History Main / DeliberatelyCuteChild

If this trope is used for evil purposes, it's CuteIsEvil.

* Although she's an adult cat, Chuchu from ''WebVideo/CreamHeroes'' plays up her cuteness by rolling around on the floor to get Claire to give her treats. Claire puts treats in her bowl but that is not good enough for Chuchu. She starts rolling around again because she wants Claire to give her the treats by hand.

* ''Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex'': Last Order ([[CloningBlues Misaka-20001]]) does this every once in a while. She'd probably be more effective if her VerbalTic didn't force her to [[NarratingThePresent narrate herself]]. Notably, in ''Manga/ACertainScientificAccelerator'', she has much more success by just smiling cutely and then running away while the enemy is confused, rather than speaking and ruining the effect.

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* ''WebAnimation/MangaSoprano''
** ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qv0P_uYC2Zs I was pretended to be dead by my family, and I took revenge]]'' [sic]: Kiyomi took advantage of her cuteness to make her older sister Haru look bad since they were kids. After framing Haru for stealing money and getting her kicked out, she had her family pretend her dead while casting herself as a "devoted good girl".
** ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XedhgDieOko My sister plundered my fiancé! Now my arranged marriage partner is also plundered]]'': Nonoka takes advantage of her cute looks to steal suitors from her older sister Ram. To make matters worse, their parents tolerate her manipulative behavior. However, [[spoiler:the DomesticAbuse inflicted on her by Ikki-san deteriorated her cute appearance]].
[[/folder]]

* Last Order ([[CloningBlues Misaka Imouto 20,001]]) of ''Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex'' does this every once in a while. She'd probably be more effective if her VerbalTic didn't force her to [[ThirdPersonPerson narrate herself]].

* In ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'', there was once a wild [[BearsAreBadNews Teddiursa]] that behaved like this to get food from trainers and tourists. He became a nuisance until he evolved into Ursaring, when he couldn't use his charms to get stuff anymore. Except from Team Rocket.
** Two regions later, in Sinnoh, a Togepi played everyone for saps to get full run of Team Rocket's new base. [[spoiler:Including the built-in ''space rocket'']].
* Sora in ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV'' plays up his cute angle to get Yuya's mom to fawn over him, give him free food, and possibly a place to sleep. He even tries to entertain the crowd by playing up the cuteness of his monsters during his duel against Shun. Though largely, his cuteness is mostly an act to cover up his mission to eliminate Yuto and Shun.
* ''Literature/{{Slayers}}'':
** The very powerful and very evil Demon Lord Hellmaster Fibrizo often takes the form of a young child to deceive people. He fools everyone who sees him, up to and including another Demon Lord. The only one to see through his disguise is Xelloss, who in any case is [[LovableTraitor openly working for him]]. [[EnigmaticMinion Sort of]]. [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder For a while, anyway]]. In the manga, Fibrizo takes the form of [[spoiler:a girl who happens to also be an actual character from Lina's past]]. When Fibrizo is defeated, [[spoiler:the girl is set free, so it might have been some sort of possession]].
** Lina herself has been known to do this occasionally (prominently early in the first novel), taking advantage of her slight build and, ah, [[ACupAngst flat figure]] to appear cute, harmless and slightly ditzy.

* Murumo, the little brother of the main character of ''Manga/MirumoDePon!'', acts like the sweetest kid in front of most people, but his dark side is usually revealed to the audience and his older brother. One of his [[http://www.animelyrics.com/anime/wagamamafairy/mutekinopuriti.htm image songs]] is about this trope.
* Czeslaw Meyer from ''Literature/{{Baccano}}'', due to being made immortal when he was an actual kid hundreds of years ago. He does tend to drop the AdorablyPrecociousChild act pretty quickly, but keeps claiming that he's not used to being treated any other way. Ladd isn't fooled by Czes cutely asking him to murder everyone on the train, and shoots him.
* In ''Literature/{{Baccano}}'''s successor series, ''Literature/{{Durarara}}'', [[spoiler:Aoba]] is one. He's so good at pulling it off that he's managed to [[spoiler:frame his brother for many crimes as well as getting away with many of them]]. Add the fact that he's described with a baby face despite being a high school student. Of course, he lets it slip every now and then...[[CuteAndPsycho and when he does]]...
* Rita from the Final OVA of ''Anime/HareGuu'', who appears to be the nicest person in the whole class, until it turns out she does it selfishly to get praise and make herself happy [[spoiler:In the end, Haré's presence and comforting turn her into a genuinely nice person]]. Guu herself does this on occasion, most notably during her introduction.
* Saki from ''Manga/{{Kanamemo}}''. While a LittleMissSnarker at work, she acts cute in public in order to sell newspaper subscriptions.
* [[spoiler:Pride]] of ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', [[spoiler:aka Selim Bradley]], pretends to be a sweet and kind young boy. In reality, he is a cruel little monster who has a habit of eating his allies when they are no longer of use to him.

* Stella from ''Manga/ArakawaUnderTheBridge'' appears to be a sugary-sweet orphan girl who just wants to give people [[TheGlomp a big hug]] when Kou first meets her. She quickly reveals her true nature as a CuteBruiser with a mean streak who can and will beat him up to hold dominance over him.

** In the manga she convinces [[BumblingDad Spirit]] to unchain her by appearing cute and so reminding him of his own, not-possessed daughter. Typical Medusa, she pulls off a similar trick in reverse--remind the daughter of her father--on Maka in the Baba Yaga arc. Forget the Clowns, pulling such simple tricks ([[UnwittingPawn justifiably]], given who and how) like that is why she, not Asura, is the proper Big Bad.

* ''Manga/BrokenBlade'''s Niko is the borderline codifier. She's an AxCrazy BloodKnight, [[OlderThanTheyLook older than she looks]], and knows exactly what she's doing. The guy caught up in the cuteness? ''Still'' reacting that way despite coming across her with her gun pointed at someone's head and her knife pointed at his crotch.
* Mitsukuni Haninozuka from ''Manga/OuranHighSchoolHostClub''. Despite being [[OlderThanTheyLook a high school senior]], "Honey" just loves to play the role of a AdorablyPrecociousChild for the Host Club's customers. But don't take him lightly because of his short stature and his love of cake and stuffed animals; he's also [[CuteBruiser the latest in a long line of martial artists]] and ''will'' [[BewareTheNiceOnes kick your ass if you threaten his friends]].
* ''Manga/BlackButler'':
** The master of this trope is Ciel Phantomhive, at least in the manga. He's cold and calculating ([[DeclarationOfProtection unless you're Lizzie]]) to a vicious degree...and he will remind you of this every chance he gets if you work with him. Even then, however, when he acts his age, you may still fall into the trap. Ask the resident FunnyForeigner. However, the Phantomhive Manor Murder arc averted this as hard as it could: ''everyone'' present aside from Arthur Conan Doyle was well aware that Ciel was mentally capable of anything from being adorable and sweet to cold-blooded murder. [[spoiler:And then played it straight at the same time, by tricking Arthur--the ''only'' person there who didn't know of Ciel's reputation beforehand--into thinking of Ciel as a child with too many responsibilities who mostly pretends to be stronger and colder then he is]].
** A more innocent version of this trope is [[spoiler:Ciel's cousin/fiancée Lizzie]], who just wants to be a proper girly-girl, not a tough sword-fighting LittleMissBadAss.
* Last Order ([[CloningBlues Misaka Imouto 20,001]]) of ''Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex'' does this every once in a while. She'd probably be more effective if her VerbalTic didn't force her to [[ThirdPersonPerson narrate herself]].
* ''Manga/{{Gangsta}}'' features Doug, a Twilight wielding kukris, who (of course) isn't [[OlderThanTheyLook actually a child]].
* Ruka from ''Anime/IdolProject'' plays this up to the max.
* Though a little older than most examples of this trope, Yokosuka Jou from ''Manga/RainbowNishaRokubouNoShichinin'' learns to use his innocuous beauty to manipulate the perverted doctor working at the reformatory institute he is held. In the ensuing conversation, he plays up his cuteness by switching pronouns, using the more soft-spoken "boku" rather than the rough "ore" he ordinarily employs.
* We learn in ''Manga/JacoTheGalacticPatrolman'' that the entire Saiyan race is this trope. Saiyans have long childhoods to stay cute and young to throw off their enemies, thinking they're [[JustAKid harmless]], before quickly growing into their adult size. Which is why [[Franchise/DragonBall Goku]] looked so young when he was a child.
* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'': How Eren managed to stab two men to death in order to save Mikasa.
* ''Manga/GreatTeacherOnizuka'': Ai Tokiwa fakes a {{Kawaiiko}} personality, complete with bunny backpack, to get Onizuka and his class to let their guard down. She manages to beat up dozens of male students and get away with it through {{Wounded Gazelle Gambit}}s before the truth comes out.
* Raiha Uesugi in ''Manga/TheQuintessentialQuintuplets'' is a downplayed example, as she's never actually malicious or even mischievous, but she does know how to use her expressions to get people, particularly her brother Fuutarou, or Yotsuba and Itsuki among the quintuplets, to follow her lead.

* Comicbook/{{X 23}} exploited this for many of her early assassinations, taking full advantage of her appearance to get close to targets without arousing suspicion of what she ''[[TykeBomb really]]'' [[KillerRabbit is]]. ''Especially'' her first assassination, (she even fooled ''Captain America'' with her act) and later when she rescued her cousin Megan from a serial pedophile and child-killer.

* Vivio in the ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'' {{Fan Webcomic|s}} by [[http://www.q-ice.com/ Q-Ice]] does this mostly to annoy her JerkAss [[KidFromTheFuture future mother]]. [[http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/9450/nano106trxp8.jpg Karma's a bitch]].

* In the first arc of ''Fanfic/TouhouIbunshu'', Rumia combines this with a WoundedGazelleGambit to manipulate Remiu into removing [[RestrainingBolt her ribbon]]. Later, Reimu falls for this ''again'' when [[spoiler:Remilia]] pretends to a scared child helping her escape, only to eventually turn on her.

* Bubbles in ''Fanfic/TheUtoniumTrials'' still looks five even at age nine. She's a genuinely innocent kid but even she knows when it's best to lay it on thick and pretend to be more innocent than she actually is. When the Professor is under arrest for breaking the Neo-Tokyo Protocol, Bubbles' first instinct is to look like an adorable five year old to gain others trust.

* In ''Fanfic/AvengerGoddess'', Natasha uses this to her advantage in the 1990s story-line when she and Diana intercept a terrorist attack on Disneyland, and Diana keeps a photograph from that trip showing Natasha being hugged by Pluto as a demonstration of how Natasha isn't always a badass.
* In ''Fanfic/AvengerOfSteel'', Natasha is fully aware that Martha shows her pictures of Clark as a child to encourage her not to think of Clark as a threat, but has to concede that it works as she can’t picture him as a dangerous alien threat after seeing a photo of him dressed as a duck.

* An animal variant happens in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4189811/5/Harry-s-Pets Harry's Pets]]''. After Ron and Hermione find out that Mittens, Harry's beloved pet "cat", is actually a Nundu (an extremely dangerous magical animal that [[{{Plaguemaster}} breathes diseases]] and takes at least 100 fully trained wizards just to take ''one'' down), they want to inform a prefect immediately. To avoid this, Mittens shrinks herself down and gives Hermione some big ol' PuppyDogEyes, which makes her fall to CutenessProximity and relent (Ron doesn't and Harry has to threaten him to stay quiet).
* Played for laughs in ''Fanfic/AllMixedUp'', where Olive puts on her best pleading expression in order to get Otto to help her with her puzzle book. In response, he laughs and gets right to work on it.

* ''Film/{{Orphan}}'' has Esther Coleman, who can charm any adult she wants with her carefully-calculated veneer of wistful cuteness. It's so deliberate she even wears her hair in curls and only dresses in old-fashioned classic little-girl clothing.
* In ''Film/KickAss'', Mindy pulls this trick on D'Amico's goons by showing up at his place in school uniform and pig-tails, claiming to have lost her mommy and daddy. It doesn't work out well for the goons.

* In ''Film/TheAnnunciation'', it's unclear how old Lucifer is supposed to look at the start of the film, since he's played by a young girl, but in his initial appearance, he pulls a number of child-like strategies to endear himself to Adam and Eve.

* Twyla from ''Literature/{{Hogfather}}''. According to Susan, she's seven in years, but about thirty-five in cynicism:
-->'''Twyla:''' I'm afwaid of the monster in the cellar, Thusan. It's going to eat me up.
-->'''Susan:''' What have I told you about trying to sound ingratiatingly cute, Twyla?
-->'''Twyla:''' You said I mustn't. You said that exaggerated lisping is a hanging offense and I only do it to get attention.
* Twinkle from ''Literature/HouseOfManyWays'' by Creator/DianaWynneJones, who falls into the ReallySevenHundredYearsOld box. Well, 'Really About Thirty'. He has a good reason for it: [[spoiler:he's deliberately drawing attention away from the ''real'' child, his son, so that any potential kidnappers will go after him instead. It works, too]].

* When April from "Dustbin Baby" enters into her fourth foster home, she realizes that one of the older girls will like her better if she acts this way. Because April is a little lost and needs a friend and caregiver, she obliges.
* Aphrael, the Child-Goddess of Creator/DavidEddings' ''Literature/TheElenium'' and ''Literature/TheTamuli''. As her name suggests she usually manifests in the form of a child, and knowingly uses this to manipulate others into giving her what she wants. To her credit, she feels genuine love and affection for those around her and goes to great lengths to protect them. (She notes that it doesn't just work on mortals. Even her fellow gods can be swayed if she climbs into their lap.) She also observes that [[spoiler:Danae]] will be a new experience for her, as she can't exactly rightly ''avoid'' growing up as a [[spoiler:supposedly mortal princess]] -- while she remains one throughout the series, she at one point a bit into ''The Tamuli'' meets another of Aphrael's incarnations, Flute, and they comment on the first physical hints of her maturing out of this being there while Flute remains the same as she's always been.

* Markie in ''[[Literature/MythAdventures Little Myth Marker]]'' does adorable little-kid things like mispronouncing words and bluntly spitting out offensive statements. [[spoiler:She turns out to be an character assassin sent to ruin Skeeve's reputation and a full-grown woman to boot; natives of her dimension just happen to look like seven-year-old Klahds their entire lives]].
* Willie Connolly in the J.R. Lowell novel ''Daughter Of Darkness'' carefully maintains a facade as a darling, adorable, and very happy ChildProdigy. She really is twelve, but that's about it.
* In Mark Clifton's novella "Star Bright", five-year-old Star Holmes has an IQ somewhere in the quadruple digits, but is legally required to go to kindergarten, so she pulls an adorable-dimwit act. The class leader (a "stupid"--that is, someone of normal intelligence) takes charge of her and tells everyone they have to like her.
* Amber Brown in the ''[[Literature/AmberBrown A is for Amber]]'' books.

** In the season 3 finale, {{Tomboy}} ActionGirl Arya Stark acts like a miserable, vulnerable, wide-eyed child in order to catch a soldier off guard. [[spoiler:She then [[TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior stabs him, repeatedly and viciously]], for his role in killing her mother and brother]].
** The warlock assassin in "Valar Dohaeris" takes this form to disarm suspicions.

* Michelle Tanner on ''Series/FullHouse'' fits this trope to a T during her toddler years--it's even {{lampshaded}} by her uncles a few times. When she grows older, the role gets filled by twins Nicky and Alex.
* In the ''Series/CriminalMinds'' episode "Safe Haven", the [=UnSub=] is a thirteen-year-old who gets his victims to trust him by being cute and appearing vulnerable.

* In an episode of ''Series/GoodLuckCharlie'', PJ is using his baby-sitting time with his baby sister to hit on girls, making her say "I wuv you" to them.
--> '''Teddy''': But Charlie can say "I love you".
--> '''PJ''': I know. "I wuv you" is just cuter.

* [[http://www.dilbert.com/fast/1990-05-17/ This]] ''Comicstrip/{{Dilbert}}'' strip.
* As the page image shows, ComicStrip/{{Calvin| and Hobbes}} does this repeatedly, with varying amounts of success.

* Remember that little girl that got captured at the beginning of ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankSizeMatters''? Turns out [[spoiler:she's actually a puppet created by tiny monsters to fool the protagonists into rescuing "her" so that the BigBad can clone one of them]].
* ''VideoGame/ConkersBadFurDay:'' There is a little girl trapped in the war laboratory, but she just uses that to lure the invading rodent special-ops teams into deadly ambushes. Said little girl is actually [[spoiler:grafted to a twenty-foot hulking monstrosity with multiple doomsday weapons equipped]]. You kill them both.

* Although she's an adult cat, Chuchu from ''WebVideo/CreamHeroes'' plays up her cuteness by rolling around on the floor to get Claire to give her treats. Claire puts treats in her bowl but that is not good enough for Chuchu. She starts rolling around again because she wants Claire to give her the treats by hand.

* Tinny Tim from ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' is programmed to act this way. In one episode, where he sells lemonade, he says he's even programmed to make cute little backwards letters on signs.
** Though not technically children, Nibbler and the Catz from "Those Darn Catz" do this.
--->'''Nibbler:''' Nothing acts that cute without some ulterior motive. ''[[[IResembleThatRemark starts acting cute in order to get Amy to change his diaper]]]''
* Tweety Bird of ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' fame. "Aw, da poor puddy tat. He faw down an' go '''boom'''!" This, after carefully arranging poor Sylvester's defeat.
** Charley, a frequently-abandoned dog who appeared in a few Creator/ChuckJones cartoons, also employed this trope. "Big-soulful-eyes routine. Gets 'em every time." When people walk on past and ignore him, he remarks, "Well, ''nearly'' every time."
** In the Creator/ChuckJones cartoon "Baby Buggy Bunny", diminutive bank robber Baby Face Finster, aka Ant Hill Harry, impersonates an adorable baby to evade the police, and later infiltrates WesternAnimation/BugsBunny's rabbit hole when Bugs accidentally gets his hands on his stolen money. Bugs falls for it initially. Once he realizes he's been had, it's bad news for Finster.

* In ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'', Brain once [[PaperThinDisguise disguises himself]] as an overly cute little ''girl'' to ([[OnceAnEpisode you guessed it...]]) TakeOverTheWorld.
* The one-shot characters called the Cuddlemuffins from ''WesternAnimation/MyGymPartnersAMonkey''. They pretend to be cute for Adam so that they can take his money to buy food pellets, which they do CONSTANTLY. Jake, Slips, and Windsor eventually help Adam when he sells his hair to pay the Cuddlemuffins off, but when they show up to act cute towards their next 3 victims, Adam stops it once and for all [[spoiler:by shaving off the Cuddlemuffins' coats, as well as his friends']].
* Pupert from ''WesternAnimation/TheBuzzOnMaggie'' is insanely good at this.
* Angelica Pickles from ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' acts this way around grown-ups. Around the babies, [[BitchInSheepsClothing it's another matter]].
* Suzy Johnson, Jeremy's little sister, from ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb''. She fools her brother, but not Candace or Buford, who are both terrified of her.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Fillmore}}'', Cornelius Fillmore and Ingrid Third are on their way to a store to get evidence. By the time they get there, the store's closed. In order to charm the store owner into letting them in Ingrid, normally a PerkyGoth, announces, "I'm going to have to use my cute face. This won't be pretty." Later, Fillmore comments, "You sure took one for the team, Ingrid."
* June of ''WesternAnimation/KaBlam''. If you were to look at the "cute" act she puts on every once in a while, with no prior knowledge of her character, you wouldn't guess that she's one of the most (if not ''the'' most) hot-headed characters on the show.

* Dot Warner of ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' exploits her cuteness for all it's worth.
* Claire from ''WesternAnimation/TitanMaximum'' is a twenty-one-year-old who looks eight, but she also talks and acts like she's eight, complete with an obsession for cuteness, and using words such as "sowwy". She's also an expert assassin.
* Wilykat and Wilykit in ''WesternAnimation/{{Thundercats 2011}}'' are {{Catfolk}} [[CuteKitten kittens]] depicted as a pair of {{Artful Dodger}}s who survived the slums of Thundera by playing up their cuteness when they weren't simply outsmarting and running circles around their targets. This is especially obvious when they first ask if they can tag along with Lion-O's group after Thundera is sacked, complete with FauxPaw and kittenish mewling.
* Gideon Gleeful of ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' uses this whenever he can to get out of trouble.
** [[PolarOppositeTwins Dipper and Mabel]] do this to get more "Summerween" candy out of people when trick or treating. They even wear matching costumes.
--->'''Mabel''': Twins in costumes, the people eat it up.
* The ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'' episode "Sweet N Sour" has one-shot villains which are three adorable baby animals who hold up banks and jewelry stores. But since they're ''so cute'', the clerks in the store just give them everything, and if the Powerpuff Girls so much as come near them, ''they'' will be labeled as the bad guys. In truth, the three cute animals are rude, manipulative, greedy, and threaten the Girls with this trope if they try and put them in jail. And they ''do.'' They end up defeating them by making them think a kindergarten is a bank and they get cuddled and manhandled by a bunch of little kids.
* Darla Dimple in ''WesternAnimation/CatsDontDance''.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Tom and Jerry}}'' cartoon, Nibbles qualifies as this.
* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', a young [[CreepyChild Princess Azula]] can put on this facade, contrasting with other behavior such as [[TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior throwing rocks at baby turtle ducks, burning a doll her uncle sent her as a gift and cheerfully telling her brother in a sing-song voice that their dad is planning to kill him]].

* Exploited in ''WesternAnimation/AngryBirdsBlues'' E12, where the Blues use Samantha to get free cookies from Olive.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'': Mr. Cat tries to {{invoke|d trope}} this trope, [[SubvertedTrope but it usually doesn't work]].

* In ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'':

* Czeslaw Meyer from ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'', due to being made immortal when he was an actual kid hundreds of years ago. He does tend to drop the AdorablyPrecociousChild act pretty quickly, but keeps claiming that he's not used to being treated any other way. Ladd isn't fooled by Czes cutely asking him to murder everyone on the train, and shoots him.
* In ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'''s successor series, ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'', [[spoiler:Aoba]] is one. He's so good at pulling it off that he's managed to [[spoiler:frame his brother for many crimes as well as getting away with many of them]]. Add the fact that he's described with a baby face despite being a high school student. Of course, he lets it slip every now and then...[[CuteAndPsycho and when he does]]...

* Last Order ([[CloningBlues Misaka Imouto 20,001]]) of ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'' does this every once in a while. She'd probably be more effective if her VerbalTic didn't force her to [[ThirdPersonPerson narrate herself]].

* June of ''WesternAnimation/KaBlam''. If you were to look at the "cute" act she puts on every once and a while, with no prior knowledge of her character, you wouldn't guess that she's one of the most (if not ''the'' most) hot-headed characters on the show.

* ''WesternAnimation/WordGirl'': Eileen (a.k.a. The Birthday Girl) claims that every day is her birthday, and she puts on an act to get what she wants. If she doesn't get her "birthday presents", she throws a tantrum and [[HulkingOut hulks out]].

** Lina herself has been known to do this occasionally (prominently early in the first novel), taking advantage of her slight build and, ah, flat figure to appear cute, harmless and slightly ditzy.

* Czes from ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}''. ReallySevenHundredYearsOld. He does tend to drop the AdorablyPrecociousChild act pretty quickly, but keeps claiming that he's not used to being treated any other way.