Best Mothers in Animation

T

Torin

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Since Mother's Day is this month (May 11th) and we've already had 2 threads about fathers in animation, I figured I'd start one about animated mothers. This thread is for discussing the best animated moms (a worst thread may follow later on). Some of my personal picks:

Marge Simpson (The Simpsons)- Anyone who can put up with Homer on a regular basis is deserving of some props.

Lois Griffin (Family Guy)- See above and substitute Homer with Peter.

Helen Parr, aka Elastigirl (The Incredibles)- A devoted wife to Bob, aka Mr. Incredible, a loving mother to Violet, Dash and Jack-Jack and a famous super heroine. Quite a combination.

Sarah Dubois (The Boondocks)- A successful lawyer who is very broad minded (after all, she's a white woman who married a black man), and also, Sarah is pretty much the only positive female character on The Boondocks. A pity she's appeared in so few episodes.

Maria Rivera (El Tigre)- She retired from her career as a famous singer so that she could spend more time with her son, Manny. Now that's dedication!

Lila Test (Johnny Test)- While Lila is indeed, as the shows' opening theme song describes her, "a super busy mom", she's not so busy that she can't spend some time with her husband and kids, unlike some mothers that I won't mention (I'm looking at you, Charlotte Pickles!).
 
Even though she only appeared in a handful of episodes, Perdita was a genuinely good mother in “101 Dalmatians: The Series”. She loved her pups and did her best to care for them, as well as to ensure that they learned from their mistakes. I found it interesting how she was usually less lenient than Pongo, as usually, fathers are portrayed as being the tougher parent. I digress; at any rate, she was likely a good mother in the 101 Dalmatians movies as well, but I’ve never watched them.
 
I provided my list of best moms last year for Toon Zone News (5 winners, 5 runner-up candidates). In hindsight, I would have replaced Mrs. Dr. Possible with Mrs. Brisby from The Secret of NIMH. Mrs. Brisby was one of the first characters I thought of when my wife and I were brainstorming for the article, but got dropped when I forgot all about her when it came time to write it. Moral of that story is to write down the ideas as you get them because they're elusive, slipperly little beasts.

The other late candidate for best animated mom would be Kala from Disney's Tarzan. After the wordless sequence at the start of the movie when she saves baby Tarzan from Sabor the leopard, I would have been disappointed that she starts talking if not for the fact that it's Glenn Close providing such a wonderful performance.

I'm sure there were one or two more possibilities I had in mind, possibly for a follow-up op-ed this year, but I can't remember who they were any more. See above about how ideas are elusive, slippery little beasts.

Perdita from 101 Dalmatians would also be a candidate, but that movie gets represented on the Top 5 Fathers list with Pongo, just as Mr. Incredible isn't on that top 5 fathers list because Mrs. Incredible made it to the mothers' list.

(EDIT: Last year's talkback thread for the op-ed.)

-- Ed
 
[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica] I nominate Mrs. Dr. Possible (Kim Possible), Kim's mom. She's fair of face, full of grace, she's OK with her daughter fighting supervillains (no secret identities here), she doesn't lose her cool when her twin sons are blowing things up around the house, and she's pulling in brain surgeon money. What's not to like? [/FONT]
 
You don't consider balancing a career as a brain surgeon with raising a family consisting of a crime fighting daughter, child genius twin sons and a rocket scientist husband to be significant?

Well, Mrs. Dr. P. did go on a spy mission with her daughter once for Mother's Day, surely that counts for something.
 
I know some of the top best mothers who're my favorites:

Jane Read(Arthur) - A great mother who takes care of the family and that she was attractive in that one episode when she bees a workaholic.

Peg(Goof Troop) - Like Wilma/Marge/Lois/Francine/Donna, she also puts up with her greedy/selfish jerkface husband Pete,but can be scary,loud, & terrifying as well.

Dexter's Mom(Dexter's Laboratory) - Awesome hot hardworking/neatfreak mother which her catfight with the evil hot blonde chick at the store was epic.

Lydia Pearson(Pepper Ann) - She's one hilarious hot mother who loves to embarrass her daughter and takes care of the family as well.

Wendy Elizabeth and J.B.'s Mom(Eek! the Cat) - A great mother who's pretty goofy/funny of her absent-mindedness and knows how to do karate.

Paula Small(Home Movies) - She was the best mother who's pretty sarcastic/goofy and takes care of the family as well.

Maddie Fenton(Danny Phantom) - Coolest/awesome hot mother:p who's one sexy ghost hunter of the family.

Commander Norah Li Nebulon(Lloyd From Space) - First awesome/hot alien mother who's a supreme commander of a space station.

Wanda(Baby Blues) - Cool/funny hot big-headed mother who's responsible/hardworking/abused having to deal with Zoe/Hammie.

Karen Jane "K." Mildred Daring(Agent K.)(The Replacements) - She's one awesome mother who's a super hot kickbutt spy along with taking care of the family:anime::D.

Helen/Elastigirl(The Incredibles) - Great mother for the family and sexy stretching superheroine for the win.

Francine Smith(American Dad!) - Awesome/hot mother who loves her family while putting up with with those two selfish jerkfaces alot, Stan,her terrible husband,and Roger the Alien copying Wilma/Marge/Peg/Lois/Donna,hahahahaha:p:D.

Linda/Charlene/Vivian/Dr. Hirano/Baljeet's mother/Mrs. Johnson(Phineas and Ferb) - Awesome hot mothers while poor Linda has to put up with the annoying Candace everyday,hahahahaha.

Karen Clark(The Amazing Spiez!) - Awesome/hot mother who's the best kickbutt OOPSIE agent EVER:p:D!!!!!

Linda(Bob's Burgers) - Cool/hot mother who's funny/responsible like Bob and has her crazy sides at times,hahahahaha.

Nicole(The Amazing World of Gumball) - Gumball's awesome hardworking hot cat mother who's funny/responsible/scary/competitive.

Mrs. Moroboshi/Mrs. Invader/Jari-Ten(Ten)'s mother(Urusei Yatsura) - Awesome hot mothers along with their great characters and that Lum/Jari-Ten(Ten)'s mothers are the first best hot alien mothers ever:D:anime:!!!!!!

Delia Ketchum/Sabrina's mother/Tommy(Tamino)'s mother/Lola/Johanna(Pokemon/Chronicles) - Awesome hot mothers of Ash, Brock, Sabrina, Tommy(Tamino), and Dawn's.She's the first great anime mother who was great for taking care of Ash and is also goofy as well.

Mrs. Urameshi(Yu Yu Hakusho) - She may be a major alcoholic at times, but is still a good mother to her delinquint jerkoff son Yusuke.

Misako Kurata/Michelle(Kodocha) - Sana's awesome/hot/wacky/hilarious mother which all of her funny/wacky/crazy antics bashing on poor Rei/Onda were hilarious,hahahahaha:p:D.Michelle may be evil/heartless, but when she redeemed herself, she was one awesome kickbutt mother while being a champion swimmer, wooooooow!!!!!!

Mai/Sharlotte(Duel Masters) - She's my most favorite mother:D who's so hilarious on that part with her phone call with Fritz the Goblin.

Sakura Glory(Rave Master) - She was a great mother who sacrificed by life to save her husband Gale Glory which was touching and also sad to see good mothers die.

Mrs. Shindou/Mrs. Touya(Hikaru no Go) - Great hot mothers, but poor Mrs. Shindou worries about her terrible jerkoff son Hikaru who's sometimes crappy on her at times, the poor lady:(.

Layla/Marla(Fairy Tail) - Awesome best kind mothers of Lucy/Happy's.R.I.P. Layla, you'll be missed:(:crying:.
 
Ursa, Zuko's mom from Avatar: The Last Airbender. Unlike most cartoon mothers (Yes, I'm talking to you Lois) she does notice something wrong with her own child (Azula) and cares deelpy about her son (Zuko) and would do anything to protect him and tells him to be strong.
 
I'll have to go with Homer Simpson's Mom, Mona Simpson. despite being a criminal, I think if she stayed arounded and raised Homer, Homer might have turned out better, also she wouldn't have send care package after care package to her son (despite the fact that it didn't reach him due to him not tipping the mail man). Also she a good grandmother to Bart, Lisa, and Maggie.
 
Incredibles - This hot curvy mom is my favorite. Funny, motherly and a good heroine (Elastigirl) to boot.

Superman The animated series - Mrs. Kent was portrayed very well in several episodes of the show. Although Not Clark's true mother, she was about a close as you can get without the biological ties.

Poke'mon - Ash Ketchum's mother, though not very motherly...she was very unique. How many moms out there would sit around the house all day with a Mr. Mime and let her little brat kid skip school and run around the planet with perfect strangers to catch and fight with captured animals?

Family Guy - Lois Griffin...This sometimes sexy, sometimes pathetic, sometimes goofy mom was fun and unpredictable. You never knew what you were going to get on any given episode.

Unfortunately...I can't name very many moms in the toons I watch...they all seem to be missing or dead.

Spiderman (mother is deceased)
Batman (mother & father killed)
Avatar (Aang's mother??? Katara's mother killed)
Superman's biological mother killed.
Static Shock (mother is deceased)
JLU (not very many moms in this toon)
Ren & Stimpy (moms missing in action)
Invader Zim (???)
 
Bellemere - (One Piece): Having enough courage to stand up to a fishman and basically say "I don't have enough money, kill me now!" in order to save her two kids is just plain awesome.
 
I nominate "Mom" from Cow and Chicken.

Mainly because she has magical genitals for being able to produce a cow and a chicken. DOES IT AMAZE NO ONE?
 
Well, that was only for the TV show. In the comics, Jean Hawkins (Virgil's mother) was very much alive and well, which is how Dwayne McDuffie wanted her to be on the show. Apparently, Kids WB wanted her dead for some reason.



Illegitimate? If you're referring to the Stan Thompson thing in the episode "Screwed the Pooch", that was just a throwaway gag and not canon at all. You shouldn't take every bit from a show like Family Guy seriously (Beats me why people think Stan Thompson is canon when he was never brought up in any other episode). In "Let's Go to the Hop" Chris mentions that the Griffins had another daughter who was strangled to death by Meg (but Peter and Lois insist that Chris merely dreamed it) and the sequel to "Peter's Got Woods" showed that Peter has another family in which he's the wife and mother, which shouldn't be taken as canon either. Unless it's brought up in more than 1 episode, you should just assume that it's nothing but a loony non-sequitir.

And Lois was actually one of Meg's few allies in the earlier seasons. Remember how she sought to get revenge on the popular kids after they humiliated Meg in "And the Weiner Is..."? Lois only started treating Meg like crap after FG was uncanceled by FOX.

Also, is it even possible for a woman to have an illegitimate child?
 
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