Woobie

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Synonyms: woobify, woobifie
See also: Weepy Uke Syndrome, Manpain, wangst
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A woobie is a beloved fannish character (often a BSO) who evokes in fans the desire to wrap him (usually him[1] and white) up in a blanket and cuddle him and comfort him.[2] If a character is hard-working, and/or endures difficult circumstances bravely, and/or is often at the "h" end of the H/C spectrum, odds are good that fans consider him a woobie.

Woobies, especially if they're the smaller/shorter member of a slash pairing, have a higher risk of becoming feminized and/or infantilized. In fact, some people within fandom think that the process of woobification equates to infantilization and/or feminization of a male character.

The Bad Boy Woobie is a subtype of the genus woobie that may be becoming more common in canon.[3]

Popular Woobies in Fandom

Meta

References

  1. ^ Are woobies necessarily male? Comment discussion started 2 Feb 2010 at thefourthvine's "Woobies Wanted" post. (Accessed 25 Aug 2013)
  2. ^ "A woobie (named for a child's security blanket) is that character you want to give a big hug, wrap in a blanket and feed soup to when he or she suffers so very beautifully." TheWoobie entry at TVTropes (accessed 28 Feb 2010)
  3. ^ "The Bad Boy Woobie (BBW) is a particular type of character that has become increasingly popular over the past few years (I can think of several older teen shows that did not have a single BBW among the cast regs: Dawson's Creek, The O.C., the early years of Buffy--and I wouldn't be surprised if there were more that I just happen to have missed. Nowadays, though, almost every show I know has a woobie in the cast.)" Field Guide: How to Recognize a Bad Boy Woobie. meta post by 12-12-12, 2 Jan 2012. (Accessed 5 Jan 2012)
  4. ^ "For certain fans for various television shows, movies or books, woobie means something else entirely. It was popularized by several vocal Smallville viewers who thought all Lex Luthor needed was a good hug. Or something." Dee Stiffler, Gapers Block, "Let Go of the Woobie", posted 1 Aug 2005 (Accessed 28 Feb 2010)
  5. ^ On the fandomwank wiki entry on Woobie, Lex is referred to as the "ur-woobie" (Accessed 28 Feb 2010)
  6. ^ "historical background" comment referencing Smallville origins on the history of woobies by mecurtin at 12-12-12's "How to Recognize a Bad Boy Woobie" post, 2 Jan 2012 (Accessed 5 Jan 2012)
  7. ^ a b "I am going to assume that I don't need to say Daniel Jackson or Ianto Jones, right? Those are sort of a baseline." comment by dragojustine, 28 February 2010, at thefourthvine's "Woobies Wanted" post.
  8. ^ Explanation of "D:ean" from a 2011 thread at Fail-Fandomanon
  9. ^ "For the most popular trope, OH NO POOR TONY, see most of the fandom." from *the Popular Tropes section of the Steve Rogers/Tony Stark fanlore page. (Accessed 1 Jan 2012)
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