Which Streaming Shows Contribute To The Top 100 Cartoon Characters?

This topic fires me up—streaming has blown the doors wide open for memorable cartoon characters, and you can literally trace a lot of 'top 100' names back to shows you binge on these days. Platforms like Netflix, Disney+, Max, Hulu, Prime Video and Paramount+ all feed into those lists in two ways: they host legacy catalog characters (the old guard) and they produce original animated shows that create new icons.

Classic household names end up on top-100 lists because streaming makes them accessible again. For example, Disney+ collects the cinematic and TV icons around Mickey, Donald, and a ton of Pixar faces; Max brings back Looney Tunes legends like Bugs bunny and Daffy Duck along with darker entries like 'Teen Titans' or 'justice league'; Hulu and other services house irreverent adults-on-television stalwarts like the cast of 'Family Guy' and 'Futurama'.

On the original side, Netflix has pushed characters from 'BoJack Horseman', 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' (Aang, Zuko, Toph), 'She-Ra and the Princesses of Power', 'Castlevania', and 'Big Mouth' into modern pop-culture consciousness. Meanwhile, Disney+'s animated Star Wars shows such as 'The Clone Wars' and 'Star Wars Rebels' turned characters like Ahsoka and Ezra into fan favorites who frequently land on top-character lists. Even anthology or experimental series like 'Love, Death & Robots' can elevate single-episode characters into cult status.

All that cross-pollination—classic catalog streaming, fresh original storytelling, and renewed fandom through social media—explains why top-100 cartoon rosters now mix Bugs Bunny and Mickey with BoJack, Aang, Rick Sanchez, SpongeBob, and a handful of anime stars that streaming services put front-and-center. Personally, I love seeing the old guard hang out with modern antiheroes; it makes those lists feel like a living conversation about what animation can do next.

On a lazy weekend I’ll binge through old favorites and get nerdy about which shows actually produce the heavy hitters that end up in top-100 character lists. Streaming makes it easy to spot patterns: some platforms are treasure troves of classic personalities, others are factories for new ones.

If you look at what people vote for, Disney+ keeps pumping classic animated film and series characters into the public eye—so Mickey, Simba, or characters from 'Frozen' and Pixar films always get a boost. Max (formerly HBO Max) is the go-to for many when they want Looney Tunes energy or darker DC animated Heroes and villains that fans adore. Hulu and Prime Video are where cult comedies and underrated series live, and they quietly keep characters like those from 'Bob’s Burgers' or 'Archer' relevant.

Then there’s Netflix: it’s responsible for a surprising number of modern entries in top-character lists. Characters from 'BoJack Horseman', 'Big Mouth', 'She-Ra and the Princesses of Power', 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' (now reaching new audiences on stream), and 'Castlevania' show that streaming originals can create deeply loved characters just as well as decades-old cartoons. Add in anime streaming services that spotlight series like 'My Hero Academia' or 'Attack on Titan', and you see anime protagonists starting to appear more regularly in those top-100 conversations.

So, while nostalgia keeps Bugs, Bart, Bart’s mischief, and SpongeBob surfacing on lists, streaming platforms actively expand the field with original and international characters—making these top-100 rosters much more diverse and exciting than they used to be. I love how that mix keeps debates lively and unpredictable.

Counting decades of animation, I'm struck by how streaming reshuffled the deck and made both classic and new characters climb into the top 100. Services that host legacy catalogs—think the massive libraries on Disney+ and Max—keep long-standing icons like Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, Homer, and SpongeBob in circulation, so they naturally show up on many all-time lists. At the same time, streaming originals have created modern standouts: 'BoJack Horseman' gave the world a complicated antihero, 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' brought Aang and crew back into mainstream conversation, and Netflix hits like 'She-Ra' and 'Castlevania' produced memorable new figures. Anime streaming has also started seeding lists with characters from shows like 'My Hero Academia' and 'Attack on Titan', broadening what people consider a quintessential cartoon character. The long and short of it is this—top-100 rosters now feel like a mashup of Saturday-morning nostalgia and late-night streaming discoveries, and I find that blend thrilling every time I scroll through a list.