"Get in my belly!" - Fat Bastard
Fat Bastard is the tertiary antagonist of the Austin Powers franchise. He is one of Dr. Evil's henchmen.
Personality
He alludes to being bullied and mocked for his weight as a child, and in his depression and loneliness turned to eating, creating a vicious cycle. Subverted when his acknowledgment of this problem becomes an Ignored Epiphany, and he remains a Jerkass in the third film. He repeats the sob story there, implying he uses this trope to justify his behavior.
Appearance
An immensely obese (weighing in at a metric ton) henchman turned Semi-Pro Sumo Wrestler hailing from Scotland, Fat Bastard served Dr. Evil in his quest to defeat Austin and conquer the World. In his attempt at victory in a fisticuff with Austin, he calls out "I hope my wire fighting team is ready!!" he then breaks the wire because he weighs a metric ton. He is noted for his foul temper (and foul-smelling shits), his frequently breaking wind, and his unusual eating habits, namely a taste for babies (and anything that looks like a baby, e.g. midgets). He tries to refuse Dr. Evil's money for his services in exchange for eating Mini-Me. (A commonly repeated quote is him saying to Mini-Me "I'm bigger than you, I'm higher in the food chain! Get in ma belly!"). This cannibalistic feature of Fat Bastard shows he is no man but a savage beast that will shit and eat anything in his path. He has a penchant for singing the Chili's Babyback Ribs song. Fat Bastard has problems controlling his defecation patterns, as evidenced by his constant remarks of "turtleheads" and "skid marks." His lack of appreciation for others having to deal with his stench extends into a sort of self-pride about the subject, especially in regards to his flatulence and the "leavings" he produces for those performing his Sumo laundry duties. When participating in Sumo matches, he wears a tartan mawashi, which could potentially help to disguise his skid marks.
Some have stated that the characters appearance changed considerably in the third film compared to how he looked in the second. This was primarily due to some changes in the make-up to make the character look more realist. Fat bastard loves eating babies as he describes it as the "other, other white meat"
Trivia
Possible inspiration
Tarrare was a French showman, soldier, and spy who lived in the 18th century. He was known for his seemingly endless appetite and unusual diet, routinely eating his own weight in a single day. Like Fat Bastard, Tarrare had extremely severe body odor, fecal odor, and flatulence. At one point he was even accused of eating a baby.
As a secret agent, Tarrare would swallow documents whole and then recover them from his stool when he reached his destination.
One key difference between the two is that Tarrare was not actually fat; he was in fact very thin as a result of his metabolism, but his stomach capacity was so large that he would blow up like a balloon and look fat once his stomach was filled. When not full, his excess skin hung so loosely that he could wrap it around himself. Thus, when he was hungry he would have more closely resembled "Thin Bastard".
Gallery
