Why is anger male so appealing? (Long rant)

[ticktack]

Option A (pointed, short):
“Not cliche — just pattern. Look around: boys mocked for tears, praised for toughness. Anger slips through as ‘safe.’ That’s not my worldview, that’s culture on repeat.”

Option C (snarkier):
“Ah yes, the classic ‘work on yourself’ closer. Always easier than facing the double standard baked into pop culture.”

Originally Posted by IMJ

Boys are not taught that the only ‘safe’ emotion is anger… This is cliche, liberal-brained nonsense… It says more about your singular worldview than society. Pop-culture just uses archetypes like ‘the angry guy.’ Work on yourself.

If it were just “archetypes,” we’d see the “gentle guy” archetype recycled as often as the “angry guy.” Funny how only one keeps dominating male leads across comics, film, and TV.

And no, it’s not “liberal-brained nonsense” — it’s lived pattern. Boys who cry get mocked, boys who lash out get excused (“boys will be boys”). Anger slips through as socially safe. Tenderness, fear, vulnerability? Still coded as weakness.

Pop culture didn’t invent that bias; it amplifies it. Writers grab anger because it’s the “loud” shortcut — easy to stage, quick to read. Meanwhile, wit or quiet strength take nuance and trust in the audience. That imbalance is the point.

So sure, you can call it “cliché.” But what’s really cliché is Hollywood’s endless loop of “the angry guy = depth.” Maybe that’s the lowest-hanging fruit.

[LeotheLateBloomer]

Originally Posted by ticktack

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...Jm6lw&usqp=CAU

I'll fight y'all - naysayers.

Just you wait.

You're becoming what you're fighting against.

[ticktack]

Originally Posted by LeotheLateBloomer

You're becoming what you're fighting against.

Because I have an opinion?

Ok so, I like edging my speech through pic/meme/one liners. So what.

[ToTheNines]

I like edging too.

[LeotheLateBloomer]

Originally Posted by ticktack

Because I have an opinion?

Ok so, I like edging my speech through pic/meme/one liners. So what.

Has nothing to do with the pic, dude. You're not making any sense to me because you can't seem to articulate properly.

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by LeotheLateBloomer

Has nothing to do with the pic, dude. You're not making any sense to me because you can't seem to articulate.

Yup. Which is also why I originally came at this as "authentic conversation", but then saw the pattern and adapted to the "clearly you have issues, work on yourself" thing.

[ticktack]

I know what's going on.
You like jumping on the trend of toxic masculinity and won't let go.


Also:
Telling someone to ‘work on yourself’, "articulate properly" instead of engaging the point is just deflection. If my take’s wrong, dismantle it. Otherwise, you’re just dodging. •~•

Originally Posted by ToTheNines

I like edging too.

Edging is a special kind of talent, with people initially being unsure, asking themselves whether they should do it or why they're doing it. :'D x) It can be low-key fun and memorable for the original poster, if the words hit hard.

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by ticktack

I know what's going on.
You like jumping on the trend of toxic masculinity and won't let go.

That's called "circular logic" that happens to match your worldview. I'm about ready to post Andrew's image from a page or so back.....

Either way, it seems this convo has run it's course. Good talk!

[ticktack]

Ahaha.
It's called you're in a "I like cynical character's" loop.

[ticktack]

I feel like people not liking care, wit and patience.

Rings homophopbia.

(edging btw)


Next time I will hear creators struggle to make Raph a logical, soft, empath or/and like 1987 version because y'all like psychos instead, which wrongly reads as "manly".

Same as an experience of being a homo.
As if no one wants to see empathy and real depth of normal emotions and way of living, general disclosure in real people.

Just, what's that word? Ahh, closeted.

[Sage Ninja]

Originally Posted by ZariusTwo

Raph doesn't register with me at all outside of FW. And I tend to gravitate to at least one or two Turtles per series.

Raphael from classic cartoon series is the Raphael I like the most out of all the other versions of him. I will say that he might not have been necessarily the violent one in the old series (at least not until the red sky era), but he was easily the angriest one in the group. He lost his patience first. Got rude first and was over all more ill-tempered and hot-headed than any of the other turtles. He just wasn't violent. And honestly, I think I prefer this interpretation of his angry side to other versions where you have to watch out, he doesn't smash your head in with a pipe. Other versions of Raphael have his angst and anger take up too much screen time in my opinion.

As for the topic at hand I generally dislike angry violent edgy characters (or really just the tough guy bullying characters) regardless of if they are male or female. Like I said above because these types of character tend to eat up too much screen time in most fictional works. Unless they have some hidden vulnerability or sensitivity to them.

Raphael from the 2k3 series didn't really win me over until he had that episode where he helps his sweet elderly blind lady and the one where he helps this little boy out save his mom. Anyone remember these episodes from the 2k3 series involving Raph?

[ticktack]

It's still unfair to describe him that way. Mikey was also told to "chill," Donnie -frustrated, and Leo demanded training.

Not fair to shoehorn anyone into one simple emotion, you know. Only Raph gets that false treatment, because society obsessed with this kind of "manliness" won't let it go, out of fear that other emotional lived experiences get rejected and framed as "homo".

1987 Raph - not the angry one. Never was.

___________________________
Going a bit off topic:
Sometimes there's a thing in nature where creatures have things figured out. For example, ants have a queen and a colony (that protects, harvests, takes care of the offspring).
You might think the FW series, with vast experience in toon production, would also have things figured out too. Like, fleshing out characters in some way or another and filtering out toxicity. In today's era and politics, we - or I - translate this wariness from feminist perspective. (Maybe some of you won't like that word, btw).

[ticktack]

Originally Posted by Sage Ninja

Got rude first and was over all more ill-tempered and hot-headed than any of the other turtles.

He made sharp comments when someone got boastful and big-headed. Like, he was completely chill.
As much as you want to be surprised, Mikey was the one being called out to not be agressive and all. Ok.

Maybe you've read or seen false reinterpretation of him in 2020s or 2010s, or have some vague memory of him.

[IMJ]

Did you honestly pencil whip "homophobia" up there out of nowhere?

[ticktack]

Originally Posted by IMJ

Did you honestly pencil whip "homophobia" up there out of nowhere?

Yes

,

[ticktack]

Showing emotion is unmanly.
Being stoic, pissy?
That's what I'm talking about.

Everything else just gives off a "homo".

[ticktack]

Wanna be so manly,
Show off so badly?
Gotta get in beat so madly.
I wanna hear you loudly.

Get on being hissy,
Wanna see you pissy.
Nobody likes a p*say,
Throw it like a fussy.

Don't wanna have a fomo*?
Quit being a homo.
I'll teach you a demo,
A bro is life's ammo.


*fear of missing out

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by ticktack

Wanna be so manly,
Show off so badly?
Gotta get in beat so madly.
I wanna hear you loudly.

Get on being hissy,
Wanna see you pissy.
Nobody likes a p*say,
Throw it like a fussy.

Don't wanna have a fomo*?
Quit being a homo.
I'll teach you a demo,
A bro is life's ammo.


*fear of missing out

Man, you're really something. And I mean that in a neutral way. You're like a relic of what I remember regularly encountering as a 16/17/18 year old browsing TMNT forums in their infancy.

[ticktack]

How can I know that the developers trust audience for what tmnt they like and favor, when Raph's the only one with marketably revolting apperance, like ""? Do you, a designer, give a person any chance to know characters more/better before that person looks at those drawn mannerisms?



Mr. Edge-Lord, the confrontational.

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Man, you're really something. And I mean that in a neutral way. You're like a relic of what I remember regularly encountering as a 16/17/18 year old browsing TMNT forums in their infancy.

I was only laugh-crying at what I wrote. My rap was suppose to reflect at what Raph has become and at the general favoritism to toxic masculinity. And yes. That rap is a hilarious nonsense-garbage.

[ticktack]

Men's weaponised bad mood:
(which promotes patriarchy)
Look it up for the clarity/details.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SDA1QiPRcc8