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The Simpsons (animation)/Characters: Difference between revisions
The Simpsons (animation)/Characters (view source)
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** [[Badass Abnormal]]: In [[The Simpsons Game]], they all obtain superpowers that fit their characters while fighting entire corporations, video game characters, alien invasions, and {{spoiler|even '''GOD''' himself!}}
** [[Badass Adorable]]: Admit it, their idiocy can be endearing at times that you'd wish you were a part of them.
** [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass]]: The Simpsons on your average day fight over the remote control. In their not-so-average days, the federal government of the United States of America. And win.
* [[Born Lucky]]:
* [[Dysfunctional Family]]: Like you wouldn't believe.
* [[Five-Man Band]]: Depending on the plot or episode, the family changes their roles in this trope depending on the situation at hand, Bart and Homer are typically [[The Hero]]es though.
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== Immediate Family ==
=== [[The Protagonist|Homer Jay Simpson]] ===▼
[[File:homer_1042.jpg|frame]]
▲=== [[The Protagonist|Homer Jay Simpson]] ===
{{quote|"Lord help me, I'm just not that bright."|''Some Enchanted Evening''}}
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* [[Abusive Parents|Abusive Dad]]: Granted, even in his [[Jerkass]] characterization, he's less so than [[Family Guy|Peter Griffin]], but still. Though he's always [[Disproportionate Retribution|strangled Bart]].
** And then there's the original shorts, where he's almost as bad as Peter.
* [[Angrish]]: Frequently lapses into this, whether he is justified or not.
* [[The Alcoholic]]: He's the king of this [[Trope]].
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* [[Big Eater]]
* [[The Big Guy]]
* [[Big No]]: And yes, he presses his hands against his head.
* [[Born Lucky]]
* [[Boisterous Bruiser]]: He is more Falstaff than falstaff.
* [[Breakout Character]]: Originally, Bart was the main protagonist. But then Homer became the main protagonist.
* [[Bumbling Dad]]
* [[Butt Monkey]]: Even with all his [[Jerkass]] tendencies, you do feel sympathy for what he goes through at times.
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* [[Convenience Store Gift Shopping]]: [[The Protagonist|Homer]] has a very bad habit of doing this sort of thing. It was justified in the episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", however, as he really didn't have any other option than to buy his family cheap Christmas gifts (including a dog toy for [[Brainy Baby|Maggie]]) because he really couldn't afford any regular gifts due to [[Big Bad|Mr. Burns]] denying his workers a Christmas bonus.
* [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass]]
* [[Disproportionate Retribution]]: Strangling his son is a great example, as tempting as it is.
* [[The Ditz]]: Though considering he does his best to listen to Marge, one could argue that he isn’t truly stupid.
** [[Genius Ditz]]: It turn out he can be a brillant [[Chessmaster]] against [[Big Bad|Mr. Burns]] in "C.E. D'oh". "Check and mate" indeed.
*** He's also a gifted polyglot, capable of speaking even Penguin.
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* [[Functional Addict]]: Depending on the writer
* [[Hair-Trigger Temper]]
* [[Idiot Hero]]: He has shown signs of hidden intellect though.
* [[Informed Deformity]]: He is considered extremely fat and unfit. Actually he is only 239 lbs, and tall to start.
** [[Family Guy|Peter Griffin's]] got him beat. Even in the same universe, so do Comic Book Guy, Chief Wiggum ([[Hypocritical Humor|who actually had the nerve to call Homer fat]]), and Mayor Joe Quimby, for starters.
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* [[Omniglot]]: Has spoken German, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, a little bit of French (describes "Trash Night" as "La Nuit des Poubelles"), and [[Speaks Fluent Animal|penguin]]. No. Really.
{{quote|"I can understand food talk in any language."}}
* [[One of the Kids]]
* [[Papa Wolf]]: Call [[The Protagonist|Homer]] what you want, [[The Protagonist|Homer]] still cares about his kids. Willing to become a Helicopter Parent for them, steal chocolate eggs for his baby, throw a pie at a guy mocking [[Granola Girl|Lisa]].
** In regards to Lisa, he is also such a Papa Wolf that he'll even defend her honor against Marge. A notable of this was in the episode "$pringfield", when, thanks to Marge's gambling addiction, she forgot to help Lisa with her costume (Nevada) for a school play despite promising to do so. Suffice to say, Homer was quite angered, to the extent that he drove over to the casino, located Marge, and then started shouting at her in nonsense before he shouts that he's angry because Marge broke a promise she made to her daughter.
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* [[Wrong Genre Savvy]]: In the episode "Homer Goes to College," Homer is convinced his college experience will be exactly like the [[Wacky Fratboy Hijinx|party atmosphere]] college is often depicted as in [[Animal House|movies]], not realizing he's in a satire that thoroughly subverts the trope.
=== [[Action Mom|Marjorie "Marge" Simpson]] (née Bouvier) ===▼
[[File:margesimpson_1431.jpg|frame]]
▲=== [[Action Mom|Marjorie "Marge" Simpson]] (née Bouvier) ===
{{quote|The mother and typically both [[The Straight Man]] and [[Closer to Earth]], Marge is predominantly a homemaker, but does have her wilder side. Loving and supportive, her devotion to her family may be strained at times but is never broken. Voiced by Julie Kavner.}}
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* [[You Gotta Have Blue Hair]]
[[File:bartsimpson_615.jpg|frame]]▼
=== [[Anti-Hero|Bartholomew "Bart" Jo-Jo Simpson]] ===
▲[[File:bartsimpson_615.jpg|frame]]
{{quote|The original [[The Protagonist|protagonist]] of the show in early seasons, a self-professed hellion and mischief-making little punk, though not incapable of good things for the right reason. Voiced by [[Nancy Cartwright]].}}
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* [[My God, What Have I Done?]]: [[Anti-Hero|Bart]] experiences this [[Trope]] whenever he realizes that one of his stunts has gone too far.
* [[Naughty Is Good]]
* [[Omniglot]]: Has spoken French, Vietnamese ("Mau! Di di mau!"), Japanese, and Spanish ("[[Catch Phrase|¡Ay, caramba!]]").
** In fact, he once learned fluent Spanish [[Wrong Genre Savvy|during a plane trip to Brazil]].
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* [[Taking Advantage of Generosity]]
* [[Totally Radical]]: During the early years of the show. He actually did say "Cowabunga" a couple of times.
* [[Troublemaker Hero]]: Whenever there is an episode focused on him, it mainly involves Bart making mischievous schemes.
* [[Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist]]
* [[Villain Protagonist]]
* [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] / [[No Good Deed Goes Unpunished]]: Sometimes when he does something with the legitimate intent of helping someone "chill out", it backfires. A notable instance was when he got Mrs. Krabappel fired when he and the other students attempted to get her to become cooled down by spiking her drink with alcohol, because of Bart's experiences with his dad.
=== [[Granola Girl|Lisa Marie Simpson]] ===▼
[[File:lisa-simpson_6078.jpg|frame]]
{{tropelist|Tropes exhibited by Lisa include:}}
▲=== [[Granola Girl|Lisa Marie Simpson]] ===
▲{{quote|The smart one and the middle child, Lisa is both a bookworm and something of the "hippie" of the family. Her intelligence, as seasons roll on, can sometimes make her into an annoying know-it-all. Has trouble fitting in with other kids her age. Voiced by Yeardley Smith.}}
* [[All Girls Like Ponies]]: So much
* [[All Girls Want Bad Boys]]: [[Puppy Love|She had a crush on Nelson]] once, [[First Kiss|and he was her first kiss]].
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* [[Vague Age]]: In "[[Granola Girl|Lisa]] the Beauty Queen":
{{quote|'''[[The Protagonist|Homer]]:''' [[Granola Girl|Lisa's]] aged 7 to 9!}}
* [[Veganism and Vegetarianism]]: Lisa Simpson became a vegetarian during ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' season 7 episode "Lisa the Vegetarian" (the one with [[Paul McCartney]] as a guest-star), and the same episode showed that Apu had always been vegetarian. Unlike [[Negative Continuity|most changes on ''The Simpsons'']], this one to Lisa's diet stuck.
* [[Wise Beyond Their Years]]
[[File:maggiesimpson_8675.jpg|frame]]▼
=== [[Brainy Baby|Margaret "Maggie" Simpson]] ===
▲[[File:maggiesimpson_8675.jpg|frame]]
{{quote|The youngest of the children. Typically a marginal figure, but does get her share of scenes. {{spoiler|Most famous for turning out to have accidentally shot Mr. Burns in the series' first two-parter episode.}} Voiced by [[Elizabeth Taylor]], [[Jodie Foster]], [[James Earl Jones]], [[Nancy Cartwright]], and [[Yeardley Smith]].}}
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== Extended Family ==
[[File:grampa_9529.jpg|frame]]▼
=== [[Shell Shocked Senior|Grampa Abraham "Abe" Simpson]] ===
▲[[File:grampa_9529.jpg|frame]]
{{quote|Homer's elderly, cranky, senile father, a sergeant in [[WW 2]]. For all Homer's failures as a father-figure, ''his'' father has proven he was worse. Voiced by [[Dan Castellaneta]].}}
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* [[When I Was Your Age]]: He loves these
[[File:monasimpsonpic_2001.jpg|frame]]▼
=== [[Cool Old Lady|Grandma Mona Simpson]] ===
▲[[File:monasimpsonpic_2001.jpg|frame]]
{{quote|A militant hippie in her youth, she had to leave Homer and her husband alike when Homer was young because she made an enemy of Mr. Burns and fled into the hippy underground. Sincerely loves her family, and desperately wants to be with them. Dies in her third appearance. Voiced by Glenn Close, Maggie Roswell, [[Tress MacNeille]] and Pamela Hayden.}}
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* [[What Happened to the Mouse?]]: A meta example. "Mother Simpson" aired during the seventh season and averting the trope was the initial impetus to producing the episode. Showrunners Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein admitted surprise that in all those years the status of Homer's mother had never been given on-screen.
[[File:pattyandselma_7176.jpg|frame]]▼
=== Patricia "Patty" and Selma Bouvier ===
▲[[File:pattyandselma_7176.jpg|frame]]
{{quote|Marge's twin sisters, addicted to smoking and notoriously crabby. Both dislike Homer intensely, and neither of them is interested in the male gender itself much (so much so that it is eventually revealed that {{spoiler|Patty is a lesbian}}), though Selma does want to have a child. Voiced by Julie Kavner.}}
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=== Snowball II ===
* [[Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal]]: She only wears a collar and she doesn't even wear one all the time.
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=== Santa's Little Helper ===
* [[A Dog Ate My Homework]]: Santa's Little Helper does this once, much to Bart's surprise.
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=== Rod and Todd Flanders ===
[[File:206708_5386.jpg|frame]]
{{tropelist|Tropes exhibited by Rod and Todd include:}}
▲{{quote|Ned's two children, innocent to the point of being naive due to their upbringing and easily misled by the more worldly Bart. Voiced by Pamela Hayden and [[Nancy Cartwright]].}}
* [[Ambiguously Gay]]
** Lampshaded by Bart when he got them to tell Ned they were gay.
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* [[Off-Model]]: Some episodes have Moleman with yellow skin; others with brown
* [[Shout-Out]]: In his first appearance in season 2's "Principal Charming", Moleman was actually called Ralph Melish (as seen on his driver license). The latter is a reference to Monty Python.
* [[Sword Cane]]: "You call that a knife? ''[[
* [[They Killed Kenny]]
* [[Younger Than They Look]]: In season four's "Duffless," Moleman reveals that he's 31 years old, despite looking like an old man. The reason: {{spoiler|Moleman's an alcoholic}}. Thanks to [[Canon Discontinuity]], Moleman's age has been projected to be at least in the ballpark of 80 and above (although one episode still hinted at the younger than they look trope when Moleman was doing a wheelbarrow race with his Dad at the Springfield Retirement Castle).
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=== Jeff "Comic Book Guy" Albertson ===
[[File:comicbookguy.jpg|thumb|300px|Worst character image ever.]]
* [[Berserk Button]]: See the article on [[Canon]].
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=== Apu Nahasapeemapetilon ===
* [[Ascended Extra]]: Was simply the convenience store clerk that only knew the family cause they shopped there. Over time, his screentime grew and he got [[Day in The Limelight|several focus episodes]].
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* [[Immigrant Patriotism]]
* [[Massive-Numbered Siblings]]: When he and Manjula could not conceive a child they underwent IVF and Manjula had ''octuplets''.
* [[Veganism and Vegetarianism]]: The season 7 episode "Lisa the Vegetarian" (the one with [[Paul McCartney]] as a guest-star) showed that Apu had always been vegetarian.
* [[Your Cheating Heart]]: Cheats on Manjula with the Squishee lady.
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* [[The Ahnold]]: Of the man the trope is named after no less. He is one of the best known examples and currently the image on the trope page.
* [[Catch Phrase]]: [[
* [[Chewing the Scenery]]: Inverted. He's almost hilariously deadpan and monotonal in most of his appearances. Perhaps as an [[Enforced Trope|enforced]] case of [[Bad Bad Acting]].
* [[Goggles Do Nothing]]: The [[Trope Namer]]
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* [[Genius Ditz]]: Although he's not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer, it is shown from time to time that Otto has artistic talent. He is a very skilled guitar player, and he even created his own comic book called "Bus Man" about a bus driver who fights vampires in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. He's also an excellent bowler. And he almost got tenure at Brown.
* [[Last-Second Word Swap]]: From "The Mook, the Chef, The Wife and Her Homer": "Fuuuuu...nk."
* [[Metalhead]]: Otto is passionate about
* [[Military Brat]]: Otto's father is an Admiral in the United States Navy who disapproves of his lazy, pot-smoking son.
* [[Species Surname]]: Rare human example.
* [[The Stoner]]: When viewed under a microscope in "The Seven-Beer Snitch", Otto's urine sample contains so many illegal drugs that it resembles a scene from [[The Beatles (band)|The Beatles]] film ''[[Yellow Submarine]]''.
== Students: ==
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* [[Menace Decay]]: The Nelson of today is wimpy and pathetic compared to the Nelson of the earlier episodes. In a very early episode he was so fearsome Bart had to band together an ''army'' to stand up to him because the school was so terrified of him, and before that he regularly beat Bart bloody after school.
* [[Parental Abandonment]]
* [[Pet the Dog]]:
*
** He attempted to comfort Milhouse after his parents got divorced as he related to his situation.
=== Ralph Wiggum ===
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=== Itchy ===
{{tropelist|Tropes exhibited by Itchy include:}}
▲{{quote|The psychotic mouse member of the cartoon duo, a clear expy-cum-parody of [[Tom and Jerry|Jerry]] at his most [[Jerkass]]. He is usually the antagonist, and always brutally slaughters Scratchy in the show, no matter how little Scratchy may have done to deserve it.}}
* [[Amazing Technicolor Wildlife]]
* [[Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal]]
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=== Scratchy ===
{{tropelist|Tropes exhibited by Scratchy include:}}
▲{{quote|The cat member of the ''[[Tom and Jerry]]''-parodying [[Show Within a Show]], Scratchy is almost never a bad person in his depictions, but invariably suffers nightmarish deaths at Itchy's hands.}}
* [[Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal]]: He only wears [[White Gloves]]
* [[Cruel and Unusual Death]]: He suffers one [[Once Per Episode]]
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=== Poochie ===
{{tropelist|Tropes exhibited by Poochie include:}}
▲{{quote|Homer's attempt at designing a new character to boost interest in the Itchy & Scratchy Show, who became loathed by the fanbase and was promptly removed with all speed.}}
* [[Barefoot Cartoon Animal]]: When he is not wearing shoes.
* [[Fully-Dressed Cartoon Animal]]: When he is wearing shoes.
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* [[Status Quo Is God]]: He will always have a venomous hatred of Bart and Krusty, despite having made up with each of them at least once. He interestingly holds nothing against the rest of the Simpson family despite a increasingly similar amount of suffering they have caused (Lisa has arguably became more pivotal in foiling his plans than Bart), and even publicly states his desire to kill Bart ''and only Bart''. He's even sided with his brother Cecil against Bart, even though Cecil tried to frame and murder him and Bart saved Bob's life from Cecil.
* [[Too Dumb to Live]]: In one episode, while on a houseboat, he honors Bart's last request to sing the entire score to the ''H.M.S. Pinafore''. During this time, they pass the cops.
* [[Vile Villain, Saccharine Show]]
* [[Villain Decay]]: Averted, but lampshaded. Bob is always devious and brilliant, but Bart has foiled his plans so often he isn't as afraid of him as he was in his first few appearances.
{{quote|'''Bart''': "Oh, it's you Bob. How ya doin'?"
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* [[Bungling Inventor]]: Several of his inventions have malfunctioned, with [[Hilarity Ensues|hilarious]] results.
* [[Depending on the Writer]]: Sometimes Professor Frink's inventions malfunction, and other times they work perfectly well, depending on the needs of the plot. The self-tapping dance shoes he invented for Lisa ended up going out of control, but the auto-dialling machine that Homer used in his electric panhandling scheme worked just fine.
* [[Expy]]: Of [[Jerry Lewis]]' character in ''[[The Nutty Professor (1963 film)|The Nutty Professor]]''. To the point where Lewis himself voiced Frink's father, John Frink Sr., in "Treehouse of Horror XIV".
* [[Hollywood Nerd]]
* [[Mad Scientist]]
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=== Kang and Kodos ===
▲{{quote|Cyclopian aliens resembling giant green heads on writhing octopus tentacles, these two aliens from Rigel IV make guest appearances in some episodes but are most prominent in the "Simpson's Halloween" episodes, which are non-canonical horror anthologies.}}
* [[Aliens Speaking English]]: Rigellian coincidentally sounds just like English
* [[Cyclopean Creature]]: Only one eye.
* [[Halloween Episode]]: Traditionally, they've appeared in every installment, whether cameo appearance or part of the plot in a Halloween story (TOH I: "Hungry are they Dammed", TOH VI: "Citizen Kang", TOH IX: "Starship Poopers").
* [[Naughty Tentacles]]: Averted. They impregnate Marge by zapping her with a special ray gun instead of actually having sex with her.
* [[Starfish Aliens]]
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