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Sensitive Guy And Manly Man
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Take another wild guess!
The Spear Counterpart to Tomboy And Girly Girl.
What makes Odd Couples odd is that they pit together people with conflicting personalities in hopes that hilarity will ensue. A common variant is to have two male characters that are at the opposite ends of masculinity.
One guy will be your everyday Macho Man. He's rough, aggressive, and strong ( or at least that's how he sees himself). He loves sports, cars, powertools, and general physical activity. The other guy in contrast will be much "softer." He loves poetry, literature, art, and is generally more in touch with his feminine side.
Occasionally these personality traits extend to their looks. The Macho Man will be tall and well-muscled. The Sensitive Guy will be more slender. Anime usually gives him a bishounen look while Western production might go for a more nerdy one.
They may have an Odd Friendship or will be Those Two Guys in an ensemble cast. More frequently they are rivals or even enemies, especially in schoolyard settings. This is because the Manly Man may see the Sensitive Guy as a "wuss" for not displaying stereotypical masculine behavior. Similarly, the Sensitive Guy may resent the Manly Man for perpetuating those stereotypes in the first place. This is very apparent if the two are caught in a Love Triangle as the female will theoretically choose which of them she sees fulfilling the role of "man" best.
These two tend to get into a lot of Ho Yay or Foe Yay which tends to drive a certain group of fans wild. If they're an actual romantic couple, they'll get Uke and Seme comparisons too. Related to Red Oni Blue Oni with the Manly Man almost always Red and the Sensitive Guy almost always Blue.
Like its Tomboy And Girly Girl counterpart, this can run the risk of Unfortunate Implications / Family Unfriendly Aesops if done wrong. Sitcoms are especially guilty of this as the main character often will be a Manly Man and if he's given a Sensitive Guy friend or neighbor as a foil, many jokes will be made at the latter's expense especially if he commits the grievous sin of being into opera instead of sports.
This of course is a relative not an absolute contrast. The "sensitive guy" need not be a Dirty Coward, nor need the "manly man" be a Jerkass. And of course on a Badass Crew, to some degree everyone will be a "manly man". And as you want the characters to be likable, you do want most of them to have some characteristics of a "sensitive guy". And so on. The point of the trope is in the contrast between the pair.
Expect the Action Hero to be a Manly Man and the Action Survivor to be a Sensitive Guy in an Action Duo. Compare Sibling Yin Yang and Blue Oni Red Oni.
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Examples
Anime and Manga
- Pictured above: Randy McLean aka Ryo and his partner/boyfriend Dee Laytner from FAKE.
- Bleach has Ichigo Kurosaki (manly) and Uryu Ishida (sensitive). They start off as enemies but become friends later.
- Subverted with Ichigo and Chad. Chad looks and fights like a Manly Man, but has the mindset of the Sensitive Guy.
- Also, Kyouraku Shunsui (manly) and Joushirou Ukitake (sensitive). Same goes to Renji Abarai (manly) and Izuru Kira (sensitive)
- Kyoraku might be a bit of a subversion there, considering the pink haori with flowers on it and his generally blase attitude towards life, as opposed to being aggressive or fight-happy.
- Ikkaku is Manly Man to the Sensitive Guy Yumichika (who, despite enjoying fighting, has a somewhat feminine appearance and evaluates things in terms of beauty).
- Hanatarou Yamada and Ganju Shiba. Nuff said.
- And of course, one cannot forget Love and Rose of the Vizards.
- Captains Kuchiki and Kenpachi. You'd think their mutual affection for tea, fighting, adorable pink-haired girls and bailing their soldiers out at the last minute would bond them, but no~...
- No mention of 9th Division Lieutenant Hisagi and 3rd Division Lieutenant Izuru
- Mahou Shounen Majorian blurs the line between this and Tomboy And Girly Girl with Iori and Masaru. Cute Shotaro Boy (and the object of Shotacon feelings from one of Masaru's sisters) Iori is extremely feminine in appearance and manner, and Masaru is a typical boy who plays sports and doesn't like girls because he has four obnoxious sisters.
- Then they're both turned into magical girls by aliens who mistook Iori for a girl. Naturally, Masaru has a huge problem with that.
- Kamina and Simon are like this at the start of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
- The Irresponsible Captain Tylor plays this straight for laughs early on. Two terrorists seize a building, one of them an effeminate "sensitive guy" and the other one more traditionally manly, despite being an alien.
- Kurama in relation to Yusuke and Kuwabara (and to a lesser extent, Hiei) in Yu Yu Hakusho.
- Hubb and Quent in Wolfs Rain.
- Sort of inverted in The Prince of Tennis with the doubles pair of Ohtori and Shishido. Choutarou Ohtori, the taller, physically stronger of the two, is sensitive and nice (he even plays classical violin and wishes for world peace), while Ryou Shishido is shorter, louder, bad-tempered and much more butch (he even has the scars to prove it!).
- Another subverted example would be Seiichi Yukimura and Genichirou Sanada. The first is polite, soft-spoken, with a frail health and long hair... pretty much a male Yamato Nadeshiko, it seems; the other is very tall, stern and basically the Kendo Team Captain in a tennis setting. The subversion comes from Yukimura being the captain of their team as well as a Knight Templar Magnificent Bastard when it comes to tennis, and Sanada being extremely devoted to Yukimura - like a Samurai's devotion to his feudal lord (and yes, they're one of the most popular Ho Yay couples in the fandom). Hiroshi Yagyuu (Genius Bruiser, Officer And A Gentleman) and Masaharu Nioh (White Haired Pretty Boy, Master Of Disguise) play it a bit more straight... unless you count the manga, where they impersonate each other perfectly)
- It can be said that every doubles pair, rival pair and/or captain and vice-captain duo plays around with the trope in different degrees. Tezuka and Fuji, Tezuka and Oishi, Oishi and Eiji, Momo and Ryoma...
- Code Geass plays around with the trope quite a bit:
- Sort of subverted and followed for Hidan and Kakuzu from Naruto. Kakuzu is the thoughtful, more articulate, less aggressive and more strategy-based man of the duo. But he is stronger than Hidan, and he looks more manly. Hidan, on the other hand, is overly aggressive, loves to cuss and insult, and is very confrontational and arrogant. They certainly bicker a lot, and quite a bit of it has to do with Kakuzu getting annoyed with Hidan being rash and not thinking things through, with Hidan thinking that Kakuzu is a wuss that's too reserved. All in all though, Kakuzu would generally be the Sensitive Guy and Hidan would follow the Macho Guy role.
- In recent flashbacks, Nagato who later becomes Pain is the Sensitive Guy to the Manly Man Yahiko.
- Naruto and Sasuke, though who's the Sensitive Guy and who's the Manly Man depends on your point of view. Both are very pretty and Naruto is more sensitive, while Sasuke is more unemotional. Before undergoing Character Development Naruto was more insensitive, confrontational, and rude, but got more sensitive and nicer, and Sasuke was a Jerkass more often than not, though he had his moments, and nowadays he's pretty much jumped off the slippery slope and acts cold and rude to his team.
- From Monster, Roberto is burly, loves to fight, and is generally as manly can be. Johan is beautiful, well-read and highly intellectual, and far more in touch with his feminine side. Why do they even associate with each other? Johan likes to make use of Roberto’s muscle to kill people and ruin their lives during those pesky times when he’s too busy driving small children or his sister to nearly kill themselves or otherwise proving why he’s been compared to both Hitler and the Antichrist, while Roberto is completely in love with Johan.
- Ranma 1/2, no not Ranma and Ryoga (although if you squint a bit- and also something of a subversion, as Manly Man Ranma is actually the smart one and burly wall-smashing Ryoga is the Sensitive Guy), but Genma and Soun.
- Majic and Orphen from Sorcerer Stabber Orphen. To a degree, also Orphen and Hartia, as well as Lai and Hartia.
- Arguably, also Childman and Orphen.
- Ryu and Joe in Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, sort of. Ryu is definitely the softer-hearted of the two but is far from "in touch with his feminine side". Joe is definitely a guy's guy but in a more grizzled way rather than oozing testosterone. Ken and Joe's dynamic is sort of a subversion; Ken only looks the part of the doe-eyed sensitive one, but it's his repression of emotions that leads to some rather ugly outbursts.
- In fitting with their girlfriends being the Tomboy And Girly Girl of Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch, motorcycle-riding boxer Hamasaki Masahiro and junior Keet Shiroi Nagisa are Manly and Not, respectively.
- Badass thief Ray/Noir and emotional aristocrat Florian from the manga Gorgeous Carat.
- Several duos in Axis Powers Hetalia. More noticeably: Germany and Italy, Austria and either Switzerland or Prussia, China and South Korea, Canada and America, respectively.
- Or, arguably, a chain: Prussia is Manly Man to Sensitive Guy Germany, then Germany to Austria, Austria to Spain, Spain to South Italy...
- Subverted with Finland and Sweden. They look the part, but Sweden is actually a mix of Gentle Giant, Big Guy and Huge Schoolgirl so he doesn't completely fits as Manly Man.
- Let's not forget that the Boisterous Bruiser of the duo is actually Finland, if we check the "Swedish/Polish wars" strip. And that Sweden actually likes sewing and is the one who takes active measures to adopt a child (re: Sealand, whom he "purchases" off the internet). The fun of the Sweden/Finland
pairing duo is seeing how the dynamics are played with among them.
- Of the Italies, Lovino/South acts tougher than Feliciano/North but is just as sensitive.
- One of the oddest/funniest examples is the Poland/Lithuania duo. Liet fits the Sensitive Guy part nicely in looks and behavior, whereas Poland is outspoken, cheerful and stubborn like several Manly Men... and is also a Wholesome Crossdresser who talks like a Valley Girl.
- Greece fits in both sides of the spectrum, acting as Manly Man to his good friend (and one-time lover) Japan and as Sensitive Guy to his much hated arch-rival Turkey.
- If we go to character designs, Norway
 ◊ and Denmark◊ seemingly fit the trope as well.
- Though, admittedly, Norway's new official art has him looking a lot more badass then anyone anticipated.
- ... While keeping his hairpin and serious expression. Maybe Norway hits both sides and Denmark just happens to ooze more testosterone, in regards to looks?
- That, and Norway's unafraid to lash out at Denmark if he goes stupid, as the "Brother" strip shows.
- Moe Couplet and Toy Ship version: Latvia and Sealand.
- Ginji and Ban from Get Backers. Ban is the cold, chain-smoking, always-looking-to-make-a-buck badass, while Ginji is the no less badass sucker for a sob story prone to sniffling at happy reunions. Emishi and Shido also have this kind of dynamic, and Kazuki and Juubei can play it straight or invert it, depending on the situation.
- Saji Crossroad and Setsuna F. Seiei in Gundam 00. Allelujah Haptism and his Split Personality, Hallelujah, are a Sensitive and Manly Duo in one body. On the other hand Lockon Stratos aka the Dylandy twins, Neil and Lyle embodies both qualities, depending on the moment. Tieria Erde MAY count as the Sensitive Guy to the other three (or four) Meisters, but then again..
- Touya Kinomoto and Yukito Tsukishiro in Card Captor Sakura. As well as their counterparts (King Touya and High Priest Yukito) in Tsubasa.
- While we're on the subject of TRC, we can't forget Fai and Kurogane and how the trope plays around with them...
- CLAMP seem to be into this trope. Watanuki and Doumeki's characterization plays a lot with this, Watanuki is a keet and Tsundere most talented at cooking, knitting and housekeeping, while Doumeki is a Tall Dark And Handsome archer that mostly serves as his Knight In Shining Armor. Despite this, Doumeki is more emotionally mature, doesn't seem to have any problem whatsoever with the fact that he used to dress in girl's kimonos as a kid and is also strongly hinted to be in love with Watanuki.
- What, people? Have we forgotten Sumeragi Subaru and Sakurazuka Seishirou, as well as Kamui Shirou and Fuuma Monou?
- Sorata and Kamui also fit the bill, albeit in a platonical way -despite Sorata's penchant for commenting on Kamui's good looks and his tendency to invade his personal space, but well, it's Kamui.
- While we're listing them, Kakei and Saiga, as well as Kazahaya and Rikuou.
- In the aforementioned Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, Kamui has apparently switched places and become the manly man (or at least, the brash and assertive bishonen) while Subaru... is Subaru.
- This is probably the reason there are so many Yaoi Doujinshi about Kenshin (short and lean Warrior Poet and homemaker in his spare time, with a pink kimono and white hakama as his most remarkable outfit) and Sanosuke (immature, Hot Blooded lancer, former professional brawler, appropiately One Head Taller). It doesn't help that everybody is gay for Kenshin.
- Mahou Sensei Negima has Quintessential British Gentleman Negi Springfield and his best friend and rival, Hot Blooded Wolf Man Kotarou Inugami.
- Has it taken THIS long to mention the villain Ho Yay duo Kunzite and Zoicite from Sailor Moon?
- Also, Hawk Eye and Tiger Eye in the Super S season.
- I don't think you can call any of the Amazon Trio a manly man. They range from flamboyantly straight to even more flamboyantly straight to actually gay.
- To a more down-to-Earth degree, we have Motoki Furuhata (Sensitive Guy) and Mamoru Chiba (Manly Man).
- Akito and Gai from Martian Successor Nadesico.
- Hilarious and endearing subversion in Mai Hime. Ill Boy Takumi Tohiha and his buff roommate Akira Okuzaki fit perfectly in the archetype, and they even have a group of girls as their in-universe fans, but Akira is actually a young girl who's pulling a Sweet Polly Oliver to fulfill her Hime mission better. And later, Takumi finds out as he accidentally sees Akira undressing, doesn't mind the truth... and they fall in love. Aaaaaaw.
Comics
- The superheroes Hawk and Dove would qualify.
- They were later killed off and replaced by Tomboy And Girly Girl.
- They were killed off separately, so there was a period when we had Girly Girl and Manly Man. Which didn't seem quite as rife with Unfortunate Implications at the time as it does phrased like that...
- Dawn wasn't that much of a Girly Girl initially, she just wasn't insanely violent like Hank. There was also the completely unrelated Hawk and Dove from between the Hank and Dawn era and the Holly and Dawn era, who were Tomboy and Sensitive Guy.
- Apollo and Midnighter, Apollo being the sweet-natured, long-haired beauty and Midnighter being the gruff, leather-clad Anti Hero. They're both extremely badass, though, and come across as equally Straight Gay.
- Nite Owl and Rorschach.
- Archie Comics has Dliton and Moose.
Films
- Han and Luke from the original Star Wars probably qualify.
- Big Trouble In Little China is a subversion of this, as Jack Burton is a tough-talking manly man (played by Kurt Russell) and Wang Chi (Dennis Dun) is sentimental and very much in love with Chinese Girl Miao Yin. But when the fighting starts, Wang turns out to know kung fu, while Jack's Good Old Fisticuffs are completely ineffective.
- The Narrator and Tyler from Fight Club. One wonders why they would even be friends until we find out that they are the same person.
- The Fifth Element, even if the sissy boy is the ladies' man.
- In Twins, the Arnold character is the Manly Man but his twin subverts being the Wussy Man because he's not a sweet, gentle, sensitive type.
- In fact, the Arnold character subverts it as well. He's a Gentle Giant Genius Bruiser who's more interested in poetry than power tools. He's the Sensitive Man, just one who's, well, built like Arnold. The DeVito character is a brash, agressive tough guy, who sees himself as the Manly Man.
- Murder By Numbers has Richard Haywood and Justin Pendleton. Richie's a blond-haired, popular, swaggering womaniser (though with a metrosexual streak a mile wide) who seems to be mostly interested in sex, money, showing off, and driving his Mustang. Justin's big on literature and being intellectual, as well as fanboying over Nietzsche, and is smaller, far smarter, and occasionally wears glasses. They have an... odd friendship, possibly forged on the exclusive basis of being evil and having immense amounts of sexual tension.
- Harry and Perry from Kiss Kiss Bang Bang; in an unusual twist, 'Gay Perry' is a Hard Gay, while Harry us the more wussy straight one.
- Another Kurt Russell version of this is in the original Stargate film with his character Col. Jack O'Neill and James Spader's version of Dr. Daniel Jackson. The series downplays this quite a bit, with Jack turning out to be much smarter than he leads people to believe and Daniel getting tougher as the series progresses.
Literature
- Jacob and his brother Esau make this trope Older Than Dirt.
- Jane Austen Loves This Trope (as Louisa may Alcott Loves Tomboy And Girly Girl):
- Pride And Prejudice: Mr. Darcy is the Troubled But Cute loner (the Bad Boy of his time), and his best friend Mr. Bingley is perfect, charming, agreeable, and too easily swayed by others.
- Sense And Sensibility has shy, sweet Edward Ferrars and world weary ex-soldier Colonel Christopher Brandon whose favourite hobby is "suffering quietly".
- Also, in Emma there's Mr Knightley, the very organised authority figure who always speaks his mind (in a way that could potentially be misconstrued as rude) and Frank Chuchill, who loves parties and dancing at balls and will go all the waya to London to get just the right haircut.
- To an extent, Crowley and Aziraphale from Good Omens fit this trope, although this might also be because they are a Demon and an Angel, respectively. It should also be noted that the reason they each like the other so much is because Crowley sees Aziraphale as being just enough of a bastard to like, and Aziraphale comments that he knew that deep down Crowley had a spark of good in him, much to Crowley's chagrin.
- It doesn't help that Aziraphale is described as looking "gay as a tree full of monkeys on nitrous oxide."
- In Harry Potter, the brunet Sirius Black is witty, temperamental and loudmouthed (manly man), while the sandy-blond Remus Lupin is calm, quiet and collected (sensitive guy). Even their hair show it.
- In Lord Of The Rings Boromir and Faramir, sons of the Steward of Gondor, fit this trope to a "T": Boromir is a mighty warrior and military leader, interested in warfare and little else, Faramir loves poetry and lore (although he's also a soldier).
- And to a lesser extent, Sam seems to be tougher and has a bigger inclination towards violence than Frodo, but this might be due to the ferocity with which he protects him.
- Balthamos and Baruch in His Dark Materials, with the first described as being more delicate and weaker then the second. Guess what their relationship is
- Nick and Alan in The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan. Since they're brothers it also makes them a case of Sibling Yin Yang
- Njal and Gunnar in Njals Saga. Gunnar is the stereotyped Viking Boisterous Bruiser. Njal is a wise sage, and a clever lawyer and interclan diplomat.
Live Action TV
- NCIS has McGee, who is more or less a Metrosexual, and Tony, who, hiding behind the Jerkass Facade, constantly derides him for it. Interestingly, McGee's 'soft side' tends to get him dates; Tony, more of a slick womanizer by nature, often sticks his foot into his mouth by making fun of McGee's feminine tendencies in front of sympathetic ladies.
- Home Improvement. Tim was a tool-loving manly-grunting man and Al was the sensitive and overly emotional type (though still very burly and masculine-looking). Being a real man was one of the show's main themes and Al's sissy-ness was the butt of many jokes but Al was shown to be much smarter than Tim. In addition, they were united as an Odd Couple by their mutual love of craftsmanship. Tim was also contrasted with his neighbor Wilson, an introspective Renaissance Man.
- Simon and Jayne in Firefly are rivals. Interestingly, in Ariel, Jayne is far more nervous in Simon's world than Simon is in Jayne's when he has to visit it. Which of course can be used as an Aesop about Hidden Depths as this sort of thing often can.
- Some might consider Jayne more "animalistic" than manly.
- Mal might be considered more Simon's manly counterpart then Jayne. He is a more sophisticated character and also he is actually capable of intimidating Jayne.
- This tropper once read an essay which said that Mal and Simon had a remarkable number of intriguing similarities despite the differences and were almost the chief co-heros of the show.
- The two brothers on Two And A Half Men fulfill this stereotype to the letter.
- Supernatural appears to be a textbook version of this trope, until you look closer and realise that: we see Dean (the apparent 'Manly Man') cry far more often than we see Sam cry; Dean is more often in a nurturing role than Sam; etc. In fact, it may even be a subversion given how the characters are presented to us.
- Angel and Spike are a similar near-subversion in Season 5, as Angel is more sensitive but is gender-coded as "hypermasculine", while Spike is more macho but is coded as "feminized" in many ways: for instance, Angel's defining parental relationship was with his father, while Spike's was with his mother.
- Doctor Cox (manly man) and JD in Scrubs. Also, to some extent, Turk and JD, as, while Turk is quite sensitive himself, he cannot compare to JD.
- Barney, the Jerk Ass Casanova and Ted, the Dogged Nice Guy, from How I Met Your Mother.
- Marshall qualifies as the sensitive guy as well. This might be more of a Gentle Giant thing though.
- ESPN's Mike and Mike in the Morning show uses this trope, with Mike Golic (a former NFL defensive lineman) as the manly man and Mike Greenberg as the Sensitive Guy. One of the features of their column in ESPN the Magazine is the "Manly/Metro tip", with Golic's "manly" tip accompanied by an icon of a beer mug and Greeny's "Metro" tip accompanied by an icon of a martini glass.
- C'mon! Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau in the Odd Couple?
- Dalziel And Pascoe. Peter Pascoe is the modern, thoughtful, psychologically-trained police officer, Andy Dalziel is pure Old Fashioned Copper.
- And speaking of Old Fashioned Coppers, Sam Tyler and Gene Hunt in Life On Mars.
- Although the former has some... interesting quirks, Emerson and Ned from Pushing Daisies fit this trope to a T.
- The titular brothers from Simon And Simon- The younger brother A.J. is the Sensitive Guy, whereas older brother Rick is the Manly Man.
- Played with in Friends. Phoebe was dating two guys at the same time, a manly fireman and a sensitive teacher. She tries to break up with the fireman but discovers that's he's also sensitive and artistic to boot ("He has access to lots of charcoal"). He tries to break up with the teacher while he's fixing up his apartment, and he's totally hunky.
Radio
Theater
- Robin and Lancelot in Spamalot. Slightly subverted in that Lancelot turns out to be gay.
Video Games
- Mario and Luigi, to some extent. "Mario" even means "manly".
- Solid Snake (manly man) and Otacon (sensitive guy) from Metal Gear Solid are made of this trope, although Snake's more philosophical and Otacon's sexual history is significantly more important to the plot than Snake's. And both are as emotionally needy as each other, although they show it in different ways.
- Fire Emblem has several of these duos: Azel/Lex in the fourth game, Wade/Lott and Allen/Lance in the sixth, Raven/Lucius and Hector/Eliwood in the seventh, Artur/either Joshua or Cormag and Saleh/Gerik in the eighth, and to an extent Ike/Soren in the ninth and tenth.
- Geo Stelar (sensitive guy) and Omega-Xis (Manly Man) in Mega Man Star Force. In such an awkward way.
- Parodied in Grand Theft Auto IV with the television show "The Men's Room With Bas And Jeremy", Jeremy being an effeminite pacifist who's main advise usually revolves around "rectal marital issues" and "colon cleansing", and Bas (as he is portrayed in this game) being a hyper-masculine, borderline Ax Crazy who's every sentence eventually devolves into violence sprinkled with gore.
- Mega Man and Proto Man, with Mega Man being the Sensitive Guy and Proto Man being the Manly Man. Also Mega Man X and Zero. This last one is particularly interesting in that the one who viewers have sometimes mistaken for a girl isn't X but Zero, the Manly Man of the equation. Likely because his creator saw it fit to give him flowing, hips-long hair and such other characteristics.
- Final Fantasy III has several; first is Luneth and his childhood friend Arc is a pretty straightforward example. Luneth is the typical teenage manly boy, and Arc is a quiet, intelligent and sensitive boy.
- Also, slightly subverted in the case of Refia and Desch; Desch is a manly cold guy, and Refia is the sensitive chick. Although Refia tends to have a more impulsive and brash attitude than Desch at times.
Web Animation
- Would the relationship between Strong Bad and Strong Sad count? It's more antagonistic though, with Strong Bad making Strong Sad's life as miserable as possible. But there are instances of them getting along.
Web Comics
Web Original
- Steve Roberts (sensitive) and Gavin Taylore (manly) in KateModern, particularly season 2.
Western Animation
- Johnny Bravo is the Manly Man and Carl is the Wussy Man.
- I.M. Weasel is the Wussy Man and I.R. Baboon is the Manly Man (in Baboon's mind anyway).
- Stroker And Hoop.
- Dr. Venture and Brock Samson from The Venture Brothers (although "sensitive" isn't exactly the best term to describe Dr. Venture), as well as the titular brothers Hank and Dean.
- Corneil (sensitive) and Bernie (macho) from Watch My Chops.
- Aang and Sokka in Avatar The Last Airbender, to an extent.
- As well as Sokka and Zuko.
- Zapp Brannigan and Kif Kroker from Futurama. Zapp is a classic Ted Baxter Captain, and sees himself as a manly courageous stud. Kif on the other hand starts out as a weary Deadpan Snarker but grows more into the Sensitive Guy mould through his relationship with Amy.
- The titular Tick as the manly man and his sidekick, Arthur, as the sensitive guy.
- Buford (manly) and Baljeet (sensitive) in Phineas And Ferb.
- Johnny (manly) and Dukey (sensitive) in Johnny Test.
- Buck Tuddrussell (macho) and the Larry 3000 (sensitive) on Time Squad — in the first seven episodes of season one, at least. From the episode "Larry Upgrade" to the series finale ("Orphan Substitute"), the pairing went from "Macho Man and Sensitive Dude hanging out with an eight-year-old history buff" into Larry and Buck acting like a married couple/foster parents to Otto. It doesn't help matters that the Larry 3000 comes off as Ambiguously Gay (which really came to light in season 2 moreso than season 1).
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