History Main / EstrogenBrigade

* ''Manga/DeathNote'': Light Yagami, a delusional KnightTemplar who kills hundreds of people to cleanse the world of evil attracts a lot of fangirls in and out of universe who support him [[DracoInLeatherPants just because he's hot.]]

* ''Manga/DeathNote'': [[LightIsNotGood Light]] [[DarkMessiah Yagami]]. Just [[AxCrazy Light]] [[AGodAmI Yagami]]. And L fangirls. And Mello. And Near. And Mikami. And maybe Matt, but he only had a brief appearance before being [[{{Pun}} "lighted"]]. Matsuda and Aizawa too.

** The Creator/PeterDavison, Creator/PaulMcGann (whose fanclub, "The Paul [=McGann=] Estrogen Brigade", is the TropeNamer), and Creator/DavidTennant Estrogen Brigades are the most famous examples. Other options do exist - Creator/ChristopherEccleston still has his own following despite getting one season, and Creator/MattSmith and Creator/PeterCapaldi have them as well, but there was a '''Creator/SylvesterMcCoy''' Estrogen Brigade on rec.arts.drwho. Creator/TomBaker slept with enough of his female following (which he called his 'time travellers') that it was a factor in his main relationship at the time breaking up - according to him, sometimes they'd even wear his costume during the event.

* Most female [[UsefulNotes/{{Baseball}} St. Louis Cardinals]] fans ''do'' follow the game, but may end up crushing on a player that they like. It's not usually enough to be called an Estrogen Brigade, but now David Freese is developing one since he [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome saved the Cardinals from losing the 2011 World Series at the very last minute of Game 6]] ''and'' he's cute as a button.

* Women's interest in baseball in general increased when the uniforms switched from baggy knickers to spandex tights.

* For all its gratuitous {{Fanservice}} geared towards males, ''Manga/FairyTail'' has a sizeable female fanbase for its cast of good-looking, well-toned men who are just as prone to {{Fanservice}} as women. One of its main characters, Gray, is especially popular for being a cool guy who takes off his clothes in every other scene he's in (almost always without thinking), which led Creator/HiroMashima to give him an early DayInTheLimelight by writing the Galuna Island arc, which is centered entirely around Gray's tragic past.

* The female ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' fandom is still very small, but type any combination of male characters into the search bar on Website/DeviantArt some time, if you dare. With all the FoeRomanceSubtext, the fact Bruce Wayne is generally depicted as a rather handsome fellow, ass-kicking female characters, [[EvenTheGuysWantHim Nightwing]], and a huge cast of interesting villains, many of whom are just begging for DracoInLeatherPants treatment… it's sort of a wonder the Estrogen Brigade for Batman isn't bigger.
* ComicBook/BuckyBarnes, helped a lot by the MCU version's popularity. A sexy tortured bad boy out for redemption who is a borderline CosmicPlaything who only has a few loves ones who he is very close too and protective of? Yeah, he's getting fangirls.
* ''Comicbook/{{Deadpool}}'' has had an Estrogen Brigade of fun, quirky, female geeks for a few years now, mostly because they get a kick out of his BlackComedy sense of humor. Now he's getting a more traditional Estrogen Brigade, since he's being portrayed by [[MrFanservice Ryan Reynolds]].
%% * Another Marvel hero with a moustache, ComicBook/DoctorStrange, also always had a sizeable female following.
* ''Franchise/TheFlash'': ComicBook/WallyWest has a fairly active fanbase of women and gay/bi men, moreso than the other Flash family, to the point the Flash fans among the Feminist Comics Blogosphere tends to be made up almost entirely of Wally fans. Wally is a MrFanservice whose tweaks to the Flash costume included it being drawn in a way that better shaded his figure, with his belt being reshaped in a way to emphasise his butt and crotch, and though he was kind of an ass early on, he's shown to be a ChivalrousPervert who, [[LadykillerInLove upon falling in love]], becomes a very devoted and caring boyfriend. Notably, unlike many other comic book relationships where the woman is subject to MaleGaze, Linda Park is very rarely sexualised to even remotely the same level as Wally, making it apparent that EvenTheGuysWantHim.
* ''The ComicBook/GreenLantern Corps'' has a surprisingly strong following in the Feminist Comics Blogosphere, only in part because of the franchise's 50-year tradition of [[FanService spandex-clad butt shots]]. Hal is "endearingly sexist", John is "the serious one", Guy is the "gruff den mother", Kyle is TheWoobie, and Alan is the sexy older guy.
** Nightwing himself is probably the largest example of this within comic fandom, something that is known by DC and has became an AscendedMeme at this point. He's an attractive Pretty Boy, has a very well-defined ass, his [[SpyCatsuit modern costume]] is sleek and compliments his figure better than almost any other make superhero costume, an he's a sensitive NiceGuy who is shown to be a loving boyfriend. It's well known that Dick has one of most sizeable fanbases of fangirls and gay/bi men.

* Franchise/SpiderMan assembled quite a large brigade over the years, which may be in part because he does have a very noticeable "feminine side", being portrayed as quite sensitive and even shown crying on a few occasions. Also, right from the start taking his romances very seriously -- even when he was dating Betty Brant as a high-school student, he was thinking in terms of the future marriage -- and it is not for nothing that ever since the Stan Lee[=/=]John Romita run ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' has been described as a soap opera with action interludes. When a fan magazine once asked an assemblage of female comics creators to name their favourite superheroines, one of them half-jokingly named Spidey, explaining that he qualified as an "honorary female" anyway.

* ''Literature/HarryPotter''. Have you ''seen'' the [[YaoiFangirl yaoi fangirl hordes?]] Hell, no male character is safe from this. Not even poor Harry himself.

** Now compounded times a thousand by the juggernaut that is ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'' to the point where girls are casually referring to a politician from the 1700s as "Alex"

* UsefulNotes/VladimirPutin, what with him [[RatedMForManly hunting tigers]] and [[ShirtlessScene posing shirtless]].

* Miguel O'Hara from ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManAcrossTheSpiderverse'' has attracted a storm of female fans, being a tortured, [[UnkemptBeauty unkempt]] {{hunk}} HeroAntagonist played by Creator/OscarIsaac - to the point where Sony Animation [[https://www.tiktok.com/@sonypicturesanimation/video/7245362065827826986?lang=en themselves got in on it.]]

''* Miguel O'Hara from ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManAcrossTheSpiderverse'' has attracted a storm of female fans, being a tortured, [[UnkemptBeauty unkempt]] {{hunk}} HeroAntagonist played by Creator/OscarIsaac - to the point where Sony Animation [[https://www.tiktok.com/@sonypicturesanimation/video/7245362065827826986?lang=en themselves got in on it.]]

* For a rather surprising example, ''Anime/RedoOfHealer'' has more female viewers than average, ignoring the fact that the anime and the original light novels only show [[VillainProtagonist Kayal/Keyaru]] raping and torturing his slaves and his enemies, all of which are female, while the latter are brainwashed by him. [[https://animecorner.me/2021/03/redo-of-healer-female-viewership-is-higher-than-average/ Must be seen to be believed]].

* [[AntiHero Shadow the Hedgehog]] is disturbingly popular among ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' fans.

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* ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}'' and its [[WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce sequel]] are both aimed at preteen boys, but the shows have garnered a fair amount of teenage-and-up female fans. Some of them enjoy the show as an entity, but others just watch it for one of the male characters (or for the {{Shipping}}…). Kevin is the most popular ([[MrFanservice particularly when he grows up]]), but some girls prefer [[CoolOldGuy Grandpa Max]]. This seems to be a recurring theme for Creator/{{Man of Action|Studios}}, with similar fanbase for ''WesternAnimation/GeneratorRex'' and one already developing for ''[[WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012 Ultimate Spider-Man]]''.

* ''{{VideoGame/Overwatch}}'' got one the second [[TheGunslinger Mc]][[BadassBaritone Cree]] premiered. And it quadrupled when they introduced [[WalkingShirtlessScene Han]][[DarkIsNotEvil zo]]. It makes more sense when you realize that every member of the cast could qualify as TroubledButCute.

An Estrogen Brigade is easily attracted by hints of HoYay, since many members of such brigades seem to agree that GuyOnGuyIsHot.

*** That's not to say the intended Estrogen Brigade Bait didn't underperform, however: the Blue Lions has the most conventionally handsome guys in the cast, with strong personalities and a lot of emotional complexity to delve into, especially where the [[DarkAndTroubledPast Tragedy of Duscur]] is concerned. There's a reason why the FanNickname for the Blue Lions "the Otome house". Dimitri, the head of the house and a potential poster boy for JerkassWoobie after the time skip, ran away with the votes in [[https://i.imgur.com/rsH2EgE.jpg a female-majority poll]] that also gave a lot of love to his house in general and is so well-liked that he even placed on [[https://japanesenintendo.com/2019/10/21/nintendo-dream-character-poll-5/ a poll of favorite Nintendo characters,]] outdoing ''[[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Yoshi and Princess Peach.]]'' Even taking recency bias into account, that's some impressive reception. [[HandsomeLech Sylvain]] and [[{{Tsundere}} Felix]] are also extremely popular for being very handsome, having attractive voices and with angsty backstories.

* "Clique"-era Wrestling/ShawnMichaels was blatantly marketed at female fans, to the point of doing a spread in ''Playgirl''[[note]]Apparently no one told him (or Vince) until after the magazine hit store shelves that ''Playgirl'' is mainly bought by ''gay men'', not women. As such, Michaels [[Main/NeverLiveItDown really doesn't like people bringing this up]], in fact the cover of that issue of ''Playgirl'' is the page image for the [[CreatorBacklash/ProfessionalWrestling pro wrestling section]] of the Main/CreatorBacklash trope[[/note]]. Of course, the result was the male fans turning against him in a way that makes the current reaction to John Cena seem positively tame, culminating in Madison Square Garden rabidly cheering Sid of all wrestlers at Survivor Series 1996. In the pre-Attitude era, that type of fan revolt was shocking. Many male fans take great pleasure in the stunned reaction of a female fan in the front row of that match when Sid pins Michaels clean in the middle as MSG erupts in cheers.

* Sometimes Jack Frost from ''WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheGuardians'' . His attractiveness is further solidified when Tooth Fairy swoons over his snow-white teeth while her baby fairies make heart shapes around him and faint whenever he smiles.

* While ''Literature/{{Durarara}}'' is [[{{shonen}} targeted to young males]], the series is infamous for the the huge Estrogen Brigade that congregates around [[TroubledButCute Shizuo]] and [[EvilIsSexy Izaya]]. [[{{Moe}} Mikado]] and [[HandsomeLech Kida]], too. Heck, most of the male cast is [[CastFullOfPrettyBoys pretty]]!