25 Cartoon Characters You Idolized Growing Up

Let's face it, nobody had more swag than Gerald on "Hey Arnold."

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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Under the ‘Inspirational People’ section on Facebook, it’s likely that a twentysomething today includes people like Hova or President Obama. And yet, before us ‘90s kids had idols of the living and breathing variety, we admired the cartoon characters we watched on TV every day after school and on Saturday mornings. For us, these aren't weren’t just cartoons. Whether they faced their insecurities or the evil villain head on, possessed leadership skills, or just had more swag than anybody we knew in real life, these are our original role models.

You may have gotten taller and moved on to a grown-up job, but don’t front, they're still the shit: the 25 Cartoon Characters You Idolized Growing Up

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Fred on Scooby Doo

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Tuxedo Mask on Sailor Moon

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Brak on Space Ghost Coast to Coast

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Bob on Reboot

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Trent Lane on Daria

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T.J. Detweiler on Recess

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Gambit on X-Men

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Baloo on TaleSpin

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Raphael on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

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Streex on Street Sharks

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Throttle on Biker Mice from Mars

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Peter Parker on The Amazing Spider-Man

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Goku on Dragon Ball Z

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Doug on Doug

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Arthur on Arthur

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Johnny Bravo on Johnny Bravo

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Tommy Pickles on Rugrats

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Krumm on Aaahh!!! Real Monsters

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Dexter on Dexter's Laboratory

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Gerald on Hey Arnold!

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Eric Cartman on South Park

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Bart Simpson on The Simpsons

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Otto Rocket on Rocket Power

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Skeeter on Doug

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Arnold on Hey Arnold!

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