#80- Gandalf
Lord of the Rings franchise
"YOUUUU...SHALL NOT...PASS!!!! *BOOM*"
Other than the hilarious memes, Gandalf is the wise, old mentor character that I'm typically very attracted to in fiction. He makes a great leader of the Ring group in the LOTR films. His skill in wizardy jank is unrivaled in the land of Middle Earth (considering his Gandalf the White form), and he's got this good yet subtle development throughout the movies. He's slightly quirky as Gandalf the Gray, but he's still a wise yet kind mentor. Then, after making a comeback and ~rising as the phoenix when achieving new birth~, he becomes Gandalf the White, an EVEN MORE AWESOME wizard who doesn't take crap from anyone. He becomes stronger the longer the series goes, and is one of the MVPs of the franchise. Say what you will about Legolas' skill, but without Gandalf's guidance, the team wouldn't be where they are at now, at the end of the series, without Gandalf.
Plus, I dig the memes.
#79- The Terminator
Terminator franchise
"I'll be bahck."
AHNOLD <3 He's a fantastic actor, and the Terminator is probably his most iconic character. I haven't seen Terminator 2: Judgment Day yet (sorry), and I heard that his character has a very interesting twist concerning development there. However, with looking at Terminator 1, he's a FANTASTIC villain. He's threatening, strong, you always feel like he's more than a match for the hero, and Ahnold is a fantastic actor as well, which helps make his character more likable. T-800 also has his moments of comedy, like when tells off the hotel staff member and yet the hotel worker just keeps going like it's no problem and doesn't bother to houseclean his hotel room. All while T-800 keeps that iconic robotic straight face as well.
He's ironically funny at points, and it makes the Terminator all the more interesting to me.
Without this character, Terminator would never be the same. He MAKES the movie for me. It's a fantastic film in general, but he makes it special for me.
#78- Norman Bates
Psycho
Second villain out in a row, and it kinda pains me to cut Bates but his character touches on a key trigger for me: he is a GOOD horror film villain.
Within the world of horror films nowadays, the genre as a whole has a problem where it relies on jumpscares and relies on cheap gimmicks in order to surprise and scare people. Heck, I would say the horror genre has some of the MOST overused tropes to the point where they become cliches. It's my personal opinion that the horror franchise is more guilty of butchering movie cliches than other films. Which, is the main reason why I'm thankful for Norman Bates.
Bates isn't an antagonist that relies on jumpscares to throw off the watcher and scare them. Rather, he's a creeper...not a shocker. When a movie or character creeps out the audience and hits the uncanny valley right on the money...THAT is horror done correctly. Bates is someone that fits this mold very well. He doesn't rely on cheap jumpscares to scare the audience like a FNAF sequel. No, he's not like that. Rather, he's someone that will make the audience feel uneasy as heck before mind-screwing both the main heroes and viewers with his insanity...and also his obsession with his own mother that is icing on the cake, and thoughts of her take over his mind bit by bit.
Bates truly is a psycho, and is one of the most iconic villains in cinema history.
#77- Mewtwo
Pokemon
Clone of Mew, destroyer of worlds...and a character who is possibly the deepest character in the Pokemon franchise. I know that isn't saying much, but I love the crap outta Mewtwo. This poor creature was being TORTURED by Fuji and his team of scientists AND Giovanni and Team Rocket for years before setting out on a revenge mission to destroy humanity, and I don't blame him for his anger against those humans. Being experimented on and brutally treated by TR for such a period of time will mess up your mental state. So, Mewtwo wins sympathy points from the getgo.
However, at first he doesn't understand that not ALL humans are terrible psychopaths, so that's how the revenge mission really comes to a point. And, just like how he's a clone himself, he sends an army of cloned pokemon to do his bidding. It's a crazy story, and while I barely remember the first pokemon movie...after how Ash gets in the way and sacrifices himself to stop the fighting, Mewtwo is able to soften his heart and realize that his picture of humanity is flawed. He becomes a much more mature being, and grows exponentially during the movie.
Also, he's a really freaking cool pokemon. I love using him in Smash 4 from time to time, and may pick him up in Ultimate if I'm ever derping around in the game.
I'll leave you all with this inspirational quote: "The circumstances of one's birth are irrelevant. It is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you truly are."
#76- Dipper Pines
Gravity Falls
Dipper is the character that I related to the most on Gravity Falls. While Grunkle Stan is my favorite character from the show (spoilers for higher ranks on this list lol), Dipper is the character I most closely relate to. I've never been someone who's that popular, or attractive, or anything like that...but when it comes to brain power, it can help me feel more at home in this world. This is the case with Dipper.
Dipper is a character who, just like his long-lost relative Ford Pines, LOVES knowledge. Dipper craves knowledge, and learning new things is in his element. He CAN be self-conscious about his appearance and his social intelligence (especially concerning wooing Wendy
), but when it comes to book smarts, he's able to solve problems fairly quickly and get Mabel and his loved ones out of a bind through logical, well-grounded thinking. Heck, he's basically the MVP when getting Mabel out of her dream world in the climax of season 2. Without Dipper, Mabel would've been lost forever. I get that Dipper needs Mabel as well, but Dipper's care for his sister (especially with being the older twin) is something that makes me respect him a lot. He's very smart for a 12-13 year old kid.
I also relate to this well because I was a "geek" throughout school, and I still kinda am. I take pride in it, but being popular is something that I don't take pride in. It does have VALUE, but it's not something that's really part of my identity. Being intelligent, analytical, and objective is definitely part of my default mode...and I think I relate to Dipper in that way, at least.
#75- Jessie
Toy Story franchise
Best Pixar character ever? Possibly.
... Yes.
I love Jessie. I've loved Jessie's character since I first watched TS2 back in elementary school. She's a character that's SUPER fun to watch and has a boisterous, fun, joyful personality...which makes her all the most interesting considering her dark backstory. When her owner forgets about her and seeing how she was left to rot as a forgotten possession for years...it's super sad. When someone you love drops you so suddenly and forgets about you, it has certainly got to sting. Jessie felt that sting full-force, and has one of the more tragic arcs that I've seen from a Pixar film.
She thankfully is able to learn to trust others again and joins Woody and the gang, but DANG it took her a while to develop that trust in anything again. We see throughout the film where she's HIGHLY doubtful where Woody will ever see his owner Andy again, and it gets them into arguments. And, this shows character development done right. She has a lot of baggage, but throughout the film we see her open up and come to love and trust again. It's a beautiful arc for her, and she's my favorite character from the Toy Story franchise. I do love Buzz, but Jessie is my favorite.
#74- Draco Malfoy
Harry Potter franchise
Ah Draco, a character who is hated by many for being a "bully", which I get since he was a HUGE snot in the first five books. And yeah, I disliked him too in the first chunk of the series. Hermione punching him in PoA was AMAZING <3
But, I came around on Draco in Half-Blood Prince. And, his character goes from a minor villain into one of the most important characters in the series, and he becomes an anti-hero and eventually matures into a much better person, ESPECIALLY in Cursed Child. With being charged with killing Dumbledore or else his family dies, he's caught between a rock and a hard place...either he can protect Dumbledore and yet be killed, along with his family being killed by Voldemort in the process, or he can kill Dumbledore himself...the one person that despite how controversial he is among the Slytherins, Draco can't pull himself to hate, let alone kill. Thankfully, Snape intervenes due to Snape's contract with Dumbledore, but Draco was REALLY in a bad spot. Draco can be a jerk, but he's not a malicious person. In HBP, he realizes that he's not a killer, not an "assassin", as Dumbledore said. We also see where he LOVES his family. As big of a jerk as he can be to Harry, he cares deeply about his family. Any harm done to the Malfoy family would wreck Draco.
Draco also continues to soften in the sequels. In DH, when Harry and the others are captured by Voldy's crew, Draco is asked "do you know this group?" Draco obviously knows who Harry is. If he squeals, Harry and his friends are executed immediately. But instead, he says "no...I don't know who they are." He lies through his teeth...to protect the person who he hated and bullied for years...Harry Potter. Draco starts to change. He starts to become a better person. He SAVES his arch-enemy's life, which is pretty incredible. He also becomes a much nicer person and a straight-up hero in Cursed Child, where he's a surprisingly mature family man.
I love Draco's development. If I stopped after OOTP, I would've hated Draco. But that's not the case. Instead, I feel quite the opposite on the character.
#73- Lisa Simpson
Classic Simpsons (Seasons 1-8)
Whoever mentioned Lisa Simpson got it right on the money. But, I'm referring to CLASSIC Lisa. Modern Lisa is more like a watered-down Brian Griffin, a character who's arrogant and is consistently in keyboard warrior mode in the more modern seasons. It's shocking when her brother BART is the MATURE one of the siblings in the modern show, not Lisa....yeah.
Thankfully, Lisa wasn't always like this. In the classic show, she still had strong political opinions but is actually NICE about them. Instead of being toxic about her opinions, she had strong ideals and wanted to improve the USA through determination, hard work, strong intelligence, and caring for everyone. She was an inspirational character at a young age, and was an obvious child prodigy. She served as an excellent foil to the rebellious, slightly foul-mouthed Bart. Lisa was a mature, well-spoken, genius character who loved her neighbor and wanted to make the nation a better place for everyone. I LOVE her character in the classic episodes. She's a very respectable character in the early show.
I rank her this high because I'm disregarding the modern show. The modern show feels like a less-shocking yet still occasionally controversial Family Guy...which is sad, because the classic episodes have a ton of heart. And, Lisa might have the biggest heart of all the classic characters. She exemplifies the heart of the show the best in the first eight seasons, imo.
#72- Bart Simpson
Classic Simpsons (Seasons 1-8)
In the modern episodes, Bart is the surprisingly more mild-mannered and mature of the two older Simpson kids, based on how Lisa's attitude became more toxic. However, it comes at a price...Bart is more boring in the modern episodes. In the classics, he's still got a rebellious streak, but still has moments where he loves his family and cares about doing the right thing...if only occasionally. However, in the modern show in most episodes he's actually not that rebellious. There are some BIG outlier episodes where he goes full sociopath...but that's for another time, this is about Classic Bart.
Him and Lisa are roughly tied with each other. Both are excellent foils to each other...Lisa is the mature one who's going places, Bart is the slacker who loves living on the edge and messing with authority figures, whether his dad or teacher at school. He CAN be funny, but that's not why I rank him in my top 100. Rather, he's here because he grows gradually throughout the first 8 seasons. In the first two seasons, he's portrayed as a slacker who is terrible at school, even though he's surprisingly smart in certain subjects (he's REALLY good at foreign language to the point where he can learn languages even better than his genius sister Lisa and is shown to be competent in science at least to some degree) and can think on his feet well. Bart's more street smart than book smart, but he show's hidden depths as the show goes on. In the episode "Bart Gets an F", we see where he actually DOES try in school and ends up applying the material he's learning for once...this is where his character reaches a turning point.
In season 1, he's just a rebellious slacker and that's about it. But after that first episode of season 2, he begins to grow. In the Thanksgiving episode, he learns to apologize and accept responsibility for his stupid mistakes and being a jerk to his family. He actually applies himself in school at points. He also starts to become nicer to his family in the classic episodes too, and begins to actually mature a little, even though he still is a mischevious character. He pays back his dues and genuinely apologizes to his mother Marge after stealing the video game in that one Christmas episode. He ALSO acts mature towards his sister Lisa during their hockey game against each other in Lisa On Ice (my favorite episode too). And, despite being a rebellious kid...the one thing he'll NEVER do is steal from the church offering plate. He grows slightly more mature over those 8 seasons, and it made me appreciate the character a lot.
Overall, both Bart and Lisa are very well-written in the first 8 seasons of one of the longest shows on television, and they're definite cultural icons.
#71- Katniss Everdeen
Hunger Games
No, the post-apocalyptic media icon is NOT Rick Grimes. I do enjoy TWD comics quite a bit, but the show I can't stand anymore. TBH I hate TWD now.
Anyway, KATNISS. She's amazing. She's iconic as being this semi-silent yet intelligent action hero who has quite a bit of depth. With how she strives to survive in an extremely corrupt country that FORCES teenagers to fight to the death in order to keep rule over the entire country...that's scary. Yet, Katniss is brave enough to step up and protect the ones she loves. At first, it was JUST to protect her little sister from having to participate in the Hunger Games. Then, it changes to her caring and protecting her boyfriend Peeta despite the ups and downs that they had during the 74th HGs that they were a part of. She's someone that's very bitter at the capitol, and while she never asked for her position...she still ends up being a hero of the people in her own unique way. She's intelligent and brave, yet she pulls no punches. She's straightforward and doesn't take crap from the capitol, or any of her opponents lightly. She's the embodiment of cool in HG, and I really respect her character.