Throughout history Homunculi has consistently symbolized the creation of artificial life and perfection (and so im just going to list down some surface level research lol);

Homunculus in Alchemy

term used to talk about artificial human like being that ppl at the time thought could be made through alchemy

back then, alchemists were obsessed with creating life (specifically artificially creating humans through homunculi) and finding the Philosopher’s Stone which was believed to be a substance that can turn metals into gold + this:

relevancy to homunculus? Carl Jung said that the concept of homunculus is the same as the Philosopher’s Stone, and the inner person parallel to Christ.

parallels The Federation’s goals. They keep messing with life and trying to create life (First with Baghz, then possibly the Eggs, and now we have the Minimes). Then we also have those instances where they equate themselves as a higher divine power.

Homunculus in Folklore

the creation of homunculus = man to the divine/God = creating life w/ own image

Minimes are basically just clones of the cubitos but they have no autonomy or consciousness. they’re like dolls.

Homunculus in Literature

still related to artificial life

Homunculus concept = “quest of a pure spirit to be born in mortal form”

Parallels Feds quest for perfection through the existence of Cucuruchos, its workers, its experiments, and the Cubitos.

Homunculus in Art History

Medieval art was heavily influenced by the church and the babies were often painted as homunculus bc of the Christian beliefs that Jesus was “perfectly formed and unchanging man his entire life”, and The Homunculus Theory (fully formed human thought to have existed before conception)

painting of man babies = might influence children = perfect model of health and strength

basically meta wise, the minimes are for other things, but lore wise they are the attempts to replace the Eggs or atleast distract them. which from the pov of the current story, it makes sense bc ppl are just getting more unhinged and aggressive, and if the Federation wants to keep them in line, a distraction is a good thing.