These male characters are badass sensitive guys. They're often campy, vain, and in many cases pretty, but they're also incredibly effective at what they do, and quite powerful. They may have combat skills, seduction ability that rivals James Bond's, or simply be Chessmasters skilled in manipulating others. They can be gay, straight, bisexual, or asexual; good or evil; Played for Laughs or played seriously; but they're all dominant personalities who tend to get their way. They also tend to be romantically successful, attracting admirers, and often getting the girl — or boy, if they're into that.
Unlike the Real Men Wear Pink trope, these characters are not macho with one or two girly interests, they're all around girly characters, who are also tougher, cooler, and more surrounded by ladies than any normal person could ever hope to be (to some extent because they're girly). These characters are rarely regimented military types, usually filling more the lovable (or in some cases detestable) rogue role, though occasionally one is seen in the role of the military leader of some sort. Decadence is also a big part of this trope, as they're usually more fabulous than simply feminine. Their femininity is most often more diva than demure. A "Sensitive Guy with a Manly Streak" is another way to describe them.
Some ways in which girliness can make a character more badass:
- In some cases effeminacy is a tactic for these characters, a way to unsettle and intimidate their enemies, by their logic: If he can still be badass and confident in his masculinity in that dress, his balls must be the size of watermelons and made of steel. They're still inherently effeminate characters, but they've realized that it throws people off, and so use it to their advantage.
- It can also be seen as a sexual tactic, as in some universes acting girly seems to attract women (and in certain shows everyone else) in droves. This is possibly a case of Truth in Television as women seem to have an easier time trusting girly men, and thus girly men often use this as a tactic to get laid. As for men, seeming gay immediately signals compatible orientations, and cuts down on beating around the bush.
- Their pretty looks and girly behavior are an indicator of their prowess — they go through the exact same trials as the scarred, unshaven, macho-looking tough guys, and do it without messing their hair or breaking a nail.
- On a related note, some characters use their femininity to maintain an element of surprise. (E.g. "No one suspects the flamingly camp hairdresser of being a super soldier.")
- Sometimes girly knowledge is also a part of the badassitude. (E.g. "Mrs. Busby did it because her shade of lipstick was on the napkin that was found with the victim — it's called passion plum, I very nearly borrowed it for the ball the other day.")
This trope has a certain prevalence in Japanese media, where traditional standards of masculinity differ quite from those of the west. However, unlike western examples, which often play with the ambiguity, the Japanese usually consider this archetype straight by default, with their effeminacy actually representing less of an identification with the opposite sex and more of an image of a sophisticated man (who, nonetheless, is likely to be also knowledgeable about the women's world as part of his refinement). It often overlaps with Long-Haired Pretty Boy.
Compare Campy Combat, Sissy Villain, Real Men Wear Pink, In Touch with His Feminine Side, Wholesome Crossdresser, Creepy Crossdresser, Gay Bravado (straight men using homoerotic comments to reinforce their heterosexuality), Camp Straight, Camp Gay, Even the Guys Want Him, The Fighting Narcissist, Kicking Ass in All Her Finery, Bullet-Proof Fashion Plate, The Pretty Guys Are Stronger.
Depending on how dark the character gets, the Distaff Counterpart would be Nothing Nice About Sugar and Spice (for dark examples) or Girly Bruiser.
Note: an Agent Peacock is considered badass, even though you wouldn't expect it at first. A Sissy Villain emphasizes his viciousness through feminine behavior. Both tropes can overlap, especially if Agent Peacock is evil.
Contrast The Dandy (who would rather not be an Agent), Pink Is for Sissies, and Unmanly Secret.
Many elves fall under this. Unrelated to the Peacock Girl or the character from Skullgirls.
Examples:
- The androgynous and beautiful angel Rosiel from Angel Sanctuary serves as the series' Big Bad. The extent of his powers causes even some of the lesser villains to fear and/or respect him.
- Dr. Kureha Koushou from Baki the Grappler. Depicted as a muscular man complete with an effeminate demeanor and long luscious hair, especially when taunting. Also extremely deadly, as his vast knowledge of the human body allows him to easily drop a lot of fighters to their knees, despite not having much professional fighting experience. Also is capable of finishing a 4-hour surgery in only 30 minutes due to his special techniques, and is capable of bringing back a person from the dead using the most limited resources and his own hands.
- Cultured Badass Griffith of Berserk. He's an effeminate man who's been described as more beautiful than women. He's also a cunning tactician, highly skilled swordsman, and leader of the Band of Hawk. When he ascends to demonhood as Femto, fifth member of the Godhand, he even wears lipstick.
- Kirsch Vermillion from Black Clover. The vice captain of the Coral Peacocks, he's a shallow man who's obsessed with beauty, with a hatred of anybody or anything that he deems ugly. That said, his strength in battle is directly proportional to his flamboyance. He can use Cherry Blossom Magic to cover an entire battlefield, create clones of himself, and attack with sharp petals.
- Bleach:
- Shunsui Kyoraku wears a pink flowery woman's kimono, likes making grand entrances surrounded by falling petals, and hates the effort of actually getting up and fighting. According to the Bleach Character Book of Souls, he's well-known as being Soul Society's biggest dandy. He's also the third-oldest captain in the Gotei, a Combat Pragmatist who is fond of attacking people mid-speech with Dissonantly Serene pithy commentary. He's promoted to Captain-Commander after Yamamoto's death.
- Szayelaporro Granz, who will stop a fight just so he can change into a less torn set of clothing and whose entire theme is full of sexual innuendo. As an Espada, he can take on Shinigami captains and he's a leader of Hollows, although he tends to cultivate followers solely to eat them when he needs to power up.
- Yumichika Ayasegawa is flamboyant, narcissistic Bishounen obsessed with beauty. Not only is he still a vicious and pragmatic combatant in spite of this but he is a member of Squad 11 who are notorious for being a squad of battle-crazed thugs. During the Arrancar arc, Yumichika meets an Arrancar named Charlotte Chulhourne who looks like a buff male Magical Girl with a rose theme (his zanpakuto name translates to 'Queen of the Roses'), and part of their fight is over whose aesthetics are the best.
- Nathan Mahler of Blood+ seems to use his flamboyant qualities to conceal some of the darker elements of his personality.
- Mephisto Pheles from Blue Exorcist wears a pink and purple outfit, rides around in a pink limousine, carries a pink cell phone with little charms of cute animals, and has a pink parasol he brings everywhere. This is the same man who can restrain two berserk sons of Satan in seconds without much effort (note that one of them caused an earthquake earlier just from casually punching the ground while the other accidentally burns an entire forest using his Battle Aura). It's not like anyone dares to make fun of his taste in clothing. However, he seriously sucks at cooking. Just ask Yukio and Rin when their dorm's chef is away.
- Buso Renkin: Papillon comes across as a campy villain due to his ice dance-inspired outfits, his Large Ham personality, and his quirky mannerisms, but he is still an incredibly dangerous combatant who uses his intelligence, and the firepower of his buso renkin, to great effect.
- Lelouch Lamperouge from Code Geass. When he's not fiercely commanding his troops on the field of battle, he's often seen comforting his little sister and sometimes hanging out with the girls at school. In addition, he cooks, and, when in Secret Identity mode, is absolutely fabulous.
- Daimos: Richter has long blonde hair, a pretty face, and angel wings. He's also a Warrior Prince responsible for the deaths of millions of Earthlings and spearheads an Alien Invasion on Earth.
- Jimmy Kurosaki from Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. While he's mostly known as a flamboyant techie, Jimmy is a very dangerous man between his EMP emitter that's strong enough to put David on the ground and his custom attack drones. He's the first indication the crew has gotten in over their heads in their pursuit of Tanaka Sr.
- Death Note:
- Mello has been mistaken for a woman by many readers because of his long hair, midriff-baring leather outfits, and fur-lined coats. In some of the official art and in the official colorized manga, he's shown with black nail polish and lip gloss. He's also very dangerous, and manages to deduce that there are two Death Notes.
- Light Yagami himself is a villainous example of this trope. He’s extremely pretty, wears a corset in the manga at one point, and enjoys it, and becomes the ruler of the world for over half a decade, mostly by himself. He’s a somewhat downplayed version as he generally wears masculine clothing.
- A few examples from Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba:
- Tengen Uzui. He's Positively obsessed with flamboyance. This includes adding pieces of gemstones onto his clothing to add to his flamboyance.
- Doma. He's the flamboyant, fan-wielding Upper Rank 2 with flower-themed ice techniques.
- In Digimon Frontier, LordKnightmon, who is one of the Royal Knights and skilled enough to fight MagnaGarurumon, wears feminine pink armor, talks with dramatism, and is a Combat Aestheticist. However, he was a bit too effeminate, thus the English dub changed not only his name into Crusadermon, but also made him female.
- Dragon Ball:
- Zarbon is a great example of the military version of this, being Freeza's highest-ranked general and right-hand man. He's also a flamboyant narcissist who revels in his pretty-boy looks, going bedecked in jewelry and long, braided hair which looks kind of incongruous when he needs to increase his battle power and transforms into a massive, toad-faced beast.
- A better example is General Blue, a fastidious Macho Camp military officer who also happens to have Psychic Powers and is one of the toughest fighters the Red Ribbon Army has.
- Freeza himself is this, being a very effeminate, waifish alien with what looks like lipstick and eyeliner who sometimes behaves in a very campy manner. But he's also one of the most powerful beings in the universe and is absolutely brutal whenever he gets into a fight (or is failed by a minion).
- Android 17 is called "an effeminately beautiful young man" by Trunks when he's describing the androids to the Z-fighters. He's also an extremely capable fighter and easily defeats Piccolo and Tien in a two-on-one fight.
- Whis, Beerus' capable helper who has many effeminate mannerisms, and wears purple lipstick and a dress. He is also the most powerful person in Universe 7 (the native universe of the Dragon Ball cast).
- Goku Black is fairly cultured and adores his pink hair color as Super Saiyajin Rosé. He's also an even more brutal mass murderer than Freeza.
- Fairy Tail seems to be fond of this trope.
- Mard Geer, the Arc Villain of the Tartaros arc and the de facto leader of the Dark Guild Tartaros. He's an arrogant, Long-Haired Pretty Boy whose power lets him create thorns and petals, and he curb-stomps Natsu along with two other Dragon Slayers until Gray arrives, which is when he actually gets serious.
- God Serena, formerly the first-ranked of the Ten Wizard Saints and now a member of the Spriggan Twelve. Very flamboyant, to the point his fellow Shields think he's a weirdo at times, but able to easily defeat the four Wizard Saints ranked #2-5 without breaking a sweat using Dragon Slayer Magic, of which he can use eight different types.
- In contrast to his imposing silhouette first seen, fellow Spriggan Twelve member Neinhart is an effeminate-looking man who wears armor adorned with painted roses and is fond of using flowery, poetic language. His magic is very powerful in that it allows him to summon people from his enemies' pasts, including ones they have barely won against. This allows him to nearly kill Kagura and Jellal, and practically curb-stomp Erza before she catches her Heroic Second Wind, and even then it falls to Kagura and Jellal to fight him in her stead.
- Dorian from From Eroica with Love. It's almost impossible to imagine anyone more campy and foppish than Dorian... and yet he's a world-renowned art thief and keeps avoiding capture by... everyone.
- Fullmetal Alchemist:
- Compared to many of the hyper-masculine muscle-bound soldiers, Solf J. Kimblee is small, thin, neat, polite, and fixated on art and beauty (even if he has a very unconventional idea of it). He's also one of the most powerful, competent and feared of state alchemists.
- Envy in Fullmetal Alchemist (2003). He's an elegant Dance Battler and even prettier than his genderless manga counterpart along with being a cunning manipulator, The Dragon and the most powerful homunculus after Pride.
- Future Robot Daltanious: Kloppen has thick, luscious brown hair, long eyelashes and wears his hair in curls. He's also the Conquering Alien Prince of Zaal and massacred most of the galaxy's life forms.
- Nuriko from Fushigi Yuugi, more so before his Important Haircut.
- Hetalia: Axis Powers:
- France is highly vain, romantic and obsessed with all the arts, and has been badass at various points in history, especially under Napoleon.
- Poland combines this with Beware the Silly Ones. Though he is a little blond dude who's a total Cloud Cuckoo Lander and has a fondness for pink, ponies, and will even wear skirts, he once controlled Central and Eastern Europe (along with Lithuania) and will even stand up to Russia. And each time he's been partitioned, he's revived.
- In JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, most of the characters are at the very least pretty athletic men (and women) wearing clothes inspired by the latest fashion magazines. Add to that campy poses to accentuate their bodies. However, most of them are also hardened fighters and killers. For more specific examples:
- In Battle Tendency, the four Pillar Men (Kars, Esidisi, Wammu, and Santana) are massively muscular men wearing Mayincatec accessories and little else. They're still ancient and incredibly powerful superhumans who created vampires as prey. Kars' final transformation gives him long, flowing purple hair and purple eyeshadow, but he's the Ultimate Life Form, and so powerful that he was only defeated by Joseph getting extremely lucky.
- DIO in Stardust Crusaders wears a yellow jacket and pants along with green heart kneepads and pointy elf shoes, with his 11th-Hour Superpower giving him green lipstick. You should still probably take the vampire with Time Stands Still powers seriously.
- Dio's minion Vanilla Ice clearly follows his master's fashion trends, but The Power of the Void he wields is nothing to scoff at, and he kills Avdol and Iggy.
- Josuke Higashikata, The Hero of Diamond is Unbreakable, wears custom designer clothes (and spends most of his allowance on them) and wears his hair in a large and meticulously maintained pompadour. He is still very capable of messing you up if you insult said pompadour, a tribute to the stranger who saved his life when he was a kid, or hurt his friends.
- Yoshikage Kira's very meticulous about his personal health and hygiene and usually wears tailored suits. He's also a Serial Killer with the power to turn anything that he touches into a bomb.
- Everyone in Passione from Vento Aureo wears some kind of bizarre fashion statement, from Pannacotta Fugo's suit with holes all over it to Bruno Bucciarati's spotted suit with massive zippers on the shoulders to Illuso's puffed quilted ensemble, and don't even get us started on the gaudy hairstyles (Giorno and Cioccolata sporting some of the strangest of them all). However, they're all mafiosi with powerful Stands, so it would be wise to take them seriously.
- Yukari from K is this personified. He's probably the strongest non-King fighter in the series (along with his adoptive younger brother Kuroh, also a Long-Haired Pretty Boy). Yukari is a Dance Battler who takes down entire squads from powerful Clans easily. He also spends his time enjoying skincare products, fashion, and other pursuits of beauty.
- Legend of Heavenly Sphere Shurato: Karura-oh Reiga. Flamboyant, flirty, a total tease towards Shurato, very feminine-looking (lipstick included), fond of giving beauty tips to Lakshu… master strategist, skilled warrior, with encyclopedic knowledge about geography and lore that comes off very handy in the quests for the group.
- Jaibo and Raizou from Lychee Light Club, are sadistic badasses... and rather effeminate.
- Mobile Suit Gundam's M'quve is very swishy and comes complete with limp wrist, upper-class accent, ascot, and antique vase collecting. He's Kycilia Zabi's Knight and Dragon, The Strategist for Zeon's Earth-based forces, and a Cultured Warrior and Combat Pragmatist skilled enough to force Amuro to activate his Newtype powers for the first time.
- Yuki Michio from MW is a Master of Disguise who can impersonate a female with ease and a seductive killer who thinks little of shagging and then killing women and men alike.
- Yuga Aoyama from My Hero Academia is the most flamboyant member of the class and a hero-in-training.
- From Naruto there's Orochimaru, the creepy and twisted Big Bad of Part I who even took a girl's body as his own at one point. He's one of the most badass characters in the series, going one-on-one with a Four-Tailed Naruto just for fun. Word of God says that he was made flamboyant for him to have a "powerful aura" as a villain.
- Also applies to Haku. He dresses in a kimono in his free time and is described by Naruto "as more beautiful than Sakura". He's also incredibly deadly and only lost to Naruto because he was holding back and didn't wish to kill him and Sasuke.
- Cain from Nightwalker is fairly flamboyant and tough as nails.
- One Piece: A lot of the major players in the world dress in brightly-colored, downright goofy costumes, but are nonetheless powerful and often ruthless pirates, marines, or revolutionaries.
- Although Emporio Ivankov is a transvestite that can change gender on a whim, he is a competent revolutionary that can take people out with a mere bat of his eyelashes.
- Also, Mr. 2 Bon Kurei, an earlier awesome transvestite who uses the same transvestite martial arts Ivankov is a master of.
- Cavendish, who is drawn in your typical Bishōnen style and violently furious with the Supernovas for taking away his then-growing frame. But when he was able to stop a 500,000,000 berry pirate's headbutt attack with nothing but his sword, you know he earned his status as a New World Pirate.
- Doflamingo typically dresses in a very gaudy, flamboyant manner
, but is also one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, the ruler of his own nation and a renowned arms dealer. He can also make effective use of Razor Wire to kick your ass six ways to Sunday.
- Big Mom and most of her crew dress in complex, brightly-colored outfits with a candy theme. Big Mom is one of the Four Emperors, one of the most powerful pirates in the world, and her family has for the most part inherited her badassery.
- Count D from Pet Shop of Horrors qualifies. He's girly and loves sweets… and is technically responsible for many many deaths.
- Cilan from the PokĂ©mon: The Series, not too effeminate but very, very fabulous, and incredibly competent in multiple fields such as cooking, fishing, science, detective work, dressing up, acting, and of course PokĂ©mon battling. Most of the time funny and lovable, but when he gets serious, he gets mean—just ask Burgundy. Ironically, his manga and game counterpart are the exact opposite to the point where he's rather withdrawn and shy.
- Yuujirou from Princess Princess seems to be the toughest, or at least the most macho, of the bunch, but he has long pretty hair, and seems to be the one most dedicated to being a Princess for the sake of being a Princess.
- Saint Seiya has Lizard Misty, the Leader of the Silver Saints. Also, Pisces Aphrodite.
- Ukyo of Samurai 7 initially seems like a simpering, brainless fop, which he actually is, minus the brainless part. The real Ukyo is like The Prince distilled into a person. While he has little to no combat skill himself, he's good enough at manipulating those who do that he doesn't really need it.
- Takuto, the main character of Star Driver sports some massive Bling of War in battle, fights in a Humongous Mecha with quite pronounced hips, Combat Stilettos, and what looks like a manskirt and is an overall campy Large Ham, not to mention that his official title is "Ginga Bishōnen" note . However, there's a 99.9% chance that he will kick your ass in the most spectacular way possible.
- Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann:
- Leeron, full stop. He's basically every Camp Gay mannerism personified, but he's also capable of being able to creep out the manliest badasses in the show (both Kamina and Viral especially). He also happens to be the most awesome engineer in the multiverse and all the crap he makes or takes command of does totally awesome shit that makes reality and probability his collective bitch. Being voiced by Steve Blum, whose Camp Gay is surprisingly good, doesn't hurt, either.
- On the villainous side, Sissy Villain Cytomander, who is one almost literally, as he is a peacock-hybrid Beastman. He owns a giant flying fortress loaded to the brim with bombs and is (presumably) a skilled Gunmen pilot.
- Another Nathan in the list: Nathan Seymore/Fire Emblem from Tiger & Bunny. The dude's literally flaming, via his Camp Gay antics and his fire powers.
- Subaru Sumeragi from CLAMP's Tokyo Babylon. He's sweet sixteen, blushes at just about anything and wears outrageous outfits courtesy of his sister; he has the face of a very pretty girl, large green eyes; his build is small and skinny and he is the youngest head ever of the Sumeragi Clan; the most powerful Onmyōdō users in Japan, next to their rivals the Sakurazuka Clan. He's very compassionate and gentle true — but kicks serious ass with his impressive spiritual powers and exorcisms. There's a reason why at 16 he's the head of such a renowned clan. Later on in the follow-up manga, X1999, Subaru's all grown up at 25. He's still gentle, pretty, soft-spoken, and kind — but as the world is ending, he is forced to fight to preserve it. He doesn't even want to, but when he does his skill is incredible; his magic powers have improved even more, and even his fellow teammates — extremely powerful themselves — are seriously in awe of his skill. Sadly, his severe emotional angst and horribly broken heart thanks to Seishirou take away from his true ass-kicking abilities; but when he's thinking straight, he's an extremely formidable opponent.
- Shuu Tsukiyama from Tokyo Ghoul. An incredibly handsome and wealthy young man, he's always in outrageously bright clothing and prone to extreme levels of Camp. He's also the infamous "Gourmet", a high-ranked Ghoul that enjoys serving up his victims like fine dining and is responsible for a large percentage of the series' Interplay of Sex and Violence due to being a Depraved Bisexual. He becomes obsessed with the protagonist, Kaneki, and becomes his murderously protective Stalker with a Crush.
- Sunny from Toriko. He even prepares food that makes anyone that eats it become Bishōnen (by killing creatures that would take entire armies of "normal" people for ingredients). His effeminacy and aloofness are contrasted with his Tomboyish, Genki Girl younger sister.
- Pegasus from Yu-Gi-Oh! is a fashionable gentleman with effeminate mannerisms and a childishness emphasized by his use of a Toon deck. However, he's very dangerous with using said deck, which he has used to steal people's souls through duels.
- Yuri from Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V, Yuya's Evil Twin. He's a fashionable dresser, a psychopathic Blood Knight, and a VERY competent duelist. His deck is a Predator Plants Deck, which is themed after carnivorous plants and he likes to call his Predator Plants "beautiful flowers". This goes so far that after Yuri's Heel–Face Turn, the purified version of his Starve Venom Fusion Dragon is all about beauty and Cherry Blossoms.
- Lampshaded at one point when Yugo calls him an "effeminate bastard".
- Parco Folgore from Zatch Bell!, Kanchome's partner and an Italian pop superstar who loves to sing about breasts. He looks and acts silly and often is the Butt-Monkey of the group, but when he gets his serious face on, he and Kanchome become living embodiments of the Lethal Joke Character. Folgore is also capable of withstanding ridiculous amounts of punishment, just through sheer willpower.
- From YuYu Hakusho:
- Kurama. Long, flowing red hair, a rose motif, his main weapon being a whip, and little visible muscle add up to a fairly camp-looking guy, but one who is not to be underestimated. Being a master of demonic plants has its advantages; just counting the people Kurama has hacked to pieces with his rose whip would be a good start, but by no means is it the full list of lives he's taken, demons and humans alike. The resident Blood Knight even considers him the deadliest one on the team.
- Karasu, with his long, flowing jet-black hair matching his black clothes and almost as much muscle as Kurama. However, he's much creepier than Kurama, to whom he has taken a great liking and shows it with his intention and attempts to kill Kurama, which is quite plausible given his ability to create bombs via his aura, making him one of few who manage to outsmart and unnerve Kurama.
- Batman:
- The Joker tends to be this, especially in comparison to Batman who is very manly. The Joker is extremely thin, often wears lipstick, extremely emotional and cheerful, silly, hyperactive, and is a Keet in many interpretations. Despite this all, he is The Joker. It's taken further in Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, where the Clown Prince of Crime spends the book dressed in a woman's trench coat and heels (the original plan was to have him in a full-on bustier) and slaps Batman's behind with a "Loosen up, tightass!" He also opens the story threatening to put out a young woman's eye with a pencil and releases all of Batman's foes into the asylum to chase him, laughing and smiling all the while.
- Eduardo Flamingo, who debuted in Batman (Grant Morrison). The Flamingo is a psychotic hitman. He was lobotomized by the mob and was recruited by them. Despite his name, as well as his pink uniform and vehicles, he is a sociopathic, mindless, killing machine, nicknamed "the eater of faces", a title he has lived up to. He appears as an enemy of Damian Wayne in the future. His appearance is heavily inspired by the cover artwork for the Prince album Purple Rain.
- Empowered: Maidman is a transvestite, and the biggest Badass Normal of the story. He's that universe's version of Batman, except a crossdresser.
- Legion of Super-Heroes: The villain Roxxas is best described as "flamboyant" (though "flaming" might also be a good word). He traditionally dresses in the highest fashion, in the brightest colors, and loves to wear makeup (we're talking eye shadow and lipstick). He is literally portrayed as having most of the worst "limp-wristed gay" stereotypes you've ever heard of. And did we mention that he's a murderous, psychotic, renegade Kryptonian who escaped from the Bottled City of Kandor?
- Rawhide Kid: Marvel Comics remake of The Rawhide Kid was supposed to be this. An effeminate, Ambiguously Gay Cowboy who was still a crack shot with any gun and a total badass. It's arguable whether or not they succeeded...
- The Scorpion: The foppish and vain Depraved Homosexual Neoli Trebaldi is a deadly swordsman with few equals.
- Spider-Man: Occasionally appearing crime boss The Rose is known for his fondness for flowers, often wearing one in his lapel or tending gardens of roses in his penthouse. More than one individual had this identity, and the first, Richard Fisk, would later upgrade to the Blood Rose, a more violent version of the identity.
- Tomahawk: Private Jud Fuller was a soldier who previously belonged to the 3rd Virginia, a top infantry regiment, before serving in Tomahawk's Rangers during the American Revolution. Fuller earned the nickname "Brass Buttons" as he proudly wore his brass-buttoned infantry uniform. He spent copious time keeping his uniform immaculate, especially polishing the brass buttons.
- Child of the Storm:
- There's the very Camp Gay Jean-Paul Beaubier, who even the straight and not remotely interested Harry describes as beautiful, with long, dark hair. He's flirty, effeminate, and ticks every stereotypical box of the Gay Best Friend, even adding in some Gratuitous French. It is then established that at least some of this is a façade: the mannerisms and Gratuitous French disappear when someone starts treading on thin ice and Harry inwardly notes that when this happens, it's rather intimidating. And while he doesn't particularly enjoy fighting, that doesn't mean he's not good at it. There is, for instance, nothing fun about having a sharp rock thrown in your eye at several times the speed of sound. He's also much more observant than he lets on, almost absently giving Harry a Sherlock Scan.
- Warren Worthington III is a bit more masculine than most examples, but not much. He's arguably just as pretty as Jean-Paul, with half of Hogwarts falling in love with him when he turns up as a de facto bodyguard along with Sean Cassidy (and not all that half is female) and prone to moping because of his Razor Wings. This leads to many, including Professor McGonagall, assuming that he's just present because he's Sean's protĂ©gĂ©. Not so. He's capable of flying at several times the speed of sound, able to 'bench press a troll', would regard being hit by a car as an inconvenience more than anything else, has a Healing Factor that wouldn't shame Wolverine and he's very, very fast. He also knows exactly how to use his Razor Wings to best effect — his Dynamic Entry in chapter 44 has him disable and behead a hundred-foot-long zombie dragon in about five seconds flat.
- Fate of the Clans: Yukari is a very effeminate character (regularly does his nails, makes sure to apply skin care products daily, wears lipstick), but he's a J-rank in JUNGLE and is skilled enough with a katana to overpower Kuroh.
- The Immortal Game has Rarity's father, Esteem. He has long, curly hair described as looking effeminate, shares his daughter's eye for fashion, and has a vain streak a mile wide. He also happens to be the most powerful warrior in Titan's armies, and thinks he looks good bathed in the blood of his enemies.
- On a Cross and Arrow Elusive is quite the fashionista but if he is anything like his counterpart it would be unwise to make him mad.
- Mega Man Reawakened has Flash Man. He's quite dangerous even when literally slapping Mega around, and uses his time-stopping powers and electricity for a very lethal combination.
- In The Hill of Swords, Guiche gradually turns into this due to Shirou's sword training. Shirou notes in chapter 20 that he has grown from the "useless fop" to the "actually competent" style of pretty boy.
- Forum of Thrones has a few examples:
- Terroma exclusively dresses in colourful clothes, mainly made out of silk and befitting for a Braavosi nobleman. His manners are somewhat effeminate, with him being a major case of The Nicknamer and genuinely seeming mild-mannered and friendly. He is also the former leader of a group of assassins and known as The Old Man, one of the most feared professional killers in all of Westeros.
- Rayden, one of Butterfly's assassins, behaves in a slightly effeminate way, dressing in a longcoat and showing off his good looks, but he is so dangerous that he becomes The Dreaded even for Clayton.
- Rise of Paonne and Renard Rouge: In an ironically literal sense, during his early days as Grande Plume, Gabriel was described as being "bold and eager, constantly showing off to prove [he was] as good as [them], like a true proud peacock."
- Bucky Barnes Gets His Groove Back & Other International Incidents: According to Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes, the Howling Commandos' expert sniper, before the fall was "vain as a popinjay", to the point of making sure his hair was styled every morning with pomade or Brylcreem (a men's hairstyling product popular from the forties to the sixties) even when on the march, and using Vaseline in the winter to keep his skin soft.
- Jon Whitewolf from A Dovahkiin Spreads His Wings is a delicately beautiful young man who always dresses with the latest fashions, braids beads into his flowing long hair (which horrifies his uncle, finding that "garish"), cannot walk into a library without buying half the store and is a wonderful singer with a preference for sad songs. He also helped the Empire to win a civil war, is heading the Thieves' Guild, surprisingly knowledgeable regarding poisons, oh, and he singlehandedly prevented two Apocalypses by Shouting a big-ass dragon into Oblivion and kicking the shit out of his evil predecessor.
- Zigzagged with District 7 Victor Jack Anderson in The End of the World series. He has a live-in boyfriend and a taste and appreciation for fashion and flamboyant hairstyles. During his games in These are The Names he only won because the careers lost count of how many tributes were already dead and all killed or mortally wounded each other thinking there was no one left while Jack was hiding nearby. However, after a decade of involvement in the rebellion, he Took a Level in Badass, and strangles a peacekeeper who came to arrest him with his tie in The Golden Mean
- Fire and Ice (1983): Nekron is an Ambiguously Gay Pretty Boy magician who seems to be a Squishy Wizard. But, he's revealed to be a Magic Knight who embodies Rank Scales with Asskicking.
- Kung Fu Panda 2: Despite being an actual peacock, Lord Shen's skills with steel claws and razor feathers make him impressive to watch. What's even more impressive is that he was sickly and frail when he was younger, implying he had to work extra hard to become a talented martial artist.
- The Man Called Flintstone: Agent X has shades of this, being a somewhat foppish, dapper man but is an extremely skilled disguise artist. He is also the movie's Big Bad, the masked Green Goose.
- Moana gives us the oh-so-fabulous Tamatoa, a villainous and vain coconut crab. He's positively covered in glittery, sparkly treasure, makes it a point to beautify himself as much as possible, and has a Villain Song all about how "Shiny" and awesome he is. He's campy, silly... and a Giant Enemy Crab ("giant" isn't an exaggeration — Word of God says he's fifty feet wide) who absolutely pulverizes Maui, who's an actual demigod, all while completely breaking his spirit with a speech that exposes all of Maui's flaws and insecurities. If not for Moana's intervention, Tamatoa would have eaten Maui alive.
- Wreck-It Ralph:
- King Candy may talk with a lisp, dress in frilly clothing, and use flamboyant word choices and gestures (such as calling people "silly" with a downwards wrist stroke), but he has The Chessmaster levels of cunning and is, by a long shot, the best driver in Sugar Rush until Vanellope joins the races.
- To a lesser extent, Rancis Fluggerbutter, also from Sugar Rush, hangs out with the Alpha Bitch and behaves like one, but he is one of the top four racers in the game and also one of its most aggressive.
- The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert: When the Drag Queens are almost assaulted by a bunch of roughnecks, they scare them off.
- Guy Bennett in Another Country. Nobody else has ever looked this badass in extremely effeminate dark sunglasses. And when he gets attacked by jocks he simply threatens to expose their numerous earlier homosexual experiences with him. Ka-Pow!
- Orm Marius/Ocean Master from Film/Aquaman and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. With the exceptions of Vulko and the Fisherman King, Orm comes across as the most cultured and civilised of all the male characters he interacts with, as Arthur, Nereus, Black Manta and the Brine King are all shown to be fairly roughnecked.
- The Boondock Saints: When the Boston cops first notice Agent Paul Smecker's flirtatious behavior towards men and generally camp hand gestures, they start to laugh. Cue Smecker owning their asses for the rest of the movie. In fact, he gets progressively more camp and progressively more awesome, coming to the point where he dresses up as a female hooker to infiltrate the big bad's mansion. He kills two goons and saves the heroes from their untimely demise.
Duffy: This was their target, the fag man.
Smecker: The what man?
Duffy: (beat) The fat man.
Smecker: Well. Freud Was Right. - Cassandro: The Cassandro character is unique among exĂłticos (who are traditionally the designated losers who highlight their opponent's machismo) in that he uses his flamboyance and wits to actually win wrestling matches.
- In Chai Lai Angels: Dangerous Flowers, Dragon is a crimelord who is always impeccably dressed, usually in very bright colours, and often carrying a Classy Cane. He is also extremely capable and a better combatant than all of his Mooks put together.
- "Mr. Green" from the movie version of Clue. Depending on the version of the film you got, he's actually an FBI agent who spent the whole movie (plus whatever setup time the sting required) pretending to be gay to get into Mr. Boddy's blackmail ring. He is the one who finally killed Mr. Boddy. In the hallway. With the revolver. Now, he's going to go home and sleep with his wife.
- The Deserter: Capt. Crawford starts the film dressed in a British uniform that is much more stylish than the US Cavalry ones. He describes himself to Kaleb as a "great big dandy", and when the squad changes into buckskins, his are better fitting than the rest, and he ties his neckerchief like it's a cravat. However, he also shows himself as one of the most capable fighters in the squad and is one of the handful to survive the raid on the Apache camp.
- The Driver, from Drive (2011). Yeah, he wears a bright white satin jacket with tight jeans and nice shoes, and being played by pretty-boy Ryan Gosling doesn't help... but when he's not stomping on people's skulls, breaking arms with hammers, and being the best damn getaway driver ever, he's busy romancing Irene. Also, he's only really flamboyant in appearance — he doesn't say more than 20 sentences the whole movie — and as the movie goes on, he totally ignores the blood coating his nice clothes, so this is debatable.
- Park Chang-yi (The Bad) in The Good, The Bad, The Weird is a deadly Pretty Boy hitman and bandit who manages to be a Bulletproof Fashion Plate in the deserts of Manchuria. He makes it through an epic horseback battle-slash-chase scene that kills dozens of Mooks and doesn't even smudge his Guyliner. And his Shirtless Scene shows that underneath the anachronistic stylish outfit, he's ripped.
- The Hobbit: The Elvenking Thranduil is gorgeous, fabulous, deadly, and domineering. While being a Long-Haired Pretty Boy is par for the course for male Elves, Thranduil is Elfeminate to an even greater extent than his son Legolas because although they share a Strong Family Resemblance, the former is slightly more androgynous with long, thick eyelashes and a long neck. (Dáin remarks in the Extended Edition of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies that he's a Dude Looks Like a Lady by addressing the Elvenking as a "pointy-eared princess.") Thranduil is also Camp Straight with very flashy, extravagant outfits and accessories. In terms of his prowess as a warrior, he's an accomplished Master Swordsman who excels at Dual Wielding; during the Battle of the Five Armies, he ferociously and efficiently kills a multitude of orcs with his two elven swords. As a king, Thranduil is Large and in Charge (his actor Lee Pace is 6'5"); his great height naturally makes him an imposing figure since he can look down — both literally and figuratively — on virtually every other character, plus he speaks with a commanding Baritone of Strength. With his supreme arrogance, you simply can't win an argument with him, much to Gandalf's frustration.
- Raoul Silva from the James Bond film Skyfall. His mannerisms are really flamboyant, to the point of being seductive while interrogating Bond and he's also generally one step ahead of Bond and MI6.
- Kate has Jojima, the boyfriend of a Yakuza officer who lounges around their penthouse suite in flashy clothes, makeup, and jewelry. But when he starts fighting the titular assassin, he is quite possibly the deadliest single opponent she faces in the entire movie, fighting brutally with anything within reach.
- Jareth from Labyrinth — extremely camp and rather swishy... and yet King of the Goblins with insane magical powers. My god, the costume changes.
- In Long John Silver, Capt. Mendoza is a bloodthirsty and feared Pirate who is also a dandy who dresses in gaudy finery.
Long John Silver: Don't be fooled by his fine feathers and plumage. He may seem a fop, but underneath he's as wily as a vulture.
- Marvel Cinematic Universe: Loki is a Vain Sorcerer and a Long-Haired Pretty Boy; his devotion to magic (a woman's trade in Asgard), his lithe physique (as opposed to the burly Asgardian men), his vanity (Thor belittles his brother's fancy garb by saying that he dresses like a witch, plus in a deleted scene, he calls Loki a cow because of the horns on the latter's helmet), and his penchant for deceit in a warrior culture set him apart from Asgard's traditional masculine ideals. Loki is a Manipulative Bastard who outsmarts King Laufey (whom he assassinated) and Malekith (to whom he was a Fake Defector). Loki psychically overwhelms Odin (whose throne he usurped), the Allfather being the most powerful person in the Nine Realms — Odin is even impressed by how potent Loki's Laser-Guided Amnesia spell was, as it took him a long time to break free from it. Loki is the only known individual who can block Heimdall's Super-Senses (Asgard's guardian can see and hear 10 trillion souls), which makes Loki extraordinarily adept at evasion. As a skilled knife user, Loki can cut down Frost Giants, heavily-armed S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, Dark Elves (he even saved his brother's life by killing Kurse, who was too strong for Thor to handle) and Hela's undead soldiers.
- It is hinted quite strongly that the Prince of Orange in Michiel de Ruyter is gay and is intimate with William Bentinck. He also likes ballet and dresses more extravagantly than most Dutch people. Despite some early nervousness and his English connections, he stays loyal to the Republic and keeps his head cool during the disaster year of 1672, and takes over command at a young age. It is mentioned in the end credits that he would invade England and become king there.
- To some extent Captain Jack Sparrow of Pirates of the Caribbean is one of these, with the eyeliner and all the dangly things in his hair and his rather effete and flamboyant mannerisms. Johnny Depp has stated in interviews that he intends Captain Jack to read as bisexual.
- Dr. Frank N. Furter of The Rocky Horror Picture Show — seduces everyone and everything... in a corset, and (presumably) tops Rocky.
- The title character in The Scarlet Pimpernel and its remake. Dresses to outshine the girls, appears late at balls because he lost his time trying to tie his cravat just right, and generally dismissed as a fop. Has snagged the hottest redhead in Europe as his wife, and all the ladies fawn over him, his Camp posturing, and his slender white hands that are dainty enough to pass as a woman's. Also happens to be the ultra-badass secret vigilante who pulls off daring rescues of French aristocrats on a regular, if not daily, basis. Might even be the Ur-Example.
- Ra from Stargate. He's an alien taking on the form of an Egyptian Pretty Boy, played by Jaye Davidson. However, he's a ruthless tyrant and more than willing to eradicate Earth for defying his rule.
- Certain interpretations of Star Wars' Luke Skywalker peg him as this, what with having longish blond hair (although not that long by '70s standards) and flowy white (and later black) clothing. It only got amplified when, in The Last Jedi, his force projection to fight Kylo Ren on Crait included a fresh haircut and shave, new clothing, and boots, and a dramatic flicking of dust off his shirt. Combined with the fact that Mark Hamill refuses to confirm Luke's sexuality (he claims it's up to the fan to interpret and encourages gay, bi, or trans kids to interpret him as such), and there is strong evidence that he might be. Of course, this doesn't stop him from being one of the greatest and most powerful Jedi in his time.
- Similarly in To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar, there's a scene where Patrick Swayze's character (a drag queen) beats up a woman's abusive husband, thus saving the woman (and he does it in drag).
- Brian Slade from Velvet Goldmine. He's not bisexual, he's biwinning. His androgynous sex appeal is what kickstarts his career as a rockstar.
- Detective Alex Tardio (played by William Fichtner) in What's the Worst That Could Happen?. Impeccably dressed in bright clothing, with an excellent hairdo, carrying a cane, and walking his well-groomed show dogs, he is, nevertheless, great at his job.
- X-Men Film Series: When Professor X still has hair, his porcelain doll-like face and nurturing personality make him the most androgynous male lead of the franchise. He's the most formidable telepath on Earth who can kill anyone with a thought, and he carries a streak of vanity which is a product of his upper-class upbringing (his mother was a haughty British Socialite). Even after he becomes bald and loses his prettiness, he still adorns himself in snazzy suits. Saving the world is hard work, and he wants to look good doing it. Heck, Patrick Stewart even admits on the "Two Worlds, Two Battles" documentary of The Rogue Cut that his character "has been seen as something of a peacock over all these years," so Xavier is more accurately a Professor Peacock.
- X-Men: First Class: Charles is a suave womanizer who is perfectly aware of how appealing he is, and he doesn't allow Hank to shave his head when he tests the Cerebro prototype ("Don't touch my hair"). He's the sole mutant who is strong enough to stop Shaw single-handedly, provided that the latter isn't wearing a telepathy-blocking helmet. (Even Erik, as mighty as he is, gets clobbered by Sebastian during their duel.)
- X-Men: Apocalypse: Professor X is the second-most powerful mutant for most of the story, and his androgyny (in both looks and personality) is taken up a notch in comparison to First Class. He graduates from a Pretty Boy to a Long-Haired Pretty Boy, and the name of his hairdo, a feathered mullet, brings to mind a peacock's tail — he even fixes a handful of loose strands shortly before he reaches Moira's office. He's pushing 50, yet he still takes delight in being hip and attractive by following '80s fashion trends with a Miami Vice-inspired wardrobe. Xavier fully embraces being a sensitive guy, as he's more overtly "maternal" towards his students and he freely sheds Tender Tears. He was close to death after a botched Grand Theft Me procedure just a few minutes beforehand, yet Charles still has the fortitude to instigate a Battle in the Center of the Mind against the Nigh-Invulnerable Apocalypse, being one of only two mutants who dishes out multiple blows on the self-proclaimed god. Xavier is so vain that even when he's already bald, his mental projection has a head full of hair during the psychic brawl.
- Zohan in You Don't Mess with the Zohan is a Mossad agent who fakes his death to become a hairdresser. This movie is based on a true story.
- Ramon de la Vega aka Bunny Wigglesworth, the eponymous Zorro, the Gay Blade, an utter Camp Gay but you don't want to get on the wrong side of his whip.
- The Cornelius Chronicles: Jerry Cornelius might qualify — he's been known to dress in drag (and look damn good doing it), and happily seduces people of either sex.
- Huillam d'Averc from the Runestaff series could also qualify; as he's an effeminate and foppish French aristocrat, who seems more interested in clothing, womanizing, and his (exaggeratedly hypochondriac) various illnesses. But he's also a renowned swordsman and tactician, and one of the most feared nobles of The Empire prior to his Heel–Face Turn; using his effeminate manner and supposed illness to cause his opponents to underestimate him.
- Both Silk and Takeshi in the novel Dark Designs, they're both extremely pretty guys. Silk has knee-length blonde hair and long painted nails, and Takeshi is a Visual Kei dandy. However Silk is a massive womanizer, and Takeshi is a hardcore biker.
- Finlay Campbell in Deathstalker is, at court, a worthless fop, obsessed with glitz and glam — and also, in his alter-ego, the most prominent fighter in Golgotha's Arena. When the Esper Underground snatches him up, he's forced to discard that imagery, but still remains one of the most dangerous baseline humans in the series, and that's saying a lot.
- Jaume of The Dinosaur Lords is a Pretty Boy and a famed poet who likes beautiful things, but he also commands an Elite Army and rides into battles atop a dinosaur.
- The Assassins' Guild on the Discworld — which teaches its students that style counts and that it is a true insult to the client for the Assassin to look anything other than immaculately turned out when closing the contract — actually awards a prize for this. It's called the Sir Bernard Selachii Award for Extreme Cool.
- Felix in Doctrine of Labyrinths is this trope to the very core: beautiful, vain, cruel, and shallow, but still an extremely powerful wizard.
- Thomas Raith from The Dresden Files is very much a pretty boy, but he's also indisputably badass. It helps that he's a vampire (of the Succubus variety), and thus has supernatural speed, strength, and good looks. To give an idea of how effeminate he is (or rather, how effeminate he looks), for a good portion of the series, he masqueraded as a French Camp Gay hairdresser, and no one saw through the disguise. Of course it helps that he's a master at Obfuscating Stupidity and causing others to underestimate how badass he is.
- The Elancia Chronicles series has Sir Joaquin Gabriel Vasquez "Patchmore", with his alluring, seductive personality, gorgeous appearance, and his long, flowing hair, is not only a very skilled magician, but strong enough to be a prominent wrestler under his 'La Feroz' persona. His magic is mostly used for circus tricks, but is very effective in a fight, too.
- In the Family D'Alembert series by Stephen Goldin, secret agent Yvette "Agent Periwinkle" D'Alembert marries dashing clothes-horse Pias Bavol. When Pias joins the imperial secret service, he's given the codename "Agent Peacock".
- Evan Walker in The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey. Has time to manicure his nails during the apocalypse. Kicks serious ass.
- Major Joachim Steuben of Hammer's Slammers is one. The words that describe his appearance best is "pretty", and everything about him, from clothes and gun to manicure and haircut is stylish, beautiful, and expensive. However, Steuben is a full-blown psychopath, and a pistol marksman to rival Wild Bill Hickok. Everyone in the regiment, except possibly Colonel Hammer, is scared shitless of him.
- Heartless by Mary Balogh features 18th-century dandy Luke, an incredibly badass swordsman and pistol shot, who wears more makeup than his wife and prances about in heels.
- Firesong from the Heralds of Valdemar series. He's Camp Gay, very effeminate and revels in being attractive to everyone, and arguably the most powerful mage in the world. Also he is literally called a peacock to his face multiple times.
- Vanyel Ashkevron counts to a degree. He's Firesong's ancestor, even more powerful and just as pretty, though his is a more forbidding, remote beauty than Firesong's flirtatious extravagance. As a teen he was often literally called a peacock, with his affinity for finery and good grooming, though he was forced to shed some of his camp aspects as he took on a harsh Magic Knight lifestyle. He still remained long-haired and incredibly striking.
- Vanyel also mentions a duelist who was so skilled most people wouldn't agree to fight him, who took on some dramatically camp aspects including a habit of languid flirtation just to make an excuse to start duels.
- Vanyel Ashkevron counts to a degree. He's Firesong's ancestor, even more powerful and just as pretty, though his is a more forbidding, remote beauty than Firesong's flirtatious extravagance. As a teen he was often literally called a peacock, with his affinity for finery and good grooming, though he was forced to shed some of his camp aspects as he took on a harsh Magic Knight lifestyle. He still remained long-haired and incredibly striking.
- Howl of Howl's Moving Castle is a pretty prissy narcissist who kicks insane amounts of butt. The narcissism gets better… however he stays quite a girly boy throughout the series.
- The Long Ships: Olof Styrsson was a man so fond of flashy clothes his men gave him the nickname "Summerbird" for his resemblance to a bird during mating season. Olof, the narration notes, "was well pleased by this name". Olof was also a fighting member of the Varangian Guard for over a decade, recognized as a great chieftain among his people, and at one point kills a man throwing a javelin at him by catching it in mid-flight and throwing it back.
- Zillah: From Poppy Z. Brite's Lost Souls (1992), is a super-strong, sadistic vampire who keeps impregnating women… and is continually described as "androgynously beautiful" with "long caramel-colored hair" which he ties back with a purple scarf and he seems to enjoy wearing eyeliner and other makeup.
- Lymond, from the Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnett has his Peacock moments, including being prettier than all the girls and fatally attractive to everyone he meets, and dressing like an arch-dandy, with exquisite gorgeousness times ten. Subverted in those moments when, in private, he reveals that his real tastes are simple and modest.
- The Mark of the Horse Lord's Conory is the prospective king and most eligible bachelor of a tribe of Proud Warrior Race Guys and dresses like a dancing girl.
- Victor Hugo has two who could fall under this trope in Les Misérables: Enjolras and Montparnasse.
- Montparnasse is described as "a fashion-plate in misery and given to the commission of murders. The cause of all this youth's crimes was the desire to be well dressed." Talk about being dressed to kill!
- And of course, there's the infamous Enjolras. Hugo described him as "a charming young man, who was capable of being terrible. He was angelically handsome. He was a savage Antinous." And if you go by the movies and stage productions... damn...
- Magnus Bane, the High Warlock of Brooklyn, from The Mortal Instruments is this. He features glitter eye shadow, rainbow leather pants, and awesome ass-kicking.
- Ouida often had heroes like these, even some who were in the regular military. Like Oscar Wilde, she was writing during a sexual / gender revolution in the Victorian era. In Under Two Flags the hero is known as the "Beauty of the Brigades".
- Two of Tamora Pierce's most powerful male mage characters are very vain: Numair SalmalĂn from the Tortall The Immortals quartet (also a ladies' man) and Niklaren Goldeye from the Circleverse.
- Please Don't Tell My Parents I'm a Supervillain: While not full-on girly, Ray is definitely fashionable. He drools over nice shoes and offers to design outfits for the girls. Very skimpy outfits, of course.
- Psmith, P. G. Wodehouse's monocle-wearing, clothing-obsessed dandy character, is an unstoppable Guile Hero and has his moments of physical badassery, too.
- The Queen's Thief: Eugenides. He wears bright colors and fancy embroidery whenever practical, complains frequently about ugly fashions in the Eddisian court, and occasionally bullies his friends and family into styles he prefers. Although Happily Married, he is also quite physically affectionate with male friends and calls both men and women "dear". He's also arguably the most badass character in the series.
- Ublaz Madeyes from The Pearls of Lutra in the Redwall series. He's effeminate and flamboyant, but a Master Swordsman who earned his title of the Emperor of Sampetra.
- In Julian May's Saga of the Exiles, there's a member of the supporting cast known as Mr Betsy — a transvestite former engineer and Queen Elizabeth the First impersonator (with a goatee). He's also one of the enforcers the Lowlives have to ensure none of them get any ideas about stealing the aircraft they're repairing, quite capable of holding up someone a good ten kilograms heavier than him.
- Sir Percival Blakeney, Baronet, aka The Scarlet Pimpernel. Dresses to outshine the girls, appears late at balls because he lost his time trying to tie his cravat just right, and generally dismissed as a fop. Has snagged the hottest redhead in Europe as his wife, and all the ladies fawn over him, his Camp posturing, and his slender white hands that are dainty enough to pass as a woman's. Also happens to be the ultra-badass secret vigilante who pulls off daring rescues of French aristocrats on a regular, if not daily, basis. Might even be the Ur-Example.
- The Sharpe series gives us Lord Pumphrey, a well-dressed Camp Gay who runs half of Britain's intelligence service and orders throats cut with the same aplomb as he orders another glass of wine.
- In George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire: Ser Loras Tyrell, "the Knight of Flowers," is slender and beautiful. He wears extremely ornate outfits, especially when he jousts, which incorporate his family sigil of roses. He also happens to be a gay man in a Secret Relationship (well, not really) with King Renly Baratheon. With all that said, he's one of the most proficient jousters and warriors in the Seven Kingdoms.
- Thalia's Musings has Apollo, Pretty Boy God of the Sun, Medical Science, Archery, Theatre, and everything else. When Thalia puts gold eyeliner in his eyes before a debriefing, he leaves it there.
- In The Spirit Thief, Sparrow is a formidable agent, a former assassin, and an absolute fashion victim. He has a non-fashion-related reason for it, though — he's normally invisible to spirits, and only wearing very noticeable clothes allows him to interact with them.
- Raoul de Beausoleil from Margaret Weiss' Star of the Guardians and Mag Force 7 series certainly fits this description. He's flashy, campy, effeminate, and deadly gorgeous in an extraordinarily androgynous way. Quite fitting for an assassin whose favorite weapon is poisoned lip gloss. He reads Camp Gay as he's usually flirting with the guys and being catty toward women concerning their physical appearance. He spends so much time fussing over his hair, makeup, nails, and clothes, that it almost falls into the comic relief category — until he does something so awesomely badass that it reminds everyone that he really IS one of the most dangerous men in the galaxy.
- The Stormlight Archive: Adolin Kholin. He's a Master Swordsman in Powered Armor during battle. The rest of the time he's is an insufferably beautiful man who insists on wearing cologne even while in prison and adores fashionable attire to the point that he is constantly bristling against his father's order that he wear his uniform at all times.
- Dave Pulaski in Undead on Arrival carefully applies his lipstick and eyeshadow before embarking on a terrifying kill rampage through zombie and rival gang members alike.
- Lestat: From The Vampire Chronicles He's a clothes horse and a huge dandy,note but also obviously quite terrifyingly badass.
- Pharaun Mizzrym in the War of the Spider Queen books. Effeminate (by human standards), slender (even by drow standards), and exceedingly vain about his clothes and hair; at one point in the first book he stops to ask a fallen enemy who did his hair and is extremely disappointed to find he's already expired, and his major complaint when headed into an infernal plane is how long it's been since he's had a bath. He's also one of the best wizards in Menzoberranzan, kicks massive amounts of ass in battle (he favors lightning spells), and ends up sleeping with someone who's supposed to be surveilling him.
- Lord Brandoch Daha from E. R. Eddison's The Worm Ouroboros. He is explicitly referred to as "delicate", his looks are described as "like a girl's", and he dresses extravagantly — but he is also one of the best warriors and the best swordsman in the world of Mercury.
- Merlin from Left Handed Booksellers Of London is very much this. The opening scene of the first chapter is him dissolving a monster gang boss with an antique hat pin whilst the limited third person narration is describing said nation, the monster's clothing, as well as Merlin's truly excessive appearance in several paragraphs of detail each.
- Cobalt Blue: "Golden Gary" is "very, very gay", but is also an extremely skilled fighter. He gives the Fury all he can handle, and is described as "the best fighter of all the Cobalts".
- Job from Banshee. He's a cross-dressing Deadpan Snarker who's a master hacker and a Badass Bookworm who can beat the shit out of people twice as bulky as him.
- Doctor Who:
- The Third Doctor is a daring adventurer who wears velvet smoking jackets and ruffled shirts.
- The Fifteenth Doctor is a flamboyant, emotionally sensitive showman who goes clubbing while wearing a fabulous kilt, and puts on a song and dance number to rescue a baby from goblins.
- Game of Thrones:
- Ser Loras Tyrell — "the Knight of Flowers". He is very pretty and is somewhat effeminate. In his first appearance, he rides in the Hand's Tourney, and through careful application of Combat Pragmatism, he unhorses the eight-foot-tall, psychopathic knight Ser Gregor Clegane — "The Mountain" — in their first joust (by using a trick to undermine Gregor's horse, but still). Loras also kills a lot of soldiers at the Battle of Blackwater when he leads the cavalry charge against Stannis Baratheon's army.
- Oberyn Martell is a bisexual prince who prefers to do business in bed, but also a formidable fighter known as the Red Viper for his habit of poisoning his weapons.
- Gotham:
- Jeremiah Valeska wears makeup after the laughing gas his brother left him bleached his skin and drove him insane. At first, it's just to hide the "minor cosmetic effects" of the toxin from Bruce, but after he reveals himself as a villain, he starts wearing lipstick. In Season 5, he begins to pencil his eyebrows black, too, and though this may be an effort to make his eyebrows match his hair after he dyes it, he does it in a way that makes his expressions look exaggerated and is more theatrical than realistic. He is also fond of wearing boldly colored, custom-tailored three-piece suits (including a purple one made from material that is slightly sparkly), and has admitted to actually loving his nemesis, though that love may or may not be romantic, depending on how you interpret his obsession. He is also an extremely dangerous chessmaster who achieved his status as the dreaded among Gotham villains on the first day he was outed as a criminal, and is capable of outsmarting and outfighting other intelligent and dangerous characters.
- Unlike Jeremiah, who is more ambiguously bi due to his relationship with Ecco, Gotham's version of Oswald Cobblepot actually came out on the show, and one time actually wore a feather boa with his snazzy, black suit. He is also a feared mob boss with a Hair-Trigger Temper who singlehandedly took out three mob families using his ability to play people against each other to become the king of Gotham's underworld during the first season.
- Hannibal Lecter from NBC's Hannibal has shades of this. He loves brightly-colored suits, interior design, opera, art, and fine food. He's also a prolific serial killer, having overpowered and murdered countless victims. To boot, his fight with Tobias revealed that he's quite the genius bruiser.
- The producers of Horrible Histories concede that as a general rule, their versions of historical figures tend to "somehow…" end up more camp than the reality, including badass men. Sometimes it's much more overtly played with, as in the course of recasting the greatest flying aces of the Battle of Britain as a boy band
, or by having barbarian warriors give fashion advice in Danke magazine
.
- Kamen Rider:
- Kyosui Izumi of the Kamen Rider Double world. Flaming mannerisms, loves hitting on men he finds handsome, openly in love with his boss. Happens to be a nigh-unkillable zombie Super-Soldier, very handy with a bullwhip, and whose favoured tactic is to wrap his limbs around an opponent and crush them like a constrictor snake. When in his monstrous form as the Luna Dopant, he can give the titular Kamen Rider a hard time even when he's not spawning armies of Mooks.
- To a lesser extent, Izumi's actor, Genki Sudo; portrays the hilariously effeminate character described above, and happens to be a very capable mixed martial artist in real life.
- In Kamen Rider Gaim, Pierre Alfonse Oren is introduced as merely a pushy, flamboyant and oddly muscular gay patissier who speaks in Gratuitous French and insults the protagonists for their lack of elegance. But after he gets his hands on a Sengoku Driver and becomes Kamen Rider Bravo, it turns out that he is a highly decorated ex-soldier who earned his French citizenship by serving in the French Foreign Legion, resulting in him becoming The Brute for the first half of the series.
- Kyosui Izumi of the Kamen Rider Double world. Flaming mannerisms, loves hitting on men he finds handsome, openly in love with his boss. Happens to be a nigh-unkillable zombie Super-Soldier, very handy with a bullwhip, and whose favoured tactic is to wrap his limbs around an opponent and crush them like a constrictor snake. When in his monstrous form as the Luna Dopant, he can give the titular Kamen Rider a hard time even when he's not spawning armies of Mooks.
- Vince Noir from The Mighty Boosh is one of these. He consistently ends up saving the day for his more masculine counterpart. He's a superb fisherman and has many foppish "battle scars" as well as the fact that he's been shown to use a hair straightener as a weapon.
"Nicky Clark, hottest you can get," — Vince (in reference to the hair straightener)
- Downplayed by Cam in Modern Family. He is in many ways a stereotypical Camp Gay but he's also the tallest, heaviest, and very likely physically strongest member of the family, and while he isn't prone to violence he will step up to defend the people he cares about and can be really intimidating if he's angered.
- The Cat from Red Dwarf. He was always vain, self-obsessed, and ditzy, but after Season 3 he Took a Level in Badass. He is still Camp and obsessed with clothes, but he is also the point-man for any boarding action, the crew's favored pilot, and perfectly capable of dodging bullets.
- Magnus Bane from Shadowhunters is a flamboyant Camp Bisexual who adores jewelry, makeup, and the finer things in life. He's also an incredibly powerful immortal warlock.
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Garak is a pansexual tailor who's always impeccably dressed and has more than a few effeminate mannerisms. He is also an exiled spymaster and Torture Technician for one of the most brutal empires in the galaxy, the protĂ©gĂ© of The Dreaded leader of that empire's secret service, and perfectly capable of out-drawing elite soldiers and hacking into government computers. He once engaged Worf in hand-to-hand combat (Worf won — eventually — and was left deeply impressed).
- Star Trek: Picard: Elnor is a Long-Haired Pretty Boy who's In Touch with His Feminine Side and who was raised by a sect of nuns, earning him the derogatory nickname "sisterboy." The Qowat Milat is also an order of warriors, and they have taught him very well. The first time we see him fight, Elnor knocks out two thugs and decapitates a third in about two seconds with his tan qalanq. His chief advantage in combat is his Super-Reflexes, so he's gifted with the very rare talent in the Trek Verse to avoid multiple projectiles, which means Guns Are Worthless against him and any firefight becomes a Never Bring a Gun to a Knife Fight scenario that he deftly wins. No matter how bloody the confrontation is, Elnor always looks fabulous note because his wavy tresses are never out of place, he never gets bruised or scratched, he never gets stained, and he never breaks a sweat.
- Top Gear (UK): James May. Yeah, he wears flowery shirts, has long girly-looking hair, loves wine and Bach. However, the show's challenges have demonstrated that he is an immensely skilled mechanic, the best shot with a rifle of the three presenters, and he's pretty handy with the machete. Also, despite jokes and banter to the contrary, he's quite the Badass Driver.
- Twin Peaks: "Dennis" Bryson is an FBI agent who went undercover as a woman and discovered that she really enjoys wearing women's clothing. While on assignment, she notes that her complicated sexual identity has not swept away her physical skills as a former jock. By the time of the new series, she's become the head of the FBI and identifies as a woman.
- Lord Krishna in The Mahabharata: He is depicted in his adult form as an incredibly beautiful youth of 20. He even sports a peacock feather in his diadem. However, when it comes to war or strategy, he can outfight and outsmart the most macho and experienced warrior out there.
- The Greek god Dionysus: He's a hard-drinking, effeminate pretty boy… whose cultists tore goats apart for fun (or because they were ALSO blind drunk) and feasted on raw meat. Although in the earliest depictions he's shown as more mature and bearded, he wears clothing typical of ancient Greek women. Particularly in Bacchae, where he's seen as the non-supernatural variety of this — a rather femme con man who leads all the women out of the city to have what obviously must be an orgy (why else would women want to leave their homes and spouses?) — before he proves himself to be an androgynously beautiful wizard-god whose devoted followers rend nonbelievers limb from limb in a state of ecstatic frenzy.
- Oberon has shades of this in a lot of depictions, possibly due to Elfeminate being in play. In A Midsummer Night's Dream, he even has some mild Ho Yay.
- Pro wrestling commonly sees this trope in the form of Gorgeous George and Exoticos.
- The Fabulous Ones have been compared to male models (as opposed to bodybuilders, powerlifters, or indeed wrestlers), yet they were not obsessed with their looks or battered baby faces, but a straightforward foot-in-your-ass tag team.
- Even after Shawn Michaels moved away from his Gorgeous George gimmick, he still came off as effeminate sometimes, not that anyone doubted him in the ring— just his orientation.
- Goldust, a Gorgeous George who is also a movie critic.
- Edge and Christian during their more pretty-boy years.
- Chris Jericho can sometimes border on this, depending on his vanity level at the time.
- Jimmy Jacobs is tough and he knows it. He's so convinced he's tough that he dyes his hair pink, paints his nails, wears makeup, and calls himself a princess.
- In 2003, it was decided that the second generation of Los Brazos, third-generation luchadors overall, would never become as successful as their fathers unless they created their own gimmicks. Los Brazos weren't imitators of their father, Shadito Cruz. So Brazo de Oro Jr became "El Papi de Papis" La Máscara, Brazo de Plata Jr became Psycho Clown, the son of Brazo de Cibernetico became Robin Hood Jr, and Brazo de Platino Jr became Maximo, a Roman general who wore pink feathered shoulder pads and really short skirts. "El Nuevo Exotico", as he would come to be known, used his genuine strength, a toughness that saw him battle through injuries, and yes, his "butt bombs" to become CMLL World Heavyweight Champion, despite consistently weighing in as a light heavyweight.
- "The Peacock Party Boy" Dalton Castle, with his barefoot peacock feather mask attendants, their peacock feather hand fans, his peacock cape, his feather-patterned tights, and his Porn Stache. He caws like a bird, too. And he's damn near deadlifted Donovan Dijak into a bridging German suplex! He went further at a West Warwick show before Global Wars when he fully deadlifted the 350 lbs Kongo!
- Suzy Eddie Izzard's coinage "Action Transvestite" (or "Executive Transvestite") probably sums this up quite nicely, though not all examples are true transvestites.
- Also, "nobody expects the flamboyant hairdresser to be a super soldier": Well, while discussing the fact that (at the time) transvestites couldn't join the Armed Forces in most places:
"And they're really missing a huge opportunity here, because as we all know one of the main elements of attack is the element of surprise. So what could be more surprising than the 1st Battalion, Transvestite Brigade, Airborne Wing, parachuting into dangerous areas with fantastic makeup! And a fantastic gun!"
- She also inverts this by pointing out that a transvestite super-hero would be useless precisely because they were a transvestite:
Transvestite Man: Right, I'm here! Who needs rescuing?
Bystander: He's dead! We called for you twenty minutes ago!
Transvestite Man: Well... I was doing my makeup.
- Also, "nobody expects the flamboyant hairdresser to be a super soldier": Well, while discussing the fact that (at the time) transvestites couldn't join the Armed Forces in most places:
- 7th Sea implicitly allows this character type. The various appearance advantages, including "Blessed Beauty" and "Dangerous Beauty," improve social interactions with members of both sexes, as do fancy clothes. In addition, everyone who speaks a certain dialect of Montaigne (Louis-XIV-era France) automatically gains Dangerous Beauty for free.
- Jarlaxle from the Forgotten Realms universe is a Pretty Boy drow who wears bright clothes, an iridescent cape, and a hat. He is also intelligent, charismatic, a capable fighter, the leader of his own mercenary band, and one of the few drow males to hold real power in his society. The clothes are one of the ways he flouts his people's conventions. Oh, and on the "sexual prowess" side, he's successfully seduced dragons (who can shapeshift to humanoid form).
- Sigvald the Magnificent from Warhammer is one of the most famous champions of Slaanesh and certainly one of the most flamboyant, essentially being a Pretty Boy living in a society of daemon-worshipping Horny Vikings. He wears polished silver armor and carries an elegant rapier instead of a battle axe or greatsword like other Chaos Champions, and is even blessed by his god to never have dirt or blood stain his clothing in battle. He's still just as dangerous and Ax-Crazy as any other Chaos Warrior, and he's more than capable of taking them in a fight or razing a city if the fancy passes him.
- The Bacchae is a particularly ancient example, possibly even the trope codifier, in which Dionysus is initially mocked and criticized for his effeminacy before showing his tormentors the terrifying power of the feminine by having their leader murdered by his own mother after dressing him up as a woman and leading him into the mountains.
- Endrance from .hack//G.U. is very pretty, flamboyant, and deeply in love with the male lead. Said love is what motivates him to perform two Big Damn Heroes moments, and he is a very useful party member.
- Sergei from Asura's Wrath shares the look, but is a very cruel version of this trope. He shares the look of Endrance above, but he is not in any way a good guy.
- Balder from Bayonetta. He is an elderly sage who wears an ornamental gown along with the body of a white peacock draped around his shoulders, its feathers fanned out behind him. He proves himself a badass when, shortly after tossing Luka out of a window and stopping Bayonetta's bullets, he destroys two demons with little to no effort; he even combs his hair with a feather after killing the second one.
- Amane Nishiki from BlazBlue. A very flamboyant man, he nonetheless can hold his own against the other fighters. Oh, and he's also an Observer.
- Two examples in Bravely Default: party member and Casanova Ringabel, who according to himself spends his life in front of the mirror and is a very capable physical attacker, and Red Mage Fiore DeRosa of the Eternian Jobmasters. The latter is even referred to by the dialogue box as "Dandy DeRosa" and addresses Ringabel as a dandy as well.
- Dragon Age:
- Zevran in Dragon Age: Origins is a somewhat over-the-top flamboyant bisexual, while remaining a fairly effective addition to the Warden's arsenal of wizards, soldiers, and backstabbers.
- Dorian Pavus from Dragon Age: Inquisition also counts. Well-dressed, well-groomed, and openly gay, he's also an extremely gifted and talented mage from the Tevinter Imperium. Even better if you know Latin.
- From Dragon Quest XI we have Sylvando, a flamboyant and effeminate circus performer who joins the Luminary. He’s not only nice to look at, but he is also capable of turning a cowardly, self-serving prince into a brave, compassionate hero with just two sentences and dissing a dragon with horse manure, among other feats. It's later revealed he used to be a knight, and is the son of the greatest knight in Erdrea.
- Zhang He in Dynasty Warriors. In one of the games, he has a butterfly outfit. Seriously. He always looks, acts, and talks overly flamboyantly (like when he persuaded Xiahou Yuan to do a pre-battle dance routine so their ride to victory would start "beautifully") but those ginormo claws attached to his hand aren't just for show, and he tends to be one of the most frighteningly effective officer killers in the series.
- Pagan Min from Far Cry 4 likes to dress flamboyantly and isn't afraid to wear his more theatrical influences on his sleeve. Doesn't make it any less terrifying when he stabs Darpan in the back and exhorts him to cry for help.
- Fear & Hunger: Termina: Pav is a very flamboyant man who's prone to flirting and goes around with his shirt unbuttoned to show off a Navel-Deep Neckline. He is also a trained lieutenant with a Quick Draw good enough to shoot a party member before they get their first turn.
- Final Fantasy has had many Big Bad characters from FFVI onwards who show shades of this.
- First of all, there's Kefka from Final Fantasy VI, a flamboyant Monster Clown who lives for destruction. He later ascends to godhood by absorbing the power of the Warring Triad.
- According to a letter mailed to Zack, Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII uses up an entire bottle of both shampoo and conditioner whenever he has to wash his hair. For all the crap Sephiroth does throughout the franchise, he does keeps his hair pretty spiffy.
- Kuja the Evil Sorcerer from Final Fantasy IX not only looks the part, but also receives flak from Queen Brahne about how girly he looks. It doesn't help that his name literally means peacock.
- Fire Emblem:
- Seliph from Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War... well, he's got the looks, and adds in the fact that he's surrounded by beautiful women (if you take them all into account, 15 of them are possible love interests, a number that sets him apart from other Lords in the series). Not only is he a level-headed and kind Humble Hero, he's also a total badass once he gets out there to fight The Empire — he's got the same caps as the famous Ike, and he grows faster and has a better weapon to boot. Visual Pun: He's Shogun Peacock in Fire Emblem Awakening.
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- Speaking of Fire Emblem: Awakening, Virion from the main story (Seliph is Downloadable Content) also counts. He's a Long-Haired Pretty Boy whose profile states that he's a "prolonged primper", and he's an incredible narcissist and supposedly cowardly… yet his boasting is usually well-founded, and he has pretty good stat growths.
- To round off the series, we have Lorenz from Fire Emblem: Three Houses, whose connection to this trope is made immediately apparent with one look at the red rose pinned to his lapel. He's a hopeless womanizer with a weakness for tea and the latest in fashion, and also one of four characters (one of whom is a dragon demigod) capable of learning the strongest black magic spell in the game.
- Seliph from Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War... well, he's got the looks, and adds in the fact that he's surrounded by beautiful women (if you take them all into account, 15 of them are possible love interests, a number that sets him apart from other Lords in the series). Not only is he a level-headed and kind Humble Hero, he's also a total badass once he gets out there to fight The Empire — he's got the same caps as the famous Ike, and he grows faster and has a better weapon to boot. Visual Pun: He's Shogun Peacock in Fire Emblem Awakening.
- Aphrodi in Inazuma Eleven. He's so feminine with his long hair and eyelashes, he's essentially indistinguishable from a girl and even has a female name. He's also the final and toughest boss in the first game; his special technique "God Knows" is very strong and involves him doing rather feminine moves. Even his description in the game says that "his elegant and artistic style leaves his opponents spellbound".
- Despite his rather calm characterization and his almost complete lack of gratuitous JoJo poses in the actual manga, for no reason whatsoever, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Heritage for the Future gives Kakyoin some of the most... fabulous idle poses which can change when he taunts or attacks.
- Marluxia from Kingdom Hearts. He has fluffy pink hair (although it is closer to brown in the original Game Boy Advance sprites). His elemental attribute is flowers, usually represented by cherry blossoms or roses. His signature weapon is bright pink. And he's absolutely a force to be reckoned with, whose coup nearly succeeded. Kingdom Hearts Union X reveals that his original self was a Keyblade wielder from the time of the Keyblade War and a fabulous dresser.
- Ash Crimson and Benimaru Nikaido from The King of Fighters. Both are very, very pretty and vain about their looks, but they also can pack quite the punch on the battlefield. The latter in question has won more iterations of the titular tournament than anybody else, while the former is a very clever Guile Hero capable of wrapping both the heroes and villains around his finger.
- Demon Lord Ghirahim from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword serves as The Dragon to the game's Big Bad and is about as powerful as you'd expect for someone with the title "Demon Lord". His appearance also happens to look downright fabulous, with all his diamond ear-piercings, white spandex hugging his slender frame, and what appears to be pink eyeshadow and white lipstick. His flamboyance can be downright menacing at times, such as in his first appearance in the game, where he stalks up behind Link and practically sexually harasses him by peering over his shoulder, putting their faces unnervingly close together. Then comes the tongue-flailing...
- The Laurent Chevalier of Legends of Runeterra. While most of House Laurent are a little prissy but badass, the Chevalier really runs with it. Even the other members of House Laurent think he's a bit much.
Fiora: Good grief.
- Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty's Raiden, who, while not especially effeminate in personality, is near-notorious for his shoulder-length blonde locks and wide hips. He even takes a moment to make sure the player knows his hair isn't a wig! However, his pretty appearance belies his dark past as a child soldier, and by the time he appears in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, he can be downright ruthless. Doesn't stop him from being called "pretty boy" by his enemies, though.
- In the Suikoden series you have Milich Oppenheimer in the first game and Augustine Nabor in the third. Milich is a high-level mage knight hybrid with good defense and both male and female accessory options, making him versatile and powerful in all areas except luck. And in the original Japanese version, his pet songbird/lover Kasios is a male (changed to female for the American release, although the portrait is so androgynous it's hard to tell what Kasios is). Augustine has top ranks in parry and swing speed, allowing him to solo a lot of military battles if he's properly equipped and he can go toe-to-toe with Yuber, the game's villainous murder machine. All this and a special attack where he does massive damage to an enemy, who then is showered with rose petals while Augustine poses in a rose-themed frame.
- Osmanthus Wine from The Tale of Food fixates way too much on his own otherworldly beauty, likes to rub in everyone's faces how he's the most beautiful thing in the world, and actually weaponizes his sex appeal in battle.
- A mild example, but Spy from Team Fortress 2 qualifies in-context. Amidst a horde of brutish, smelly mercenaries, Spy considers himself a gentleman.
Spy: [domination line] Oh dear, I've made quite a mess.
- Kashuu Kiyomitsu from Touken Ranbu is very concerned with his appearance, always talking about how he wants to be "beautiful" and going so far as to wear nail polish and high-heeled boots. However, since he's the personification of one of the swords owned by Souji Okita of The Shinsengumi, he's still perfectly willing to fight (though he'll complain if he's made to do fieldwork or look after the horses).
- Mettaton from Undertale is a flamboyant, super-vain performing android who loves attention, glitz, and allegedly fashion, throws out terms of endearment in most of his dialogue, and spends one scene in a dress. He's also surprisingly clever, cool under pressure, and was, according to Alphys, additionally programmed to be a ruthless human-killing machine. The last part turns out to be a lie for complicated reasons, but he can be pretty ruthless when he wants to be. His Agent Peacock factor is thoroughly ramped up when he switches into his EX form, switching him looks-wise from a rectangle with an LED screen and a wheel to a smirking David Bowie-esque Pretty Boy in Combat Stilettos, giving him stats and attack patterns that make him one of the game's tougher bosses. Subverted with his NEO form only seen during a Genocide Run, since he's realized what a threat you are and dropped the theatrics to instead get dangerous. Aside from a pair of heart emblems all his camp and flamboyance are swapped with badass spiky armor, glowing wings, and an arm cannon straight from Mega Man, and he goes down in a single shot.
- Joshua from The World Ends with You. Not only is he pretty and prissy, but he also loves trolling the main character by (perhaps jokingly) flirting with him while simultaneously (given time) being the most potentially powerful partner in the game. Regarding that last part: it turns out that Joshua is basically an obnoxious, campy version of Jesus.
- In World of Warcraft, all-male Blood Elves give off this vibe. (Again, see Elfeminate.) Kael'thas Sunstrider also qualifies.
- Hatoful Boyfriend has two examples. Ironically, despite most of the characters being birds, neither of them are peacocks. Yuuya Sakazaki is a flirtatious, flamboyant fantail pigeon who is essentially the pigeon version of Alex Rider — a teenage spy who's more than happy to pull out anti-material rifles when the situation calls for it. The other is Tohri Nishikikouji, a golden pheasant whose plumage is nearly as fabulous as an actual peacock's — and who happens to be a genius scientist and engineer who manages to physically manifest and weaponise the power of fantasies.
- Asmodeus from Helluva Boss is a showy and flamboyantly sexual guy who wears brightly-colored clothing and high heels... but he's also the embodiment of lust and one of the most powerful demons in Hell.
- In If the Emperor Had a Text-to-Speech Device, the Custodian known as Santodes is entombed in a Dreadnought (a form of Mini-Mecha that serves as a life-support system that lets experienced warriors continue to fight on) which looks like a colossal, beautiful, muscular man. Note that in Warhammer 40,000, most Dreadnoughts are bulky, boxy machines, while Santodes is a glorious work of masculine art with sculpted muscles and flowing locks of golden hair. When he and his fellow Custodes are impeded by a group of Adeptus Mechnicus Skitarii soldiers, Santodes is able to convince them to let them pass by showing off the beauty of his Dreadnought body, which causes the Skitarii to... oil themselves at the sight. What's more, it's implied that the reason he's in a Dreadnought is because he attempted to pull a Heroic Sacrifice against Fucking Horus to avoid being outdone by Ollanius Pius.
- Agent Valenvarius Narscio from Avania (or perhaps more accurately, from Demonus) is an intelligence officer sporting long eyelashes, even longer flowing golden locks, and an exquisitely hilted rapier. Despite his fabulous affect, and regularly providing snobbish commentary and disparaging remarks for those he finds lacking in class, he is demonstrably capable at his job, and proves himself a powerful adversary in combat.
- Prince Tramennis from Erfworld is a diplomat with flippy hair and male Zettai Ryouiki (jump boots + plate armor skirt). His dandyish attitude embarrassed his father into trying to push him away from the kingdom for a while. Charlie's idea of A Form You Are Comfortable With for him has a strong rainbow theme. Tramennis is also the recently returned Ambadassador who forged the Jetstone Coalition, and a tactical genius able to keep up with Charlie and, perhaps even more impressively, with Parson A. "God Mode" Gotti.
- Tip Wilkin from Skin Horse is on a team with a genetically engineered battle dog and an unstoppable undead killing machine, and so people forget he's a threat. However, Tip is phenomenally badass. Tip holds a Captain's commission in the US Army and is a decorated combat veteran (he dragged three of his subordinates from a burning Humvee in Afghanistan, for which he was awarded a Bronze Star). On-screen, he's saved the Skin Horse team from a town full of werewolves with an amazing I Call It "Vera" moment, defeated Moustachio's attempt to detonate a nuclear bomb, out-wrestled a trained former KGB agent, and can take it for granted that almost any woman he meets will be falling all over him within minutes. He is currently employed as a psychologist, and only wears the peak of feminine fashion
- Tarvek of Girl Genius is looking more and more like one of these, particularly when his response to the possibility of Agatha's becoming an Evil Queen is to speculate on how well she'd pull off the outfit. When Violetta is concerned he's not feeling well at a party, his comment her sweet hairpiece needs adjusting assures her he's fine, and when the new Master of Paris needed a new outfit, Tarvek had one pulled together in moments. Meanwhile, once he let the Obfuscating Stupidity fall, he became so well known for kicking tail that when his grandmother wanted to see him over his objections, the "messenger" she sent was completely invulnerable to attack by pointy and blunt objects, and he's performed feats of endurance, skill, and strength that left the Jaegers in awe.
- Kill Six Billion Demons: The God-Emperor Incubus tends to appear with some combination of flamboyant clothing, fancy earrings and other body piercings, and colourful lipstick. He's also the despotic ruler of 111,111 worlds and comes by the title "Sword King" honestly. At least, he appears as such when he's Dream Walking — in real life, he only has a white robe and a lot of scars.
- morphE: Amical is an emotive, vain, flouncy Manchild who loves sweets and has a wardrobe that wouldn't look out of place in Versailles. He's also a dead eye with a pistol, runs a Quirky Miniboss Squad of household staff, is a powerful and ruthless member of the secret Magical Society, and has mastered at least two magical Arcana (one of which was the most difficult for a mage of his Path to learn). Word of God is that there's some Immortal Immaturity at play there.
- Agent 300 from Niels. He is a high-class, slightly vain, fashion-obsessed gentleman who is also a secret agent. He is generally assigned to missions that require being in public, and there's an entire division of the agency dedicated to Agent Peacocks because of this. However, get him mad enough and he'll give Agent 250 a run for his money.
- Frankenstein from Noblesse is a blond, long-haired Battle Butler with snazzy suit and a rather violent enthusiasm when he actually gets into a fight. His master's friend once even calls him a "pet peacock" much to his annoyance (though mainly for reasons other than the nickname).
- Jue Viole Grace and Khun Aguero Agnes from Tower of God. One is constantly mistaken for a girl, the other is often mocked for his ear rings. Nevertheless, they are both respectfully the strongest and smartest among the regulars.
- Much straighter example is the maybe villainous chessmaster and Obstructive Bureaucrat Yu Hansung.
◊ The fandom itself thought he was a girl until corrected by Word of God.
- Much straighter example is the maybe villainous chessmaster and Obstructive Bureaucrat Yu Hansung.
- Terminal Lance: Strip #126, "LOL, Boots IV"
has Abe ask another Marine why the boots have stopped dressing like dweebs
. The other Marine says it's because, since "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was repealed, the gay Marines aren't letting them leave the barracks until they're dressed properly. The Rant suggests that since a gay man looks at other men with an eye of attraction, they know what looks good on men, but being men, also intuitively understand what's physically comfortable for men to wear.
- Unsounded: Karl is a well known pretty boy who uses his new position married into the nobility to dress so fopishly that even in Cresce his layers of frills get a raised eyebrow. He’s also a competent wright who is very high up in the plot to usurp the queen and helps Bell get away with murder in his first brief appearance.
- Both of Taliesin Jaffe's characters in campaign two of Critical Role qualify as this.
- Molly is a very flamboyantly dressed, jewel-adorned tiefling who has a literal peacock tattoo running up the side of his face. He is quite deadly with his Dual Wielding and is second only to Yasha as the toughest member of the Mighty Nein. He's also very openly bisexual, and sleeps with anyone who may be interested regardless of gender.
- Caduceus falls on a very different side of the spectrum — he's a gentle and peaceful firbolg with long, pink hair down past his shoulders, dressed in flowy, pastel-colored clothing. His hobbies include cooking and brewing tea, which he grows himself, and he has a deep, spiritual connection with nature through his goddess, the Wildmother. Being the team's Combat Medic, his powerset revolves more around healing and buffing his teammates than it does around dealing damage, although when it comes down to it, he has no qualms about siccing swarms of flesh-eating insects onto their enemies.
- Mr. X from Amphibia wears a purple coat with a flower lapel as well as makeup, and in general has very campy mannerisms—he's even voiced by Ru Paul! But make no mistake, he's a highly intelligent and dangerous government operative who poses a serious threat to the heroes.
- Mozenrath from Aladdin: The Series is a young, snarky pretty boy of a wizard who tends to greet his foes with a friendly, if not outright flirty tone of voice. He also happens to be one of the most cunning and dangerous enemies Aladdin has ever faced.
- Ray Gillette from Archer. He's very gay, and he's probably the most competent employee of ISIS.
- Hazbin Hotel has Angel Dust, who is a gay spider demon Drag Queen porn star turned prostitute/crime boss. He's pretty, flamboyant, flirtatious, masochistic, sarcastic, sassy, and crass. Niffty mistakes him for a woman, and he never bothers correcting her. He'll sleep with just about anyone if there's money in it for him, which funds his drug and alcohol addictions. He has no problem being called a slut, and mocks his client for resorting to such an overused insult. He even propositions Alastor, who is The Dreaded in Hell, when they first meet but is refused. He takes every opportunity to mock and taunt friends and foes alike, deliberately using sexual innuendoes to throw them off. Despite all of this, Angel Dust was a 1940s New York mobster in life, and his time in Hell has made him even more dangerous. He cheerfully participates in genocidal turf wars, casually slaughtering hundreds of enemies with machine guns, baseball bats, and explosives. He also laughs off a death threat from Vaggie; everyone in Hell is already dead, so killing him would be pretty difficult.
- The Legend of Korra:
- Before Amon debended him, Tahno looked like a Camp Straight Sissy Villain from a rival team to Korra but turned out to be a very ruthless waterbender in the pro-bending circuit.
- Tarrlok wears fancy clothing, has long, elaborately beaded hair, and is stated by Ikki as "smelling like a lady". He's also a ruthless and manipulative Sleazy Politician as well as a master waterbender who can bloodbend without a full moon.
- Korra's cousin Desna is almost as pretty as his sister Eska, to the point that one of the supporting mains develops a brief crush on both of the "lovely ladies" before Korra clarifies that one of them is in fact a young gentleman. He is also interested in fashion and fastidious about his clothes, which tend to be robe-like, and wears his hair in a sort of Hime Cut. Despite this, he is one of his father's most fearsome lieutenants once the gloves come off.
- Detective Dazzle Novak from Moonbeam City. Possibly the pinkest cop, if not person, in Moonbeam City. Also one of the most dangerous.
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
- In "Slice of Life", Steven Magnet regales Matilda with tales of his adventures with Cranky that suggest he is as fierce and feisty as he is fabulous.
- In "Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?" Big Macintosh transforms (within a shared dream) into an alicorn, with Requisite Royal Regalia that would make any princess jealous. He also attacks the Tantabus with as much enthusiasm as Dragon Knight Spike and Cute Bruiser Rainbow Dash.
- Raymond from OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes. He has a fancy hairstyle and holds a rose in her teeth, in a manner reminiscent of stereotypical bullfighters and flamenco dancers. In the episode "Project Ray Way", he even tries to start up a fashion business of his own.
- Darius from The Owl House. He's a Sissy Villain with an outlandish sense of fashion and a snobbish attitude towards getting dirty, but one does not become a coven leader by being a push-over, being able to use abomination magic with deadly precision.
- Total Drama Island (2023): Bowie is Camp Gay, and a star athlete with quick wits and a manipulative streak. He's one of the two main antagonists of his season, and remains hidden for the most part because he's enough of a people person to keep the others from noticing. He also plays up his campiness at times to get his rival, the Alpha Bitch Julia, to keep underestimating how much of a threat he actually is to her.
- Knock Out from Transformers: Prime is effeminate and vain, but can kick massive amounts of Autobot aft, especially when paired with his assistant Breakdown. He also values his paint job more than your life.
- In The Venture Bros., ex-OSI and current S.P.H.I.N.X. agent Shore Leave is as camp as he is deadly
Shore Leave: Hiii. You even think about it, I'll pull the trigger.
Goon: Okay. Just take that gun out of my back.
Shore Leave: No no, that’s not my gun; that's an indicator of how excited I am to do this to you. That is my gun.
- Robert Plant. He may not be gay, but he still manages to be awesome while being extremely camp.
- Freddie Mercury: The bi icon ended nearly all of his sentences with "darling", spoke in a stereotypically "gay" inflection, and could rock the heck out! He even wrote "Bohemian Rhapsody" to come out to his then-girlfriend at the time. You don’t mess with someone that wins a fistfight with Sid Vicious.
- Russell Brand: While he may not be physically tough, he is quite the lady killer… and my lord, is he camp.
- Jonathan Rhys Meyers is quite camp and plays many gay roles, yet is a well-known womanizer. The Cork accent didn't help combat the camp.
- Nikki Sixx: when he was young he was a juvenile delinquent who burgled homes, dealt drugs, and beat people up. He also really knows how to rock lipstick... and he's dated a bunch of Playboy bunnies and other famously sexy women. Also, he once chased down and beat up Lars Ulrich (of Metallica) after Lars heckled him during a show… while wearing platform heels.
- Le Chevalier d'Éon, if interpreted as a man. "I'm just going to live the rest of my life as a woman so I can continue to be a badass super spy, whatever."
- Flamboyantly gay H.H. Munro (Saki) turned down a cushy officer assignment in WWI and died in the line of duty protecting a comrade.
- Male ballet dancers are incredibly strong due to the amount of time they spend building strength to perform; this is why professional American Football players are often trained in ballet.
- Nezi Arbib is an Israeli commando turned hairdresser who runs a fashionable salon in LA, the movie You Don't Mess with the Zohan mentioned above is based on him.
- Lux Interior. Nothing to say but — ultimate Agent Peacock.
- This American Life had an episode devoted to "sissies"
and how, whether you're straight, gay, or bisexual, being an out-and-proud sissy can mean you're actually braver than otherwise.
- Julius Caesar was rumored by his political enemies to be a submissive gay man, which was considered quite shameful in Ancient Roman society (the submissive part, not the gay part). The famous quote accused him of being every woman's man, and every man's woman. Whatever the truth of his sexuality, there's no denying that he was an accomplished general.
- Alexander the Great was pretty fabulous in terms of dress sensenote , and we all know how badass he was.
- Neil "Bunny" Roger, fashion designer and socialite, who was already a famous Camp Gay when he went to fight in World War II. He came back a hero, and his line on the subject was, "Now that I've shot so many Nazis, Daddy will have to buy me a mink coat."
- Vidal Sassoon: During his younger years, while he was working as an apprentice hairdresser, Vidal Sassoon was also moonlighting as a vigilante street-fighter, the youngest member of a team of Jewish anti-fascists that was busting up fascist political meetings in post-WW2 London, often resulting in long public brawls. He told one story about how he came in to work at the hair salon the next day sporting huge bruises on his face and had to spin out a story about some accident. He also volunteered for the Palmach (the predecessors of the Israel Defense Forces) and fought on the front lines in the 1948 Israeli War of Independence. Though he returned to Britain and his career as a women's hairstylist the following year, he declared his time fighting for Israel "the best year of my life."
- Oscar Wilde was definitely this. Just ask the Marquess of Queensbury (yes, the same one who popularized the first modern rules of boxing). When Wilde was at Oxford, four thugs just randomly decided to try and beat him up because he was effeminate. He promptly beat them up. The Marquess of Queensbury made the similar mistake of thinking that because Wilde was effeminate, he was also lily-livered but after barging into Wilde's home and accusing him of writing a "sodomitic letter", he discovered in no uncertain terms that messing with an Irish gentleman is a bad idea. As Oscar said before throwing Queensbury and his "burly friend" (read: bodyguard) out of the house: "I don't know what the Queensbury rules are, but the Oscar Wilde rule is to shoot on sight."
- Vikings, believe it or not, had shades of this back in the day. Many of the surrounding cultures thought it was kind of sissy to wash and comb your hair every day, bathe once a week, and wear colourful clothes and blingtastic jewelry. Then these nancy-boys start beating you up, take your stuff, steal your girlfriend, and burn what's left…
- Similar to the above, it's a good idea not to fight ancient Greek warriors, especially Spartans, if you see them all doing each other's hair before battle. That's because it signifies they're fully intending to kill you or die trying, and want to look their best in case they die.
- The Celts visually one-up the Spartans as they were notorious for fighting STARK NAKED, often with spiked punk hair. The Romans were terrified not only because they were some crazy motherfuckers, but because you could see all their muscles.
- Prince Rupert of the Rhine, nephew of Charles I and one of the main Royalist commanders of the English Civil War, was a famous fop but was also one of the bravest fighters of the war. Too brave, sometimes.
- A few decades later, Philippe, duke of Orléans
, younger brother of Louis XIV, was actually and more or less openly Camp Gay and famous for the effeminacy of his dress at a time when men's clothing was expected to be frilly and everyone fashionable — which included all royals, of course — wore wigs and at least some makeup. He was also one of France's bravest and most effective military commanders of the day. He willingly faced enemy guns and commanded his troops in the field; and as for his command skills, he was so effective that Big Bro got jealous and kept him away from military operations after he won the Battle of Cassel against the Dutch in 1667. Outside military pursuits, he was known as an avid and skillful hunter, and his brother the King valued his shrewd and crafty political advice. Also, his descendants (gay or no, he was royal and needed to have kids) married into every Catholic monarchy in Europe and eventually ruled France themselves. (It's actually possible that they would still be on the throne to this day as constitutional monarchs if the last of Louis' male-line descendants hadn't been a pigheaded prig who was always too little, too late with his concessions to public opinion and who stubbornly clung to life when his death would have benefited the monarchy.)note
- In The Recollections of Rifleman Harris, an autobiography of a soldier in The Napoleonic Wars and one of the inspirations for Sharpe, the titular Harris describes an officer in the Rifles named Cardo:
"He was a great beau; but although rather effeminate and ladylike in manners, so much so as to be remarked by the whole regiment at that time, yet he was found to be a most gallant officer when we were engaged with the enemy in the field."
- David Beckham is considered the poster boy for metrosexuality, and one of the greatest Soccer players of all time. Oh, and he's married to Posh Spice.
- Men whose personalities tend towards the feminine often become tough in real life to protect themselves against bullying.
- Feodor Basmanov, a ruthless chieftain and warrior of Ivan IV (the Terrible), was also a highly effeminate and beautiful man who had a sexual relationship with the Tsar. In more modern depictions he's portrayed as a Drag Queen who performs seductive dances.
- The mignons of King Henri III of France were noted for their excessive sophistication at a time when this was still considered a sign of weakness. Most of them were also insanely brave military leaders with shades of Blood Knight.
- Piers Gaveston, the 1st Earl of Cornwall and (alleged) lover of King Edward II of England. He was often seen dressed flamboyantly and flaunted the fact that he was in a relationship with the king, wearing royal purple, and sometimes even the queen's wedding jewelry. And how did he meet the king? He was hired by Edward Longshanks as a tutor for his son (Edward II) because he was impressed by Gaveston's martial prowess.
- The British Royal Guards are seen as this by the rest of the British Army, who subject them to much (mostly good-natured) mockery for their fastidious adherence to proper drill and spending practically every hour on duty in full dress uniform (except in combat zones, of course). But their fellow squaddies will -if pressed- admit that the Guards are good for rather a lot more than simply looking pretty; their list of battle honours is long and distinguished.
- Baron von Steuben
: so gay Europe couldn't hold him, so fashion-conscious that he bankrupted himself on fancy clothes, and his rigorous training and organization took the American Army from hopeless to triumphant in the Revolutionary War.
- According to Plutarch, the Parthian general Surena was a Pretty Boy who dressed and behaved quite effeminately, even wearing makeup. That didn't stop him from being a skilled military commander who delivered a crushing defeat to a Roman army led by Marcus Licinius Crassus at the Battle of Carrhae. Keep in mind that the Roman forces outnumbered his own by at least four-to-one.
- Syd Barrett. He was a completely insane songwriter and guitar player, as well as a major case of Pretty boy.
- Osh-Tisch was a two-spirit from the Crow tribe. In this society she was known as a badé, a male-bodied person who takes the social and ceremonial roles of a woman. She had many elaborate tribal dresses that she made herself. In the Battle of the Rosebud, Osh-Tisch picked up a gun and earned her name, which means "Find them and kills them".
- Openly gay WWII Dutch resistance fighter Willem Arondeus participated in the bombing of the Amsterdam public records office in order to hinder the Nazi identification of Dutch Jews. His last words before being executed by the Nazis were the Badass Boast "Tell the people that homosexuals are not by definition weak."
- Frederick the Great, who ruled the Kingdom of Prussia from 1740 to 1786, was openly gay in his own time (once quipping "Fortune has it in for me — she is a woman, and I am not that way inclined"), a nature lover (to the point of issuing official orders to protect plants), an animal rights activist (he founded the first veterinary school in Germany and decried hunting — one of the manliest of activities — as barbarous), a talented musician and composer, and patron of the arts who collected countless pieces. He is also recognized as one of the greatest military minds who has ever lived (no less than Napoleon Bonaparte dubbed him history's best strategist), a heroic soldier who personally led his troops in many successful battles (Frederick had no less than six horses shot out from underneath him during war), and the man who elevated Prussia to a genuine world power.