For many of us, the 2010s had us at the heights of our teen years. It was when many of us were discovering and becoming engrossed in pop culture, teen and tween magazines and shows, and especially social media (I remember being 11 when I posted my first grainy and highly filtered picture to Instagram). Besides Instagram and Snapchat, there was other social media platform that had an undeniable effect on teenagers, and particularly teenage girls, across the world. That platform is Tumblr. Many YouTube channels and blogs have gone into depth about the negative impact this site had on body image and liberal culture at the height of its reign: 2014. But I’d like to go a bit deeper into an arguably scarier side of Tumblr that is, for the most part, left underground – the fandoms. A group of bloggers akin to the Wattpad fanfiction writers who wrote drew, shipped and all-around glorified particular fictional characters. And many of these characters have come to be known as the Tumblr Sexy-Men.
What is a Tumblr Sexy-Man and what are his general tropes? A Tumblr Sexy-Man, according to YouTuber STRANGE ÆONS, is “generally [a] morally-grey or villainous anti-hero kind of bad boy or forbidden type.” She goes on to state that in terms of appearance they usually fall into the category of “young twink” or “father figure”. These and many other categories are tropes listed just like that on the Tumblr Sexy-man Wikipedia page (yes, there is a Wikipedia page) which detail other general traits of the Sexy-Man, namely androgynous features, queer coding, either being unkempt, upper-class or both (think L from Death Note) and even having non-human traits such as being undead (think Edward Cullen).
Tumblr Sexy-Men don’t have to even be men, as long as they exude a sense of power and/or dominance that has teenagers and young adults gripped in the… storytelling.
The most famous Tumblr Sexy-Men have most if not all of these tropes down. Patrick Bateman from American Psycho is one of the more “normal” choices on the list, being one of the more beloved and popularised Sexy-Men on the website. Patrick Bateman’s popularity is a direct result of the ‘culting’ of American Psycho. Due to its cult following, the character made strides in pop culture and Tumblr culture, as a power-hungry capitalist anti-hero “chaoslord”. It also helps that he is very memetic.
Some of the more eccentric Tumblr Sexy-Men include Sans the Skeleton from the video game Undertale, Mr Peabody from the film Mr Peabody and Sherman, Bill Cipher from Gravity Falls and even Lightning McQueen; the sentient red racing car.
But if you had to ask a Tumblr die-hard who the face of Tumblr Sexy-Man is? Who is the leader of the army of this very nuanced and very chronically-online fanbase and community? Well, then I’d have to say there are two: Loki, the God of Mischief himself and The Onceler from The Lorax.
Of the two, Loki is the easy pick for many and it’s easy to see why so many people love him. Regardless of the fact that he carries all of the general Sexy-Man tropes very well, he is part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, meaning that his presence in pop culture is much larger than the others. But unlike Robert Downey Jr and his Iron Man, Loki is one of the kings of the Tumblr Sexy-Men because of his anti-hero nature (I mean he is literally the God of Mischief) mixed with his undeniable charm on and off the screen. Marvel actors also have a very curated fandom online as fans ship not only their characters but even the actors with one another and endlessly follow any interviews, behind-the-scenes or miscellaneous content they bring out. Basically, fans love Tom Hiddleston as much as, if not more than, Loki. Possibly because his kind and charismatic nature off-screen juxtaposes with his character just well enough to make fans love Loki even more.
As for The Onceler, I admit even I was pulled deep into this fandom at a stage. Of the two, The Onceler had been on the throne for much longer so many believe that he is the true king of the Tumblr Sexy-Men. He has kept up a Loki-level of popularity on the site ever since the movie came out in 2012 and many Tumblr users admitted that his solo song, “How Bad Can I Be?” was an awakening of sorts. The Onceler is also perfect shipping material. He perfectly fits the appearance of a “young twink”, he’s tall, skinny and pale. And he has a villainous arc which he leans into during the latter half of the film. Quoting STRANGE ÆONS once more, she says, ‘What happened with The Onceler in 2012 never quite happened again on that scale, but it did irreparable damage to Tumblr and Tumblr Sexy-Men culture.’
Tumblr’s Sexy-Man culture is not going anywhere, I’m pretty sure there is someone out there writing a blog post about The Sandman from the new Netflix show of the same name, adding him to the roster next to Patrick Bateman and The Joker. What this side of Tumblr shows us is the ripple effect of popular culture and the power of fandoms to grow and change the perspective of fictional characters. I am forever in awe at internet culture and how the more we put into it the more it becomes its own living, growing organism.