Think about those adorable fat cartoon characters — you know, the ones. They’re lovable, have a larger-than-life personality that brings back fond childhood memories, and generate big belly laughs.

From the donut-loving Homer Simpson and the lasagna-loving Garfield to the easy-going Pumbaa and foul-mouthed Cartman, we’ve rounded up a list of the 20 best fat cartoon characters of all time that will have you looking them up on your streaming services to rewatch all over again.

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A fat cartoon character, Peter Griffin, excitedly holding a lottery ticket with arms wide open, standing inside a house near a window.

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A fat cartoon character, Garfield, with a round, puffy body and grumpy expression, stands beside a shocked dog, Odie, with a tennis ball nearby.

A fat cartoon character, Eric Cartman, wearing a red shirt, blue hat with a yellow accent, and a pink bow, stands in front of school lockers.

Winnie the Pooh has endured as a household name for decades. The honey-loving ursine is thoughtful, friendly, and well-meaning. Pooh describes himself as a “bear of very little brain,” expressing the simplicity of his character.However, despite his self-described lack of intelligence, Pooh offers plenty of wisdom that resonates with audiences of all ages, spanning multiple generations. With phrases like, “Sometimes people care too much, I think it’s called love,” it’s unsurprising that Pooh continues to warm the audience’s hearts.Despite his worldwide popularity, Pooh Bear also draws some criticism. For instance, the 2018 film Christopher Robin was banned in China because depictions of Winnie the Pooh are often used to satirize China’s president, Xi Jinping (New Statesman, 2018) (5).

A fat cartoon character, Winnie the Pooh, wearing a red shirt, smiles while surrounded by buzzing bees inside a hollow tree with honey dripping.

Patrick Star is an overweight pink starfish from the wildly popular Nickelodeon seriesSpongeBob SquarePantsand his short-lived spin-off, The Patrick Star Show. He and his best friend, SpongeBob, live in the underwater city of Bikini Bottom.Like several other fat cartoon characters, Star is best known for his work-shy attitude and lack of intellect. However, he does show flickers of insight with sporadic phrases like, “Knowledge can never replace friendship. I prefer to be an idiot.”

A fat cartoon character, Patrick Star, wearing a sweater, swings excitedly on ropes beside a nervous-looking purple character holding papers on stage.

A fat cartoon character, Fred Flintstone, wearing an orange and black spotted tunic with a blue tie, looks surprised while indoors.

Pumbaa: the first and only Disney character with flatulence. Besides his gassiness, he is best known for being the plumper other half of Timon and for his friendship with Simba from The Lion King franchise.With his trademark phrase, “Hakuna Matata,” Pumbaa embodies its meaning as he rarely lets anything worry him. He’s friendly and kind and finishes Timon’s sentences with plenty of comic relief.Amusingly, the weighty warthog’s gaseous qualities were not part of the original story. Nathan Lane, who voiced Timon in the first two animated films, revealed to Entertainment Weekly in May 2024 that Ernie Sabella (the original voice of Pumbaa) would employ fart noises to keep him entertained, “he would make fart sounds to make me laugh. And they eventually incorporated that into the character and the song” (7).

A fat cartoon character, Pumbaa the warthog, smiling widely with prominent tusks, stands on a dry, cracked landscape under a clear blue sky.

Since 1987, the portly Homer Simpson has been a regular household name. As the bumbling patriarch in the adult sitcom The Simpsons, Homer is the husband of Marge and the father of Bart, Lisa, and Maggie.In 2007, The Sunday Times hilariously described Homer as a “superficially bad but ultimately good father, a fat, cowardly but loving failure” (1). Despite his flaws, Homer’s endearing nature lies in his love for his family as he (eventually) does the right thing for his wife and children.For decades, Homer’s dim-witted behavior has made him relatable and entertaining for audiences. He offers humorous commentary on an average life with quotes like, “Who would have guessed reading and writing would pay off?”

A fat cartoon character, Homer Simpson, with bulging eyes and a surprised expression, stands beside his blue-haired wife, Marge Simpson, at night.

Chief Wiggum, another character in the long-running series The Simpsons, is Springfield’s donut-loving police chief. Surprisingly, or perhaps unsurprisingly, Wiggum’s portly character was based on a pig.In a 2018 interview with Entertainment Weekly, The Simpsons creator Matt Groening confirmed Wiggum’s porcine inspiration. He said that “his voice is an homage to Edward G. Robinson. The fact that the police chief looks like a pig and talks like a gangster is our idea of deft social satire” (9).Groening also reveals that Wiggum is “dumber and fatter” than Homer. Writers of Wiggum must be doing something right, though. Groening disclosed that police regularly (and worryingly) express how true to life Chief Wiggum is.

A fat cartoon character, Chief Wiggum, wearing a police uniform with a badge and hat, gestures with one hand while speaking against a blue sky with clouds.

The suitably named Cow, from Cartoon Network’s Cow and Chicken, first appeared in 1997. Strangely, Cow has human parents and a biological older brother, who is a chicken. He’s called, you guessed it, Chicken. Throughout the series, Cow and Chicken embark on many bumbling misadventures while trying to avoid their nemesis, Red Guy.Cow is a simple, big-hearted, big-bodied 7-year-old bovine who loves nothing more than playing with her toys. Like any 7-year-old, Cow struggles with problems at school and family life.

A fat cartoon character, Cow, joyfully leaps while holding Chicken against a bright yellow background, creating a playful and exaggerated scene.

A fat cartoon character, The Penguin, wearing a tuxedo and top hat, adjusts his bow tie while standing in a dimly lit jail cell with chains and a cot.

Uncle Iroh, sometimes called General Iroh, first appeared on screen in Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender in 2005 and its subsequent spin-off series.Often considered one of the show’s most beloved characters, the handsome, elderly Uncle Iroh is wise, wholesome, funny, and laid-back. Despite these qualities, he’s also a fierce opponent of injustice.Uncle Iroh’s calm, gentle demeanor is evident when he offers advice to his young nephew. He wisely states, “Perfection and power are overrated. I think you are very wise to choose happiness and love.” Iroh captivates a wide range of audiences with his wisdom and tender disposition.

A fat cartoon character, Uncle Iroh, with a gentle expression, sits at a table with a teapot and cups, gesturing while enjoying a game indoors.

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Frankenstein, from the Hotel Transylvania franchise, first appeared in 2012. Frankenstein is better known as “Frank” and is best friends with Dracula. Frank has large limbs, light-blue skin, green eyes, and black hair. He’s also soft-spoken and offers plenty of humor.Frank is kind, gentle, laid-back, and friendly, unlike his namesake. However, like his namesake, he also fears fire and avoids it at all costs, with an iconic statement, “Fire bad.”While Frank may have a big body, he has an even bigger heart, making him an audience favorite.

A fat cartoon character, Frankenstein’s monster, wearing a suit, smiles while playfully holding a smaller, scared character in a headlock inside a dimly lit stone castle.

A fat cartoon character, Po the panda, playfully holds two bowls above his head with noodles hanging from his mouth, looking amused indoors.

A fat cartoon character, Shrek, a green ogre in a tunic, stands beside his surprised-looking friend, Donkey, in a village with Tudor-style buildings.

A fat cartoon character, Baymax, a white inflatable healthcare robot with a simple face, waves outdoors in a city setting with buildings and trees.

Muriel Bagge is a heavy-set, kind-hearted, elderly Scotswoman from the animated show Courage the Cowardly Dog. Alongside the show’s titular character, Courage, Muriel lives with her cantankerous husband, Eustace. The show aired from 1999 to 2002, with many spin-offs and crossover specials.Throughout the show, Muriel’s kindness and empathy are emphasized. Not only does she rescue the abandoned puppy she named Courage, but she tries to see the best in everyone. However, this naivety often leaves her vulnerable to the show’s multitude of villains and always just one step away from trouble.Muriel’s strength, gentleness, and compassion endear her to a broad fan base. Furthermore, her favorite thing is to sit in her rocking chair with Courage on her lap and watch television – the ideal activity for dog owners worldwide.

A fat cartoon character, Muriel Bagge, wearing glasses, a yellow dress, and oven mitts, smiles while standing in a cozy kitchen with patterned wallpaper.

A fat cartoon character, Fat Albert, wearing a red sweater and holding a microphone, smiles while standing in a junkyard setting with a wooden structure in the background.

Chris Griffin is the middle child of Peter Griffin from the popular animated television series Family Guy. Like his father, he is pictured overweight and slow-witted. However, he is considered slightly more intelligent than his father.Like the rest of the Griffin family, Chris is often spiteful and self-centered. Despite these qualities, he also shows glimpses of kindness and compassion.Audiences likely relate to Chris through some of the storylines provided to him. For example, throughout the series, Chris deals with insecurities about his weight, a common issue for many people. He also struggles to cope with the changes that his teenage body goes through, and he endures many stereotypical adolescent problems, such as living up to his father’s expectations and dating.

A fat cartoon character, Chris Griffin, wearing a blue shirt and a cap, looks surprised while holding a tube in a bedroom with green walls.

A fat cartoon character, the Juggernaut, with a muscular build, clenches his fists and smirks while standing in front of a building with worn walls and windows.

The Evolution of Fat Cartoon Characters

Fat characters have been a core element of animated cartoons for decades. Indeed, Fred Flintstone has been around since 1960, and an animated Winnie the Pooh debuted in 1966.

In the beginning, fat characters emphasized existing stereotypes associated with being overweight, such as lethargy, carelessness, and a lack of self-discipline (National Library of Medicine, 2023) (10). These early characters also typically reinforced stigmas that people struggling with obesity are either social failures, nurturing figures, sidekicks to their thinner counterparts, or just there for comic relief.

Why Fat Cartoon Characters Resonate with Audiences

Typically, television and films, both live-action and animated, don’t proportionally represent all body types. For this reason, fat cartoon characters often click with audiences because they are relatable.

Fortunately, cartoon creators seem to be embracing this and are introducing characters with more shapely bodies that don’t adhere to traditional fat stereotypes. Recent characters like Uncle Iroh, Shrek, Po, and Frankenstein are helping to break the mold of the typical fat cartoon characters.

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