Colonel Meow

Colonel Meow turned a cat into a full character with a voice. His owners in Los Angeles adopted the Himalayan-Persian cross from a rescue group and named him for his "epic frown and fur," then posted in his voice as a grand commander who called his millions of fans his "minions." The writing, not just the photos, is what kept people coming back. The fur was real, too: three vets measured it at about 9 inches, and Guinness World Records listed him as the cat with the longest fur in its 2014 edition. He died in January 2014, still a young cat. Pick him to see the template that countless cat accounts with an invented voice still follow.