Minecraft has a lot of mobs. And while the several dozen mobs in the game might already feel like a lot, there are also a ton of mobs that almost made it into the game but just fell short. Oftentimes, this is a result of losing a recently turned controversial Minecraft mob vote, where the losers are added to a backlog of ideas with no guarantee of ever being revisited.
Detailed below is every unimplemented mob in Minecraft as of yet, along with the little we were told about each mob.
Status Meanings
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There are four different statuses that the game's unimplemented mobs have. Each of these statuses reflects where the mob lies in terms of the likelihood of being added to the game. The full list of status meanings is:
Minecraft's long list of unimplemented mobs
1) Pigman Bodyguard
- Status: Shelved
Not much is currently known about pigman bodyguards, other than a few snippets from developer Dinnerbone in 2012 and 2020. In 2012, it was mentioned that there would be a male mob added to the game, which was expanded on in 2020 to be the naked pigman bodyguard. It was planned to be naked so that players could give it armor themselves. However, it's currently unknown how the bodyguard mechanics would work.
2) Red Dragon
- Status: Unknown
Dragons were a hinted at addition to the game long before Minecraft's ender dragon final boss ever made it into the game. Notch first hinted at their addition in 2010 during the Secret Friday Updates.
The idea was that red dragons would eventually come to the overworld as less powerful versions of the ender dragon. They would be able to land and walk around, and unable to destroy blocks. Its status is unknown, as Dinnerbone has stated publicly that development has been shelved, but also that he believes the mob will be implemented at some point in a future update.
3) Alpaca
- Status: Unknown
Alpacas were originally going to be added to the game instead of llamas. However, other developers requested llamas, and after an informal Twitter poll confirmed this was a widespread opinion, llamas were added instead.
Unlike most other mobs on this list, the alpaca pretty much made it into the game, just with a different name and slightly new design. However, it's never been officially confirmed that alpacas would never be added, hence their status remains unknown.
4) Barnacle
- Status: Scrapped
The barnacle is the first of a few scrapped mobs from the game's original mob vote, infamous for causing one of Minecraft's most annoying mobs, the phantom, to be added to the game.
The barnacle was an underwater mob that spawned deep in the ocean's depths. It would use long tentacle-like tongues to attack players, dragging them deeper underwater and drowning them. This would have made exploring Minecraft's shipwrecks for early diamonds much riskier.
5) The Great Hunger
- Status: Scrapped
The great hunger was Mob C in the MINECON Earth 2017 vote. It was a quadrupedal mob with a huge head and mouth, hence its name. It would sit underground, waiting for unsuspecting mobs to enter its mouth to snap shut like a bear trap.
It was interesting because it was the original concept for disenchanting. In the modern game, grindstones are used to remove enchantments, but the great hunger was going to be able to remove magical effects from items it attempted to eat.
6) Wildfire
- Status: Scrapped
Originally revealed to players as the Hovering Inferno, these were going to be large shielded blazes that wandered the Nether. It would have presumably been hard to kill due to its shield-like body and would have been an interesting miniboss mob.
Unlike the other scrapped mobs, the Wildfire has made it into one of the spinoff games. It appears in the Minecraft Dungeons DLC Flames of the Nether, as well as the Portal Dash board game, which is how we know the mob's official name.
7) Meerkat
- Status: Planned
The meerkat was the signature mob revealed as part of the biome vote held during MINECON Earth 2018. Every addition revealed as part of this vote has been confirmed by Mojang to be coming eventually, meaning meerkats, along with the next few mobs, are guaranteed additions.
It will be added to the game's desert biomes, along with palm trees and oases. Not much is known about the mobs from the short promotional video Mojang put out, other than it doesn't like to eat fish. However, it will inevitably make Minecraft's best desert seeds even more enjoyable to play once it's added.
8) Ostrich
- Status: Planned
Ostriches are the first of two mobs Mojang has confirmed is coming to the game's arid savannas. It was revealed alongside termites and makes the savanna biome the only one confirmed to have multiple mobs coming.
As with many of the unimplemented mobs, all we have to go off of is a short description and clip from its biome vote video. Ostriches seem to be roughly three blocks tall and will stick its head in the ground a behavior often associated with the birds for some reason.
9) Termite
- Status: Planned
Termites were the second mob to be confirmed to be coming to savannas eventually. As with the other mobs revealed as part of the biome vote, not much is known about termites other than the fact that its hives will be a new block, similar to bee nests, and will be able to generate quite tall.
Some fans have loudly pointed out that Minecraft 1.21's addition of armadillos also made it the perfect time to introduce termites, as that's what armadillos eat in real life. But until termites are eventually added to the game, armadillos, whose scutes are used to craft Minecraft wolf armor, will need to munch on spider eyes instead.
10) Vulture
- Status: Planned
The vulture was the mob revealed to go along with MINECON Live 2019's version of the biome vote. It was going to be added to Minecraft's beautiful Badlands biomes, alongside a gorgeous new cactus variety. As per plans, vultures would've swooped down and stolen items left on the ground by players, making it a pesky threat to players with a full inventory.
11) Moobloom
- Status: Shelved
Moobloom was going to be a cow variant covered in flowers rather than mushrooms, like the mooshrooms found in Minecraft's rare mushroom biomes. It was originally featured in 2020's mob vote, where it lost the first round to the iceologer and glow squid. However, it did eventually find a home in the AR Minecraft Earth spinoff, where it was the rarest cow variant.
In an unfortunate twist of fate, not only did the moobloom lose its mob vote, but the spinoff it was featured in would eventually be shut down due to COVID-19 removing the ability to go out and play the game. Hopefully, it will be re-added to the base game, as it's absolutely adorable.
12) Iceologer
- Status: Shelved
The iceologer is one of the coolest (no pun intended) of the potential mobs that might be added in the future. It would've lived atop the game's mountains and attacked players by hurling large clumps of ice. It's unknown what its drops, if any, would be, but the concept is amazing.
It was so amazing that the iceologer would've also appeared in Minecraft Dungeons alongside the wildfire, this time in the Creeping Winter DLC.
13) Glare
- Status: Shelved
The glare was featured alongside copper golems and allays as part of the Minecraft Live 2021 mob vote. It was a flying mob intended to fly to areas dark enough for hostile mobs to spawn, becoming grumpy to warn the player of the potential danger. There was also a suggestion that it might have been able to help light up the area.
14) Copper Golem
- Status: Shelved
Copper golems were the first new golems included in a mob vote. As the name suggests, it would have been craftable using copper, presumably in a way similar to current iron and snow golems.
Its purpose was to randomly press buttons near them, acting as an RNG machine, before slowly oxidizing into a statue. This process could be undone with an axe or a lightning strike, which would have made it one of the few Minecraft mobs affected by lightning.
15) Firefly
- Status: Shelved
Fireflies might be one of the most controversial unimplemented mobs, despite how small they are. Originally announced as part of 1.19, Minecraft's firefly was scrapped for that update specifically due to it being poisonous to some frogs, which was the intended purpose of the mob. It has since been confirmed to be shelved rather than scrapped.
16) Rascal
- Status: Shelved
The rascal is one of the more interesting mob vote losers. It would have been found underground below Y level zero, playing hide and seek with players. If a player managed to find a rascal three times, they would be given an item. The full list of drops is unknown, but its announcement video mentions an enchanted iron pickaxe. Once it had given an item, it would've teleported away.
It's not currently known what enchantments the rascal might have been able to have on tools, but access to any of Minecraft's best enchantments, like fortune, silk touch, or even mending would have made the rascal a very cool inclusion.
17) Tuff Golem
- Status: Shelved
The tuff golem was intended to be yet another player-craftable golem companion. Different colors of wool used when making them would give different cloaks. They were one-block-tall golems intended to walk around showing off items, as a cool and interesting way to show off rare or hard-to-find treasures. They were also one block tall, to let players stack them if needed.
18) Crab
- Status: Shelved
Another 2023 Minecraft mob vote loser, the crab, would have been found within mangrove swamps alongside frogs. One of their claws is much larger than the other and could drop in item form, which would extend the player's block placement range. They would have been able to be bred with kelp and would've occasionally waved at nearby players and crabs.
19) Penguin
- Status: Shelved
The final of the unimplemented mobs is the humble penguin. It was an amphibious mob, spawning on the game's stony shores. While in water, they would've been as fast and graceful as dolphins; on land, they would've been clumsy and fallen while walking. The mob would have the ability to speed up a player's boat, similar to how dolphins apply the dolphin's grace Minecraft status effect.
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