Over the past 16 years, Minecraft has continually enriched its gameplay with a diverse array of mobs. These range from the iconic teleporting Enderman to innovative new entities like the Weeping Angel-inspired Creaking Pale Garden inhabitants. Each official update from Mojang has introduced exciting new creatures that have transformed the Minecraft experience. Interestingly, the addition of mobs has not been confined solely to updates; players were once granted the power to vote for their favorite mobs through semi-annual Mob Votes. Although this voting system has been phased out, there remains a strong desire among fans for Mojang to consider integrating the initially rejected mobs into the game at some later date.
A Review of Minecraft’s Historical Mob Vote Champions
The inaugural official Mob Vote took place during MINECON Earth in 2017, where fans had the opportunity to vote via Twitter for one of four new potential mobs. The choices were the水-based hostile mob Barnacle, the Phantom—a hostile flying entity that robs players of sleep, the item-devouring Great Hunger, and the Wildfire, a Blaze variant capable of generating shockwaves. Ultimately, the Phantom emerged victorious, earning its place in Minecraft’s aquatic update in 2018. Following this event, five additional Mob Votes were conducted, resulting in the following notable winners:
- 2018: Panda
- 2020: Glow Squid
- 2021: Allay
- 2022: Sniffer
- 2023: Armadillo
While fan participation created a sense of connection to Minecraft’s evolving history, many players voiced concerns regarding the fate of losing mobs, arguing they were unlikely to ever appear in the game. A subset of the community even suspected the Mob Votes could be manipulated, claiming that some rejected mobs’ complex mechanics posed a challenge for implementation. In response to this feedback, Mojang officially retired the Mob Vote from its Minecraft Live events by September 2024. The developers have since adopted a new strategy, opting for annual free game content drops varying in scope and features rather than a single extensive update.
Notably, the Panda was selected in a special Mob Vote for Minecraft: Chinese Edition, prevailing over candidates like the Alligator, Golden Monkey, White-lipped Deer, and White Dolphin.
Reviving Minecraft’s Abandoned Mobs: Opportunities Ahead
Despite the six successful mobs chosen through community votes, numerous promising concepts were left unimplemented, with many only realized through modding. These notable abandoned designs include:
- Barnacle
- Great Hunger
- Wildfire
- Alligator
- Golden Monkey
- White-lipped Deer
- White Dolphin
- Moobloom
- Iceologer
- Glare
- Copper Golem
- Rascal
- Tuff Golem
- Crab
- Penguin
With Mojang’s shift away from Mob Votes and the introduction of new mobs based on internal prototypes, there is significant potential to revisit and refine these previous concepts for future integration into the game. For instance, enhancing the accessibility of Nether Fortresses could open up the opportunity for the Wildfire to add a challenging twist as players navigate the intricate mazes of Nether Bricks. Further, if Blaze mobs were allowed more natural spawning within select Nether biomes, the entrance of the Wildfire as a guardian of Blaze populations could create dynamic gameplay scenarios.
Mojang has also been expanding Minecraft’s biome variety with the introduction of icy landscapes, including Frozen Oceans, Snowy Plains, and Ice Spikes. While a few creatures like Goats and Polar Bears have appeared in these frigid environments, the incentive to explore these regions remains limited. Incorporating mobs such as the Iceologer and Penguin could provide players with new rewards and items. For example, Penguins could drop unique potion ingredients like Penguin feathers, enhancing swimming capabilities, while Iceologers might yield innovative splash potions or weapons capable of freezing adversaries instantly.
The Return of Minecraft’s Overlooked Humanoid Entities
The humanoid mobs from prior Mob Votes offered compelling gameplay mechanics, enhancing player engagement in unique ways. The Rascal, for example, would hide underground from players, rewarding those who sought it out three times with special items such as enchanted pickaxes. Both Copper Golems and Tuff Golems could be constructed to function as supportive allies, with Copper Golems able to interact with buttons and Tuff Golems capable of displaying objects decoratively. These types of mobs could significantly enrich both exploratory journeys in caverns and the process of building elaborate structures.
While the Wildfire has not made its debut in the main Minecraft game, it was introduced as a character in the spinoff, Minecraft Dungeons.
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