TV Guide's 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters

[Petrie.]

Here is the list of TV Guide's 50 greatest cartoon characters (from Aug 2, 2002):

1. Bugs Bunny

2. Homer Simpson

3. Rocky and Bullwinkle
 
4. Beavis and Butt-head

5. The Grinch

6. Fred and Barney

7. Angelica Pickles

8. Charlie Brown and Snoopy

9. SpongeBob SquarePants

10. Cartman

11. Bart and Lisa Simpson

12. Fat Albert

13. The Powerpuff Girls

14. Daffy Duck

15. Pikachu

16. Gumby

17. Betty Boop

18. Top Cat

19. Mickey Mouse

20. Popeye

21. Gerald McBoing-Boing

22. Scooby-Doo

23. Underdog

24. Josie and the Pussycats

25. Heckle and Jeckle

26. Arthur

27. Winnie the Pooh

28. Felix the Cat

29. Mr. Magoo

30. George of the Jungle

31. Ren and Stimpy

32. Tom Terrific

33. Tweety and Sylvester

34. Bill

35. Space Ghost

36. Yogi Bear and Boo Boo

37. Mighty Mouse

38. Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner

39. Superman

40. Batman

41. Daria

42. Wonder Woman

43. Donald Duck

44. Alvin

45. Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale

46. Woody Woodpecker

47. Porky Pig

48. Bobby Hill

49. Speed Racer

50. Tom and Jerry


There were even four collectable covers for this issue:










So do you agree with their list?  (I sure don't and will make my own post about it)

[Petrie.]

My first (and probably loudest) gripe about the list is the fact I see a character like Mickey Mouse who has been in existence for over 80 years, has had multiple shows on TV, has his own theme park practically, and is well known cross generations in the 19th spot on the list and some character like Angelica Pickles being in the 7th spot.  What does Angelica got that Mickey doesn't have?  Honestly!!!  Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck both deserved top-10 spots based on longevity alone!  People still enjoy these two after many many years and are globally known.

Bugs Bunny is #1....that is without a doubt.  I'm not arguing that.  He has a zany personality, longevity, and a global fanbase.  He would always beat Mickey Mouse just because Mickey is the conservative, mature version of Bugs.  Mickey is an image of a company, but Bugs is first and foremost the image of a cartoon...and that's what we're listing here.

Another thing that is odd about the list is character pairings (e.g. Homer Simpson stands alone, yet Bart and Lisa are paired together).  Why not just base it on the fact that the Simpsons were a show and they should all be lumped together?  Who's to say Bart and Lisa even work together as a team?  I can understand a pairing like Rocky and Bullwinkle or Yogi and Boo Boo as you never see or consider one without the other, but Bart and Lisa together??? Really???  Even Fred and Barney (Flinstones I assume) are an odd pairing as they aren't always hand and hand together.  Why not Fred and Wilma if you're going to pair like that?

I also think they missed out on some characters...Garfield the cat being one of them.  He's been in comics for over thirty years, and had a tv show that lasted eight seasons before this was published.  I guess whoever was polled forgot about him.   Apparently, the Powerpuff Girls were more important.


Too many holes in my opinion to be a good list.  Maybe we'll have to make our own or something.

[DarkHououmon]

Personally I see no problem with that list. There's nothing about it that strikes me as unfair. In my opinion, the list seems to be giving all characters a chance rather than using "seniority" to rank old characters like Mickey Mouse up at the top. I don't think "seniority" should be the only factor in ranking. If it was the only factor, then old characters would be unfairly ranked above newer ones without giving the newer ones a chance. That's pretty much saying that old characters are always better than newer ones, when this isn't always the case, in my opinion.

[Malte279]

I watch too little TV or so it seems. Most of the characters on this list I haven't ever even heard about.

[Animeboye]

You have got to be kidding me. Pikachu is rated higher than Mickey Mouse and Batman? Let me repeat myself: A yellow cat/mouse/rabbit thing is rated higher than two of the most well known and most beloved characters in fiction? Am I supposed to be laughing? Why is Pikachu even on this list? I can think of so many anime characters better than Pikachu: Monkey D. Luffy, Naruto, Ichigo Kurosaki, Spike Spiegal, Goku, Vegeta, Edward Elric. What makes Pikachu so much better than say Spike or Vegeta? At least the characters I listed have personalities.

I'll give them credit for including Space Ghost because I grew up with Space Ghost Coast to Coast. But how is Spongebob better than Cartman? Spongebob's humor consists of nothing more than being overly obnoxious. Cartman's humor has far more depth and is much funnier. Cartman's racism, greed, cruelty and antisemitism is so over the top that it's impossible not to find him funny.

This list isn't exactly an epic fail, but it still fails. Anyone who says that Pikachu is a better character than Mickey Mouse deserves to be slapped upside the head.

[Waluigifan]

I think Super Mario is better than Pikachu (there were also Cartoons of Mario und Co. ).

Epic quotes of the series:

That's Mama Luigi to you, Mario!

You mean that egg is Luigi?!

Good thing there was a magic baloon!

Yoshi no liek meatballz.

Now I know how a meatball feels!

Mario und Co. aren't in the list.

[pokeplayer984]

Okay, let's look at it from a completely different perspective.  When was this poll done?

Aug 2, 2002.

At that point, Pokemon was all the rage.  It's no surprise to me that a poll taken between 2000 to 2005 has someone from that show high on the list, mainly due to the popularity of the show at the time.

If it was taken today, I'm sure we would see MUCH different results.

[LBTFan13]

Considering the date, TV Guide was probably going for the most influential cartoon characters on this generation of kids, not ours. If we were looking at a list of the greatest cartoon characters from solely our generation, the list would be riddled with Looney Toons, Disney, and Hannah Barbara. This list represents the kids now a days who watch TV in my opinion.

I completely agree with Bugs Bunny as number 1. There's not really much to say about that, he deserves that spot.

[Kor]

Part of why I ignore award shows and lists.  Make up your own lists and you'll be happier.  Or ignore them like I do.

[Mumbling]

I do hardly agree with that list, even if it was compiled in 2002. I've only heard of like half of the characters, and many are not in their rightful position, I fear.

I agree with the list on #1 as well... Everyone knows Wassup Doc! But boy do I disagree with Tom and Jerry being last...

Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck should indeed get better spots on the list, like Adam mentioned. And I find it odd that the Simpsons are not just one combined thing, they do not deserve two spots on 1 list, I don't think anyway.

[landbeforetimelover]

That is a horribly inaccurate list.  Why is Arthur even on there?  That was some backwards wacko cartoon from channel 9 that no one even watched(at least where I'm from).  And since this was 2002, Pikachu should have been number 9 or something with all the obvious ones (Mikey Mouse, Donald Duck, Bugs Bunny, etc.) being the only ones beating him.  Of course nowadays Pikachu would probably be number 48 if he even made the list at all, but for 2002 that list is horribly inaccurate.

And I'm not ashamed to admit that I don't know many of the characters on that list.  That's the problem when they make a "top 50" list for something that only deserves a "top 10" or "top 20."  There just aren't that many decent cartoon characters out there, even back then.  Nowadays it would be like a top 5 list. :

At least the characters I listed have personalities.

Well Pikachu has a personality in his own way.  Just because a character can't talk doesn't mean he/she doesn't have a personality (Spike anyone?).

[Nick22]

Scooby doo is right where he belong, in the upper half of cartoon characters. I personally would put him in the Top 15. something has to be said for having been on the air in some form for 40 years. Bugs is #1, thats a duh. Woody deserves tro be on there.. Spongebob, should be lower. pikachu does not deserve to be on the list..  imo..