Fan Yay: Difference between revisions

[[File:David_and_JonathanDavid and Jonathan.jpg|link=The Bible (Literature)|rightframe|Even [[The Middle Ages]] were gay for David and Jonathan.]]

Not all [['''Fan Yay]]''' is unintentional; quite a bit revolves around canon gay or bi characters or relationships.

* ''[[Dragonball Z]]'' is also prone to bara [[Fan Yay]], being an anime about giant muscle-bound men and filled with bromance. It's just oozing testosterone. Nappa is the most common candidate, being giant dumb beefcake. Since Goku is naive as a brick, many fantasize that they could lure him to bed with promise of candy.

** The [[Furry Fandom]] [[Fan Yay]] seems fond of Giran.

* ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]'': Darius and Heinkel ([[Ho Yay|together]] or [[Mr. Fanservice|individually]]) have an immense gay following. Much of the cast consists of [[Author Appeal|muscular men]] and shirtless scenes abound for the main character.

* ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion (Anime)|Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' with [[Ensemble Darkhorse|Kaworu]].

* ''[[Zettai Muteki Raijin -Oh]]'': Asuka's got both fangirls and fanboys (who are otherwise straight) in the fandom.

* ''[[Gurren Lagann]]''. If [[Walking Shirtless Scene|K]][[Even the Guys Want Him|a]][[Mr. Fanservice|m]][[Badass|i]][[Rated "M" for Manly|n]][[Crazy Awesome|a]] doesn't sell any gay viewer on it, post-[[Time Skip]] [[Estrogen Brigade Bait|Si]][[Walking Shirtless Scene|mo]][[Of Corsets Sexy|n]] will, and then there's also the massive amounts of [[Homoerotic Subtext]] between them.

* ''[[Nabari no Ou]]'', [[Nabari no Ou (Manga)/Ho Yay|unsurprisingly]], has disproportionate percentage of LGBT fans.

* ''[[ISOI.s.o.]]''.

** Northstar was conceived as being gay from the start, it just took them forever to openly proclaim it (don't forget, it was illegal to do so for most of that time). Colossus' same-sex leanings are unique to the ''[[Ultimate X Men|Ultimate X-Men]]'' continuity.

** Most male [[X-Men]] are sufficiently buff to have at least some [[Bara Genre]]-style fanart of them. While [[Wolverine]] is far and away the most popular subject of this, as mentioned below,[[Nineties Anti -Hero|Cable]], [[Gentle Giant|Colossus]], [[Genius Bruiser|Beast]] and [[Standardized Leader|Cyclops]] get quite a bit as well, and even the more lithely-built ones like [[Launcher of a Thousand Ships|Gambit]] and [[An Ice Person|Iceman]] get their share of bara-styled fanworks.

* [[Spider -Man]] has a large gay fandom, especially when paired with Venom.

* ''[[Three Hundred300]]''. Blatant [[Fan Yay]] bait.

{{quote| '''Jude Law [Watson]:''' I knew enough about Sherlock Holmes to know that there was a lot of unchartered material. I knew [Downey's casting] was going to be something exciting, and therefore the project was going to be something exciting. And as soon as I met him, we got on very well - which is a good sign - and we both agreed that we wanted to really make this a piece about the relationship between Watson and Holmes.<br />

* ''[[The Wizard of Oz (Filmfilm)|The Wizard of Oz]]''

* ''[[What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?]]''

* ''[[Xanadu (Film)|Xanadu]]''.

* Most of Classical mythology - especially Hellenic mythology - falls under this. Homosexual relations were widely accepted and practiced in Ancient Greece, and tolerated in Rome. As a result, vast swathes of Ancient Greek mythological figures have serious [[Ho Yay]] going on, and on top of that, many have explicit romantic relationships with the same-sex. Not to mention most of the Gods being [[Bi the Way]]. Things were toned down in Roman times (the original Narcissus myth had him spurning a male suitor) but a lot still lingered on. Greek mythology has subsequently inspired a lot of homoerotic art, such as this [https://web.archive.org/web/20140102005146/http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/The_Death_of_Hyacinthos.gif painting] of Apollo cradling Hyacinth.

* ''[[The Bible (Literature)|The Bible]]'', namely the story of [[Her Heart Will Go On|David and Jonathan]]. Though David had no fewer than ''eight'' wives, he was said to have loved [[Closet Key|Jonathan]] with a passion above all other people. The [[Ho Yay]] of this relationship has been [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_and_David:Jonathan and David#Homoeroticism |acknowledged and celebrated in art]] at least since the Middle Ages (and likely earlier as well).

** A tolerance campaign once went around quoting [https://web.archive.org/web/20131106010835/http://www.wouldjesusdiscriminate.org/biblical_evidence/david_jonathan.html verses] pertaining to David/Jonathan and Ruth/Naomi, with [[Internet Backdraft|predictable reactions]] from people who use Bible verses to defend [[Values Dissonance|less tolerant positions]].

* Nearly any [[Mythology|mythological]] hero or [[Worthy Opponent]] in a world of [[Ambiguously Gay|ambiguous]] or [[Ho Yay|blatantly homoerotic]] sexuality. Heracles, the Minotaur, [[Yaoi Guys|Zephyrus and Hyacinth]], Cú Chulainn, [[Beowulf (Literature)|Beowulf]]...

* [[ACDC (Music)|ACDC]], due to [[Have a Gay Old Time|what the term means in the gay community]], had a large gay following, which the band embraced.

* ''[[Degrassi the Next Generation]]''. Marco's storyline is blatant [[Fan Yay]] bait.

* ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'' and ''[[Torchwood (TV)|Torchwood]]'' (the latter being rather deliberate.)

*** ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'' had attracted a large LGBT fanbase during the original series as well, as RTD had repeatedly referenced on his previous show ''[[Queer Asas Folk]]'' ("Oh my God, you've got ''Genesis of the Daleks''!").

* ''[[Blake's Seven (TV)7|Blakes Seven]]''. All the way. It was one of the first major slash fandoms and from the late Nineties onwards, new fans have mostly trickled in ''because'' of the slash. The main fan-run ''[[Blake's Seven (TV)7|Blakes Seven]]'' convention, Redemption, regularly features slash panels. This makes the somewhat homophobic, anti-slash copyright owners rather uneasy.

** Brittany and Santana's relationship went from background [[Ho Yay|LesYay]] to throwaway joke to full story arc due in no small part to the [[Fan Yay]] [[Portmanteau Couple Name|Brittana]] attracted.

* The [[Dan Schneider]] stable of shows include, ''[[I CarlyiCarly]]'', ''[[Victorious]]'' and ''[[Drake and Josh]]'' all managed to pick up an ongoing LGBT fanbase.

** ''[[I CarlyiCarly]]'' because of Sam's ambiguously lesbian, probably bisexual, tendencies, the [[Les Yay]] between Carly and Sam, and that pretty much any plot involving Carly, Sam and a third female, turns into a [[Love Triangle]], or at least looks like [[UST]], such as the Missy/Sam [[Foe Yay]] example, and the Carly/Shelby one.

* Back when [[Hello, Attorney!|Alex Cabot]] was still on the show (pick a season, any season. She's the ADA for five out of eleven of them, even after she [[Not Quite Dead|died]].), ''[[Law and Order Special Victims Unit]]'' had a reputation for having a large lesbian fanbase, due to the ''blatant'' [[Les Yay]] between Alex and Olivia, which Executive Producer Neal Baer not only acknowledged, but deliberately strung along.

** Stephanie March (Alex) has recently said that she thinks Alex/Olivia is entirely possible - they may even have been together, a la [[CSI: (TV)Crime Scene Investigation|the Grissoms]], for a long while. Which is ''spectacular''.

* ''[[Queer Asas Folk]]''.

* ''[[Rizzoli and Isles]]'' has this in spades. Which is unsurprising, considering it's a pair of [[Heterosexual Life Partners]] played by [[Law and& Order (TV)|Abbie Carmichael]] and [[NCIS (TV)|Kate Todd]].

* ''[[Star Trek (Franchise)|Star Trek]]'', believe it or not. Probably more to do with [[Wide -Eyed Idealist|Gene]] [[Knight Templar|Roddenberry]] and the blatant fanservice than [[Slash Fic]], honestly.

** Although ''[[Star Trek (Franchise)|Star Trek]]'' is notable for [[Ho Yay]] to the point of inspiring the first [[Slash Fic]], the fact that there are no canonically gay or bi characters in the series has led to complaints.

** Jadzia Dax in ''[[Star Trek Deep Space Nine (TV)|Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' could be construed as averting this. However, the nature of the [[The Symbiote|Trill]] as a joined species leaves this open to interpretation. In the episode "Rejoined" Jadzia experiences a "bisexual" attraction to another female Trill whose symbiont had {{spoiler|formerly resided in the wife of one of the Dax symbiont's previous male hosts}}. Because of the context, this could be taken as an instance of [[It's Okay If It's You]]. Jadzia was really part of an [[Official Couple]] with {{spoiler|Worf}}.

* ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]''. This even happens ''in-series'' when a prophet turns his visions of the Winchesters' lives into a series of books. Our heroes are horrified to discover people are writing [[Slash Fic]] of them, and a later episode involves them going to an actual Supernatural convention and meeting a gay couple who cosplay as them. This is despite the fact that they are brothers, and each sleeps with quite a few women.

* ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'', with its central relationship being that of Arthur and Merlin (both played by young men in this version), and the fact that the actors [[Colin Morgan]] and [[Bradley James]] are [[Heterosexual Life Partners]]. However, there has been some [[Creator Backlash]] to this, with one of the head writers claiming that: "we don't pander to that lot."

* ''[[Battletoads (Video Game)|Battletoads]]''. This now-obscure 1990s video game franchise used a [[Paper-Thin Disguise]] [[Excuse Plot]] about [[Save the Princess|saving a girl]] to unleash one of the single most [[Ho Yay|homo]][[Fetish Fuel|erotic]] video games in existence. For some reason, in particular, Big Blag the [[Lightning Bruiser]] [[Leather Man]] has a Fan Yay quotient as potent as [[Super Mario (franchise)|Bowser]], except not nearly as well known. All this from the same game that gave us [[Ms. Fanservice|The Dark Queen]].

* The ''[[Breath of Fire]]'' series, which almost seemed to be a foregone conclusion considering it was already very popular in the [[Furry Fandom]]. The greatest [[Fan Yay]] seems to go to Garr and Rei from ''[[Breath of Fire III]]'' and to Cray from ''[[Breath of Fire IV]]''.

* ''[[Final Fantasy VI (Video Game)|Final Fantasy VI]]''. [[Rated "M" for Manly|Sabin René Figaro]] occasionally shows up in [[Bara Genre]]. [[Grandma, What Massive Hotness You Have!|Cyan Garamonde]] would also seem like a good candidate, but [[Fan Yay]] of him is surprisingly [[Averted Trope|scarce]].

* Cid Highwind, the gruff, constantly swearing airship pilot from ''[[Final Fantasy VII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy VII]]'', is often depicted as full-fledged beefcake in [[Bara Genre]] fanworks these days. This may be due to his appearance in [[Advent Children]] being rather brawnier than in the game.

* ''[[Final Fantasy X (Video Game)|Final Fantasy X]]'', mostly [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Kimahri]], Wakka, Auron, and [[Walking Shirtless Scene|Jecht]].

* ''[[Final Fantasy XI (Video Game)|Final Fantasy XI]]''. The muscled-out [[Stripperiffic]] Galka are a [[One-Gender Race]], confirmed all male by [[Word of God]]. Figure out the implications yourself. Needless to say, there is a '''lot''' of gay-appealing fanart of these guys.

** Similarly, the [[Stripperiffic]] [[Femme Fatale]] Viera in ''[[Final Fantasy XII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy XII]]'' and related continuity. If they aren't a full-on [[One-Gender Race]], they seem to be at least a one gender ''society'', as there are no male Viera anywhere in evidence in their village, or referred to even in passing. As their culture is also very different from the local human societies, it creates a lot of speculation.

* ''[[Final Fantasy XIII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy XIII]]'' seems to have quite the yuri-inclined fandom...Probably due to all the blatant [[Les Yay]] between Fang and Vanille. At one point, Fang actually looks up Vanille's skirt {{spoiler|to check her L'Cie mark, though,}} and also says she would tear down the sky for her. Oh, and the skirt-lifting happened immediately after a rather close hug, during which Vanille's hand ''is on Fang's breast''.

** Special mention must go to the [http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Narasimha_(Final_Fantasy_XIII-2) Narasimha] from ''[[Final Fantasy XIII -2]]''. Built like a brick house, wears a pair of woefully inadequate shorts and nothing else, and you can ''recruit'' one!

* ''[[Gears of War]]''. All the main leads are so very, very buff and manly that it pretty much invites [[Fan Yay]].

* ''[[The Legend of Zelda (Franchise)|The Legend of Zelda]]''. There's something about Ganondorf that makes him quite the Fan Yay bait.

* ''[[Super Mario (franchise)|Mario]]''. Mario himself to a degree, but far outshadowered by '''Bowser'''. A big hairy strong guy wearing [[Leather Man|spikes and leather]] and [[Stripperiffic|nothing else]]? Bowser oozes testosterone, and attracts tons of testosterone-y fans. Though both Mario and Bowser are portrayed as straight in a [[Love Triangle|struggle]] over [[Save the Princess|Peach]], [[Foe Yay]] inevitably ensues.

* Tali'Zorah, resident [[Wrench Wench]] and [[Badass Normal]] of ''[[Mass Effect (Video Game)|Mass Effect]]'' has a substantial lesbian fanbase for her personality, close relationship with Shepard, and [[Les Yay]] in the second game. It's been hinted that Tali was intended to be a romance option for a female Shepard, but her voice actor found the idea uncomfortable.

** [[Good -Looking Privates|Kaidan Alenko]] and [[Hitman Withwith a Heart|Thane Krios]] too, thanks to scrapped plans for them to be romancable regardless of Shepard's gender, and the impressive amount of [[Ho Yay]] left over from that in Kaidan's case. Oddly, enough, the fan yay for [[Action Girl|Ashley Williams]] is quite lacking in comparison even though all this also applies to her.

** As of ''[[Mass Effect 3 (Video Game)|Mass Effect 3]]'', Kaidan is a romance option for Shepards of both sexes (Bioware apparently figured he was the Virmire survivor with the most [[Ho Yay]] / [[Fan Yay]]).

** It's the source of a fair amount of [[Fan Yay]], which is perhaps not surprising, since Solid Snake and Big Boss are both handsome, muscular military men who get involved in a lot of [[Ho Yay]]. It's basically what [[Wolverine]] is to Westerners.

* ''[[Red Earth (Video Game)|Red Earth]]''. Leo, duh.

* Chris Redfield of ''[[Resident Evil]]'' has become a pretty huge presence in [[Bara Genre]] fanart due to his [[Rated "M" for Manly]] makeover in [[Resident Evil 5]].

* ''[[Star Fox (Video Gameseries)|Star FoxFOX]]''. In Japan, the [[Fan -Preferred Couple|most common fan-pairing]] is Fox with Falco, in both [[Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other|tame romance]] and in [[Rule 34]]. (Even Fox and Krystal are [[Het Is Ew|not paired as often]] overall.) Other popular Fan Yay pairings include Fox with Wolf, James with Peppy, Wolf with Leon, or [[Triang Relations|Wolf with Leon and Panther]]. In the West, all the above also are paired to some degree, but have long been utterly eclipsed in popularity by non-Fan Yay pairing of Fox with [[Ms. Fanservice|Krystal]]. Krystal [[Americans Hate Tingle|hasn't had quite the popularity]] in Japan she's had in the West, and even the writers have been [[The Artifact|increasingly unkind to her]].

** Don't forget that not only the Japanese can't stand her -- [[They Changed It, Now It Sucks|most of the Star Fox players before Adventures don't]]. Their substitute? [[Star Fox 1 (Videovideo Gamegame)|Fara Phoenix]]. She's likable enough even when she's ''not'' being paired with anyone.

* ''[[Star Ocean: Till the End of Time]]''. Adray Lasbard is a [[Walking Shirtless Scene]] [[Badass Grandpa]] with sex appeal. There is [[Bara Genre]], [[Rule 34|yes there is]].

* ''[[Touhou Project]]''. With a predominately female cast (there have been exactly six male characters out of over a hundred in the entire series--ofseries—of those six, only three are even remotely human--ofhuman—of those three, only one is alive), the Touhou fanbase is a breeding ground for happy yuri fans. ZUN seems to be aware of this and has actually admitted that he likes the idea of his characters paired together, although he hasn't said which pairings he likes (although Marisa and Alice are hinted at in canon). Most of the Touhou fans are male by the way.

* ''[[Wild Arms 2 (Video Game)|Wild ArmsARMs 2]]'' had tall, dark and hunky [[Gentle Giant]] / [[Mighty Glacier]] Brad Evans, who was sweetly devoted to his war buddy Billy Pilder. While [[Broken Base|debate continues]] over [[Ambiguously Gay|whether they were actually intended to be gay]], their [[Tear Jerker]] [[Homoerotic Subtext]] has made Brad a video game [[StraightInvisible Gayto Gaydar]] icon.

* [[Team Fortress 2 (Video Game)|Team Fortress 2]] anyone? The [[Band of Brothers|all-male cast]] has lead to a variety of shipping opportunities, a surprising chunk of which involve the [[Grandma, What Massive Hotness You Have!|40 or 50-something]] Medic and the [[Stout Strength|bu]][[Kevlard|lky]] [[Boisterous Bruiser|Heavy]].

== WebcomicsWeb Comics ==

* ''[[Last Res 0 rtRes0rt]]''.

* ''[[Penny and Aggie (Webcomic)|Penny and Aggie]]''.

* ''[[Roommates (2009 (Webcomicwebcomic)|Roommates]]''

* ''[[Vinci and Arty (Webcomic)|Vinci and Arty]]''.

* ''[[Homestuck (Webcomic)|Homestuck]]'' features an entire race of [[Everyone Is Bi]] trolls. Because of this (as well as a lot of [[Ho Yay]], at least one canonically queer human character, and thoughtful treatment of queerness altogether) it has become rather popular among LGBT people. [[Lipstick Lesbian|Kanaya]] is especially popular.

* ''[[Biker Mice From Mars (Animation)|Biker Mice From Mars]]''. Shirtless, muscular anthropomorphic mice who ride motorcycles and are fond of wrestling one another? Yes.

* ''[[Gargoyles (Animation)|Gargoyles]]''. Goliath, Brooklyn and Broadway are all [[Fan Yay]] favorites, and to a lesser extent even Hudson is featured. But Lexington, the only actual [[Word of Gay]] character, is too much of [[The Twink]] for the [[Bara Genre]] crowd.

* ''[[Goof Troop (Animation)|Goof Troop]]''. Oh Pete, you [[Stupid Sexy Flanders|sexy beast]]. [[Rule 34]] of him (sometimes even [[Incest Is Relative|paired with PJ]]) occasionally [[Incredibly Lame Pun|pops]] up.

* ''[[Kim Possible (Animation)|Kim Possible]]''. [[Most Fanfic Writers Are Girls]], almost all Kim Possible [[Fanfic]] is about a [[Les Yay|lesbian relationship]] between [[Foe Yay|Kim and Shego]], so [[Yuri Fangirl|some girls]] must be working out some issues for one of the two.

* ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' is already known for its large [[Periphery Demographic|adult male fanbase]] ([[Fan Nickname|Fan Nicknamed]]d "bronies"). But there is a particular Fan Yay for Big Macintosh. [[Rule 34]] of him is also abundant, including as a [[Petting Zoo People|Petting Zoo Person]] and even [[Race Lift|Race Lifted]]ed as a human male.

* ''[[The Ren and Stimpy Show (Animation)|The Ren and Stimpy Show]]'', later aided by [[Word of Gay]].

* ''[[Road Rovers (Animation)|Road Rovers]]''. Exile and his "weird boy" Blitz. Hunter seemed oddly disinterested in the flirtatious Colleen, [[Sorry, I'm Gay|for some odd reason]].

* ''[[Robin Hood (Disney film)|Robin Hood]]''. Specifically the Sheriff of Nottingham in the 1973 [[Disney]] animated feature.

* ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants (Animation)|SpongeBob SquarePants]]'', to the point where extreme conservative religious figures occasionally [[Moral Guardians|condemned it]] as part of "[[Conspiracy Theory|the homosexual agenda]]".

* ''[[Swat Kats (Animation)|Swat Kats]]''. Take a wild guess. Fans had no trouble picking up the [[Ho Yay]] between the two main characters, even with them both being clearly interested in the opposite sex.

* ''[[Tarzan (Disney film)|Disney's Tarzan]]''. Admit it, you saw it coming from miles away.

* ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Franchise)|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]''. Especially [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1987 (Animation)|Bebop and Rocksteady]]. And, [[Rule 34|more controversially]], [[Twincest|the Turtles among themselves]].

* ''[[The Venture Brothers (Animation)|The Venture Brothers]]''. [[Mr. Fanservice|Brock]] [[Testosterone Poisoning|Samson]]'s character design was totally asking for this. [[Patrick Warburton]]'s voice and the occasional [[Fan Service]] helped even more.

* ''[[Wild West Cowboys of Moo Mesa]]''. More manly anthropomorphic characters, in the form of three [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|Cowboys]].

* ''[[He Man and The Masters of The Universe (Animation)|He -Man and Thethe Masters of Thethe Universe]]'' gets this a lot. Considering Prince Adam is soft-spoken, likes to cook, and wears pink and lavender with furry underpants over his tights, and he transforms into a muscular barbarian when he 'holds his sword aloft'...

** ''[[She -Ra: Princess of Power]]'' tends to attract a lot of this as well. Just look at Bo.

* ''[[Daria (Animation)|Daria]]'' is now on [[Logo]]. Granted, many fans tend to see [[Les Yay]] in Daria and Jane's relationship, but pretty much every major character is canonically straight.

* ''[[Adventure Time (Animation)|Adventure Time]]''. Marceline/Bubblegum had quite a bit of [[Yuri Genre|fanart]]. But thanks to the "What Was Missing" episode and the Recap video, the pairing has garnered a huge following with lots of fanart. Natasha Allegri, the show's character designer, made suggestive art of the two as well.

* Many [[Hot Men At Work|job occupations]] have earned the [[Fan Yay]] of gay men everywhere, especially the [[Bara Genre|manliest]], [[Manly Gay|most rugged]] and [[Fetish Fuel|hottest-looking]] careers. [[Badass Biker|Bikers]], [[Pec Flex|bodybuilders]], construction workers, [[Gay Cowboy|cowboys]], [[Firemen Are Hot|fire fighters]], [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_wrestling:Oil wrestling|oil wrestlers]], [[Fair Cop|police]], [[Hello, Sailor!|sailors]], [[Good -Looking Privates|soldiers]]...the list goes on. Scores points if someone can be [[Shirtless Scene|barechested]] or [[Hell-Bent for Leather|wear leather]]. The gay appeal of [[The Village People]] should be crystal clear. Certain careers have since been additionally glamorized in [[Fan Yay]] because of either a famous [[Truth in Television|gay person]] or a person who otherwise achieved gay icon status -- forstatus—for example, divers, after the fame of gay American diver Greg [[Significant Name|Louganis]].

* Sometimes the [[Hot Men At Work]] don't have to be from modern times, but can be from occupations [[Older Than Dirt]]. Warriors, hunters, athletes, gladiators, blacksmiths and even fishermen, farmers and artisans from non-recent historical times have long [[Fetish Fuel|captured the imagination]] of men for centuries, if they are perceived in modern times to have been particularly [[Hot Men At Work]] back then, and most especially if they are [[National Geographic Nudity|naked]]. Interests may also feature any combination of [[Bara Genre]] (you think all those Greek pottery paintings were just documentative?), [[Body Paint]], [[Boys Love]] (yeah...), [[Carpet of Virility]] ([[Fridge Brilliance|men had hair back then, didn't they?]]), [[Full -Frontal Assault]] (because I'm brave!...and too poor to afford armor), [[Gay Bravado]], [[Going Commando]] (underpants weren't always fashionable yet), [[Hell-Bent for Leather]] (not everyone has sheep for wool!), [[Heroic Build]] ([[Rule of Sexy|a requirement]]), [[Ho Yay]] (of course), [[Male Frontal Nudity]] (or get pneumonia while net-fishing?), [[Naked Apron]] (or let blacksmiths burn themselves without it?), [[Pec Flex]], [[Rated "M" for Manly]], [[Walking Shirtless Scene]] (shirt? what's a shirt?)... It [[Coconut Effect|doesn't always have to be]] perfectly accurate [[Truth in Television]], [[Rule of Sexy|as long as it's hot]]. Overlaps somewhat with [[Mythology]] [[Fan Yay]].

* This tends to happen with medieval Arabic and Persian poetry, since in order not to ruin a woman's honour, Islamic poets often wrote odes to beautiful young boys. And in mystical Sufi poetry, God was seen as a distant, teasing beloved, also male--themale—the poems were about agape but presented through eros. Historians and translators often throw apoplectic fits when gay readers ''dare'' love poets like Rumi because of the m/m symbolism.