Line #5 Main/CuteCrittersActChildlike


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4	[[quoteright:350:[[WebOriginal/FluffyPony https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/educatedfluffiesnarrowcrop.png]]]]
5	[-[[caption-width-right:350:[[https://marcusmaximus.deviantart.com/art/Oracle-s-Educated-Fluffies-312453423 Image]] by [[https://marcusmaximus.deviantart.com marcusmaximus.]]]]-]
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7	Among {{fantastic sapient species\|Tropes}}, the small, cute races (often {{Hobbits}} or {{Ridiculously Cute Critter}}s) are often given personality traits commonly associated with children - such as innocence, playfulness, curiosity, or naivete - to complement their adorable appearances. These creatures are usually sympathetic, but a rare [[CuteIsEvil evil]] or [[KillerRabbit dangerous]] example of the trope may be a {{Psychopathic Manchild}}. These little guys are often capable of inspiring protective affection in members of the bigger races, and possibly, in the audience - although [[BadassAdorable they may not need it]].
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9	Despite being an iconic short fantasy race, dwarves are more likely to be treated with an inversion of this trope and depicted as if they're all born [[GrumpyOldMan Grumpy Old Men]].
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11	A result of EmotionalMaturityIsPhysicalMaturity, and related to the real-life concept of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoteny neoteny.]] Among many domesticated animals, the adults retain more cute physical traits and more youthful behaviors (such as playfulness and sociability) than adults of their wild counterparts. See also TheCutie.
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13	----
14	!!Examples
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16	[[foldercontrol]]
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18	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
19	* Potemayo and Guchuko from ''Anime/{{Potemayo}}'' are [[SuperDeformed small, round, big-headed]] and completely adorable. Potemayo may have reached physical maturity for her species (given the BizarreAlienBiology at work, it's hard to tell), but in many respects she acts like a small child. (Guchuko is more self-sufficient, but her behavior is in some ways more reminiscent of a sapient feral cat's than a human adult's.)
20	* Many rookie level and almost all in-training level Franchise/{{Digimon}}, appropriately called "child level" and "baby level" in Japanese, look and sometimes act very childlike, with a few exceptions like [[Anime/DigimonTamers Renamon]]. Of course, it varies with rookies, with some like [[Anime/DigimonTamers Guilmon]] acting like very small children and other having roughly the same level of maturity of their human child partners.
21	* ''Anime/DragonBallZ'': PsychopathicManchild and final BigBad of the series Majin Buu, especially in his "fat-Buu" form, speaks in a simple childish way e.g: "Buu gonna hurt you, make you sorry," is bright pink and loves candy so much that he can shoot a laser out of his [[BuffySpeak headtentacle-thing]] that turns people into sweets so he can eat them.
22	* ''Manga/SlimeLife:'' Slime is naïve and trusting, never cottoning on to the fact that Darul is constantly trying to manipulate him into situations where she can hug him.
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25	[[folder:Film - Animation]]
26	* Mort from ''WesternAnimation/{{Madagascar}}''. Despite his childish personality, WordOfGod says he is actually [[OlderThanTheyLook an adult]].
27	* Exploited by Finnick in ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}''. He is a little fennec fox who pretends to be a cute, naive, elephant-loving child... as part of a scam. He is actually Nick's hustling partner with [[VocalDissonance a deep, booming voice]] and confirmed by WordOfGod to be [[OlderThanTheyLook older than 32-year-old Nick]].
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30	[[folder:Film - Live Action]]
31	* Played with and then averted in ''Film/GalaxyQuest'', with the rock miners. At first, they expect the cute looking aliens to be nice and friendly, particularly as they appear to tend to one of their wounded. But then they start cannibalizing the helpless alien and begin attacking the crew.
32	* Cute little Gizmo from ''Film/{{Gremlins}}''.
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35	[[folder:Literature]]
36	* Hobbits in ''Literature/TheHobbit'' and ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' are downplayed examples. Tolkien doesn't portray them as ''particularly'' cute, but they are small people notable for their innocence and simplicity. When Treebeard adds them to the LongList poem of all the races known to the Ents, he calls them "hungry as hunters, the Hobbit children, the laughing-folk, the little people".
37	* Kender in ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}'' are small, halfling-like people known for curiosity, playfulness, [[StickyFingers kleptomania]] and lack of self-preservation.
38	* Creator/PoulAnderson's ''Literature/{{Hoka}}'' series. The Hoka are a race of teddy bear-like aliens who ''love'' playing pretend. To the extent that their [[PlanetOfHats hat]] is reenacting various human fictional and historical scenarios. (Although, considering the popularity of historical reenactment and {{LARP}}ing among adult humans, one could argue that this makes them less childish than nerdy.)
39	* In ''Literature/TheRailwaySeries'' and its AnimatedAdaptation ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends'', the smaller tank engines are usually portrayed with more childlike, playful personalities while the tender engines have more matured (if still occasionally boisterous) personalities.
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42	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
43	* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' goblins are a rare evil example. They are big-headed, child-sized, UglyCute little {{Psychopathic Manchild}}ren who enjoy games, songs (mostly about eating or murdering people), and running around setting things on fire. The human-sized goblinoid races, by contrast, are unpleasant in much less amusing ways.
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46	[[folder:Theme Parks]]
47	* In the original version of ''Ride/JourneyIntoImagination'', Figment, as when Dreamfinder created him, he specifically made sure to include a "dash of childish delight".
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50	[[folder:Video Games]]
51	* [[SeriesMascot Mr. Saturns]] in ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994'' and ''VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}'' are cute, innocent, {{Cloudcuckoolander}} {{Waddling Head}}s whose dialogue is in a font inspired by a child's handwriting. [[SubvertedTrope However, they have technology decades ahead of ours.]]
52	* Played with the [[LittlePeople Lalafell]] of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV''. While Lalafell characters have very childlike animations, In practice they can be as mean, greedy, lecherous, scheming, violent, or sadistic as any of the other Spoken or Beast races. One in particular is so deceitful, cruel and hateful that, in his signature scene, his getting ''cut in half'' at the end of it is considered one of the highlights of the entire game.
53	* ''VideoGame/KirbyAndTheForgottenLand'': Elfilin, the [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter adorable, chinchilla-like creature]] who accompanies Kirby on his journey, has the personality of a friendly, helpful {{Keet}} in spite of [[spoiler:being so old that he can [[TheFogOfAges no longer remember]] when he was a test subject in Lab Discovera before the New World was abandoned]] and [[spoiler:being a LiteralSplitPersonality born from [[AliensAreBastards Fecto Elfilis]]'s [[TheConscience conscience]] and ability to reason logically]]. Interestingly, [[spoiler:the other piece of Fecto Elfilis, [[BigBad Fecto Forgo]], resembles an enormous, half-melted [[FetusTerrible rat fetus]], but its personality is outwardly cold and callous even though the official guide implies that without Elfilin, it's actually [[PsychopathicManchild much more childlike]] than him]].
54	* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' has the Kokiri in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Ocarina of Time]]'' and their descendants the Koroks in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker The Wind Waker]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild Breath of the Wild]]'', forest-based children with playful personalities and everlasting youth.
55	* Much like the ''Gremlins'' example above from which they draw a lot inspiration, the UglyCute minions from ''VideoGame/{{Overlord}}'' act and speak in a childlike way.
56	* Many [[OlympusMons Mythical]] [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Pokémon]] like Mew, Celebi and others act this way despite having access to absurdly powerful abilities.
57	* The Chao of the ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' franchise are basically ''Franchise/{{Tamagotchi}}''[=/=]''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' [[{{Expy}} Expies]] that the player character raises like small toddlers for races and other activities.
58	* The Lumas from the ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' series are playful and childlike star children. Most live on the [[CoolStarship Comet Observatory]] under the care of their "Mama", [[TheHighQueen Rosalina]]. A JustifiedTrope since they are actually children, and turn into planets, stars and all manner of cosmic phenomena when they reach maturity.
59	* The Temmies from ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}''. They're CloudCuckooLander[=s=] of the highest degree, think humans are adorable and constantly try to pet them, and don't seem to understand the concept of money, the fact that you can't hatch a hard-boiled egg, or [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext how to keep their faces from jittering away from their bodies.]]
60	* The Nopon from ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1'' are cute fuzzballs mostly known for being laid-back and easy-going, and for their [[YouNoTakeCandle simplistic speech pattern]]. Most are okay with child-like treatment the other races tend to give them, a few take full advantage of it to get away with some questionable things, while others lament that nearly no one takes them seriously.
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63	[[folder:Webcomics]]
64	* The sapient (but childish) cute [[http://www.webcomicsnation.com/shaenongarrity/skinhorse/series.php?view=archive&chapter=27154 talking cobras]] from ''Webcomic/SkinHorse''.
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67	[[folder:Western Animation]]
68	* Invoked and subverted in ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}''. Nibbler and the rest of his kind use this to their advantage, but are more intelligent and advanced than humans (at least the ones Nibbler hangs with).
69	** The episode "Yo Leela Leela" has Leela encounter a diverse group of cute, brightly colored aliens called Humplings, who act like characters from a cartoon aimed at preschoolers.
70	[[/folder]]
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