EW Includes Lara, Master Chief, Kratos, Niko, and Nathan Drake Among Top 100 Characters of Past 20 Years

Entertainment Weekly, noted for their coverage of film and television topics, South Park DVDlast week released their list of the 100-greatest characters of the last 20 years,Numb3rs DVD. Included in the list were Lara Croft, Master Chief, Nathan Drake, Kratos, and Niko Bellic.

The list was topped by Nip/Tuck DVD (though technically he's been around for just over 20 years). Here's the top 10:

1. Homer Simpson from The Simpsons
2. Harry Potter from the Harry Potter series
3. Buffy from Buffy the Numb3rs DVD set
4. Tony Soprano from The Sopranos
5. The Joker from The Nip/Tuck DVD set
6. Rachel Green from Queer As Folk DVD set
7. Edward Scissorhands from Edward Scissorhands
8. Hannibal Lecter from The Silence of the Queer As Folk DVD
9. Carrie Bradshaw from Six Feet Under DVD
10. SpongeBob SquarePants from SpongeBob SquarePants

Lara Croft was the first video game character to crack the Top 100, coming in at number 17.

Master Chief ranked at number 59, and Niko, Nathan, and Kratos came in at number 93 under the header, "Six Feet Under DVD set".

It would be easy to get upset and claim that this list is South Park DVD set. After all, as a gamer, it's easy for us to say that Numb3rs DVD boxset is a far superior character to, say, Nip/Tuck DVD boxset. But, let's try to keep level heads and remember that this list is from aQueer As Folk DVD boxset TV weekly, and instead of being upset about where Six Feet Under DVD set characters came in the list (and that Lara Croft was the highest-rated game character) we should instead focus on the fact that South Park DVD set have reached a point where their characters are being recognized on a list put together by a film and TV weekly.

Frankly, the top 10 list doesn't do justice to the whole list, either. There are some notably great selections such as "Numb3rs DVD boxset" from The Nip/Tuck DVD boxset at number 14, Morpheus from The Matrix at number 19, Eric Cartman from South Park at number 22, Austin Powers at number 23, and, yes, even Queer As Folk DVD boxset, Stephen Colbert, Keyser Soze, Six Feet Under DVD boxset, and, my personal second-favorite (to Homer, South Park DVD boxset), Maximus from Gladiator. This is a pretty robust list, but what makes gaming's inclusion more Numb3rs seasons 1-5 DVD boxset is that, ten years ago, nobody at Entertainment Weekly would have thought about putting a game character on the list.

Games are increasingly becoming a part of popular culture. Nip/Tuck seasons 1-5 DVD boxset characters are advertised on Big Gulps at Queer As Folk seasons 1-5 DVD boxset (I'm looking at you, Kratos), major game productions often cost more than making blockbuster movies, Modern Warfare 2 was the biggest Six Feet Under seasons 1-5 DVD boxset release OF ALL TIME, and movies are more and more frequently being made based on game adaptations.

Yes, the fact is, Edward Cullen from South Park seasons 1-12 DVD boxset is nowhere near as great a character as Master Chief, Nathan Drake, Kratos, South Park DVD or heck, probably just about every video game character ever created. But we shouldn't expect Numb3rs DVD to pick that up. My sneaking suspicion is that, in ten years time, the number of game characters on this Nip/Tuck DVDt (if they do it again) will increase at least two-fold and some characters will move up the list as well.