Lightweight and bloated are just words we use to measure our own perception of something
against a reference of our own choosing. In my mind, it's not necessarily the size of the download
that determines if it is bloated, it's the end result of the install. Even if the Tinycore ISO included
a repository containing 500MBytes worth of applications, it could be considered to be "light"
since you could install only the applications you are interested in to a thumb drive, hard drive, or
even re-master the ISO to load the applications you want straight from the CD when booting.
Personally, I feel it's when a distro feels the need to be "chooser friendly" by automatically installing
multiple browsers, office apps, editors, music players, video players, picture viewers, paint programs,
file managers, etc.... in an effort to please everyone, that it becomes bloated.
In the end Tinycore is only light if you set it up that way. If you want to make it bloated, you are free
to do so. Just make it "chooser friendly" by installing lots and lots of apps.