In 2006, the longstanding economic prosperity generated by the natural resource sector in Northwestern Ontario abruptly collapsed. Male dominance over the natural world, a key paradigm shaping socioeconomic ideologies of the region, now had to be reframed in terms of a more passive state of reliance. A Real Boy wonders what it means to be masculine in Northwestern Ontario when the everyday requirements of this identity are in rapid flux. Each character internally affrays under the intense focus on gendered normativity in the Northwest, especially as the characterizing forces of traditional masculinity—notably the congregate spot for career men: Thunder Bay’s infamous paper mills—disappear, close, and collapse, leaving behind toxic recuperative masculinity hovering over all gendered bodies in the area. Torben navigates a line between emulating and distancing from his abusive father, Elias finds avenues for flamboyancy as early hire in new experimental forestry sectors, Olli surveys what his trans* embodiment means when men are everything he’s grown to hate, and Natalie stumbles in expected roles and unexpected transgressions.