Tom and Jerry

Thomas "Tom" Cat and Jerry Mouse are fictional characters and the main protagonists in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's series of Tom and Jerry theatrical cartoon short films, created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Tom is a blue/grey anthropomorphic domestic short-haired cat and Jerry is a brown anthropomorphic house mouse. They first appeared in the 1940 animated short Puss Gets the Boot. Tom and Jerry were originally known as "Jasper" and "Jinx" during their debut in that short (Barbera claimed the mouse went unnamed in his first appearance), however, beginning from their next appearance in The Midnight Snack and onwards, Tom and Jerry were refer to by their names.

Overall

 * 1) Their popularity became the birthplace of the world's most groundbreaking future cartoon stars.
 * 2) They got their own shows ever since the 70s because of their memorability in the 20th century.
 * 3) They provided countless memes because of their buffoonery, charm, and several animation frames in the original shorts.
 * 4) Their friendship/rivalry became one of the most iconic relationships in cartoon history.
 * 5) They are two of the most iconic cartoon characters of all time

Tom

 * 1) His slapstick-prone, clownish antics with chasing Jerry are always fun to watch and his comedy timing with slapstick were always done hilariously.
 * 2) * In later adaptions, when his comedy timing was done right, they were always fun to watch.
 * 3) Because of his clownish buffoonery, he was responsible for one of the many influences for Buffoonish Tomcats in Western Animation next to Sylvester.
 * 4) Like Goofy; Whenever Tom was shown to be comically klutzy in the original shorts to the Chuck Jones' shorts for example, he always does this hilariously and humorously.
 * 5) He has provided tons of memorable scenes in the original shorts whenever he was suddenly voiced for comical effect or for an orchestrated scene like where he was flirting with an white female cat for example.
 * 6) Just like Goofy again, all of Tom's yells are incredibly timeless, memorable and hilarious to listen to.
 * 7) While an very buffoonish cat, he is capable of showing brilliance when having an enhancement to his average IQ for example and can actually pose an threat to Jerry at times.
 * 8) When Tom was given responsibilities to help his friends (e.g Spike telling Tom to look after his son), and he tries his best to help others, if clumsily done most of the time.
 * 9) Like Donald Duck; whenever Tom does make mistakes, he either gets his comeuppance in either a comical way when it is usually inflicted onto himself or tries to redeem himself (e.g being nice or helpful to Jerry to survive).
 * 10) And like Homer: His mean-spirited behavior and klutzy demeanor can be hilarious.
 * 11) Tom was also shown to be likable towards others like his relatives such as Cousin George whenever he isn't chasing Jerry primarily.
 * 12) Tom himself has brought lots of charm in the original shorts whenever it isn't based only focused on only slapstick, brought rather on comedy itself and the show wouldn't be as memorable if it wasn't for him.
 * 13) When Tom was given any lines of dialogue in the theatrical shorts, they were always done comedically.

Jerry

 * 1) He is Tom's (friendly and bitter) rival, and his plans to get the best of him are either sneaky and/or clever.
 * 2) Because of this, this makes him quite intelligent for a small mouse like him when he is against a big cat.
 * 3) Cute and nice character design that got better over the years.

Overall

 * 1) They have been shoe-horned in Warner Bros's subpar to worst films.
 * 2) They were featured in bad Tom & Jerry shorts where they don't focus on the universally loved skits, especially the infamous "Blue Cat Blues"; which was a episode about Tom's depression.

Tom

 * 1) He has been flanderized into a complete and utter Punching Bag in the worst episodes and/or seasons of Tom and Jerry such as the Gene Deitch era for example.
 * 2) In the 2014 Tom & Jerry series, he can usually suffer for no good reason when around Spike for example.

Jerry

 * 1) He sometimes comes off as a Karma Houdini especially in the Gene Deitch shorts.