Fanlore:Featured Article Archives/2021: Week 37

The Tumblr sexyman, broadly, is a phrase used to describe any popular male character from fandom that Tumblr users have latched onto. It may be used on characters that are considered (subjectively) attractive or non-human who have been altered by fandom on Tumblr.

For example, the Once-ler (The Lorax, 2012) is sometimes considered the original Tumblr sexyman because Tumblr users made him popular and attempted to make him appear more sexy. Another example is Bill Cipher (Gravity Falls, 2012-2016), who was a fan favorite villain that often got humanizations in which he was made into a skinny white boy. However, these criteria may have begun to change circa 2015 with Sans (Undertale, 2015) and then Benry (HLVRAI, 2020), whose depictions in fandom seem to subvert the typical Sexyman trope (while still qualifying them for the title in other ways). (For more on this, see History).

a tumblr sexy man is a character from any sort of media classified as hot by tumblr. think bill cipher. the onceler. etc

Vanniez-Playland, Jul 27, 2020

A dedicated wiki, Sexypedia, exists to catalogue the various characters given the Tumblr Sexyman treatment, although there may be varying levels of agreement around the extent to which each character qualifies for the title.