| Typology Big-Headed |
| Total Entries 10 |
| Representative Super-Brain |
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What’s a fast way to clue the audience into a character’s “Super-Intelligence”, either inborn or suddenly-gained? Why, give them a swollen (and often hairless) cranium, apparently housing a grossly enlarged brain. The head may or may not pulsate, sometimes more like a heart than a brain, and the rest of the body be comparatively weak and underdeveloped. Often related to “Evolutionary Levels” or dubious experiments done “For Science!” May involve the development of “Psychic Powers” if it’s big enough. This trope has a few different “tiers” or variants. At the most basic form, a character will simply have a visible large head or cranium. In more involved examples, the head may be fissured like a human brain, or the enlarged brain may become entirely exposed. In more extreme examples the rest of the body may become withered and atrophied as the brain becomes bigger and more active, until at the furthest extreme of psychic and intellectual a character or creature may become nothing but a giant engorged brain, sometimes retaining hands or eyes and sometimes developing psychic powers so strong that even these aren’t needed anymore. This is also sometimes used as a generic “alien trait” and not a specific indicator of intelligence. “The Greys” are a prominent example… See also “Forehead of Doom”, which may be used to show this in a more realistic light. May sometimes overlap with “Brain Monster” if played for horror. No relation to “Cranial Eruption”. Contrast with “Hollow-Sounding Head” and “Your Brain Won’t Be Much of a Meal”, both of which use a small brain as shorthand for stupidity… ~ My Brain Is Big – TV Tropes
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