

 

 

 

* [[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]].

* You can create your very own Noodle Rocker in ''[[Rock Band]]'' just by setting the weight slider to minimum in the character creator. It'll give even the shortest characters skinny little stick-limbs, although only the ones who're also tall get the full Noodle Person effect.

** This isn't really possible anymore in ''Rock Band 3''; the character creator was overhauled to be more detailed and realistic, so the characters can't be quite as skinny as they were in the previous games. Also, all the men have fairly bulky shoulders and upper torsos even if they're at the minimum for weight and muscle, although the female characters can still be quite twiglike.

* The Grey Jacks in ''[[Resistance]]'' are giant spindly aliens; the Grims somewhat fill this role in the sequel.

* Miror B. of ''[[Pokémon Colosseum]]'' fame. He's by far the thinnest character seen in a ''Pokémon'' game, and is about two heads taller than the main character. The thinness of his arms/legs/body makes his absolutely massive afro even more comical.

** Pretty much all of the player characters in more recent versions qualify as well. Brendan from Generation III, Lucas from Generation IV, and Hilda from Generation V are particularly scrawny-looking.

* Katy Kat in ''[[Parappa the Rapper]]'': Her torso is only about twice as wide as her [[Funny Animal|tail]].

 

 

* [[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.

 

 

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

** Along with most of the humanoids.

** Jake takes it [[Up to Eleven]]. Being able to change shape at will, he often moves his limbs in ways that imply he has no bones whatsoever.

* Mirage from ''[[The Incredibles]]''. Seriously, just take a look at her!

* [[Why Do You Keep Changing Jobs?|Larry Needlemeyer]] from ''[[The Amazing World of Gumball]]''.

 

[[Category:Cartoon Characters]]

[[Category:Noodle People]]