Let’s Talk About Cartoon Crushes: What Our Childhood Favorites Reveal About Us

At some point, nearly everyone develops a cartoon crush.

As a child, maybe you dreamt of being whisked away by Peter Pan from the Disney version (obviously). Maybe it was Raven or Starfire from Teen Titans. For some of my friends, it was Kovu from The Lion King 2, Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender, or Li Shang from Mulan. Whoever it was, oftentimes these characters would catch your interest and have you rooting for them as they pulled on those little heartstrings.

The thing about cartoon crushes is that they rarely feel like crushes at the time. For many of us, cartoon crushes are our first experience with admiration, attraction, or emotional connection. However, because children do not have the same vocabulary or experience as adults, we often mistake our little flirtations with Terry McGinnis from Batman Beyond for love. At the time, all we know is that we may like a certain character more than everyone else. We pay closer attention when they’re on screen and remember their lines.

As we grow older, it’s easy to dismiss those childhood crushes as silly memories. However, those little crushes may have had more of an impact than we thought.

Without realizing it, we chose crushes based on qualities we would later seek in real relationships: loyalty, confidence, humor, protectiveness, independence, ambition, intelligence, and kindness. They offered an early glimpse into what we admired before we started dating.

This isn’t a new phenomenon. Publications like Refinery29 and Elite Daily have published stories asking readers about their childhood cartoon crushes, eliciting responses ranging from Princess Jasmine and Esmeralda to Bart Simpson and Tuxedo Mask. Browse Reddit for five minutes, and you’ll find thousands of adults debating the animated characters who shaped their earliest ideas about attraction.

Growing up, my biggest cartoon crushes were Ben Tennyson from Ben 10 and Leonardo from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I was drawn to their confidence, adventurous spirit, protectiveness, and leadership. Years later, I can see a similar pattern in the men I choose. Sadly, I have not met anyone who can transform into 10,000 aliens, or even 10. And no one knows how to properly wield a katana.

As a child, you might have fallen for Prince Eric from The Little Mermaid, as he was someone with great hair, a dog, and a love for sailing. Maybe you meet someone like him in real life. The downside is that he doesn’t remember your name, although he says he is only seeing you. Then you find your contact listed in his phone as Mermaid #2, between Mom and Mermaid #3. Obviously, Mom is Mermaid #1.

Reality, unfortunately, doesn’t come with a Disney soundtrack.

Part of the reason cartoon crushes feel so perfect is that fictional characters are designed to represent a handful of core traits. We remember Beast’s devotion, Li Shang’s discipline, or Prince Eric’s charm because that’s what the story wants to focus on. Real people, on the other hand, come with complicated histories, bad habits, and the occasional tendency to leave the toilet seat up.

Still, those childhood crushes weren’t meaningless. They were some of the earliest clues about what we valued in other people. Long before we understood dating, relationships, or even attraction, we were already paying attention to qualities like courage, loyalty, kindness, and leadership.

Whether your childhood crush was a prince, a mutant, a superhero, or a talking animal, chances are they revealed more about you than you realized at the time.