Sensitive Guy And Manly Man / Western Animation

• 6teen: Wyatt (sensitive musician), Jude (manly skateboarder to Wyatt, sensitive meditator to Jonesy), and Jonesy (manly hockey playing leech).
• The 7D has cheerful, enthusiastic, impulsive Happy and wisecracking, tough-talking, no-nonsense Grumpy.
• The Amazing World of Gumball: Gumball (manly) & Darwin (sensitive). Gumball is very reckless, blunt, impulsive, and rude, while Darwin is more naive and sympathetic.
• American Dad! has three primary examples of this:
  • A father/son example with Stan and Steve. Stan being an arrogant, stoic, hypermasculine man's man and Steve being a cowardly, hypersensitive mamma's boy who occasionally shows signs of being spoiled rotten. Much of the show focuses on Stan's involvement in Steve's life as Steve comes of age. The show does invert this at times, with Stan having such a hard time showing emotion that he tends to go to extremes when he does, while Steve continues to grow out of his childishness (albeit at a very slow pace), both of which often have hilarious results. As the show progresses, Stan slowly continues to open up to his family, while Steve grows his own personality.
  • Then there's Stan (manly) and Roger (sensitive). Roger is so effeminate and irresponsible, that it results in an even more extreme example of this.
  • Steve and Roger are the third variation, though it's dependent on the situation as to who plays who (or to be exact, it's more dependent on which persona Roger's playing).
• Avatar franchise:
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender: Aang and Sokka, to an extent, as well as Sokka and Zuko. Personality Powers can go a long way towards this trope. Interestingly enough, Sokka switches roles depending on who he's partnered up with. He is manly in comparison to the happy and playful Aang, but sensitive compared with the emotionally-repressed Zuko. But all good male characters in Avatar: The Last Airbender show a sensitive side to some degree.
  • The Legend of Korra: Bolin is The Big Guy, yet he's also the most naive and emotional, compared to Mako's stoic Team Dad.
• Austin from The Backyardigans is absent from at least 40% of episodes, leaving us with the other two males: the hot-headed Pablo and the soft-spoken Tyrone. When Austin does appear, he is usually a middle ground for the other two.
• Ben 10: Alien Force: Ben (a male version of Sailor Moon) and Kevin (the stereotypical bad boy who averts Save the Villain).
• Captain Planet and the Planeteers: Ma-Ti's appearance (short and slender with chin-length hair) sometimes makes viewers mistake him for a girl. He's heavily associated with softer emotions and is the least aggressive of a fairly peaceful group (though pushing him is still ill-advised). Wheeler enjoys basketball and windsurfing while off the clock and has the muscle to match. While quite capable of tenderness and even tears, he has a short temper and the most fighting experience of anyone besides Captain Planet himself. They share an odd bond: Ma-Ti brings out Wheeler's softer side and can count on his protection when things go south.
• Codename: Kids Next Door: Numbuh 2 is a light-hearted jokester (sensitive), Numbuh 4 is an all brawn, violence loving fighter (manly), and Numbuh 1 is a serious, but uptight leader (sensitive to Numbuh 4 and manly to Numbuh 2).
• Dan Vs.: The vindictive title character bent on vengeance to anyone who he feels has wronged him and his friend, the nice pushover Chris.
• Daria: Sensitive Mr. O'Neill becoming friends with manly man Mr. DeMartino.
• Doc McStuffins: Stuffy and Chilly. Chilly's a nervous wreck, while Stuffy, though not hyper-macho, is braver and more dynamic.
• Ed, Edd n Eddy alternates this trope with different pairs.
  • Shy and polite Edd (sensitive) and loud, short-tempered Eddy (manly).
  • Geeky, studious, well-mannered Edd (sensitive) and big, dumb, strong Ed (manly).
  • Affectionate, animal-loving Gentle Giant Ed (sensitive) and rude, aggressive, ambitious Eddy (manly).
• Family Guy has flamboyantly effeminate Stewie Griffin and bitter alcoholic Brian. They also both serve as the Manly Men to ditzy Kiddie Kid Chris and manchild Peter's Sensitive Guys. On the other hand, Peter is the Manly Man to Chris' Sensitive Guy.
• Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends has the shy and warm-hearted Mac and his rebellious and reckless imaginary friend Bloo. Mac is also considered this to his brother Terrence, who takes on the role as the tough, physically strong, Big Brother Bully.
• Futurama:
  • Zapp is a classic Small Name, Big Ego 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 mold through his relationship with Amy.
  • Lrrr and Jrrr in "T: The Terrestrial": Lrrr is a very aggressive alien who is a wannabe overlord and has a booming and snarling voice and does not hesitate in invading planets but Jrrr is not interested in invading planets and wants to befriend humans rather than hurt them. Jrrr is Lrrr's 12-year-old son and Jrrr's sensitive nature is what causes Lrrr to become obsessed with making his son into a man through unorthodox means but they fail until Jrrr stands up to his father.
  • Fry the Socially Awkward Hero and Bender the boisterous Hedonist.
• Gargoyles. The gargoyles Brooklyn and Broadway. Brooklyn is the more reckless and rebellious member of the Wyvern clan as he frequently questions Goliath's leadership. Broadway, on the other hand, is an easygoing, lovable oaf who likes modern culture and does not question Goliath's authority
• Goof Troop has Pete, the deep-voiced, dominating, aggressive, bold, easy-to-anger Fat Bastard who likes to hunt, camp, and play "real" sports, and PJ, the high-voiced (even as an adult), submissive, passive, shy, vulnerable Gentle Giant who likes to engage in casual sports and write and listen to poetry. Pete is PJ's father, and he exploits his son's different nature on some occasions, chastising it on others.
• Gravity Falls:
  • Daniel "Manly Dan" Corduroy (macho) and Tyler Cutebiker (sensitive). Manly Dan, as shown by his name, is a macho outdoorsman who loves lumberjacking. cutting wood, fishing, and is an aggressive man who can punch down wooden poles and trees with his bare hands. Tyler Cutebiker is more flamboyant and effeminate as he likes wearing jean shorts, goes Christmas shopping when its summer, and likes the boy band Sev'ral Timez.
  • Grunkle Stan and his twin brother Ford. Stan is a tough, selfish, Book Dumb, world-weary, temperamental, and manipulative con artist, while Ford is a level-headed, sensible, generous, honest but detrimentally naive Bookworm and later Badass Bookworm. It's heavily implied that Stan has an inferiority complex due to being devalued because of this dynamic^note Everyone around them growing up lauded Ford as a genius while stating that they didn't expect Stan to amount to anything, even though Stan is actually smarter than he believes, which is a major component in his falling out with Ford. It's implied that Mabel shares this inferiority complex in regards to Dipper for much the same reason.
  • There's also Ford (the strong) and his friend Fiddleford (the soft). Ford is well, as mentioned above and Fidds is an ex-hippie who (usually) is as nice as he seems. They obviously get lots of Ho Yay moments.
• Harvey Beaks: Harvey is a docile, polite Neat Freak while his friend Foo is the messy, loud brother of a pair of Wild Children.
• Johnny Bravo: the eponymous character (who did everything to be seen as a cool macho man) was paired with the sensitive geek Carl.
• Johnny Test:
  • Johnny (manly) and his dog Dukey (sensitive). Johnny is the manly man due to his love for video games and rock music, hatred of cross-dressing even though he does it sometimes, and performs reckless and rebellious behavior while Dukey is the more cautious, emotional, and more effeminate of the two.
  • In the episode "Hoist The Johnny Roger", the pirates Blackbeard and Nobeard, who are both brothers. Blackbeard is basically a stereotypical pirate who does the usual pirate things like pilfering and plundering treasure. Nobeard is also a pirate but he is also Ambiguously Gay as he admitted that he never wanted to be a pirate in the first place but went along with it because piracy was in his family business and he is more interested in finding treasure and using it for pet shops, opera theatre, kitchens, and classical dancing rather than pilfering and plundering like Blackbeard. Both of their crews all fit in this too.
• Kaeloo: Stumpy and Quack Quack are both Sensitive Guys to Mr. Cat's Manly Man. Stumpy is a jittery Butt-Monkey and Kindhearted Simpleton (at least in earlier episodes) and Quack Quack is gentle, sensitive and one of the nicer characters in the show. Meanwhile, Mr. Cat is a weapon-wielding, sarcastic Jerkass who loves torturing Quack Quack.
• Littlest Pet Shop (2012) has cowardly and anxious, but gentle and shy mongoose Sunil Nevla and confident and hammy, but rude and dumb gecko Vinnie Terrio, with smart and organized, but uptight and orderly hedgehog Russell Ferguson in-between.
• Looney Tunes: Chow Hound features a meek mouse and a manly dog.
  • The Mouse No, not again, please, not again! Oh, sir, I beg you to spare me the indignity.
  • The Dog Shyedup! And get to work.
• The Loud House:
  • By a very narrow margin, Clyde is the sensitive guy to Lincoln's manly man. Both are conventionally nerdy, somewhat wimpy kids with a series of feminine qualities, but Clyde takes these traits to bigger extremes than Lincoln. Also, Lincoln has a thick skin and can handle things going bad, while Clyde is far more emotionally fragile and sensitive. Compare their reactions to finding out their favorite show ARGGH! is fake in "ARGGH! You For Real".
    Lincoln: I can handle it, but my friend Clyde is crushed.
  • Downplayed with Lincoln as the sensitive guy to Liam's manly man. Liam isn't devoid of a sensitive side himself, as he is hurt over Lincoln and their guy friends ditching his sleepover, takes a nervous approach to the start of middle school, and tears up at Lincoln's singing voice, but he is an expert at baseball, enjoys it, can wrestle, proudly tends to get dirty as a farm boy, and lacks the In Touch with His Feminine Side qualities that Lincoln has.
  • Then you have the nerdy, Casanova Wannabe Rusty Spokes, the timid boy who faints at the drop of a hat, as the sensitive guy to his brother Rocky's manly man, who is relatively athletic and cool, and has a hidden interest in spooky stuff like fake blood and guts.
  • The Loud brothers from "One of the Boys". While some of them have this dynamic with each other (the quiet, poetic Lars versus the athletic, brutish Boy Lynn, or obviously the gruff, dirt loving Leif and the bratty pink-wearing Lexx), all ten of them are ultimately the bullying, roughhousing, gross manly men to Lincoln's sensitive guy.
  • Among the Loud grown-ups, Lynn Sr. is the sensitive, neurotic guy to his brother Lance's muscular, athletic manly man.
• Middlemost Post: Parker is the cheerful and somewhat effeminate sensitive guy to Angus' tough manly man.
• Mike Chilton and Chuck appear to be this in Motorcity, although Mike, while still the leader of the group and very strong, is actually the group's Team Mom/Papa Wolf and is quite sensitive.
• My Gym Partner's a Monkey: Adam and Jake are pretty much the Expy of Mac and Bloo from Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends.
• My Little Pony Tales: Shy, sensitive, and kindhearted Lancer and macho prankster Teddy and jerk jock Ace. Lancer tends to side with the girls, while Teddy and Ace are interested in pranking others and sports respectively. Though Teddy is also the sensitive guy to Ace's manly man as he does have a soft side toward Sweetheart and secretly keeps a teddy bear.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: The episode "Twilight's Kingdom" provides a villainous example between Discord (sensitive) and Tirek (manly). One is the lord of chaos... who enjoys tea parties at Fluttershy's and likes pink cotton candy clouds. The other is a big, red, deep-voiced, muscular demon who loves blowing everything up with his power blasts.
• Ninjago: Zane and Jay (Sensitive) and Kai and Cole (Manly). Lloyd joins the team as the in between, being less gentle than Zane and Jay but softer than Kai and Cole.
• The Pink Panther: Averted with Manly Man (and his relatives) working with the Pink Panther. The Pink Panther even shows a degree of manliness too. The episode 7 Manly Men, a Lower-Deck Episode / A Day in the Limelight which was a wholly blatant shout-out to YMCA and contained Ho Yay, was built on this trope - 6 manly men and a sensitive pirate-type guy. The original cartoon in question can be seen here.
• Recess: The four boys in the main cast consist of two Sensitive Guys, poetic Mikey and timid, nerdy Gus, and two Manly Men (er, boys), Guile Hero T.J. and Lovable Jock Vince.
• Regular Show has the strong, macho Muscle Man who is best friends with the more quiet, sensitive Hi-Five Ghost.
• The Ren & Stimpy Show: Kind-hearted Stimpy and ill-tempered Ren respectively.
• Rick and Morty: The show gives out a grandpa/grandson example with the two titular characters. Rick (manly) is a violently crazy alcoholic Mad Scientist who is a very snarly and amoral jerkass. His grandson, Morty (sensitive) basically serves as Rick's Morality Pet as he is the more cautious of the two and does not hesitate to call Rick out on his crazy and violent antics.
• Rocket Power has the rebellious, manly Otto Rocket and the nerdy, sensitive Sam Dullard. Twister is in-between.
• Rugrats: Shy and timid Chuckie Finster and adventurous Tommy Pickles. And their respective fathers share the same dynamic.
• Scooby-Doo:
  • Shaggy Rogers (the scrawny, awkward easily frightened one who prefers eating over solving mysteries) and Fred Jones (the brave determined leader of Mystery Inc. gang who is depicted as an athlete/jock in a few incarnations) respectively.
  • There is also the titular main character, who is a shaky Lovable Coward in contrast with his fearless, impulsive, thrill-seeking nephew, Scrappy.
  • On the times when Scooby is the only afraid and hesitant one which leads Shaggy to force him to come along, Shaggy plays the Manly Man (but a very much downplayed) to Scooby's Sensitive Guy.
• The Simpsons:
  • Nerdy, sensitive Milhouse being the foil to brash, extroverted mischief-maker Bart.
  • Thoughtful, polite, and religious Ned Flanders is a foil to the aggressive, beer-drinking Homer.
• Sofia the First has Prince Hugo (Sensitive Guy) and his older brother Axel (Manly Man). Their father pushes them to be the best at any rugged sport, and the macho Axel appears to take the pressure better than the lovably dorky Hugo, who is visibly affected by peer pressure, not to mention hurt by Axel's emotionally hurtful "jokes".
• South Park:
  • This trope is primarily played with the naive and idealistic Butters to the sadistic and aggressive Cartman.
  • Adding on to this, the main characters generally form two pairs for who is sensitive and manly respectively. Zig-Zagged, considering all of them have both masculine and sensitive traits. Stan is an animal lover and usually prefers making peace rather than fighting while Kyle holds the highest morals in the group and is generally the most compassionate of his friends (although he has one hell of a temper) (Sensitive Guys). On the other hand, Cartman (despite his fondness for tea parties) is forceful, aggressive, and sadistic (though he is mostly a whimp, with some excpetions), while Kenny is primarily interested in sex and drugs and perhaps has been seen crying the least among his friends (Manly Men). Kenny did crossdress as a princess a few times though. Within those specific pairs, Stan (Sensitive) is much less willing to get confrontational about things while Kyle (Manly) is pretty hot-headed, and Kenny (Sensitive) is laid-back, good-natured and quiet while Cartman (Manly) is abrasive, loud and inconsiderate. Stan is the most sensitive from the main boys, but he is also the only one of them who never crossdressed, is good at sports, has plenty of traditionally masculine interests and occasionally acts as the Team Dad. Butters tends to be the Sensitive Guy to the rest of the main characters in general.
• Summer Memories has Heterosexual Life-Partners Jason and Ronnie. Protagonist Jason is an insecure, unconfident, and deeply anxious musician who does terribly at sports on account of his bad hip, while Ronnie is a charismatic, popular, and easygoing Lovable Jock and the star soccer player of his town's sports team.
• Super Noobs: Memnock (Type 1 sensitive) and Zenblock (Type 2 manly), the two alien warriors. Memnock is the sensitive guy as he is an immature Camp Straight alien who likes cooking, is more reasonable and nice towards children, and has a huge childlike fascination with the many cultures of Earth. Zenblock is the manly man due to his Schwarzenegger like voice, impulsive and reckless Jerk with a Heart of Gold behavior, his skills in mechanics, his dislike of butterflies, and his reluctance with exploring Earth culture. However, Zenblock does join in with Memnock in touring around Earth's cultures if it either involves candy, involves doing childish things, or offers Zenblock a chance to compete against Memnock in something. Both of them also share some manly interests as well such as football, basketball, and fishing.
• The Tick: Tick is a huge, burly guy who leaps into action and saves the day even if it means wrestling the tongue of a giant dinosaur man. Arthur is meek and timid, afraid to get into a fight. His Battle Cry is "Not in the face!"
• Time Squad: Buck Tuddrussell (Type 1 macho) and the Larry 3000 (Type 2 sensitive) — 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 Guy hanging out with an orphaned 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 at best and Camp Gay at worst.
• Total Drama:
  • The first season is unique in terms of not having just two but three guys fit for this trope with all of them being on the same team. Juvenile delinquent Duncan is the manly man while Animal Lover DJ is the sensitive guy. Surfer Dude Geoff personifies both traits of this trope as he is the sensitive to Duncan's manly and the manly to DJ's sensitive. Coincidentally, all three of the guys are the last three members of their team remaining after the merge passed and when Bridgette was eliminated.
  • Season four gives us scrawny, timid Nice Guy Mike and team killing Jerkass Scott. Mike himself is also the Sensitive Guy to three of his personalities: Joisey Vito, Awesome Aussie Manitoba Smith and Ax-Crazy sociopath Mal.
  • Part two of season five gives us Dave and Shawn. The former is a whiny, effeminate Neat Freak who has No Social Skills (especially when it comes to Sky) while the latter is a Crazy Survivalist who is exceptionally athletic and possesses Super-Speed. Just for comparison, Dave freaks out whenever he gets even a little bit dirty while Shawn is seen wearing camouflage in one episode, showing that he isn't above getting dirty.
  • Season six brings the Official Couple represented by Raj and Bowie. The former is as much a dudebro as his hockey teammate Wayne is, while Bowie is Camp Gay.
  • The four male members of Ferocious Trout are split as following: Nervous Wreck Damien and Mellow Fellow Zee (who even has long hair) are sensitive, while the unrefined bully Ripper and the self-centered daredevil Chase are manly. The four male members of Frogs of Death are split as following: Pretty Boy Caleb and Camp Gay Bowie are sensitive, while the Dumb Jocks Raj and Wayne are manly.
• The Transformers has the main villains Megatron and Starscream. Megatron is the military leader of the Decepticons who's always grouchy, acts toughs as nails, likes to fight headfirst and was once a respectable military commander. He's the Manly Man. Starscream meanwhile is a treacherous, cowardly schemer with a screechy voice who used to be a scientist, and as such he's the Sensitive Guy. Common fandom jokes involve Megatron and Starscream being similar to a dysfunctional marriage.
• The Venture Brothers:
  • Dr. Venture and Brock Samson (although "sensitive" isn't exactly the best term to describe Dr. Venture)
  • The brothers themselves, Hank (manly) and Dean (sensitive). Their dynamic is not dissimilar to The Hardy Boys, especially early in the series.
  • In later seasons, Brock is often paired with Shoreleave on operations. Since Shoreleave is sassy, flamboyant, and extremely gay, this trope might be expected, but it's averted. Shoreleave is every bit as violent and assertive as Brock, managing to be both Camp Gay and Manly Gay at the same time. He even calls out Pete White as a sissy because he assumes that Pete is in the closet.
• Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum: Brad is the Sensitive Guy to Xavier's Manly Man. Brad is very shy and sensitive, and loves ballet and butterflies, while Xavier is more traditionally masculine and more outgoing.

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