Whenever we hear the word “cartoons”, the kid inside us jumps up with the sheer joy of watching the funny and captivating animated characters that completely reigned our childhood. What if I asked you if you would take an hour off, sit down, and tune in to your favorite cartoon channel and relive your childhood? Wouldn’t you say yes? I know I would! As a child, the favorite thing for me to do in the entire day was to sit in front of my scrappy old TV, tune in to Cartoon Network (which sadly doesn’t exist anymore), and watch cartoons like Tom and Jerry, Spongebob Squarepants, The Flintstones, Simpsons, Bugs Bunny, etc. Ah, the memories.
Childhood is when most of us fell in love with cartoons, but you don’t need to be a child to still love them. Cartoons have a different aura about them, something that instantly makes us happy and strays us away from worries and problems of the real world. Living in the golden age of animation, it is sometimes hard to believe that there was a time when we had to follow our favorite cartoon characters in newspapers or go to watch them in a theatre.
Now, get ready to be flooded with childhood memories and a big fat smile. Mentioned below is a list of 10 all-time famous iconic animated characters: –
1) Tom and Jerry
Probably one of the most iconic duos with a mesmerising TV presence, Tom and Jerry is the very first cartoon characters pair that comes to my mind. Their funny fights, pranks, Tom’s frustration, and Jerry’s cute smile always put up a smile in my face every time I watched them. I’m sure most of you are smiling right now, thinking of the same, aren’t you?
A creation of Joseph Barbera and William Hanna at MGM, Tom and Jerry came out in 1940, creating a massive impact among children with a series of their funny fights and constant need to defeat each other. The thing that appealed most is how hilariously Tom always failed to make a meal of Jerry and how cunning Jerry was. This iconic duo of a cat and a mouse has given us thousands of memories to cherish and even though newer cartoons prevail right now, no cartoon can ever replace our beloved Tom and Jerry.
2) Bugs Bunny
There can be world-record holding rabbits, Instagram famous rabbits, or meme-famous rabbits, but nothing can ever replace our favorite rabbit, Bugs Bunny. Since making his debut in a 1940 Warner Brothers cartoon, called “Wild Hare’, Bugs Bunny has been making people all over the world laugh with his signature catchphrase, “What’s up, Doc?”.
Whether he outwitting a nasty knight in 1958 ‘Knighty Knight, Bugs’, or poking fun at a stuffy highbrow culture in 1957 ‘What’s Opera, Doc?’, the cunning Bugs Bunny always got the last laugh. In addition to his own cartoon shorts, Bugs Bunny has also been a part of many other memorable cartoons with other characters as well.
3) Mickey Mouse
Just like Bugs Bunny, there’s no other mouse in the world which is more famous than our beloved Mickey Mouse himself. Walt Disney himself loved to say that it all began with a mouse, and surely it was true. Mickey Mouse is an animated character icon, that has won the hearts of children globally. Mickey Mouse debuted in 1928’s “Steamboat Willie”, which was voiced by Walt himself.
Mickey Mouse is considered an iconic animation because it was the very first cartoon with synchronized sound. Even though Mickey’s most iconic role came as a sorcerer’s apprentice in ‘Fantasia’ of 1940, Mickey has had an uncountable number of movies and cartoon shorts, which ultimately led him to become the most iconic cartoon character of all time.
4) Popeye
“Popeye the sailor man..” was one of the favorite songs we used to listen to during our childhood. Apart from that, Popeye was probably our favorite hero with his big muscles, hard-core attitude, and the love for beating up villains. What is funny is that Popeye was the reason why many children voluntarily used to eat spinach, assuming they would get strength like him, including myself!
Popeye originally began its life as a comic strip in 1929, as a spinach-loving sailor, created y E.C. Segar. As a result of it becoming an instant hit, animator Max Fleisher brought Popeye to life four years later, on the big screen. In the early 1960s, Popeye had his own TV series and that is where his success in captivating childrens’ hearts began.
5) Daffy Duck
Probably one of the most notorious ducks to ever exist in the animation world, Daffy Duck is that to Bugs Bunny as Wile E. Coyote is to the Road Runner. Bunny’s arch nemesis, Daffy Duck is one hilarious and a naughty character that proved to be a famous negative animated character for children.
Over the decades, Daffy Duck managed to successfully transform from a clumsy fool to the sarcastic animated character that know today. Debuting in ‘Porky’s Duck Hunt’ of 1937, Daffy’s banters with Bugs Bunny are considered one of the most memorable moments in animation history, especially the ones in 1951’s ‘Rabbit Fire’, where Daffy and Bugs try to convince Elmer Fudd to shoot the other. That gave everyone quite the laugh, I must say.
6) Scooby-Doo and Shaggy
Are you a ‘60s, ‘70s, or ‘80s kid? Then cartoons after school definitely meant watching Scooby Doo and his pals make your day better. Created by Joseph Barbera and William Hanna, Scooby Doo and Shaggy debuted in TV in 1969 with their series called “Scooby Doo, Where Are You?”. I still remember watching Scooby Doo during childhood and wishing I too would have a talking dog who would be my best friend. Those were the days, weren’t they?
Velma, Fred, Daphne, Shaggy, and Scooby made their leap from CBS to ABC in 1976, where they had appeared in various iterations of their show till 1991. Their Mystery Machine was one of the most fascinating things every child wanted, apart from a talking great dane like Scooby Doo. these are the cartoons that really make me wish cartoon characters were real.
7) Homer Simpson
If you’re looking to kickback and watch an animated series and just chill out, Simpsons is the best cartoon to watch. One of the most popular families in the animated world, the Simpsons have existed since their debut on ‘The Tracey Ullman Show’ in 1987. Homer’s clumsiness and his catchphrase “D’oh!” are his signature qualities that not only make him humane but also very relatable.
The reason why Homer Simpson is so funny and loved, is because people can relate to him. He is often clumsy, lazy, loves food with no limits, and doesn’t know what he’s doing half of the times. We cannot deny that we too are sometimes just like this. Homer and his family are a complete package, which is probably the reason why their series is still going strong.
8) Bart Simpson
Since I’ve spoken about Homer Simpson, I feel it would be a shame if I didn’t mention his awesome son, Bart, as well. Even though Bart Simpson is Homer’s son, he is also Homer’s archnemesis as well (ironically). If you’ve watched Simpsons, you know that Bart exists not only to cause mischief and mayhem, but to also torment his father at every chance he gets.
With his catchphrases like “Aye, caramba!” and “Eat my shorts.”, Bart Simpson had become an icon in his own right, along with his healthy disregard for authority and irreverent sense of humor. Bart’s iconic stature is also reflected in the fact that he has appeared in all the episodes of The Simpsons, except one.
9) Charlie Brown
From a comic strip to having his own Christmas special, Charlie Brown is a dull but sweet character we all love. Charlie Brown made his debut in 1948, as a comic strip “Lil’ Folks” in Charles Schulz’s newspaper, as one of a cast of precocious kids. These kids won the hearts of kids all over the world with their dumb ideas and interesting stories.
In 1950, Charlie and his gang got the makeover they needed, as ‘Peanuts’ and debuted on television in 1965, as “A Charlie Brown Christmas”. Charlie is that kid whose dog is more famous than he is, who never gets to kick the football, and who has a crush on the Little Redhead Girl, and all this has made him steal our hearts since many years.
10) Pink Panther
Now that we’re done talking about rabbits, cats, and mice, we cannot forget the most famous panther other than Black Panther, the Pink Panther. A savvy, chivalrous, and handsome character, the Pink Panther is one cunning character with several of its own movies as well.
Pink Panther was created for the animated opening credits of a 1963 film, whose cast included Peter Sellars. This made the Pink Panther such a hit that he soon became a cartoon character star in his own right. Pink Panther achieved a lot of success, since its first theatrical release, “The Pink Think” won the Oscar for best cartoon short (1964).
I’m sure after reading all this, you too are smiling as you’ve relieved a major part of your childhood. Our childhood may be shaped by a lot of different things, but the cartoons we watched helped shape our imaginations and be the innocent beings that we were as children. Even though newer and maybe better cartoons and animations exist now, the iconic animated characters mentioned here can never be replaced.