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Cute Little Fangs definition question

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themayorofsimpleton Short-Term Projects Herald | he/him from the Island of Koridai (Captain) Relationship Status: I won't say I'm in love
Short-Term Projects Herald | he/him
#1: Aug 1st 2024 at 4:53:17 PM

Cute Little Fangs's description says it is about the following:

Simply put, a character's protruding teeth are played for unconventional cuteness.

It also says this:

These indicate, generally, that the character is mischievous, slightly hostile, or a trickster, but not actually "bad."

So, we've established that Cute Little Fangs is about when fangs are used to denote cuteness, mischeviousness/being a trickster, and slightly hostile. It might just be me, but doesn't this sound like multiple tropes in one? Like, a hypothetical Mischevious Little Fangs + Cute Little Fangs?

I also noticed examples where characters who obviously weren't intended to be cute were listed because someone thought their fangs were cute.

Worth a wick check, or some other action?

(There are also ZCE problems on-page, but obviously there isn't much we can do about those. I'm more focused on the definition.)

Edited by themayorofsimpleton on Aug 1st 2024 at 7:58:42 AM

Works That Require Cleanup of Complaining | Troper Wall
BlackMage43 Since: Jun, 2014 Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
#2: Aug 2nd 2024 at 8:40:12 AM

Cuteness and mischievousness are often related as long as it's playful. Fangs Are Evil already exists for when a character is seriously hostile and untrustworthy examples.

themayorofsimpleton Short-Term Projects Herald | he/him from the Island of Koridai (Captain) Relationship Status: I won't say I'm in love
Short-Term Projects Herald | he/him
#3: Aug 2nd 2024 at 8:40:32 AM

[up] Got it, thanks. I might just take this to the ZCE thread then.

Edited by themayorofsimpleton on Aug 2nd 2024 at 11:41:41 AM

Works That Require Cleanup of Complaining | Troper Wall
Reymma RJ Savoy from Edinburgh Since: Feb, 2015 Relationship Status: Wanna dance with somebody
RJ Savoy
#4: Aug 2nd 2024 at 4:00:22 PM

It's a problem with any trope that has "cute" or "sexy" in its name that editors will add in anyone they see as fitting, but it's a visual design trope and needs to be intended as such. Some cleanup would be welcome.

What unites mischeviousness and cuteness is that we associate them with children. Anyone with fangs is going to look in some way threatening, but if that threat seems playful rather than dangerous it reminds us of a child. So it's not superficially cute, but the cuteness comes out at a deeper level, much like how a Gentle Giant is superficially overbearing but becomes reassuring.

Stories don't tell us monsters exist; we knew that already. They show us that monsters can be trademarked and milked for years.
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