Turnip Boy Robs a Bank

Posthuman Cuteness: Affective and Agentic Tensions

This paper examines cuteness in videogames through a textual analysis of the Turnip Boy series, namely Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion (2021) and its sequel Turnip Boy Robs a Bank (2024).

• The paper's central claim is that cuteness, as an instrumentalised emotive form, lets cute things resist subordination and become agentic subjects within a posthuman framework.
• Turnip Boy is framed as subordinate in three overlapping ways: as a vegetable positioned as 'less than' human, as an avatar subordinate to the player, and as a cute object apparently posing no threat.
• The games nonetheless depict Turnip Boy threatening economic structures such as capitalism, and in the sequel Turnip Boy Robs a Bank (2024) he shakes down fellow vegetables for money.