YEAH, like it's always been my interpretation that like... IDK, Sexyman status comes with a level of having to NO WAIT I CAN EXPLAIN THO to sharing that you like them. Like, explaining why you're so obsessed with The Onceler or Sans Undertale or the DHMIS Clock is like... part of their whole deal. Some kinda mixture of like:
- Fans going completely yonkers bonkers
- A level of weirdness to their appeal, something that isn't just a regular fan favourite type of character - be it unconventional appearance, "unappealing" personality, amorality, etc.
- Often the appeal skews heavily visual attraction (finding them sexy/etc) often in spite of a strange/unconventional appearance (or lack thereof) - or sometimes a desire to make them attractive in some way too (see Bill Cipher twinkification)
- Something about them makes the fandom make tons of transformative (or straight up original) content for them - lack of canon design can do this pretty easily, as can there being something nuanced or complicated about their personality that the canon doesn't explore
- Notoriety outside of the fandom
(I'd argue the notoriety isn't even specifically needed much - it certainly helps, but I feel like notoriety enhances the vibes rather than making them. Personal taste for that one though I think.)
Anyway I think part of the problem wrt "sexyman is not just a person you like" is that people start just, interpreting these polls as Make Your Fave Win versus trying to discover who is the most fitting winner?
(That and like, probably also the same thing that happens when super popular songs end up on character playlists just because people like the song, even though the song like, doesn't match at all.)
.....i've spent over half an hour editing this giant comment and have no idea if it makes ANY sense. and im incapable of being concise. but im sending it anyway bc i can so whoops sorry 4 the essay enjoy i guess