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Because, Talking Time. You are... A Top 50 Puppets Countdown

Dracula

Dracula

Plastic Vampire
(He/His)
For Bill Worm, it's the little scarf that does it for me. I always try to have pleasantly weird monsters in my D&D games, and I'm sure watching Labyrinth over and over has something to do with that.

I'll grant that Babu Frik represents a tiny light in the carnival dark ride that was RoS, but I had so many other good puppets in Star Wars to vote for before I ever got to him.
 
Issun

Issun

Chumpy
(He/Him)
This entry is brought to you by the Numbers:
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ALFREDO LINGUINI
43 Points; 2 Votes; Bulgakov (#5), Lokii (#24)

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You're not his puppet-controlling guy
​
Are we getting a little too cute here? Maybe, but who cares? A big part of the fun of these lists is seeing what people throw in, and Alfredo does feature as Remy's puppet for a portion of the film. For those who haven't seen it, the premise of the film is that Remy is a rat who is a gourmand, unlike other rats. Alfredo is a chef that isn't super great at his job. Remy manages to figure out how to control Alfredo so that the two of them can make delicious, gourmet meals and impress a dour critic.

There's no diving into materials or operation or famous puppeteers here. The core of the appeal here is how Remy and Alfredo's relationship goes from purely utilitarian to an actual friendship, and how Bulgakov and Lokii are a couple of clever goofheads.

Alfredo Linguini was operated by Patton Oswalt and voiced by Lou Romano.

 
Issun

Issun

Chumpy
(He/Him)
This entry is brought to you by the numbers:
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GRABOID
44 Points; 2 Votes; Beta Metroid, Falselogic (#14)

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The Weirdest Jamie Kennedy Xperiment
​
No list of iconic movie monsters is complete without the Graboid. The central antagonist of the Tremors franchise, the Graboid is a giant worm with several, snake/xenopmorph-like tongues. There are few things more fun than horror movie puppets, especially in a movie like Tremors where the movie never takes itself seriously.

There's a pretty cool video here on the work that went into the critters. A true testament to the uses of lightweight foam. Fun Fact: The "roaring" sound effect for the Graboids has become so iconic that it's been reused in several movies, from Antz to Kong: Skull Island.

 
Dracula

Dracula

Plastic Vampire
(He/His)
I considered graboids for mine, but I ultimately decided it'd been too long since I've seen any Tremors movies. I think I'm overdue for a rewatch!
 
WildcatJF

WildcatJF

Let's Pock (Art @szk_tencho)
(he / his / him)
Issun said:
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ALFREDO LINGUINI
43 Points; 2 Votes; Bulgakov (#5), Lokii (#24)

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You're not his puppet-controlling guy
​
Are we getting a little too cute here? Maybe, but who cares? A big part of the fun of these lists is seeing what people throw in, and Alfredo does feature as Remy's puppet for a portion of the film. For those who haven't seen it, the premise of the film is that Remy is a rat who is a gourmand, unlike other rats. Alfredo is a chef that isn't super great at his job. Remy manages to figure out how to control Alfredo so that the two of them can make delicious, gourmet meals and impress a dour critic.

There's no diving into materials or operation or famous puppeteers here. The core of the appeal here is how Remy and Alfredo's relationship goes from purely utilitarian to an actual friendship, and how Bulgakov and Lokii are a couple of clever goofheads.

Alfredo Linguini was operated by Patton Oswalt and voiced by Lou Romano.

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This is so inspired I love it
 
Lokii

Lokii

—
(He/Him)
Staff member
Moderator
through puppetry a rat is able to self-actualize and also cook the best meal in the whole universe; if that's not a testament to the power of the art form I don't know what is
 
Violentvixen

Violentvixen

(She/Her)
Aw man, I just thought of one I really wish I'd had on my list, the adult bird puppets they use at wildlife rehab centers to raise chicks they plan to release back into the wild. Those are great for so many reasons, dangit.
 
Kirin

Kirin

Summon for hire
(he/him)
Got behind on this thread due to work travel, but I submit that William J Worm has more personality per inch than any other puppet. Though the only a bit larger Babu Frik comes close.
 
Issun

Issun

Chumpy
(He/Him)
This entry is brought to you by the numbers:
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CHESTBURSTER
46 Points; 2 Votes; Bulgakov (#6), Beta Metroid (#20)

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Guess who's coming to dinner
​
From the disturbed mind of H.R. Giger, the Chestburster is the infant phase of the Xenomorph. After the Facehugger injects a DNA-altering liquid into the host, the Chestburster is constructed from the genetic material of the host organism before, well, it's right there in the name. Nerly every phase of the Xenomorph is an iconic piece of movie monster history, but the scene featuring this little guy is perhaps the most (in)famous in the series. The original look was not quite so sleek. So much so that, when prop creator Roger Dicken was handed the design his response was, "You want me to make this? It looks like a turkey." To which Ridley Scott responded, "Yes, that's what we want."

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​
After Giger going back to the drawing board and even (unsuccessfully) taking a stab at making it himself, the creature went from turkey to snake, from hand puppet to controlled cable puppet. The scene introducing it, as mentioned, was legendary, but part of its success was the genuine reactions from the cast. They had a general idea of what was going to happen, but that was it. Their terror is real, which heightens ours, and thank god Scott didn't go with the turkey.

CW: Body Horror
 
Issun

Issun

Chumpy
(He/Him)
This entry is brought to you by the numbers:
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KONG
50 Points; 2 Votes; Beta Metroid (#7), Falselogic (#15)

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'Twas beauty killed the beast
​
I wonder what it must have been like to sit down in a theater in 1933 and see the spectacle of King Kong for the first time, with no knowledge of what you were about to see and, especially, no knowledge of what was to come in the following 9 decades. It must have been a truly special experience. King Kong remains one of the greatest special effects achievements in the history of film. What Willis O'Brien accomplished set fire to the brains of so many people that would end up making their own spectacles and move the fantastical world of the motion picture forward: Ray Harryhausen, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Time Burton, Robert Zemeckis, and Jordan Peele must all have seen this film at an impressionable age, I think. So much work went into this, with stop-motion, flying mattes, elaborate rear-projection tricks. It's a marvel even today, and at the center is the Great Ape himself.

Kong was an amalgam of four different stop-motion puppets (one aluminum, one latex, one rubber and one from rabbit fur), and one giant mechanical Kong for interaction with the actors. On top of all that, O'Brien managed to imbue Kong with a personality all his own, with body language and facial expressions all his own. Stop-motion had been around since the late 19th century, and O'Brien had already pioneered some of the techniques he used in King Kong with 1925's Land of the Lost, but it was the King himself that moved stop motion puppetry, as well as the notion of a special effects extravaganza, into the mainstream.

 
Beta Metroid

Beta Metroid

At peace
(he/him)
I'd also argue that a lot of video game design is rooted in King Kong. The way dinosaur encounters occur throughout the movie very much has a "why do I hear boss music?" sense to it (as in, there's just this sense of anticipation, and there are landscapes that just scream "action scene" before the action starts up).

Anyway, surprised to see Kong this low! I'm sure we have a whole bunch of Jim Henson creations ahead of us, but 40 puppets cooler than Kong? Interesting!
 
Violentvixen

Violentvixen

(She/Her)
Beta Metroid said:
Anyway, surprised to see Kong this low! I'm sure we have a whole bunch of Jim Henson creations ahead of us, but 40 puppets cooler than Kong? Interesting!
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Another one that just didn't occur to me at all. Also I've never actually seen the whole thing, just selected scenes/moments.
 
Kirin

Kirin

Summon for hire
(he/him)
Violentvixen said:
Another one that just didn't occur to me at all. Also I've never actually seen the whole thing, just selected scenes/moments.
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Yeah, same here.

I did consider chestburster, but while the *scene* is undeniably iconic, the puppet didn’t squeak into my 25 faves.
 
Issun

Issun

Chumpy
(He/Him)
This entry is brought to you by the numbers:
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PILOT
50 Points; 2 Votes; Purple (#2), Octopus Prime (#20)

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What it's called is what it does
​
Farscape is a cool show that I have never watched, so I'll let the wiki do the talking here:

Pilot is a member of a race known simply as "Pilots," who bond with the organic Leviathan spacecraft and become their navigator, companion, and liaison to passengers. Once bonded Pilots can survive only a brief period of time of separation from their Leviathans, and only when traveling in something made of a Leviathan's components (as in a transport pod). Moya's pilot is only known by his species' name, which also doubles as a description of his role on the ship. His real name, if he has one, is unknown.

Pilot is at least the second Pilot that Moya has had. The previous pilot was removed by the Peacekeeper scientist Tam Velorek, who seduced Pilot with the promise of being bonded despite the fact that the Elders had denied Pilot already. Pilot was initially artificially bonded, which caused him great pain until, three cycles later, the crew's discovery of his predecessor's death prompted Pilot to deliberately separate himself from Moya out of grief for his involvement in the death of the first Pilot. After Crichton and Aeryn helped him come to terms with it by convincing him that he had changed since those days and had impacted all of their lives, Pilot and Moya began a long and difficult natural bonding process.
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Pilot is an animatronic puppet created by Jim Henson Studios and voiced mainly by Lani Tupu.

 
Issun

Issun

Chumpy
(He/Him)
This entry is brought to you by the numbers:
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FOZZIE BEAR
50 Points; 2 Votes; Johnny Unusual (#1), Violentvixen (#21)

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Wakka wakka wakka!
​
You knew the Muppets were coming, and what better way to begin with them than with The Muppet Show's resident stand-up comic? Fozzie is portrayed as a failed comedian, though sometimes his jokes end up being pretty successful in spite of themselves. Much of his appeal comes from his warm persona and his interplay with Kermit, with whom he also shares a friendship. He's also what one could consider the third member of the "Big Three" from the show, along with Kermit and Miss Piggy, the three of them being the ones with the most screentime and the three that most often come to mind when thinking of Muppets.

It took a while for the show to nail Fozzie's character down, however, as while the original intention was for him to show off Frank Oz's comedic chops, his ineptitude became the main focus, making him just kind of a pathetic character. It wasn't until later, when they allowed his positivity and friendliness to shine through, that his failures were mitigated by just being this likeable guy that's trying so hard, that his schtick transitioned from cringe comedy to a more sympathetic character.

 
Johnny Unusual

Johnny Unusual

(He/Him)
I like Fozzie in ways similar to Daffy Duck but they are quite different. Both strive for attention and love and are deeply insecure but Daffy's insecurity comes out in arrogance and Fozzie's it's flopsweat and being a little needy. And as someone who wishes he could constantly look to an adult and ask "am I doing good?", I get it. But being around someone in constant need to self-assurance can be exhausting and Fozzie can be that. BUUUUT he's also someone who will never, ever give up. He loves comedy and he wants to succeed. Plus, he's a very huggable looking muppet.
 
Purple

Purple

(She/Her)
Issun said:
Farscape is a cool show that I have never watched,​
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I'd say it's a cool show you should get around to watching! Anyway I had Pilot near the top of my list largely because I was weighing technical prowess and capacity for complex facial expression/body language. As a character, he's mostly just a nice caring guy that the rest of the cast/plenty of fans often forget exists or really treat Just Terribly (i.e. it's fine, his arms grow back, we can cut one off), and he largely spends the whole series building towards then simmering at a state of just snapping and letting loose his inner rage. But mainly can't because he's kinda surgically attached to the floor in a room people don't spend a whole lot of time in. The room is part of a living spaceship who also tends to be pretty darn rude to him in ways that are uncalled for.

Also, fun fact, his voice is the guy who also plays this guy in the same show and if the credits hadn't told me I'd have never ever guessed because wow that's some range!
latest
 
Octopus Prime

Octopus Prime

Mysterious Contraption
(He/Him)
Pilot wasn’t my favourite character on Farscape but he is the coolest looking one and that counts for a lot with puppets
 
Issun

Issun

Chumpy
(He/Him)
This entry is brought to you by the numbers:
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DANIEL STRIPED TIGER
54 Points; 3 Votes; Violentvixen (#15), Issun (#18), Johnny Unusual (#21)

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It's okay not to be okay
​
Perhaps no member of King Friday's kingdom resonated with young viewers more than Daniel Tiger. His conversations with both Lady Aberlin and Mr. Rogers himself about insecurity, anxiety, and belonging gave voice to feelings that every child (and many of us adults) struggle with on a daily basis. Daniel was soft-spoken, approachable, and cute, which made him giving voice to his fears easy for kids to process. Daniel also allowed Fred Rogers an onscreen outlet to voice his own feelings, which showed kids that even this kindly man on TV had fears and anxieties about life.

Given all this, it should come as no surprise that Daniel was also the first puppet to appear on a Fred Rogers program. A gift to Rogers's partner on The Children's Corner, Josie Carey, from Dorothy Daniels, the PBS exec that greenlit the show (and Striped Tiger's namesake), he was originally meant to do a brief appearance. The free films that were meant to fill some of the show's runtime, however, were extremely brittle and fell apart quickly, meaning Daniel was called upon to fill the void, and thus puppetry became an integral part of the Mr. Rogers experience.

Violentvixen said: Looking back I think this puppet was a representation of social anxiety​
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Issun

Issun

Chumpy
(He/Him)
This entry is brought to you by the numbers:
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PUNCHING PUPPET GHALEON
54 Points; 3 Votes; JBear (#7), Issun (#22), Torzelbaum (#25)

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Not Ghaleon, dear player
​
At the turn of the century, Working Designs was the king of preorder swag, and for those of us in a certain age group, no bit of game swag is more immortal than the Ghaleon punching puppet. It became its own meme on sites like RPGamer, the GIA and Toastyfrog. The reason why is pretty clear: It's corny, but also kind of cool. I, myself, was never lucky enough to get my hands on one, as I did not buy Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete until several months after its release. If you want one you can find one in box for a surprisingly not bank-breaking price, but with adult expenses and books and games to buy, this piece of memorabilia will remain forever an abstract to me. Besides, Punching Puppet Ghaleon is so of-a-time that shelling out for one now, over two decades after the release of the game... Well, it just wouldn't be the same.

 
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