What Measure Is A Non Cute - Television Tropes & Idioms

Most of Tokyo Mew Mew is composed of pretty and/or cute animals. Retasu, the shy meganekko of the group, subverts this a little by being a Porpoise-Girl. Sure, dolphins are often considered cute, but this nonetheless shocks her cute cat, cute parakeet, cute monkey, and awesome wolf teammates. That said, unlike the rest of the Petting Zoo People, Mew Lettuce looks nothing like a porpoise. At most she turns into a mermaid. With antennae. So Yeah.
Averted with Hamtaro. Granted, the main characters are cute little hamsters, but cats generally aren't shown to be all that bad. You know what's really dangerous? Chickens. Especially the gang of violent, vicious, little baby chicks.
Subverted heavily in Paranoia Agent, where the cute cartoon dog Maromi turns out to be the villain of sorts, if he can be called that, precisely because he is cute, and people love him, causing their collective stress to literally turn into a blob monster that destroys Tokyo once he disappears.
Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou uses this trope to the fullest to elicit complete empathy for the robotic protagonists.
It's doubtful anyone would care for the eponymous cyborgs in Gunslinger Girl if they wouldn't look like cute, little girls, since they are basically cold-blooded killing machines.
- Of course, this basically is the point; the manga especially challenges viewers by making the characters sympathetic and cute, but then you have to contrast this with the fact that they are basically living weapons. The dichotomy even begins to take its toll on their handlers after a while.
Applied uncomfortably in Bubblegum Crisis. In the first episode the Knight Sabers are sent after a man and a small girl. They go to some lengths trying to rescue the kid, but it turns out she and the man were both Boomers, and she was taken out by a Kill Sat. The Knight Sabers promptly tell the company not to make Boomers that look like kids.
- To be fair, the Kid Was The Remote Control for said Kill Sat, and called that strike on herself when she found that out. Considering the blast sank an entire floating arcology, the Sabers really couldn't do much about it other than get the hell out of the firing line.
  - She didn't call it down, Frederick-Boomer did; that's what those closeups of the cables going into her ankles were supposed to mean, that he was using her fire control systems to try to take the Knight Sabers down with him. Hence her calling out 'Help me!' right before it fires; she couldn't stop him.
Played with in Porco Rosso where the main hero is a Pig Man. He is nonetheless rather popular with the ladies.
Fresh Pretty Cure officially adopted this trope when Eas/Setsuna had her Heel Face Turn. Both of her forms were equally good looking; instead of being killed off like most other female Pretty Cure villains, she's spared and converted to the side of good as Cure Passion.

This is apparently the Aesop we are supposed to get out of watching The Garbage Pail Kids Movie. Unfortunately, watching the movie kind of makes you want to punch the next non-cute you see right in the face. The eponymous Garbage Pail Kids are basically sociopaths. One pisses himself frequently for comedic effect, another is and anthropomorphic alligator (presumably a carnivore too), and another is riddled with infectious disease and projectile pukes. More so, they seem to simply do whatever they want with no regard for others, are generally quite insulting and violent (one of them starts a bar fight) and their only skill is making clothes... for some reason. The Old Mentor character likens them to the horrors unleashed by Pandora's Box and they're close to personifications of the Seven Deadly Sins. But more so, the whole thing kind of reaches an extreme Broken Aesop when one realizes that the heroes just want to put them back into a tiny garbage pail... but are willing to break them out of prison and give them pep talks about how being ugly as sin and violent to boot is a-ok.
Welcome to Joe's Apartment, where this trope is played with and tossed on its ear... with cute, dancing, singing cockroaches.
- Twilight of the Cockroaches does the same, albeit with an added World War II allegory.
Wall-E averts this: Early on in the movie, Wall-E encounters a cockroach, which quickly becomes his pet. Strangely, however, the cockroach is stylized such that it has no visible head.
Noticeably in A Bugs Life when you compare the smurf-like ants to the dessicating look of the grasshoppers.
This is heavily implied to be the key reason why the MNU is able to get away with what they do to the aliens in District9.

Both played straight and subverted with a number of creatures in the Tamora Pierce Tortall Universe, particularly in the Immortals series.
Oh, Redwall. Where would you be without a heavy-handed combo of this trope and Carnivores Are Mean?
- At first glance, it appears as though all the heroes are herbivores and the villains are carnivores — but then you notice badgers and otters in the cast of heroes and figure out that, as usual, the heroes are all cute, cool, and popular animals and the villains are all unpopular and ugly animals. The series goes on to get downright confusing on this point. You'd expect the owl to be a straight-up, bloodthirsty villain but...
- Are there any ugly and unpopular herbivores on the villain side?
- The badger is somewhat subverted when you imagine graphically what one of them does to their enemy.
  - Bloodwrath anyone?
- Also subverted in The Outcast of Redwall where a ferret named Veil throws himself in front of a spear to save his adoptive mother
  - Somewhat negated by said adoptive mother announcing Veil to be better off dead.
- Then it looks like the good guys are animals that aren't minded around farms in England, and the bad guys are the creatures considered to be "vermin" (which they're actually referred to as in the Redwall series, just to drive the point home.) But then you remember the badgers and rabbits in the good guy's ranks. And technically mice and squirrels come under the heading of "vermin" in Real Life.
- It's confusing from the get-go. Stoats are part of Cluny's evil horde in the first novel. They look like this◊.
  - He did specifically make one of his Big Bads cute on purpose; Ferahgo the Assassin and his son Klitch are both cute weasels with pretty blue eyes.
- And then there's the cats. Cats are generally accepted as "cute" in fiction, and they're about the only neutral species in the entire series, though the feline Big Bad of High Rhulain had severe facial disfigurement.
- And mention must be made, on the Carnivores Are Mean subject, of the psychotic barbarian Wolverine cannibal. Here, "cannibal" is used to refer to eating other Talking Animals.
- Reptiles, Amphibians, and foxes are even worse than the Vermin.
- There was a ferret Mook (or two, or three...) being maimed, killed, and possibly eaten by a Mute Swan somewhere in "Mossflower" (come to think of it, that darn bird spent a good portion of the book terrorizing the Goldfish Poop Gang, and even gave the foxes Fortunata and Bane a run for their money.) And then there was that crazy, vermin-eating stork in "Martin the Warrior". He had a knack for crying out "I am the laaaawwwwww..." as he descended upon his prey. Needless to say, Martin and his cohorts were pretty darn worried that they could end up on his menu themselves while he was escorting them across his territory.
  - It's simple. The good guys are vegetarian/pescatarian, even in defiance of their species' natural requirements (badgers, moles, shrews, some birds of prey). The bad guys are scavengers and hunting carnivores (rats, ferrets, weasels).
  - Foxes are vermin, both in universe, and out of universe. Really, fox villains are not a subversion. In fact, given their former villainy revolves around deception, foxes moving into the cute category is probably some kind of Xanatos Gambit.
In Animal Farm, the good guys are cuddly horses and dogs and the like, while the poor old downtrodden proletariat are fluffy, easily led sheep, dull-witted horses, and quirky chickens. Tellingly, the puppies become vicious, unhuggable Rottweiler types as they become more indoctrinated to Napoleon the pig's side. And Moses the raven is, of course, ambiguous. As far as the pigs, even the implicitly cute little Snowball was not as okay as he seemed; during the turning point of the novel (when the pigs claimed the apples and milk for themselves), even Snowball's own greed was apparent, as this was one of the few issues that both he and Napoleon could agree upon. The book itself says that the pigs were chosen as the leaders due to the fact that they're the smartest animals on the farm, which is Truth In Television. Symbolically, they were also most likely chosen for their association with greed.
- It's also worth noting that pigs are the most human-like of the animals one usually finds on a farm, which is why they're used in forensics tests and such.
Inevitable Dinotopia Animal Trope Entry: Be assured that James Guerney mostly picks his main cast of animal characters based on how much fun they are to paint. Which means that animals most people wouldn't usually consider cute, like Budge the Estemmenosuchus, get to be the good guys. (For those not in the know, Este... uh, Budge's species looks like this.)
In Yvain, an Arthurian chivalric romance, the hero comes upon a fight between a dragon and a lion. He chooses to step in and help the lion, specifically because, and I quote, "...a venomous and wicked creature deserves only harm: the dragon was venomous and fire leapt from its mouth because it was so full of wickedness." Nice and subtle that.
- That sounds like it's as much "unnatural fire-breathing monstrosities must be the work of the devil" as it is "Reptiles Are Abhorrent"
Conversely, in the Pern novels, people admire both dragons and fire lizards so much that animals which normally benefit from the "cute" image, such as dogs and horses, are seldom treated as anything more than organic tools. Even animal-loving Piemur calls his runnerbeast (= horse) "Stupid" and remarks on how ugly it is, presumably because it's neither as smart nor as glamorous as a dragon.
- Runnerbeasts are not horses, they merely serve the same purpose for that world and have only the most basic physical resemblance. Additionally the dragons resemble equines... And watch-whers, a close cousin of dragons and fire lizards, are considered the ugliest things in existence. But dolphins, normally considered "cute", are regarded as ugly, vicious predators for much of Pern's history.
  - Runnerbeasts seem to be a modified and side-evolved Terran animal — horses were among the first things deployed by colonists. As to dolphins, there were mentioned "tales" that sometimes they help fishermen in a trouble.
An issue of Ranger Rick Magazine, which is published by the National Wildlife Federation, had a short story that pointed this trope out rather directly. The animals of Big Green Wood propose holding a support group for all severely endangered animals. Everyone is all for it, except for Boomer the Badger, who was extremely unsympathetic to the plights of the less cute and cuddly animals like the Komodo Dragon. That night, Boomer has a nightmare in which badgers had been put on the world's cut list and would go extinct unless Boomer alone could plead their case, and he realized his hypocrisy.
"I matter because I'm here!"
- There was also a Ranger Rick book entitled The Unhuggables, and it was all about the animals unfairly affected by this trope, so good on National Wildlife Federation.
Garry Kilworth's Welkin Weasels series subverts this quite frequently. The heroes are weasels, the stoats are mostly antivillains, the black rats are Always Chaotic Evil, and the Norway rats are good. Hedgehogs are nice, but moles aren't. The first book has an evil sheep and an evil fox (both of which are traditionally nice animals), and the second one has an evil zombie badger. Windjammer Run also contains the line "You could not find a more honourable bird than a raven or a more treacherous creature than a dove."
Subverted in James and the Giant Peach where the only talking animals are giant invertebrates such as a centipede, a grasshopper, and a spider. They're all kind to James and become his adoptive family.
- Also note that the movie avoided making them too cute.
The heroes of Charlottes Web are a humble pig and a very compassionate spider. They also befriend a rat who seems sleazy and selfish at first, but he's actually a Jerk With A Heart Of Gold.
This and several other Animal Tropes were well-addressed in the Discworld novel, The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents. In it, a few animals have gained human-like intelligence thanks to magic — and the key there is human-like. The titular "Educated Rodents" were always clever and cunning; intelligent the way rats already are. However, gaining the ability to understand human language caused them to gradually think more and more like humans, worrying about the future, fretting about money. And, because they darn well know about this trope, angsting about what humans would do to them if they knew. After heroically saving a small town from a truly nasty creature, the rats effectively out themselves to the humans. The humans and rats negotiate with each other and the town becomes a well-loved tourist destination, where people go and learn just how nice rats really are.
"Had it been made for humans? The shop had been made for humans, true, but surely even humans wouldn't make a book about Ratty Rupert the Rat, who wore a hat, and poison rats under the floorboards at the same time. Would they? How mad would anything have to be to think like that?"
- Also in The Fifth Elephant, Angua (a werewolf) explains:
"'A man is a wolf to other men!' How stupid. Do you think they mean that men are shy and retiring and loyal and kill only to eat? Of course not!"
- Quoth the Raven is also aware of this trope, claiming he would receive better treatment if he were cute like a robin. Of course, robins don't typically manage to work their love of eating eyeballs into every conversation.
In Enders Game, the enemy Buggers, insect creatures with a Hive Mind, are universally reviled by humanity, except for Ender. After Ender destroys their entire planet, he finds a lone surviving Bugger queen, who tells him the whole story of the race. Ender publishes the story in a book and then becomes reviled himself... for xenocide. The fact that the Buggers weren't trying to destroy humanity is the entire point of the book. They attacked the first time because they didn't realize that we placed a different value on individual lives than they do — they consider it perfectly acceptable to butcher workers by the thousands, as long as you leave the queen alone. After the humans responded to the attack by destroying the attacking queen, they figured it out and decided to leave us alone. The second war is only being fought because the humans mistook them for an Always Chaotic Evil race and believed the only pertinent thing to do is destroy them completely.
Interestingly addressed in the Silverwing trilogy of children's books. The main characters are all bats, traditionally a creature humanity considers menacing. The divide between "good" and "evil" bats is at least somewhat racial — the villains are carnivorous False Vampire Bats, while the "good" bats are smaller, more conventionally cute ones. However, the villains are primarily marked not by their frightening appearances, but by their predatory habits and worship of an evil deity. No points for guessing who the Big Fat Traitor is by the way, it's straightened like an arrow in the cartoon.
- The Caldecott medalist picture book Stellaluna is about a bat. (For good measure, it's a female bat.)
In Dean Koontz's novels, anyone who owns, likes, or is liked by a golden retriever is invariably a good guy, while anyone or anything who endangers or otherwise moves against one is the purest of ultimate evil.
- For that matter, in his somewhat obscure children's book Oddkins: A Fable for all Ages, the heroes are stuffed animals and the villains are Uncanny Valley dolls.
Both used and averted in Watership Down. The heroes are rabbits. The major predators of rabbits are minor enemies - the Big Bad is actually another rabbit (and a downright Ax Crazy psycho too! Never seen a rabbit attack a dog head on before!)
- Who's a cute little bunny? Who's a cute little... AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!! RUN AWAY!!! RUN AWAY!!!
Averted very pointedly in the Young Wizards trilogy. In one novel, despite being the ultimate — perhaps the original — predator and sporting the title of The Pale Slayer, Ed'rashtekaresket the Giant White Shark is actually a servant of the Light and ultimately the Heroic Sacrifice that holds back the forces of decay.
Subverted in Animorphs — the Hork-Bajir are enormous lizard people with natural blades on their limbs, and act as shock troops for the invading Yeerk army. When the lead characters are told that they "are to be pitied" upon first seeing with them, this advice is met with puzzlement and immediately dismissed. However, it soon becomes apparent that the Hork-Bajir are naturally gentle, nonviolent herbivores; they use their blades only for defense and for stripping off the tree bark they eat. The main cast are surprised at this revelation, and Tobias is ashamed of the more vicious and destructive nature of humans. After the main cast assists in freeing some Hork-Bajir from Yeerk control and setting up a free settlement, they help (usually in non-combat ways) to fight the invaders.
- But played straight with the Yeerks. Though to be fair, many real parasites look unpleasant.
  - Lampshaded by Visser One: "Snails, slugs, leeches... the comparisons are never endearing."
- Played straight with the Taxxons, mostly. The insatiable hunger doesn't help them any...
Ernest Thompson Seton averted such things. For example, he wrote novels about adventures of a Boar, Coyote, and a Bat. A human who hunted and mistreated bats brought on himself and his family doom in the form of a justified anvil... that is, a gnat-transmitted disease.
Avoided in the Xanth book Castle Roogna, where Dor's friend for much of the book is a Giant Spider named Jumper. There's also a friendly, spider-like monster in Golem in the Gears, and other various nonthreatening oddities throughout the series.
Subverted in Guardians of Ga'Hoole, where Owls are the main characters and snakes are helpful and kind.
- Unless said snake's name is Gragg of Slonk.
George Carlin brings this up in his book Brain Droppings. "If lobsters looked like puppies, nobody would dip them in boiling water. But instead they look like science-fiction monsters, so it's okay."
R.A.Salvatore in the short story "Dark Mirrors" acknowledged an element of the Drizzt Do'Urden series's popularity, exploring the different reactions humans have to different Always Chaotic Evil races. See, dark elves are exotic and beautiful (and powerful), and goblins are... not. A given member of either race may happen to be a decent individual, but they are received in different ways. Drizzt experiences considerable mistrust, but is given the chance to prove himself; Nojheim, on the other hand, is enslaved and then eventually put down.

Uncomfortably applied in Star Trek, where you'd think they'd know better. For example, "Star Trek Enterprise" introduces the Xindi, a planet made up of five different races: a humanoid race (who looked very human), a sloth-like race (who looked mostly human), a dolphin-like race, an insect-like race, and a lizard-like race. You win no prizes for guessing which ones remain villains.
- Especially bad in the Enterprise episode Hatchery. The ship discovers a heavily damaged and abandoned Insectoid ship. In the most hardened part of the ship is their hatchery with ~30 soon to be hatching insectoid offspring. Archer is shown to be caring for their fate and and trying to save their hatchery from failing. He gives a story about his great grandfather having to deal with a school during the war and saving the children inside the school at great personal cost. Everyone else on the ship looks at the Captain like he's nuts. In the end it turns out his paternal feeling were only due to his being infected by an enzyme the eggs gave off. Huh...
- Subverted in the Voyager episode "Nemesis" where Chakotay is brainwashed by human looking aliens to fight against Predator looking aliens. In the end it's revealed that the human looking aliens are the ones who started the fight in the first place.
- Don't forget "The Trouble with Tribbles", whose titular creatures do nothing except eat food, reproduce — and look cute. Near the end of the episode, Kirk is horrified at the possibility that Scotty beamed them out into space.
  - Fortunately Scotty instead beamed them onto the Klingons' ship. Klingons hate Tribbles with a passion, going so far as to destroy an entire planet to eradicate the species. But since the inevitable Tribble massacre happens off screen, it's played for laughs.
In an episode of Dharma And Greg, Abby and Larry were going to protest some sort of land development which would drive out an endangered species of bee. Larry refused to attend when he discovered the development wouldn't threaten anything more impressive.
Parodied on Yes Minister. People were protesting the clearing of a copse of trees, because it was home to a family of badgers. Sir Humphrey tricked them into thinking that the badgers had left, and the only animals that would be displaced would be a colony of rats, and the protests ceased.
Sesame Street intentionally subverts the trope, featuring friendly introductions to "scary" animals to assure the kids that they're not actually mean. That's not to say that it wouldn't be much, much better if they didn't have to do this.
Underlined in heavy red marker in this Dennis Leary special (Cluster F Bomb warning).
"You only wanna save the CUTE animals!!!"
Doctor Who: The flesh-eating spider-hatchlings of the Racnoss get drowned in the Thames while the chubby smiling Adipose babies are "just children" who "can't help where they came from". You wouldn't expect this kind of bias from the Doctor, of all people, but there it is.
- 'Course, this was deliberate - the brink of a Moral Event Horizon for The Doctor. And his temporary companion at the time saw it as just that, at least for a long while.
  - One would think that the fact that the Adipose were harmless, wheras the Racnoss would have proceeded to eat the universe might be a bit more important than any bias. Would have been fun if the roles had been reversed though.
  - Plus, the damage caused by the Adipose was more or less accidental. It's only when a whole bunch are born from the same person at once that things get messy.

Go to a Furry or Otherkin forum, and ask how many of them consider themselves, totems, or personal character to be a rabbit, lion, turtle, or the like (better yet, just head on over to this OTHER other Wiki's article). Now, ask how many choose a trout, mole rat, a tapeworm, or such instead. Compare the results.
- Of course, this is pretty common with ancient totem animals, as well.
  - Does that mean I'm allowed to call Spiritual Bullshit?
  - This proud sea slug is telling you that you can.
  - Would a theoretical spider totem count as Non-Cute? Then that would be mine, if I were a furry.
  - In some Native American traditions, Spider isn't exactly cute, but She's a powerful totem. In fact, She's God. She created everything and taught humans how to do stuff. She's especially associated with weavers, of course, who leave a tiny hole in the middle of their work so She can come and go. I know several women with spider totems and at least one spider otherkin, something of a Charlotte in temperament.
The artist Scythemantis (Jonathan Wojcik)of bogleech.com pretty much subverts this trope in everything he does. It's kind of his thing.

Exalted subverts this with the various varieties of Beastmen. Most of them tend to be violent barbarians who run around pillaging, raping, and occasionally eating the humans they come across. Most notable in this category are the Wolfmen of the North and Raksi's baby-eating Apemen. However, the Hawkmen and Snakemen of Halta and the Sharkmen and Squidmen of Luthe are perfectly civilized people. Granted, however, that the little sharkgirl in the comic preceding the Luthe chapter of Compass of Celestial Directions: West was quite adorable.
Dungeons And Dragons does this quite a bit. Werewolves and wererats are Always Chaotic Evil and Always Lawful Evil respectively while werebears are Always Lawful Good and werecats are always neutral. Then there are anthromorphic Hyenas, also known as gnolls, which are... well... they have a penchant for enslaving other humanoids, and that's when they're not eating them (and they have a knack for eating their slaves sooner or later.) Blink Dogs are good monsters with a built in ability like the blink spell, while their evil counterparts (displacer beasts) resemble emaciated, tentacled panthers. There's even an entire race of always neutral good celestials that are essentially anthromorphic animals. There are lion people, wolf people, horse people, bird people, mouse people, and bear people among the celestials. There's also an anthromorphic dog type of celestials, the Hound Archons, who are Always Lawful Good. All insect monsters favor evil over good (the exception being Formians, who are always lawful neutral instead.) There are a few exceptions. Not all naga (reptillian, snakelike creatuers) are evil, and lizardfolk are generally viewed as neutral, if usually hostile to P Cs.
- Lizardfolk are a little like the gnolls in terms of being vicious and sometimes predatory, but lizardfolk only do it if they need to survive - survival is pretty much their top priority, actually, and they don't have any other agendas (well, in most cases. Some lizardfolk can be downright vile.) Gnolls just do it because they're sadistic - the Monster Manual outright states that "they enjoy intelligent prey because they scream more."
- Depending on the source, gnolls themselves subvert this trope. They're never described as 'good' but they can certainly have more noble aspects to them. The origin story is that Yeenoghu, their demon god fed a pack of demons to mortal hyenas and so gnolls have the two sides to them...demon and hyena. Monsters and Hunters.
  - Dragonborn (a P Cs Lizard Folk) are Always Lawful Good Proud Warroir Race Guys and are the meanest looking of the PC races
- As for the eponymous dragons, it's an interesting variation. The metallics are always good, and tend to look noble and/or wise. The chromatics are always evil and tend to look fierce and, subjectively ugly, although Your Mileage May Vary.
  - This Trooper thinks the chromatic dragons are ten times as Badass, due to being both more distict (He can never keep brass, copper and bronze dragons straight) and cooler looking. If you look at the official art, it seems like they were afraid to make the metalic dragons look scary, so. . . they don't. The chromatics on the other hand, are scary as hell. All Hail Tiamat!
  - Get a copy of Draconomicon and look at the blue dragon wyrmling. It's kind of cute in a weird reptilian way. For a bizarre use of this trope, blue dragons are the least evil of Chromatics in 4th edition - sure, they're arrogant, self-serving jerks, but they prefer cows to humans and can get along quite well with people as long as they receive ample grovelling and tribute. Contrast this with black dragons, who just look nasty and tend to hang out in swamps dissolving people.
Some would argue that a lot of the characters from "Changeling The Lost" could qualify, doubly so from the Beast and Elemental seeming.

The World Wildlife Fund happily avoids this with their symbolic gift adoption program (perfect for any Tropers having a hard time getting a gift this holiday season for that one person impossible to shop for). For fifty dollars, your giftee gets an adorable stuffed animal, and the real animal gets some much-needed help. Available adoptees include the expected lions and elephants and monkeys... and giant salamanders, vampire bats, Tasmanian devils, baboons, hyenas, sharks, stingrays, and so on. (About the only thing sorely missing is the aforementioned Coelacanth.)
- But also embraces the trope with their adorable panda logo. To be fair, they know which side of the bread's buttered.
It helped that there were Loads and Loads of Beanie Babies. But where else have we ever seen plush Komodo Dragons, cockroaches, scorpions...?
- Have you tried here? They have plushies of all sorts of animals ranging from adorable monkeys to tarantulas to great white sharks.
  - Stinger the scorpion, Spinner the spider and Pinchers the lobster are all pleased to meet you.
  - The "original nine" contained, besides obvious choices as bears, if not downright ugly, certainly not traditionally cute animals such as a moose, pig and the amazingly odd choice of platypus.
Plushie Cthulhu.
- Also Chibithulhu.
Folkmanis, a company that makes high-quality puppets, happily averts this. Not only do they make realistic-looking puppets of adorable puppies and kittens, but they also make puppets of tarantulas, snakes, alligators, and even dragons.
There is a picture-assisted tutorial on the internet (in Japanese, sadly) for making a giant isopod plushie. To be fair, giant isopods have big round shiny eyes and stubby little legs, and are probably the most Ugly Cute arthropods she's ever seen.
The Rahi Makuta Teridax brainwashed are al menacing monsters. on the Other hand the freindley Pewku and Spinax are Ugly Cute.
There's a company that makes plushie cuddly viruses, including such charmers as the common cold, the Black Death, and syphilis. Ah yes, there it is. One shivers to think of toddlers sleeping with these.
- [[Natter Unnecessary]] rant: syphilis and Black Death are bacterial diseases.
A lot of the good guys in the classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles line subvert this, like Wyrm and Muckman, who were good guys (Although Wyrm was less-so in his original comic incarnation), and Mutagen Man who was a punch-clock villain. There was also this one human-mosquito hybrid who was a good guy, but I can't quite remember his name.
- Don't forget the Turtles' rat mentor.
So did Beast Wars. see western animation below.

Most of the nonhuman races of Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and Final Fantasy XII (both are set in Ivalice) are animal-like, and the game uses, averts, and subverts this trope. The crustacean Urutan-Yensa and the goblin-like Baknamy are all hideous and, probably not coincidentally, Always Chaotic Evil. The Moogles, who resemble a living teddy bear more than anything else, are all on the side of right. The boarish seeqs while technically not monsters are basically a slightly more sociable version of Zelda's moblins. Seeq are borderline Always Chaotic Evil. Almost all of them (even the npcs) are portrayed as stupid, morally degenerate, greedy and cruel. They are also a common enemy.
- There is one exception each between the Urutan-Yensa and the Bakanamy, one Urutan-Yensa posts a bill (though this doesn't count as an official mark because there was no pub or clan hall to place it in the area the Urutan-Yensa live in) for a Yensa eating Adamantitan. Doing this quest will get you an item that severely weakens the main boss of that area, but the Yensa that posted the bill is executed because their queen doesn't like interacting with outsiders. Within a tough optional area of the game you could find a Bakanamy selling items (he also sold things unattainable anywhere else, including the game's replacement spell for Ultima called Scaythe).
- Final Fantasy Tactics Advance has Bangaa and Final Fantasy Tactics A 2 adds the Seeq. Both perfectly valid, playable races. The little personality your Bangaa show seem to be Proud Warrior Race Guy. NPC Bangaa, likewise, include degenerate bandits, honorable duelists, duty-driven templars (not the Knight variety), jailers... and a mailman. Seeq are still greedy and selfish, but to different degrees - one of them plays that bumbling, over-the-top "ratings-first" newspaper reporter often played for a few chuckles. (See Code Geass and Death Note for examples.)
- Final Fantasy IX has both fuzzy doll-like black mages, and the rat-like Burmecians and Cleyrans plus a plethora of bit player species whom you don't interact with much.
Star Fox partially averts this. The main villains are monkeys and apes. There are several reptile enemies but the manual for the Super Nintendo game says they were enslaved. One of the bosses is a seal.
- The Star Wolf team plays this straight with the exception of Andrew. A cruel Wolf, deranged chameleon, and a greedy traitorous pig. Pigma and Andrew broke off by the time Assault rolled around, both of which were replaced by Panther Caroso. And Star Wolf now is more of a Badass trio and has shown respect towards Star Fox and even helps them when needed.
Thank goodness for the Pokemon games. Any creature can inspire a Pokemon and the series seems to have been going out of its way to showcase obscure, strange, and unpopular animals. (Yay, they like Coelacanths!) You can befriend even big scary creatures, and these tend to be the most powerful potential GameBreakers. Additionally, your Starter tends to start out cute and become more of a monster as it levels up.
- This may be why "Amity Square", in Diamond and Pearl, seem so darned out of place. Not only was this the first time we, as the player, were specifically told that only certain Pokemon are "cute" in a situation played totally straight, many of the cute ones such as Mew, Togepi, Cubone, Pichu, smoochum, Eevee, and Marril aren't on that list! If you happen to think your Bulbasaur or Mudkip is way more adorable than 'proto-Fetish Fuel bunny' and 'creepy kidnapper balloon', you're apparently a weirdo. (Granted, the news that the Park was designed around the pre-existing character sprites relieves the sting a little...) It's also lampshaded by a guy near the entrance who complains about the discrimination against his Gyarados and Steelix — two huge menacing snakelike creatures. And it's parodied to hell and back in this comic◊.
  - In Platinum, Amity Square has been remodeled and they now allow all of that games starters and evolved forms thereof. Apparently, a 683 pound turtle monster◊ with bushes growing out of its back is just as cute as a little electric mouse Pokemon. It's a start.
  - Looks like Heart Gold and Soul Silver are averting it. Word is any Pokemon you own can follow you through any part of the game, from current info. One teaser screenshot even shows the hero with a Steelix behind him — amusingly, one of the Pokemon that the man in Diamond/Pearl/Platinum complains he can't have follow him. (Makes you wonder how Wailord will look.)
- The NPC trainer archetype 'Lass' has a personality built around this trope. One of them, in an earlier game, actually lampshades the 'uglier as you evolve' thing and says that she refuses to let any of her (rather high level for their species) Pokémon evolve.
- It should be said that the Anime more or less follows through with the games' philosophy... until you go back to the first season or so and notice that Ash had cute little Pikachu, Butterfree, Squirtle, Bulbasaur, and Charmander - and that Team Rocket has a floating naval mine, and a giant purple viper. Later on though, Ash got a Muk (essentially a live pile of garbage) and Charmander gradually changed into the big scary — but Bad Ass — dragon Charizard. Additionally, Team Rocket started a sort of running gag where they acquire increasingly cute Pokemon in the newer Seasons. It's also revealed that Ekans and Koffing aren't really evil. In "Island of the Giant Pokemon" they are revealed to be Punch Clock Villains and bear no anger or malice towards Pikachu. The cuter Meowth was the only really bad TR Pokemon. The first Pokemon Ash captures is a Caterpie. It does evolve soon, but in the meantime Misty gets to scream about it because she's afraid of bugs and thinks it's gross. Also, Ash later gets an adorable Gligar which evolves into Gliscor — which is a huge, demonic-looking, flying scorpion thing with fangs and batlike ears. It's affectionate and a little slow in the head. But then there's also the uncomfortable realization that Ash's team hardly ever get to evolve. Unless their adult form looks cool. Then it's okay. Huh.
- Ash's rival Paul has some pretty scary Pokemon on his team, all of them evolved. He eventually released the only one that didn't belong that he kept for a good amount of time... Ash ended up capturing it minutes later.
- And note how the evil teams always use an overabundance of poison and dark types. In the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games the bad guys are always dark, poison, or ghost types. Always. Who here didn't see Dusknoir's Face Heel Turn coming the moment the character was introduced.
  - The summer camp arc of the anime had a Dusknoir that tried to warn people about the evil whatever-it-was that was really trying to harm them, and getting beaten up for its trouble. It still chose to help, even putting itself at risk and clearing its name. You just want to take it with you and give it snacks.
  - Don't forget The Rise of Darkrai, in which Darkrai is blamed for destruction in the city, whereas it was Palkia that caused it and Darkrai tried to protect the town and the garden in which he lived. He goes as far as to sacrifice himself to prevent the effects of one of Palkia's Spacial Rends and Dialga's Roar of Time colliding. He gets better in the end.
The Koopa Troopas of the Mario games have become increasingly more anthropomorphized as the series has gone on. They started out as slightly cartoony four-legged turtles that you couldn't care less about killing off. As the series has gone on, their appearance has changed. They were given the ability to walk on two legs in Super Mario World, and one was made a playable character in the first Super Mario Kart. (Though he was bumped off by then newcomer Wario until the more recent entries in the series). The current character design for Koopa Troopa (and its winged brethren, Paratroopa) is now on a level of cuteness rivaling Yoshi. Nintendo has noted this, and Troopas hardly ever appear as enemies anymore, and when they do they're either in short supply (Like in Mario 64 or Mario Galaxy) or they're usually given some sort of accessory that lowers their cuteness factor, such as the spiked armband and pointy sunglasses wearing variants of the Paper Mario series (there all Koopas with sunglasses are evil and those without are friendly NPC's. At a certain point in part 3 a normal Koopa gets brainwashed by the villains and suddenly wears sunglasses). They also make frequent appearances in spinoff games either as playable characters or harmless NP Cs. Now contrast this with the Goombas, who've hardly had any major design changes, usually require accessories to make them cuter in the few games where they exist as an ally, have only been in the RPGs and "Mario Baseball" as playable characters, and are the most common enemy type even in the most recent games.
- Bowser's Inside Story averts the trend with the Goombas with the Chuboomba, which is chubby, has a lollipop, is generally considered cute by the fandom, and is still an enemy in the game.
  - See Fat Bastard.
- The New Super Mario Bros series averts this trope. Those cute Koopas? You're still allowed, still encouraged, to stomp on them mercilessly and use their shells as a weapon.
Berserker from Fate/Stay Night is reminiscent of Goliath from the Gargoyles. If you can get past his lead-grey complexion, odd elbow protrusions, mismatched set of blood red and glowing gold eyes, and frighteningly huge size, he's really handsome. Indeed, he's the demigod Herakles from Greek myth, who was quite popular with the ladies and the guys. But he's not as pretty as the other manly warrior-Bishounen of the game, and except for a brief time in one scenario, he's always under a mental compulsion that reduces him to a constantly growling and bellowing monster. A pity, considering who they got to voice him in the Anime Adaptation. Then again, he does have those moments with Ilya...
Drone Tactics plays into this. Although both the player and enemy units are giant robotic bugs, the good guys get "cute" bugs like stag beetles, fireflies, and snails, while the bad guys get "creepier" ones like ants, mosquitoes, and water bugs.
Somewhat subverted in Conkers Bad Fur Day. You just can't take the cuteness out of a teddy bear, no matter how fascist and cybered-up you make them.
Animal Crossing has its share of cute fluffy animals, and their character type seems to be determined by just how cute the animal in question is (ie. the kitten animal is a cute girly airhead type while the rockhopper penguin is a grumpy little fellow) but the Coelacanth does make a cameo appearance as the most expensive fish you can fish up.
In the Sonic series, there are good uncute animals to play as, such as a hawk, a crocodile, and a bat. The non-anthro characters are a different story...
Parodied in Overlord II, the reason why you minons hate the cute baby seals is because they eat those "Poor Fishies", they think wolves are cute puppies, you fight man eating panadas, and a group of hippy Elves are tring to stop you form doing all this, even saying "You're just mad because your minoins aren't cute!"
- Of course the minions are Ugly Cute.
For Muppy of Mana Khemia Alchemists Of Alrevis, apparently anyone who he/she/it comes into contact with (barring Nikki) couldn't see past his cute, Pokemon-like appearance to realize that he's actually a selfish jerk bent on taking over the world.
Hello Kitty Online is weird about this. Being based on Sanrio characters, absolutely everything is cute, but the friendly NP Cs include some stuff that would be considered decidedly "non-cute" without the Sanrio treatment — the preview Flash game, Island of Fun includes a friendly tyrannosaur, octopus, and fish-man.
The mascots of Tokimeki Memorial 1 (the Koala) and 2 (Kero the frog and Gray the alien). Aside from Kero which arguably goes more on the cute side, it's hard to tell if they're cute or ugly/evil-looking. To push it further, in the case of the Koala who's proved as a mean-spirited fellow, at least two characters hates its guts (Yuina and Naomi), but it's loved by Miharu (who even puts her hair in koala-ears shape) and Megumi. And as far as Kero goes, the twin sisters Shirayuki have radically different opinions about him : sweet ingenue Miho loves him, while playful and mischevious Maho loathes it.

Lampshaded and parodied to hell and back in this◊ Perry Bible Fellowship strip.
- Played straight in this◊ one, much to the detriment of Earth.
Skin Horse manages to make cobras cute, here.
In Freefall it was called "survival of the cutest" (continued in the next strip).
In Alien Dice the main dice are cute cuddly talking animals. However enemy dice which Lexx kills/almost kills show up they tend to be big scary mute reptilian creatures. Remember that the dice are all considerably smarter than normal animals, and that they have no more choice about fighting than the Bishonen main character.
Subverted in Schlock Mercenary where the bad guys are the cute furry ones, and you should be cheering for the pile of crap.
Happily subverted in Ursula Vernon's Digger. The Woobie of the strip is a giant hulking hyena that, after trying to eat the heroine, invites her home and offers her tea. Don't forget the skin lizards and the trolls, who look like big fat frog/goats.
- Digger almost epitomizes the subversion of this trope. Although wombats can be said to be cute, the titular character proves herself to be not only cantankerous and sarcastic, but also a decent fighter. Rats are not only useful creatures, but intelligent and cultured (critiquing bad poets by nibbling their books). Although the aforementioned hyenas initially try to kill the protagonist, they're eventually shown to be a fairly typical primitive, somewhat insular, tribal people; and eventually end up adopting her into their tribe. Various breeds of moles are used by wombats as domestic animals. There's even a race of oracular slugs. In fact, the only creatures to show any definite leanings toward evil are humans and gods.
Subverted in Sluggy Freelance with Bun-Bun, but played straight with Kiki.
- Played straight two different ways as well as inverted with Aylee.

Article from Cracked.com: "Extinction Is Only For Ugly Animals"
Deviant Art: Ursula Vernon again, with "Cuddlemaggot" and "Precious Maggots" — specifiaclly to elaborate crossing cute - non cute line as a concept.
Averted to hell and back by Avatar Adventure's Slouch. Slouch is a blobfish◊. ...Yeeaahh.
- Look at 'im, he's so cute!

Kim Possible features a naked mole rat named Rufus as the Team Pet. We ought to be celebrating this one as an aversion, and we definitely would. The thing is, Rufus is drawn◊ in a overly cute and cuddly Disney manner rather than anything resembling a real Naked Mole Rat. Additionally, Rufus started out as a pretty ugly Naked Mole Rat baby. This would make one guess that it was Ron's wonderful friendship with him that turned him cute... Or his Bueno Nacho Junk-Food diet.
On King Of The Hill, Bobby's environmentalist teacher Mr. McKay campaigns for the preservation of "Itchy Algae"; when Hank argues that its extinction would be a good thing, McKay decries letting a species' habitat be destroyed "just because it isn't cuddly or good for anything." Great message. Too bad Mr. McKay is portrayed as a delusional Hippie Teacher... whom Hank Hill surprisingly agrees with.
- Of course he was only agreeing with him because he didn't want the city to drain the quarry that the algae lived in, because his friend's car had been hidden at the bottom of said quarry for decades.
Transformers has played around with this in their animal-like characters:
- Generation 1 had the Dinobots and Insecticons. The Dinobots were rather brutish and anti-authoritarian, but generally good; after all they're Transforming Robot Dinosaurs! The Insecticons, however, were more devious and evil than Megatron and Starscream combined.
- In Transformers Beast Wars, pretty much all of the Maximals were mammals or birds, or fusions of the two. Those who weren't (Dinobot and Blackarachnia) were incoming Heel Face Turns. The toyline did this a lot as well, though we did get at least one bug Maximal in Beast Machines. Additionally, both Silverbolt the wolf/eagle fuzor and Rattrap the rat were heroes. In Beast Machines, the gang was joined by a bat and Silverbolt, through a wildly convoluted series of events, had become a vulture.
  - The case of Inferno is especially Wall Bangery. He was said to have a "Maximal body" the first time he was seen. The body in question? A Fire Ant. First off, the arachnids all start off as Predacons. Six legs good, eight legs bad, apparently. Secondly, Fire Ants are scary in Real Life. The hell?
  - For the record, all the Predacons that were added as the show went along were Maximal protoforms reprogrammed to be evil. But the type of animal they scanned for their beast form was sure to align with the trope. So Yeah.
- Transformers Animated returns both the Dinobots, who are (mostly) happy to just be left alone, as well as Blackarachnia, who is a pretty cruel little spider (though since she is also The Chick of the Decepticons, she at least get the benefit of a sad backstory).
While the stars of Brandy and Mr. Whiskers are a purebred dog and a rabbit respectively, their friends include such unlikely animals as a boa constrictor and an insect of some kind. The sole recurring antagonist is a gecko, usually considered a cute animal of late.
My Little Pony, surprisingly enough, played with this trope quite a bit (Some Anvils Need To Be Dropped after all):
- The first episode featured a frightening gargoyle-like guy who turned out to be an unwilling slave to the Big Bad and was in actuality a genuinely nice person.
- In The Movie, the Grundles are ugly little trolls whose appearance is initially frightening to our heroes, but they are kindly and helpful and are really just upset about the fate of their Doomed Hometown.
- And just in case the "don't judge anyone just by the way they look" message didn't sink in, the TV series gives us the episode "Fugitive Flowers". In it, Hippie-Chick Pony Posey is (way too) easily convinced by a group of cute little talking flowers that the giant, scary crab monsters following them are evil. Go figure, the talking flowers soon reveal their terrifying true forms and wreck havoc on the Ponyland ecosystem — they're basically gigantic weeds that happen to have pretty flowers. The crab monsters were actually Proud Warrior Race Guys hoping to stop them.
  - Would you believe there's some Truth In Television to this episode? Long story short, asking a very young child to help you pull up the weeds in your perennial garden is not going to end well. (Certainly, you want the dandelions and their pretty flowers to flourish while getting those boring echinacea leaves out of the way, right?) On a separately bad note, some children delight in ripping up dandelions. But only their HEADS, leaving the roots to continue their conquest of your front lawn.
Similarly, an episode of Thunder Cats featured a cop and a criminal: one was a sinister, brutal-looking reptilian, the other a shiny gold, fragile-looking robot in white robes. Guess who's who!
- It wasn't a reptilian, actually, but something even "creepier" by most standards; a hairy scorpion-man, complete with pincers, a tail and chelicerae! "Cute" sidekick Snarf actually failed to appreciate the lesson in the end.
Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars was all over this trope like butter on toast. The show concerns an interplanetary war between the the Toads and various mammalian species (of course). Now, it's not like this isn't typical for this trope, but consider this: it isn't just that "Toads are ugly so it's okay to antagonize them". The Toads' planet had been taken over by an evil computer which militarized their society and brainwashed the Toads into conquering other worlds. So now the other animals are fighting what are basically armies of brainwashed minions. Dude...
- Additionally, in an early episode, a guy named Al Negator tries to get a job on Bucky's ship, the Righteous Indignation. As he's a shifty-looking reptile, the crew is generally suspicious. But Captain Bucky O'Hare hires him on anyway, making a big point of mentioning how he trusted the gunner Deadeye Duck, despite him being a pirate with somewhat questionable morals. So it looks like a "beauty is on the inside" or "different doesn't mean bad" kind of Aesop... until Al betrays them, steals classified info, and sabotages the ship! So is the message "if they look evil, they are evil"? (To be fair, Deadeye never did a Face Heel Turn, so Bucky was at least right about him. Of course, he's a duck. Ducks are cute. Even when they are four-armed pirates.)
  - Deadeye was voiced by Scott McNeil. The Aesop is "never trust any baddie not voiced by Scott McNeil".
My Gym Partners A Monkey plays with this trope endlessly. The staff includes a warthog, a chameleon, a goldfish, a baboon, a pixie frog and an elephant, all of whom have personalities that vary wildly with their appearances; the snake is friendly, helpful and a member of the main cast (one notable episode had him apparently fighting with a mongoose, only to be revealed that they were just playing tag); the (spider) monkey is the resident Jerkass; and the human, instead of being a bastard, is just trying to survive amongst the insanity. The shark, however, is the school bully, but like most bullies in recent fiction, he's a coward who hides his insecurities behind violence
Inverted in Dexters Laboratory in one episode where Dexter and Dee Dee joined manly and cute clubs respectively. Due to accidentally mixing up the instructions for initiation, Dexter enters the club full of action-ready guys dressed in a tutu and carrying a tin of cookies. Dee Dee enters the cute pony club dressed in combat fatigues. The dangerous looking men immediately recognized the swapped instructions as a common mistake and shared a laugh at the whole affair in a friendly manner with Dexter. Meanwhile, the cute ponies are ready to drop Dee Dee into a boiling cauldron for not being cute enough!
Figures heavily in Gargoyles, where the eponymous species was nearly hunted to extinction because of their monstrous appearance. Most of the gargoyle-friendly humans don't mind and, indeed, some fans of the show find them rather cute. Goliath — if you can get past the wings, fangs, horns, and talons — could be seen as downright handsome. (And let's face it, any character with Keith David's voice is going to have less trouble with the ladies than he might otherwise.)
- Humorously subverted in one episode, where Elisa (the lead human) is turned into a gargoyle herself. Goliath admits that he never realized she was so beautiful, and it is implied that gargoyles find humans just as physically unattractive as humans find gargoyles.
  - It should be noted that in the same episode, Elisa was just short of being all over Goliath in the few moments when they were both in human form. Although they were already close friends beforehand, it seems that seeing each other as the same species kick-started it into an attraction.
- As well, the later seasons/comic series makes it pretty explicit that it's something both sides can get over. In the show, from their globe-wandering on, the two of them display as much sexual frustration about their relationship hurdles as you could get away with in a Disney show. The comic rather implies that the frustration part may be a thing of the past, as Elisa dons a dress that could only be called "boobtastic" (though not really Stripperiffic) in preparation for a night out with Goliath that she muses should be "quite the hot time". And don't forget the Halloween episode where she was dressed as Belle.
- On a related note, because of his pterosaur-like features (his clawed wings and, more obviously, his humongous beak), Brooklyn is sometimes treated as the ugliest in the show, especially by humans who get outright scared. Being horned and red doesn't help. In the fanbase, however...
Averted in The Secret Of NIMH, where rats can be both villains and heroes. For instance, Justin is about as convincingly handsome and dashing a hero as you can ever make a rat (there is a reason why "Everyone is Furry for Justin"). The owl is frightening in appearance, but helpful. And is there anyone as adorable as Jeremy the crow?
- More directly averted, however, in the novel, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, which is devoid of villains; the closest thing to a villain being a cat by the name of Dragon. Jenner actually doesn't have an active role in the novel, and is only mentioned in flashback. Even then, he simply leaves the other rats rather than becoming a Card Carrying Villain.
Lampshaded in Ratatouille. Remy's major struggle is the fact that humans think rats are gross; the movie shows them as just mischievous. A bonus short on the DVD cheekily acknowledges the relationship between humans and rats throughout history; they do have a history of carrying fleas that spread disease, but rats in and of themselves are actually pretty fastidious.
Leave it to Shark Tale to get really confusing about this. To the fish population of the Reef, Lenny the Shark is scary as a shark, but cuddly and safe when he disguises himself as a dolphin. Just so we're clear, dolphins eat fish too — but they're cute! (This led to a few reviewers reading a stronger metaphor into it...) Funny thing, is, the movie actually uses this, when Oscar tries to subvert I Have Your Wife by having Lenny fake eating his girlfriend. The "attack" appears to be just as quick and almost as savage as... well, a shark attack.
- The whole thing with dolphins is particularly disturbing considering certain aspects of real dolphin behavior.
Finding Nemo: The good guys are colorful tropical fish. They're threatened by ugly, drably-colored predators with sharp teeth who don't talk. And then there's the sharks, who try to go vegan, but old habits die hard. Interestingly, they do reference the hypocrisy of humans who think dolphins are cuter than sharks.
Done both straight and subverted in A Bugs Life. On the one hand, the heroes are ants and a circus troupe which includes a ladybug and a chubby caterpillar, while the main villain is an ugly, voracious locust. On the other hand, the circus bugs include in their ranks a praying mantis and a black widow spider; while both are considered cool-looking by some, neither are most people's idea of cute. The remaining grasshoppers are only Punch Clock Villains. But the biggest subversion of all is that the one creature the others fear the most is... a Goldfinch. Which from their perspective is the equivalent of the T. Rex in Jurassic Park. The sight of Hopper meeting his demise at the beaks of her fluffy little chicks gives new meaning to the phrase Grotesque Cute.
The titular character in Shrek exploits this, acting as disgusting and standoffish as humans expect a big, ugly Ogre should. In truth, Shrek has a good heart, and this behavior is really because he just wants to be left alone. He explains that he'd be much happier if the stereotype didn't exist in the first place.
- The trope is then further played with by Fiona, who is the conventional vision of beauty... but in her "cursed" ogress form Shrek finds her beautiful, and she's happy to stay that way because he loves her and thinks she's beautiful no matter how she looks. (And she is still pretty cute after her transformation.)
An exception appears in Dr. Seuss's Horton Hears a Who, where the villainess is a kangaroo. She does, however, employ a terrifying psychotic vulture, as well as a gang of apes who constantly look like they're rarin' and ready to ruin someone's day.
In Stuart Little 2, Stuart befriends a little bird who is menaced by a falcon. This would just be another case of Carnivores Are Mean, but note that Stuart's friend is an adorable female canary and the falcon is depicted as a vicious, mad-eyed, scheming mob boss.
- Do we even have to point out that none of this is in the book? About the only similarity is the fact that, in the original E.B. White text, Stuart befriends a female bird named Margalo — and according to the illustrations, she's a House Sparrow, who (while cute) are also household pests.
The heroes of Disney's Lady and the Tramp are cute, sassy dogs. While the Cats Are Mean, the only definitely evil character in the movie is a large, vicious black rat with mad, red eyes that menaces the baby.
In The Little Mermaid, dolphins, crabs, seahorses, and various tropical fish are portrayed as cute and therefore good. In contrast, the shark is just an angry set of scary teeth and the Moray Eels are the aquatic equivalent of evil, sweet-talking snakes.
Quest For Camelot rather anviliciously illustrates the difference between good and evil creatures. Devon and Cornwall, a two-headed dragon duo who serve as comic relief, are drawn to look rather silly and harmless. A little comic relief chicken-thing is also silly-looking. A loyal falcon named Ayden has a round, sweet face, big soft eyes and cute fluttery movements. In contrast, the "evil" dragons are sharp-toothed, have squinty eyes, and look altogether more feral and the griffon henchman has another set of scary squinty eyes, a long crooked beak, bat ears, and a small head compared to his thick-maned neck — and the voice of Bronson Pinchot (we're not sure what to make of that last thing).
- The gryphon, though, at least was meant to be cuter than his original design, which was deemed "too frightening for little girls". He's also Affably Evil at most.
Another obscure animated feature that gets Anvilicious about this is "The Adventures of the American Rabbit". Predictably, the hero and most of his buddies are cute rabbits. Other good guys include cuddly little bear cubs, pudgy little farm animals like sheep and piggies, big snuggly Toblerone-ish moose and gorillas, and Squee-worthy ducklings and penguins. The bad guys are a biker gang made up of jackals and they are led by a big, scary condor. The uncomfortable part comes when the titular hero insists that "there are sure to be nice jackals out there", which seems to be an anti-stereotyping Aesop. Too bad it's broken — we never ever meet any nice jackals. Every single jackal in the world of the movie is part of the biker gang.
Captain Planet has an example of this in its pilot episode. When Gaia sends the rings to the five kids, each of them gets a short scene illustrating their affinity with their element. Ma-Ti's Heart is demonstrated by him saving a trapped monkey from... being eaten by some sort of large wild cat, sending the message that carnivores don't count as Gaia's creatures. A bit of a Broken Aesop when watched with an adult view of ecology.
In Up, the one initially heroic dog is golden retriever Dug, in stark contrast to the dobermans, bulldogs, and rottweilers, who are all evil. However, it is ultimately subverted when Dug defeats the alpha male doberman and the rest immediately follow his lead.
- More directly adressed in the short preceding Up, "Partly Cloudy", where the stork in charge of delivering less-than-cute baby animals longs to deliver puppies and kittens...
  - No, it was because they were dangerous, the baby alligator was the cutest thing ever, the main problem here is that one cloud seem to be the only one not making puppies, kittens or human (granted they were near a subaru)
Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder zigzagged the hell out of this one. Early in the episode, the Wongs' urban developments threaten to eliminate a species of leech. Leela rescues one, which immediately starts attacking her and trying to drain her blood. She fights it off, nearly kills it, then resuscitates it before the cycle repeats itself. Eventually she ends up caging it, the apparent lesson being that just because an endangered species is ugly and hostile doesn't mean it should be exterminated. Then, mere minutes before the ending it turns out that this species of leech is the most recent manifestation of an Always Chaotic Evil race bent on exterminating other species.
Re: The Dave Barry quote at the top — Toad Patrol. They may not have been furry, but the creators of this show did everything they could to make the toads on this show look as a cute as possible. Oh, but snakes are, of course, evil.

There is a massive ongoing debate in Canada right now over the baby harp seal hunt. Many people have pointed out the apparent hypocrisy in caring about the systematic killing of adorable fuzzy seals, as opposed to something not particularily cute such as cattle.
- Really? Nobody thought of countering "something not particularily cute" with "something bred specifically for slaughtering" as opposed to "something living in wild environment" like the seals?
Just a few days ago German "science" TV show Galileo did a shocking documentary about tigers in a Korean zoo being raised under horrible conditions like too small cages, a true scandal. Then the next day they showed people eating (and chewing) living frog and skinning a snake while it was still alive, that fell under their ''cool'' section.
Many people object to using glue traps for mice, which instead of killing the mouse simply hold it there until it starves, dehydrates, etc. However, no one objects to flypaper and roach motels, which work on the exact same principle, but with non cutes.
Averted by Steve Irwin who made his fans appreciate crocodiles.
- The man once gave a heartbreaking eulogy to a dying lizard. Not even a very exciting or rare lizard. It was just a lizard. But he cared enough, anyway.
Anansi, a spider culture hero from West Africa, averts this. (Granted, he is a Trickster who gets others into trouble a lot... but the fact that his victims are consistently dumb enough to fall for his traps (and often mean-spirited) prevents the audience from feeling sympathy for the "bad guys".
Some Spanish people point this out, wondering why bull fighting is legal and dog fighting is not.

Main Tropes Index

Troperville

Editing Help

Tools

Toys

Examples: