Real Men Wear Pink - Television Tropes & Idioms

Vegeta's legendary pink "BADMAN" shirt in Dragon Ball Z.
Parodied to death in, and rather the point of, Cromartie High School.
Bontenmaru from Samurai Deeper Kyo can literally rip a man in half with his bare hands. He hangs out with several badass killers, and reads shoujo manga.
Master Sergeant Cryborne of Irresponsible Captain Tylor, a man who wouldn't be out of place in Frank Miller's Sin City, shamelessly parades around in a mech that he has painted bright pink.
- Equally hardass First Lt. Andressen from the same series provides an even more absurd example. What would he be doing if he wasn't in the Marines? Nude modeling.
Uryuu Ishida in Bleach knows that sewing is hardcore.
- Plus Gentle Giant Chad's pink hawaiian shirts and his love of cute things like stuffed animals and parakeets.
- Does carrying a pink-haired child count for Blood Knight Kenpachi? It should be noted that Kenny does, in fact, attend Yachiru's tea parties.
  - Even though they aren't considered canon material, one could also point to the anime's omake-like Golden Cup pieces where one of them has Kenpachi spending hours to get his hair just right (a.k.a. attaching the top bell on his spiky hairdo).
- And does your Badass Weapon Of Choice being pink flowers count for Aloof Big Brother Byakuya?
- And not even non-humans are safe from this. As one of the Shinigami Cup skits reveal, Komamura Sajin actually LIKES human world's cute puppies show, which is like the doggy equivalent of one gritty bad ass liking Barbie Shows.
- Captain Kyoraku Shunsui, the guy who killed the Primera Espada with only his shikai, wears a pink flowery haori over his regular captain's haori.
The seven-foot tall Heroic Sociopath Kogarashi of Kamen No Maid Guy constantly wears a cutesy maid dress.
Martian Successor Nadesico's main character, Akito Tenkawa, pilots a hot pink Humongous Mecha and is an exceptional cook — this is a man who made crepes suzette as field rations. He's not a Badass in any sense of the word, but out of all the things people look down on him for, his ride and his skill in the kitchen are not among them.
Kenshin Himura from Rurouni Kenshin is short, wears long hair in a ponytail, is never seen without his pink kimono, cooks, washes the clothes and cleans around the dojo... and he's the fearsome Battousai the Killer. In the Japanese version of the anime, he's voiced by a woman.
- In the Manga, Nobuhiro Watsuki claims he based Kenshin on Genzai Kawakami, an assasin during the bakumatsu who was short, thin and easily confused with a woman... he used it to his advantage by crossdressing and hiding at Geisha Houses after killing.
- Also of note is that in the manga, Kenshin is constantly mistaken for a woman, despite carrying a sword around (which was forbidden at the time) and having a big badass scar on his face. He also serves as a babysitter to Dr. Gensai's granddaughters (exclusive to the anime as near as it can be told).
Senri, the silent goliath bear-man from the manga +Anima. He loves flowers, which he likes to use as bookmarks in his diary. Being the oldest and the strongest, he's a protective Team Mom and a surprising male example of a Mama Bear who goes so far as to literally lick the wounds of his companions.
- Senri uses the flowers to remember things, as his memory is quite impaired. Also, he seems to enjoy the taste of blood.
Gundam:
- Quatre Raberba Winner is short, plays the violin and the piano, and is very polite and somewhat feminine. He also pilots a badass Gundam, is The Smart Guy of the group, can handle himself with a rapier very well and becomes de-facto leader after Heero leaves to rescue Relena and face Zechs. And despite having a clear distaste for killing, Quatre's not a Technical Pacifist (or at least, not until The Movie, when the whole team starts acting that way), and in fact probably kills more enemies than any two other characters in the show combined. Or everybody combined if you include his Zero System induced Freak Out.
- Treize Khushrenada took a rose bath on a regular basis. ROSE BATH.
- George DeSand from G Gundam has a rose-themed Gundam, is extremely courteous and refined and looks slightly feminine... but he also adores playing Volleying Insults routines with Boisterous Bruiser Chibodee Crockett, loves fighting as much as the other members of the Shuffle Alliance and, when off-duty, is a badass fencer. By the way, he's French.
- Chibodee himself has naturally pink hair (well, pink bangs), and is a Bad Ass champion boxer and major Chick Magnet. He's also the Queen of Spades in the Shuffle Alliance (and the former Queen of Spades also was male), admits being a Mommas Boy (due to a rather sad case of Missing Mom) and is fiercely protective of both Rain and his Four Girl Ensemble crew.
- Athrun Zala is nothing special although like most pilots in seed, he is essentially a bishonen, he is literally characterized by being the only pilot to pilot 4 different suits that are predominantly pink in color.
The Terminator of Seto No Hanayome initially crossdresses as a schoolgirl in attempt to understand his beloved daughter's heart through Moe Moe stereotypes. Initially, because he inexplicably continues to wear the outfit in future appearances. He's the freaking Terminator, though, with laser beam eyes, so it isn't like anyone (besides his daughter) is ever going to call him out on it.
Volume 9 of xxxHOLiC reveals that Tall Dark And Snarky Doumeki used to dress like a girl when he was little. Of course, being the unshakable master of deadpan that he is, Watanuki's attempt to rub this in his face backfires spectacularly.
CLAMP has another Tall Dark And Snarky example in Lawful Drug : Saiga. Alright, so he's Straight Gay, but he's also at least One Head Taller than his very feminine looking partner and always wears Cool Shades... but to Kazahaya's shock, Saiga is the one who is great at, and enjoys, sewing and cooking.
Kenji Murasame, who wears a leather trenchcoat and fedora. All in pink, of course.
Belfangan Clouseau from Full Metal Panic!. Big, tough, imposing, states that good Arm Slave piloting should resemble art and indulges in watching cute shoujo anime during his free time.
- Lt. Cmdr. Kalinin seems to enjoy cooking, and still looks badass doing it (although his borsht almost killed Captain Testarossa and can scare off Sousuke).
  - He was also wearing a pink, frilly apron while doing it. Not that that makes it any less badass.
Sanji of One Piece is a five-star chef who is always impeccably dressed and has a pronounced tendency to turn into subservient, heart-eyed goo in the presence of a pretty girl. He's also a grade A badass Dance Battler and in the top three fighters on one of the most feared and renowned pirate crews in the world. Oh, and not forgetting the pink apron with the panda logo.
- Don't forget his Skypiea shirts. Search your feelings, you know it to be true.
- Ship doctor Tony Tony Chopper famously sports a large pink hat that was given to him by his adoptive father. While he's not as powerful as Sanji it is highly recomended you don't piss him off because he will Fuck. You. Up.
- There's also Donquixote Doflamingo who wears a very pink feathery overcoat while treating people as puppets using what appears to be string based powers ( which apparently double as Razor Floss when he feels like it).
- CP9 member Kumadori sports a full head of pink hair, and even manages to weaponize it.
- Not to mention Mr. 2 Bon Clay, AKA Bon-chan, a self-proclaimed transvestite who loves pink clothes and swan motifs. Also possibly the manliest character in the series.
- General Ripper Akainu apparently wears a pink shirt going by the most recent opening. As shown here◊
Shiro Takamachi of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, a ninja-assassin bodyguard that frequently took on terrorist organizations and has the multiple scars to prove it. Eventually retired after almost getting killed to become... the owner and baker of the local cafe that specializes in cakes, cream puffs, and other sweets.
Knight from Duel Masters spends most of the first episodes in an all black ensemble to show off how cool he is. Later on he starts wearing a pink undershirt defending the change by stating "pink is the new black".
Absolutely every male character in Breakshot. From intimidating muscleman Oki to filty cheater Isamu to main character Chinmi, as billiards players they're usually dressed in frilly shirts with flowers and little bow ties that would look more at home on a Playboy Bunny. There's something funny about a guy bragging about how strong he is while he's dressed like King from Art Of Fighting.
Gwendal of Kyou kara Maou is a badass fighter and tactician with a glare of steel, but he loves cute thing and his hobby is...knitting. Knitting cute animals. And he does them awesomely.
Meanwhile Yozak from Kyou Kara Maou is a really big guy with bulging muscles and a handsome, manly face, and is a terrifying and intense power with a sword in his hands, and he really likes to crossdress. Initially this was explained by his being undercover when introduced, but since he changes into an 'angel of mercy' costume for saving the survivors of an earthquake and is really, really not convincing with those biceps, and is really enjoying himself, it's really not a work thing.
- Early in his first scene in the manga, before it's revealed that he's a Shin Makoku spy and Serious Mentor Conrad's old friend, he's shown sitting and laughing with Conrad, in his outrageous drag queen outfit, and the main character mistakes it for a hookup and gives them space. Hilarious, especially once you know the background.
- And he brings an evening dress along on a dangerous mission to a snowbound mountain, as a good-luck charm because dressing as a woman has saved his life so many times. Same sequence where he has his most impressive sword fight.
The hero of the manga Otomen (a blend of otome = woman + the English "men") has dedicated his teenage years to evading this trope and failing so, so utterly. He may look like the stoic ultra-manly Kendo Team Captain, but he gives cute bento boxes the girl he loves and makes stuffed animals in a trance when he thinks about her. His best friend uses him as the model for the heroine of his hit Shojo manga series.
Major Armstrong from Fullmetal Alchemist, whose Bishie Sparkles are pink.
Chuzaemon from Mon Colle Knights is a muscular mohawked midget in his seventies who believes manliness is the highest goal in life and spends most of his time desperately trying to make Count Collection a proud man. He also grooms cats and dances ballet in a pink tutu, tending to be surrounded by rose petals when he does so.
Maximum HOLTFORS Ballanche Kaien, Duke of Fates, the most powerful and badass headdliner in the Mamoru Nagano's Five Star Stories, repainted his Mortar Headd Akatsuki Hime deep fluorescent pink. On the other hand, Max, in fact, isn't especially manly...
Lest we forget Kamina's epically PINK (or orangish) Cool Shades. Simon's star shades are undeniably pink though.
Ranma from Ranma 1/2 is probably the strongest fighter in this continuity. Although he complains loudly about it, he clearly enjoys some of the possibilities his instant-sex-change curse gives him. Eating big, girly sundaes is about the only one he'll admit to. But, while he'll protest that he only goes to that extent because it's necessary, he does seem to get a thrill out of "seducing" men to get them to surrender some Mac Guffin or other. — and his favorite "disguise" is a pink dress.
- He's also an excellent cook, though he never uses it, presumably because his Cordon Bleugh Chef and Tsundere fiancee would go ballistic if he constantly pointed the fact out (she does not take the initial revelation very well). He's also good at gymnastics, tea ceremony, sewing, and cleaning (to the point he will compulsively clean someone else's messy room, having to think about it to stop, not start, in the manga).
Akira Kongou from Kongou Banchou soends all day gathering the finest ingredients (killing evil devil cows, climbing mountains) to make himself...the most delicious pudding ever. Man loves his pudding.
The third chapter of Please, Jeeves opens with Jeeves reading a romance novel instead of one of his "improving books." Because we all knew that that Rosie M. Banks collection didn't really belong to his aunt.
Jet Black of Cowboy Bebop is a big scary man with a robotic arm who loves to cook and cultivates bonsai trees.
- Spike Spiegel flies around on a pink starship...armed with a pair of lasers.
There's an interesting detail in Appleseed Ex Machina. When Deunan, Briareos, and Tereus arrive at the ship of Poseidon in their landmates, Deunan is given an advanced prototype landmate for the final assault. Briareos says he would like to take that one himself, except for the fact that it is pink. They also get the assistance of a group of Poseidon soldiers, who all have their own landmates. Except for Argus, who takes Deunans police landmate. Which leads us to the question why he doesn't use his own? Oh wait...
Kazuma Kuwabara is a man's man, but he still has a soft spot for cats...especially his pet kitten, Eikichi.
- Kurama might be even more of an example. First off, he is a Bishonen pretty boy. Second off, half the episodes Kurama appears in he is wearing a pink school uniform. Third off, he is a momma's boy. Fourth off, he has a thing for roses. And he just happens to be a demon (or a demon/human hybrid, its complicated) who rakes up the highest body count in the show, pulls a Crowning Moment Of Awesome every time he does fight and is a Chessmaster and a Manipulative Bastard to boot.
Berwald/Sweden from Axis Powers Hetalia is fairly domestic and good with children, specially the unruly Peter/Sealand. When he gives his partner Tino/Finland some of his clothes and the other remarks on their 12 cms. height difference, Sweden immediately grabs some sewing implements and calmly starts fixing them himself. Sounds okay, but... well, did we mention that Sweden is actually a huge Big Guy with a permanent Death Glare and Stoic Spectacles who scares people off whether he wants or not?
- Also, Vasch/Switzerland is a gun-toting Jerk Ass, but he wears cute pink pajamas. Which were given to him by his little sister Liechtenstein. Whom he *adores*.
- And then there's England/Arthur and his "fun embroidery".
The anime of DN Angel features Krad with a pink petticoat under his outfit. A very obvious, frilly pink petticoat. The animators claimed it was purple, but no. Did I mention that this guy spends his spare time playing torturous mind-games with his other half?
In Pokemon Special we have Ruby, who participates in Pokemon contests, regularly grooms his team, and even sews and trims outfits for man and 'Mon alike. Interesting case since we see the pink before we're given any hint to the man. Still, this is the son of Gym Leader Norman we're talking about.
- In the episode "The Screen Actor's Guilt", action movie star Brad Van Darn owns a Smoochum.
Drake Anderson from the Read Or Die OVA is a badass, gruff mercenary capable of taking out super-powered enemies in hand to hand combat, surviving helicopter crashes without a scratch, and is outright feared by Paper-users for his prowess against them. He also enjoys pottery, sightseeing, and classical literature.
Nuriko of Fushigi Yuugi in every sense of the word.
Buccha from Air Gear, wears pink-white stripe T-shirt

Done by implication in a Justice League comic by Grant Morrison: Bruce Wayne is meeting with Clark Kent in Japan, and Clark introduces him to a young Japanese woman named Hino Rei. Bruce immediately recognizes "her" as the Martian Manhunter, both because of his body language, and, as he put it, "The name's a dead giveaway". Now think about it for a second, and wonder what Batman watches in his spare time...
- And then there's his deep, dark secret...
The Martian Manhunter himself is often a source of this type of thing, being a stoic but sensitive Warrior Poet.
- Who loves eating cookies. More specifically, ~~Oreo~~ Choco cookies. Mmmmm.
Played with by Garth Ennis in The Magnificent Kevin, in which the title character finds himself in a pub with some colleagues shortly after joining the British Army. The pub is full of manly men, drinking beer and showing off their tattoos... and then in the corner are a couple of blokes sitting quietly, playing dominoes and drinking lemonade. Kev's mate Tony explains that they're in the SAS.
Kev: I thought they'd be hard as fuckin' nails.
Tony: They are, Kev. But they've got fuck-all to prove to anyone.
- And in the same universe, Midnighter: the leatherclad, nigh-unbeatable, Majestic-level superhero with a penchant for slasher smiles and gleeful dismemberment, and probably the most roundly feared of all the Wildstorm ~~good guys~~ protagonists. Also, openly gay and fond of experimenting with his hair.
From Adam Warren's Empowered, there's the goddamn Maidman, who's Badass enough to fight crime wearing a maid's costume and stiletto heels.
Everyone knows Steve Rogers, right? The accept-no-substitutes Captain America, paragon of all that is good, patriotic and manly, a statuesque, muscled beacon to heroes the world over... and enthusiastic artist. He was a professional illustrator occasionally when he had a secret identity, and once ended up drawing his own (licenced) comicbook. Let's face it, if Captain America does it, it's not girly: it's awesome.
- That may derive from Most writers are male, as the guys making the comics want to be seen as manly, so what could be more manly than something done by Captain America? And if it's manly, Cap has to do it, so he illustrates and because illustrating is manly the writers... aso.aso.
  - Issue #225 (9/1978) shows Cap as not always being a seemingly stereotypically macho man. He was also often described in other origin retellings as being sickly, frail and avoided rough play as well as spending a lot of his childhood avoiding bullies through staying inside drawing (and being teased for having such interests, so in one origin retelling it was stated that art was a secret hobby) and having his childhood best friend Arnie Roth as his protector. So while art isn't necessarily a "feminine" interest, it does get treated like one for him and is a strong link to his past. And as for the icing on a cake, in issue #2 (4/1941) Steve shows while undercover an ability to knit.
Leslie in Liberty Meadows cries while watching Touched by an Angel, but changes the channel to a wrestling match and starts grunting when Ralph enters the room. Of course, it would be hard for Leslie to be described as a Real Man, even if he weren't a frog.
- Though with a name like Leslie, his masculinity is probably called into question now and then.
Harsh gangster Suhnshyon Tzang in Bowling King is fierce, competitive, and intimidating. He also loves Britney Spears music and wears facial make-up often.
As revealed in Marvel Comics Holiday Special, Wolverine bakes.
- Although it's possible that it only affects alternate Wolvies, Exiles stated he also likes karaoke and doesn't talk about it. And also in the series, Morph mentions that Mimic knows too much about figure skating than any male superhero should.
  - Considering how much time Wolverine has spent in Japan, it would be weird if he didn't enjoy karaoke.
Roadblock from GI Joe is a world-class patissier, or pastry chef, and is an expert in many other forms of cuisine which is uses in his secondary duty as a military cook. He's also extremely large and powerful in his primary duty as an infantry maching gunner and can lug around a M2 Browning machine gun (which is typically used as a squad weapon since the whole thing with ammunition weighs 134 lbs) as his personal weapon.
- The unquestionably badass Gung Ho is probably the hardest and meanest Joe of them all. He's also a mama's boy whose real name is Ettienne R. Lafitte and whose first language is French (he's from Louisiana).
  - Ever picked a fight with a Cajun? Don't.
- According to the comic book, both Roadblock & Gung Ho were at one point choir boys in their respective churches. Complete with frilly ruffled robes.
- I also hear Roadblock occasionally offers body massages.
Galactus, Planet Eater and one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel Universe, wears pink armor and has a funny hat. Maybe he's just not aware, or maybe he simply cares not for the opinions of lesser beings regarding his hat.
- "Billions have trembled before the mighty pink armor of Galactus!"
  - Remember that big hats are awesome. None are bigger than Galactus!
The Cajun charmer Gambit from X-Men; under his brown trenchcoat, he wears a magenta body armor as well as his sleeves and pants have magenta stripes. Now bear in mind that he is also a master thief.
- In the 90s X-Men cartoon, Gambit is also seen cooking his Cajun stew in one episode.
  - Hey, there's nothing feminine about Cajun French cuisine. It's all hearty, gamey and brown; a far cry from Brie, Escargot, and Chablis.
Taskmaster. The man has beaten Captain America, Spider-Man, Iron Man, and many others by copying their move-sets and sheer trickery, dual-wields pistols and weaponry on a daily basis, and wears a (fake) skull as a mask. He enjoys the Spice Girls. That is all.
Hulking cyborg soldier Matt McCoy in the Street Fighter comics from UDON enjoys gourmet cooking and playing acoustic guitar in his spare time. His commander, Colonel Wolfman, is a scarred Badass who wears a one-piece legless leotard and has fabulous hair
In Big Bang Comics, Batman Captain Ersatz the Knight Watchman makes a living as a famous women's fashion designer.
The Blue Blade in The Twelve. Truly, only a real man could wear frilly shorts, a cape, and a huge feathered hat, with boots and gloves, on national television.
Sgt. Fluffy, Agent of S.C.H.M.U.C.K., from normalman. In his own words, a "heart-poundin', front-facin'" uber patriot and super action hero (he leaves out the part where he's a violent lunatic, but whatever), wears Wizard Of Oz style red sequined pumps throughout the series.
According to Hercules, real god-like heroes should wear skirts.

In the first Police Academy movie, Gentle Giant Moses Hightower was a... flower shop owner before becoming a cop. Rule Of Funny in this case.
As suggested by the title of Mel Brooks' Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Robin's Merry Men discover this as they struggle to adapt to their standard-issue pantyhose.
Little John: Let's face it: you gotta be a man to wear tights!
Sid in Toy Story wears all black, tortures his toys and terrorizes his sister, but in his sleep, dreams about "riding the pony". A subversion, because he has plainly not yet learned to embrace that side of himself.
In The Longest Yard rugged, badass and violent inmate Torres (played by the wolfish Lobo Sebastian) shamelessly enjoys watching... Joy Behar's all-female talk show The View, much to the other prisoners' surprise."
Grossberger, the hulking mass murderer in Stir Crazy. While feared by the entire prison, Grossberger proves to be a softy, quickly befriending the main characters and singing a soulful rendition of "Down in the Valley." Actor Erland Van Lidth was himself a bit of real-life version of this trope, being a professional wrestler as well as a classically trained bass-baritone opera singer.
Briefly toyed with in Oceans13, when Rusty and Danny Ocean watch Oprah and get a little choked up.
North Sea Hijack. Badass Normal Rufus Excalibur ffolkes is a misogynist counter-terrorism and hostage rescue expert and trainer... and keeps cats and does needlepoint embroidery of kittens to while away the time.
In Demolition Man, John Spartan was implanted with the skills and desire to knit during his prison sentence. He knits a sweater for Huxley as an apology and feels sheepish about it.
"Creme Brulee!"
In In Like Flint superspy and ultimate ladies man Flint doesn't just like ballet, he teaches and performs it.
Captain Shakespeare, the ruthless, swashbuckling pirate captain and cross-dressing drama lover in Stardust.
In the New Zealand film Stickmen (it's about Pool sharks, fyi), there is a character who frequents all the hardest bars wearing a bright pink shirt. No one mocks him for this...cause he's an Ax Crazy martial artist who's happy for any reason to beat seven shades out of any fool he finds, and a pink shirt is prime Schmuck Bait.
Arnold Schwarzenegger's character in Red Heat is a tough Russian policeman with a pet parakeet.
In the Jude law remake of Alfie, he says at one point "If you ooze masculinity, like some of us do, you have no reason to fear pink. "
The White Russian, even though now it's associated with The Big Lebowski and its cult to the point that it's easy to forget that in The Nineties, The Dude may as well have been ordering a Grasshopper or a Pink Squirrel.
In Get Shorty, Ray "Bones" Barboni spends much of the movie dressed in a hot pink blazer and seems to have an affectation for pink clothing generally. Bo Catlett, meanwhile, has a pink toilet and obsesses over his pristine white carpet. They're the villains of the piece, and very brutally violent people.
In The Rundown, the Rock's character is a bounty hunter who wants to open a haute cuisine restaurant.
Mr. Holland's Opus: The football coach minored in Modern Dance in college and choreographs the big dance number in the school musical. He also shrewdly uses it, because people will be expecting his football players, who he trains for the play, to be stumbling all over the stage and will come for the spectacle... but be blown away by the dancing.

Rhett Butler of Gone With The Wind is a pretty Bad Ass guy, known for fighting, messing with loads of girls and general non-legal stuff. He also always knows the latest french fashion trend, which he's willing to share with anyone who cares to listen. The book even makes a point of the fact that despite that, no one doubts his manliness.
In Captain Underpants, the school football team are such fans of Barney Captain Ersatz Boomer the Purple Dragon that they change their team name to the Purple Dragon Sing-Along Friends. As the author points out, who's going to argue with a bunch of linebackers?
Butler, a hulking Badass Normal and Battle Butler in Artemis Fowl, claims to only enjoy reading soppy romance novels — apparently, books with action and explosions and helicopters and stuff remind him too much of real life.
In The Truth, Mr. Tulip is a giant bruiser who can barely think, whose every second word is "-ing" (literally) and whose brain is constantly fizzing with what he thinks are awesome drugs, but show him any antique or work of art and he'll be able to instantly identify the period, creator, history and technique, and will often burst into tears because of how -ing beautiful it is.
- in Unseen Academicals, the Dimwell fan colours are bright pink and green. Nutt theorizes that they're a deliberate attempt to pick a fight.
In the Phules Company novels, Sgt. Escrima is an exceptionally talented chef, and chose his Legion name for his preferred fighting style (involving two sticks), which he teaches to other members of the company. Do not criticize his cooking unless you enjoy pain, since he's been known to hospitalize would-be food critics.
In a deconstruction of the most literal application of the trope, Thoros of Myr wears pink robes in his latest appearances in A Song Of Ice And Fire - but they used to be red, they've just faded. In the series, pink does not particularly seem to be considered a "girly" colour; some knights and lords have pink in their heraldry, particularly House Bolton.
Billy Bright, the leader of the hooligan Firm in Footbal L Factory is a florist. Sure it also helps as a front for his drug trafficing.
Glen Cook's Garrett P.I. series has a pair of twenty foot tall grolls (half giant, half troll) Dumb Muscle brothers named Alice and Marsha.

On Pushing Daisies, Emerson Cod, a fairly archetypal Private Detective, loves to knit. He's also a big fan of pop-up books. He also wears a bright magenta floral shirt, though no one wears drab colors on the show anyway.
Subversion. We don't know how much of a real man he is... but Monty Python Flying Circus' Lumberjack. He's a lumberjack and he's okay, he sleeps all night and he works all day, also skipping, jumping, pressing on wild flowers, putting on women's clothing, hanging around in.... BARS??? — err, he also wears high heels, suspenders and a... a BRA!?!? Ah screw it, I'm going home. Someone clean this up for me.
Lord Flasheart from Blackadder; an Ace who likes cross-dressing.
Crony from Neds Declassified School Survival Guide. Tough guy, bully's um... crony, sewing club member.
Jack Donaghy in 30 Rock once had a collection of cookie jars, but had to get rid of them.
Sonny Crockett (and, by extension, Don Johnson) pulled off pink and other pastels on Miami Vice. Part of this is it was South Florida in The Eighties, where you could get away with that sort of thing.
Spike, of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame, has hobbies that include chain smoking, heavy drinking, brawling, gambling, and... watching soap operas and writing rather effusive poetry. He also likes his cocoa with the little marshmallows in it. This in no way diminishes his level of badass. He also loves those little onion flowers in Chinese restaurants.
- That's because those little marshmallows are excellent.
- And everyone knows vampires love writing bad poetry.
- So wait, what about this trope, then?
  - That was caused by... other things. Quite a few of them, actually.
  - Nope, he liked all that before he was a vampire (except the soaps, as television did not exist yet), and anyhow, he is still a bad ass hottie who likes cerebral pursuits. Most vampires are a part of this trope. If nothing else it's their Armani duds.
Angel, of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, admits that he once found a ballet so incredible he cried. Back when he was still the souless Badass Angelus. Angelus also likes to draw, though admittedly most of his drawings are meant to be left behind to creep out his adversaries. Still, there's no evidence that he had any artisitic talent until after loosing his soul.
Easy-going funny man B.J. Hunnicutt of M*A*S*H spends about half his screen time actually wearing a pink shirt. He also spends a lot of time darning socks, though that may be more out of neccesity than choice.
Daniel Meade of Ugly Betty sure does wear a lot of purple for a straight man. Who works in fashion, admittedly.
Eliot Spencer of Leverage — unstoppable hurtin' machine, liberator of Croatia, regular taker-out of entire gangs of armed men, may have once killed a man with an hors d'oeuvre — will have to be forcibly prevented from going after you if you insult his cooking. (He also appears to spend quite a lot of time on his hair.)
Michael Westen, resident badass of Burn Notice, has a lot of pink shirts, to Agent Bly's amusement. Apparently you can still get away with that in Miami twenty years after Miami Vice...if you're a badass ex-spy.
Ianto Jones of Torchwood, who not only frequently wears pink shirts, but also coordinated his ties and three piece suits. While not prone to violence, he did once taser a man in the head because he was holding Captain Jack and the rest of the team hostage, and shot a team mate to prevent him from risking all their lives. Also supremely badass, he head-butted a cannibal who was threatening to eat him.
Firefly's Jayne Cobb is a musclebound hulk, an amoral mercenary, a seasoned combat veteran, a crack shot with a rifle or pistol, and a brutal streetfighter. He also wears brightly-colored bobble hats with earflaps that his mother knits for him.
Wash: A man walks down the street wearing a hat like that, people know he's not afraid of anything.
- It's technically known as a tuque. Jayne puts it on and remarks, "Pretty cunning, don'tcha think?" Google "Jayne's Cunning Hat" and you'll find hundreds of tuque patterns posted by Firefly fans who can knit.
Chuck John Casey's "pet" bonsai tree. Played by the same actor as the aforementioned Jayne Cobb, the 6'4" Adam Baldwin.
- John Casey also was a choir boy in his youth and has perfect pitch. Adam Baldwin does a great job of looking and acting badass - in addition to Firefly and Chuck, there's also Angel - but between character traits like this being played for laughs and the way he often needs to be rescued by the amateurish Chuck just because he's the eponymous hero, Casey's basassness is subverted as often as it's played straight.
Mike from Spaced owns this trope. He's a tough-guy gun nut who was kicked out of the T.A. for trying to invade Paris in a stolen tank... and on various occasions he happily joins in Marsha's step-aerobics, cooks in a novelty apron, and of course actually wears a tight pink tank top. Add this to his overly protective attitude towards Tim...
Another cooking example: Tendou Souji from Kamen Rider Kabuto, a man so badass that time itself bends to his will, is a gourmet chef and enjoys cooking for his little sister.
Kamen Rider Decade's costume is primarily white, black, and (you guessed it) pink. One of the webisodes lampshades this by having Tsukasa/Decade, frustrated at everyone calling it pink, insist that it's actually magenta; given that photography is an important theme of the show, this might actually be the case, especially since The Rival Diend is cyan-colored.
- Of course, that same net movie jokingly claims that the show's producers made Decade pink because Real Men Wear Pink, citing their boss, who's wearing a bright pink three-piece suit.
  - Not to mention the fact that Tsukasa often wears pink ("MAGENTA!!") clothes in his day-to-day life, including a pink gi when in Hibiki's World.
Roderick Spode from Jeeves And Wooster has the public image of a not-genocidal Hitler stand-in, but his actual day job is designing women's underwear, a secret that Bertie and Jeeves use to blackmail him at the beginning of season 2, even though Jeeves is initially the only one who knows what "Eulalie" actually means.
Don't let the pompadour, organic cooking or tricked out leather jacket fool you. Bobby "Elvis" Munson is as badass as any other member of the "Sons Of Anarchy" Motorcycle Club.
Gene Hunt from Life on Mars has some very nice pink shirts.
In Arrested Development, the Scary Black Man bounty hunter ICE (a recurring character) got into bounty-hunting to jumpstart his first love...a professional catering business. Although he's not a terribly effective bounty hunter, he is more than capable of beating people up and looking intimidating.
The martini-guzzling, womanizing Deadpan Snarker Roger Sterling on Mad Men gets mani-pedis, and tries to defend this when he senses that Don is judging this as "feminine."
In Scrubs, Turk used to take ballet, and tries desperately to hide it from the other surgeons.
From House, Wilson blow-dries his hair, and admits at the end of one episode to liking a Broadway poster that House had previously used to up his Amgiguously Gay as a joke. Not to mention his knowledge of "window treatments" and the lyrics to show tunes...

Surprisingly, this trope is Older Than Feudalism, at least. As punishment for killing somebody, Genius Bruiser Hercules is forced into slavery to Queen Omphale for a year, who forces him to wear women's clothing and help with the weaving, while she wears his lion pelt and waves his club around. He doesn't complain too much, because, honestly, who's going to make fun of Hercules for wearing pink?
- AFAIK the punishment was "just" the slavery, but she married him when she saw that the "slave" she had bought was a hero. They actually were in love with each other, which was the explanation for why he accepted said genderbending stuff. He Got Better later and left her. Yes, it's a big Take That against effeminated men / women wanting to be like men.
He ain't the only one, either. Achilles spent a good part of his life pulling a Sweet Polly Oliver per orders of his overprotective and worried mother, who wanted to keep him from dying in the war. Odysseus unmasked him by disguising himself as a vendor and exhibiting swords *and* jewelry to the local girls — Achilles was the only one in the crowd who chose the weapons.
Odin: All-father, giant-slayer, raven-lord, Gallows-rider, rune-caster... Crossdresser?
- If you like that image, try Thor in full bridal regalia.
  - Loki also has instances of turning into a woman or female animal to pull off his stunts. He goes as far as to turn himself into a mare and become PREGNANT by a work-horse in one myth!
  - Which is funny since Loki himself wonders about Odin's manlyness because he learned the magic reserved for women.
  - In a myth where Loki is taunting all the gods, he and Odin taunt each other with having been women — and indeed, having borne children and nursed them "a woman through and through." Njord explicitly says that a god having borne children is worse than a goddess sleeping with her husband or lover or both.

The color pink is practically a staple of the Hart Wrestling Family. Bret "The Hitman" Hart is known as much for his distinctive pink-and-black singlets as he is for his incredible matches. This started when he was tagging with Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, one of his brothers-in-law and a more overt badass. Younger brother Owen Hart later got in on the act.
- Current ECW stable The Hart Dynasty, consisting of David Hart-Smith (son of "The British Bulldog" and Diana Hart), Tyson Kidd (one of the last graduates of the Hart Family Dungeon before it closed down) and Natalya Neidhart (daughter of the aforementioned Jim) also wear the color pink.
On a more outlandish, character-based level, WWE, for a short time, played host to Vito, a six-feet-tall, bald, musclebound Italian Badass — who liked to wear frilly dresses, and who was often referred to as "the toughest man to ever wear a dress". Debate still rages on whether this was Kayfabe, or a Real Life preference of Vito's, especially since, rumor has it, after he was released from WWE, he attempted to negotiate a contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship with the rider that he would be allowed to compete in a dress. Of course, the gimmick came about at the same time a mobster on The Sopranos was revealed to be gay, and WWE likes ripping off pop culture for character ideas. On the other other hand, it might have started as a gimmick but the wrestler who played him might have grown to like it.
- An earlier WCW storyline saw Perry Saturn (a bald, heavily tattooed wrestler), lose a Loser Wears a Dress match and subsequently start wearing black latex-looking skirts. If the story from Chris Jericho's autobiography can be believed, Saturn wanted this change in character. Several years later, he was shot twice saving a woman from two men attempting to rape her. And barely even noticed until the officer on scene pointed out the wounds. To help drive that last point home, the bullet wounds were discovered in his neck.
  - Saturn was a legitimate Army Ranger before he became a wrestler.
- In a similar case, Darren "Droz" Drozdoff lost a match where the stipulation was that the losers had to wrestle their next match in drag. Droz discovered he liked it. The thing came to an end after Droz challenged anyone on the roster to a nightgown match, and Al Snow agreed - with the stipulation that the match had to take place under hardcore rules.
In a more subdued, borderline case, when the 6'7", 300+-lb Dave Batista wears his impeccably-tailored suits, the shirt or tie is often pink. And that works for him.
WWE had also once the skirt-wearing Headbangers. This was back when kilts were big among metalheads... but what The Headbangers wore could only be considered kilts if one were especially charitable.
- The same can also be said of some of Raven's "kilts" in his WWE and earlier TNA runs.
And then there's the guy who started it all back in 1941: Gorgeous George
Yutaka Yoshie. Big scary dude. Wears a neon pink singlet.
Diamond Dallas Page, three-time World Champion Wrestler, practices yoga daily, and has co-authored a book on the subject.
Rey Mysterio has several outfits in shades of pink and purple, and admitted in an interview to collecting perfumes and cologne. In the same interview, however, he also showed off his sword collection and vaguely implied having enough skill to be able to shave his beard with them.

The Emperor's Children from Warhammer 40,000 are sadistic, evil, merciless, traitorous junkie rapists. They also wear hot pink armour and have a thing for velvet.
- The Dark Eldar are even worse than the Emperor's Children... and they wear a lot of purple and take pride from how classy and cultured they are.
- The regular Eldar are nearly as bad, and they're even more cultured and classy than their Slaaneshi kin.
- The Pretty Marines take this concept to its logical extreme.
- The Blood Angels Space Marine chapter have a strong appreciation for things like art, poetry, and music, when they are not on the battlefield.

Mr. Champloo of Disgaea 3 makes Home Ec the most Hot Blooded subject there is.
Cloud from Final Fantasy VII really fits the trope. Because real men crossdress.
Shinjiro Aragaki in Persona 3 is very fond of cooking and is a regular viewer of the family cooking show — although, as shown in one of the omake videos in the FES expansion pack, he would have preferred the rest of SEES not to realize this.
Adding to the list of videogame chefs is...Ragna the Bloodedge. Yes, that Ragna.
- And in the spiritual precursor, there's Potemkin. More powerful than an armored division, capable of delivering four tons of pressure with two fingers. Now, you might be asking, "Two fingers? How would that be common knowledge?" And no, so shut up. Well, it's because of what he dislikes: pencils that can't withstand said four tons of pressure. And his most treasured possession: a pencil case that can withstand being trampled by a dragon. He's an artist, and apparently quite an avid one.
Deconstructed in Persona 4 with Kanji Tatsumi, The Big Guy whose interest in things such as sewing leads others into mocking him for that. This leads him into suppressing his soft side and his desire for acceptance for who he is, and becomes an important part of his character.
- The Main Character falls into this too when you think about it. He is a good cook and all his part time jobs involve either cleaning or taking care of children. Can fall squarely into this trope if the player picks the gung-ho responses during the crossdressing contest.
~~Elzam V. Branstein~~ Ratsel Feinschmecker: Real Men are gourmet chefs. And ride each other.
- Leaving canon and entering the realm of Memetic Mutation, he and Sanger make pretty badass Idol Singer... robot... warriors.
The uber-manly yet pink-clad Dan Hibiki from Street Fighter. On the other hand, Dan was clearly meant as a joke character, so his pink uniform is more of a jab at his worthlessness as a fighter.
- Unless you use him in Marvel Vs Capcom or Street Fighter Alpha, that is. Lethal Joke Character ahoy!
Regal Bryant of Tales Of Symphonia is the Team Chef of the group, and is also The Atoner who could kick your ass With His Hands Tied. (And he does, in fact. Regularly.) Not to mention he wears a... belly shirt.
- Try Reid, from Symphonia's spiritual predecessor Tales Of Eternia. Pink, embroidered "man-bra", as it has been described elsewhere on this wiki. The boy can cook, which is as well, since he's also a Big Eater. And he's as close as the team has to a Team Mom, serving as a cautious, responsible foil to Farah's brash impulsiveness and Meredy's childish curiosity and enthusiasm (compare to every other series lead, except Ruca, who's just a wuss). He also has a good case to be the straightest-played lead in the entire series, and he's got the potential to wield the power of Seyfert.
Ace Attorney's Miles Edgeworth embraces his trope as he wears a magenta blazer. And on the off-chance that it's actually red, there is also his totally-not-sissy-but-incredibly-manly ruffles. In one Breaking The Fourth Wall commercial, he has a pink GBA.
- Furio "The Tiger" Tigre from Trial and Tribulations. Ruthless loan shark and spiked-haired lawyer impersonator extraordinaire... drives a pink moped.
Arachnos Spymaster Vridian in City Of Villains loves his soap operas and is not ashamed to admit it.
Marluxia from Kingdom Hearts may have auburn-pink hair, a penchant for flowers, and the ability to confuse gamers, but that trust us when we tell that his huge-ass scythe isn't for show.
- To be fair, some of the gender confusion was alleviated in Re:Chain of Memories when he gains a manly voice in both versions.
Real knights also wear pink, as Ragnar of Dragon Quest IV will have you know.
- The warriors in Dragon Quest III also wore pink armor with wings on the helmet, whether they were a gigantic, stern-faced man or a temperamental, no-nonsense woman.
One of Captain Falcon's alternate costumes in Super Smash Bros is pink. His Falcon Punch isn't fazed one bit by this.
- Similarly, one of Snake's palette swaps is a neon pink-orange camo suit. You don't get any manlier than Snake.
- Dedede looks like a straight out pimp in his pink outfit. (even has the Playboy logo on the back!)
- And then there's "Gayweegie"...
Jack Turner, Mighty Glacier and bad guy overall from the Art Of Fighting games is portrayed like this in his (English) Art Of Fighting 2 ending: The "Neo Black Cats" gang that he talks about is actually going to be a creative dance group, unbeknown to his followers. Not necessarily canonical, though, as most of the English endings for said game seem to be jokes.
Suikoden's Georg Prime, the world's greatest swordsman, has an incredible sweet tooth. He even has cheesecake in his inventory when he joins you.
Newer protagonists are far too pretty to count, but The oldschool Belmonts fit this perfectly, seeing how they were brawny macho men who ventured out to battle evil in outfits that would have been considered risque on a female character.
- Real men wear little leather skirts!
Amano Hyo from The Last Blade wears a flamboyantly pink kimono patterned with bright red flowers. His weapon is only a stick, and he doesn't see this as something bad, because it means he can slam people over the head with it even more than required by a better weapon before they're knocked out.
- Annoyingly, he tends to show up about half way through the game, which makes him the first serious opponent. Also, there is actually a sword inside that stick...
Shinobi on the Game Gear had a Pink Ninja. His Weapon Of Choice? Bombs, bombs, and more bombs.
Only real "men" (bioroids, actually) of Shadow Mirrors have the gall to ride on the battlefield riding an angel-shaped mecha with skirt and boobs, painted on PINK (I'm talking about Lamia's girly mecha Angelg). You won't see it in OG, though, you only see it in Advance, and only if you use Axel.
Starman from Pro Wrestling. While his entire skin is pink (in addition to a purple painted star on his face), he is an accomplished acrobat.
Roy Koopa, probably the biggest and meanest of the Koopalings from the Super Mario Bros games, is also bright pink and wears magenta shades.
- In New Super Mario Bros. Wii his shell has been recolored a darker purple... the top of his head and shades are still pink, though.
In former instances of Koei's Dynasty Warriors franchise, Blood Knight Lu Bu's costume always fittingly consisted of gold, red and... purple? In the lastest sixth installment of the series, he dropped the purple for a mostly black and red full body armor, but instead got some nice make-up◊. Of course, nobody would ever dare to question Lu Bu.
- Ikaku Madarame of Bleach wears similar eye-makeup. It's shorthand for "Bad Ass" in both Chinese traditional theater and Kabuki theater.
Link, in several installments of The Legend Of Zelda, wears tights...or no pants at all.
- And in the Four Swords mythos, when he draws the Four Sword and is split into a quartet, one of the Links dresses in lilac purple.
  - Don't forget about him turning into a pink rabbit when he enters the Dark World, in A Link To The Past. Before he gets the Moon Pearl, that is. The best part: it is explained IN GAME that your form in the Dark World represents your inner self.
  - In that same game, Link's sprite also has pink hair (Though this may be due to a limitation of the SNES's pallet at the time).
Hugo and family from various Capcom games and their trademark leopard-print tank tops. Doesn't help that licensing issues resulted in his constant companion Poison being declared a transsexual.
Elzam von Branstein from Super Robot Wars is an Ace Pilot, a battleship captain, an Anti Villain / Atoner, and an exquisite gourmet chef. His first reaction upon a rendezvous with his allies' battleship is to ask directions to the kitchen, so he can cook the soldiers' meals. His alternate identity, Ratsel Feinschmecker, even translates to "Mystery Gourmet". Not to mention the fur-lined jacket and pink-tinted riding goggles he wears in that persona.
Almost every male in Valkyria Chronicles has some of this about him. Team Captain Welkin loves going on nature hikes and has discovered six new insect species, and big man Largo, who carries around the VC equivalent of a bazooka as his personal sidearm is an avid vegetable grower and actually gets combat bonuses from standing near vegetables.
It's... arguable how Badass No More Heroes' Travis Touchdown is, but any anime-loving Troper (I know from the size of the above section that there's loads of you out there) has to respect how he can go out and kill people while wearing a pink ensemble of made-to-order merchandise for his favourite anime. Incidentally, it's the most expensive outfit.
Judging from Metal Gear 2, Solid Snake is into women's figure skating.
- However, given the figures necessarily required for said women to remain athletically competitive, this might be a subliminal subversion that flows nicely with the programmers' tendency to put up photos-as-posters throughout the series...of their wives in highly revealing swimsuits/underwear.
- Big Boss likes cute things, a little more than you'd expect. In Metal Gear, he insists on asking Snake if the enemy uniform is a 'cute little sailor suit', and in Metal Gear Solid 3 he loves the Ga-Ko camo, because "What's wrong with being cute?" He also develops a fondness for the Oyama face paint (which emulates a woman's makeup), and - let's not start on the "Love Pack" in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.
  - Does it count that he chooses to defend a base with cute little hamsters in Metal Gear 2?
  - Yes, but only if they're Poison Zanzibar Hamsters(which, no bullshit, they are)!
From Flashback, we have Conrad Hart, a fearless government agent who fights aliens. He wears a pink shirt in all versions except the Genesis and Sega CD ports.
Ace Combat 6 has downloadable Idolmaster-skinned planes, including a pink F-22, but none of these are Joke Characters.
- Gryphus One from Skies of Deception has a cutesy cartoon bird on his insignia along with the Southern Cross.
Unzan of Touhou Project is a giant pink cloud. He's also by far the manliest character of the series that has had any screentime at all. Granted, that's not a crowded field, but still...
The original berserker-packin' man and a half's reason for blowing up hell? The demons killed his pet bunny.
- Named Daisy.
While not ripping the faces off of representatives of the living dead, Lovecraftian horrors, and/or demon lords, player characters in World Of Warcraft may spend their free time learning to cook, sew, and pick flowers. And yes, there is pink armor.
- Unfortunately, the name 'Pinkspear Tribe' was already taken...
- Of course, male blood elves don't count.
- Herbs. Grognok gather herbs.
In Fate Stay Night Archer himself, epitome of manliness, enjoys cooking, cleaning and making tea. Not that he really gets the opportunity to do so more than ten minutes into the game or so but...
- As does Shirou, who also owns a pink apron on top of it. Although the housekeeping side of him is only shown before he starts doing anything badass.
  - Well... Archer IS Shirou from the future (remember, the servants come from outside time. :P
Minsc from the Baldurs Gate series, a hulking beast of a man whose weapon of choice is a BFS, has a pet hamster. Named Boo.
- That's Miniature Giant Space Hamster Boo to you.
Chousokabe Motochika from Sengoku Basara is leader of an infamous Pirate crew, sports a Bad Ass eyepatch, beats his enemies to a pulp with an anchor and has abs you could grate cheese on. He also wears a full pink and purple ensemble, complete with Flower Motifs.
Duke Nukem likes to watch Oprah
Mega Man sometimes has a pink palette swap for one of his weapons.
In the Pokemon franchise, the female Nidoran line is indigo, while the male line is pink/purple.
In Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland, if you collect all the Rupee Goods, Tingle's normally-green outfit turns pink for the final boss.
Cormano Wild, from the game Sunset Riders, is a Mexican who wears a hot pink sombrero with a lighter pink ~~shawl~~ poncho. And he's a shotgun-toting badass who breaks empty tequila bottles over his own head.
Sonic the Hedgehog. In the Anime adaptation Sonic X and its comic adaptation, as a Mythology Gag based on him being a defender of nature in the original games, Sonic really loves picking flowers. Striking compared his fellow franchise characters and especially considering his personality powers.
- The most notable example is the Sonic X episode 9. In both versions, Sonic's friends go for a day at the beach, while he goes on a hike before laying down in a field of flowers. He returns with two flowers, putting them in a vase and exclaiming how beautiful they are and how they match the room interior perfectly.
- Lampshaded by Knuckles in the English dub of episode 5, in response to Sonic brandishing a flower.
- In the Sonic The Hedgehog OVA, "Sonic's favourite clothes" are shown. They're pink.
Sten from Dragon Age Origins killed an entire family with his bare hands, wears massive plate mail, wields a large two-handed sword, is a bad ass warrior ... and enjoys relaxing with a little flower picking.
- Leliana notices and has several dialogues where she tries to come to terms with him being a 'softie', as she puts it. We don't believe him when he says the flowers are 'medicinal'. Also, Sten likes cookies, and plans to introduce them to his homeland.
One of the quests in Ultima VII has a man accused of stealing a the honor flag of a fighter's guild. To save him from dieing in a dual, the player can take his place, or convince a retired soldier to sew a new one. It is strongly implied that the soldier shows true valor, as most of the other fighters are merely concerned about fighting duals.
Mass Effect has the potential to make every single male squad member into one of these, with the infamous Phoenix armour. This includes Shepard, naturally.
Sukapon, the Main character of Joy Mecha Fight, is a pink comedian robot.
Kirby serves as an extreme example...his SKIN is pink. And he's naked.
Malik of Tales Of Graces is a 40-year-old Four Star Badass who literally wears pink.

"Real men wear pink" is practically Donovan Deegan's Catch Phrase, especially given that it dominates almost his entire wardrobe, from suits and dress coats to a "banana hammock" and a complete set of pink scale mail armor. Yeah. Really. His honorary orc name actually means "little pink man in pink", and the orcs affectionately refer to him as "Uncle Pinky".
Ken, the drunken, BFS wielding Heroic Sociopath of No Need For Bushido is revealed to have a passion for Kabuki theatre and berates the other members of his group for a lack of interest in high culture. Said group includes a feudal princess.
Black Mage of 8-bit Theater recently redecorated the Temple of Fiends. This is his room.
Bun-Bun from Sluggy Freelance takes the Killer Rabbit trope to such sociopathic and Jerkass extremes that it's a little unsettling when he acts like a cute widdle bunny.
- He's also been known to wear pink silky dresses.
Big Badass Wolf Reynardine from Gunnerkrigg Court seems to be in denial about this. In public, he protests that "Reynardine The Great does not play with dolls!"; in private, he arranges tea parties with Kat's Hellboy, Batman, and Fox Mulder action figures. In public, he's seen reading classics like El Cid; in private he reads Nancy Drew with barely-concealed glee.
- Then again, we see him doing stuff like this.
Indie Pete tries to invoke this trope by wearing pink in Diesel Sweeties:
Li'l Sis: "You're more secure in your masculinity than I thought."
Indie Pete: "Like a vault! Of testicles!"
Sparklelord from The Adventures Of Doctor Mc Ninja is a unicorn with a rainbow horn and mane from a magical dimension called the Radical Land, and is named Sparklelord. You should fear him. (Also, his Baleful Polymorph form (which is more of a forced Form You Are Comfortable With) is a frickin' sweet motorcycle.)

Strong Bad enjoys bubble baths and baking. And owns a pink shower cap with a cherry-red heart print. In his case, however, it's more proof of how he fails to be as cool as he thinks he is.
- For that matter, his big brother Strong Mad qualifies. 7 feet tall? Check. 100,000 pounds of muscle? Check. Ability to lift A.T.M.s, chomp computers and bash your face in? Check to the third power squared. Purple singlet??? Check mate.

Weird Al's Truck Driving song plays this for laughs, with the song starting out talking about a manly truck driver... who wears high heels and various other feminine accessories.
Monty Python's The Lumberjack Song
A Boy Named Sue is a country music song about a boy named Sue by his absent father. In it, Sue hunts down his absent father to find out why and learns it was done specifically so Sue would grow up strong, which he did, thanks to constant fights with bullies.

The "Pink Pulverizer", seen in Dr Horribles Sing Along Blog wears a pink mask, boots and boxing gloves. His bedroom is also pink, and filled with teddy bears and lace bedsheets.

Chef Hatchet from Total Drama Island is the mainliest character in the series. Yet, he is always crossdressing and enjoys activites like cooking or playing the lira.
Jorgen von Strangle from The Fairly Odd Parents. He kicked a whole negative universe's worth of Fairy ass and was a five-stars officer in the fairy military. His hobbies? Baking delicate pastries and watching mushy soap operas. Not to mention he married the Tooth Fairy and a whole episode is dedicated to him being broken-hearted after she temporarily dumped him.
- Now, now... there is no shame in marrying the Tooth Fairy.
- Timmy Turner's shirt and hat are pink. This was because, in the episode "The Secret Origin of Denzel Crocker", Mr. and Mrs. Turner were expecting a girl, and thus they bought girl-related stuff, like girls' toys and clothes.
  - Don't forget the end of "The Boy who would be Queen", where after spending a whole day as a female, Timmy decides to give himself a treat and goes to the local beauty salon. The ladies who work there are so delighted that they even wish he'd date their daughters. And in the beginning of the episode, he was shown enjoying soap operas.
- Francis is decked out in bully attire, but if his name weren't a hint to this trope, his room is also wallpapered with posters of pink unicorns.
- Dark Laser, a very powerful Captain Ersatz of Darth Vader and master of dark powers, is extremly concerned with the interior design of the Death Ball, insisting it be "cozy".
In Scooby Doo and the Alien Invaders, one of the suspects is a large, muscular Native American who refuses to explain why he is mysteriously roaming the roads at night. It turns out that his hobby is collecting pressed flowers.
The big, hulking, muscular and gentle warrior Lian-Chu, from the French/German animated fantasy series for children Chasseurs de dragons (English: "Dragon Hunters"), is very fond of knitting, something that his best friend since childhood and dragon-hunting partner Gwizdo, a Lovable Rogue, often makes fun of. In the 2008 CGI prequel movie of the same name, Lian-Chu's knitting needles even play an important role in killing the World Eater.
Binky Barnes in Arthur lives in fear that his night light and interest in fine arts and ballet will be discovered and trash his tough reputation.
Nelson in The Simpsons loves Andy Williams, and cries when he attends a live performance. Ironically enough Nelson does wear a pink shirt.
- In another episode, he's seen earnestly explaining to his classmates the proper way to clean, and apply powdered sugar to, freshly-picked huckleberries. When Principal Skinner wanders within earshot, Nelson quickly ad-libs something about punching a kid in the face.
- In yet another episode, one of his prized possessions is seen to be a photo from Disneyland of a girl dressed as Cinderella. When a shady private eye tells him she's just an actress, Nelson snaps "Shut up! Some of us prefer illusion to despair!"
- Jimbo also these moments. In one episode he's shown watching a soap opera with his mother, in another some performance (I forget what it was) of something moved him to tears: "I haven't cried this much since the Joy Luck Club!"
- And of course, there was the whole gang of toughs' reaction to the masked Bart's ballet, and how they open up to each other after a few days accidentally locked in a supply closet.
- Inverted in an early episode where Homer goes to work in a pink shirt (actually his white shirt, dyed in the wash by Bart's red cap). He is immediately sent to psychiatric evaluation.
The Unicorns from Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends object to be called girls by Terrence simply because they're pink.
Bender from Futurama fits this temporarily in his stint in the Ultimate Robot Fighting League. He's forced into the character of The "Gender Bender", complete with a pink tutu and curly, blond wig. Though he appears to hate the outfit, he DOES take the time to carefully put it on a hanger and store it in his personal storage space, in the middle of a fight no less.
- He has many straight up examples: his earnest enjoyment of the robo soap opera All My Circuits, his "pregnancy" with beer, and his number two most repeated word is "Daffodil".
  - The "daffodil" bit is implied to be an error, as words 5, 4, 3, and 1 are "Bite", "My", "Shiny", and "Ass", respectively. What's Bender's Catch Phrase again?
  - "Hot diggity daffodil!"
  - Let us not forget his deep love of cooking (and his hurt reaction when it sucks), his obsession/stalking of the aforementioned soap-opera's star, and the TIME HE ALMOST MARRIED SAID STAR. And displayed some emotional aftermath at episode's end.
Jack Bennett is a test pilot and vigilante who possesses super enhanced senses and optic blasts thanks to his enhancements. He's also rather good with his four (adopted and natural) children (A Genius Bruiser, a Hot Blooded martial artist, a baseball team captain and a Genki Girl) and quite a good cook.
Inverted on Garfield And Friends: Nermal is so utterly feminine, fans refuse to believe he's male. But he wins a ribbon for "Most Push-ups" in a pet show.
- He also knows judo.
Brock Samson, of The Venture Brothers, is a hulking secret agent/berserker, who displays great concern for his herb garden and shares cupons with Doc Venture.
- Brock is questionable for two reasons. One, he has orders to protect the area underneath his herb garden (though he doesn't know why until the end of season three), and two, it's implied the herbs he grows are... special herbs that help him relax.
- However, he does act motherly to the Venture boys, as seen in "Assasinanny 911!".
- Brock is an avid herbalist, who specially cultivated the grass for the Venture compound, as he explains to Sgt. Hatred.
- Not only that but he seems to enjoy poetry, as evidenced by one of his conversations with H.E.L.P.eR.
Spoofed in an episode of Johnny Bravo, where Johnny is getting badass training from Mr. T. At one point, T tells him to put on a tutu, claiming that only real men would wear something like that. When Johnny asks him why he isn't wearing one, he responds "You think I'd be caught dead wearing that!?"
Buford's love for his goldfish in Phineas And Ferb
In Justice League, John Stewart alias Green Lantern: the big, scary Unfunny Ex-Marine who eats ~~Ben and Jerry's~~ Bob and Terry's ice cream and cries at the ending of Old Yeller.
Darkwing Duck, the Badass Normal hero of the series of the same name, wears a purple costume (the cape is pink on the inside). He's also a loving parent to his daughter, whom he raises together with his sidekick/Heterosexual Life Partner Launchpad McQuack.
In Hey Arnold!, Helga's father, Big Bob, is big. And when he breaks his leg, he is shown watching soap operas and demanding his wife videotapes them when he goes back to work
Cliff from Cat Dog practices ballet, though he had no shame in doing so as he did it in order to learn new moves to beat up Cat Dog with like a wrestler he looked up to.

Several Truth In Television examples from the ultra-manly National Football League:
- Roosevelt "Rosey" Grier, one of the (American football) L.A. Rams' legendary "Fearsome Foursome", was a prototypical Scary Black Man... and needlepoint enthusiast. Specifically, petit-point, one of the fiddly-est daintiest forms of needlepoint.
- The late Craig "Ironhead" Heyward did a famous TV commercial based on this trope. He implored men to try Zest's lather-producing but unmasculine shower-sponge, by answering the question viewers were undoubtedly thinking: "But Ironhead, what's with this thingy?"
  - To say nothing of Joe Namath's famous pantyhose commercial, which is based on the real fact that NFL players wear pantyhose under their pants on cold days. It keeps them warm and is more flexible than long underwear.
  - Or Joe Namath famously wearing fur coats on the sidelines.
- Warren Sapp, Jason Taylor, Emmitt Smith, and Jerry Rice all appeared on Dancing With The Stars. All four were either the first runner-up or the champion of his respective season.
  - As did Helio Castroneves, the most recent of only five men to win the Indianapolis 500 in consecutive years.
- Lynn Swann took ballet, and even invited Mr. Rogers along to teach kids that Real Men can.
  - And above all, his name is Lynn Swann.
- Ron Wolfley wrote poetry.
- Ian Johnson. Record-setting runningback at Boise State. Hero of the 2006 Fiesta Bowl, possibly the greatest college football game of all time. Accomplished crocheter.
- The Hogettes are a famous group of Washington Redskins fans who wear women's dresses to the games.
- On October 4th, 2009, the NFL had a breast cancer awareness week where many of the athletes and officials wore pink cleats, gloves, sweatbands, etc.
  - In Australia, for Breast Cancer Awareness month, there's a pair of badges with the very Trope Name on them alongside a pink ribbon. I'm wearing one right now.
  - A similar thing took place in a cricket test match in Sydney January 2010, which helped support breast cancer awareness. In order to get in, you had to wear pink.
Sean Avery, of the Dallas Stars in the equally ultra-manly National Hockey League, took the summer between seasons to work an unpaid internship at VOGUE Magazine.
Several NFL teams require (as depicted in at least one or two movies) their players to take ballet lessons, in order to give them the grace and balance required to run 100 yards in anywhere from 60 to 140 pounds of padding. Though that may make it more like Training From Hell...
- This is also true of many rugby teams, notably the England squad.
- I was told (by my mother) that when the Commandos were being set up that the male ballet dancers they recruited didn't have to go through the fitness training and assessments. As it was explained to me, a ballerina might not weigh much but you try lifting one above your head and holding her there at arm's length while dancing....
- USC quarterback Matt Leinart finished all his required credits in 3 years, but chose to stay in school and play a fourth. He only took Ballroom Dancing during that semester, for the same reason.
Real Life example: the macho (and, it is alleged, violently temperamental) Russell Crowe likes to crochet.
Philippe I, Duke of Orleans, an officer in pre-Revolutionary France, led soldiers into battle wearing a dress and makeup.
Real Mathies Wear Pink Ties. Long live the Tie Guard!
Sir Edmund Hillary is notable for two things: Making the biggest mountain on the planet his bitch, and beekeeping. Traditionally the preserve of willowy ladies in big hats.
- What's unmanly about beekeeping? Most people think bees are Nightmare Fuel.
Yet another example of Truth In Television, famous grappler Gene LeBell was known for competing in, and frequently winning judo competitions while wearing a pink gi. He didn't set out to do this, however. As LeBell tells it, he washed his judo gi(which was white) the day of a tournament and didn't realize that there was a piece of red clothing bunched in with it, so naturally the gi was pink when it came out. He had no time to try and bleach it or purchase another one, so he decided to go ahead and wear it. The Japanese fans went nuts when he showed up, and Gene figured he was on to something.
Skater punks in skirts and punks in skirts in general. Only an idiot argues with a real punk. Combines with exhibitionism since they often wear a flowing skirt with nothing under it that easily flies up during a particularly involved thrasher or punk dance move....
- Many of those are modern American Kilts, Kilts made in black, brown, khaki, ext.
The guy on the left. Explanation from the lady who knitted the hat: he mocked her husband for his handknitted hat, so she threatened to knit him one in pink. His response: "I would ROCK a pink beanie." They're US Marines. Note the cute little ears!
- Dude. Nice Hat.
NOTHING outdoes the Evzones of Greece for girly looks with (historical) bad-assery.
Retired boxer Pinklon Thomas was briefly Heavyweight Champion and, according to Mike Tyson, gave Tyson his hardest fight prior to Tyson' first loss. And he did it in trunks that were pink or at least had pink borders. (Although obviously it's as much a pun of his name as anything).
When Anthony Bourdain went to Sweden for No Reservations, he interviewed two ski and snowboard champions who took up crochet after being injured. They were so good at it that they even sold customised hats, scarves, etc.
Also, ex boxing champion Evander Holyfield (yeah, the one who got bit by Mike Tyson) appeared in Dancing with the Stars.
- To add to that Mariusz Pudzianowski, five times World’s Strongest Man, came second on Taniec z Gwiazdami (the Polish Strictly Come Dancing), something I discovered by accident while finding out it was Raivis Vidzis who was the WSM who won Dejo ar zvaigzni (the Latvian Strictly Come Dancing).
Geoff Capes, former Olympic Shot Putter and World’s Strongest Man 1983 and 1985, keeps budgerigars.
Originally, pink was preferred for boys as it was thought a "stronger" (think sanguine) color than blue, which was instead used for girls.
In feudal Japan, popular hobbies among samurai included poetry and flower arranging. Miyamoto Musashi himself was an accomplished poet.
- It wasn't only a hobby, but very much Serious Business... and not only in regards to Japan. There's more info about that in the Warrior Poet entry.
Rapper DMX fails the manhood litmus test. Apparently he felt it was "ridiculous" and "disrespectful" to be forced to wear pink undergarments while serving time in Maricopa county jail.
Male Food Network Stars.
Dee Snider, frontman of Twisted Sister.
Real Men Wear Pink is a common slogan on pink shirts sold during the annual Cherry Blossom Festival in Macon, Georgia. How seriously it is taken varies with the wearer.
Inverted by David Lee Roth, a rather feminine-looking chap with a love of feather boas and other flamboyant stagewear who happens to be the on-again-off-again frontman for Van Halen, a high-level black belt, and probably nailed more women than Wilt Chamberlain.
Michael Madsen, the man who is renowned for slicing off a man's ear and making "Stuck in the Middle With You" High Octane Nightmare Fuel, is an accomplished poet So Yeah.
Swiss mercenaries and the German Landsknechts who imitated them were known as the most effective troops in the western world for hundreds of years. So notable was their reputation that they developed an outrageous fashion style to advertise their identity on the battlefield. They took to wearing puffed-out and frilly doublets bestrewn with brightly colored swatches of fabric, giant floppy berets topped with tall feathers, and candy-striped hose. The rainbow-colored uniforms of the Swiss Guard in Rome are based on this historical outfit.
During the nightmarish Liberian civil war, the National Patriotic Front of Liberia gained a well-earned reputation for brutality, raping and slaughtered over 150,000 people. They also fought wearing women's clothing and brightly colored wigs, believing that this would terrify their enemies and confuse their bullets. Remember, this is the same country that produced the Butt Naked Brigade.
- None of that sounds particularly manly. Not unless Norman Bates also counts.
Red Sox slugger David Ortiz enjoys cooking and gardening. He's also a self-declared 'proud Mama's boy' and dedicates all of his home runs to his deceased mother.
- Also Ortiz' former teammate, Pedro Martinez (who is one of the most intimidating pitchers), is an avid gardener who even talks to his plants.
This U.S. Soldier, who rose to fight off a surprise attack in naught but his vest, helmet, and pink undies. Underdressed to kill?
There are three cultures in the world that are well-known for having especially big, strong, tough men that you do *not* want to cross. Scots, Polynesians, and some parts of Africa. In all three cultures, these men traditionally wear some sort of skirt.
- It's not a skirt a kilt. Women did not wear them, and they were never considered feminine. It should also be noted that originally it was just a long square of fabric folded and wrapped around the body, and was used as a blanket in case he was away from home hunting or fighting. It was also easy to move in. Later, it was woven in many different designs, Tartan, meant to identify what clan a person was from. By the time Scotland became a part of Britain, it was a way to identify Scottish troops. Now, men in Scotland (and often times the US) only wear Kilts for formal events.
  - No proof of manhood is required in a land where the men wear skirts with no underwear and the thistles grow waist high.
Google "Darth Kitty." I'll wait.
- Back yet? Google "Hello Kitty AK-47". For extra credit, picture them both together.
  - Although photoshopped, there's a variety of military vehicles with the Hello Kitty theme as well...as far as this troper knows, anyway. Wouldn't put it past the Japanese to actually have Sanrio-sponsored JDF vehicles, however.
Gangsta rapper Cam'ron developed a fascination with the color pink later in his career; he even attempted to trademark a shade of pink to call his own.
Many sports teams (such as the Los Angeles Lakers) established their early identities with bright, traditionally "girlish" colors and soft, cartoonish logos; it's to the point that hardcore fans actually prefer they stay (or revert back to) this way rather than adopt the bolder, more aggressive themes and styles that became pervasive amongst newer teams and redesigns in the '90s.
FIRST Robotics Team 233 chose pink as their team color. At competitions, the women and men of the team will paint their entire bodies pink and cheer. They also hand out buttons with this trope title.
Al Capone invited press to a cookout he was hosting while wearing a pink apron during a campaign to improve his image by making him seem more personable and relatable. In this case, he was wearing pink to deliberately soften his image (tough guys don't wear pink?).
As a camouflage measure (it works far better than it sounds like it should) many spitfires used for photo reconnaissance where painted pink. Not a good idea to mock fighter pilots.
Rahm Emanuel, President Obama's tough-as-nails Memetic Badass chief of staff, studied ballet as a boy, and was so good at it he earned a dance scholarship. He turned down to go to study at Sarah Lawrence instead.
While on the ice, legendary NHL Hall of Famer Jacques "Jake the Snake" Plante would wear toques that he knitted himself. Coach Toe Blake was not impressed; he felt that his players shouldn't wear anything that set them apart from their teammates. Plante is also the guy who popularized the goaltender's mask.
Many frat boys who try to act macho in most other ways wear pink or lilac polo shirts, apparently to capitalize on this trope.
The seiyuu Tessho Genda. The voice behind big gritty Badasses like younger Toguro, Takeda Shingen, Largo The Black Lion and Kratos. The dub voice of Optimus Prime and Batman. A guy who's into ballet and got himself the nickname "Pirouette Genda".
The "Pink Panzers" of the German Love Parade, a small convoy of pink tanks. An utterly adorable one showed up one year, the 'Goliath' suicide tank last glimpsed in ww2, pink and full of candy instead of deadly anti-tank mines. That's right. An exploding tank full of candy. Flapjack would cry tears of joy.
There is a breast cancer charity that is run through rodeos and sponsored by Wrangler called Tough Enough to Wear Pink.

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