Basic Trope: The villain's Mooks are rather cute and adorable in appearance if not demeanor.
- Straight: Emperor Evulz's army consists of round and big-eyed goblins with soft features prone to bumbling.
- Exaggerated: The army is made up of pink bunnies, ducklings, and mice not out of place in a kid's cartoon. And yet they're also some of the most horrific monsters to have ever been unleashed on this earth.
- Downplayed: The goblins do have a few traits associated more with non-threatening creatures, but only in an Ugly Cute way (emphasis on Ugly).
- Justified:
- Emperor Evulz is a Psychopathic Manchild who is obsessed with cute things.
- Cute Is Evil in the setting.
- Villain with Good Publicity Evulz charmed the adorable critters into thinking they are doing good and uses them to further his good publicity.
- Inverted: The Cavalry allied with the heroes is an army of tall, skeletal beings dressed in black armour and face-obscuring masks, but they are heroic and brave to the core.
- Subverted:
- Turns out the goblins aren't evil, because Beauty Equals Goodness in the setting.
- The goblins get progressively uglier as the work goes on.
- Or get Progressively Prettier.
- Double Subverted: The Goblins pull a Face–Heel Turn.
- Parodied: Emperor Evulz's troops are literal adorable babies.
- Enforced:
- Execs wanted easily-marketable Mascot Mooks for the merchandise.
- The show or game is meant for children, and the creators don't want to frighten them.
- Lampshaded: "We're cute, cuddly, and pure evil!"
- Invoked: Evulz wants opponents that no one will suspect of belonging or being allied with him since no one thinks anything cute could be evil.
- Exploited: Evulz and the goblins' main tactic is to lure opponents into false sense of security with their non-threatening appearances before revealing their true colors.
- Alternatively, they're cute appearances give any opponent second thoughts about beating them up.
- Defied: "My minions must be terrifying and intimidating! If I had cute minions, I'd be a laughingstock!"
- Discussed: "So... Let me get this straight. This Emperor Evulz, the all-powerful being who threatens to destroy all that is good and innocent in the world... Is going to do so with an army of puppies and kittens."
- Implied:
- "Just ONCE, I would like my minions not to be defeated by love-struck idiots who cuddle them to death!"
- Bob is terrified by the sight of a cute gnome, and someone comments "Must be from the war."
- Played for Laughs: Everyone fawns over the goblins as being too cute, much to their annoyance and want to be taken seriously.
- Played for Drama: Everyone starts associating cute features with evil because of the goblins and discriminate against cute beings.
- Plot Foundation: The fact that the goblins aren't bad-looking unlike their grostesque masters serves as Foreshadowing they will pull a Heel–Race Turn.
"Stop calling us cute and go back to the main page!"
