David Cooper posts
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BONUS! Colleague and Mourners
There's usually at least a month between me drawing characters and writing about them. I do not remember why this guy stood out to me enough to draw him.You're probably (almost certainly) thinking to yourself "Isn't that just Colleague? The beloved background character from Some Enchanted Evening?" You FOOL. Look at the eyes. Look at the nose shape. Look at the fact that he's not wearing a tie at all. And the lack of adorable tongue sticking out means they COULD NOT BE MORE DIFFERENT.And of course, it seemed inevitable t...
0259 - 0263 - Mourners
In the very niche industry of cataloguing Simpsons characters, today is a very exciting day. Well, "exciting" is relative I suppose. 99% of the Earth's population will find this very mundane. Hopefully you're in the 1%.As Homer wakes up to discover he has hair, he prances through the streets gaily, greeting people excitedly. He passes Moes, our old friends the Winfields, and an oddly-early morning funeral, led by Lovejoy. He shouts "good morning" to them, they respond in kind. These five (plus Lovejoy) are the five who r...
0258 - Dr H Boyle
Dr Boyle is only identifiable by name from a little sign on his desk:Sadly this offers no clues regarding his first name, so I'm gonna call him...Hypnos.As Hypnos barely shows up again after this (more on that in a minute), I decided to also cover his snazzy Deep Throat-esque disguise here too.If there had been any justice in the world, and Hypnos had gone on to become a major character, then we would definitely have a "incognito Dr Boyle" action figure by now. Start your petitions to Super7 now!NOW in researching the actor from the...
BONUS! Gorilla Man
This is another one of those instances where I make a post out of something so inconsequential that neither you, nor I, nor anyone else ever had ever noticed it before. But when else is the world going to get chance to celebrate Gorilla Man?Perhaps in the world of The Simpsons, Gorilla Man is a well known advertising mascot, on a par with Tony the Tiger or Ronald McDonald. He never appears again, and in about an hour you will have forgotten he exists.This post is part of my "Every Simpsons Character Ever" series. For a list of my rules ...
0257 - Actor
We've covered a few actors in our time covering the folk of Springfield, but unless they are real chameleons of their craft, I don't believe any of them are also this guy. I guess technically there's a possibility that this guy was also in a bear costume once, but let's let that slide.Our friends at the Simpsons Wiki claim he is also in season five's "Homer Goes to College" but unless he's attending also attending Nuclear Physics 101:then I cannot find him. Can YOU?This post is part of my "Every Simpsons Char...
0256 - Grade School Challenge Contestant
As a reminder, these are the characters we are covering this week:Nononono, not Bart, Lisa, Homer or Patti. These guys:One contestant correctly answers two questions with "Bismarck" and "Green". I believe both are voiced by Nancy so I'm boldly saying they are the same character, and arbitrarily saying it's the middle of the three. The left one looks like he could even be Yellow Weasel, so maybe we've already covered him anyway.This post is part of my "Every Simpsons Character Ever" series. For a list of my ru...
Patreon Print - September 2023
As decided by last weeks poll - the print this month will be "Choose Your Fighter"! This was a bunch of fun sprites I did for no real reason that people seemed to enjoy. The character choice was somewhat random, but I think people like that it's such an eclectic mix! I've never sone a pixelly-print like this, we'll see how it goes - there may be a slight delay with this one if I mess it up. But hopefully not!If you'd like both of these A5 prints, stay or sign up at the £10 or up level of this very Patreon, make sure you...
0255 - Grade School Challenge Host
We're starting this episode on a very strange note."Simpson and Delilah" opens with the family watching "Grade School Challenge" on TV, and answering along with the questions. We hear the host ask the questions, we hear one contestant answer. And this is all we see of them:But the holy rules of this project state that we have to both see and hear a character for them to be included in this cataloguing, so here we are.Grade School Challenge doesn't not appear to be a direct parody of anything in particular, so there's...
Bart Gets An F - round up!
I've enjoyed doing this project the whole time, but this episode is the most I've enjoyed it in a while! I'm invigorated to see where season two takes us. A couple of notes about this group of weirdos: yes, I've messed with Gorilla the Conqueror's scale so he'd fit in here. And yes, this is the most black and white characters we've covered. And also, yes, oddly, this is the most politicians we've ever covered.The star of the group is hotly contested. Quimby is obviously the most important character here in the co...
BONUS! Cool Martin
We started with an alternate Martin, we'll end with an alternate Martin. I think this is the first non-Simpson to get more than one alternate outfit.So friggin' cool. Spoiler: it won't last.This post is part of my "Every Simpsons Character Ever" series. For a list of my rules in this project, click here.
0254 - Benjamin Franklin
He's not identified by name within the scene, but there's no denying who this is.Key clues to his identity are the fact that he references his inventions and, you know, the fact that he looks like Benjamin Franklin.I was getting a little tired of the almost monochrome colour palette so I decided to draw Ben's appearance from a more well known appearance, in season four's "Homer The Heretic":It wasn't until right now that I realised there is another scene portraying the signing of the Declaration of Independence, in s...
0253 - Congressman
The last two guys were hard to pin down: this guy is IMPOSSIBLE.It doesn't help that we don't get a full shot of his hair (let's face it, that's the main thing I've been going off to identify them). My best guess is that he's Roger Sherman:Look at those lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll's eyes. The sort of eyes only a congressman could have. I hope he found some joy playing in the snow in...er...a ten year old's imagination.This post is part of my "Every Simpsons Character Ever" series. For a list of...
0252 - Congressman
This gentleman is quite cheery, excited about there being snow in the middle of July.By my best guess, this guy could be:Oliver WolcottSamuel ChaseJosiah BarlettBut if you ask me it is most likely John Hart, who is a real hunk/heartthrob.If it's not clear, the main thing I was going off here was "has long hair". This was much more acceptable for politicians in these days, whereas now these guys would all be forced to form a hair metal band. "Good evening, Springton! We are The Founding Fathers! 1, 2, 3 4!"For some reason, th...
September 2023 Print - Vote For Your Favourite Design!
SNEAKY SUNDAY UPDATEThis upcoming week is JAM PACKED with characters as we finish the first episode of season 2, but we have other important business to decide in the meantime, so I'm interrupting your pleasant Sunday with the vote for this month's Patron print.If you don't know how this works: vote for your favourite design, and the winner of the poll (one week from now) will be the September 2023 Patron print! It'll be sent out as an A5 print to patrons at the £10 tier or higher!As there are so many designs this time I'm ...
0251 - Congressman
It's more difficult to pin these other speaking figures down as specific founding fathers, but the fact that they look so different from the generic big-nosed men suggests that perhaps they are intended as specific people.A few suggestions as to who this could be, based on the assumption that whoever it is did not actually have turquoise hair:John Adams (I think this is most likely.)Thomas MiffinGeorge Wythe (although the lack of glasses are a significant factor here.)Richard StocktonGeorge ClymerAnd I'm even going to leave room for the...
BONUS! Colonial Bart
Another alternative version of Bart for our records (our third in this episode!)Someday we'll have enough alternate versions of the main family for some kind of mega "Across The Simpsonverse" crossover event.This post is part of my "Every Simpsons Character Ever" series. For a list of my rules in this project, click here.
0250 - Thomas Jefferson
There's no concrete evidence within the context of the scene that this is 100% confirmed to be Thomas Jefferson, but Jefferson is considered to be the primary author of the Declaration of Independence, so it seems only fair that he gets to be the one who reads it out.Furthermore, this Simpsonified version somewhat resembles portraits of the man, so I'd say it was most likely their intention.Most of my Jefferson knowledge comes from Hamilton, and this guy looks NOTHING like Daveed Diggs. I'd usually do a little more research on a his...
0249 - Mayor Joe Quimby
By far this is the most significant character we'll be encountering in this episode, even if he's not the most important political figure we'll be seeing.It's almost surreal that he doesn't show up until 249 characters in - if you'd asked me beforehand, I'd be sure he was a season 1 introduction. But here he is, finally!Quimby is most defined as a parody of the Kennedys, but his roles within the town and show have long surpassed that as a factor. His role is more commonly used as a catch-all for the show's view o...
BONUS! Mother and Snow Day Bart
This third mother character does not get a line, but her bizarre early design meant I had to include her.Spiky haired characters are a rarity, and as the show goes on we will see fewer and fewer designs that follow the rules of the core family, such as physics-defying spikes or hard beard lines, so while we still have them we must celebrate them!Like many characters from this episode, Bart gets a unique snow day design, although his is sadly never utilised for merry frolicking.If you're not following along as closely and directly as I am, d...
0248 - Mother
You may have noticed this lady in the last post, she speaks second. According to the subtitles her line is "Wear your galoshes!", which I never would have been able to decipher.One thing we have not mentioned in our discussion of this episode is that it remains the most watched episode ever, with 33 million viewers on its original airing. For comparison, an average season 34 episode would get less than 4 million viewers - often less than 1 million.Obviously repeated viewings mean that "Bart Gets An F" is not necessarily the sing...
0247 - Mother
I don't love defining characters like this by their parental status alone - it's possible this woman has a rich, full life outside of her child - but given her two seconds on screen, we have little to extrapolate from.Given that she emerges from the blue house shown here, we can assume she is the mother of this child in green, who races out from the same building:Beyond that we are not given much else to go on. She tells her daughter "you're supposed to eat breakfast first", leading me to believe she is perhaps some kind of ...
BONUS! Old Bart, Old Mrs Krabappel and Bill and Marty?
It seemed a waste to let this scene pass by without an exploration and celebration of some unique character designs:I love the little bit of extra "old person" stank both voice actors put on their characters for this. It's not just that they're old, it's that there's a 10 year old's imagination's versions of what old would be - slightly decrepit and miserable. Given that these characters never age, this is a rare look at an alternate future that will never be.Soon we are told of a snow day in Springfield, and the...
0246 - Bart Jr
I think over the years we'll encounter a whole bunch of next generation Simpson children, both non-canonical and semi-canonical, but here's the first - he's firmly in the "non-canonical" camp, being a figment of Bart's imagination.I see on reflection that I have perhaps exaggerated his head size a little too much, but his slightly elongated head and "futuristic" extra bands on his clothing are the only thing distinguishing him from regular Bart, so we might as well go with it.Bart Jr is seemingly smarter than his...
0245 - Miss Phipps
Like Dr J Loren Pryor, Miss Phipps is designed as another potential recurring face for Springfield Elementary, and is soon forgotten. I can see the appeal - the idea of a school nurse who overreacts to every slight hiccup a child might have is a good base for some wacky scenarios, especially when paired against a Bart-type who will take advantage of her hypochondriac nature.But perhaps there is not much that can be done with this concept, as after her second minor speaking appearance in "Kamp Krusty", she is mainly limited to background...
0244 - Gorilla the Conqueror
As part of "Big Gorilla Week", Homer watches "Gorilla the Conqueror" with Bart, an obvious King Kong parody.If I had time I would watch all 12 King Kong films and report back similarities between them and the three seconds of Gorilla the Conqueror we are shown but...er...I don't. At least this Gorilla gets to survive in the end.By the time we get to "Treehouse of Horror III"s "King Homer" segment I'll try to have rewatched the 1933 King Kong for comparison's sake. Or at least, I'll try to try.This...
0243 - Mothballs
This falls under "is that REALLY a character, Cooper? REALLY?", but they make a wee distorted noise within the game, and they're adorable, so I'm including them. Plus, there's four of them! Now THAT'S value.I don't know what makes them deadly. I'm not even 100% sure I know what mothballs are. Frankly, I don't wanna know.This post is part of my "Every Simpsons Character Ever" series. For a list of my rules in this project, click here.
Patreon Print - August 2023
It's the TWO YEAR anniversary of the Patreon! And that happened to coincide with the end of season one of this stupid project! So to celebrate, let's get a big ol' group shot of ever character introduced in season one of the Simpsons!I think this is how I'll handle this sort of thing going forward, offering an A5 print at the end of each season. It'll be a while before we get to another, so enjoy this one for now! If you're thinking to yourself "But what about the characters from the Tracey Ullman shorts?" then b...
BONUS! Martin, Escape From Grandma's House Kid and Itchy and Scratchy
Sound the klaxon! Raise the flag! Ring the bell! It's the first B-B-B-BONUSES of season 2!Martin gets a substantial role in this episode, and is the first character to actually appear in this episode.I think he's actually meant to be dressed as Ernest Hemmingway, mainly because of the beard. There are images of Hemmingway fishing with a hat, but it's not that similar to this so I don't think they are parodying anything specific here.The kid from Escape From Grandma's House doesn't seem to have a "line" per se, bu...
0242 - Grandma
This feels WEIRD.Most shows don't get this noticeable a shift between seasons. Perhaps I'm just so used to the common conception that season 1 is the "bad" early season, and it gets good after that, but season 2 already feels different, pretty much unanimously for the better. The writing is more confident, the jokes are slipping into more of a style we are used to, and the animation is more consistent. We're still with Klasky-Csupo, but many of the weird side freaks of season 1 are gone. For now at least. I'm sure we'...
SEASON 1 - round up!
PHEW!I thought when we finished covering the Tracey Ullman shorts how ridiculous this was, and that doing an actual episode - never mind a full season - would be a battle. But here we are!There are a lot of familiar faces here, and perhaps notably a lot of absent faces. Season 1 has established Springfield as a town, and defined the type of people that live there, but The Simpsons has a long way to go to find its identity. Stories focused mainly on the core family ensure that the audiences field of view is somewhat limited - we see Skinner and ...
