The Phenomenon Of Tumblr Sexymen

it's no secret that tumblr is a weird place home to a wide variety of strange phenomenon sharpies ball pits kickstarters and more but one tumblr phenomenon has stood the test of time becoming both a staple on the website and a source of mockery from outsiders the phenomenon of teens and tweens fawning over fictional white men to the point of obsession launching the characters into fame or rather infamy why does this occur how did it begin and most importantly what is a tumblr sexy man let's dive in i mean how bad could i be i mean how bad could it be my mistake before we get into the video i'd like to give a massive thank you to today's sponsor wingfox wingfox is an online learning platform where you can take courses in digital painting animation special effects filmmaking graphic design and more all taught by industry experts and veterans wing fox recently added a brand new course to their lineup called cyberpunk art and drawing this course has been super popular not only because it's 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video and scripted it in a way that hopefully anyone can understand let's start with the basic definition tumblr sexy man is a phrase used to describe any number of characters that have reached viral tumblr fame due to their alleged attractiveness these characters are often drawn as skinny white anime boys dressed in formal wear and more often than not they're evil or at least have a dark side these characters include but aren't limited to the once left from the lorax sands from undertale raymond from animal crossing and jeff the killer to fully understand the tumblr sexy man trope however we need to first go back to its roots fictional crushes have been a thing since fiction was invented i mean hell i'm sure back in the 1920s there were plenty of people who had crushes on nosferatu and jay gatsby and in that respect not much has changed admit it you've developed a crush on at least one fictional animated character whether it be shigo flynn rider cronk human shrek li shang or even the furry robin hood hey i'm not judging my point is having a crush on a fictional character whether animated or live action isn't that weird and in fact is pretty common but as i've said before on this channel and i'm sure we'll say again tumblr always manages to take things that one step further see tumblr basically revolves around fandom and with a large fan base comes a surge of obsessive fans who are infatuated with the characters since the early days of tumblr teens have been making blogs dedicated to how much they love characters from their favorite shows and how much they want to have their babies which yes is always uncomfortable because the teens in question are usually like 14 years old like how about you stop killing kamida and start killing your homework the phenomenon of skinny white anime boys from cartoons becoming tumblr's obsession began in 2012 but the ironic phrase tumblr sexy man wouldn't be coined until around 2013-2014 by this point the trend was way too widespread and prevalent not to notice and comment on and thus it was given a name and became a meme it's really hard to pinpoint the original post that coined this phrase and it seems like it might actually be lost to time matumla blog called sickly white dudes was created and began compiling and collecting information on the phenomenon as it was occurring this blog compiled all of the information into a google document which would later become the sexypedia wiki page in this way they were kind of the pioneers of tumblr sexy man having archived and documented a lot of early information on the trope and the fandom surrounding it the rules and definitions for what constitutes a tumblr sexy man are very loose and blurred and there's a lot of discourse around who and who doesn't count as a tsm i don't know why i tried to abbreviate it we'll discuss this more in depth later in the video but for now the best thing to do is to just show you some examples so let's move on to while there are hundreds of characters which supposedly fall under this label few have actually earned it to help you understand the trope i've collected five of the most prominent and influential tumblr sexy men from the past decade keep in mind that there are many other characters who fit under this label but i've specifically picked these five because they're the most popular or interesting examples so let's get started i mentioned before that the phenomenon started in 2012. well it was started by one particular character a character so bizarre and unexpected and wildly popular that his mere existence would change tumblr and fandom culture and even the internet forever and that character is yes you heard correctly the once left from the lorax the concept of the once-ler as a hot tumbler bad boy is pretty widely accepted now but when this character first emerged as tumblr's biggest obsession it was bizarre the lorax by dr seuss was an unassuming kid's book with the whole samora but the movie adaption was weird the lorax came out in theaters early 2012 and took the once faceless and mysterious wanslow character and turned him into this he was now a skinny tumbler softboy with a tragic backstory and an evil side as well as a top hat and suit all of these traits would go on to become tumblr sexy man staples also note that none of this was in the source material and the decision to adapt his character this way was frankly a bizarre choice which would lead to years of non-stop sexy once la fan art role plays fan fiction and most popular of all shipping see in the universe of the lorex there wasn't really anyone to ship the once law with unless you were brave enough to ship him with the lorax himself which not many people were boo so instead of shipping the monster with other people they multiplied him and shipped him with himself in the phantom there were tons of different versions of the once loved from female monster to hipster oncela to evil once lit and they were all shipped with each other there was a real thing that happened and tumblr users even had discourse over whether it was problematic to ship someone with themselves once again i'm not kidding or should i say once slur again i shouldn't sarah's ed has a really great video on the once left fandom so if you want a more in-depth look specifically at this character definitely go check that out but for now all you need to know is that tumblr's sudden violent obsession with the once-ler would go on to spark the tumbler sexy man phenomenon as many of tumblr's favorite characters for years to come would fit into the once-less blueprint we'll examine that blueprint later but for now let's move on to bill cipher is an antagonist from the animated kids cartoon series gravity falls he began to amass tumblr popularity around 2013 shortly after the once the fandom was established you're probably wondering how on earth tumblr managed to turn this into a sexy man well humanization of course tumblr users took bill's character design and used elements from it to make him into a skinny white dude in a top head in suit sound familiar this is an interesting case because it showed just how little a character had to originally share with the wansler to then be adapted by tumblr users into a once la clone aside from having a top head and being evil bill didn't share that many traits with the wansler but tumblr took it into their own hands to give him a full suit skinny frame white complexion and that classic one eyebrow raised smug grin thing that all these dudes seem to have bill cipher's sexy man design was so widely spread and accepted as canon that the creator of gravity fools purposely drew a very grotesque canon design and rebellion against the fanbase the fans obviously ignored this version in favor of the twink one though bill cipher was the second ever tumblr sexy man putting him in a very unique position he borrowed many key elements from the once but his own edgy traits would be added to the list of tropes for the sexy man archetype for example his canon design being something inhuman or inanimate which was then humanized or his affiliation with demons and magic overall while he would pass on some of his traits to future tumblr 6 you mean he absolutely solidified the villainous evil persona and certain bow tie combo is a must-have for any wannabe tumblr heartthrob moving on to tony the talking clock was a character from the youtube web series don't hug me i'm scared the series was a collection of short horror videos published to youtube depicting a bunch of puppets going through violent or disturbing situations in the format of a kid's tv show it was basically a happy tree friends-esque parody of kids television and it got massively popular for both its shock factor and super cool production quality tony the talking clock was the antagonist in the second episode of this series teaching the main characters a fun-filled lesson about the concept of time before turning evil and killing them tony rose to prominence as a tumbler sexy man shortly after bill cipher in 2013 and ticked off all of the boxes non-human character turned into a skinny white boy tick suit and bow tie tick evil personality tick a pattern was beginning to form and the traits of the tumblr sexy man archetype were being solidified with every new popular character it's really funny to me how this character design is the furthest thing away from like a hot brooding anime boy and yet somehow tumblr artists managed to turn all of his clock features into like cool face paint and dyed hair character designers work hard but teens on tumblr who want to make every character bangable work harder tony's rise to tumblr fame after the once let and bill cipher makes another pattern very clear these characters were coming from extremely bizarre franchises tumblr uses thirsting over hot fictional guys is to be expected but thirsting over characters from the lorax movie or a puppet based youtube web series was not expected at all time and time again tumblr users chose the most obscure unsexy and straight-up wacky franchises and characters to sexify baffling everyone who watched the trope rise to prominence by this point the term itself had become popular both unironically and as a meme but it would reach the full height of its popularity with the character if you're an internet user i probably don't have to tell you what undertale is or why it was so popular but i'm going to anyway undertale is a video game published by game developer toby fox in 2015. the game is a top-down rpg and has been widely acclaimed for its characters writing gameplay art i mean what hasn't this game been acclaimed for naturally good games attract large fan bases and attract a large fan base it certainly did the undertale fanbase is probably one of the largest and most prolific out there with tons of artwork music writing shipping and of course thirsting fans were hot for basically every character in this game but only one would reach true sexy man status that character is sans and he was one of the first and only tumblr sexy men to break almost all of the typical tropes it's hard to describe just how popular sans was on tumblr around this time unless you were there but basically you couldn't scroll two seconds without seeing them on your dashboard even if you weren't interested in undertale it's hard to pin down exactly why so many people were thirsting over a pixelated skeleton but i can take a guess people loved sans because he was a funny little skeleton guy who made puns but he also had a super evil powerful boss fight in the game it was a very dramatic story moment but of course in the fandom this translated into having a twisted and evil dark side like many tumblr sexy men before him this evil side played a key part in his sex appeal but unlike the characters before him he didn't fit into the once-ler blueprint sans was one of the first and only characters that wasn't humanized into a skinny white anime boy but instead depicted pretty true to his character as a short chubby slobby skeleton guy this broke all of the rules for what constituted a tumbler sexy man and yet he is still widely regarded as one of if not the most popular characters on tumblr this poses an interesting question what makes a tumblr sexy man is it about popularity appearance how many tropes the character takes off well this question is complicated and we'll get to answering it soon we're nearly at the end of our lineup so let's move on to our last example hesbin hotel is an animated web series on youtube created by vivian medrano and spindle horse tunes the series skyrocketed to popularity in 2019 even being picked up as a series by a24 of all studios the adult dark comedy musical series focuses on a group of demons in hell who try to become rehabilitated so they can go to heaven the sexy man in question is a character called alistair the radio demon you know the drill by this point tall skinny bow tie suit sharp teeth magical eyes non-human edgy and evil and powerful etc etc what makes alistair interesting is the meta conversation that surrounds his very existence is alistair the radio demon bait he fits into every single trope laid out by the characters that came before him almost to a t from the sexypedia wiki quote he is infamous for looking like he was specifically designed to bait the sexy man fandom and then actually getting it alistair actually wasn't the first tumblr sexy man to be accused of being bait blackhead a character from the animated web series villainous has also been noted as fitting a little too perfectly into the trope to the point where many are convinced he's either bait or parody if this is true then alistar and black hat may symbolize the next evolution in the trope's timeline the post-ironic tumblr sexy man pretty much all things online go from being wildly popular to incredibly cringed to ironically dissected to unironically fun again for example the twilight movies the tumblr sexy man trope may be in its ironic stage with creators becoming very self-aware about the archetypes that their characters are falling under basically lots of people think that alistar and black hat are either parodies of this trope while purposely designed to fit this trope either way it signals a shift from random unassuming characters being adapted to fit the once the blueprint to characters being specifically manufactured and created to be tumblr sexy man overall alistair is interesting because he shows us what a modern day tumblr sexy man looks like personally i thought the trope had died out in like 2015 but alasda's popularity shows us that this trope is still going strong even if it has evolved a bit with the modern times it's interesting to look back at the roots of this phrase and where it started to how it changed along the way and how it's eventually ended up like all things online it has slowly evolved with its audience and the changing of the times in a weird but fascinating way [Music] let's revisit that sexypedia wiki that i mentioned earlier the wiki's goal is to document all of the characters who have been deemed tumblr sexy men as well as all the tropes and traits that they share it's caused a lot of discourse due to its huge character list containing many characters who arguably don't belong there at all handsome jack from borderlands well he fits all the tropes but he's not popular enough scar from the lion king i mean i guess a lot of people had a crush on him and he is an edgy evil bad boy but he's not tumblr enough dr bunsen honeydew from the muppets well he's an unexpected character from a very non-sexy franchise which falls in line with the other characters from the trope but no he definitely doesn't fit so we have to ask the question what makes a tumblr sexy man what separates sans from scar why does alistar count while handsome jack doesn't i'm far from the first person to ask these questions and tumblr users have been discoursing about it for years a tumblr user called zelda softy wrote on the topic tumblr sexy man has lost its meaning people see something popular and instantly think yeah there's gonna be a new sexy man that's not how it works you can't just make a character into a sexy man in a week if there isn't at least 20 blogs dedicated to that character and pics of them with captions like ah my ovaries then it isn't a sexy man it takes effort another user called teamsnice wrote basically people see a character be drawn in a fun cool way and go ah yes sexy man without thinking about what actually makes a character a sexy man it has genuinely nothing to do with the characters themselves sans and the onslaught are incredibly different characters and yet they're widely regarded as the most prominent examples of this phenomenon and these posts can provide us with a lot of insight into the topic they point out that it isn't just appearance or popularity or really anything about the characters themselves but more about how the fandom and tumblr interact with them you can't just slap the label onto any character you like there has to be a perfect storm of insane fan obsession to elevate a character to this level to conclude this section of the video i'm going to attempt the impossible and define this trope once and for all i've compiled a list of 10 traits tropes that these characters usually have they don't have to have all of them but they should at least have a few this is pretty subjective and these aren't hard and fast rules but this is just my personal list let's go number one and most important of all the character must be popular there's no leeway here the character has to at least have like a thousand pieces of fan art there's got to be ask vlogs role plays fanfictions pinterest boards all dedicated to this one character number two the character is evil they might be a remorseless and sadistic villain or they may just have a dark side alter ego either way they're a twisted [ __ ] psychopath number three the character is a skinny white anime boy despite being the most powerful being in the universe he looks like a stiff wind would blow him over number four the character is non-human this might be a humanoid monster or demon situation like with sans or alistar or it could be an object or animal humanized into an anime boy ella raymond from animal crossing tony the talking clock or bill cipher number five the character dresses in a dapper and formal fashion usually a suit but can also be business casual bonus points if they have a cane top hat bow tie glasses or monocle number six the character is extremely powerful this is usually expressed through magic and can range from simply having magic abilities like sans to literally having god-like world-ending powers like alistair or bill cipher number seven the character has monster traits while still being humanoid alistar's horns sands glowing eyes black cat's sharp teeth michael afton's purple skin tone and so on number eight the main reason for their popularity is their supposed sex appeal even if the character is really deep nuanced or complex in the source material the discussion around them will be about how attractive cute or sexy they are number nine the characters will have a ton of popular au's the once-ler and sans are prime examples of this because each of them have hundreds of alternate universe designs bonus points of the fandom frequently ships these au's together and lastly number 10 they eventually become hated if your dashboard is filled with nothing but sands undertale for months on end it's only natural that you're going to start hating him with a burning passion whether it's because of over saturation witnessing weird outrageous fandom behavior or personal belief that the character in question is problematic people will eventually find reasons to dislike tumblr sexy men so what have we learned today well the tumblr sexy man is hard to define but easy to spot it was incredibly influential both as a genuine character archetype and as a meme and it does have its problematic elements it's interesting to see how it started as a simple phrase to describe a few select characters and evolved into a heavily debated and controversial character trope it's easy to be judgmental about how weird it is that tumblr users wanted to bang a clock or a pyramid but you know it's normal for teens and even adults to like weird cringy stuff and as long as it isn't illegal or hurting anyone there's nothing wrong with it but it's also worth examining this phenomenon for its more problematic elements tumblr use a year 2000 electronics wrote in a post quote the original sexy men weren't just characters that a lot of people find hard they weren't just oh you draw this character hotter than they should be either the idea of a tumblr man was a sentiment geared towards mostly straight women who would ignore female characters characters of color anything like that in favor of a rampant latching onto average or even wicked male characters it wasn't a conversation about shaming straight women or anyone who was attracted to these people but rather a think piece why are your favorite characters always men why do you feel the need to be attracted to something to ship something in media is it not enough to simply have a poignant theme this argument has been lost to time the tumblr sexy man trope is seen largely as a meme nowadays and it's easy to forget how legitimately earnest it was in the beginning people weren't drawing anime boy out of the once lost for the meme they were genuinely infatuated with them the trope is funny and silly but you really do have to ask yourself why time and time again tumblr was choosing to popularize the same attractive skinny white dudes to the point where other more diverse characters were being completely ignored also note that in almost all cases any hint of nuance or commentary that the character represented in the source material was thrown out the window which can be kind of problematic in and of itself like all the character needed to be was evil and sexy and the source material didn't matter you could just give him a sad backstory and then you wouldn't have to worry about the ethics of drawing soft boy art of an evil capitalist who wiped out an entire native species it's always worth examining these kinds of criticisms because they're absolutely valid but on the other hand we've come a long way a lot of people forget just how big tumblr sexy men were in the mid-2010s and while the trope is still around today it's far less prevalent than it once was personally these days i see a lot more fan culture devoted to unique and diverse characters and i hope that that's a trend that continues for now though tumblr sexy men are far from extinct and who knows which character will be chosen as tumblr's next target no one is safe thank you guys so much for watching i really hope you enjoyed that video i know it's a little bit different than the stuff i usually do this was more of an analysis of i guess fan culture and stuff like that but i found it really interesting and i hope i can do more stuff like this in the future so yeah definitely let me know if you enjoyed it and yeah thank you so much for supporting me have a good one and i'll see you in the next one bye thank you so much to my garfield gods over on patreon reimport sheriff whiskey brie soap tears princess bossy boots jason salisbury fabulously terrible cass lomas jelly kai astrium vortex iris eos de gall pound town town tyson marlow tristan pippa destroyer of worlds the black banana your boy tiazi erin j poop sophie skitter loses club player tsd ashley jade sarah dance and ragdolls comics aiden mcfann the bonesaw sobbing red meth curb my anxiety rodney ogg juicy troy oblivion natalie i'm half gyro half man the 6.99 man matthew wahlberg essene avery albert bg rudy redgrave tom mckinnon tainted latte grand beazley gabby 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Channel: Izzzyzzz

Views: 1,156,986

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Id: q9i9KDtZtv8

Length: 23min 30sec (1410 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 24 2021