# Critters as cartoon characters and superheroes **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 29, 2007, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/critters-as-cartoon-characters-and-superheroes/405935 "2007-05-29T16:37:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/critters-as-cartoon-characters-and-superheroes/405935/41 "2007-05-30T03:51:31Z")
[QUOTE=Lucky 13] _The Wonder Pets_ are Linny (Lenny?) the hamster [/QUOTE] Linny the guinea pig. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/critters-as-cartoon-characters-and-superheroes/405935/42 "2007-05-30T04:10:58Z")
[QUOTE=SparrowHawk] What about chipmunks? There’s Chip ‘n’ Dale plus Alvin, Simon and Theodore. [/QUOTE] The aforementioned Just’a Lotta Animals had Super-Squirrel, who was from the planet Chipton. [Funny semi-related picture I uncovered during a google](http://www.funnyjunk.com/funny_pictures/133/Super+Squirrel/) ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/critters-as-cartoon-characters-and-superheroes/405935/43 "2007-05-30T09:09:41Z")
Aardvarks - add Cyril and Cedric Sneer from _The Raccoons_. There’s a whole lotta different bugs in the _Maya The Bee_ cartoon I remember a _Mighty Mouse_ episode that _appeared_ to feature a statue of **The Sloth** in some Super League headquarters, only it turned out it was the actual hero, and he’d spent the entire episode slowly (but powerfully, it turns out) delivering one punch to the villainous Cow who’d taken out all the other heroes. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/critters-as-cartoon-characters-and-superheroes/405935/44 "2007-05-30T09:41:41Z")
Cat and Mouse: There’s Catnip the Cat and Herman the Mouse from the old Harvey cartoons. Flea: Tex Avery used fleas on a couple of occasions. In one, it was the classic “boy and girl in love, villain kidnaps girl, boy makes heroic rescue” story, only with fleas. The dogs and the rest of the world were just passive backdrops. The hero was named, IIRC, Flea-Wee. In another Tex Avery cartoon, Droopy Dog is a huge fan of Dixieland music but can’t find anywhere to play his record. He ends up hijacking a flea circus of musical fleas and becomes a stage sensation when people think he’s magically producing Dixieland music out of nowhere. At the end, the trumpet-playing flea (also named, I think, Flea-Wee), reveals that he’s the narrator of the story. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/critters-as-cartoon-characters-and-superheroes/405935/45 "2007-05-30T09:56:23Z")
[QUOTE=Zeldar] What’s a species that has never been used before? Harp seal? [/QUOTE] Am I the only person here who watched [Seabert](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seabert) as a kid? This was a French Canadian kids’ cartoon with an environmentalist theme. It featured Tommy, a little white kid, and Aura, a little Eskimo girl (who I had a giant crush on as a little kid.) This pair would travel all over the world fighting to save endangered animals from comically bumbling, buffoonish villains, including a guy named Graphite who looked like an evil Inspector Gadget and sported a huge nose and a New Yawk accent. It had a great animation style and a good soundtrack. I re-watched some old tapes of it a few weeks ago and was struck by how innovative the soundtrack was, often featuring Moog synthesizers. I was also struck by how many times Aura, the little Eskimo girl, landed in situations where she would be tied up by the bad guys. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/critters-as-cartoon-characters-and-superheroes/405935/46 "2007-05-30T13:03:04Z")
[QUOTE=Pochacco] [Osmosis Jones](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osmosis_Jones)? [The Amoeba Boys](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Amoeba_Boys)? [/QUOTE] Those have to be close to the limit of where such characters can go. I suppose having a sub-atomic particle has been done? Nick Neutron Monty Muon Ted Tachyon Bill Boson Emil Electron Fighting crime and stopping world hunger. Coming soon to a petri dish near you/ ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/critters-as-cartoon-characters-and-superheroes/405935/47 "2007-05-30T13:04:50Z")
[QUOTE=Thudlow Boink] The use of animals as humanlike characters predates animated cartoons, going back to folk tales (one example: the Uncle Remus stories, with their Br’er Rabbit, Br’er Fox, etc.) and children’s literature (e.g. _The Wind in the Willows_, _Winnie-the-Pooh_). [/QUOTE] Now that you mention it, I suppose Aesop had a hand in it, too. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/critters-as-cartoon-characters-and-superheroes/405935/48 "2007-05-30T13:08:22Z")
[QUOTE=Lucky 13] _Max and Ruby_ are two annoying bunnies. [/QUOTE] This made me remember the rabbit in _Monty Python and the Holy Grail_. Not to mention the catapulted cow. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/critters-as-cartoon-characters-and-superheroes/405935/49 "2007-05-30T13:16:32Z")
[QUOTE=MrDibble] Aardvarks - add Cyril and Cedric Sneer from _The Raccoons_. [/QUOTE] Also [Cerebus the Aardvark](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebus). Characters like Chanticleer the cockerel and Reynard the fox go back to Chaucer at least. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/critters-as-cartoon-characters-and-superheroes/405935/50 "2007-05-30T14:15:55Z")
What about weird meta-cases, like where an anthropomorphic dog has a pet dog? I always wonder about that. We have cartoons like Arthur/Pal and Mickey Mouse/Pluto where anthropomorphic animals have pet dogs and also interact with anthropomorphic dogs, but for some reason the anthro-dogs are never the ones with pet dogs. This gives the cartoon a creepy Dr. Moreau subtext. Can anyone come up with an example of an anthropomorphic animal that had a pet that was ostensibly the same type of animal? ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/critters-as-cartoon-characters-and-superheroes/405935/51 "2007-05-30T14:22:43Z")
How could we forget Brian from _Family Guy_? A very weird case, since he was an ordinary dog with dog limitations (leash laws and a 12-odd year lifespan, for example), but human intelligence and speech. There are many other dogs, but he and Jasper seem to be the only ones who can talk. More than once this is commented on in the show, but rarely causes any deep concern. Other _Family Guy_ animals: Jasper (dog) and The Chicken (chicken). ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/critters-as-cartoon-characters-and-superheroes/405935/52 "2007-05-30T20:25:47Z")
[QUOTE=Lemur866] Can anyone come up with an example of an anthropomorphic animal that had a pet that was ostensibly the same type of animal? [/QUOTE] Well, there’s Superman and Krypto. Though they _resemble_ a human and a dog, they’re actually alien life forms that no doubt have biologically far more in common with each other than they could with any Earth species. Ditto Zan and Jayna and their pet “monkey” Gleek. ---
**Author:** ![MacSpon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@MacSpon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacSpon)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2007, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/critters-as-cartoon-characters-and-superheroes/405935/53 "2007-05-31T01:21:11Z")
[QUOTE=Zeldar] Gnat? [/QUOTE] Super Gnat is a character in the _Phule’s Company_ series by Robert Asprin. Admittedly, she’s actually a human woman, albeit rather short. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Intravenus\_De\_Milo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Intravenus\_De\_Milo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intravenus_De_Milo)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2007, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/critters-as-cartoon-characters-and-superheroes/405935/54 "2007-05-31T04:39:28Z")
[QUOTE=Lemur866] What about weird meta-cases, like where an anthropomorphic dog has a pet dog? I always wonder about that. We have cartoons like Arthur/Pal and Mickey Mouse/Pluto where anthropomorphic animals have pet dogs and also interact with anthropomorphic dogs, but for some reason the anthro-dogs are never the ones with pet dogs. This gives the cartoon a creepy Dr. Moreau subtext. Can anyone come up with an example of an anthropomorphic animal that had a pet that was ostensibly the same type of animal? [/QUOTE] I think it’s humorously ironic that Spongebob Squarepants - a sponge, obviously - has a snail for a pet, which in the real world is a much more complex animal (relatively speaking) than himself. ---
**Author:** ![Lucky\_13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucky_13/32/13209_2.png) [@Lucky\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky_13)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2007, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/critters-as-cartoon-characters-and-superheroes/405935/55 "2007-05-31T05:17:29Z")
[QUOTE=mobo85] Linny the guinea pig. [/QUOTE] Close enough. At least I figured out he was some kind of rodent. :smack: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/critters-as-cartoon-characters-and-superheroes/405935.md?page=2)