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| Top 10 Animated Characters |
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| POSTED Friday , January 04, 2008 11:12:44 AM |
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Okay, here's the deal. List your top 10 animated characters. They can be Disney, Warner Brothers, Hanna Barbarra, whoever. Note: Tom and Jerry is not a character. That's 2 characters if my math skills are any good.
1. Mickey Mouse. I am not listing him first because this is a Disney board. Mickey was the first universal character. He debued in 1928 and yet by 1940, you could find Mickey memorabilia in almost every country in the world. He was the first to have synchronized sound and paid for an empire. Most importantly, he stayed the humble nice guy. While WB has recently revamped Bugs and the gang to make them meaner and cooler, Mickey stays Mickey and that's just fine with me. This nice guy finishes first.
2. Bugs Bunny. One thing that Warner Brothers did with Bugs was aim him at adults in the 1940's. In fact, most of his older stuff can't even be shown on tv today because of some of the controversial content. But the best thing they did was slipping in those refences to everything from Of Mice And Men to the WWII film A Bridge Too Far. Very clever stuff that is still funny today.
3. Goofy. When asked what kind of animal Goofy was, he simply said, "Man." That's why when he needed a lovable loser to represent mankind in his Mr. Wheeler, Mr. Walker short, he chose the Goof. When that short won an Oscar, he kept using Goofy in his Sport Goofy shorts. Goofy is the absurdity in humanity and I love him for it.
4. Fred Flintstone. The Flintstones were the very first prime time tv cartoon and Fred was modled after Gleason's Ralph Cramden. But Fred quickly surpassed the Honeymooner's inspiration and became an independent character. Though Fred has suffered the indignity of both a space alien (Gazoo?) and the subpar live action films, he survived it with grace and more than a little attitude.
5. Scooby Doo. Scooby was so great that Hanna Barbara can almost be forgiven for creating 6 or 7 knockoffs (Josie and the Pussycats, Jabberjaws, etc.) The crazy sentient animal sidekick to a team of teen sluthes has never been portrayed as well as it has been with this cowardly hungry great dane. He makes Marmaduke look like chopped liver. Zoinks!
6. Iron Giant. Okay, the animation alone on his is mesmorizing, but that characterization is what gets him on my list. He is both a child and yet also a monster. He is the protector and the helpless victim. If E.T. were a giant ass-kicking robot with battleship destroying cannons, he'd be the Iron Giant.
7. Batman (from Batman: The Animated Series). This version of Batman washed away the silly Hanna Barbara version that we saw on Superfriends and occasionally teamed with Scooby and the Gang. This was a darker Batman, with much better storytelling and an art style that fit the noir origins of the Bat.
8. Superman (the Fliesher shorts). In the 1930's, Superman made the world believe a man could fly. While not as flashy as modern cartoons, nothing has captured the spirit of Superman on film quite the same way. One of the highlights of the series was a short filmed in 1938 where Superman decrees that if Hitler continues his agression, he'll get a mountain dropped on him.
9. Daffy Duck. The greedy, kaniving, scheeming duck who is more likely to stab you in the back than offer a helping hand, is somehow forgiven his shortcomings because of his loveable personality.
10. Droopy the Dog. Tex Avery's works are classics and Droopy is the epitomy of his genius. Tex's stuff was always much crazier and over the top than his friends Walt and Iz Freeling. While Disney was the the king of nice and WB was the leader of the sly adult references, Tex just went for bombastic.
Honorable Mentions:
Homer Simpson
Donald Duck
Yogi Bear
Spongebob Squarepants
Papa Smurf
He-Man
Duke (of G.I.Joe)
February 3, 1959
The Day The Music Died |
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| REPLIED Sunday , January 06, 2008 04:38:01 PM |
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| REPLIED Thursday, March 27, 2008 03:45:54 AM |
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| REPLIED Thursday, March 27, 2008 08:47:37 AM |
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Avengers...Assemble!
