The description is rather vague and focuses specifically on how this trope is used in video games, mainly fighter games and RPGs. The trope is described mainly around physical lines (the main traits are Wild Hair, muscularity, little clothing) and gear (which apparently varies from big blades or clubs to "more advanced weapons" such as bombs, which doesn't strike me as setting up much of a pattern; note that the use of high-tech gear isn't supported in any of the examples). In RPGs they have increased strength or agility or both and a melee-based attack range.
Origins and setting role aren't delved into beyond a sentence noting that the character could be "from the past/from a jungle/victim of a military experiment". It may become a Beast Man if "exposed to magic or genetic engineering". There's very little discussion on this front.
The ur-example is identified as The Epic of Gilgamesh, but no accompanying example is present.
The trope's identity is a little difficult to get a handle on, but it generally seems to focus around bestial, melee-focused, physically primal characters in fighting and role-playing games.
The full on-page example list is thus: NOTE: I crosswicked the page before realizing that this needed bringing up here. Since that by necessity skewed the shape of it towards what I thought was the trope's identity, I am basing my analysis on this Wayback archive
that I made before I did my edit. The examples that I added will be covered by the wick check in any case.
Since the full list was extremely short, I did not bother sorting it into groups.
- The classic fighting game version is Blanka from Street Fighter II, almost more animal than man. Very low context, does not clarify what "more animal than man" means.
- There's also Necalli from Street Fighter V. ZCE
- Tam Tam from Samurai Shodown; note that he comes complete with Cute Monster Girl kid sister Cham Cham, who's playable in the second game. As well as being one of the few Catgirls who actually has some feline behaviour. ZCE; the example is spent talking about how a different character fits a different trope
- Ayla of Chrono Trigger is a Wild Woman from the prehistoric past. Leah from Chrono Cross is much the same, and has a few of Ayla's special attacks too. Says these characters fit, doesn't explain how.
- Tends to show up in Professional Wrestling, too. Typically this one's big, bulky, and not the most technical guy out there. General example.
- Gau in Final Fantasy VI ZCE
- King Rasta Mon in Saturday Night Slam Masters. ZCE
- The eponymous hero of Tomba!! ZCE
- El Cabaillo Blanco, the reclusive Real Life ultrarunner from Born to Run who is rumored to be a former boxer who killed his opponent in a bout. Description has nothing to do with the trope
- Yamawaro ZCE
- Akihiko Sanada in Persona 4: Arena is built off of this archetype. He was originally going to be a Man in Black-type character inspired by Jason Statham in The Transporter, but developers wanted a Wild Man so he was tweaked. Says he fits, doesn't explain how, mostly talks about another thing.
- Junkmen from Arknights, being the first Giant Mook encountered, serves as Reunion Movement's heavy hitter early in the game. They possess high health and attack power with their massive clubs, but wear ragged clothing that offers low overall defenses. Invoked by their description, which mentions that they disguise themselves as drifters to hide the fact that they are mercenaries. That's Smash Mook.
- A non-video game (but most likely inspired) example is Burk from A Path to Greater Good and its reboot Hero Oh Hero (the latter of which also gives him a better dressed Aristocrat as a foil). He wears nothing but trousers (or Goofy Print Underwear after he lost them) and a shaggy head of hair while fighting with Good Old Fisticuffs. An example that fits the description!
So we have one example out of thirteen that fits the description. Not great.
For the wick check, there are 117 inbounds, so I went through every other example.
ZCE and other nondescriptive use
- All of Time at Once: "This is how there are heroes from the present fighting alongside the post-apocalyptic Wild Man Kamandi, the Wild West Anti-Hero Jonah Hex and the World War II soldier Sgt. Rock against the Anti-Monitor's Shadow Demons."
- Balance, Speed, Strength Trio: Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba: Tanjiro Kamado, Zenitsu Agatsuma, and Inosuke Hashibara fit each dynamic, respectively, with their breathing techniques. [...] Inosuke is the Strength who uses the Beast Breathing which emphasizes wild, but strong strikes.
- Chivalric Romance: Used to pothole "wild men of the woods", an example of foes faced by knights alongside "dragons, giants, bears, lions, or other knights".
- Dance Battler: "Blanka is noted in the manual as utilizing Capoeira, but this is only evident in his flips and not his general Wild Man fighting style." Doesn't describe what the fighting style is like.
- Hillbilly Horrors: "Vampire: The Requiem offers two bloodlines who are twists on this, both of which (unsurprisingly enough) are Gangrel: the Oberlochs, an inbred family descended from cruel mine owners who cling to the backwoods and readily recruit; and the Mabrys, who bring the prey to them by running back-road watering holes and roadhouses."
- Man of Wealth and Taste: "The polar opposite of Wild Man — a hero with no resources, no fashion, but a very good heart."
- Nature Adores a Virgin: "In The Epic of Gilgamesh, animals had no fear of the Wild Man Enkidu until he slept with a woman (after which they avoided him)."
- Oni: Used to pothole "particularly wild and brutish humans"
- Scarily Competent Tracker: Used as an example of a potential such Tracker alongside "an Elf, Magical Native American [...] or Ranger-type".
- Thank Your Prey: League of Legends: Udyr is in lore a wild druid-fighter with the power to channel animal spirits through his body, and in gameplay a "jungler" who spends most of his time fighting neutral monster camps (raptors, wolves, the occasional odd dragon, etc.) in the jungle of Summoner's Rift. Unlike pretty much every other champion in the game, he fights them with utmost respect, thanking them for their sacrifice and pledging to keep their spirits alive through their gifted strength.
- The Brute: Sifu has this evenly split between Fajar and Sean. [...] Fajar is a downright feral man with an unkempt Beard of Evil. He's also the one who gave your character a Slashed Throat in the prologue of the game.
- Video Game Characters: Wild Man: A usually shaggy, musclebound and underdressed character who looks like he just came out of the jungle.
- Anime.Ga Rei Zero: Master Michael. To stay close with nature, he refuses to wear clothes except for fundoshi. Even when he visits the city.
- A Song of Ice and Fire - House Targaryen: No Historical Figures Were Harmed: [...] he and several other young nobles disguised themselves as wood savages as a lark, using costumes made of linen, flax and inflammable resin [...].
- Characters.Breakers: Her bestial fighting stance and attack animations should give you a clue.
- Characters.Commandos: Subverted. He has the appearance, but he is actually a frail Non-Action Guy whose main role is to make noise to distract Japanese soldiers.
- Characters.Death Battle Season One: Robinsonade: Away from civilization, he became a Wild Man to adapt to living in the jungle.
- Characters.Dungeon Of Doom: Described this way by commentator Tony Schiavone during the gimmick's debut match.
- Characters.Extrapower Attack Of Darkforce: He lives in the wilds and adventures with a talking lion, wears little more than a golden loincloth and some jewelry. Shoes don't make the cut.
- Characters.Final Fantasy XI The Ulbuka Wilderness: He is a burly man who lives in the wilderness with a tiger.
- Characters.Gateway: Apex is as close to a wild human as you could possibly get, having only vague ideas of civilization, eating like an animal, and speaking in terse sentences.
Partial context
These examples establish one aspect or another — character has a primitive appearance, lives in a wilderness, gets along with animals — but not enough to get a clear picture.
- Balance, Speed, Strength Trio: Tanjiro Kamado, Zenitsu Agatsuma, and Inosuke Hashibara fit each dynamic, respectively, with their breathing techniques. Tanjiro is the Balance who wields the versatile Water Breathing and Hinokami Kagura. Zenitsu is the Speed who cuts at the blink of an eye with the Thunder Breathing's first form, and Inosuke is the Strength who uses the Beast Breathing which emphasizes wild, but strong strikes.
- Science Wizard: "Brianna often works her magical abilities into her tech (unwittingly, even). Her Peebos are part AI, part golem, and Peebri has been observed with an aura. After marrying Zan and becoming a druid protecting a forest in Jade Realm, her empowering of the life there has a distinct Magitek theme; for instance, Treants that look like Humongous Mecha, along with armed bears." Some sort of nature association, otherwise unclear.
- The Apunkalypse: "Gibbering wild men" are one of several bandit aesthetics, no further description.
- Man of Wealth and Taste: Defines Wild Man as "a hero with no resources, no fashion, but a very good heart" and as being its opposite.
- Wild Samoan: "Subverted with Jacob Fatu, who is Samoan and is wild but is not a wild Samoan so much as a Wild Man with a werewolf motif." "With a werewolf motif" could mean anything.
- Characters.Arknights Enemy Index: "Invoked. Junkmen are mercenaries who wear ragged clothing to disguise themselves as drifters."
- Characters.Cultist Simulator: Likened to Beast Man and Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti, otherwise no description.
- Characters.Death In Paradise: "At least, compared to Poole. He is more unkempt, does much more sniffing of clues, etc."
- Characters.Endro: Character grew up in and lives in a forest, but isn't given special treatment by animals.
- Onmyoji 2016 SSR Shikigami N To Z: Definitely a man of the forest, but has a fair appearance.
Character lives with or is raised by animals.
- Nature Adores a Virgin: Animals do not fear a Wild Man character.
- Bears Are Bad News.Literature: "An abandoned boy is raised by a bear, and ends up a Wild Man of the Woods."
Savage, primitive characters.
Examples that focus on their subjects being detached form civilization, caveman- or animal-like, and wilderness-dwelling.
- Chivalric Romance: "[...] fighting dragons, giants, wild men of the woods, bears, lions, or other knights [...]"
- Characters.Extrapower Giant Fist: "Taciturn man raised in the wilderness who wanders through adventure with only a loincloth and some jewelry, and whose best friend is a lion."
- Characters.Final Fantasy XIV Playable Races: A species' males are solitary, territorial primitives who live in the forest and fight each other when they meet.
- Characters.La Mulana Enemies: "Muscle-y, under-dressed and covered in long Wild Hair. Their profile wonders if their hairiness is due to the lower temperatures of the ruins."
- Characters.League Of Legends Udyr: "He has the generally shaggy appearance of one through combination of his constant travels and restlessness from his animal spirits. He's slowly trying to find his peace again, but he still gets odd looks whenever he hears the thoughts of horses and shouts at them."
- Rage (2011): "They wear pelts, yell a Native American dialect or gibberish, and many of them will suicide rush the player with axes. They're also the only clan not to use cars."
Edge examples and misuse.
- Characters.Chrono Trigger: "Even wild for the standards of primitive humans. Ayla values strength and Asskicking Leads to Leadership, which several people don't agree with (they'd rather hide and live in peace)." Asskicking Leads to Leadership is its own trope and isn't brought up in the description anyway.
- Characters.Jojos OC Tournament T 5: "Lived on a boat his whole life. He's the definition of this." Unclear what boats have to do with anything.
