Tumblr Sexyman: The Onceler Arc

2012

Date: October 2012 · Place: Tumblr, source character from The Lorax (Universal, 2012) · Figures: The Onceler, animated character · Ed Helms, voice actor · Tumblr fandom curators · Tags: Fandom Archetype, Femme Gaze, Sexyman 01. A Lorax Villain Becomes A Heartthrob Universal's animated film The Lorax releases in March 2012 with Ed Helms voicing the young Onceler, a green-suited entrepreneur villain. Beginning in October 2012, Tumblr fandom appropriates the character into a sprawling romance and AU ecosystem: dozens of Onceler blogs, OC self-inserts, ship art, and song-fic. The phenomenon is documented in real time on Your Fave Is Problematic and other watchlog Tumblrs. 02. The Tumblr Sexyman Archetype The Onceler arc is the first articulated case of what fandom theorists later name the Tumblr Sexyman: a nominally minor or villainous male character, often tall and animated or low-rendered, who is collectively rewritten as the romantic protagonist of a parallel fandom. The lineage continues through Bill Cipher, Sans Undertale, Reigen Arataka, and the Murder Drones cast. It also illustrates Tumblr fandom's capacity to override a source text's authorial intent at scale. Universal's marketing of the Onceler as a cautionary capitalist is decisively overwritten. Sources • KnowYourMeme, 'Tumblr Sexyman' • Polygon, 'A Brief History of the Onceler Fandom' (5 April 2022) • Fanlore, 'Onceler Fandom' entry