Boobs-and-Butt Pose - TV Tropes
- ️Sat Jul 07 2012
(aka: Over The Shoulder Pose)
She got it good in the front and in the back!
"[T]he only 'strong' in many 'strong female comic book characters' are the oblique muscles required to point their ass and boobs in the same direction."
Often in fiction, Ms. Fanservice will be depicted in a pose with her back to the audience, but turning at the waist and often looking over her shoulder in the process. It's a common pose for a few reasons:
- It lets you see the character's face. Having her look at the audience is more engaging.
- It can be used to give a coy impression ("I see you back there...") or to make the character look mysterious.
- Alternatively, it may be intended to invoke a submissive or vulnerable image.
- Shows that the character is supple and limber.
- As the name suggests, it lets you see the character's butt and chest at the same time, so both Butts and Boobs fans get what they want. If it's trying to be anatomically realistic, the "Boobs" part will usually be restricted to Sideboob.
While this pose is possible to achieve in multiple variations in Real Life, its use in non-live action media favors exaggerated versions that are at best painful and unlikely to occur in natural motion and at worst defy physics and anatomy. For instance, the character's torso may almost point backward or the character will be sticking her butt out and curving her spine vertically rather than merely twisting sideways. This pose is a staple of fanservice that goes way back and had its turn at scrutiny in 2012 when a large-scale discussion about it spread across the internet. Many see framing a woman with her butt and breasts facing the viewer as objectifying and as prioritizing sex appeal over badassery, especially since this is by and large a women's only trope.
Compare Contrapposto Pose, Head-and-Hip Pose, Coy, Girlish Flirt Pose and Leg Cling. Also may be combined with Dynamic Akimbo, which is typically associated with manliness, which is why women may get framed with this trope so that they still look sexy.
Examples:
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Advertising
- The Japanese poster
◊ for Ghost in the Shell (1995).
Anime & Manga
- Several partially or fully naked pinup illustrations in Blattodea are of girls in this pose, like the opening scene with Alice, the quite risqué cover of volume 2 featuring Chiyuri or the inside covers of volumes 5 and 6 with Setsuna and Rin, respectively. One such illustration with the resident Dude Looks Like a Lady Hanakamakiri was never properly finished but a sketch was shown on the illustrator's Twitter profile
.
- Don't Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro: The Art's Club President (real name Sana Sunomiya) painted a nude self-portrait in this pose. Nagatoro and her friends are shocked to learn that Senpai continues to keep it in the club's room (he claims that he does for its artistic value, but Nagatoro doesn't buy that).
- Himiko Kudo from Get Backers does this a few times. Heck, she is confident enough to do this while her clothes are severely damaged and her hands are handcuffed.
- In episode 30 of the HD Remaster of Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny, Talia Gladys has this pose when she was showering.
- In Ninja Slayer, resident Ms. Fanservice Nancy Lee has been known to do this in some promotional artwork, and occasionally the show as well. Here's exhibit A
◊ and exhibit B
.
- Nico Robin on the cover of the 44th volume of One Piece, noteworthy for a series that otherwise focuses 99% of its Male Gaze on the breasts only.
- A minor antagonist in One-Punch Man gets a pin-up as the cover for the 6th issue in this pose.
- Sailor Moon has Makoto Kino/Sailor Jupiter often doing this on The Merch.
- Tiger & Bunny demonstrates that the T&A pose is not just for women
◊.
- Tokyo Ghoul is notable for adopting an equal opportunity stance on this pose. Bonus artwork involves Nutcracker in this pose, but other pieces have featured protagonist Ken Kaneki posing like this in his underwear or wearing a distinctly bondage-inspired Sexy Backless Outfit. In-series, Nimura Furuta is drawn in this pose while turning to speak to an associate.
Arts
Comic Books
Artists:
Individual titles:
- A-Force: Averted in the cover for issue #1. According to G. Willow Wilson, it was intentional.
- Battle Chasers: A issue #1 variant cover shows Red Monika posing in this way.
- Catwoman: Selina Kyle does this on occasion.
- Lady Death: Lady Death is generally shown on the cover art in what are essentially stripper poses, so it should be no surprise that there have numerous over-the-shoulder ones as well, though the result
◊ may end up looking a bit silly.
- Ms. Marvel: Carol Danvers on occasion.
- Nightwing: If you're looking for a male character who consistently gets drawn like this, then Nightwing pretty much has a lock on the role.
The guy's ass is so recognizable it was an actual plot point in one issue.
- Scare Tactics DC Omics: Both Nina and Cindy are subjected to sexy but unlikely poses. Nina's first occurs in "Symphony for the Devil" when she attacks Arnold dressed in nothing more than a towel. Her legs are too far apart for feasible balance while her chest makes a full 90° angle compared to her hips, making for a full-boob & full-butt shot. Meanwhile, she's holding up Arnold's full weight to the side of her, which logically would have her tilting over. Her second show-off pose occurs in "Gotham Atrocity" as she's fighting with a few club-goers. Her legs are unrealistically far apart again and while her torso's facing forward this time, showing only sideboob, her neck's both twisted and craned just a little too far backwards to be comfortable. She's again holding someone up at an inconvenient angle and this guy is visibly much heavier than Arnold. Cindy gets hers in "Thrash and Burn" when during a large opening attack on Scare Tactics she has her right leg out forward and her left leg out backward so far that she can't possibly be balanced while her chest approaches a 90° angle compared to her hips.
- Star Wars: Luke Skywalker is depicted this way in one issue
◊ of Star Wars (Marvel 1977).
- Tarzan: Tarzan, in a 1972 print of Marvel Comics' Tarzan of the Apes, performs a rather prominent example
◊ of this pose. In fact, that particular issue featured quite a lot of expository shots of Tarzan buck naked.
- Wonder Woman:
- Wonder Woman (1987): Mike Deodato's art is rather stereotypical of '90's comic art, and includes a number of questionable cheesecake poses. Perhaps the most notable is when he has Artemis's back arched to show both her rear and chest in full in a theoretically sensual pose when she's being fatally shot.
- Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman:
- Adam Hughes' lovely cover for #4 has Diana twisting to show off both cheeks and both breasts at the same time. He makes the cheesecake pose look almost graceful.
- There's a game cabinet in "Wonder World" which depicts a woman swiveled at the waist in the style of Kate Beaton's "Strong Female Characters" from Hark! A Vagrant.
- X-Men:
- Zatanna: In Zatanna (2010) #1, there's a gratuitous fanservice shot of a nude Zatanna as she's stepping into her bath while posing in a manner to show her breasts and buttocks to the viewer, only said buttocks and Sideboob are covered up by Scenery Censor instead.
Fan Works
Film — Animation
- Batman: Hush. Batman is chasing Catwoman across rooftops, and at one point she turns to look back at him while still keeping her behind (which of course is in a tight catsuit) pointed in his direction. Behind her is the Gotham skyline.
Catwoman: Like the view? It's the only thing you'll catch tonight.
- Much of the Disney Princess merchandise has some of the girls doing this, especially Aurora and Cinderella.
- The Incredibles. Elastigirl is infiltrating the Supervillain Lair and encounters a mirror. She poses briefly in this manner, then sighs in exasperation, having put on some weight since her retirement as a superheroine.
Film — Live-Action
Literature
- Reign of the Seven Spellblades: An illustration
in volume 1 (which was reproduced in the manga and anime adaptations) depicts female lead Nanao Hibiya stripped to the waist while bathing her top half in a fountain, angled so that her nipples are just out of view and we get a good look at the collection of old war wounds on her back.
- The cover of Sabina Kane: Red-Headed Stepchild has the heroine in a standing form of this pose, with a gun stuck through her belt.
- The cover for Warhammer 40,000 novel "Rise of the Ynnari: Wild Rider" shows the faction's leader Yvraine striking this pose with both her chest and rear in view, even though the latter is covered with a skirt.
Live-Action TV
Music Videos
Pinballs
- The redhead in white shorts takes this pose on the playfield for Breakshot (1996), while the brunette adopts it on the sides of the backbox.
- In Eight Ball, "Pinky" adopts this pose on one of the triangle bumpers.
- The Machine does this on the side of Jack*Bot's backbox, though she's standing up.
- Seen on one of the girls on the "Babewatch" table of Pinball Illusions.
- The backglass for Rollergames features one of the "T-Bird Twins" (Jennifer and Kristine Van Galder) taking this pose.
- Technically, Chun Li in Street Fighter II is adopting this pose in the backglass. Too bad the artwork is so atrocious it's a turn-off for most players.
- The fourth edition of TRON: Legacy replaces the original backbox display with one featuring Quorra and Gem standing back-to-back in such a pose.
Podcasts
- Spring from Sequinox does one when she notices Caiden taking pictures of the girls at the end of episode 2, mainly to try and conceal her real identity (since Hannah would never pose like that).
Tabletop Games
Theater
- The original poster art for Sweet Charity was Gwen Verdon doing this pose wearing a Little Black Dress with sheer black tights, with her right arm on her hip and her left arm showing a character-important tattoo.
Video Games
- Batman: Arkham Asylum has Poison Ivy doing this
in one of her game over screens.
- Darkstalkers: Felicia's victory portrait has her posing like this, turned enough that her butt and the front of her breasts are visible at the same time.
- In KanColle, Teruzuki's standard pose is turned away while reaching back towards the player with her left arm, which with the help of her high rudder heels mostly accentuate her legs.
- Rio has her back turned in Operator's Side's cover art, with her head turned towards the viewer and her breasts and butt in display.
- In Marvel Puzzle Quest we actually get a rare male variant with most of Cyclops' variants having a skill that shows him in the standing variant showing both glutes and pecs.
- Chorocojo points out here
that the Lasses in Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen stand this way, almost facing away from the player, but turning their heads to the right to look at the player instead, such that their bodies are almost in profile, showing some Sideboob and her butt.
- The Shantae series:
- Shantae: Risky's Revenge: When Risky makes her first appearance, her body is facing almost away from the player and she's looking to the left such that she shows some Sideboob and her butt:
You have no idea the trouble that's in store!
- Shantae and the Seven Sirens: Each save file has Shantae in a different pose. The second save file's has her facing away from the camera with her hands angled away from her back, except for her head, which is turned towards the viewer, so we see Sideboob and her butt.
- Shantae: Risky's Revenge: When Risky makes her first appearance, her body is facing almost away from the player and she's looking to the left such that she shows some Sideboob and her butt:
- The art of several blades in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 have this to varying degrees. Praxis, T-elos and Theory are the only ones putting any effort to pull this off while Agate shows a more realistic amount of boob in her from behind shot. Dahlia's breasts are just so large that any shot of her butt is automatically a boob & butt pose.
Webcomics
- Commissioned Comic — "Tits, ass and lens flare!
"
- Parodied in Curvy with Starbreath
, a female superhero who got a painful spine injury while doing this pose.
- Girl Genius:
- Grrl Power has this infrequently, with one strip in particular
lampshading it, labeled as "Dabbler-Approved T&A Pose".
- Gyno Star gets this treatment after being zapped by Alpha-Male/Male Gaze Man/The Objectifier. Mocked, of course.
- Hark! A Vagrant:
- A rare justified example in The Noordegraaf Files. The character in question is a Dryad, and therefore is completely naked. She can't be viewed from a front-on view (as her genitals and nipples would be visible) and a back view wouldn't show her face, so this is the pose the artist opted for.
- Kevyn Andreyasn struck this pose
while talking to Ch'vorthq during the "Old Habits Die Hard" arc of Schlock Mercenary's sixth book.
- Mocked in Super Stupor with the Snow Owl
, who has Green's Disease ("It's where all your joints are ball joints and you spasm into poses.") In one pose she manages to rotate her torso a complete 180.
Lady Diamondback: That pose offends me both as a woman and someone who knows how spines work.
Killhuna: Isn't that Liefeld Syndrome?
Lady Diamondback: No, L.S. shrinks your head and feet and causes sexual arousal around pouches. - In SwordCat Princess, this pose is used for varying effect; in this example
, it is meant to underscore sexual "heat" between Kathryn and MacKnight, even as she uses a broken window to chop off his hand to recover her ring. In this example
, to underscore Kathryn's ability to split her focus and fighting skill into different extremities simultaneously.
- Tasteful Comics has a superhero "Boobs And Butt Always Visible Lass
". Three guesses at her superpower.
Web Original
- Kevin Bolk (Trigger Star and I'm My Own Mascot) brings us:
Websites
- "This needs to stop... and let me tell you why!
" — an article by a martial artist and a contortionist from childhood, posted examples of these he says he cannot repeat, along with of photographed poses he can do.
- Escher Girls
is a Tumblr dedicated to warped female anatomy in comic books, and this pose is a common one there. Even the blog's favicon depicts a girl (Amy Rose) twisted like this. In fact, it's so common that they had to narrow down the definition — they only count it as a full Boobs And Butt Pose if you can see both boobs and both buttocks at once. Luckily, there are other tags for masterpieces like the page image, such as "serious swayback," "rubber spines," and "runaway breasts."
- The Hawkeye Intiative
: see "fan works" above.
- Cashoo, a Tumblr user, posted a rebuttal to the aforementioned Tumblr blogs by physically demonstrating several plausible examples of "Boobs and Butt" poses
which they say they felt no discomfort holding. They also provided anatomical references both male and female, for any artists interested in using similar poses.
Web Videos
- Atop the Fourth Wall: Linkara will not hesitate to blast the use of this whenever it comes up.
Western Animation
- Parodied in The Amazing World of Gumball's episode "The Comic". In the Laserheart comicbook, the titular character often turn his lower body at 180° so the reader can see his pecs and his butt. Gumball even comments that making such a pose is not possible.
- Total Drama: Katie and Sadie dance together in hopes they'll get to represent their team at the talent show that evening in "Not Quite Famous". Towards the end, Katie has her butt turned to the camera while her upper torso is twisted far enough sideways that not just her boob is visible, but also her belly button.
Real Life