The Sanchez Babes: ‘Hot, Spicy Grandpa’ Rick Sanchez Appeals To Sapiosexual ‘Rick And Morty’ Fans

An online community of Rick and Morty fans called “The Sanchez Babes” has been garnering attention as of late for a rather unusual reason. They apparently find the elderly, eccentric Rick Sanchez to be sexy, despite his many idiosyncrasies as a character.

[WARNING: Original reports from AV Club and Inverse feature language that might be offensive to some readers.]

As noted by AV Club, there has been a lot of debate among Rick and Morty fans as to whether the older half of the titular duo, Rick Sanchez, is someone viewers of the popular Adult Swim animated series should admire. While Rick stands out as an extremely intelligent character, he is also portrayed as a cynical alcoholic with questionable social skills. In short, he’s a “fictional character riddled with red flags,” as AV Club opined. That hasn’t stopped the Sanchez Babes, a new Tumblr community mostly made up of women in their 20s, from expressing their attraction to the “hot [and] spicy” animated grandpa.

“My first crush on anyone, real or fictional, was [Harry Potter character] Professor Snape,” said Tumblr user “outtricking” while speaking to Inverse as the publication reported on the Sanchez Babes Tumblr group.

“I like the snarky, brusque, intelligent, non-conventionally attractive characters. With Rick, I specifically like his wrinkly old man butt, his enthusiasm when he’s happy, and I think his bald spot is cute.”

According to Inverse, the above comments and others shouldn’t come as much of a surprise despite Rick Sanchez’s lack of attractiveness as an animated character. Many of the Sanchez Babes the publication spoke to identified as sapiosexuals, or people who are sexually attracted to a person’s intelligence. But it isn’t just intelligence that does it for this online community, as members gave various other justifications for their attraction to Rick, who was imagined by Rick and Morty creators Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland as a parody of Christopher Lloyd’s similarly eccentric Back to the Future character, “Doc” Emmett Brown.

“I think the attraction is largely in part to him knowing everything,” said Tumblr user and Sanchez Babes member “youshouldfear.”

“He’s in charge, he’s a (really f***ed up) god, he’s got the situation handled. It’s a weird security thing, like nothing can go too wrong if you’re with Rick because he can figure a way out of s**t every time. It’s powerful.”

YOU could come eat nuggs & Szechuan sauce with Dan & me plus record Rick and Morty commentary! For real. GO: https://t.co/3jRphRtkaA

— Justin Roiland (@JustinRoiland) September 22, 2017

Other members gave their own reasons for their attraction to Rick Sanchez, such as a general interest in older men, and even the character’s own deviant traits and “emotional baggage.” One member also compared Rick to a “tsundere,” a term used by anime fans to describe someone who “comes off as super cold but deep” but eventually warms up and proves to be a much nicer person than they initially let on.

While the members of the Sanchez Babes aren’t shy about expressing their attraction to Rick Sanchez, they have a few rules in place when they exchange fan fiction online. The group is strict when it comes to banning topics relating to politics, incest, and pedophilia, and due to the NSFW nature of the stories they share, no minors are allowed to join the community.

Despite the graphic content of the Sanchez Babes’ fan fiction pieces, as well as the admission of several members that they suffer feelings of depression and self-loathing in a similar way to their animated hero, AV Club noted that the group is sensible enough to acknowledge that Rick is just a cartoon character and not someone who would make an ideal real-life partner. But he has become, for better or for worse, an attractive fictional character who stands out for his intelligence and quirks, rather than anything related to his appearance.

[Featured Image by Paul Zimmerman/Getty Images]