History Main / SlenderManStandIn

!This trope is [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=16716730070.80612400&page=1 under discussion]] in the Administrivia/TropeRepairShop.

[[WMG:[[center:[[AC:This trope is [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=16716730070.80612400&page=1 under discussion]] in the Administrivia/TropeRepairShop.]]]]]]

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/slendermanstand_in.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:From left to right, top to bottom: [[Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos Slendy himself]], [[WesternAnimation/AdventureTime Hunson Abadeer]], [[VideoGame/{{Minecraft}} an Enderman]], and [[Series/DoctorWho a Silent]].]]

[[Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos Slender Man]] started as a strange little experiment in urban legends on an online forum and a handful of Youtube channels -- sort of a modern day, internet-born Bloody Mary or Hook-Handed Man. Considering the memetic, viral way Slendy crept into popular consciousness, it shouldn't be surprising that he's spawned numerous [[{{Expy}} Expies]], often attempts to duplicate the formula or just outright parodies.

A Slender Man Stand-In usually has at least a few of the following characteristics:
* Human shaped, the emphasis being on [[HumanoidAbomination "shaped"]].
* Tall, thin build, sometimes with CreepilyLongArms (and legs) and/or CreepyLongFingers.
* Often TheBlank; they may have features of some sort but almost never complete faces.
* Wears dark and concealing, but often mundane clothing -- most commonly a business suit -- that only emphasizes their [[UncannyValley uncanny nature]], implying an intent to appear "[[HughMann normal]]".
* Love to discreetly stalk people, and may be masters of OffscreenTeleportation.
* Mysterious but probably malicious intentions.
* In-universe, they're probably the subjects of urban legends or conspiracy theories, especially ones found online. Expect them to specifically target anyone who investigates these legends.

A subtrope of FountainOfExpies.
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!!Examples:
[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''Manga/The100GirlfriendsWhoReallyReallyReallyReallyReallyLoveYou'': A few of Rentarou's girlfriends could pass as female versions of Slender Man.
** Nano has unusually long legs, wears a black jacket and tie, shows little (if any) emotion, and was the subject of school rumors before she began dating Rentarou. Also, her reasons behind maximizing efficiency in her life remain a mystery.
** Meme wears dark and (deliberately) concealing formal wear, has a face she keeps anonymous, is a subject of mystery and gossip in the school, and just like the actual Slender Man she’s a master at disappearing and reappearing at will. She’s essentially a harmless, non-supernatural Slender Man.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* The Faceless Men from ''Oblivion Song'' are a downplayed example, being tall, spindly, black-clad humanoids with pale skin and a hole where their faces should be.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* Creator/LittleKuriboh parodied Marble Hornets with "Concrete Giraffes", in which [[WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries Marik and Bakura]] attempt to make a student film but are harassed by an annoying grey featureless guy called "Jack Slenderman" who keeps ducking into shots and interrupting to ask if he can be in the movie.
* In ''Webcomic/SwitcherooAU'', Ronaldo sees a monster in the trees called "Slenderwoman" and posts pictures on his blog about her. Really it's just Spinel {{troll}}ing him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* Film/TheByeByeMan is a shadowy creature of urban legend who seeks and kills anyone who knows his name. His appearance is shrouded by a hooded raincoat, but he has eerily long, ''slender'' fingers.
* In Creator/TimBurton's film adaptation of ''Literature/MissPeregrinesHomeForPeculiarChildren'', Hollowgasts are huge faceless monsters with tentacles, who wear suits and are invisible to everyone but the protagonist and his grandfather.
* ''Film/{{Smiley}}'' has a killer who looks more or less like Slender Man but has an smile-emoji carved into his otherwise blank face. He is, naturally, summoned by performing an online ritual.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* An episode of ''Series/CriminalMinds'' had the FBI profilers be called into a rural community to help investigators after three girls were attacked by a sexual predator who had taken on the identity of an obviously Slender Man-inspired urban legend figure called the Tall Man.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'' has the Silence starting in the 6th series. Visually they are a cross between TheGreys and TheMenInBlack, and can give you LaserGuidedAmnesia so they always seem to pop out of nowhere. The similarities to Slender Man might have been coincidental, but they are definitely there.
* An episode of ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' had some kids brutally stab a friend in the woods while trying to catch "the Glasgowman" on video. [[note]]This episode was very much RippedFromTheHeadlines, based on an incident where some disturbed 12-year-olds thought they could attract Slender Man by killing a friend [[/note]]
* The Hawkins Demogorgon from the first season of ''Series/StrangerThings'' is a tall, faceless creature with a FlowerMouth from the Upside Down that only roams around Hawkins at night, either to feed or to kidnap people and take them to the Upside Down to serve as hosts for baby demogorgons to grow in.
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'':
** Season 9 has an episode revolving around the Thinman, a strange ghostly being who has quite an internet presence but no apparent pre-death identity. [[spoiler:Turns out to just be a ScoobyDooHoax]].
** Early on, the series did a few episodes based around sinister creatures who came to life through a combination of magic and memetic urban legend status. However, these ''[[NewerThanTheyThink predated]]'' Slendy.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/DontGetSpooked'' included Slender Man and the parodies [[BigThinShortTrio Squat Man and Regular Man]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' has enemies called Endermen (get it?). They're tall, thin, pitch black creatures who can teleport and move blocks around.
* The Bogeyman of ''VideoGame/TheSecretWorld''. The unnaturally lanky inhabitant of the abandoned [[AmusementParkOfDoom Atlantic Island Park]], he stalks and preys upon any trespassers - [[WouldHurtAChild most commonly children]]. He's always dressed in the tattered remains of a ringmaster's costume, including a top hat, and his right hand has withered into a single impossibly long finger. The comparison is even stronger in ''VideoGame/ThePark'', in which the Bogeyman is even more elusive, more prone to the MindRape, and more feared by the local children.
* ''VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown'' has Thin Men, unnaturally tall and slender [[HughMann "men"]] in business suits and SinisterShades. They're a combination of this trope, TheMenInBlack, and the ReptilianConspiracy. Thin Men are alien SnakePeople who have been extensively altered to serve as infiltrators, and tend to show up on Council missions to menace a VIP. They're capable of leaping up to take the high ground InASingleBound, [[SuperSpit spit]] globs of venom that produce clouds of toxin (and release a similar cloud upon death), and on higher difficulties are dangerously accurate with their light plasma rifles, especially for an earlygame enemy.
* ''VideoGame/LittleNightmaresII'': The Thin Man is a mysterious, staticky phantom who appears as an elderly, abnormally tall man wearing a suit and a hat that tends to obscure his face in shadow. While he is relatively normal-looking compared to the other foes that Mono and Six face, it is offset by the fact that he is a HumanoidAbomination with unnatural movements and the ability to distort reality around him through his very presence.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* Notably averted with Hasshaku-sama[=/=]Ms. Eight-Feet-Tall, a Japanese creepypasta originating from 2chan starring an abnormally tall, unnaturally thin woman with a penchant for kidnapping children. Though she could easily be mistaken for a DistaffCounterpart to Slendy, her creation in fact pre-dates his by almost a full year.
* ''Website/SCPFoundation'':
** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-582 SCP-582]] appears to be Slenderman itself, being described as an "adaptive, self-propagating meme" whereby if anyone writes fictional accounts about it, it will become reality. SCP-582 also has a habit of appearing and disappearing at will.
** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1810 SCP-1810]] is a creepy marionette who tries to protect children, but is really very bad at it; the creator was jokingly worried people would nickname it SLENDERSITTER.
** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-4666 SCP-4666]]: The Yule Man. It's a tall, thin, HumanoidAbomination that kidnaps children during the Christmas season. At least one commenter referred to it as "Slender Claus".
* ''WebOriginal/{{Mortasheen}}'': The [[https://bogleech.com/mortasheen/longfellow.htm Longfellow]] species of [[EldritchAbomination Unknown]]-class monster are tall and thin {{Humanoid Abomination}}s with CreepyLongFingers and strange memory-erasing powers. No-one knows what their faces looks like (or if they even have faces) because their [[ClothingAppendage "hats"]] are perceived as always covering it up, even by people standing at completely angles and cameras.
* Parodied in the WebAnimation/HomestarRunner Halloween toon, [[Recap/HomestarRunnerTheHouseThatGaveSuckyTricks The House that Gave Sucky Tricks]]. Strong Bad's hypotetical headlining monster for his own haunted house is Large Bean, a monster with a large white bean for a head wearing a button down shirt with long sleeves to simulate tentacles and dress pants. No one finds it in the least bit unsettling, especially after Homestar makes a tour exhibit out of it.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Videos]]
* ''WebVideo/MarbleHornets'' had The Operator, based off of the original Slender Man concept but tweaked to fit their own story; for this reason, they changed his name. However, funnily enough, a lot of Slender Man works used their ideas for the monster and ran with them, making The Operator both an expy and a codifier for Slender Man.
* ''WebVideo/CryptTV'' has the Look-See, who resembles Slender Man quite closely, but with burlap-textured skin, a "face" made of necrotic scars, a huge SlasherSmile with MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily, and a hilariously out-of-place pair of bright red HoboGloves that clash horribly with both his monstrous appearance and his standard-issue Slendy-expy business suit. He also has a more consistent MO: hunting those who are burdened by grief and/or guilt.
* In the ''WebVideo/{{Smosh}}'' video "THE NEW SLENDERMAN", Ian and Anthony discover that they are being photobombed repeatedly by someone that looks like Slenderman. When they catch him, he confesses that he is actually Slenderman's little brother Skinnyman, who has been trying to make it on his own as a meme ever since his brother retired at the height of his popularity. When Ian and Anthony insist that he looks exactly the same as Slenderman, he gets so angry that he kills them.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* Hunson Abadeer from ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' may be borrowing from from SM stylistically. He is iconic for wearing a suit and tie, his lanky limbs and tentacles, and his habit of moving in various unnatural ways.
* The Summerween Trickster from ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'', while mostly based on No-Face from ''Anime/SpiritedAway'', spends most of his episode in a form inspired by Slender Man. His overall body has a very similar design, with a humanoid look, though one with long legs & hands and his face hidden behind a mask. He's also a bit of an urban legend, who likes to stalk and eat children and likes to keep to the shadows.
* The Beast from ''WesternAnimation/OverTheGardenWall'' is a HumanoidAbomination resembling a tree that stalks unsuspecting victims in a forest called "the Unknown". His true form is concealed by the shadows, making him appear dark and featureless, save for his eyes. Finally, the Beast, like Slender Man, has zero qualms against abducting and killing children.
* The ''WesternAnimation/SuperMansion'' Halloween special "Drag Me to Halloween" features a Slender Man parody called Slimmerman. Robobot appears to be possessed by him after catching a computer virus while looking him up, but it later turns out that Robobot was faking the possession as a Halloween prank.
* ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'': The show's incarnation of Soundwave seems to take cues from Slendy, with him being a tall, lanky, faceless, silent, enigmatic figure with long arms and tentacles. He was actually nicknamed '''Slendercon''' by the fandom.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': A ponyfied version of Slender Man makes a FreezeFrameBonus cameo in the background of the episode "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E9PinkieApplePie Pinkie Apple Pie]]".
* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' has a being called "Lenderman" appear in Eda's book of urban legends -- he looks near identical to Slendy, save for the presence of two money bags in his hand. [[MeaningfulName His entry details that he approaches strangers with offers of riches beyond compare]] [[IronicName but then robs his victims of everything they have.]]
[[/folder]]

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'':

** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-582 SCP-582]] appears to be Slenderman itself, being described as an "adaptive, self-propagating meme" whereby if anyone writes fictional accounts about it, it will become reality. SCP-582 also has a habit of appearing and disappearing at will.

* ''WebOriginal/{{Mortasheen}}'': The [[EldritchAbomination Unknown]]-class monsters [[https://bogleech.com/mortasheen/longfellow.htm Longfellows]] are tall and thin {{Humanoid Abomination}}s with CreepyLongFingers and strange memory-erasing powers. No-one knows what their faces looks like (or if they even have faces) because their [[ClothingAppendage "hats"]] are perceived as always covering it up, even by people standing at completely angles and cameras.

* ''Manga/The100GirlfriendsWhoReallyReallyReallyReallyReallyLoveYou''
** Nano has unusually long legs, wears a black jacket and tie, shows little (if any) emotion, and was the subject of school rumors before she began dating Rentarou.

* ''WebVideo/CryptTV'' has the Look-See, who resembles Slender Man quite closely, but with burlap-textured skin, a "face" made of necrotic scars, a huge SlasherSmile with MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily, and a hilariously out-of-place pair of bright red hobo-style FingerlessGloves that clash horribly with both his monstrous appearance and his standard-issue Slendy-expy business suit. He also has a more consistent MO: hunting those who are burdened by grief and/or guilt.

* Nano Eiai in ''Manga/The100GirlfriendsWhoReallyReallyReallyReallyReallyLoveYou'' has unusually long legs, wears a black jacket and tie, shows little (if any) emotion, and was the subject of school rumors before she began dating Rentarou.