Bruiser with a Soft Center: Difference between revisions

''If she wants she will destroy you

''But if you lay her down for a kiss

[[The Big Guy|The big, burly, super macho guy]] who is nothing but a stack of muscles is pretty much a brick, right? Not so much. [[Hidden Depths|True love or a sweet, touching moment reveals what a big softy he really is under all that hard muscle]]. Hands that can smash through walls effortlessly now rise to hide the [[Tender Tears]], or remain stoically at his sides as he weeps [[Manly Tears]].

This is a trope with a lot of neighbours: Compare with [[Gentle Giant]], [[Genius Bruiser]], [[Real Men Wear Pink]], [[Morality Pet]], and [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]]. Even a [[Papa Wolf]] can turn soft when he's around his children. [[Super-Trope]] of [[Emotional Bruiser]] .

{{examples}}

* Kuwabara from ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'' is willing to do anything for Eiikichi... {{spoiler|his kitten.}}

* Kenshiro from ''[[Fist of the North Star]]'' is not afraid to hug children and shed [[Manly Tears]] (or even [[Tender Tears]]) from time to time.

* Sentaro of ''[[Sakamichi no Apollon]]'' At first he may come off as a high schooler that likes to beat up bullies. It's so that he can protect those that're dear to him.

* The Ever-Lovin' Blue-Eyed Thing of ''[[Fantastic Four]]'' fame is very gentle and delicate with his love, Alicia.

** The Thing is also like this to practically every kid that thinks he's the coolest hero.

*** Especially with kids who think he's cooler than the Human Torch.

** The Thing also has a special place in the Marvel superhero community as possibly the most ''widely'' befriended hero ever, much like Superman or Nightwing from DC.

* ''[[Archie Comics]]'': Moose, with Midge.

* Massive Colossus from ''[[X-Men]]'' is a sensitive artist.

* Strong Guy of [[X-Factor (comics)|X-Factor]] - in a session with Doc Samson he reveals that his wit and banter are how he copes with tremendous, constant pain, both emotional and physical.

* Vlad the brawny vulture from ''[[Horton Hears a Who!]]'' is tough ''and'' evil. It's not true love in his case that brings on the tears; it's being touched by Horton's noble defense of the Whos and his forgiveness of the Sour Kangaroo.

* Big blue scaremaster Sully of ''[[Monsters, Inc.]]'' has a soft spot for Boo, falling in love with her when most of his kind have been taught to regard small children with terror.

* [[Tron]] is a very sweet guy, despite being the biggest [[Badass]] in [[Cyberspace]]. He is visibly shaken and upset when he {{spoiler|thinks that Flynn and Ram were killed}}, and hangs his head sadly when informed [[He Didn't Make It]]. With an urgent call from Alan at stake, what does he do? He goes to find and free [[Happily Married|Yori]] (and if you factor in that [[Deleted Scene]], have a "private" moment back at her home). In the sequel? {{spoiler|''Twenty years of brainwashing''}} is overridden with [[The Power of Friendship]]. And his [[Kingdom Hearts]] version celebrated the team's victory with hugs all around.

* Lenny from ''[[Of Mice and Men]]'' is an inversion. Mostly soft spot and a bruiser who doesn't know his own strength {{spoiler|to the point [[And Call Him George|he kills the animals he cherishes]]}}.

* Bruce from the [[CHERUB Series]]; although he seems to be a hardcore martial arts fan with a thing for blood and gore, he still goes to bed with his little blue teddy.

* [[Land of Oz|In Oz]], no one fits this like Nick "the [[Tin Man]]" Chopper. He was cursed to become tin because he was [[Determinator|determined]] to earn enough money to support his fiancee and get her away from the Wicked Witch. He rusted himself crying over crushing an innocent ''insect.'' Threaten harm to an innocent or to one of his [[True Companions]]? The axe comes out, and he becomes the ''scariest'' fighter in the land.

* John Casey from ''[[Chuck]]''. We've had [[Flash Back]]s with some of his past.

* D'Argo from ''[[Farscape]]''. He generally has two moods, angry and weepy.

* Like his tin counterpart, Wyatt Cain from ''[[Tin Man (TV series)|Tin Man]]'' crosses this with [[Heartbroken Badass]]. The man is a scary-good fighter both in hand to hand and with his pistol, but his cold facade breaks down in a hurry when [[Honor Before Reason|asked to do the honorable thing]], or when he senses someone needs protection. At the end, he is almost on the verge of tears {{spoiler|warning DG that she will have to face her sister alone.}}

* Seth from ''9ChickweedLane'' is a ballet dancer who looks like a linebacker but is a low key gay man and a hopeless romantic who went to some effort to get Edda and Amos together.

* Sig from ''[[Jak and Daxter]]'', at the end of Jak II, reminiscing about his childhood:

** "Poopsy bear? Buddy, you just ruined your image."

** Former CIA agent Helena Harper has a reputation for being [[Cowboy Cop|aggressive and grumpy]]. One of the reasons she was relocated to Secret Service was because her little sister Deborah revealed a recent ex-boyfriend was abusive, so she [[Knight Templar Big Sister|shot him]] in the leg.

* Rayne from ''[[Least I Could Do]]'' is an inversion. He was a scrawny teenager who got his heart broken, and is now a big brawny man-slut who doesn't seem inclined to seek true love anymore.

* All three of the ''[[Biker Mice From Mars]]'' fit this trope to varying degrees, but there was one time where [[Gentle Giant|Modo]] [[Manly Tears|cried]] because the Big Bad destroyed a orphanage.

* El Oso, enemy of ''[[El Tigre]]'', is willing to kick the living crap out of every bear in the forest for the bear-girl he loves, but when she runs off with ''her'' true love, he breaks down sobbing.

* Spike the bulldog from ''[[Tom and Jerry]]'' with his pup, Tyke.

* In ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'', The Hippo has a soft spot for Toph, who actually is a Bruiser with a Soft Center herself.

** Cyborg gets mad when you mess with his car. Gets mad when you mess with the Tower. But wreck the sofa and he bursts into tears.

** Scrappy little Robin grabs a spare uniform with determined expression—then folds it up into a pillow for Silkie. He pets the thing affectionately, then heads out.

* Sandman in ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]]'' shows kindness to small children. In his case, it might be [[Foreshadowing]] a {{spoiler|[[Heel Face Turn]] as happened in the comics.}}

* ''[[South Park]]'': Cthulhu. Cartman abuses this shamelessly, and invokes the [[Looney Tunes]] example above.

* Tohru from ''[[Jackie Chan Adventures]]''.

{{quote|'''Wilykat:''' Busted!

'''Wilykit:''' Panthro's a big ol' softy!

* Buford of ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]''. He bursts into tears when his goldfish goes missing. He is thrilled when his bear is restored by the boys' teleportation machine, and when helping Baljeet babysit Perry, speaks to him gently and assures that they will take good care of him.

* [[Chuck Norris]].

* For someone who does her own stunts and once played action stars like [[Mad Max: Fury Road|Furiosa]] and Atomic Blonde, [[Charlize Theron]] is pretty [[The Klutz|accident-prone]] and frequently suffers from [[Sand in My Eyes]] if she gets a compliment.