Minor-coded
| Synonyms: | child-coded |
| See also: | Coded, queer-coding, Neurodivergent-coded |
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Minor-coded, also called child-coded, is a term that has seen some emerging use in the 2020s in fan spaces, but seems relatively unknown in more general media discussions. Based off of the concepts that underpin terms like queer-coding, it is the interpretation that a character is coded as a minor through subtext or indications without overt canonical confirmation.
Generally speaking, this seems to be considered different to a consistent indicator being used to represent non-human characters who are considered children. For example, a fantasy race of demons where all the adult demons have horns, and all the child demons do not. This is more likely to be considered just character design. However, there may be discussions about character design in relation to minor-coding.
The term is often viewed with skepticism in fan spaces and some consider uses of the term to be rarely, if ever, done in good faith[1]. Unlike a character being queer-coded or neurodivergent-coded, there hasn't been a historical or contemporary need to hide the fact that a character is a child to avoid controversy or backlash. The discussions around or issues which may be pointed out when a fantasy or supernatural race is analysed via race coding also seems highly unlikely to apply. This has resulted in minor-coded — along with others like sibling-coded or parent-coded — being considered further removed from the concept of character coding than queer-coding and other terms. Discussions tend to solely take place in fandom spaces and are often tied up in ship wars and other fandom drama. Other fans suggest that there may be some room for discussions in certain media, citing how thousand year old goddesses in anime often looked like young teens[2].
Use in fandom
Characters often applied to
| Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples. |
- Poison Mushroom Cookie from Cookie Run[3]
- Grassy from Battle for Dream Island[4]
- Nahida from Genshin Impact[5]
- Peridot from Steven Universe
- Bart Allen from DC Comics
Criticisms and Controversy
| Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples. |
Being applied to real people
Ableism/disableism
Judgments on body types
Use in shipwars or attacks on shippers
Fan Commentary
Examples of meta and discussions
- Minor-coded was SPECIFICALLY about Peridot by the way (2022)
- What the hell is "minor-coded?"
- the minor coded thing
- damn y’all i guess im minor-coded now smh
Further Reading
References
- ^ ''omg this character is minor coded!', complete-trash-and-despair, Tumblr, May 2023
- ^ It was supposed to be for anime girls who look and act 12 but are actually 1000+ year old goddesses, Comment on r/FanFiction thread, May 2023
- ^ https://cookierunkingdom.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000000683394
- ^ https://www.reddit.com/r/BattleForDreamIsland/comments/vy9jz0/is_grassy_really_child/
- ^ https://twitter.com/nacchanyan/status/1675453362232520705