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

JBear

JBear

Internet's foremost Bertolli cosplayer
(He/Him)
My list had several Canadian puppets (and yet no Fraggles), so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that none of them ranked. My long list had several more! Misses, most of which are Canadian, in bold:
  1. ALF aka Gordon Shumway (ALF)
  2. Yoda (Star Wars)
  3. Triumph the insult comic dog (Conan O'Brien)
  4. The Child (Mandalorian)
  5. Finnegan (Mr. Dress-Up)
  6. Jacob Bluejay (Under the Umbrella Tree)
  7. Ghaleon Punching Puppet (Victor Ireland)
  8. Oscar the Grouch (Sesame Street)
  9. Grover (Sesame Street)
  10. The Martians (Sesame Street) ("Yup Yup yupyupyup… Nope nope nopenopenope")
  11. Eliot Shag (Dog City)
  12. Burt (Sesame Street)
  13. E.T. (E.T.)
  14. Cookie Monster (Sesame Street)
  15. Casey (Mr. Dress-Up)
  16. Basil (Sesame Park)
  17. Gizmo (Gremlins)
  18. Lamb Chop (Lamb Chop's Play-Along)
  19. Mona (Nanalan)
  20. Baby Sinclair (Dinosaurs)
  21. Midori (Midori no Hibi)
  22. The Count (Sesame Street)
  23. Ernie (Sesame Street)
  24. Gitmo (The Daily Show)
  25. Puppet Master (Castlevania)
 
Bulgakov

Bulgakov

Yes, that Russian author.
(He/Him)
RankPuppetSource
1OlmecLegends of the Hidden Temple
2The Red BalloonThe Red Balloon
3Audrey IILittle Shop of Horrors
4Jan S. PortUnbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
5Alfredo LinguiniRattatoullie
6ChestbursterAilen
7Punch and Judy
8Bad Idea BearsAvenue Q
9Birds The Lion King - Broadway version
10Two Headed MonsterSesame Street
11The California Raisins
12FireysThe Labyrinth
13Oogie Boogie ManThe Nightmare before Christmas
14Sweedish ChefThe Muppet Show
15SnarfToo Many Cooks
16Tom ServoMST3K
17The MartiansSesame Street
18Henrietta PussycatMr. Rogers' Neighborhood
19Mr. FrumpusUnbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
20The CountSesame Street
21Aaah Aagh I'm Dying You Idiot/Baby SinclairDinosaurs
22SkeeterCousin Skeeter
23CatCoraline
24FalkorThe Neverending Story
25Miss SpiderJames and the Giant Peach
 
Johnny Unusual

Johnny Unusual

(He/Him)
Great list. Did not see Mother Brain as the winner, but here we are.

My list...

1. Fozzie Bear
2. Statler and Waldorf
3. Kermit the Frog
4. Grover
5. Cookie Monster
6. Gonzo The Great
7. Oscar the Grouch
8. Rowlf the Dog
9. Crow T. Robot
10. Miss Piggy
11. Bert
12. Baby Yoda
13. Gremlins
14. Tom Servo
15. Animal
16. Ernie
17. Boglins - Remember these things? As a kid, they were always cool to me. And if you like soft sticky foam rubber, you are in for a treat.
18. Triumph the Insult Comic Dog
19. Count Von Count
20. The Swedish Chef
21. Daniel Striped Tiger
22. Audrey II (The Little Shop of Horrors 1986)
23. Skeksis (Chamberlin if specificity is required)
24. The Cryptkeeper - If you like... just awful puns, this is the guy for you.
25. Warren Chester Grog (YTV) - In the early 90s on YTV (the Canadian equivalent to Nickolodeon), there was an emphasis on program jockeys or "PJs," who would host the programming blocks in the afternoons and Saturday mornings (and maybe Sunday mornings?). Eventually, they included a host of puppets called "the Grogs", goofy monster puppets with outsized personalities. Warren was the curmudgeon and self-promoter who would shit talk everyone and looked like a chia frog ball. I mostly remember the event that they built up to for a while where Warren takes control of the station, military coup-style, kicks everyone else out and everyone fights to reclaim the station while Warren plays the most popular shows.

And some puppets that didn't make my final cut...

ALF
GPC - The MST3k bot that used to go by another less savoury name
Agro - I remembered this character from Australian kids TV and it was relatively saucy stuff. Apparently, the dude turned out to be a creep which is not surprising so nostalgia wasn't enough to get him on my list at that point.
Growler (MST3k) - The show itself admits, he's just Rowlf from the Muppet Show
Janice
The Two-Headed Monster
Dr. Teeth
 
Kirin

Kirin

Summon for hire
(he/him)
Was on the road, so just getting back here to post my full list. I also had lots of hits on this one, so bolding ones that didn't make it.

*01. Sir Didymus & Ambrosius (Labyrinth)
*02. Yoda (Star Wars)
03. Humongous (Labyrinth) - an impressive piece of, well, humongous puppetry, topping the Alien Queen for sheer bulk
04. Kira (The Dark Crystal) - the Gelflings were great expressive puppets, and Kira got the nod for extra wings
05. The Other Mother (Coraline) - wanted some Coraline stop-motion, and this one is fancy and very creepy
*06. Audrey II (Little Shop of Horrors (1986))
*07. Wayang Kulit (Balinese shadow puppets)
*08. Kermit T Frog
*09. Falkor (The Neverending Story)
*10. The Fireys (Labyrinth)
*11. The Worm (Labyrinth)
*12. Jack Skellington (The Nightmare Before Christmas)
*13. Fizzgig (The Dark Crystal)
*14. Alien Queen (Aliens)
*15. Gonzo (Muppets)
*16. Animal (Muppets)
17. BB-8 (Star Wars) - in hindsight I guess maybe this isn't so puppet-y as it's generally mechanical, ah well
*18. Babu Frik (Star Wars)
*19. T-Rex (Jurassic Park)
*20. Oscar the Grouch (Sesame Street)
21. The Rancor (Star Wars) - this one was pure stop-motion goodness though
22. Maz Kanata (Rise of Skywalker - earlier appearances were CG) - an incredibly complex puppet in her final appearance
*23. Stripe (or just Gremlins in general)
24. Mr Moose (Captain Kangaroo) - just a nod to something old I barely remember
25. Ronald Reagan (Land of Confusion / Spitting Image) - and a representative of all those weird caricature-heads

My cuts for "too many muppets" included Rowlf, Beaker, Grover, and The Count who all made it, and the Door Knockers from Labyrinth and Salacious Crumb from SW. Also almost slipped Oogie Boogie in there.
 
Falselogic

Falselogic

Lapsed Threadcromancer
(they/them)
@Johnny Unusual I think Boglins, if any still exist, are beginning to break down. The plastic that is from UV exposure and just you know, nothing lasts forever. Those toys remind me of two others that might have qualified for this Top 50 - Teddy Rexpin the reading teddy bear robot and My Pet Monster.
 
Purple

Purple

(She/Her)
They actually quite recently brought Boglins back.

Also I was damn tempted to vote for Sir Didymus as my main Labyrinth rep, but I was largely ranking by technical innovation and he is sadly no where near as articulated as he is articulate.

Speaking of technical wizardry though I forgot to blather on about how amazing Audrey II is. Like holy crap how many points of articulation are there in just her lips at maximum size? How did they even manage the basic logistics of making sure the absurd number of puppeteers could even see what they were controlling? Greatest damn feat of engineering humanity has ever pulled off.
 
Johnny Unusual

Johnny Unusual

(He/Him)
Audrey II is an amazing work.
JBear said:
Finnegan (Mr. Dress-Up)
Jacob Bluejay (Under the Umbrella Tree)
Casey (Mr. Dress-Up)
Basil (Sesame Park)
Click to expand...
Good Canadian choices but most of them are so far removed from my psychic field they didn't make it.
Mr. Dress-Up was a kids show whose host was all about pretending and dressing up and for the brief period Mr. Rogers was doing a show in Canada, Dress-Up worked with him.

Under the Umbrella Tree was one where it was a little closer in my mind, even if it played a briefer role in my childhood. JBear, with mild derision, new if I was to pick one, I was more likely to pick Iggy Iguana over Jacob Bluejay.


Basil was from Sesame Park. You see, you might be aware that Sesame Street has had numerous international incarnations. What might surprise you is it included a Canadian one, a mix of the old sketches and new ones with Canadian characters, with a bit of Canadian content (I think this included some bilingualism, specifically). Originally, they straight up called it Sesame Street Canada, then Canadian Sesame Street, before it became Sesame Park.


Reminder that @Positronic Brain definitely hopes you contribute to his top 50 fictional relationships list. And I do, too.
 
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