The Minecraft mob vote candidates for 2023 are in, and it seemed like an actual fight until somebody said "dog armor"

gamesradar.com:

Developer Mojang has revealed the three candidates for this year's Minecraft mob vote, and it seems like it'd be a pretty even match if not for the promise of dog armor.

Whenever the annual Minecraft Live event rolls around, the devs show off concepts for three new mobs, and fans vote for whichever one they most want added to the game. In practice, the mob vote has always been a contentious concept. Recent Minecraft updates have been criticized for being light on content and there remains a strong "just add them all" sentiment in the community - especially since the increasingly numerous losers of previous votes haven't yet gotten a second chance.

Nonetheless, the votes still get fans fired up, even in years where there's a pretty lopsided favorite, as was the case with 2022's Sniffer-led vote. In 2023, the choice is between three real-world animals: the crab, the armadillo, and the penguin. The general sentiment from fans across the three options seems pretty split, but the bonus offered by the armadillo has it pulling ahead.

See, armadillos will drop a unique scute - that's a bony plate, in less zoological parlance - that you can use to craft wolf armor to help protect your canine pet from damage. Once people started talking about dog armor, the vote started quickly swinging in the armadillo's favor.

Penguins make boats go faster? Boring. Boats are fast enough. WE NEED DOG ARMOUROctober 5, 2023

DONT FORGET. PROTECT YOUR FRIEND BY VOTING ROR ARMADILLOOctober 5, 2023

I think armadillo would be the best vote. Sure penguins are cute, but I'm looking for more functionality. Sure the crab has extended building range, but with Wolf armor pets could be way more useful.October 5, 2023

Of course, the cuteness of crabs and