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alt title(s): Mr Fanservice  Exhibit A: Peter Petrelli WANTED
Hot male character to provide maximum female-oriented Fanservice to satisfy the Estrogen Brigade demographic.
QUALIFICATIONS
BENEFITS
AKA
- Human Foreplay
- The Chick Lure
- Mr. Fanservice
When the fans who love these men are other men, this trope overlaps with Fan Yay. If this happens in-universe instead, it's Even The Guys Want Him. If overloaded with Fetish Fuel tropes, he'll be a male Fetish Fuel Station Attendant.
Examples:
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Comics
- Rorschach from Watchmen of all people. You'd think the short, smelly, right-wing, homophobic, heterophobic, psychopath vigilante wouldn't hold a candle to Silk Spectre II or Dr. Manhattan but you'll be more than likely to find a "Kovacs is Love" avatar than an "I <3 Laurie" one anyday!
- Dick Grayson. There's a reason why he always ends up parading around shirtless or in his underwear, and his tendency to get tied up... often while shirtless or in his underwear. It's because Nightwing makes female Batman fans.
- The Spirit. Although there may be an entirely plausible, plot-related reason for why he's Bound And Gagged so damn much... And undressed... In consecutive splash pages. Or maybe not.
- Witchblade has Ian Nottingham. Often drawn shirtless due to fannish demand. (Not that Kenneth Irons was half bad, but spent less time half naked.) And we shouldn't forget Jackie Estacado, either... although he does have a slight impediment for estrogen fun.
- Gambit of the X-Men was this for a long time: The dark, brooding and mysterious guy with a horrible past and a dark secret, a cool gimmick, a COAT... and the playful nature of playing basketball shirtless. Or show his magnificent butt to the 'camera' (i.e. boathouse scene or the arrival in the Onslaught-aftermath issue of Uncanny X-men)
- Savant, from Birds of Prey, was designed to be a hot one shot villain but became popular.
- Captain America: James "Bucky" Barnes becomes thoroughly baited when he makes his comeback as the Winter Soldier
 ◊. Steve Rogers (the Captain himself) can qualify as well.
- Every major hero. Here's the proof [1]
- Empowered's boyfriend Thugboy. Lessee... Half German/Italian, half Japanese (for the all-important manga eyes and long, silky black hair), blessed in the lunchbox, really buff, more likely to be shirtless than not, more likely to be trouserless than not, more of a dark and troubled past than a third of the other examples, a prime example of Love Redeems... and loves his Cool Shades.
- Most, if not all of the male elves in Elf Quest. When Wendy Pini did a pinup calendar (for 1998), half the plates showed guys. The one of Strongbow was reused for a cover later◊
Films
- The 300! All 300 of them are fanservice. Especially the guy that loses his head, and Leonidas, and well... all 300 of them.
- The Covenant. Four hotties. Oops, five hotties.
- James Bond.
- The first Brosnan flick had a very hot villain played by Sean Bean.
- Not only does Trevelyan have most of the requisites for EBB, for some, the Foe Yay raised the heat several kelvin further.
- And don't forget Le Chiffre.
- Will Smith in I Am Legend — that was some Shirtless Scene.
- Let's face it, Will Smith shirtless in any movie/show causes estrogen surges.
- Captain Peter Quincy Taggart in the Show Within A Show on Galaxy Quest. He, of course, is a parody of Captain Kirk.
- Warren Peace of Sky High — Steven Strait was cast for the role because he "was not only tough, but had a smile which made all the girls on set swoon."
- Star Wars's Anakin Skywalker, Or So I Heard.
- Anakin? Pleh. Now, that Obi-Wan Kenobi, he was quite the looker in his younger days. And that Qui-Gon! *swoon*
- You can say that again! Though even older Obi can stir the pulse a bit with that voice of his.
- Can you say "Han Solo"? That man was sex on a stick.
- Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean. (Not that being female is a requirement.) Will Turner and Commodore Norrington also count.
- Legolas in The Lord of the Rings is responsible for 80% of the film version's female viewership, Aragorn was the reason for the other 20%, and there has to be some percentage set aside for Frodo's big blue eyes....
- Also Boromir and Faramir. Saruman's voice is almost enough to count as Fanservice on its own. I think half of the male cast should count as Peter Jackson's kind gift to female viewers.
- As far as "the reason girls like The Lord of the Rings"... there was a Fox Trot comic about that. Geeky Jason can't believe his older sister Paige is actually going to watch a film that obviously only nerds should like....
- I mourned the short screentime Sauron recieved. The armor was... not uninteresting but he was even more bishounen before the fall of Numenor.
- He was.◊
- Good god, yes, he was◊.
- Oh. My. It's probably a good thing he lost the ability to use attractive forms...can you imagine Eowyn versus him instead of the Witch-King?
- The film Into the Wild was a pretty blatant attempt to capitalize on this. How else do you explain the admittedly very attractive Emile Hirsch spending a significant part of the film in a state of close up shirtlessness?
- Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones, anyone? Particularly in Temple of Doom.
- Tony Stark in Iron Man had a near-shirtless scene IN A CAVE! WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS!
- In Hellboy II, it seems as if Prince Sephi*coughcough* Nuada is designed specifically for this. Heck, his first scene was a shirtless one.
- And guess who the fangirls love the most? Abe Sapien.
- Alan Cumming's portrayal of Nightcrawler in X-Men 2 had the tragic backstory, the physical and emotional scars, the acrobat's physique, and the smexy German accent. Wolverine adds sheer badassery to the mix.
-
But and Nightcrawler has a tail!
- Don't forget his Cute Little Fangs!
- And you just know that when the Wolverine movie comes out, Gambit will gain a whole new horde of fangirls.
- Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool. He manages to capture the character's well-known sense of humor, but his good looks will probably manage to convince a lot of teenage Fan Girls that he's not a psychopath — just misunderstood because All Girls Want Bad Boys.
- Liev Schreiber as Sabretooth. Sure, he had bag-lady nails and some of the worst lines (which is saying a LOT), but damn could he do it with flair!
- A Knights Tale was chock full of Brigade Bait: Heath Ledger's Will (yum!), Rufus Sewell's Adhemar (be still my heart!) and James Purefoy's Black Prince (where has this gorgeous man been all my life!!!).
- He's been in Rome. Doing random shepherdesses and standing around nekkid. You're welcome.
- Paul Bettany's Geoffrey Chaucer is introduced naked!
- Certainly there should be some love for Alan Tudyk as Wat.
- Speaking of Bettany, Three Words: Inkheart. Fire scene. A scruffy-haired, shirtless Paul Bettany juggling fire. it's probably not actually symbolic, but boy does it come off that way.
- Caspian in the latest Chronicles of Narnia. In spades. Tragic backstory, troubled but cute, the voice ...
- Christian Bale as Batman in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. And no batnipple suit!
- The Prestige had both Bale and Hugh Jackman — EBB times two! Or four, if you count the twins/doubles.
- Two words: David Bowie.
- Velvet Goldmine, amen. And not just for Christian, but we're also talking Ewan McGregor, the delicious Jonathan Rhys Meyers, and intense all male love scenes!
- Bale? Even Buffy swoons over him. Her fantasy is "Reign of Fire Christian Bale, you get the horses while Little Women Christian Bale, dance with me".
- Don't forget Hot Scientist Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow (played by Cillian Murphy) and Harvey Dent/Two-Face (played by Aaron Eckhart) who becomes The Woobie in no time flat by the end of the film.
- The Nolan Batman films are filled to the brim with estrogen bait. Even Commissioner Gordon has fangirls.
- ...because he's played by Gary Oldman. Ya know - Count Dracula, Sirius Black, Sid Vicious-playing Gary Oldman.
- Thereby proving my point that the Nolanverse is filled to the brim with Estrogren bait.
- Jareth. It's probably easier to find the Labyrinth fans who don't want to fuck David Bowie.
- Easier to count. Way harder to find.
- Depending on what you like, Grave-Robber, Pavi Largo, Luigi Largo, Rotti Largo, Amber's bodyguards, Nathan Wallace, and even the Repo Man from Repo! The Genetic Opera could all count.
- Pick a movie with Mark Wahlberg in it. Any movie. Chances are he takes his shirt off, he gets shot, and he looks hot.
- In The Mummy Trilogy and Resident Evil movies, Oded Fehr pretty much qualifies as Mr. Fanservice.
- Hmm I thought the Mummy was pretty hot. When he shows up in the gold underpants in the first film the ladies in the theater cheered. Who Is he? Hes Zartan too, yes?
- Speaking of The Mummy Trilogy, Brendan Fraser was bait during the beginning of his career, in roles like Gods and Monsters and George of the Jungle (the scene after he came out of the shower made him Mr. Fanservice).
- Chris Evans in Fantastic Four... when his powers flared up while skiing and somehow turned a snowbank into a jacuzzi, would any straight woman or gay man have turned down that invite? And watching him awkwardly prance around naked afterwards...
- Yes. A cutie. Doc Doom too. Flame on!
- Meh. Not everyone finds a Jerk Jock attractive. Reed Richards as played by Ioan Gruffudd, OTOH... (heads for cold shower)
- How about Dr. Doom, as played by Julian McMahon?
- This trope is the only possible reason that, in the Silent Hill movie, Pyramid Head is completely shirtless.
- Well, his wearing basically what equals a long blood-covered smock (and IIRC, no pants) is bad enough in the game itself...
- I would like to say that I watch the bonus features on the DVD too much and have discovered that yes, he doesn't have any pants on. That means the actresses were getting fanservice before us!
- I recall many people being shocked at the success of Brokeback Mountain with women. Which... really?! Attractive actors, check. "Troubled" (more like tragic) plotlines, check. Shirtless scenes, check. And of course, guy-on-guy, check, check, check.
- Bollywood has coined an officious term for Estrogen Brigade Bait candidates: Chocolate Hero.
- Troy has Brad Pitt as Achilles. 3/4th naked Brad Pitt as Achilles. 3/4th naked and oiled Brad Pitt as Achilles. 3/4th naked, oiled and gay Brad Pitt as Achilles. So, as I was saying, the guy playing Hector was totally fan service.
- Troy has Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, and Sean Bean all mostly naked, sweaty, oily, and waving swords. But I think there actually is a plot in there, if you can manage not to be distracted enough.
- Terminator: Salvation. Not only can Marcus not keep his shirt on, but Ahnold shows up as the T-800 at the climax. Naked. Completely worth USD$20.
- And let us not forget Christian Bale as John Connor.
- Pretty much the entire male cast of Star Trek, including Leonard Nimoy.
- It's likely that younger women went with their partners to see The Departed for Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Wahlberg with a bad haircut and Matt Damon, rather than Jack Nicholson, or simply being directed by Martin Scorsese.
- Angels and Demons cast. Well, most of it. Especially Ewan McGregor's character, Camerlengo Patrick McKenna. It doesn't help he's a chaste, hot priest with tragic past and dark secret. Do you think priests are creepy? Check this:
- Escape From New York may not be the greatest movie in the world, but Kurt Russell still looks hot. Face it - any guy that Big Boss is based so heavily off of is smoking hot.
- And he manages to be even hotter in Escape From LA, despite being about 15 years older. This troper suspects the Badass Longcoat may have something to do with it...
- Taylor Lautner◊ in New Moon. Every time he removed his shirt in the movie, the tweens squeeeed.
Literature
- Old Kingdom's Touchstone, resident Human Popsicle and possibly long-lost heir to the throne. Better known for his Naked First Impression and kilt.
- Anne of Green Gables's Gilbert Blythe, the Kiss to Anne's Slap Slap. Additionally, he's a real doctor!
- Many characters of Jane Austen's. Let's start with the stoic, aloof Mr. Darcy of Pride And Prejudice.
- Crowley from Good Omens. Demon who saves all of humanity. Wears sunglasses and well-tailored suits all the time. And he can do really weird things with his tongue.
- Twilight, obviously, has its share:
- A good 3/4s of the book is Bella telling us how perfect and handsome Edward Cullen is.
- Don't forget Jacob, it seems that most of the scenes featuring him in the trailors for New Moon is him without his shirt on. Edward without a shirt...Your Mileage May Vary.
- From Harry Potter: Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Ron Weasley, Cedric Diggory, Neville Longbottom, Tom Riddle, Draco Malfoy (Who gets this treatment often enough to have had a trope named for it, Lucius Malfoy, Severus Snape (played by Alan Rickman), James Potter, and even Harry, to a certain extent.
- This is mostly due to the movies, which cast the canonically ugly characters as Hollywood Homely. Snape, for instance, is described more than once as ugly, having a hooked nose and greasy hair. See for yourself.
- Stephen Maturin of the Aubrey-Maturin series. Badass Bookworm, a frequent target of Ho Yay, and a Woobie, too? Not to mention his Dark And Troubled Past with the United Irishman, his castle... etc. So Yeah. It's no wonder he's so loved in the fandom.
- Warrior Cats seems to have, well... almost every single male related to Tigerstar, because he seems to have the EBB gene (Tadpole didn't inherit it for some reason.). Most people would probably never think of being attracted to them because they're cats, but Tigerstar, Brambleclaw, and Hawkfrost do have fans that think they're sexy (This straight male troper included).
Live Action TV
- The entire main male cast of True Blood, along with plenty of Fan Yay. The male characters display far more fanservice than the female ones. Yum, naked Ryan Kwanten.
- For the record, Ryan Kwanten is Australia's gift to the rest of the world. We enjoyed him first, and we want to share. He used to star on an Australia soap opera called Home and Away, and according to popular rumour, whenever a scene called for Ryan's character to be shirtless (which happened often, since he was a surf-life-saver), a lot of women who didn't really need to be on-set would suddenly appear. Can we blame them?
- Oh lets name them! I WANT to.
- Bill the hot brooding and southern Gentelmanly Vampire.
- Jason the very athletic, insanely pretty, endearingly good hearted, a bit insecure often naked(thank you) Good Ol' boy.
- Lafayette the sassy, outrageous ,one of a kind, gorgeus Gay Cook.
- Hoyt the sweet, respectful, romantic dark eyed Mammas boy(the way a man treats his momma is a good indication of how theyll treat you!).
- Terry the troubled but cute, very well built, shy Iraqi Vet( he learned some very manly Krav Maga fighting techniques there as well!).
- Eric the tall blond and gorgeous, cocky, arrogant, seductive Wild Viking.
- Dear Alan Ball, thank you sooooo much for naked Eric in that dream sequence of Sookie's...
- Sam the down to earth, friendly, adorable, and sexy owner of Merlottes.
- And a special note to Godric, the lovable vampire messiah, Eggs the very built unwilling sidekick of Maryann, and the cute mind reading Bellhop from Dallas.
- For Season Two, Eggs was on the list!
- Blood Ties had Henry Fitzroy. Not only is he a bishonen vampire with sexy curly hair and a tragic romantic past, but he spent large quantities of the story with his shirt off or ripped to shreds, lounging/writhing around in bed (again shirtless). He's also artistic, multitalented, superstrong, cute, chivalrous, and has a lot of funny stories about his past. All that, and he can give women orgasms with his bite.
- Oz has Chris Keller as the most prominent one, but there's also Ryan O'Reilly, and Tobias Beecher, especially when he becomes tougher.
- Seeing as how it takes place in a prison setting, Shirtless Scene's and Shower Scene's are rather prominent among the cast. All those rippling muscles...And the Ho Yay...*shivers*
- Straight man adding this: Takeru/Jiang Meng from Akuma de Sourou/Devil Beside You. He's a misunderstood badboy... and admittedly not bad looking.
- Captain Kirk of Star Trek — Someone had to handle all those Green Skinned Space Babes.
- Also, Spock. According to many stories in the Expanded Universe, he even has an Estrogen Brigade in-universe.
- Also in the series canon, if Jadzia Dax's reaction to him in Trials and Tribble-ations is anything to go by...
- And I thought some girls would go for Christopher Pike. Oh Mr. Hunter, may heaven be more generous to thee.
- Chekov was brought in for the second season to draw in young female viewers. Ironically, McCoy, who was meant to appeal more to older women, ended up being something of a sex symbol amongst young female fans.
- Riker was supposed to play this role in Star Trek The Next Generation but all the Estrogen Brigaders swooned over Captain Picard's silver foxiness instead.
- And that voice! Also, Riker has an annoying... beard.
- I'll thank you not to talk about Deanna Troi in that way...
- Enterprise was certainly not immune to this trope: hunky, tough, but still intelligent Captain Archer, Southern sweetheart engineer Trip, and somewhat pompous-but-sexily-accented Malcom, all qualify very much for the position. (I was 11 when Enterprise started and 15 when it ended. Let's just say that by the end, I had developed... a new appreciation for all of the aforementioned characters, especially Trip...
- Continuing in the Trek verse, Star Trek Voyager had Chakotay (the tattoo was really sexy), the roguishly loveable Tom Paris, and Harry Kim, who you just wanted to hug all the time because the poor, sweet, good-looking guy could never catch a break.
- On Star Trek Deep Space Nine Captain Sisko definitely qualifies. Loving father? Check. Bereaved widower who loved his wife very much for the whole "sad backstory" thing? Check. VERY attractive actor? Check. Melliflous voice made for saying love poetry? Check. Gourmet chef? Check. Awesome enough to punch out Q? Quadruple check. Trek gets a lot of flack for all their Seven of Nines, Hoshi Satos, T'pols, and Uhuras, but this female Trekkie thinks the EBB quotient is practically equal to the MF quotient.
- Stop it, I think you're turning me.
- Sisko was not the only (and arguably not the main) Estrogen Brigade Bait on Star Trek Deep Space Nine. While it can't be said that anyone was a clear designated EBB, he and Bashir seem the most likely candidates for this trope among the protagonists (also, another fan favorite, Worf, who joined the show in season 4). However, a big portion of the female fanbase lusted after Gul Dukat instead, to the point that it made the showrunners uncomfortable (and prompted them to make him into a more clear-cut villain).
- Peter Petrelli and Sylar from Heroes
- Note that the picture above is of the Alternate Universe Future Badass version of Peter.
- Not to mention Season 1 Nathan Petrelli before the Beard Of Fugly, ahem, Beard Of Sorrow, and before something went seriously, seriously wrong with Adrian Pasdar's hair. See the beginning of s. 1, ep. 5, Hiros, and the shirtless-and-wearing-only-pyjama-pants scene in the diner if you don't believe me.
- Mohinder, at least before he carried the Idiot Ball one too many times. He's ridiculously gorgeous, tends to get sweaty and strip down to a wifebeater or less, displaying surprisingly great biceps for a nerd, and has demonstrated proficiency in French.
- Tim Riggins from Friday Night Lights
- The Tenth and Fifth Doctors in Doctor Who, and to a lesser extent, the Eighth and Ninth as well. And the Master, specifically as played by Anthony Ainley. Yum.
- To a greater extent, the Eighth, inspiration of the real life Paul McGann Estrogen Brigade
- Christopher Eccleston has his own Estrogen Brigade as well. Most of them are college-age women, for some reason.
- Ridiculously attractive, leather jacket, awesome voice, the slashy kiss with Captain Jack that set off a million Doctor/Jack slashfics...
- Three Words: John Simm's Master. No wonder that the fangirls always have him wielding a riding crop.
- Ten and Five might have been pretty, but they've got nothing on the Seventh Doctor (the original Oncoming Storm) or the Fourth (there are very few things in the multiverse that are more awesome than Tom Baker and his voice).
- Almost the moment Matt Smith was announced as the Eleventh Doctor, he was accused of being this.
- Don't get them wrong, they're right, but it WORKS.
- Even Three has his fangirls. (First Doctor Who shower scene, after all....)
- What about Six? On the outside he's a total JerkAss but inside he's mushier than a James Iha song. And that angelic face. Even when he gets rather chubby during the "Trial of a Time Lord" arc he's still quite cute. In the Big Finish audio drama "Instruments of War" you just want to hug him.
- Captain Jack Harkness and Ianto Jones (especially together) of Torchwood.
- Oh God, YES!
- Especially with that stopwatch.
- I, for one, want to be the third in that game on Naked Hide and Seek
- I would prefer to find out in person if that measuring tape lies.
- For additional demographic appeal, add Captain John Hart. Ever wonder how women would react to a non-himified, omnisexual Spike from Buffy? Here's a hint: those aren't sirens outside your window.
- Ah, if only he were. By the finale he's even more himified than ever, due to Jack now having an aura that makes everyone fall in love with him retroactively.
- But in the beginning, with the invocation of Slap Slap Kiss (or as they did it, Kiss-Fight-Drink) between him and Captain Jack...YUM!
- Owen Harper, the snarky medic of the team. At first a superficial would-be Casanova who's had every female on the team, but after a quick stop-off as an adorable nerdy-type thanks to some memory manipulation in "Adam", firmly becomes the team's woobie during the 2nd season following his death.
- Alan Jackson, the attractive father in The Sarah Jane Adventures
- Hard to believe Chrissie divorced that. Even harder to believe he married Chrissie....
- The Supernatural writers even admit it; the beautiful cast is one of the main reasons why anyone gets into the show in the first place.
- Jeffrey Dean Morgan as
Daddy John Winchester included.
- And if lusting after an angel (Castiel, in case you didn't know) is wrong, I don't want to be right.
- Cappie in Greek.
- McDreamy, McSteamy, Alex Karev, George O'Malley, Preston Burke, Owen Hunt in Grey's Anatomy and Cooper Friedman, Pete Wilder, Dell and Sam in Private Practice
- What do you think the husbands in Desperate Housewives are there for?
- Even more pronounced would be John, Gabriel's gardener early on; if he had a purpose other than walking around shirtless, it wasn't in evidence.
- The only point of Derek Reese in The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
- Tyr Anasazi of Andromeda was pretty much tailor-made for this trope: a tall, long-haired, muscular, hypermasculine bad boy, the sole survivor of the betrayal of his entire clan — whose desperately desired, unfulfilled life's ambition was to be a husband and father. And he could cook!
- Gaheris Rhade, while totally different to Tyr, falls into this trope, too. Unfortunately, he was killed off... twice (once in an alternate timeline)! He was later replaced with his identical looking great-great-something grandson, played by the same actor.
- Brilliant engineer Seamus Zelazny Harper should have been Estrogen Brigade Bait: A touch of bad boy, cute hair, a dark troubled backstory (grew up on Nietzschean-controlled slave world Earth, survived a Magog invasion). The perfect opposite (both physically and in personality) to Tyr. Instead the script played his unsuccessful attempts at getting laid for laughs, and kept him in eternal sidekick status. For five frakking seasons. What went wrong? Oh wait, I know... three words: Kevin Sorbo, co-producer.
- Which explains why Tyr Anasazi was first figuratively castrated by the script, then (during seasons 4 and 5) replaced by a more spineless Nietzschean character, Telemachus Rhade, who would never be able to challenge the alpha-male status of Sorbo's character Captain Dylan Hunt, The Chosen One.
- Even though Tom Welling actually has the main role on Smallville, it's pretty obvious he wasn't hired for his acting. Michael Rosenbaum, too, fulfills the female viewers' quota for angsty eye candy.
- Season 8 added Davis Bloome, the epitome of this trope. He's... quite attractive and has a tortured past and present it seems, as he's resisting turning into Doomsday. I'm assuming no one made of comment of it here since the entire female population is still reeling from his prettiness.
- Davis! *dies in fit of fangirly glee*
- Ollie Queen is definitely an example. Nice blonde hair, cute smile, half of his scenes are shirtless... not to mention his Green Arrow uniform is designed in such a way that it shows off his extremely nice arms.
- Sayid on Lost. Especially after seeing how well he cleaned up in "The Economist".
- But the ultimate EBB on Lost has to be Sawyer. What can we say? Girls like them bad boys. The numerous Shirtless Scenes probably don't hurt either.
- Then there's Desmond. Those eyes, that body, that accent... yum.
- Don't forget Jack, and John Locke. Taking into the account that he's very badass and quite agile for someone his age.
- Jin. Pretty cheekbones, great voice (even when he's not speaking korean) and the super sweet scenes with Sun.
- You would not believe how many fangirls I've talked to who soak their panties at the thought of Jorge Garcia(strange, but true). Now, why can't I meet these chicks in person?
- Back to Sayid, have you noticed how often he gets tied up on this show? Make of that what you will.
- A scary amount of fanficiton writers apparently think Ben Linus is some sort of sex god. Well, he IS a Magnificent Bastard...
- Gene Hunt from Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes manages this despite being sexist and many other sorts of prejudiced, which gets heavily lampshaded in Ashes to Ashes.
- Ryan Atwood on The OC — there's a reason 75% of his wardrobe is tank tops...
- Fox Mulder on The X Files — he's got it all, the tragic backstory, the sexy voice, and the smokin' hot body. He may, in fact, have been one of the earliest examples of this trope.
- And let's not forget Alex Krycek. Ratboy to some, entirely different nicknames to others...
- And don't forget Skinner. Nice build, in great shape for his age, terrific command presence (right up there with Picard), has had his share of troubles, and of course the voice...
- Firefly's Simon Tam, as well as Jayne Cobb.
- What about our beautiful, traumatized and decidedly Badass Captain Malcolm Reynolds? If his shirtless shot in Serenity wasn't fan-service I don't know what was... not to mention the naked in the desert business.
- He IS Captain Tightpants, as well.
- Captain Tightpants! Har!
- Dark Angel
- Alec was a hottie, so was Zack! And Logan MMMM. Maybe you kids are too young to remember but old folk like me knew how pretty awesome Dean Winchester was when he was almost the same character on Dark Angel.
- Spike. The snark. The badassery. The fact that he spends most of season six of Buffy The Vampire Slayer wearing NOTHING. *squee*
- Yup! Love the hair.
- This troper, a Spike fanBOY, wishes to state this for the record: I would totally boink Spike's brains out if I got half the chance, and I don't even like boys.
- Angel, he spends many of his Buffy appearances shirtless.
- Or, for that matter, ANY of the male cast of Buffy/Angel: Anthony Stewart Head may be older, but he's still lovely to look at, for those of us who like nice boys, Riley was quite handsome, and Nicholas Brendon is hardly a slouch in the looks department. On Angel, Wesley was maybe not this to start out with, but after Taking A Level In Badass and going all mopey and stubbly and phone-sex-y - damn, the man was fine. As for Gunn, on the commentary to "Waiting in The Wings," Joss points out that he put Fred's squeal of "You're so PRETTY!" upon seeing a tux-ed out Gunn in because, well, it was true, wasn't it? Also, let's not forget Lindsey...
- Let's not forget the one-time-in-two-and-a-half-years castmember who found this in her accidental killer...
- Christian Kane is again prime EBB in Leverage as the hitter, Eliot Spencer, who can beat up all the bad guys then cook a five star meal.
- Hardison has his share of the fangirls too. Age of the geek, baby!
- Danny Messer from CSI New York.
- Delko on CSI Miami. One episode had him go in the water to get a body out of a crocodile's mouth, and it was a shame for all the ladies watching that he was wearing a dark shirt.
- Horatio Caine. Those sunglasses... the oddly reassuring deep voice... yum.
- Back to NY for a minute. Every male on the cast (with the possible exception of Robert Joy) is EBB. But especially Don Flack, Jr. His fanbase rivals Danny's any day of the week, and we haven't even had a shirtless scene liek every other EBB on the show has gotten. Eddie Cahill actually got a mention on Entertainment Weekly's Must List in 2009 for his portrayal of Flack.
- Niles from Frasier. An odd choice maybe but he was reasonably pretty with his blonde hair and slender frame, got quite a few woobie moments in and had always seemed more vulnerable than Frasier - even when he was just The Niles.
- Highlander: The Series' most active fanbase was frumpy women drooling over Adrian Paul.
- This frumpy woman much preferred 'silver fox' Joe Dawson or the inimitable Methos.
- Law And Order Special Victims Unit's chronic victim of Clothing Damage Elliot Stabler.
- And really, let's thank the PTB's for that, because Chris Meloni has a fantastic body. Not that we've never seen it before.
- Not to mention Fin Tutuola. Even John Munch has a few fangirls going!
- The Professor, a.k.a. the Hot Scientist, of Gilligans Island
- Man Vs Wild. Bear Grylls. An attractive survival expert goes around in the wilderness and works with his hands and inexplicably takes his clothes off a lot. One episode even revealed that he wears Union Jack undies.
- And how easy must it be to cook for these men?! Bear wins this round, though, because of the British accent.
- The accent only works if you're not British.
- There was also that one episode where he had to take off ALL his clothes because they were all soaked. Cue a minute or so of him running around naked trying to get his body warm again. I think the other camera crew were snickering as well.
- Chris and Cole from Charmed.
- Battlestar Galactica. To elaborate: Gaius Baltar and Lee "Apollo" Adama are the main source of Estrogen Brigade Bait (Gaius for similar reasons as Desmond on Lost. About Lee, ask someone with more estrogen about it).
- Lee. Oh, Lee. With his voice that cracks like, all the time, the cheekbones, uh... my mind just went somewhere.
- Then there's Gaeta with his lovely singing voice and Helo with his lovely, well lovely everything, the actor going on to be shirtless fairly often in Dollhouse, which was surely well appreciated.
- On the Cylon side: Samuel Anders is EBB personified. Anders naked in goo in The Plan! Anders naked in goo in The Plan! With hair. And Leoben Conoy has his own little brigade somewhere in the fandom too.
- The Chief. Romantically tortured leader of the Workers' Revolution, has a temper but is always there when you need him? Good with his hands? My God, I have this dream about him, dipped in honey... He should be naked in goo in The Plan, too..
- House has Chase and the titular character.
- And Wilson. Don't forget Wilson!
- Arguably every role an actor from Johnny's Entertainment was involved in, even when they're the main character.
- Rome has a few, but Marc Antony would probably be considered the main one. We don't know much about his troubled past, but he loves to run around with little (read: no) clothes on, and he definitely has the sexy voice. Plus, when he's actually wearing clothes, it's often armour. Which women don't really tend to mind.
- Other candidates for the title are Pullo, Brutus (who is rarely seen shirtless, but does appear completely naked) and, to some extent, Agrippa.
- Vorenus. Broody? Yes. Soldier? Yes. HAWT? YES. Hey, and he's a redheaded Roman too!
- He may be 10 years out of his heyday, and overacted to annoying levels in some fans' opinions, but Tommy Oliver of Power Rangers still got just as many beach scenes as the girls, and many fans today still wish they could be the ones slathering him in suntan lotion.
- Quite a number of ladies express interest in finding out how "dirty" Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs is willing to get. If You Know What I Mean.
- A large number of TV watchers who have zero interest in watching any other Discovery Channel program will tune in to Dirty Jobs, just for seeing Mike Rowe (possibly naked). I'm sure as hell one of them.
- Bodie and Doyle from The Professionals.
- Many ladies can tell you every single time Jamie Hyneman of Myth Busters has appeared shirtless on the show.
- Richard Hammond (aka "Hamster") from Top Gear, whose doe-eyed, squirrely charms are probably responsible for half the show's female fanbase.
- And certainly there's a touch of woobie to him after the car accident that nearly killed him.
- Scott Cohen (and Scott Cohen's voice) starring as Wolf, the soft-spoken Troubled But Cute half-(were)wolf and unlikely love interest for the heroine Virginia Lewis in the made-for-TV Fantasy mini-series The Tenth Kingdom. Alternates between Stalker With A Crush, The Funny Guy, The Woobie and Our Werewolves Are Different. Not to mention Wolf suffers (hilariously) from a number of neuroses and (tragically) from at least two instances of No Good Deed Goes Unpunished.
- Making her... wait for it... Virginia Wolf after she marries him. Get it? Pardon the pun.
- Dr. Daniel Jackson from Stargate SG-1. Jack O'Neill deserves a mention too.
- Cameron Mitchell. The man was always quoting his Grandmother, and he was played by Ben Freaking Browder. Shepherd and Ronon soooo qualify for this on Stargate Atlantis, too.
- Being the pretty, ditzy, innocent idiots that they are, Percy (Season Two) and George (Seasons Three and Four) from Blackadder became this for their fangirls.
- ER always has one hot male doctor dating a nurse or med student/intern. See Drs. Ross, Carter, Kovac, Morris, Gallant, Gates, etc.
- Mark Greene, doomed woobie that he was, had a sizable brigade as well.
- CSI (all versions) always has one sexually-charged male CSI, one goofy-cute male CSI, and one father-figure male CSI.
- Hustle has Mickey Bricks and Danny Blue (one of the most hyped episodes of season 3 involved the two of them being dropped off naked in the middle of London, and Danny has been known to strip off for no apparent reason). Also, depending on your tastes, there's Ash "Three Socks" Morgan.
- Sean Kennedy from season 5 is pretty cute too
- Mitchell, from Being Human. Proof that the BBC can do sexy vampires too.
- Basically the entire male cast of Merlin. After all, when you have a show that includes Anthony Head burning people at the stake and swaggering around in leather as King
Giles Uther, Bradley James waving a sword about, looking like a posterboy for Medieval Abercrombie and taking his shirt off at least once every two episodes as Arthur and Colin Morgan doing magic, crying a lot and overloading the screen with cheekbone as Merlin, I think it's more or less fair to say a wide range of tastes are being catered for. And that's not forgetting Sir Leon, Lancelot, the various generally not unattractive Villains of the Week (who have included Adrien Lester, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Will Mellor and Joseph Mawle) and...er...Gaius. Oh yes, even Gaius has his fans...
- Chuck — Chuck himself, Awesome, Bryce, Morgan, Casey....
- Special mention must go to Captain Awesome, who is quite deliberately fanservice, with the amount of screentime he spends wearing either very little, or something very tight.
- Seeing as Sex and the City doesn't exactly need Estrogen Bait, Smith is a purer Mr. Fanservice than anyone on this list. An absurdly beautiful twenty-something hunk who is seen naked many, many times. His nudity in a play he was in was seized upon by Samantha to promote the hell out of it, and he later appeared on a billboard in Times Square with a conveniently placed bottle of Absolut. "My dick is three stories high!"
- It was often said, at a Babylon 5 convention you do not block a fangirl's view of Michael O'Hare.
- The Tudors. Jonathan Rhys-Meyers. Shirtless scenes a-plenty! Of course, he's not the only one in the male half of the cast who's hot.
- Henry Cavill◊. Wow, wow, and double wow. Henry VIII has nothing on the Duke of Suffolk.
- This troper even found herself swooning over Cromwell.
- Knight Rider. Old or new. David Hasselhoff was actually quite attractive in the 80s. As for the new series, well, Mike is a rugged military man with dark eyes and a wicked grin, and Billy has boy-next-door appeal and looks about ten years younger than his character probably is. For added estrogen-baiting, KITT is apparently voiced by the Bat-o-licious Val Kilmer. Even Sarah's dad is hot, for an old dude. And Torres ain't bad. Contrast this with three women in the main cast.
- NCIS. Michael Weatherly. Or Mark Harmon, for that matter.
- Sean Murray as McGee has fans too, you know.
- So does David Mc Callum as Ducky, believe it or not.
- There's a reason why this show has its own Fetish Fuel page.
- Earth: Final Conflict featured several EBBs. All had plenty of "dark past" to go around. First and foremost, William Boone and Liam Kincaid. Both were working for the alien Companions and, at the same time, were top members of the Resistance. Ronald Sandoval too, probably, with his wife locked up and his homeland destroyed. Jonathan Doors (for all you fangirls who like older gentlemen) and his young lawyer son. As far as bad boys go, the vampire-like Howlin is definitely among the top 10.
- Hung features Thomas Jane stripping in the opening credits, culminating in him jumping off a dock into a lake. Naked. With his rather nice behind on display.
- Okay, yes, it's educational. Yes, it's about rocks and culture and history. Yes, he's a college professor. But Iain Stewart from Hot Rocks? He's more attractive than David-Freakin'-Bowie! The fact that he's Scottish and truly brilliant (and has a species of ant named after him) only makes this girl drool more.
- Richard Armitage. Not that there isn't more to him than the über-sexy voice and eyes, but he's the main reason this trooper sees in watching the 2006 BBC Robin Hood thing. He's sexy no matter what, but in that one he has all the traits: broody bad boy with a sexy voice and all the qualms of a Brad Pitt about loosing his shirt for the skimpiest of reason.
- Tarrant in Blakes Seven was originally conceived as a battle-scarred middle-aged man. Then Steven Pacey turned up to audition and the producers saw the effect he had on the female office staff...
- The entire male cast of Kamen Rider Kiva. Hot Japanese guys in many different flavors? YES PLEASE!
- Flash Forward has aired exactly one episode, and already presented us with sweaty, brooding Joseph Fiennes, sweaty action cop John Cho, and shirtless Jack Davenport.
- Primeval has so many.
- Will, Henry, Nikola Tesla, John Druitt...pretty much all the main male cast of Sanctuary, though Your Mileage May Vary regarding Bigfoot.
- Kai from Lexx. He even shows up naked in one episode... but there are metal bits over the important areas. :(
- Criminal Minds has Thomas Gibson◊ as stoic team leader Aaron Hotchner, Matthew Gray Gubler◊ as multi-doctorate brainiac Spencer Reid, and Shemar Moore◊ as hottie badass Derek Morgan. And you thought this was a boring crime procedural.
- Barney Stinson from How I Met Your Mother. Blonde, thin, constantly in a suit, and played by Neil Patrick Harris...
- Have we forgotten Prison Break? Michael Scofield and Lincoln Burrows are the first to come to mind, although there's also James Whistler, Alex Mahone, even T-Bag.
- Dollhouse's Paul Ballard - played by Battlestar Galactica's Tahmoh Penikett - was introduced boxing and shirtless, and wearing low, low-riding pants. From there, he went on to take his shirt off in pretty much every other episode, and to have hot yet incredibly disturbing sex with Mellie/November.
- And then there's Victor/Anthony Ceccoli...
- How could you forget Topher Brink so geeky and cute mmmm
- Sheriff Carter ("no videophone in the bathroom, SARAH!!") and Nathan Stark in Eureka. Especially Stark. Case in point? The episode where they give the looks-like-he's-naked Stark emergency electroshock treatment. Holy shit.
- Farscape's John Crichton. Ben Browder is just... yeah. On top of being just plain good-looking (and involved in many a Fetish Fuel situation), he's got that snark and that smile that get to even this largely asexual troper, and from what she's seen around, she's not the only one who thinks so.
- I'm kind of shocked that Don Draper hasn't been mentioned yet.
Manga & Anime
- Despite being thirty-seven years old and based on a very plain middle-aged man, Samurai Deeper Kyo's Yukimura is the token cute charming ass-kicking troubled-pasted guy.
- Okazaki Tomoya from Clannad.
- Peacemaker Kurogane is all about this trope. There's every kind of guy to appeal to everyone's different tastes. Moe boys, older men, effeminate Bishounen, manly men, etc. Especially Suzu in the manga who goes around wearing nothing but a black fur robe draped around him after he goes crazy and gay, and additionally wears makeup, revealing clothing and has white hair to boot. And if you like your Foe Yay, look no further than Suzu's obsession with Tetsunosuke, who is very cute for his age.
- Full Metal Panic, there's Sousuke Sagara. The boy has an insanely depressing past (though he doesn't really seem to stress or angst about it that much), has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (mainly in a comical way), has a cute little cross shaped scar on his face, has many very drool-worthy Shirtless Scenes, and is known among people in his school to be an extreme version of Troubled But Cute. The only thing he doesn't seem to strike on is... being comfortable with male-on-male scenes. In fact, it would be very safe to say that his reaction to any provocation of that sort would end in extreme violence.
- To further this, we're given a lovely illustration of him, clad in black leather, with a black studded collar, on a motorcyle◊.
- And long blond haired blue eyed Kurz who is a former fashion model, Lovable Sex Maniac, and an expert sniper.
- White Haired Pretty Boy Leonardo, Tessa's brother.
- Amazingly enough, that example wasn't nearly as successful with the fangirls as the previous two, despite his being a long haired, effeminate villain.
- The entire male cast of Gundam Wing, though contrary to popular Internet rumor, they weren't most of the cast.
- May be so, but the story did focus on them a lot.
- Vampire Knight: Zero and Shiki.
- Viral from Gurren Lagann doesn't have a tragic backstory, but he fills most other qualifications, and in his time in the Lotus Eater Machine made everyone weep for the poor guy. And long before that his Villain Decay made him appealing for whatever reason.
- Hosaka of Minami-ke — almost guaranteed to remove his shirt in every appearance, usually when he's fantasizing about Haruka. He simply cannot contain his tendency to act them out, so the stripping may be an unconscious display, much like a
beefcake peacock.
- From Naruto... Sasuke. Uchiha. At least he wasn't intentional EBB. Sai, on the other hand, was more of a Sasuke substitute for the fangirls than for the characters, with fanservicey clothes and added The Stoic traits to rouse those "I will teach him how to love" feelings.
- Interestingly, Sai didn't quite catch on as Estrogen Brigade Bait. In fact, he seems to be generally disliked by many males and females as the Replacement Scrappy.
- Naruto himself... Cute looking when he was younger, he's become a rather pretty Bishonen over the years. Has a few Shirtless Scenes, especially the scenes where he's meditating topless under a waterfall of oil during sage training... Big blue eyes which the anime makes sure to animate in such a way so that they appear as shiny and blue as possible, his Dark And Troubled Past and present that makes you want to hug him and the burden of having the Kyuubi inside him also raises his Woobieness. Also, in the first Naruto Shippuden movie there's a scene where Naruto has his hair dripping wet and shakes it. Cue close-up of said action in slow-motion.
- Don't forget the Bishie Sparkle and the bells calling emphasis to it. The scene even hangs a lampshade on it by having Shion blush.
- Naruto's hotness is apparently genetic. Just look at his father Minato, a.k.a. Yondaime Hokage
- For ladies who like older men, there's Hatake Kakashi. White-haired pretty boy, well built, has a tragic past, dead childhood friend... And then there's Umino Iruka, whose backstory is similar to Naruto, sans the Kyuubi sealed inside him. And there's Zabuza, Haku, Asuma... And let's not even get started on Akatsuki...
- Oh let's! From Akatsuki we have Itachi who, in appearance, is basically a grown-up version of Sasuke... Deidara who people initially mistook for a girl with that cloak and his long blonde hair in a high ponytail, Sasori with his short red hair and Bishonen features.
- Suigetsu from Sasuke's team, who has white hair, form fitting clothes, shark teeth, and a penchant for nudity.
- And let's not forget Gaara after his Heel Face Turn.
- How about the Raikage for being well, the Raikage.
- No word on whether this was intentional or not, but the Japanese Other Wiki documents that female readership of Dragon Ball shot WAY up with the introduction of Vegeta and even more so with Trunks. Seeing as Toriyama's editor at both times was an ex-shoujo manga editor and that she encouraged him to make Perfect Cell as bishie as possible, it was probably intentional.
- Despite being majorly underage, almost all the male cast of The Prince of Tennis fits in the archetypes in at least one way. The major "offenders" are Keigo Atobe and Yuushi Oshitari, both from Hyoutei Gakuen.
- Perfect Girl Evolution AKA The Wallflower has four guys each for a specific appeal; Kyohei seems to get the majority of the shirtlessness though.
- Providing fanservice for the ladies is the whole point of the Ouran High School Host Club (the club itself, not the manga/anime).
- Anyone noticed how in Bleach the guys are more likely to suffer Clothing Damage than the girls? There definitely seems to be more fanservice with male characters than with females... And of course there's the curious evolution of the art style, transforming the main male characters, most obviously Ichigo, into very handsome young men with bodies to die for.
- And then we have this◊. They grow up so fast...
- And the evolution continues. The fangirls love it.
- There's also Grimmjow who, even before the Clothing Damage strikes, basically goes around shirtless at all times. There's really no reason for him to be wearing that skimpy bolero jacket other than to please the horny fangirls.
- And to a lesser degree, Ulquiorra; deep voice, quite nice body and all.
- Ichigo recently reached new skin-baring heights in the manga, during a scene where every shred of his clothes is blasted off, except for a ragged pants leg that keeps his naughty bits and one leg covered. Even his socks are kaput. He spends about a dozen chapters racing around like this.
- Good sir or madam, could you be so kind as to indicate what chapter(s) this occurs in? My thanks, and good day to you. *tips hat*
- Chapters 349-353...there's a reason some fans dubbed him 'IchiSexy' during that time frame.
- Does this troper was the only one to notice that chapter 349 is called "The Lust"?
- There's 1st Captain Yamamoto when he shrugged off the top part of his robe and caused a definite "Oh Shit" moment. And probably made the pulses of any older women watching with their children/grandchildren race. Wonder what he looked like when he was younger...
- Soul Eater gives us Soul, who has constant screentime - sometimes without his clothes on and in sexy pinstripes, Death the Kid, who always dresses in a kickass suit and is voiced by none other than Mamoru Miyano, and Black*Star, who has some impressive guns.
- We also have Stein and Spirit, who provide the fanbase quite a bit of Ho Yay, complete with suggestive speech in-canon to boot! Plus no one can forget that one cigarette kiss ...
- Balmung is the token bishie for the .hack// series, complete with white hair and feathery wings.
- Ranma, the titular protaganist of Ranma ˝... half of the time, anyway.
- Ryuuga. He's The Woobie, he turns into a Ridiculously Cute Critter on a regular basis, and his transformation has a tendency to leave him stark naked.
- There's also Mousse, who's explicitly stated to be incredibly good-looking (not that you need in-story commentary to tell that), and, like Ryoga, is The Woobie due to his great love for Shampoo, who steadfastly refuses to even give him a chance. Don't let the glasses fool you, he's easily the most Bishounen of the main cast.
- Inu Yasha's Inu-Yasha, another Rumiko Takahashi male character and another character who frequently rips his shirt off.
- Thorfinn from Vinland Saga.
- Between Vash, Wolfwood, Legato, Knives, and Midvalley, it's hard to think of a male TriGun character that isn't Estrogen Brigade Bait.
- How about all the guys that are horribly deformed and at least twice the size of everyone else?
- Fullmetal Alchemist's Edward Elric. No easy task considering that he's a vertically challenged double-amputee.
- Mononoke's Medicine Seller is a great example of a bait. Very cool, yet warm and caring, mysterious, wise and totally bishounen character of the shamanist and stoic type.
- The only question in adding Berserk to the list is trying to decide who's bigger bait, Guts or Griffith. Angst a-plenty is on both sides, and while Griffith is naked more often and is definitely prettier, Guts gets shirtless and whipped way too often to be coincidental and to garner more Woobie-like sympathy. And considering the series is pretty hardcore seinen, well, it's pretty undeniably also a case of Even The Guys Want Him - all the rampant subtext between them only adds to the effect.
- Ace from One Piece. It's implied Luffy could qualify for this trope eventually as well, considering how tallness, broad shoulders, and general beefiness seems to run in his family. And that one panel of an older version of him in an early version of the story? Even if you couldn't see him well, you could tell he was smokin'. (Because seriously, Bearded!Luffy!)
- Trafalgar Law managed to sneak into the top ten in the most recent character poll, despite being introduced only a few chapters prior. All Girls Want Bad Boys was most likely a massive boon.
- Also, Smoker.
- They also noticed that Oda is better at drawing hot men than hot women.
- Zoro as well. There's something strangely appealing about the way he tends to smile all crazy-like.
- If more fangirls knew about Lupin III, Goemon would definitely qualify. Every other episode, without fail, the fab four have to swim somewhere. Three people will be in wetsuits, one person will be in fundoshi. Coincidence? I think not.
- Speaking of Ronin in fundoshi, there's Jubei Kibegami. At a hot spring! And the way his clothes hang open just enough for the rest of the movie.
- Creed from Black Cat qualifies for this trope rather nicely. Somehow, his evil plot to take over the world and kill everyone not up to his standards is justified by his sad Dark And Troubled Past involving his abusive mother. He has a rather deep and sexy voice, and there is no doubt that he would have no problems doing male-on-male things with Train. He also has an incredible amount of shirtless scenes (even his regular clothes show his chest).
- He also has a very naked bath scene where he's barely covered by strategic floating clumps of rose petals, in a slow pan from his feet to his head. And when he gets out of it, they pan as low as they can without showing "little Creed."
- Hey! Don't forget that Creed's not the only person who finds Train to be very attractive◊.
- Getter Robo did this in the Revival OVA Armageddon, with updated character designs to make them more handsome. Hayato went from a creepy, distorted delinquent to Tall Dark And Snarky and the gonkish fat pilots Benkei and Musashi became burly men.
- Jin from Samurai Champloo, especially the last episode.
- Firo Prochainezo from Baccano!, or as more than one person has come to call him, "obligatory fan-girl bait #1." We suspect it's because of his suspicious resemblance to a blond, post-timeskip Simon with a really awesome hat.
- His resemblance to Simon is a lot less suspicious knowing that Firo came before Simon (novel illustrations and manga).
- I personally believe Luck Gandor and Vino (avoiding Gender Blender Name) are more the bait.
- Lelouch from Code Geass. In addition to being a CLAMP man (see above), he's a tall, dark and handsome rebel with a tragic past, voice as smooth as silk and an aura of charisma and power - and he looks damn good in black. To a lesser extent, his friend/rival Suzaku applies, being lean, fit, very chivalrous, and generally a nice guy (as long as you don't do something to REALLY piss him off).
- Ryuuji Otogi/Duke Devlin from Yu-Gi-Oh!. Lampshaded, of course, in The Abridged Series, but also in the Anime itself.
- As well as Malik Ishtar/Marik Ishtar, Ryou Bakura, and for that matter, pretty much the entire male cast, especially Yugi/Yami.
- Joe Asakura from Science Ninja Team Gatchaman is Troubled But Cute, a good shot, drives a Cool Car, a ladies' man and pulls a tearjerking Heroic Sacrifice in the first series finale. No wonder he's the most popular member of the team among female fans! (Oh, and in the OAV? He has long hair, wears only a leather jacket and tight jeans, and he gets a Shower Scene!) Ken Washio comes in a close second with his big blue eyes, handsome boy next door face and a decent amount of emotional baggage.
- Can anyone name any guy from Katekyo Hitman Reborn who isn't one? The fans of this series consists largely of the Estrogen Brigade with a few male sneaking in despite the blatant subtext.
- Dude, that could describe any shonen series.
- Fine, here be the examples.
- There's
3 4 the local Draco In Leatherpants squad aka the Varia which includes an Angrish-spouting, Tall Dark And Handsome, Spoiled Brat boss who appears topless in most cover art, his Lancer, Squalo who is a White Haired Pretty Boy with Rapunzel Hair and an obsession with his boss that drips with Ho Yay, a tiara-wearing, Blinding Bangs sporting, Knife Nut, batshit-insane Evil Prince who has an Evil Laugh that borders on Fetish Fuel territory, and finally a blue-haired Dead Pan Snarker with a very Nice Hat.
- The heroes themselves are a band of seven led by a Cute Shotaro Boy who was prone to getting Clothing Damage in the early parts of the manga, his right hand man is a White Haired Pretty Boy Mad Bomber who occasionally gets the Brainy Specs treatment and usually dresses in Impossibly Cool Clothes, his other half of a Lancer is an constantly smiling Tall Dark And Handsome guy with a Genki Girl personality, another one gets countless Shirtless Scene, another one wears a Cowprint jacket with a very low neckline. Then there's Mukuro and Hibari whose Estrogen Brigade Bait level is so high that it is going to take a long time to list. And let's not start on the Really Seven Hundred Years Old babies... or the other villains... or the side characters. Basically, if you have a Y chromosome in the manga, then you are one, so long as you aren't one of the few gonks who are Gianinni, Birds, and Lunga.
- With Fushigi Yuugi, it's probably just easier to narrow down which male cast members aren't catering to some estrogen brigade bait fantasies. Whether your taste runs to Draco In Leather Pants (Nakago, Suboshi), or to gorgeous, gallant royalty (Hotohori), or to fiery redheads (Tasuki) or to your basic romantic hunk (Tamahome), there will be at least one ridiculously attractive male character who gets a) gratuitously wet, shirtless or both; and b) a sympathetic Back Story. Hell, even resident monk Chichiri gets in on the fanservice action.
- Allen, Tyki, Kanda, Lavi, etc. from D.Gray-Man.
- In fact, most of the male cast, but especially Allen, who is outright adorable, and Kanda, who has many of the same girl-attracting qualities as Zuzu.
- General Cross also makes a pretty good case, which is especially notable considering that he's probably twice the age of all the other EBB wandering around.
- Let's just say that while the fights and character development are undeniably awesome, they are NOT the main reasons why women like Yu Yu Hakusho...
- Itsuki Koizumi is the SOS Brigade bait, as well as Kyon.
- Sechs from Battle Angel Alita: Last Order either fits the trope or is a parody of it. Starting out as a exact replica of the female main character, by volume 5 Sechs, after losing her original android body, has changed to a 1.8-metre-tall thin but muscular male body. This was either done to get more female readers into the series or to poke fun at the lack of attractive male fighters in the manga. Additionally, in volume 10 it's revealed that Sechs has gained a large female fanbase in the solar system, much to his/her annoyance.
- Mahou Sensei Negima. You cannot tell me that this is not that reason that Teenage!Negi constantly gets shirtless scenes. Teenage!Kotaro and Jack Rakan also qualify.
- Unfortunately, Jack Rakan is more towards the Badass side rather than the "good looks" side, plus that with his perverted habit and it will be more of a disgust factor than appeal. Not for the guys, though, they'll put Rakan on the top. Because he's Badass, obviously.
- In the manga itself, there's a gaggle of squeeing fangirls following all three after their big tournament.
- Jack Rakan fails pretty much every qualification of EBB except the shirtlessness. But of the several listed on this page, he's perhaps the best example of PEBB - Projected Estrogen Brigade Bait, i.e. a subtly homoerotic faux-TBB. Real girls, as opposed to male-drawn ones, usually find them icky.
- Lockon Stratos both Neil and Lyle, thank you very much, from Gundam 00. Somehow, both Shinichiro Miki and Alex Zahara manage to do wonderful things with Lockon's voice. It's possible that because he fits this trope so wonderfully that so many fangirls forget what happens when his Berserk Button is pressed....
- Then again, this trope can probably be used to point out almost every male character in the series, protagonists and antagonists alike.
- From Pandora Hearts, Gilbert Nightray. Mmmmmm.
- Pretty sure his somewhat-brother Elliot Nightray counts, too. Trust me, at some point, this will suddenly strike you- he is ridiculously sexy.
- Fakir from Princess Tutu. Tall Dark And Snarky, Slipknot Ponytail, a birthmark that looks like a huge scar right across his chest shown off in the most fanservicey manner possible; a Deadpan Snarker who eventually becomes/is revealed to be a Jerk With A Heart Of Gold, fiercely loyal, determined and protective; has a tragic backstory and a very strong sense of inadequacy, since his "role in the story" is basically to die; has epic swordfights; is completely wrapped up in Mytho to the point which even the main character comments that Fakir/Mytho is a real possibilty; provides 80% of the Ho Yay and UST in the entire show just by existing; and gets his clothes ripped to pieces on a regular basis. In fact, he occasionally rips up his own clothes (this has not been explained). Also, he dances. He dances ballet. There is a reason why the Fakir Faction is so huge, you know. *fans self*
- Although most of the male cast of Karneval could qualify to the point of Blue Bishonen Ghetto, Gareki is especially seen in cut up or revealing outfits that should not look as hot as they do when he's wearing them.
- Try every single male character in Fruits Basket. Particularly Momiji, Ritsu, Yuki, Ayame and Kyou. The first wears the girl's school uniform (albeit not with a skirt) because "it looks cuter on him", while the second presents himself as a woman because of an inferiority complex the size of Antarctica. Yuki has soft violet hair and eyes, and makes for a pretty convincing girl the one time when he had to wear a dress. Ayame, on the other hand, is... just
fabulous special with that white hair and all those sparkles...Then there's Troubled But Cute Kyou who fits more in the All Girls Want Bad Boys area, with a Hot Blooded temper and tendency for dere dere moments around Tohru. Akito in the anime also qualifies, although manga Akito is a different story altogether. Tohru lampshades this once, calling the Sohma family, a "family of princes". They also have the tendency to transform into adorably cute critters if hugged by members of the opposite sex and transform back into their human forms completely naked. And need we remind you that everyone in Fruits Basket has a tragic past, screwed-up family history, and/or other significant psychological issues? So Yeah, plenty of Woobielicious cuties for all.
- Claymore, anyone? Norihiro Yagi knew what he was doing when he introduced Isley. Isley is Draco In Leather Pants. He's a charming, sophisticated man willing to train a poor, lost young man and is really only trying to save his own species, honest! Of course, with Isley's death, someone had to step up to the plate. Cue Raki, having been Rescued From The Scrappy Heap and taken on the series big bad as sort a reverse-Morality Pet, taking several levels in badass and now shown to be ripped, tall, good-looking and more than willing to fight well in a series where kicking ass is firmly women's business if the ass-kicker is one of the good guys.
- A good half of the male cast of Vision Of Escaflowne were literally made to be this trope — and by that, we mean that the director had their character designs tweaked (you do not get any points for guessing how) to draw in the
Estrogen Brigade Shojo crowd.
- Shugo Chara's Cat Boy Ikuto is 100% Estrogen Brigade Bait. He constantly flirts with Amu, in a teasing sort of way. Every single thing he wears makes him even more smexier. His cat ears are best part. That would explain why he is the top boy in the manga/anime.
- The protagonist of Darker Than Black is a Chick Magnet. This is a completely accurate reflection of female reactions to an incredibly hot Bad Ass ninja with a tragic past, and it's further aided by the fact that in his civilian alias, he takes Nice Guy to something resembling Moe despite his usual Stoic-ness. Oh, and he has the nicest coat in the world and seems to be physically incapable of buttoning up his shirt all the way. Even leaving aside Hei, no one who has watched the show, ever, is going to forget the scene where November 11 lounges around naked.
- Probably the only good thing about the So Bad It's Horrible/Good attempt of anime called Beauty and Warrior: Those warrior twins, especially during their Fight Scene against each other. The rest is... O.K., so everything (including the fight) was full of Narm, but still... (Note that this is made in Indonesia, so I don't know if it can be placed here).
- Dr. Kenzou Tenma from Monster might have been a little dorky-looking at the beginning of the series, but after the Expository Hairstyle Change he starts looking like this. Daaaaamn. Johan is also rather infamously attractive despite being the poster boy for Complete Monster.
- If Kuroshitsuji's plot and gorgeous art doesn't keep you hooked on the series, the ridiculous amounts of Ho Yay fodder and gorgeous guys will. Special mention goes to the Troubled But Cute, and I mean very cute, Ciel Phantomhive who had a particularly traumatic Dark And Troubled Past, crossdresses for a ball in one scene, has beautiful blue eyes, has pierced ears, wears a variety of fancy outfits befitting his social status (including a Nice Hat and using a cane), his diseased father Vincent Phantomhive who was very handsome and compassionate, Sebastian...who is, without a doubt, extremely Badass, has silky shoulder-length black hair, is extremely tall and handsome, constantly wears black, has a somewhat sensual nature...and then there's Grelle who, as a human, wears glasses, and is an adorable, clumsy butler, and as a Shinigami has long red hair, wears glasses, has long eyelashes, wears an extravagant-looking suit, acts flamboyant to the point of blurring gender lines, has an effeminate face that can look creepy at the same time, and tends to refer to his crush on Sebastian in terms of Shakespeare aficionado...And the Undertaker, who's voice in the anime is pure Fetish Fuel for some fans, he also has a creepy/mysterious air about him, has long nails, long silver hair with braids throughout which covers his supposedly pretty eyes, and seems to harbor some Ho Yay tendencies towards Ciel. Prince Soma, a 17 year old dark skinned indian, who has golden eyes, shoulder-length purple hair, wears gold jewelry and has the personality of a naive child. Soma's servant Agni who adores Soma and thinks of him as a God, he is an dark-skinned indian, with white hair and is extremely kind and warm towards others. And Aleister Chamber, who tends to act extremely flamboyant and dramatic, is an extremely attractive man, as commented by many nobles, who describe him as "handsome" with hair like gold thread. And dear God in heaven that's not even half of the Estrogen Brigade Bait...
- While a good amount of the characters in Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei tend to get weird looking because of Art Shifts, a few of the male characters, namely a good amount in Nozomu's class may fall under this. There's also Jun Kudou and the lead male Nozomu Itoshiki and his brother Mikoto who are all Bishonen and very attractive to those who like teachers, doctors, and glasses and they look alike enough to be mistaken for the other. Nozomu can also come across as Moe and wears a hakama and other traditional Japanese attire outside of his hometown. There's also the Once An Episode suicide attempts on Nozomu's part, which could make him a Woobie...considering how it would take an extremely bizarre pair of Abusive Parents to produce somebody like him, even taking into account his own histrionic personality. Also, a good number of Nozomu's female students have crushes on him as well as his male students and he's had his fair share of moments where he goes shirtless or bares all with a few conveniently placed censors blocking his naughty bits.
- This is kind of the reason why Saint Seiya has a female fanbase. With the exception of the titular character, most all of the good guys and even some of the badguy can be considered varying levels of EBB. The most obvious is probably Andromeda Shun, a Reluctant Warrior with a pretty face, in-universe fanclub and big brother complex. The storyline where he's posessed by the god of death doesn't help matters either.
- Gintama even with all of their unusual quirks has a lot of female fans. Pretty much most if not all of the men would qualify for this trope.
Music
- The Rum Tum Tugger from CATS (in-show). All the lady-cats actually had a Squee moment during the character's song, although most of the male cats did have their share of female cats interested in them.
- Additionally, the film version of Phantom of the Opera with Gerard Butler as said Phantom seemed to excite all of my female and some of my male choir-mates. Notably in this version the Phantom has been upgraded from piano-wired Lon Chaney to a half-masked stud... Singing in color in a talkie movie also gives an edge over the 1925 version.
- Although, those same characteristics (along with many other complaints) are a part of why the movie is largely looked down upon by people who were fans before it came out.
- The song "Music Of The Night" is quite well erotic enough that you could have Lon Chaney's original noseless Phantom singing it and STILL get squeeing fangirls. The fact that it's sung by Gerard Butler only helps. However, for me personally, the Phantom gets -100000000 points for being a freaking homicidal nutjob, proving that NOT All Girls Want Bad Boys.
- And Michael Crawford of the original Broadway version has caused quite a number of female heartbeats to start going triple-time.
- With few exceptions, most of the actors who have performed the role onstage have generated this effect. So have a fair number of the Raouls.
- Two notable Phantoms with a number of fangirls are Hugh◊Panaro◊ and JohnOwen Jones◊
- While everyone in the band Rammstein could qualify as well, a special mention goes to the singer, Till Lindemann, who is this trope. Sexy voice, shirtless scene and really comfortable with doing male on male scenes. Rammstein fans know this. Massachusetts knows this. Flake knows this.
- Sean "Slug" Daley of the hip-hop group Atmosphere has a lot of female fans. A *lot* of female fans.
- Oliver Sykes from the metal band "Bring me the Horizon" seems to be a massive pull for female fans. Despite his extremly vulgar sense of humor and very graphic and derogitory lyrics about women. There's also the fact that his voice is (at least on Count Your Blessings) pure Nightmare Fuel. I guess his combination of badboy and emo seems to work despite himself.
- Der Tod from Elisabeth. Particularly as played by Uwe Kröger, for this troper.
- Sting from The Police in the video for "Don't Stand So Close To Me". I mean, why else would he have taken his shirt off?
- Which prompts the thought: no wonder his student's hot for him ...
- The Beatles, each member of the Four Temperament Ensemble appealing in his own way. In fact, their first movie A Hard Day's Night opens with the band fleeing a literal estrogen brigade.
- Everyone in Short Stack. *drools*
- Peter Steele of Type O Negative. Doesn't help he posed for Playgirl.
- Steve Bays of Hot Hot Heat, judging by Facebook groups such as "Steve Bays Is My Sexy Tight Pants God". It might be the crazy, curly hair or the tortured singing. It's something, for sure, judging by girls at the band's concerts.
Pro Wrestling
- WWE's Jeff Hardy. Watch any of his matches, wait for him to tear off his shirt, and brace yourself for the onrushing wave of girlish squeals of delight that issue from the crowd as a result.
- He also manages to get the tragic past (his mother died when he was young) and the Troubled But Cute issues (i.e. his drug problems that have seen him fired from WWE and TNA, and may cost him his job with WWE again). And, this is all true of the actor, not just the character.
- John Cena, too. Listen for the crowd reaction when his theme music dies down - all the cheers are high-pitched, all the boos are low.
- Randy Orton. Further proof that all All Girls Want Bad Boys.
- Promoter Jerry Jarrett used the term "blowjobs" to refer to pretty-boy wrestlers brought in to attract females.
- Frankie Kazarian is a dead ringer for Antonio Banderas. Too bad TNA's shoved him into the full-body Suicide getup...
- John Morrison and his abs! I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd like to do laundry on those...
- Alex Shelley, both hot and snarky.
- Jack Evans became huge in Dragon Gate because of his good looks and Pretty Fly For A White Guy persona. You can always make out a collective Squee of Japanese fangirls when he walks into the ring.
- Tyler Black, best known for his work in Ring Of Honor, has certainly not suffered in popularity from being a broad-shouldered and extremely attractive man with just a touch of All Girls Want Bad Boys in his favor.
- A lot of Japanese promotions have been trending toward having a lot of these in recent years. Pro Wrestling NOAH's push of KENTA and Marufuji as heavyweights, despite their diminuitive size, was motivated by their Bishonen looks; Dragon Gate absolutely loves the good-looking guys, with BxB Hulk being the most famous.
- Jimmy Jacobs, living personification of The Woobie.
Video Games
- Aside from having a Hitler-esque haircut, Gary of Bully is this. Especially the "sexy voice" and (obviously) scar.
- Remy from Street Fighter III: Third Strike.
- Iori Yagami from The King of Fighters.
- Miles Edgeworth, Kristoph Gavin, and Klavier Gavin from the Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney saga. It's even lampshaded in Trials & Tribulations by Edgeworth, when he's surprised to discover that so many women find him attractive. Klavier Gavin knows that the ladies love him and actively embraces his image. Edgeworth is also pure yaoi and Foe Yay bait. He's the sophisticated kind of sexy, while Gavin is a Visual Kei rock star.
- Phoenix Wright himself can qualify as well. He's so cute!
- Guy had a rockin' bod in college!
- And he became even more attractive after the timeskip.
- Psh. You ladies can keep all the girly men. I'll take a hot cup of Godot anyday. Before OR after.
- No love for Marshall, the sexy desperado?
- Metal Gear Solid 2 had Raiden, and even stripped him naked near the end of the game. It's also fair to note that Snake's outfit suddenly and inexplicably got very, very tight. Particularly around the buttocks. The character designer freely admitted that Raiden was to appeal to girls who liked handsome young Bishonen, and Snake to girls who liked sexy older men.
- Raiden was even to have visible panty lines under his suit, but, in the most recent figurine line, Raiden's underwear is nowhere to be seen - and Snake's underwear lines are incredibly visible over his stupidly well-sculpted buttocks, probably as a nod to the fact that Snake unintentionally became more popular with the girls than Raiden.
- Would have been subverted in MGS3, where the character wears more reasonable BDUs most of the time, if it weren't for the "Naked" camouflage...
- ... And let's not forget the fact that, if you complete the game, you can earn a sizzlingly-hot tuxedo for the replay. Even if he'd gained the trademark bandanna by this point in the plot, he'd take it off if you wanted him to dress up nicely. There's also a shot of him, in the ending sequence, sultrily smoking with a cigar while wearing a tight black bodysuit, pretty much immediately before we get to see him in uniform.
- Again, not just for one gender.
- Hell, Naked Snake is EBB even in full-on camo. This troper's mother was passing by during a cutscene with Snake in full jungle camo. Her words? "Ooooh...yum."
- No surprise, since Everyone Is Gay For Big Boss.
- Solid Snake was always EBB. In Metal Gear Solid he was only goddamn introduced to us naked◊.
- How about Liquid Snake? Blond, British, wanders around shirtless in Alaska.
- Some people don't like him, but for the rest of us... yum. I'd hit that.
- Pretty much the entire male cast of MGS will appeal to someone. And if they don't have a tragic backstory at the beginning they will by 4. Big Boss, Zero, Solid, Liquid, ...Uh...I dunno, Vamp? Otacon, the list goes on. Probably even Volgin isn't immune. Not to mention The Boss can qualify for this trope since even the girls want her.
- Volgin's demographic seems to be Nightmare Fetishist Yaoi Fangirls.
- Ever since Square unintentionally created the definitive EBB with Sephiroth (and, to a significantly lesser extent, Cloud and Vincent), they have tried to duplicate that with most of their following games. Besides the Kingdom Hearts games, they haven't quite been able to get near the same level of success.
- Riku of Kingdom Hearts as well as several members of Organization XIII, especially Zexion. Like Laughably Evil guys who play instruments? Demyx. Like verbose magnificent bastards? Xemnas. Prefer your men with a little meat? Lexaeus and Xaldin (and Marluxia, because who says pink hair can't be manly?) James Bond in bishounen videogame villain format? Luxord. I could go on. And then there's Axel...
- Hell, even Larxene might count...
- And Axel is the fandom bicycle: Everyone gets a ride, and I do mean everyone.
- Besides the Organization, there seems to be a trend of people who find Leon to be much, much sexier than his younger self.
- Before Xemnas, there was his Heartless counterpart, Ansem and his near-Walking Shirtless Scene coat.
- Terra◊. Full Stop. He is probaly one of the most visibly ripped characters in the game, thanks to an incredibly tight shirt. And really, where the hell do you think Ansem and Xemnas got their looks from? Not only that, but he actualy fits a lot of this trope's other requirements.
- Why isn't Sora on this page yet? He definitely counts. A pretty face, crazy hair, big shoes, wears a chain necklace with a crown pendant, all those zippers, chains, his cute mickey mouse style outfit from the first game, takes on the appearance of a merman when in Atlantica, takes on the appearance of a vampire with a pumpkin-like mask over one side of his face complete with fangs and bat-like wings when in Halloween Town, takes on the appearance of a cute lion cub when in the Pride Lands, and he's able to transform into a dark copy of himself where he runs around on his hands and feet and attacks using claws on his fingers.
- Several characters in Guilty Gear probably count as this, to the point where Walking Shirtless Scene Anji looks almost tame compared to the likes of Sol and Johnny. Also, this troper is male.
- Auron in Final Fantasy X.
- The other male characters, including those who were either blue and fuzzy or spiky-haired and villainous, had their own brigades, too.
- The cast of Dissidia. ALL OF IT. And Nomura was aware of that when he designed them - heck, Sephiroth's alternate outfit is shirtless!
- Gannayev from Mask of the Betrayer. Absurdly attractive despite his race? Parental Abandonment? Amusingly snarky? Appreciation for hot, wild dream sex? Voiced by fan-favorite Crispin Freeman? Holy Hells, where do we sign!
- And before either of them were even thought of, there was Valen Shadowbreath from Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark. A hot redheaded Tiefling with a handsome set of horns, a prehensile tail, a gorgeous voice, and a Dark And Troubled Past.
- Aarin Gend also deserves some consideration, due to a nice pic and an awesome voice actor. Shame his romance wasn't very good.
- Based on what the fandom says, the Medic in Team Fortress 2.
- And the Engineer, the Spy, and the Scout...
- This girl prefers her some Sniper. Sexy Australian man. <33
- Zelda's Link, in Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess.
- Albel from Star Ocean: Till the End of Time rages EBB - aside from the jerkass attitude and the angsty backstory, his outfit features long hair, a completely purple ensemble including a tight, belly-revealing shirt and a purple skirt. See it for yourself. Add an unlockable shirtless outfit (with sarashi!), an imprisonment scene and permanent shackles at his neck and wrists and it's not just EBB, it's Fanservice.
- Vocaloid's Len Kagamine, particularly on the PV for one of his songs, "SPICE". Fangirls, click at your own risk.
- I would argue that Kaito and Gakupo are probably better candidates for this.
- Pokémon: The Sunyshore gym leader, Volkner may apply.
- Forget Volkner. Roark and his sexy glasses-!
- Forget Roark, what about his Hot Dad Byron?
- Three words. Gary. Motherfucking. Oak. The other rivals, such as Silver, were pretty hot too.
- Hehe, and the male protagonists of Pokemon aren't bad, either.
- No mention of Steven? He's rich and powerful (champion of Hoenn and heir to the most powerful corporation in the region), wears a stylish suit, is overall pretty easy on the eyes, and he's a nice guy.
- Koei's Warriors series is LOADED with these. If you read the novel Romance Of The Three Kingdoms and history on the Warring States period of Japan, ALL of these characters went through a lot of hell, and Koei's programmers make sure that every side in the wars is loaded with gorgeous guys: Zhao Yun, Ma Chao, Jiang Wei, Guan Ping, Cao Pi, Sima Yi, Zhang He, Zhou Yu, Sun Ce, Sun Quan, Zhou Tai, Yukimura Sanada, Keiji Maeda, Mitsuhide Akechi, Magoichi Saika, Masamune Date, Mitsunari Ishida, Nagamasa Azai, Kanetsugu Naoe, Musashi Miyamoto, Toshiie Maeda, Motochika Chokosabe, Kojiro Sasaki, Lu Bu, Taigong Wang, Fu Xi and Yoshitsune Minamoto (PHEW!).
- Though the eponymous Prince of Prince Of Persia has been ESB since Sands of Time, the 2008 version of him is pretty much built head-to-toe to appeal to the ladies. Hell, he even appeals to the guys too.....
- Even Silent Hill is not immune from this trope. The second game has poor, delusional, endlessly devoted James Sunderland and the fourth game has grizzled, stoic, protective Henry Townshend. There are also those that consider Pyramid Head and Walter Sullivan to belong to this trope, but the less said about that the better.
- Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn and Path of Radiance Ike, Boyd, Shinon, Sothe, Ranulf, Geoffrey, and Zelgius all seem to fit this trope, and even this straight male troper wants Volug. Heck, every Fire Emblem is loaded with them. I'm looking at you, Hector!
- The mage Soren has captures more imaginations than most due to the potential for shipping between him and Ike, his Dark And Troubled Past and his Troubled But Cute demeanor. His tendency to burst into tears and have to be comforted at least once a game hasn't hurt either.
- There's a lot of EBB in the Resident Evil series: Chris Redfield, Leon Kennedy, Billy Coen, Carlos, Luis Sera (for the Antonio Banderas fangirls), Steve... hell, even Albert Wesker got a shirtless scene.
- Fallout 3 has a fair amount of Estrogen Brigade Bait, depending on who you ask: Butch deLoria, Jericho, Vance, Mister Burke, Paladin Bael, Colonel Autumn, your dad... the list goes on. Hell, even ghouls (Gob and Charon particularly) and Super Mutants, such as your companion Fawkes, get a piece of the love.
- Tales of Symphonia: Kratos Aurion. In his Judgement outfit.
- Regal. Long flowy hair, exposed abs, handcuffs? The guy was made for this!
- There are also a lot of fangirls who like handsome, flirtatious Zelos Wilder.
- Tales of Vesperia: Yuri Lowell, anyone? His outfits had built in chest exposure. Although his personality isn't bad boy, his actions certainly are.
- Another Tales Series EBB: Leon Magnus.
- Then there's the other Kratos.
- Let's not forget Tales of the Abyss. Lessee, we've got part-time white prince, part-time woobie Luke, with his midriff baring shirt and ripped abs; Jade, who's got a biting sense of snark, brilliant mind, dominating presence, and an ambiguous friendship with the equally gorgeous emperor Peony; Asch, basically Luke without the sugar topping; Guy—gorgeous blonde swordsman, high boots, sports a choker, tragic past; Ion, if you like 'em young...this could go on for a while.
- Dante, find a girl who does not find him hot. I dare you. Nero and Credo qualify as well.
- For those fangirls who like Dante's looks but prefer a more subdued and less coarse personality, there's his identical twin Vergil.
- Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko from Mass Effect. Tall, dark, strong, troubled but cute, and you do get that lovely shot of his bare chest if you romance him... oh, does he have it all.
- The male cast of Sengoku Basara could all apply for this and win a medal. Along with main characters Tall Dark And Handsome Blood Knight Date Masamune and Hot Blooded Walking Shirtless Scene Sanada Yukimura, there's White Haired Pretty Boy Pirate Chousokabe Motochika, Magnificent Bastard and complete Bishounen Mouri Motonari, The Stoic Katakura Kojuurou, savvy Ninja Sarutobi Sasuke, and Handsome Lech Maeda Keiji. Heck, even Big Bad Oda Nobunaga counts, seeing as how he's voiced by Norio Wakamoto!
- Garrett from the Thief series.
- Somewhere along the line, someone at Marvelous Interactive must've realized that the most vocal fans of the Harvest Moon series, well known for its Relationship Values, were women. While in previous years, most of the bachelors available for female players were just rivals leftover from the boy versions, around the time of DS Cute, bachelors started appearing who were definitely more female-oriented. Skye, a White Haired Pretty Boy Bishounen Gentleman Thief, was first; later games had characters like Kuudere White Haired Pretty Boy Vaughn, Hot Archaeologist Calvin, and pretty rich boy Gill.
- Fate Stay Night. Archer, Lancer, Assassin, Gilgamesh (both versions), Kotomine, Shirou himself, Kiritsugu, Shinji, Souchirou, Issei. There's a reason it originated the term GAR.
- Don't forget Tsukihime (and Melty Blood), with Nanaya/Nightmare, Roa (both first and new), SHIKI, Nero Chaos, Warakia, Nanaya Kiri and both fake and real Shiki. Type Moon can please both genders easily.
- Although only appearing as a simple, 16-bit sprite in the game, and not having much of a story at all, Seccom Masada certainly has his fanbase.
- Not only does he kill everybody, Altair has fangirls like you wouldn't believe. Ezio Auditore di Firenze is following in his footsteps, and one-ups the Son of No-One by being Italian.
- Vagrant Story has at least two. You can have Ashley in his assless battleshorts, muscle-revealing shirtfront, and improbable red hair, or the shirtless Sydney with his barely-hanging-on pants and dramatic buttcape.
Web Comics
- Gilgamesh Wulfenbach of Girl Genius. Status as EBB: confirmed.
- Slick Giovanni from Last Resort.
- Punch An Pie, while not notably emphasizing the attractiveness of is female characters, gives us Aiden - the buff, nice hair sporting, tattooed Stoic.
- Either Cale or Tavor from Looking for Group. While everyone agrees that Richard is Bad Ass enough to have everyone squealing, the fangirls tend to be split between the two elves.
- Most of the male cast of Friendly Hostility. In addition to quite a few male-on-male scenes, we have:
- Fox, a goofy guy who gets occasional Crouching Moron Hidden Badass moments and seems willing to do Anything That Moves...
- Collin, an evil wannabe dictator who spent some time as a male model...
- Rafi, a Satanist in sunglasses...
- The Demon. He has a tail. 'Nuff said.
- Arath, a violin player who had his emotions surgically removed at the age of twelve and wears awesome glasses.
- Leslie Ariel Rudd: Jerk With A Heart Of Gold who comes complete with Perma Stubble.
- Derringer. Dumb as a box of rocks? Yes. Hot? Yesss....
- Many of the male characters from later in Emergency Exit...some examples here. And here. (Picture may contain spoilers.)
- James Eglamore from Gunnerkrigg Court. Characters in-comic certainly think so, too.
Web Original
- Jonas Wharton from lonelygirl15, an orphaned Lonely Rich Kid hero who appears shirtless regularly with little provocation.
- Half the reason Doctor Horribles Sing Along Blog has Nathan Fillion playing Captain Hammer is because he plays the smarmy Jerk Jock so well. The other half, of course, is that he looks good in a few-sizes-too-small muscle shirt.
- Then there's Dr. Horrible himself. Half Woobie, half delicious villainy, and all with a great singing voice. Rrrowr.
- And that he's played by NEIL PATRICK HARRIS.
- Bladezz from The Guild, especially in the music video. In-universe, he's even a model.
- Benzaie from That Guy With The Glasses. Flamboyant, pretty, french guy who likes getting shirtless and can always be counted on for a bit of Ho Yay with anyone.
- Linkara too, with his Nice Guy/superhero persona, gorgeous looks, geeky knowledge and vast amounts of Badass. The Ho Yay with Spoony/Dr. Insano doesn't hurt, either...
- And then there's the Nostalgia Critic; pale, cute with frigging gorgeous eyes, wears a suit, kinda girly, likes to woobify himself and even though he fights with everyone, he always ends up the one being owned. So all in all? Very yummy.
- Spoony, with his cute wavy hair and big bright eyes. Not to mention, of course, his blistering wit and ability to verbally decimate all that oppose him, in an ultimately huggable way. Added bonus is Doctor Insano, an evil mastermind and pitiful woobie by turns.
Western Animation
- Avatar's Prince Zuko.
- Don't forget about Hakoda. Just think, in 10 years that's what Sokka will look like.
- Aang could qualify as Estrogen Brigade Bait for younger girls in the audience.
- Jet definitely qualifies.
- I hate to admit it, but Ozai looked pre-tty good fighting shirtless in the finale.
- In fact, a close examination of the male cast of Avatar makes the suggestion that the primary demograohic is 6-11-year-old boys laughable.
- The titular star of Disney's Aladdin — the character was completely re-designed in early development because the old model didn't have enough appeal to women.
- Mozenrath from the Aladdin TV series arguably qualifies. He was pretty much the only villain from that show that the fangirls could squee over.
- Pretty much all of the Disney "princes" could qualify.
- Samurai Jack gets the top of his gi ripped off in combat fairly often, and occasionally most of the bottom half as well.
- Don't forget the episode where he gets ALL of his clothes stolen...
- Matrix (Enzo Matrix) in ReBoot Seasons 3 and 4.
- Caleb in WITCH, receives a Shirtless Scene in the episode "The Underwater Mines".
- Kevin from Ben 10 Alien Force. Had a fangirl or two as a kid, but as a teenager, all bets are off. Tragic past, "roguish charm", and a buff body with tight clothes that are developing a tendency to get torn and tattered in fights makes him prime EBB.
- Starscream in nearly all of his incarnations, but especially Armada, which made him a Proud Warrior Race Guy, damn near turned him into a Woobie, and put him in a friendship with the (human) fangirl surrogate. Yeah, he's a giant robot. Don't think too hard about that.
- Ulrich Stern has this status in Code Lyoko if you listen to the Fan Girls. He gets his share of female admirers in the show itself too.
- Don't forget William! He has his fans even though he unfortuently suffers from Die For Our Ship.
- And Odd. Oh lord, Odd. Especially the Season 4 Lyoko suit. Squee!
- Stork from Storm Hawks — he has more fanart and OC love interests created for him than every other male character in the series.
- The creators seem to have noticed: in Season 2, Stork appears in his underwear, in a towel, cross-dressed as a woman, and nude.
- The Fairly Oddparents: Norm the Genie. Shirtless Scene, sexy voice, and male-on-male type scene (dancing with Cosmo during "Gimme the Wand", though he hit Cosmo with a bowling ball after). About three forum threads were created about him on TV.com and he gets lots of OC Love Interests. And he only appeared 3 times in total.
- Total Drama Island: resident bad boy Duncan, The Woobie Trent, and especially Justin.
- Not Justin. Especially compared to Duncan who has a huge
psychopathic raving fanbase. (Which includes this poster... hee hee.) Trent is also fairly popular. But Justin doesn't seem to have many fans. Probably because in the first season he didn't have much of a personality. And by the second season, he has a rotten one. Actually he seems to receive quite a bit of bashing by fans. But knowing what he is, it's understandable.
- Remember Ruby-Spears Megaman? I do, and I suspect that the title character's incredibly muscular redesign (and that of his brother, and most of the Robot Masters) was part of the reason why it had a good amount of female viewers (the others being Roll and... something else).
- Aqualad, Robin, Beast Boy, and even Cyborg to some extent from the animated version of Teen Titans.
- And don't forget Nightwing!
- Or Slade!!
- Or Malchior...er...Rorek.
- The hunky incarnations of Bruce Wayne in Batman The Animated Series, Justice League Unlimited, and (begrudgingly) The Batman. He has more than one Shirtless Scene in every show and all of them are EBB to a T. Coupled with Kevin Conroy's deep, sexy voice...I'll be in my bunk.
- Dimitri in Anastasia, boy howdy! A handsome con artist Jerk With A Heart Of Gold with loads of spark and personality, not to mention he appears to be drawn with quite a package. Strangely, Word Of God says they tried to draw him as being not-so-handsome by giving him a slightly crooked nose. They have failed.
- And voiced by John Cusack.
- Oban Star-Racers can claim Rick Thunderbolt, Jordan Wilde, Stan, and Koji (if nerds are more your thing). On the other hand, a number of fangirls positively drool over Prince Aikka and his chivalrous manner. Yum.
- Doyle from The Secret Saturdays, oh yes.
- Danny Fenton has quite a following despite Butch Hartman's simplistic style. This troper lost count of just how many Mary Sues...I mean, 'original' characters were made for him.
- Can't forget Vlad, who's simply made of Evil Is Sexy. He's sexy because he's evil. Plus, his looks, suaveness, and sense of fashion don't hurt either.
- Fangirls seem to love Dark Danny as well for his body build, sexy voice...Even his status as a Complete Monster doesn't make him any less sexy to some!
- The band members of Dethklok each appeal to the fangirls, but who's the guy they all squee over? Charles Foster Ofdensen, their manager!
- Prince Naveen of The Princess And The Frog, big time. One of the few Disney princes with a liveliness and personality (not to mention a strong Really Gets Around implication), ridiculously attractive in all his Ambiguously Brown glory, with an equally indeterminate yet sexy accent, all resulting in a consensus that he is the sexiest of the Disney Princes.
- Don't forget Gargoyles! Every single episode had a Shirtless Scene. In fact, Goliath never wore a shirt unless you count one episode in the non-canonical third season that turned out to be just a dream. We've also got the tragic back story, Brooklyn is Troubled But Cute, Goliath has a sexy, gravely voice, Lexington is a cute little thing who likes boys and even Broadway has a winning personality.
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