The Simpsons



The Simpsons is an American cartoon about a family of yellow people, the Simpsons, who live in Springfield, America. The show follows each family member through their day-to-day lives and how they interact with their neighbors, friends, family, coworkers, and other fellow Springfielders. On the air ever since 1989, The Simpsons has been called out for having Lost Its Magic many years ago.

Influence on real life and fiction
The Simpsons has been noted for being one of the most important TV shows in American history, and some even say the world. It's affected culture, lifestyles, and even the English lexicon.

On the negative side, it has also been used as a reference mark for comparison of another franchise's (or even human being's) age as The Simpsons has been active for over three decades.

Internet presence
Despite The Simpsons not pushing out any recent episodes that they would consider worth meming, Internet people have still found new ways to meme old episodes. Steamed Hams is a very good example of an old Simpsons episode being memed as it lived for much longer than most people would have expected. This is, of course, because of YouTube who wouldn't leave the poor scene alone until some time in mid-late 2018.

The Simpsons and reference making
The Simpsons is very well-known for its never-out-of-place Pop Culture References and, being the longest-airing primetime TV show in American history, had references made to it in turn. The Simpsons is so obsessed with references, even whole episodes had their titles be references to TV shows, movies, books, albums, and more. Some references are in-your-face obvious, while others are subtle or hidden mostly from view yet still visible. Oddly enough, The Simpsons has barely ever made references to memes despite being memed by Internet people numerous times.

1989
Dec 17 - First episode, "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" (S1E1), airs. This is the only episode of The Simpsons to ever air outside the 90s or 21st century.

1994
April 28 - 100th episode, "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song" (S5E91), airs.

2009
February 15 - "Take My Life, Please" airs, being the first episode of The Simpsons to be produced in the 16:9 aspect ratio.

2012
Feb 19 - 500th episode, "At Long Last Leave" (S23E14), airs.

2014
Sep 28 - Crossover episode "The Simpsons Guy" (S13E1 of Family Guy) with Family Guy airs.

2018
April 29 - "Forgive and Regret" airs, marking when The Simpsons beat Gunsmoke for the longest running primetime TV show to ever air in the US by episode count.

Homer Simpson (Homer Jay Simpson)
"Homer Simpson, the man of the Simpson home, is the husband of a loving wife and father of three. Although he may be inefficient, thoughtless, and downright stupid at times, Homer shows many moments of caring for others and going far for those he loves and what he believes is right."

Pro (Score 6)
Familial Bond UP: Despite almost always being at odds with his only son Bart, Homer cares greatly for his family, especially his wife Marge. He puts what he wants aside to satisfy them, even if it means sacrificing sleep or money. Although Homer can be a bit reluctant to knock a bad habit that might be (potentially) harmful to his wife and children, once he realizes what he is doing is wrong, Homer ceases his hazardous actions soon after.

Fighting Spirit: Homer occasionally gets into fist fights with other people. These people range from his fellow Springfielders to ex-President George Bush to the Main of The Simpsons 's rival TV show, Peter Griffin.

Friend Bond UP: Homer may have a small circle of friends he spends a significant amount of time with, but he rarely mistreats them outside of the show's jokes and occasions where he might not have any other choice. His best friend is Barney Gumble, a man Homer has been knowing since his college days and who he has been hanging out with regularly ever since.

Resistance+: Homer's resiliency has been put on display many times. Sometimes, he endures incoming attacks or painful conditions that would greatly injure or kill most other people such as being repetitively shot in the stomach by a cannonundefined, falling into the same ravine twice, being lit on fire, or being attacked by multiple people at once. Outside of surviving exterior pain, Homer is able to walk off suffering multiple simultaneous heart attacks and deliberately ingesting barber's disinfectant, showing that his inner body is just as powerful as is outer body.

Vigor: Homer's strength may vary from time to time, but when it begins to reach its peak, he can easily use a motorcycle as a sword in a duel with another man using a motorcycle sword or launch people through the air with punches.

Con (Score 8)
Bad Habit: Homer has a few notable negative habits, such as his repeated alcoholism and tendency to strangle Bart, which is considered child abuse. The episode "Love is a Many Strangled Thing" (S22E17) is all about Homer's history of strangling his son. He also often neglects his physical health by gorging himself on unhealthy food like donuts, one of his famed characteristics, and whatever fast food is available to him.

Familial Bond DOWN: Homer accomplished what few other characters have been able to: manage to have two simultaneous conflicting UnTraits. It's possible to see him clearly care for his family while also entirely forgetting that his youngest daughter, Maggie Simpson, exists in the same episode. At times, Homer may count his children and say that he has two, only referring to Bart and Lisa and accidentally excluding Maggie from the family. This problem also makes itself apparent when Maggie is called by her legal name, Margaret, which results in Homer questioning who the speaking person is referring to.

Misfortune: As he is one of the leads of the show (with another considerable lead being Bart), Homer is no stranger to undesirable situations such as being lost in the forest or having his life be put on the line. But by using his Pro UnTraits, Homer may be able to find a way out of his many predicaments. In addition to being put in unfavorable positions, in the face of his bane, Ned Flanders, he is comparatively a less lucky man who loses where Flanders wins.

Sloth+: Homer's laziness becomes a problem for him and others on multiple occasions, namely on his job at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. As he is a Fatty, Homer can't be expected to perform physical tasks with as much willingness as required.

Stupidity: One of Homer's defining traits is his lack of smartness. He may, at times, be too much of an idiot to understand the simplest of concepts or foresee the consequences of his actions and decisions. However, in the episode HOMЯ (S12E9), it was revealed by an x-ray scan that Homer's stupidity was caused by his intelligence being limited by a crayon lodged in his brain. Should that crayon be removed, Homer's intelligence would be improved immenselyundefined.

Work Ethic DOWN+: As Homer's job at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant is safety inspector (formerly nuclear technician), he must take it upon himself to do his job to the best of his ability. However, his ability is very limited as he is much more commonly caught fooling or sleeping on the job than he is taking it seriously.

Marge Simpson (Margarine Jacqueline Simpson, neé Bouvier)
"Marge Simpson is the homemaking wife of Homer Simpson and mother of three children. At home, it's her job to counter her husband's antics and children's occasional messiness while also making an attempt to lead a life outside of the house at times."

Pro (Score 6)
Familial Bond UP+: Through her good relationships with each member of the Simpson family, Marge can fix many issues that arise from their behaviors, even if such issues involve her. When Homer's actions are unacceptably stupid like when he refuses to give up using a gun he says is to protect the very people he was endangering, Marge takes it upon herself to relocate her children to defend them until her husband can get his act together.

Fighting Spirit: Marge is a very docile woman, but when the moment comes for her to fight out of self-defense or to protect her loved ones, she can deter her enemy with few attacks and little effort.

High Spirits: Marge is a cheerful and optimistic individual, refusing to let a few mishaps take her down and make her feel miserable along with everyone else around her.

Patience+: Marge is able to tolerate the otherwise maddening stress her family puts her through such as Homer's Stupidity and her two oldest children's Animosity, only failing to do so on a few separate occasions.

Con (Score 2)
Allure: Marge's Allure, especially in earlier episodes of The Simpsons, becomes a bit of a problem for her on occasion. Men outside of Homer have a history of making attempts at hitting on, dating, and even almost marrying her.

Bane of Existence: The poor reputation Marge has with the whole of Springfield is uncommonly represented, typically during moments where the entire town attends a meeting and when Marge speaks her mind. More times than not, they begin to get annoyed with Marge before she's given the chance to say anything when it's time for her to present an idea or express if she's for or against a notion.

Bart Simpson (Bartholomew JoJo Simpson)
"Famed for his hellraiser temperament, a remnant from the 90s' Attitude And Hellness Era, Bart Simpson is the only son of his family, the oldest child between the three in the Simpson family. Whenever the mood strikes him, he pulls a prank on those around him, let it be a quick Crank Call to Moe the bartender (who always threatens to be a Bart ender at the end of these calls) or a somewhat uncharacteristically well-orchestrated trick consisting of multiple parts and superb timing. At the end of the day, Bart is able to show his humanity by putting aside his tomfoolery to do the right thing for the people he'd otherwise be unwilling to say he cares for."

Pro (Score 4)
Deception: Bart is able to trick other people through voice and outfit changes, typically done for pranks. An episode that centers around Bart's manipulative skills is Radio Bart (S3E13) in which Bart fools the whole town of Springfield into thinking he was a boy named Timmy O'Toole who got Stuck In A Well through using a radio.

Intelligence: Bart has a surprisingly high amount of intelligence for someone who seems to always get bad grades in schoolundefined. He was able to foil Sideshow Bob's genius plans whenever those plans were the plot of the episode by figuring out what the mastermind was scheming and how he planned to achieve is objectives. Bart's partially hidden leadership is what also exemplifies his more more hidden smarts, such as in the episodes Kamp Krusty (S4E1), Das Bus (S9E14), and Lemon of Troy (S6E24), all episodes in which he acts as the leader of a group of children.

Fighting Spirit: Bart's combative and competitive side has been put on display in multiple episodes. An example of one of these episodes is Lisa on Ice (S6E8) where Bart is put on a hockey team and excels as its offensive iceman, being able to compete with his sister after she becomes a goalie star on the opposing team.

Respect: Even though Bart's status in school may raise and lower without warning, he is often shown as a popular student whose monkeyshines can cause a burst of laughter to erupt from everybody in the room who doesn't happen to be significantly older than him. Bart's reputation among other kids is so great, he's even on the good side of one of the main school bullies, Nelson Muntz.

Con (Score 5)
Animosity: In earlier seasons, Bart is portrayed being in a classic Brother v Sister Rivalry with his older sister Lisa, constantly getting into arguments and attacking her for no reason other than it's his job to as a Hellraiser.

Bane of Existence+: Bart's never-ending bad behavior is what made him many people's worst nightmares, being referred to as a demon on multiple occasions. His late teacher Edna Krabappel, although never outright singling him out from the other children in her class, would often make it apparent that Bart is a far cry from her favorite student after he tormented the other children and staff of the school countless times.

Emotional Fragility: All it takes to displease Bart at times is to simply deny him what he wants or assign him an undesirable task. This may later result in a prank of great pain or embarrassment. Do no upset Bart.

Vanity: Bart's sociopath-like behavior has led to others being hurt, both physically and emotionally, innumerable times, yet he has been shown ignoring the problems he causes for others more often than trying to help solve them.

Lisa Simpson (Lisa Marie Simpson)
"The oldest daughter of the three Simpson children, Lisa Simpson is also the smartest in her family .Her love of music (namely jazz), classic literature, and science is her greatest pride, but is also what isolate her from others in a way that she painfully can't ignore. At times, her intelligence can prove to be overbearing, but Lisa always finds a way to cope with her loneliness and get along with the people around her."

Pro (Score 3)
Intelligence+: With an IQ of 159, Lisa is among the smartest people in town. Her superior intelligence outclasses everyone else's in her class and, in some cases, her school. In "Lisa Gets An 'A'" (S10E7), it was revealed that her perfect test score is what pushed the school's average GPA to minimum state standards to be eligible for a basic assistant grantundefined. In "They Saved Lisa's Brain" (S10E22), an episode all about Lisa's Intelligence+, she was considered for Mensa, a group of Springfield's brightest minds and where she felt like she truly fit in with her fellow intellects.

Mastery of the Arts: Lisa is a very skillful girl for someone her age. She is proficient with her main musical instrument, her saxophone, which she often plays for an opportunity to do so, when she's bored, when she feels down and needs to cheer herself up, or just because she wants to better her already excellent talent.

Con (Score 3)
Animosity: Like how a pair of siblings would be expected to be, Lisa is in a Brother v Sister Rivalry with her older brother Bart. Being the more mature one, she rarely starts their arguments, but she's apparently not mature enough to stay out of them.

Disdain: On top of being separate from the people in her family due to her smarts, Lisa is also set apart from the schoolchildren at Springfield Elementary School. She is one of the least popular kids to attend the school, only having temporary friends who may last a single episode.

Emotional Fragility: Lisa can be very emotional as she feels strongly about many topics like global warming, feminism, and the arts. She has also been hinted at or directly said to be depressed on a few occasions, such as in "Gump Roast" (S13E17) when Homer says his sense of smell improved greatly and he could smell Lisa's depression from inside the car. The episode "Moaning Lisa" (S1E6) is all about Lisa's blues and how she feels that life isn't really worth living.

Ned Flanders (Nedward Flanders)
"The nearly perfect, evangelical next-door neighbor of the Simpsons who lives with his two sons Rod and Todd. As the most God-fearing man in all of Springfield, Ned follows the Holy Bible's instruction to the best of his ability, eventually leading to his one-dimensionalism as a character which degraded him to nothing but a man of faith through a process known as Flanderization, a form of Character Destruction that was fittingly named after the man himself."

Pro (Score 5)
Allure: So many people in Springfield like Flanders that there's a song named "Everybody Loves Ned Flanders". This Allure of Flanders's is what drives Homer Simpson to hate him even more than he already does.

Elemental Resistance: Dark: Because of his faith in God, Flanders is able to withstand most hardships that he encounters unless such hardships are the crux of the current episode. This Dark Resistance also extends to the rest of the Flanderses in the household.

Familial Bond UP: Flanders strongly loves his family. When they encounter problems, Maude, Todd, and Rod all turn to Ned (and, of course, God) for direction on how to overcome their issues and emerge from their dark times. Flanders, in order to maintain his role as the Main's Bane in his love-hate relationship with Homer, is very protective of his two sons, doing everything in his power to shield them from the outside world and raise them the way he wants them to be raised, which contrasts Homer's attempts at Bart-ending. This leads to Rod and Todd being unfamiliar with anything from outside their little universe of the Flanders home and church, giving them both the Disdain UnTrait in school.

Fortune: Because Flanders is a Main's Bane, he is often depicted as a man who is luckier than Homer. On numerous occasions, the two go through the same situation and by its end, Flanders wins and Homer loses, which makes Homer jealous of Flanders for being the one who gets to be put in a favorable position.

Patience: Through the Bible's teachings, Flanders has learned many virtues such as patience. When Homer mocks or taunts him, Flanders is able to ignore the abuse to an extent most people wouldn't be able to manage.

Con (Score 1)
Misfortune: At times, Flanders can struggle to get by and may be one of the most harmed people when a wave of trouble washes over Springfield (disease, bad weather, crime...). In "Hurricane Neddy" (S8E8), the Flanderses are apparently the only family who was truly negatively affected by a hurricane that hit Springfield and wrecked the family's home. To observant viewers, this episode and other instances of Flanders and his family being through the wringer are comparable to people in the Bible who were tested by God.

Montgomery Burns (Charles Montgomery Burns)
"The miserly millionaire Charles Montgomery Burns is infamous for his many dubious actions against the people of Springfield with plots driven by the greed for more riches. Without any relent for those he crushes with his schemes, Mr. Burns operates from either his prestigious office or mansion with his more-than-willing right-hand man Waylon Smithers at his side."

Pro (Score 3)
Prestige++: Mr. Burns's strongest Pro UnStat is caused directly by his strongest Con UnStat. Needless to say, because of his eternal, uncaring quest for more, Mr. Burns has become the richest man in town and proves it by living in a massive, luxurious mansion filled from top to bottom with expensive and likely rare decor.

Power: Being the head of a nuclear power plant, Mr. Burns has a great of power over his employees and usually exercises it through policy changes and unnecessary firings.

Con (Score 8)
Disdain: Mr. Burns's bad deeds from the past are what make him a wildly unpopular citizen of Springfield. Most of the town resents him and openly berates him, but this hatred from the Springfielders is mostly shrugged off and might even be welcomed at times.

Frailty+: Due to his old age, Mr. Burns has less physical strength than the average person. This is demonstrated by how he utterly lacks any form of fighting capability or can't perform any heavy-lifting tasks. At times, this UnTrait is exaggerated to the point of making him unable to lift objects that other people effortlessly do every day like a telephone or pen. To make up for how incredibly weak he is physically, Mr. Burns substitutes physical power with social power and instead uses his wealth to get his way.

Greed++: Without question, Mr. Burns's most persistent trait is his lust for money. He's willing to go to extraordinary lengths to get his claw-like fingers around any large sum of money that he sets his sights on, and he did so on several occasions in earlier seasons of The Simpsons. [Although Mr. Burns has harmed many people through his bad deeds for more money, it can be argued that Eugene Krabs from SpongeBob SquarePants was more inexcusably cruel towards his two employees for much less valid reasons and smaller amounts of money.]

Iniquity: Mr. Burns has very little concern for the feelings of others around him, especially his coworkers he constantly insults and badmouths. It's because of his Iniquity Burns is able to carry out his cruel schemes against others without any regret.

Vanity: When he is in danger, Mr. Burns ensures his own security before he even thinks of anyone else's. There are occasions when he actively works towards endangering as shown in "Midnight Rx" (S16E6) when he took all three of the parachute available on his out-of-control plane from Homer and Abe.