What does your male lead do that's different from how male leads are usually portrayed? (How does he break away from the mold)

Leyelle 2024-01-10 17:05:04 UTC #1

I feel like Kattar really breaks away from the mold of the male lead in that male characters, and men in general irl, are expected to have their lives under control and be able to care for their significant others, or else they're 'bums' and 'dirtbag boyfriends.' But there is a lot more to life than that, and unfortunately, as many artists will know, it's crazy hard to make a living no matter how hard you WANT to be a useful person. His crush is super successful, rich, and increasingly famous, while he is paralyzed and unable to care for his basic needs, like washing himself. This is obviously very hard on him and a huge part of his characters struggle. He also lives with the emotional pressure of his mother always having her life 'under control, under an iron fist almost.' And the fact that he feels like his being depressed or upset is stupid or irrational because of that. I felt it was a different spin to have a mother, rather than a father being the toxic one who rather squelches 'weak emotions,' and led him in a lot of ways to be hesitant to show his feelings, and I also really wanted to see more men with disabilities getting the opportunities to be 'Prince Charmings' and male leads in romances, without the idea that you are any less of a man for having weaknesses or needing help.

BoomerZ 2024-01-10 17:29:24 UTC #2

My main male character is Gavin, just a normal 20 something guy. He has a couple close friends, has a decent job he makes some money at, has hobbies, and most of all isn't a loser in life. The trend of modern comics, specially asian comics, is to make the lead basically a loser. This is in the hope that the reader, which are usually thought to be losers at life as they read comics or are too young to have a real life, to relate to the male lead. I didn't want this. I wanted a normal person. A person that isn't doing fantastic in life, but gets up every day and gets at it. His friends are friends he has had for a long time. They insult each other constantly because they like each other. They want each other to succeed. They get along with each others girlfriends/boyfriends because that is what grown ups do. You trust the one they pick to date as it's their decision. All this normal is to contrast with Gavin being around Baul, a demon. That is the weird part of the story. I truly believe in the horror model of have one weird thing in a sea of normal really hits home on the weird thing.

craftsbyblue 2024-01-10 17:59:44 UTC #3

I have a couple of male leads, so I'll go into three of them.

Makoto / Xinyi
- He is extremely secretive and doesn't really trust others. As a result, he doesn't have genuine friendships. No "friendship power-ups" are going to happen for this guy.
- He routinely hides and lies about his powers, which results in most opponents underestimating him.
- He's a pacifist and uses violence as a last resort.
- He forms an alliance with one of the main villains.

Gyoku
- He is an extremely influential politician and the co-director of an intelligence organization.
- He delegates most of the fighting to his subordinates. When he does fight, he can easily curb-stomp most opponents. No friendship power-ups for him either.
- Though he's willing to give people a chance, he's fine with sending assassins after criminals whom he feels are beyond redemption.

Alba
- He's very perceptive and uses his observations to subtly manipulate people. Sometimes he does it for their own good.
- His main passion is cooking. He only takes up combat training out of respect for his father.
- Though he's a decent strategist, he cannot hold his own in a fight.
- He is the least emotionally repressed male lead. He's not afraid to cry or show fear.

metheenaroonie 2024-01-10 18:05:34 UTC #4

This is a fantastic topic Leyelle! I've thought about this topic for years and always wanted to design a male character that was presented differently that what we tend to see in stories.

I just introduced my main male character in my recent comic. His name is Aurikato. Here's how he breaks the mold, which will see more of:

1) He's only 5'6" in height. Which, I rarely see being used for a male lead. Male leads are almost always 6'0" plus.

2) His height is very important because he's also Heterosexual, which tends to be a big deal because that tends to mean more difficulty in dating women, having a masculine and respectable presence among men, and more difficultly not coming off as having a Neapolitan complex. And most male characters who are portrayed as Hetero, tend to be cookie cutter stereotypes with no real depth. I want to show something deeper.

3) He's competent, rational thinking, and has actual reasons behind his thoughts. A lot of male characters tend to be quite careless in their thinking, which isn't very inspiring.

4) He's Asian (Native American). His race is one I don't see much of, and when I do, it's the stereotypical Native American. Native Americans once crossed a land bridge 15 or 30,000 years ago, which technically they're Asian, racially. I wanted to have his race be a talking point for interesting conversation here and there to add more realism to the story.

5) I can't reveal yet but there is something very fantastical about him, which we'll see in Chapter 4 & 5 when that's ready. This in combination with the above details I think will really make Aurikato stand out among male characters. And we start to see this at the end of my recent comic, Chapter 3.

Seeing a male lead like this brings up many various opportunities to see how he deals with life conflicts differently than your classic before 2000's male characters, and differently than your modern after 2000's male characters.

I'm assuming we can post links to our male character? Here's Act 2 or Chapter 3: https://tapas.io/episode/3003002
And here's some artwork of him:

Leyelle 2024-01-10 18:16:44 UTC #5

Thank you! I'm glad. I like to make unique promotion threads everyone can enjoy or that will lead to interesting discussions, and yes, links are fine.

I love the character design. It looks really interesting and detailed as well. Interestingly, my female lead, who I mentioned in the female-character-centered version of this thread, is also native American, Navajo to be specific. I haven't seen many native American characters and have mentioned that I'd love to see more of them, and other less popular ethnicities represented in media with more diverse character traits, and not with their cliches. I'm Hispanic, and am SO tired of the cliche, 'spicy,' mouthy, 'exotic,' Hispanic female characters. I also believe that my great-grandmother on my father's side (though my mother would argue that) was Taino, and both indigenous peoples and Hispanics are represented in my novel's main characters, but not as their cliche tropes, which are honestly crazy limiting.

Mansi_Gu 2024-01-10 18:34:43 UTC #6

Hey there～('▽^人)🩷
(I like your threads so much (っ˘ω˘ς )️)

Classic male leads tend to be stoic, strong, and gentle (if green flags, which is the one I chose). The ML from my series, Addai, is a little bit different from the classic Male Leads due to the flaws and qualities I added to him :
i - he loooooves art, and he draws a lot;
ii - he cries when he gets really emotional - and has no shame, but when around Mine, he gets all shy;
iii - he does his best to not show too much grumpiness (he is a grumpy person, but also very caring);
iv - he loves his cat dearly and loves animals - and has no shame showing it;
v - he is afraid of insects;
vi - he loves to cook and bake biscuits (he tends to like bakery more);
vii - he has no shame taking care of someone else than himself;
viii - he likes plushies...
... and many more lol.

Leyelle 2024-01-10 18:37:42 UTC #7

Thanks, I'm glad you like them

Animal508 2024-01-10 18:43:54 UTC #8

The male lead of my story is in the body of a rock.

Leyelle 2024-01-10 18:52:23 UTC #9

lol, i remember this one

allenT 2024-01-10 19:33:44 UTC #10

If my story is a backstory of a hero protagonist and his close companions, then the actual protagonist is that side character who looks the meekest & not very heroic (not even an anti-hero either) I like those characters as protagonists. I'm fascinated telling story from those character's perspective, because they're weak I don't want to showcase how good the character's action scenes are, but something more introspective.

Like my story protagonist, I like ordinary character facing a unique (interesting) situation and have to step on a journey. He's pretty young & inexperienced, a bit timid & weak... A lot like Frodo Baggins He loves his single-parent papa to death.

Also this is a slow sad story, and he's a heap of emotional animal.

kyupol 2024-01-10 19:55:55 UTC #11

My male lead in MAG ISA went from loser to antagonist to hero to go back to normal guy who is neither winner nor loser... get married and settle down and live a normal life...

He wore different "clothes"

Leyelle 2024-01-10 22:58:56 UTC #12

There's literally only one man in my entire series Lion Proof, but I feel like he breaks away from the typical mold by being a very gentle person, without being portrayed as "wussy." Yes, he does sometimes get frazzled or disconcerted by his wife's antics, but he's entirely competent, slightly sarcastic, and despite the fact that he thinks she's crazy, he's not being dragged along with her plan as much as he's intentionally choosing to be part of it to try to help mitigate the chaos. I guess in general he's just realistically well rounded. I've heard it said that people always make adult male characters either stupid or violent, and while I haven't seen this always be the case, it's certain not the case for Aaron.

moontokkym 2024-01-11 08:15:48 UTC #13

Realises she's a woman half-way through

(Story is a sci-fi dystopia, don't let the happy banner I haven't replaced since June fool you)

sevenstarsofeightIam 2024-01-12 20:13:00 UTC #14

Good topic. The male lead in my novel series, The Space Bum, is nobody special. He is an ordinary man in extraordinary circumstances. He's a quiet man, calm, friendly, humble, and with a penchant for serendipity. That's not to say he doesn't have what it takes to be a male lead. What's different about his type is that he naturally draws interesting people around him. He is a traveler, even though he doesn't have the budget for travel. He also has some secrets. Being the type of character that he is, I am free to make much more from him than a standard MC. He is a man subject to change, and he goes through changes from one book to the next. In The Space Bum, the first book, he is middle-aged, balding, and has a bit of a paunch. In the second book, The Old Man, he returns after being marooned for seven years, and the experience has made him guant and wizardly. In Htohmar Har, the third book, he has undergone reconstructive medical procedures on an alien world that have rendered him, basically young again.

Stargazer31 2024-01-13 11:58:15 UTC #15

Ika is a transgender maori surfing fish-man
Yossele is a 500 year old clay golem
Khufenkhamun owns more artefacts than the British Museum
Ross steals cows. Or at least he wants to

CarltonIsaac 2024-01-13 15:53:28 UTC #16

The main character of my ‘Seven of Legend Saga’ series, Arden, the son of Echtor, doesn’t have his own POV in the story. His story is narrated through the POVs of five support characters as they move the saga along.

pjthetoonaddict 2024-01-13 16:14:12 UTC #17

@Leyelle Hey, thanks for this thread! This is a really interesting one.

Well, my intention for Otto was that he would fit a lot of the tropes usually given to female sidekicks in pulp fiction (he's a stripper, devoted to spouse), but I wanted to build his relationship with his romantic partner as a very solid foundation. I grow SUPER tired of people who write men as always being tired of their wives or girlfriends, and I grow even more tired of people pairing their female characters with men romantically without establishing a friendship first.

Why would these two love each other so much, when they wouldn't even work as friends? It never made sense.

Also Otto offers a lot of emotional support, which I though was essential, since a lot of men in pulp detective stories tend to be written as putting those things last.

Anyway, sorry to ramble, but once again I appreciate you creating such a discussion.

pjthetoonaddict 2024-01-13 16:16:39 UTC #18

Also, I will be expanding more on Otto's backstory! But I really want the main lead to get her shot in the spotlight first.

abigaillmartin 2024-01-13 16:39:24 UTC #19

Otto! I love you!! Ahhhhhh! He’s husband material!!

Anyway I believe my male leads. Eric and Winston from Cracking Eggs, they are different from your typical male lead because they would be considered the badguys in any other story. But they aren’t bad for the sake of being bad, I think I would sort of consider them as antiheroes?

My male characters tend to be more emotionally vulnerable because I personally like that in a guy, but I also believe that it’s okay for guys to express their feelings and cry and such.

Though Elsie is the title role of Elsie, I believe that the heart of the story is the other half of the equation Ernest McDermott. I think both Roy and Ernest are probably my best portrayal of men I have written so far. Mainly because I had help writing them from a friend who is a guy.

KevinReijnders 2024-01-13 17:24:47 UTC #20

Zack is definitely not you typical male (co-)lead. Considering Trespasser is an action-adventure series, you'd expect him to be your typical plucky, ready to go, adventuring hero. But no, he took a whole lot of convincing to actually join Kyara and Blip on their adventure. And even then he's been craving to go home ever since.

On the other side of the spectrum, there's this other male standard that's emerging (you'll see a lot of them in marvel where there's a female protagonist). The weak one that needs the woman to solve all their problems. And while Zack might initially seem like he'll fall into this category, it's actually thanks to his inventiveness that Kyara manages the feats she performs. The two of them really do rely on each other to make this adventure end in a success.