You can see my giant tabby tomcat, Don Vito Corleone, in my sig (I am not named after him, exactly, but I started using Don_Vito as a handle for online gaming years ago, and it stuck). He is about 17 pounds, and not at all fat, making him the biggest non-fat cat I have ever seen. He also has extra toes on his front feet.
He has been fetching (Q-tips, mostly) since he was a kitten, and has created entire games with surprisingly complex rules. For example, when I had roommates, we had a mantle over our couch. He would get up there, and we would throw him seals from Odwalla juice (a very high-end juice sold on the west coast - it comes in small bottles which used to have a tear-away seal). He would take turns batting them down from one person to the other. If you caught it and threw it back up, he would keep playing. If you couldn't catch it, you were out for that round, and he would ignore it if you threw up to him. Just amazing. He is clever in ways that I have never seen in a domestic animal - he seems to have the brain of a monkey.
For what it's worth, a Japanese friend told me when I got him that tabby cats with a swirl pattern like Vito (as opposed to the more common tiger stripes) are the most prized pets in Japan, because they are supposed to have the best temperment. God knows he is amazing, and as loyal and kind as a good hunting dog.
One last thing - if you want a big, active cat, you really want a male. I have had a number of each, and male cats tend to be friendlier, more athletic, and larger. YMMV, of course, but that has been my experience.