10 Characters
10 influential chacters:
Team Fortress 2:
Although I personally believe each individual has enough character and flavor to warrant their own slot, I’m grouping all the characters from Team Fortress 2 in as a single listing.
The characters were authored to give a persona to existing character classes from the previous edition of the game. Through jeers and taunts emitted from the characters during combat do you get to see each has a little (possibly twisted) mind of their own.
Some examples in motion:
Ren and Stimpy:
Ren and Stimpy, along with most of the other John K characters, always present themselves with excellent facial expressions. They’re amorphous like many older cartoons, and can break their shapes to achieve their expressions undiluted.
Syndrome:
The major antagonist of the film The Incredibles, Syndrome is driven entirely by the desire to be the protagonist. He is powerless and has no special traits to build himself up as a hero, so he develops machines and technology that he plans to unleash upon the world in order to terrorize it, then “defeat” himself in order to win the affections of the masses.
Wall-E:
A machine that’s built for a specific, repetitious function that develops a personality and human curiousness, while all the humans in space get so stuck in their routines they’ve lost touch with whom they really are. Wall-E, a robot, is the last bastion of humanity.
Okay, no more Pixar characters from now on.
Betty Boop:
An artifact of a different era, Betty Boop was the poster girl of the carefree jazz era. Carried an innocent sexuality that, although young children viewing the movies never caught onto was all but too apparent for adults within the theatre. After about three years of unadulterated speakeasy fun and accidental revealing scenes, the National Legion of Decency and some Production Codes imposed upon the Motion Picture Industry forced her to change into a housewife vocation and wear a full skirt.
Johnny Quest:
A child caught up in the adventures of his father and bodyguard, usually ending up a hostage of sorts. The series captured the dramatic stylings that were popular in 20s and 30s graphic novels, with thick heavy shadows. The animation was simple and low key, giving it a “walking comic book” feeling.
An example in motion:
The Incredible Hulk:
A Modernized version of the Dr. Jekyl – Mr. Hyde story, a scientist named Dr. Banner caught in the blast of an experimental weapon is mutated so that he transforms into a simple minded, yet physically superior monster at night. Later, the story was altered so that the transformations occurred when Dr. Banner is placed in situations of extreme stress. Because he is feared and misunderstood, The alter ego of Banner, aptly named The Hulk begins to hate and despise humanity. In his own attempts to survive, however, the Hulk usually ends up saving humanity, however.
Example in (Limited) Motion:
Shinji Ikari:
Shinji Ikari, like many heroes in Japanimation, is a young boy whom is torn from his hum drum life and given incredible responsibility to defend the Earth using a giant humanoid mech named Evangelion. The difference between similar protagonists in the giant robot genre is that while others rise to the challenge and overcome their personal problems through confronting this twist in their life, Shinji does not. His life continues to spiral out of control further and further as his life continues to include piloting this giant robot. He doesn’t have the qualities of a courageous, outgoing young man, and rather piloting the machine becomes a self-destructive habit he continues to perform, despite his loathing for the behavior.
Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes):
A quizzical six year old and his imaginary friend, a stuffed tiger, carry on adventures within their own vision of the world, exploring philosophical queries, and trying to gross out the neighborhood girl with boogers.
Huey Freeman:
A young black child living in a predominately white suburban area with his grandfather and younger brother, Huey Freeman constantly battled race issues, politics, and current popular culture in the daily newspaper funnies, a media where non homogonized and potentially offensive content rarely fails to succeed. Although Huey is proud to be black, he does not ignore the negative tendancies of his own culture and comments on his own people’s ignorance just as much as he does on the ignorance of others. Later, the character and the comic series The Boondocks was reformatted for a late night television cartoon, where Huey Freeman became more the voice of reason during these situations rather than an avatar to the strip’s creator Aaron McGruder’s personal opinions, albiet Huey still had his vices that would display themselves from time to time.
Sam and Max
A crime fighting freelance police duo consisting of a large talking dog and his psychotic unhinged lagomorph friend.