History Main / WhatMeasureIsANonCute

* ''Manga/YokohamaKaidashiKikou'' uses this trope to the fullest to elicit [[TheWoobie complete empathy]] for the robotic protagonists.
** This is why ''Alpha playing a moon-zither'' provides us with an illustration for the RidiculouslyHumanRobots trope, turned [[ExaggeratedTrope Up to Eleven]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{The Little Mermaid|1989}}'', 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. Played with in the [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaidIIIArielsBeginning the prequel]]; TheDragon to the BigBad is a ''manatee'' of all things. Said manatee, however, is [[AntiVillain completely harmless]] and looks adorable just like what's expected from a sea cow.

* The UsefulNotes/XBox game ''VideoGame/RazesHell'' features an EvilArmy [[CuteIsEvil composed of cute and cuddly creatures]] on a genocidal rampage to destroy all "Ugly" creatures.

** Some of what plays into this is marketing. Years ago, scientists found out that hamsters weren't really good for experiments but things really take off in the 1940s, when some guy named Albert Marsh won one in a bet and came up with the idea to breed, sell, and write ads for them([[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestication_of_the_Syrian_hamster#/media/File:Raise_hamsters_advertisement.jpg See here]]). Rats (and mice) didn't really get that sort of marketing, not in the US anyway.

** Then we have Demona, who evokes some outright Satanic imagery (her name is '''Demon'''a, for one), and yet is drawn in such a way as to evoke every {{fanservice}} trope imaginable from {{Stripperiffic}} and BareMidriffsAreFeminine, to LegFocus and HeroesWantRedheads (used to be Goliah's wife) and so on. Evil is sexy even if you're a giant lizard-bat-thing.

* An issue of ''Magazine/RangerRick'', which is published by the National Wildlife Federation, had a short story [[LampshadeHanging 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.

** There was also a ''Magazine/RangerRick'' book entitled ''The Unhuggables'', and it was all about the animals unfairly affected by this trope, so good on National Wildlife Federation.

[[NobleWolf Wolves]] and [[CunningLikeAFox Foxes]], and [[KingOfBeasts Lions]] and [[PanthersaAwesome other big cats]] can be heroes as well because their babies are cute and thus remind people of puppies and kittens, and the adults look badass. All butterflies are marked "Cute", even those you won't like to see in your garden. [[GiantSpider Spiders]] and [[BatOutOfHell bats]] are marked "Mean" even though they usually don't bother humans at all and even devour lots of annoying and dangerous insects. And if you'll encounter an Antlion in the role of horrible predator, its ''adult'' form is ''not'' likely to appear in next scenes (it looks like a cute, pretty dragonfly). For any animals not in this short list, it's usually divided into one of these.

Wolves and [[CunningLikeAFox Foxes]], and [[KingOfBeasts Lions]] and other big cats can be heroes as well because their babies are cute and thus remind people of puppies and kittens, and the adults look badass. All butterflies are marked "Cute", even those you won't like to see in your garden. [[GiantSpider Spiders]] and [[BatOutOfHell bats]] are marked "Mean" even though they usually don't bother humans at all and even devour lots of annoying and dangerous insects. And if you'll encounter an Antlion in the role of horrible predator, its ''adult'' form is ''not'' likely to appear in next scenes (it looks like a cute, pretty dragonfly). For any animals not in this short list, it's usually divided into one of these.

** Then we have Demona, who evokes some outright Satanic imagery (her name is '''Demon'''a, for one), and yet is drawn in such a way as to evoke every {{fanservice}} trope imaginable from {{Stripperiffic}} and BareMidriffsAreFeminine, to LegFocus and HeroesWantRedheads (used to be Goliah's wife) and so on. EvilIsSexy even if you're a giant lizard-bat-thing.