Big Beautiful Man

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You have to admit, he looks cuddly.

A Big Beautiful Man is noticeably chubby, and perhaps even obese, and yet considered genuinely beautiful and voluptuous for it.

This trope was more common centuries ago, when having some extra body fat meant people were seen as healthier (as opposed to typically malnourished masses), and was also a sign of affluence. People could truly be Fat and Proud. It has become more of a Forgotten Trope over time as most societies have themselves become more affluent and has access to more and healthier varieties of food. Such large-set people are not as usually considered as attractive by today's audience or in today's works, where they would more likely be considered Fat Slobs for their girth.

But while this is mostly true for women, it becomes a Double Standard with men. The sheer size of the Ugly Guy, Hot Wife page shows that Hollywood is more likely to let a fat man attract a lover with his personality and sense of humor. But per Rule of Funny, their beauty in another character's eyes is usually an Informed Attractiveness that doesn't even pretend to try to resonate with the audience.

A very notable exception is in works that appeal to gay men. Chubby men are not always considered attractive in the gay community, especially in contexts where The Twink or the Bishonen are considered the more marketable standard of beauty (ie, the majority of Western and Japanese works featuring gay men), and the rule of Hollywood Pudgy is in full force. But there is a sizable niche interest that finds them sexy and even Moe—these people are termed (for better or for worse) "chubby chasers". Among these include The Bear community, where body hair is the chief point of attractiveness, but most sexy chubbiness is also usually the order of the day.

The trope can also still be Played for Laughs when a chubby character sees himself as a Big Beautiful Man. Even then, it still often manages to come off as gay-for-oneself.

Fan Yay often gives Big Beautiful Man status to characters that were not (specifically) intended as such. This can apply to practically any chubby character. Even Santa Claus is not immune.

The Spear Counterpart of Big Beautiful Woman. Big Beautiful Man can overlap to some degree with Acrofatic, Bara, The Bear, Big Fun, The Big Guy, Fat and Proud, Hollywood Pudgy and Stout Strength. In fact, this trope overlaps with The Bear so often that some people consider them the same trope—except that technically this trope is about body fat and the other trope is about body hair.

No Real Life Examples, Please

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Anime and manga

• Though Ivan Braginski aka Russia from Axis Powers Hetalia claims "I Am Big Boned!", fangirls love him with some chub. So much that fanarts/doujinshi in which he's slimmed down are often met with very negative reactions.
  • Cuba, the local Big Fun, is starting to get this rep as well.
• Sig Curtis of Fullmetal Alchemist.
• Gai from Shin Getter Robo VS Neo Getter Robo. The OAV version.
  • Don't forget Gai's incarnation from Armaggedon.
  • Musashi Tomoe mixes it with Gentle Giant and Adorkable in the original series.
  • The Bare-Fisted Monk Benkei Musashibo from New Getter Robo is a very Badass version of the trope.
• For some, Chouji from Naruto may grow up into this. Although looking at how he looks in Naruto Shippuden, some would argue that he already is this trope.

Comic Books

• Circles has at least two of these. Marty is a chubby skunk who is at first timid about his weight, but his new roommate Taye actually finds him incredibly sexy, like a teddy bear, for which Ken derides him as a "chubby chaser". Then there's Arthur, the artistic Basement Dweller—he's a...bear (both socially and literally), now in his 40s, who helps reassure Marty that there's nothing wrong with being portly.
• Watchmen: Dan Dreiberg. Once he stopped crimefighting, Dreiberg presumably stopped getting his usual exercise (read: thrashing bad guys) and put on some weight. Under that, though, he's still quite strong, and he has a pretty handsome face to go with it. The glasses don't make it any worse.
  • Same said for Blue Beetle Ted Kord during his chubby period (a kind of recursive tribute, since Dreiberg was based on Kord).
• Bouncing Boy from Legion of Super-Heroes, especially his reboot counterpart Chuck Taine.
• Cornfed from Livewires.

Literature

• Hern Heslin in the Duel of Sorcery Trilogy is at very least described as having a sweet face and beautiful eyes.
• Nanciormis in Barbara Hambly's Sun Wolf And Starhawk novel The Witches of Wenshar is unequivocally described as one. Too bad he's a skeevy, conniving Jerkass who's arguably the main antagonist of the piece, and who ultimately gets his in the end.
• Jack Aubrey is on the sturdily built side, and many people in-universe find him attractive. (By contrast, his Heterosexual Life Partner is described as short, skinny, and odd-looking.)

Live Action TV

• Dave Karofsky has had a very outspoken Gay male fan base since the episode "Never Been Kissed," many of who simply prefer men of his build.
• Noah's Arc: Alex sees himself this way (and Trey agrees). Additionally, like the example above, much of the fanbase does prefer a man of his build.

Web Comics

• Burt in Carpe Diem is a Big Beautiful Man who also has Stout Strength as a power-lifter. Rodney is a fat geek, but his brawny boyfriend Ken wouldn't have it any other way.
• Brad in The Class Menagerie is both muscled and has a noticeable gut, specifically by Author Appeal.
• Many of the guys in Blur the Lines fit this trope, which makes sense, considering half of the webcomic's reason for existing is for Author Appeal, and the author prefers big men.
• Grant. And Grant's Hot Dad.
• Jason from Something Positive is this. Given the cartoonish art style, though, the attractiveness part is mainly backed up by the number of women he attracts, and that can also be attributed to his brain or his big penis.
• The Wrong House has George who's intially the only one of the Power Trio with a name the most to offer the girl before the series was expanded and Flanderized him as a Kavorka Man and Ascended Extra that gets/has gotten/will get virtually every possible woman available including supposed reformed nun that became a registered sex offender for sleeping with him before he was 18 and doing his Jerk Jock/Ted Baxter friend's girlfriend right in front of him as payback for him cheating on her with a Tifa cosplayer. The apparent in-series reason why he gets so much tail: he's sincere and actually gives a damn about the girls.

Video Games

• Of the nine main characters of Morenatsu, three (Tatsuki, Jūichi and Kōnosuke) fall squarely under this trope. Their Fan Yay is huge.
• In the Super Mario Bros. series, Bowser is very attracted to himself, and considers himself to be the epitome of physique and manliness. But strangely, though he is very obviously chubby, he doesn't necessarily seem to see himself as chubby, at least until a particularly amusing scene in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story.
  • Mario is rather round, though he's leaned down in recent years.
• The title of Chub Pan highlights this trope.

Web Original

• While That Guy With The Glasses has a lot of conventionally good-looking, slim guys (Benzaie, Doug Walker, Paw, Y Ruler Of Time, etc.), the big men like Rollo T, former contributor Lord Kat, and to some, Sean Fausz, get a lot of love too.
  • Linkara.

Western Animation

• Gloria the hippo's suitor Moto Moto, in Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, is clearly intended to be one.
  • And it would seem that hippos as a species find chubbiness attractive, since Moto Moto and Gloria's flirting is made entirely of fat jokes.
• Arguably, Nathan Explosion. At least, he's a big guy, it's not entirely muscle, and plenty of the show's Periphery Demographic find him attractive.
• Stan Smith is on the chunky side, and also Rated "M" for Manly (or, rather, comedic Testosterone Poisoning).
• Anastasia's boyfriend Dimitri, the baker boy from Cinderella II.
• Coop from Megas XLR
• Uncle Iroh ...until he discovers that Prisons Are Gymnasiums in Book Three.
• The Legend of Korra's Bolin. His girth in no way keeps him from being The Charmer.
• T.J. Detweiler from Recess is a bit on the chubby side, yet among the female fans, he has the most fangirls.
  • Gentle Giant Mikey is probably the prime example.
• Despite being a Fat Idiot and a Fat Slob, Dave the skunk from Scaredy Squirrel is one of these in an Ugly Cute sort of way. Just look at that enormous, cuddly, bushy tail of his.
• Treasure Planet's Long John Silver is considered this by a good portion of the fandom, especially when being paired with Jim.
• In My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic, Rarity seems to consider Donut Joe one.