Ugly Cute - Television Tropes & Idioms

alt title(s): So Ugly Its Cute; Unconventionally Cute

A face only a monster couldn't love.

"The uglier you make it, the more they'll cry at the end."

—Character designer working on King Kong

There's Generic Cuteness, the Ridiculously Cute Critter, and the Moe. And then there's these guys. Creatures who are, to put it kindly, less cute than other creatures.

OK, they're ugly. They look strange. Maybe they're deformed. They can even look monstrous.

However, they are also endearing, kind, and sweet. Maybe they retain a few Ridiculously Cute Critter traits. Maybe they're The Woobie. Maybe it is simply that their lovely personality overrides any disgust at their physical appearance.

In short, even though they should not be cute by any sense of the word they are anyway. Indeed, many times these characters are so ugly, they're cute.

"Kimoi doumei" is a name in Japanese for fans of these characters.

Not to be confused with Grotesque Cute, which is generally when evil things are done to conventionally cute things.

Compare The Grotesque, Cute Monster Girl, Freaky Is Cool, and the nicer versions of Fluffy The Terrible. But see also What Measure Is A Non Cute and Beauty Equals Goodness as those tropes will probably and unfortunately, directly affect these characters. See Grotesque Gallery for when character designers try for this kind of appeal and fail. Badly.

NOTE: Since there are so many Truth In Television examples of Ugly-Cute, we're going to focus on fictional characters only on this page. To confess your love for Pugs, Batfish, Mudpuppies, Baboons, Frogmouths, Coelacanths, Aardvarks, and so on and so forth, head on over to the Troper Tales page.

Examples

Anime

Rock Lee and Guy-sensei from Naruto.
In the Fullmetal Alchemist manga, Envy's true form, when stripped of all the different souls that make up his body, is a creepy little slug-like creature with multiple legs and large eyes... and yet you just want to pick him up and snuggle him.
- Its full-size form is like a giant puppy made of size-mismatched human corpses.
- Warning you do not want to snuggle with true-form!Envy
- Am I the only one who thought Izumi's homunculus baby from the first anime was cute in a horrifying way?
  - Yes.
- Although it made this troper burst into horrified tears the chimera mix of Nina and Alexander was, upon reflection, quite cute, in a sad way.
- Gluttony. He's a Big Eater Gonk, but the fact that he's completely devoted to Lust (the homunculus named Lust, get your minds outta the gutter), is actually very harmless unless ordered to attack, and pretty much has the personality of a puppy, makes him a top case of Ugly Cute.
- He looks like a giant ziggy, although his choice of snacks is problematic.
Quite a few characters from One Piece would qualify, especially Usopp, Brook, and Bearsy.
- Oars Jr., despite his meteoric apparition, would qualify just in the same way as King Kong - A giant, red, gargantuan (he is at least three times bigger than your average giant!), demon-looking pirate with a soft heart (A typical run-of-the-mill Adorable Giant). He is shot, hit with a giant shockwave, had his leg severed and his heart was impaled by shadows while trying to save his friend who made him a hat that protected him from the Square Cube Law.
Jinenji, a gigantic, bug-eyed, Quasimodo-esque hanyou from Inuyasha who, nonetheless, manages to be incredibly endearing.
The Dark Liege of Nora (when she's not in human form)
Rico/Loli and all versions of Exedore/Exsedol from the Macross and Robotech universes, but especially the latter's first form.
Some Digimon like Gazimon qualify.
L in Death Note.
Free in Soul Eater
President Aria from ARIA. That is supposed to be a cat?
Several instances in Dennou Coil. Just look at Densuke, Oyaji, or even Satchi.
The giant Totoro and the Catbus.
The Kodamas from Princess Mononoke.

Comic Books

Shuma-Gorath, a Captain Ersatz of Cthulhu and one of Doctor Strange's minor foes is a huge, one-eyed squid thing that somehow manages to look huggably cute. His Marvel vs. Capcom design shrinks him down to human size and makes him look positively shy.
Your Milage May Vary, but many fangirls consider the "fascinatingly ugly" Walter Kovacs, AKA Rorschach, the cutest character in the book physically. This may be more in North America's fandom versus Europe, as the ginger haired appearance carries a more negative connotation across the pond compared to in Canada and America where the awkward appearance is often considered to be rather sweet and endearing.
Dorothy Spinner from the Doom Patrol is a sweet girl who just happens to have the face of an ape. This is balanced by her personality.
Man-Thing, despite being a mindless swamp monster that immolates anyone who feels fear, always struck me as cute for some reason. Awwwww...
"The Loathsome," a story from EC Comics, is a girl who was born mutated by atomic radiation, so much so that the doctor tells her mother she was stillborn and ships her off to an orphanage where she's abused because of her appearance. But when she's finally shown near the end of the comic, she's not nearly as hideous as she was made out to be. Alex Ross used her as the basis for Maggie in Marvels.

Fan Fiction

D’aaaww baby Cthulhu!

Film

E.T.
Slimer from Ghostbusters, even in his initial appearance in the film. The producers ran with it in everything spun-off from the film.
- In the spinoff series Slimer and the real Ghostbusters and Extreme Ghostbusters, it appears he got hit with the adorably ugly stick a bit harder than normal and became more and more conventionally cute... and annoying.
For some, Chestbursters. Then again, everything is cute as a baby.
King Kong was specifically designed around this (see page quote). Pushed even further in Peter Jackson's version, where he's positively cuddly.
As was Edward Scissorhands.
Say "Hi"◊ to Baby Godzilla.
- Godzilla Jr.◊. It helps that in his first appearance he's a complete Woobie.
- Sure, he's a horrible ancient monster with razor sharp fangs and horns, but those floppy ears make Baragon◊ simply adorable.
  - Well, he has been described as being like a giant puppy quite a few times on the internet.
- King Seesar◊ who is an ugly/cute Shisa (A lion-dog creature from Okinawa folklore).
Given the reaction of its keeper, the Rancor in Star Wars.
- Yoda.
- Also R2D2. Cutest sentient fire hydrant ever.
- Battledroids, Super Battledroids, Vulture droids, Buzzer droids (the ones that attacked Obi-Wan and Anakin's ships in Episode III)...
- Rotta the Huttlet. A Huttlet! For Sith's sake, he can fit in your backpack!◊ Daaaaawwww.
Scorponok TIME FOR HUUUGZ!!!
Fizzgig from The Dark Crystal. Heck, we could probably include a lot of Muppets on this list, especially the "darker" Muppets.
The titular Gremlins — and no, we don't just mean their more conventionally cute Mogwai forms either.
Shrek and, in ogre form, Fiona.
Abe Sapien seems to be the resident Estrogen Brigade Bait in Hellboy, not that the titular character lacks charm.
- Not to mention the Tooth Fairies. Cutest Zerg Rush ever!
Silent Hill The Movie: Am I insane, or were the screaming ash baby things actually pretty adorable?
- You're insane.
District 9: the aliens, especially Christopher, his son, and Wikus, even with the freaky becoming an alien thing...
The cockroaches from Joe's Apartment. Of course, Your Mileage May Vary, especially if you're an insect-phobe.
Men In Black: "Congratulations Reg, it's a...squid." It's the big eyes and the very adorable tentacle sucking.
The second Transformers film had the Twins, so f'ugly that they came right around the scale and ended up at cute again.
- But then again, there's the fact that they're basically a pair of walking, talking Unfortunate Implications...
The Elephant Man.
To some extent, Sam from Trick R Treat.

Literature

The Ugly Duckling: likely also the trope maker.
- Considering that it's actually a cygnet◊, yes, very.
Where The Wild Things Are - the Wild Things are so exaggerated and silly, you just want to hug them all. Interestingly, adults seem to be put off by their appearance more than children. Generally speaking, Maurice Sendak practically runs off this.
Quasimodo from The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, especially in the Disney adaptation. In the book, he's a misanthropic asshole.
Gollum from Lord Of The Rings may not have a good personality, but he's just so pitiful.
Subjective Trope, but many Redwall fans think the villainous "vermin", who are supposed to be ugly and creepy, are cuter than the good "woodlanders".
Dobby and, in general, the House Elves from Harry Potter.
- This troper considers Kreacher the exception, though Your Mileage May Vary.
  - Counterpoint: Kreacher's back-story in Deathly Hallows was really sad. Instant Woobie.
The Other, the sentient operating system of Otherland, steals system resources to create a private world for itself, populating it with grotesque mockeries of fairy tale creatures that are nevertheless treated like its children. This is not out of malice, but because it genuinely doesn't understand the context.
The Phantom (Erik) of Phantom Of The Opera is slowly becoming this.
The titular Eldritch Abominations of Where the Deep Ones Are and The Littlest Shoggoth.
Aunt Beast in A Wrinkle In Time. She's part of the "really, really strange looking - but still sweet and lovable" side of this trope. In Wayne D. Barlowe's portrait of Aunt Beast, she's downright lovely - in a very alien way.
Small Gods has the Great God Om, a cranky, sarcastic, almost-fallen deity trapped in the body of a small, one-eyed desert tortoise. This Troper was almost disappointed when he turned into something more impressive after he got a decent base of believers back.

Live Action TV

The nonhuman magical creatures such as Phineas the troblin from Power Rangers Mystic Force.
The baby Adiposians from Doctor Who. Basically a pound of roughly humanoid animated fat. Possibly the cutest thing the show has ever featured.
- Also from Doctor Who there's the Ood. Due to their benevolence and the fact they are all Woobie's, once you get past the fact they've got mince meat where their mouths should be, they are very sweet.
Nimrod, the baby mammal-like-reptile-sea-creature-thing from NBC's short-lived series Surface. Come on, who wouldn't want to love a creature that, when full grown, can swallow a small boat whole, burrow through miles of rock, sunbathe in a magma chamber, secrete a substance that lets it regenerate injuries, and generate bolts of lightning?
How'd we forget Ugly Betty?

Tabletop Games

Eyeball beholderkin from Dungeons And Dragons. They have huge central eyes, magic-beam-shooting eyestalks, and fanged mouths like their larger, more dangerous relatives — and are about the size of large grapefruit.
- Also imps and quasits from the same game.
- While we're at it, most baby dragons don't look very much better than their adult forms, but are still able to pull this off. Especially blue dragons, for some reason.
- Though often hated by most. The Flumphs embody this trait. Think of a pancake crossed with an octopus floating around and you've got the idea.
- Goblins and Kobolds. Two races of three-foot-tall people whose apparent racial destiny is to be killed by first-level P Cs - you have to feel for them a little. Pathfinder goblins are particularly adorably ugly, since their huge heads give them an almost Chibified look.
Warhammer 40000 has a race of Orks who are so exaggerated and silly, some find them oddly adorable. Everyone else finds them Crazy Awesome.
- The Orks' pet Squigs solidly fall into this category, as do Gretchin on occasion.
- Chaos has Nurglings; rotund little goblinoid daemons who can often be seen clinging to their larger kin. Possibly the most adorable pustulent hellspawn you will ever meet.
Magic The Gathering has several. Who'd have thought that a psycho killer named Murderous Redcap could be so huggable?

Toys

The Uglydolls, with their strange colors and assymetry, it's enough to make you wanna squish 'em!
And Living Dead Dolls.
And Pussycat Dolls! Wait...
Domo-kun!?!
Macku or Spinax!
- Dont forget Shadow Lechces!:
  - ZESK!!! Kotu,Kapura,Onepu.
Many of the offerings at giantmicrobes.com

Video Games

The minions of Overlord were created specifically to evoke this trope. They look like goblins or the gremlins, but act like Ax Crazy little children, loyal to a fault to their overlord and eager to earn his praise. Watching them run back to give you some of the loot they found is adorable. Or watching them grab an item (such as a pumpkin or a dead rat) and use it as equipment (in this case, a hat).
- Even more so in Overlord II wend they sing and say adorable stuff to their mounts.
Oddworld pretty much runs on this trope. Poor Abe.
The Arachnotrons (and possibly the Spiderdemons) from Doom. Also, related to the beholder example: the Pain Elementals and Cacodemons. (the latter actually has had two fanmade plush dolls made, one of them being the official mascot of the DoomWiki)
Some of the baddies in Donkey Kong Country, particularly the Klaptraps with their cute little snaggle-teeth.
Baby Metroids, both the plot-significant one in Super Metroid and the bitty little things in Prime 2 and 3.
Many of the mushroom people in Mushroom Men, especially the hero, Pax. Sure, he's got beady little eyes, a raggedy-looking "lost boy" style tunic, and his mushroom cap breaks away to reveal his brain... But just watch the intro, where poor little Pax is wandering all by himself in the big scary human world, glowing eyes looking out innocently.
The creatures of Jade Cocoon 2 quickly grow on you.
Kouri in Brass Restoration finds the Ill-pin stuffed... characters adorable. They are based on viruses. Ryo, the main character, just doesn't see it.
Many Pokemon, but especially Snubull and Granbull, two bulldog-based Pokemon that are mentioned in-game as being popular with women.
Most characters from Yume Nikki are really creepy when you first see them, but when you get used to them, some of 'em are kind of...adorable. Like Uboa. Happiest-looking Eldritch Abomination-like thing ever.
- And Masada seems to be a strange sort of Estrogen Brigade Bait, judging by parts of the fandom, and is also often seen as a Woobie.
- If you search on Deviant Art, it's easy enough to find quite a few pictures of fan-made Uboa plushies. Yes, that's right, people like to cuddle with Uboa.
- This editor in particular liked the things on the way to Hell that open their mouths when you press the buttons next to them. I've heard them explicitly described as "creepy", but when I first saw them open their mouths, I couldn't stop laughing.
- No love for little Monoko, aka the cutest freak of nature you've ever seen?
The good ending of Eversion. Two Eldritch Abominations, together at last!
The Mr. Saturns in Earthbound and Mother 3 are comical big-nosed creatures with massive eyebrows and a single hair on their head, tied up with a red bow.
"Come on, Mr. B!"
The baby forms of most aliens you can make in Spore tend to be like this. Sometimes the adult forms can be, too.
- And since they always have such big eyes, then if you give them a head that is mostly or completely just an eye, such as this troper often likes to do, then, well... they'll basically have an adorably huge head!
One of the non-combat pets available in World Of Warcraft is a baby version of a Beholder-like demon. It's a floating head with one huge eye and small stubby tentacles. It also drools a lot and randomly falls asleep. It's at the same time very ugly and absolutely adorable.
- The Disqusting Oozeling, a pet that's essentially a small blob of slime.
- The Oracles are a race of sort of ugly frog-like creatures that have very cute speech.
  - Now in hideously adorable pet form.
Rayman's Raving Rabbids. Brutish, vulgar, maniacal... but still bunnies!
Many of the Zerg creatures from the original Star Craft fit this trope. The little Zerglings are quite cute on the screen, and way they pounce on the Terrans like kittens at a ball of yarn only makes them cuter. All of the wild creatures also apply, being horribly proportioned beasts that look cute in spite of it.
The creators of Ico and Shadow Of The Colossus will soon be giving us The Last Guardian. The hyena-gryphon creature in this game is meant to be unbalanced and strange-looking. Who, after watching that trailer, didn't think the creature was the most adorable giant beastie ever?
- Same with the Colossi from Shadow Of The Colossus. Some of them are hard to kill just because they look so cute and pathetic.
The Guars in The Elder Scrolls Morrowind. You cannot convince This Troper they were not adorable. Especially Rollie the Guar. So. Amazingly. Cute.
The grunts from Halo. After awhile you just feel sorry for them, while admiring their pluck, and smiling at their little dog-like huffs and growls.
The alien spawn from The Sims 2 tend to turn out this way. Some players might disagree (and there are hacks out there to have the aliens be more conventionally cute) but this troper finds the bug-eyed, no nosed green babies to be adorable.
In Monster Hunter, there's a small Wyvern called the Yian Kut-Ku. It has an oversized head, disproportionate ears, and is generally very much non cute◊. However, perhaps due to its clumsy running and falling down, his cheerful screechings and his beak feeling similar to a smiling face when open, there are few players who haven't ended up feeling some kind of odd fondness for the guy, and he's a prime target of fanart◊.
Sonic Adventure has Chaos, who is fought in multiple forms over the course of the game. A few of the forms can count as examples of this trope, but the best example is probably Chaos 6.
In Fallout 3, the bartender of Moriarty's Saloon, Gob. However, Your Mileage May Vary
- Don't forget the Mole Rats. You know, the ones you can whack with a stick until their heads asplode? Awwwwwww.
I bring you, Zombie Carl◊ from My Sims!
- It supports the cause that he's into cute stuff.
Many Final Fantasy monsters may qualify, but the Tonberry most of all; he may be one of the most dangerous random encounters around, but a diminutive fish-lizard-thing with a lantern somehow winds up being cute enough to sell plush toys.
Arakune. He's basically a human-sized Eldritch Abomination / Blob Monster. Still, his little "face" (which has a more than passing resemblance to the Tachikomas') makes him eerily adorable.
A lot of the enemies in Pikmin, like the toady bloyster, ranging bloyster, dweevils, and even the emperor bulbax with it's little eyes and flopping tounge. Your Mileage May Vary, however, as they all try to kill or eat you or your Pikmin, and might leap out of the ground/sky suddenly...
The Ground Urchins and Razor Elks from Brutal Legend.
- Also the Metal Beasts - giant Aztec panther Nibblers.
How did we make it this far without one mention of Murky in any of his various guises, or any of the other vanity pets?
This troper's friend considers the Snorks◊ of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series cute. Personally, this troper finds them both ugly and deeply disturbing

Web Comics

Several examples in The Inexplicable Adventures Of Bob. Molly's pet Snookums is a space monster Bob calls a "tentacle bunny." Molly herself is a pretty weird-looking creature. Roofus the Robot would not be especially cute if not for his innocent personality; well, okay, the construction-worker cap built into his head is kind of cute. And Voluptua, even in her alien butterfly form, still manages to be very attractive.
This is a common theme in Digger, as well as Ursula Vernon's other work. Currently she's on a kick of making adorable phalloi — which are Greek fertility symbols that are basically penises with wings and feet.
PON & ZI!!!
Zimmy of Gunnerkrigg Court. She has very nearly More Teeth Than The Osmond Family, greyish skin, hair like a Stringy Haired Ghost Girl, inexplicable black stuff that usually covers her eyes (which are bright red under all that), and is strange, mean, and prickly and enjoys chasing rats — but there's a certain charm to her appearance and she has her nice moments, and is therefore rather adorable.
- Plus, her relationship with Gamma is very, very sweet. I couldn't help but go "awww" when Zimmy and Annie arrived where Gamma was in Zimmy's dark, terrifying halucination (which seems to come right off a Silent Hill game), and Gamma was sleeping peacefully on top of a giant pile of cute, brightly colored stuffed toys, representing just how much she means to Zimmy.
Squidge the bogeyman in Tales Of The Questor is somewhat reminiscent of Gollum and Stitch, both mentioned elsewhere on this page.

Web Original

Many creatures in Mortasheen fall under this trope. Aww, isn't he a cute little chainsaw monster?
- Also, the Marrow and Gasjack both seem like some bastard hybrid of a Pokemon with obscure spellcasting Heartless... In fact, all the ones that aren't Nightmare Fuel probably fit into this trope, or alternatively some kinda weird modern art piece...
If you post a Jumping Spider on 4chan, no matter what forum it is, everyone on it with just go, "D'AAAAAAAAAAAAAW."
A thread on (very) amateur wildlife photography in The Something Awful Forums coined the phrase "adorrifying" (adorable + terrifying) for close-up pictures of jumping spiders (Goons are notorious arachnophobes) and other tiny creepy-crawlies.
- It's those big buggy eyes staring anxiously up at you.
Meet Tako Luka.

Western Animation

Nibbler from Futurama has 3 eyes (one of which is on a stalk), fangs, walks like a monkey and only has one nostril. Leela still goes "Awwwww" when she first meets him. The animators were deliberately working with this trope. It becomes all the funnier when he starts speaking with the voice of Frank Welker (although he had provided the noises Nibbler made up until that point anyway).
- He also adorably devours whole creatures several times his size, and poops starship fuel.
Seeing as WALL-E is a rusty, dirty, trash compactor, he certainly qualifies.
- AND his adorable little disease-harboring pet, a COCKROACH.
- Pixar is good with this trope. See also the more esoteric looking characters in "Toy Story" and "A Bugs Life".
- And Monsters Inc. (Mike, for instance.)
- All of the dangerous baby animals in Partly Cloudy. All of them. Even the Knifefish. Especially the Knifefish.
Blunk the gobliny thing in WITCH.
Lexington, Broadway, and Bronx, just to name three characters in Gargoyles.
Glen Keane absolutely had this in mind when designing Beast.
Stitch. Sometimes very cute. Sometimes very not cute, especially when he's in one of his Killer Rabbit moods.
- All of the experiments apply. You could also count Jumba and Pleakley, too. And Lilo's doll, Scrump. Let's just face it: Chris Sanders loves Ugly Cute.
The Nightmare Before Christmas: The entire population of Halloweentown.
Some fans of Corpse Bride consider the title character, Emily, to be rather cute for a rotting corpse in a tattered wedding dress whose eye occasionally falls out.
- Her Peter Lorre maggot has his own charm.
Rufus in Kim Possible. Look at this picture of Rufus◊ and then look at what his species ''actually'' looks like◊.
- This troper recalls a flashback episode where Ron first gets Rufus and shows Kim. Rufus is a baby; a tiny, wrinkly, shrivelled little thing. That still manages to be utterly adorable.
Tootie, Vicky's sister and Timmy's admirer on The Fairly Oddparents, can be considered an animated version of the aforementioned Ugly Betty.
Gretchen◊ from Invader Zim was clearly designed to look awkward, ugly and a bit creepy. Weirdly coloured and styled hair, freckles, and a need for serious corrective orthodontic gear only succeed in making her positively Moe Moe.
Silkie!!!
Gorgonzola from Chowder (and that's just to name one character).
Squibby, from the series The Future Is Wild may well be the model for unconventional cuteness. "He" is the series' resident Non Human Sidekick and is essentially a land-dwelling Mimic Octopus (who in turn, is a great model for Real Life unconventional cuteness; there's something adorable about a chunk of coral staring anxiously at you) with the personality of Curious George.
Some of the character designs in Dreamworks' Monsters Vs Aliens, like giant bug monster Insectosaurus.
Slyder, the dragon minion of Barbie And The Diamond Castle's villain has obviously been designed so that he looks evil, but not so scary that little girls would turn off the movie. This includes mismatched buck teeth and a rounded horn on his head, not to mention that he seems to be made of Cartoon Sound Effects.
The peglegged, sharp-toothed, gravel-voiced Fidget the bat from The Great Mouse Detective.
- Although he's freaking terrifying in his first appearance.
Meatwad from Aqua Teen Hunger Force.
The titular character in the Bill Plympton short, "Guard Dog". It helps that he's both Cute But Cacophonic and clearly The Woobie in subsequent shorts.
Wolfie the werewolf from Casper Scare School.
The goblins/orcs and Gollum from the animated film versions of The Hobbit and The Return Of The King. Though Your Mileage May Vary between whether this is Ugly Cute or Grotesque Gallery.
- Shmeagol ish freeeeeeeeeeee!
Both the titular character and Mega Brain from Widget The World Watcher.

Sculpture

Patricia Piccinini, end stop. Known for doing the human dog hybrid pictures.

Real Life (See also Troper Tales.)

The World's Ugliest Dog Contest.
Also certain breeds, like Boston Terriers, the most adorable little bug-eyed mutants ever. Or Shar Peis or Mexican hairless dogs.
- Pugs
- However, this trope just doesn't work on some people when faced with chihuahuas or the like.
Piranha (YMMV)
Many critters on the WTF Nature site.
Many of the featured creatures on the Ugly Overload blog.