To-do list:
- Move any examples to Pretty Boy if they fit and have in-universe acknowledgement of the Pretty Boy character's appearance (since the trope is In-Universe Examples Only). References to the Bishōnen Fan Speak term can stay, but examples are not allowed. Remove any Zero Context Examples.
Feel free to use Sandbox.Bishonen Wick Cleaning to list which namespaces have been cleaned.
The wick check I did shows an estimate as follows:
- 4% of Bishōnen examples and 7% of Pretty Boy examples are good examples with decent amounts of context showing that the character is androgynous, is considered attractive in-universe, and is an Eastern (in the case of Bishōnen) or Western (in the case of Pretty Boy) work.
- 8% of Bishōnen examples (zces included) are on Western pages, while the same applies the other way.
- 86% of Bishōnen examples and 64% of Pretty Boy examples are zero-context or vague potholes.
- The remaining 2% of Bishōnen wicks and 21% of Pretty Boy wicks are various other forms of misuse (Fandom gushing and "A character gets called "Pretty Boy", respectively).
So, not only are Bishonen and Pretty Boy pretty much interchangable according to wiki editors, but it also seems that both tropes suffer from a lot of Zero-Context Example issues. If an obvious and functioning trope can be salvaged out of one of them, I can't see it. My only proposed option is to have them, and their redirects, redirect to A Pretty Boy Index, which houses all the relevant subtropes.
Wick Checks
Correct usage: A boyish and slender attractive man, treated as such in the Eastern or Eastern-styled work he is from (3)
- Fate/Grand Order - Sabers N to Z: He was famed for his beautiful face, to the point that entire armies on both sides would stop to gaze at it. To earn their respect as a warrior, he hides it behind a demonic mask, and it's even weaponized as his Noble Phantasm. (On a different example): He has a very lithe physique suiting his Bishōnen appearance [...]
- Sekirei Participants Of Sekirei Plan: He's extremely pretty with an androgynous face, MUCH to Yukari's delight.
- Jewelpet Happiness: Intentionally drawn as femininely attractive and with a lean figure.
Misuse: The character is from a Western work (6)
- TwoKinds: Mystical White Hair: In both forms, though she's got a lot more hair in her wolf form. She inherits this from her father, who is a white wolf Keidran in his natural form and a white haired Bishōnen in his human form. (Under Raine's folder)
- Nancy Drew: Sonny Joon, of all people, turns out to be this when you meet him for the first time in The Shattered Medallion.
- HonorHarrington.Tropes A To F: Victor Cachat, repeatedly described as cute, and Jeremy X, who was literally genetically engineered to be one, to fit his intended role as a jester.
- Fate: The Winx Saga: Pretty Boy: He quite resembles a real-life Bishōnen.
- Northwest Smith: Yarol. This is apparently typical of people from Venus. (Slashed with Pretty Boy)
- TakeThatScrappy.The DCU: One of the (many) controversial decisions made during the New 52 was Lobo being reintroduced as a slender, clean-shaven Bishōnen instead of the grungy, musclebound slob fans had come to know and love.
Misuse: The audience/Troper finds the character pretty (1)
- What Measure Is a Non-Cute?: Because of his pterosaur-like features (his clawed wings and, more obviously, his humongous beak), Brooklyn is sometimes treated as the ugliest in the show, especially by humans who get outright scared. Being horned and red doesn't help. In the fanbase, however...
Unclear (Zero-context, vague potholes) (63)
- Marginal Prince: Quite naturally, since the game is aimed at young women and takes place in an all-boys school.
- Their Story: Qi Fang is noted to be very handsome by both characters and readers. (Unclear whether Bishonen or Hunk)
- Sekirei Participants Of Sekirei Plan:
- Hikari and Hibiki even comment on his looks, as one of the many things about the Southern Sekirei that make them jealous. (Unclear whether Bishonen or Hunk)
- Yukari felt charmed by his pretty boys looks the first time they meet.
- In a manly kind of way.
- [...]Yukari already loves Shiina for his Bishōnen looks[...]
- [...]he's the type of Bishōnen she's crazy about.
- Yukari states that his face is the only cute thing about him.
- Ditzy Genius: [...]However, he also is something of a lovable doofus (albeit an extremely sweet and pretty one)[...]
- Hitorijime My Hero: Hasekura.
- Pokémon XD Enigma Shadow Series: Nando and Satsukoro. The drunk casino guy in Chapter 31 even lampshades it when he calls Nando "the prettiest man [he's] ever seen."
- Suikoden V Miscellaneous: He DOES copy the Prince. (Under Roy's folder)
- Franchise/Tekken: Lee Chaolan, Hwoarang, Steve Fox, Claudio. The most prominent one in the series, of course, is Jin. Being fighters, though, they are also quite buff (Jin especially).
- Phantasy Star Online 2 - ARKS: Guardians: Adaptational Attractiveness: He's a bit younger-looking and more Bishōnen than the default human design from the game.
- 2AM: Jinwoon.
- The Breaker:
- Hands down.
- Has a lot of fangirls at Shi-Woon's school.
- Overnight Age-Up: Lambo from Reborn! (2004) does this in spades with his Ten-Year Bazooka, turning him from a five-year-old Bratty Half-Pint into a suave 15-year-old Bishōnen.[...]
- The World God Only Knows: Supporting: Pretty, but dumb.
- Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl — Gym Leaders: (Just the trope name, nothing more).
- Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade - Playable Characters
- He looks more like his mother than anything else.
- Just look at his sprite portrait!
- Jewelpet Happiness
- (Trope-name only)
- (Trope-name only)
- (Trope-name only)
- (Trope-name only)
- Her Code Name Was "Mary Sue": However, while Lord English is a monstrous thug, Caliborn's fantasy self-insert is rather Bishōnen.
- Vindictus: Base-Breaking Character: Sylas/Hagie appears to be shaping up to become one, considering his Bishōnen Korean Pop Music star looks drastically contrast with the game's previous Ms. Fanservice characters and the Rated M for Manly male characters (Hurk and Karok in particular), as well as his kit heavily ripping off Dm C Devil May Cry . He is however also adored for his Bishōnen appearance and his status as the game's first Male magic based character, which has won him a number of fans.
- Radiant Mythology 2:
- The player can make a male Descender look very handsome, though Paneer will remark on their good looks, regardless of gender.
- Has very pretty features.
- Monster Musume Species: Fetish: [...]and from the discussion in chapter #29, it's implied that Bishōnen types are often particularly preferred.[...]
- Victory Pose: RPG World spoofed this [...] Eikre folds his arms all cool-like, [...]
- Fire Emblem: Thracia 776:
- He's a very pretty man.
- Asbel is a younger example; he's so gorgeous it's easy to mistake him for a girl.
- He is very, very pretty.
- Bad Apple Wars: Combined with Cast Full of Pretty Boys.
- Lyrica: Two of the male main characters, Chun and Bai, are noted as being good-looking.
- Honkai Impact 3rd - Fire MOTH: He's quite the Bishōnen, especially with his long hair that's tied in a low ponytail and slim physique;[...]
- One Missed Call: Jin-wo in the third film. Look at how Emiri's friends start gawking at his photo near the beginning of the film. He is played by the very pretty Jang Keun-suk (in one of his first lead film roles). (Not enough emphasis on Bishonen traits besides gushing over actor)
- 91 Days: An elegant and attractive youth with a tall, slender build, a shapely, clean-shaven face, smooth black hair, and striking eyes. Too bad he always has a gloomy or hostile look on his face, but that's what makes him Troubled, but Cute. (Not enough emphasis on in-universe treatment)
- Pokémon Villain: Team Plasma: Look at him!
- Black Wolves Saga: Arles counts as one. He is very pretty and has long silver hair.
- Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team:
- Sissy Villain: Ginias, whose slight frame, Bishōnen looks, emphasis on scientific achievement over martial prowess, and his chronic illness make him less than manly.
- Husky Russkie: Played mostly straight with Yuri Kellarny (though he's quite competent and caring when it comes to his men), and inverted completely with Bishōnen Mad Scientist Ginias Sahalin.
- Kamen Rider Hibiki: (Name-only example)
- Recursive Crossdressing: When she goes to the School Festival dressed in a male uniform, some girls mistake her for a Bishōnen and put her in an Alice in Wonderland cosplay.
- Final Fantasy V:
- The small size of the in-game sprites makes it a bit tough to tell in the 16-bit original, where he has no portrait, but Amano's art and his portrayal in Dissidia show that he definitely qualifies.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: His hair in his artwork is white, like most of the other handsome protagonists that Yoshitaka Amano designed, but his hair in-game is brown.
- Please Save My Earth: Yaoi Guys: Issei is in love with Jinpachi. And Jinpachi is in love with Alice, which makes this a type 5 Love Triangle
- YMMV/Pokemon Black And White:
- Fan-Preferred Couple: The main character (both Hilda and Hilbert) x N is quite popular, as is shipping the player characters together, especially compared to past main character couples.
- Incest Yay Shipping: Ghetsis and N.
- Launcher of a Thousand Ships: The female protagonist has more recently started to get her share, too, mostly being paired off with N[...]
- Hiiro no Kakera: Namely a magical little fox and several young men from the family whose ancestral duty is the protection of the Tamayorihime.
- Suite Pretty Cure ♪?:
- And after the Forced Transformation, he suffers from his ugliness.
- Sparkles and all.
- What Measure Is a Non-Cute?: Berserker from Fate/stay night is reminiscent of Goliath from the Gargoyles. If you can get past his lead-grey complexion, odd elbow protrusions, mismatched set of blood red and glowing gold eyes, and frighteningly huge size, he's really handsome. Indeed, he's the demigod Herakles from Greek myth, who was quite popular with the ladies and the guys. But he's not as pretty as the other manly warrior-Bishōnen of the game, and except for a brief time in one scenario, he's always under a mental compulsion that reduces him to a constantly growling and bellowing monster. A pity, considering who they got to voice him in The Anime of the Game. Then again, he does have those moments with Ilya...
- Itazura Na Kiss:
- Tall, Dark, and Snarky: Being an Insufferable Genius gave him a dry sense of humor to match his ''very'' good looks.
- Grown-up Yuuki is easy on the eyes much like his big brother.
- The Lunacy Of Duke Venomania: Asmodeus: Duke Sateriasis Venomania makes a deal with the Demon of Lust in exchange for the power to make any woman fall in love with him and a beautiful face.
- Dragon Drive: Draco in Leather Pants: Himuro Hikaru is a badass Bishōnen Deadpan Snarker, and is therefore one of the more popular characters.
- Grand Chase Dimensional Chaser Supporting Characters: Pretty Boy: Harpe straddles the line between this and Bishōnen, but his personality is very masculine, and he only turns heads because he is the Court Mage.
- Beyond the Boundary: So far the greatest example on the show.
Other
Correct usage: A boyish and slender attractive man, treated as such in the Western work he is from (4)
- Gone: In the first book, he is described as being "pretty, like a girl". (Under Peter's heading in the Perdido Beach folder)
- The Outsiders: Soda is often described by Ponyboy as looking like a movie star or a Greek God.
- WorldOfWarcraft.Tropes M To R:
- Blood Elves, such as Kael'thas Sunstrider (who wasn't quite so pretty the second time). And how! One of the silly lines for playable Blood Elves is "Don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me?
- Also applies to the High Elves, who are a separate political faction of the same race; what minor differences exist between the two are based on their different approaches to satisfying their magic addiction.
- Lampshaded aboard one of the ships traversing the Great Sea. One of the female sailors complains that the male high elf first mate is prettier than her. (This and above bullet should be merged)
Misuse: The character is from an Eastern work (5)
- Future Card Buddyfight Buddy Police: He’s stated to be quite pretty in-universe and a lot of girls have crushes on him.
- The Misfit Of Demon King Academy: Yaoi Fangirl: A number of their classmates keep wondering if the Pretty Boy Bash Brothers Anos and Lay are asking each other out or even already dating, and fantasize various other romantic entanglements between the two.
- Strangers From Hell: Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: Moon-jo doesn't◊ look◊ like a threat at first, helped by his appearance and longish hair. He's also a serial-killing cannibal.
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Joseph Joestar: Mr. Fanservice: In Part 3, he's still the most fanservicey member of the main team, trading in the Pretty Boy appeal for a more straightforwardly masculine kind[...]
- Princess Silver: Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Almost every important male character is a Pretty Boy, and all of them have long hair.
Misuse: The audience/Troper finds the character pretty (4)
- Far Cry 5: Joseph Seed himself has gotten this reputation among lots of gamer girls despite his creeper factor.
- Cuteness Proximity: [...]The comments on the video itself have shades of this, too. It's David Tennant holding a kitten!
- Two Door Cinema Club: Face Of The Band: Alex. Because he's the lead singer, it's kinda inevitable. Also a lot of the female fans think he's hot.
- How Harry Became A Tree: Gus, played by a young Cillian Murphy. Several reviews took note of how beautiful he is.
Misuse: Trope name used as a stock phrase (5)
- Marvel Comics: Quicksilver: Depending on the art, Quicksilver is usually not a pretty boy except for X-Men Evolution cartoon. However, in one X-Factor issue, he was called 'Pretty Boy' by his inmates when he was put in prison for vagrancy. (Under Quicksilver's folder - seems kinda stock phrasey)
- Characters/Quasar: Depending on the artist, the most prominent example is when Greg Capullo draws him in several issues of the solo series. In one issue, he was even called 'Pretty Boy' by a villain. (Also stock phrasey)
- Trans Ponies: Tex isn't feminine but he's softer looking than Rainbow Dash and Big Macintosh. Rainbow outright calls him a "pretty boy" (Also stock phrasey)
- Destiny Child: Ho Yay: The young master himself has mentioned that Frej is hot, as well as Rufus. He also refers to Tristan as a Pretty Boy.
- Airlocked Round Two: He takes great offence when Kip calls him one, but it's true.
Unclear (Zero-context, vague potholes) (36)
- Characters/Maleficent: Portrayed as such. (Under Prince Phillip's folder)
- Dimension 20 Fantasy High: Opposites Attract: A shy, not very charismatic, hulking techie is flirted with by an extroverted, magnetic, gorgeous popular actor.
- Muscles Are Meaningless: [...]at your complete whim you can change your hulking, muscular beast of a character to a stick-like bishie twerp on the spot[...]
- Academy of Merlin: Students: The prettiest damn boy you ever did see. (Under Chanel's folder)
- Suicidal Overconfidence: [...]Perhaps it's because he's incredibly pretty.[...]
- Downton Abbey: The Servants:
- With his curly blond hair and cheeky, cherubic face. (Under Jimmy's folder - used to establish pattern with Thomas's love interests, but doesn't mean anything on his own.)
- Selfish, manipulative Pretty Boys like the Duke of Crowborough, Pamuk and Jimmy are his preference. Worthy, earnest nice guys don't float his boat — as seen when the prospect of looking after "Mr Matthew" causes him to throw a strop, let alone Tom Branson, for whom he outright refuses to act as valet. (Under Has a Type in Thomas's folder)
- Hercules: The Animated Series: Adonis was basically known for being extremely good-looking, enough so that Aphrodite and Persephone fought over him, and literally nothing else. (Part of Adaptational Jerkass example)
- Snakes Are Sexy: Loki has some historical associations with snakes and since 2014 a Pretty Boy redesign. So who is surprised that covers like this◊ exist?
- Laughably Evil: Tangled: The Series shows us Andrew, a guy so Pretty Boy Even the Guys Want Him[...]
- Supernatural S 13 E 14 Good Intentions: Although the show usually ignores it, Gog and Magog seem unusually stuck on how pretty Dean and Castiel are.
- A Song of Ice and Fire - House Tarth: Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: It first appears that she's going to have this dynamic with Jaime, due to the latter being shorter than her, her technical prisoner, and being described as a Pretty Boy to her Action Girl Brawn Hilda
- Rik Mayall: Beauty Inversion: Frequently covered up his Pretty Boy/Bishōnen good looks with grotesque costumes, make-up, and exaggerated expressions for his roles[...]
- Comic Books: [...]It's as if they realized the potential Mr. Fanservice in a gay supernatural-based and suave Pretty Boy now firmly on the side of good[...]
- Humanoids: Legolas: near-exclusive archer with a long knife on the side, The Fair Folk, The Empath (for fauna, flora, and the land, but not people), Nature Lover, The Smart Guy, Submissive Badass, Captain Obvious, Mr. Exposition, Over 500 Years Old, Long-Haired Pretty Boy, Defrosting Warrior Elf Prince of Mirkwood, heightened sight and hearing, The Ace, Improbable Aiming Skills
- Types of Mechas: Keith: '80s Hair, The Comically Serious, Half-Human Hybrid, Hot-Blooded, Promoted To Lead Pilot Of Voltron, Loner-Turned-Friend, Leeroy Jenkins, Pretty Boy, Red Is Heroic
- Patience: Bunthorne aspires to be; Grosvener actually is. The Dragoons spend most of the show disgruntled that women prefer this look to Good-Looking Privates.
- WorldOfWarcraft.Tropes M To R: Humans are not a popular race if we talk about handsome guys. The human male character has a tough look in his body and face, even if you choose to play a non-Strength based class, like magic users or Agility based classes like Rogues or Hunters. Always. But then, you enter the Arathi Basin battleground and the loading screen shows us this guy to the left who looks like he escaped from a Manga!◊ Some players wish humans could look like him, really!
- The Righteous Gemstones: Beauty Equals Goodness: Kelvin is very good looking, and is the most genuine and sincere of the family.
- Once Upon A Time Hook: It's even lampshaded by Cora.
- Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street: Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Pretty Boy Anthony has remarkably smooth skin despite his life at sea and the beating he takes early in the film.
- MCU: Operation Cerberus: Frank calls him "Billy the Beaut". Sam makes fun of Madani's relationship with him by calling him "pretty." When Russo murders Sam, he quips, "Who's pretty now?"
- Venin Abyss: Almost all the male vampires.
- Dark Life: Meaningful Rename: Pretty: Hypnotic powers...plus being the resident Pretty Boy.
- Dangan Ronpa Fuzzy Memories Hopes Peak Staff:
- Older Than They Look: He is stated to have an appearance baring a resemblence to that of a high school Pretty Boy, and yet he's around the same age as, if not older, than Amber.
- Is rather handsome, and has a very young looking appearance similar to that of a teenager.
- Fate/Prototype - Servants:
- Just look at him.
- As the profile image shows, very much so.
- The Good, The Bad, The Weird: Agent Peacock: Chang-yi is a deadly Pretty Boy hitman and bandit who manages to be a Bulletproof Fashion Plate in the deserts of Manchuria.[...]
- League Of Legends: N-O: Does Not Like Men: [...]She has less of a problem if they're prettier like Ezreal,[...]
- Burdened With Glorious Podcast: Kavorka Man: Discussed at length in “And This? Is Gary Numan” via the phenomenon of the “Tumblr Sexyman”, which Megan argues Loki isn’t because he was clearly intended to be a Pretty Boy, while the Tumblr Sexyman is basically a version of this trope but for “complete internet goblins”.
- Myer Briggs Test: Nikolasz is tall, slim and quite attractive.
- Resident Evil - Leon S. Kennedy: Biseinen: Leon definitely qualifies in his younger years with that fabulous Jack Dawson-esque 'do of his. While he's no longer as effeminate by the time of Resident Evil 4 (just look at his muscles), he's still much more of a Pretty Boy than any of the other male protagonists[...]
- God of War Series – Greek Gods: His statues depict him as beardless, young and attractive, while the tie-in novels refer to him as "pretty but boring".
- Panopticon Quest: Described as having an almost painful natural handsomeness.
- dc Talk: The Heartthrob - Toby Mac (Under Boy Band example)
Other (2)
- The Grishaverse Kerch: Described as pretty and boyish compared to his other male companions. (Okay-ish, maybe?)
- Itazura Na Kiss: He's the resident Mr. Fanservice with those tall figure, dark hair and grey-purple eyes Lucky him. (Just rattles off other tropes, but could otherwise be considered okay)
Edited by MacronNotes on Oct 31st 2022 at 1:09:53 PM
My guess is someone who is Really 700 Years Old would still count because they look youthfully pretty despite their age.
I'll also say Pretty Boy is a widely used term in media, so I'm in favor of keeping it.
Edited by AudioSpeaks2 on Dec 18th 2023 at 12:22:28 AM
Art Museum Curator and frequent helper of the Web Original deprecation projectWhat if they're physically kinda old by human standards?
Ok, then if you insist, no rename.
Absolute RainbowWell, even if they are pretty old by human standards but still give off that Youthful beauty vibe without crossing into Silver Fox territory, yeah I'd say they could count. Basically an Older Than They Look situation. But remember, it still needs In-Universe acknowledgement.
Edited by AudioSpeaks2 on Dec 18th 2023 at 12:41:55 AM
Art Museum Curator and frequent helper of the Web Original deprecation projectPretty Boy isn't age-exclusive in any way; the crux of the trope is simply "male character is attractive in a feminine manner".
Edited by jandn2014 on Dec 17th 2023 at 12:02:37 PM
back lolFolks, let's focus on cleanup instead of religitating a decision we made months ago. Pretty Boy is not being renamed (especially because it's a preexisting term), and the trope itself is In-Universe Examples Only and requires a character to comment on the pretty boy character's appearance. The ship has sailed on deciding how to make changes, and has been focused on enacting changes that were already decided on for a while.
Edited by GastonRabbit on Dec 17th 2023 at 11:20:34 AM
Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.Yeah, we're good. Anyways, I'm just finishing up on the Bishounen redirect. I mostly need to clean out Manga/ and Video Game/
Art Museum Curator and frequent helper of the Web Original deprecation projectAaaand we're done.
I've cleaned out the Bishounen redirect. The only thing left is the example wick on the locked page On Manga.Lychee Light Club, I requested it in the Locked pages thread to change the wick to Pretty Boy.
- Bishounen: The club believes even their innards are beautiful, although it's more like they believe their bodies are somehow purer than disgusting adults. Zera is very disappointed when the blood starts flowing and he's not that different from a normal human inside or out.
After that, we can close.
Art Museum Curator and frequent helper of the Web Original deprecation projectDone that (though I had to edit twice because my phone autocorrected it).
Anyways, we can now close this bad boy up. So big thanks to Audio for the wick cleaning.
Edit: Spelling errors.
Edited by Ayumi-chan on Dec 18th 2023 at 2:33:44 AM
She/Her | Currently cleaning Char CloneThanks for cleaning up that page.
Edited by AudioSpeaks2 on Dec 18th 2023 at 2:35:09 AM
Art Museum Curator and frequent helper of the Web Original deprecation projectAnd it's done. It's time to lock this thread.
We're done. We did it.
Absolute RainbowAlright, locking as resolved.
She/Her | Currently cleaning Char Clone
Johnny Cage and Nightwing are two of the physically-older examples we could recognize.
Absolute Rainbow