David Cooper posts
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Files: 1703
0372 - Harlan Dondelinger
Prior to this project I could not have told you the high school principal's name, BUT I could have least told you that he had one, and was consistent in his limited appearances. If Homer is an A-list Simpsons character, and angry manis a Z-list character, then Dondelinger has to be somewhere in the middle, perhaps a J-list or K-list character.He's first seen giving Homer and Barney detention in this scene:A scene which is later revisited when Bart goes back in time in "Treehouse of Horror XXIII" (season 24):All of Dondelinger...
BONUS! Student
There's a lot of potential for weird background characters in this episode, the character designers really took the 70s aesthetic as far as they could, but this guy stood out to me more than any other. not least of all because he has two appearances! As long as you ignore the patented "early Simpsons race shift."This post is part of my "Every Simpsons Character Ever" series. For a list of my rules in this project, click here.
0371 - Kim
Full disclosure on this one: I cannot find where Kim's name comes from. Both Simpsons Wikiand the other Simpsons wiki down by pier 17list her name as Kim, so I'm taking it on faith for now.Kim is Marge's high school friend:Her brief appearance in this episode firmly established two of her main background roles going forward: "high school flashback appearance" or "protester".She can seen in future scenes involving Homer and Marge's high school time, such as in "Brush With Greatness (season 2), "Take My Lif...
BONUS! Dr Hibbert and Teenage Homer/Barmey/Marge
Now that the McBain review section of the episode is out of the way, every other character in this episode - numbered and bonus - is introduced in flashback. And of those, Hibbert is the only one not to be taken from the "main" flashback of 1974.I guess this is me softly committing to covering all of Julius's hairstyle choices throughout the years, although I've never really gotten the joke of why it's different every time. Is it just a silly runner? We'll attempt to get to the bottom of it, because if we don't who w...
0370 - "Ebert"
Similar to Gene Siskel, Roger Ebert had no direct crossover with The Simpsons after being parodied in this episode, despite living until 2013. The only additional mentions of him are this somewhat mean-spirited joke from season 5's "The Last Temptation of Homer":And this other reference from season 16's "Home Away From Homer":But what did Ebert think of The Simpsons? He actually reviewed the aptly titled "The Simpsons Movie" in 2007, and it can be read here. He appears to have found the film somewhat amusing, if ...
Patreon Print - September 2024
Another month, another winner! This month the Patron print will be "He's Out There Somewhere...And He'll Find Him!", one of the more specific designs I've done! It was fun trying to ape an old nor style, and people seemed to dig it.If you'd like this A5 print delivered directly to you, please be a £10 or higher member for this month! Make sure your address is available there and they'll be sent out at the start of September*. Thank you for your support!If you have any questions, let me know.*EDIT - I noticed far too...
0369 - Rainier Wolfcastle
Rainier appears in the McBain clip, although his real name is not revealed here. Also, he looks...like this.Front facing Simpson characters are uncommon, and Wolfcastle isn't a natural fit for it - but at this point they were certainly not planning on him becoming a major recurring character. Further McBain clips can be seen this season in "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" and "The War of the Simpsons", and then later in "Saturdays of Thunder" and "Last Exit to Springfield". All these clips, when edited together, ...
0368 - Actor
As with other charactersinprevious episodes, I've made the pedantic distinction that this guy is an actor, and he does not actually fall to his grizzly death in the fiction of the show.His role as "Police Captain" can be seen again in "The War Of The Simpsons", in a scene that presumably takes place before he falls out of a window:It's also possible that this actor reprises his role in the TV show "McGarnagle" (fromt he end of season 5's "Bart's Inner Child") - the police chief character here soun...
September 2024 Print - Vote For Your Favourite Design!
It's time to vote for this month's A5 print! The winner of this poll will be sent out to £10 and higher members at the start of October! Oh me, oh my!Some of these designs were contenders last month and are getting another chance - some are brand new! If you didn't get chance to vote for your second favourite last time, give it a time to shine now!SO! Please vote for which design you'd like to see as an A5 print delivered to you! Here are your contenders:"Legend of the Mole-Man""Hey Hey!""THRILLHO""D...
0367 - "Siskel"
"The Way We Was" is an important episode in defining early Simpsons canon. A majority of the episode is dedicated to a flashback story that will help cement some of the details of young Homer/Marge that will remain canon for some time, and most of the characters we'll be encountering here will reflect this era.But the first two weeks of covering this episode have nothing to do with that.Characters like this have a weird in between state in the fictional world of The Simpsons. This is not celebrated film critic Gene Siskel, but...als...
One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish - round up!
This was an oddly paced episode for the purposes of this project! Homer's story has such a strong emotional arc, packed with some great jokes, and our focus was almost entirely on the obscure restaurant at the start - which our characters leave seven minutes in.This has given me little room to comment on the main content of the episode itself, on Homer facing his mortality and having to actually decide what to do with his last day on Earth. It's been many years since I last saw this episode, and I was surprised by how moving I found it ...
0366 - Drinker
The FINAL character of "One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish" is the man that Homer kisses between Moe and Barney, who comments "you'd better be dying", because it's 1991 and this man is not comfortable enough with his masculinity to accept another man showing affection towards him.Logic dictates this is in fact the same gentleman sat beside Barney in a previous shot:But they look so different to me that I am counting them separately! And that's OFFICIAL. I'm very lucky that I have a job where this is the most...
BONUS! A lot of people. Like, a lot.
Eagle-eyed readers will notice we have yet to encounter any bonus characters in this episode so far. Well, here they are!The intense back-to-back onslaught of Happy Sumo staff meant there was little room to spot obscure weirdos or alternate costumes in the meantime, but they show up a lot throughout the rest of the episode! Let's cover them all:Patty is briefly shown as Richie Sakai's wife. Sakai's Wikipedia pagedoes not say if he actually is or was married, and to pry too far into his personal life beyond that seems a little creepy...
0365 - Prisoner
This episode is extremely front loaded, with most of the new characters appearing at The Happy Sumo. Once we leave there, it's slim pickings, as the story focuses more intimately on Homer's predicament.* It is a full eleven minutes between the previous character (Richie Sakai) and this one.He's only locked up to provide atmosphere. It's a good joke! But his single word does not provide him with much other characterisation. We shan't see him again.*Can an immediate death scare be safely described as a "predicament"? S...
0364 - Richie Sakai
We covered Richie Sakai a few months ago - more recently than I had realised, actually- but here he makes his speaking (and singing) debut.He looks a little different from his previous bar hopping appearance, but he namechecks himself on stage here, so there's no doubt as to the intent of this as a cameo/Easter Egg. The song he sings is Cher's 1971 song "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves". To my knowledge, I've never heard it outside of this scene, and because of Dan's beautiful rendition here, I don't ever want to.The Simpso...
0363 - Chef
Our final speaking character from The Happy Sump, it only took us three weeks to get through this one restaurant. Most of the episode doesn't even take place here, but because the actual story of Homer's upcoming death is so personal, it's very centred on pre-existing characters.Anyway this is the man who almost kills Homer.His mishandling of the fugu dish is what sets the main plot in motion. I caught on a further viewing that his name is "Toshiro", which means "intelligent" or "talented". I'd be curious...
0362 - Master Chef
Our first character this week is this guy - who I think goes unnamed.He's fairly prominent in this section, and even does smooches with Edna, but is not seen much after this - only as a very rare background character.In season 2's "Old Money" you could say he has seen better days:And, like everyone else that has ever appeared, he can be seen in the crowd scene in season 3's "Stark Raving Dad":(In the lower left, if you're having trouble.) By the time we actually cover this episode, I dare say we will recognise 90...
0361 - Akira
Moat people would be surprised by the fact that this guy is recurring, but here in our dedicated little corner of the internet we're surprised that he doesn't appear to have a last name.He's the sort of character that a significant chunk of Simpsons fans will recognise - and maybe even name - but if they were to list 100 Simpsons characters off the top of their head he most likely would not feature. He has too many (extremely minor) appearances to list them all, but also there's not much to him. We can see he has several jobs in...
Free Trials! Annual Subscriptions!
I told you I'd be back!SOI now have two exciting additions to the Patreon:FREE TRIALS!If you are curious about what's locked behind the mystic Patreon gates, you can now get a 7 day free trial to the Patron Patrol tier! This gives you access to the "Every Simpsons Character Ever" project, so you can see what you've been missing! If you feel like signing up at any tier afterwards, I appreciate it, but no worries if not! You do you! I'm not here to judge!If you are considering signing up for real-real, might I suggest you ...
Patreon Changes (and hopefully the lack thereof!)
Hi various assorted Patrons! Or anyone else who is reading this expecting salacious drama (there won't be any salacious drama.)Patreon are making some changes to their system soon, and I thought I'd run down how it affects you lovely people following along on my Every Simpsons Character Ever project! Here's the long and short of it: it shouldn't really affect you, especially if you're already signed up. But I'll run it down anyway!When you get charged!Until now, people on this Patreon have been charged on the 1st of each...
Patreon Print - August 2024
The votes are in! If your favourite design didn't win this month, it might have a chance next month, so we'll give it a go again then!This was a fun one, and a nice opportunity to reference a sci-fi classic directly. I may adjust the colours very slightly to make sure it looks good in print.If you'd like this A5 print delivered directly to you, please be a £10 or higher member for this month! Make sure your address is available there and they'll be sent out at the start of September. Thank you for your support!If you have any q...
0360 - Waitress
A small role at the start of the episode, but she gets more lines than most.She's not an especially revelatory character, she just shows the family around The Happy Sumo, so let's delve into that location a little more.The Happy Sumo first appears in "One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Bluefish" (you probably already guessed that one.)Its karaoke room next appears in season 3's "Black Widower":Homer's next visit is in season 8's "In Marge We Trust", where he attempts to find the origin of the Mr Sparkle bo...
0359 - Chef
I provided a screenshot of this guy on Monday, but I'm not a cruel man, I don't expect you to have to click back one entire post just to see him, so here he is again:Their frantic shouting, and the Simpsons' reaction to that, is perhaps a little xenophobic. But to the episode's credit, I think the stance is not "aren't the Japanese weird and scary?" but instead "the Americans are wrong to be suspicious of this foreign culture". This joke perhaps tows the line in that regard, but the family's acceptance of...
0358 - Chef
Welcome to "One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Bluefish", one of those titles I am going to get very sick of typing out every single time.This is a strange episode for the purposes of our little project, in that most of the new speaking characters appear within the first four minutes in one location - The Happy Sumo. Let's start with these two guys, who greet the Simpson family on their arrival:I'm labelling them as chefs, because they are waving knives around, but (spoiler alert) we will be encountering some much more plot-relevant ...
August 2024 Print - Vote For Your Favourite Design!
We're gonna try something slightly different for the Patreon print vote for the next couple of months!Instead of picking the next two or three month's worth of prints, you are only voting for THIS MONTH'S print, so vote for your absolute favourite from some of these recent popular pieces - but I'll do another vote next month featuring some of the runner ups. so you'll get a chance to vote for your second favourite then!SO! Please vote for which design you'd like to see as an A5 print delivered to you! Here are your conte...
Bart Gets Hit By A Car - round up!
One of the more fruitful episodes we've had in a while! Three of these characters are very important, one is literally a Simpson, and another is the embodiment of all evil as depicted in Christian mythology! A good haul in the Simpson character mines, I'd say.It's a good episode too! We've well and truly defined Mr Burns as a villain of the show now, playing into his evil tendencies. The ending - where Homer has to be reconvinced that he loves his wife - seems a little forced, but it's a fun time before then!We got a respect...
BONUS! Court-goers, Juror, Akbar and Jeff, Butler and Long Neck Lady
Cut the small talk! This is one of those days where we have a LOT to cover to wrap this episode up ONCE AND FOR ALL. LET'S GET TO IT:These people in court seemed very concerned for Bart's wellbeing, and their empathy inspired me for inclusion in this project. God bless you, old lady and man with bow-tie.In the Klasky Csupo era, almost-purple is coding for black skin sometimes, and this guy stuck out to me as an example of that. Why did I draw him without trousers? I don't remember. But I do know it's not a legal requirement for ...
0357 - Blue-Haired Lawyer
Poor Blue-Haired Lawyer. In most other episodes he would absolutely be the most prominent character to debut, but "Bart Gets Hit By A Car" we've already met Lionel Hutz and Dr Nick - two all time classics - so his arrival seems less significant.The essential facts about him are established here in his limited screen-time: he's Burns's lawyer (although he has other clients when the plot deems it necessary), he has blue hair, and he does not have a name.His unrevealed name is perhaps the most interesting thing about him, as th...
0356 - Court Clerk
This guy appears in this episode and immediately gets Judge Snyder's name wrong (he calls him "Moulton").It's not a "mistake", Snyder's name has not been established as Snyder yet. But Snyder is eventually the name that sticks, so this guy looks like a fool. A FOOL I tell you.I went back and checked, he is not present in "Krusty Gets Busted" (our last major court case) and I peeked ahead to "Bart The Murderer" (or next major court case) and he is not there either. Perhaps he was fired for getting his ...
0355 - Dr Nick Riviera
TWO huge characters in the same episode? And we're not even done? Truly "Bart Gets Hit By A Car" is the gift that keeps on giving.Despite his later status as a bigger character, Dr Nick only appears in this scene - the climax of the court case centres around his status as a phony doctor, but he does not personally appear. Additionally, he doesn't say "Hi, everybody!" when he first appears, which is somewhat unsettling. This catchphrase is established in his next appearance, three episodes later in "Homer vs Lisa and ...
