The 10 Cartoon Characters Who Changed Everything

We’ve all had that coworker or classmate whose work ethic and drive outpaced everyone else. Often the general consensus is that if their output level is expected to become the norm, they are “ruining it for everyone”.

The following ten cartoon characters aren’t necessarily known for their work ethics, but each of them ruined something for everyone.

There’s a reason cartoons aren’t just made for children. Cartoons have a way of removing us from our mundane lives for a while and sweeping us off into another world.

From back in the 1930s when Looney Tunes were shown in theatres, to today where there are multiple cable networks devoted to cartoons, the medium has always provided a much needed escape for kids and adults alike.

This list is not meant to criticize or cast blame on any cartoon for having a negative effect on society. We’ll leave that stuff to One Million Moms. We assembled this list to celebrate these characters and the things they ruined (in a good way) for everyone.

Lois Griffin

What She Ruined: the image of a perfect wife

Lois Griffin took the “perfect, loving wife” bar and raised it out of sight. Lois would be an outstanding partner for any man, and with what she puts into her marriage she deserves a caring, considerate partner. Instead, she has Peter Griffin.

Being married to perhaps the worst husband and father in television history hasn’t stopped Lois though. She continues to be a doting, compassionate, organized, smokin’ hot spouse after all these years, who many talented artists are clearly sexually attracted to (just Google Image search her name – NSFW!).

He-Man

What He Ruined: the body image of every adolescent boy in the mid 80s

He-Man was impossibly jacked. His forearms were bigger than your quads and his lats looked like oily tan aircraft carriers. As a young He-Man fan in the 80s, I can tell you from experience: you can do pushups and pullups everyday from the time you get home from school until Arsenio goes off the air and you’ll still never look like He-Man.

super-jacked and a huge bully = remarkable role model

I’m sure there were some who protested He-Man’s physique and its effect on boys at the time, but nothing compared to the backlash this would generate today. Come to think of it, maybe if I had this t-shirt it would motivate me to get in shape…

Jessica Rabbit

What She Ruined: your idea of what A.) a woman looks like, and B.) what a rabbit looks like

Bugs Bunny was handling the position of Chief Anthropomorphic Rabbit just fine until someone had to go and frame Roger Rabbit in 1988. While Who Framed Roger Rabbit was Roger’s starring vehicle, it was Jessica Rabbit that would become the breakout star.

Based on Tex Avery’s character named Red, Jessica Rabbit obliterated everyone’s image of a female figure (rabbit, human or otherwise).

Scooby-Doo

What He Ruined: your impression of your pet

Scooby-Doo is a great cartoon, but deep down you know if you met anyone from “the gang” the conversation would go something like this: “Howdy, nice to meet ya! Our dog talks and catches villains, what does your pet do?”, bringing you to the stark realization that your pet is mortifyingly inadequate.

Also ruining your idea of a cool pet: Dino from The Flintstones. “Oh, you have a Chinese Water Monitor? We have a dinosaur.”

and they would all peer at you like this

The Jetsons

What They Ruined: your concept of the future

As a kid watching The Jetsons, you probably saw the futuristic technology and way of life and figured it was all realistically attainable by when- 2000? If not, then 2010 for sure! 2015?

Unless there are some serious technological and lifestyle advances in the next few years, the generation who grew up watching The Jetsons will never see cars that look like spaceships or houses in the clouds.

6. Lisa Simpson

What She Ruined: our parents’ image of ‘the good sibling’

If you had a sibling close in age growing up, then you probably recall your parents playing you off one another to create some sort of competitive environment. Their hope was that you’d push each other to do your individual best. This would work if all siblings involved were dealing with comparable intelligence and talent levels. Enter Lisa Simpson.

Lisa Simpson was such a perfect child that she not only obliterated her brother Bart’s hopes of ever impressing his parents, she crushed every kid whose parents watched The Simpsons. Surely there were plenty of FOX-watching parents in the 90s wondering why their 8 year-olds weren’t talented artists, active in the school band, scoring straight As and researching colleges.

7. Max Ray, Sundown

What they ruined: your “cool” little pre-pubescent mustache

That peach fuzz growing on your top lip? You might have thought it was the raddest show in town until you came across Sundown from C.O.P.S. and The Centurions’ Max Ray and they showed you what real man’s facial hair looked like.

Gung Ho and Man-At-Arms had some pretty dope soup catchers too. Nevermind Yoesmite Sam, that shit was just unattainable.

8. Soundwave

What He Ruined: your tape deck

The same can be said for Blaster and your radio, Perceptor and your microscope, and Ironhide and your mom’s minivan. These normal, everyday things just did not stack up once you realized there were versions of them that transformed into goddamn robots.

Uhh Jim, that’s an Autobot logo on his che- screw it, we’ll color it purple.

9. Hulk Hogan

What He Ruined: our image of pro wrestling

Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Pro wrestlers are not friends with each other. They do not have out-of-ring adventures with one another. This is a competitive sport in which it is every man for himself. The real Hulk Hogan MIGHT find it in his heart to accept one friend or understudy per calendar year (see: Randy Savage, Hillbilly Jim) but he would never go on cavorting with all of the other WWF Superstars like this.

10. Smurfette

What She Ruined: our concept of gender ratios

Back in grade school we never noticed inequalities. Perhaps this can be blamed on The Smurfs.

To a point, every kid who watched The Smurfs was blindly compliant with the whole “one female to an entire village of males” plot point. Until the day came that we developed enough reason and social awareness to question the gender ratio of Smurf Village, it’s likely these same inequalities never struck us in real life either.