List of fictional characters within The Simpsons
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Although The Simpsons is itself a show populated by fictional characters (see List of characters from The Simpsons), save celebrities who make cameos as themselves, there are a number of characters within the show's universe who are fictional to the Simpsons characters themselves.
These include characters from TV and movies, as well as characters who appear on Halloween "Treehouse of Horror" episodes, which do not fit the show's already-loose continuity.
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[edit] Recurring fictional characters
[edit] Radioactive Man
Radioactive Man is a comic book superhero of whom Bart and Milhouse are particular fans. In one episode of the same name, Springfield was host to a Radioactive Man Hollywood movie.
[edit] Fallout Boy
In the series, Fallout Boy first appeared in a 1950s Radioactive Man film serial shown at a comic book convention in the episode "Three Men and a Comic Book", and it was implied that the actor who played Fallout Boy might have been gay. However, unlike many Simpsons characters, he has only made a handful of appearances since. While Radioactive Man is a broad parody of many superheroes, most obviously containing elements of Batman and Superman (and the comic incorporates an origin story similar to Marvel's The Hulk), among others, Fallout Boy is mainly a parody of Robin (with his costume, references as being the 'young ward' of Radioactive Man, and his younger age and sidekick status) with elements of Spider-Man (his fictional comic book origin, for example). His catchphrase: "Jiminy jillickers!"
Additionally, Fallout Boy also appears in a real-life comic book titled Radioactive Man, published by Bongo Comics (a comic created in part by Matt Groening, the creator of The Simpsons). In these comic books, Fallout Boy's real name is Rod Runtledge, he has a brother named Dodd Runtledge, and they live in Zenith City. Rod is a high school nerd living with his aunt, Aunt June, an obvious reference to Spider-Man's alter ego, Peter Parker, who lives with his Aunt May.
Fallout Boy was an average book worm, until one day, he was at a Radioactive demonstration, where he met up with Claude Kane (Radioactive Man). A tall piece of machinery fell towards them. Claude grabbed Rod and jumped over the rail, Claude holding onto the machine. The machine came to life, and as the ray passed through Claude, it hit Rod. Rod then got a pint sized version of RM's powers, and became Fallout Boy.
Milhouse was chosen to play Fallout Boy in the Radioactive Man movie. Rock band Fall Out Boy is named after this character.
[edit] The Happy Little Elves
The Happy Little Elves are a parody of The Smurfs, who appeared more often in the show's earlier episodes. They are a favorite of Lisa and Maggie Simpson. Bart, however, hates them and refers to them as "The Crappy Little Elves". The movies they starred in include Return of the Happy Little Elves, An Unnamed Christmas Movie, The Happy Little Elves Meet The Curious Bear Cubs, The Happy Little Elves in Tinkly Winkly Town (although the subtitles read Happy Little Alison Tinkly Winkly Town), and The Happy Little Elves meet Fuzzy Snuggleduck. They were first mentioned in The Tracey Ullman Short, Scary Movie. The most recent appearance they had was in "Dial N for Nerder" in March, 2008. In more current episodes they appear as posters in the rooms of Lisa and Maggie.
[edit] Itchy & Scratchy
Itchy and Scratchy are a super-violent cartoon cat and mouse duo in the style of Tom and Jerry featured on the Krusty the Klown Show. Homer provided the voice for a cartoon dog named Poochie, who costarred with Itchy and Scratchy for a few cartoons (see entry below for Poochie). Bart refers in one episode to several characters from "the short-lived Itchy & Scratchy & Friends Hour": Uncle Ant, Disgruntled Goat, Ku Klux Klam, and Rich Uncle Skeleton. In yet another episode, Itchy and Scratchy were temporarily replaced with "Eastern Europe's favorite cat and mouse team, Worker and Parasite". Itchy and Scratchy were originally intended only to parody Tom and Jerry, but their cartoon shorts proved very popular and became a regular part of the show.
[edit] Malibu Stacy
Malibu Stacy is a doll for young girls. It is an obvious parody of a Barbie doll (the Barbie doll line included a doll named Stacey from 1968-1970). Waylon Smithers of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant owns the largest collection of Malibu Stacy dolls in the world. He also took a leave of absence from the power plant to produce and star in Sold Separately - a musical based on the life of Malibu Stacy. Malibu Stacy comes with a wide range of often ludicrous accessories, such as the "Malibu Stacy Lunar Rover".
Stacy was designed by Stacy Lovell, and her life is based on that of her creator. Lovell was in turn eventually dropped by her own company for funnelling profits to the Viet Cong. The doll was originally designed to be edible, but while kids didn't much like the taste of dried onion meal, they loved the dolls. A second, plastic Malibu Stacy took America by storm. Older Malibu Stacy dolls featured breasts that were so large and pointy that they could poke out children's eyes, and were consequently recalled.
When 'Talking Malibu Stacy' dolls were introduced, pulling a string on the doll's back provided typically vapid catchphrases that were demeaning to women (such as "Don't ask me, I'm just a girl!"). Lisa fronted an effort to produce a competing doll called "Lisa Lionheart", which would act as a more positive female role model. Its sales were disappointingly low because of the simultaneous release of "Malibu Stacy With New Hat".
The "Talking Malibu Stacy" controversy was a parody of the Teen Talk Barbie controversy.
[edit] McBain
McBain is a movie action hero played by fictional actor Rainier Wolfcastle, a parody of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis (his name is a play on the character of John McClane from the Die Hard movies) for their film personae, and also Clint Eastwood in the Dirty Harry movies. McBain movies feature many action movie clichés, such as a policeman being gunned down just before retirement, and one-liners before dispatching enemies. The villain for at least one of his movies (if not the whole series) appears to be "Mendoza." The films also parody The Terminator in many respects. Some of his movies include, McBain: You Have the Right to Remain Dead, McBain: Let's Get Silly ("The entire movie is me standing against a brick wall for an hour and a half. It cost 80 million dollars."), and the McBain films up to McBain 5: The Final Chapter.
[edit] McGarnagle
McGarnagle (voiced by Dan Castellaneta) is the main character of a television series that parodies the 'hard-boiled cop' stereotype of action movies. In the TV show almost every line includes "McGarnagle" somewhere. McGarnagle is similar in appearance, voice and behavior to Clint Eastwood's character of Harry Callahan from the Dirty Harry films and is described as 'the policeman who solves crimes in his spare time'.
McGarnagle appears in two episodes: "Bart's Inner Child" and "The Boy Who Knew Too Much".
DVD subtitles misspell the character's name as "McGonigle".
[edit] Ozmodiar
Ozmodiar is a parody of the Great Gazoo from The Flintstones and is said to only be seen by Homer Simpson. However, he has been seen speaking briefly to Bart and Lisa in "HOMR". Also, he has spoken to Troy McClure in the "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase" episode where Ozmodiar was introduced.
[edit] The Seven Duffs
The Seven Duffs are characters at the Duff Gardens theme park. The "Duffs" are a reference to Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, although Duff Gardens is an obvious parody of Busch Gardens. The Seven Duffs are named Tipsy, Queasy, Surly, Sleazy, Edgy, Dizzy and Remorseful. The only one that has spoken so far is Surly: "Hey, Surly only looks out for one guy...Surly! "Shut Up" and "Take a picture, it'll last longer. Get outta here!" While waving to people at the Duff Dayz Beer Festival, "Drink Duff (covers mouth with hand) responsibly." All seven can be seen on a rotating poster in Moe's Tavern in The Simpsons: Hit & Run.
[edit] Lard Lad
Lard Lad is the mascot of Lard Lad donuts, a doughnut making company. He is a parody of Bob's Big Boy mascot, and the Lard Lad donut store bears a strong resemblence to Randy's Donuts. He is shown holding the "Colossal Donut". He first appears in Treehouse of Horror VI when Homer tries to get a colassal donut but there is no such thing and then Homer steals the real one which he is holding. He appears again in Girly Edition and a smaller more compact version of him appears in She of Little Faith. He also appears as a boss in The Simpsons Game in which the player plays as Bart and Homer (who is not used to fight) and Bart must turn into Bartman and then must use a slingshot to fire at his hatches and must find a point large enough to jump to his hatch before it closes. In November 2007 a Lard Lad and Homer playset was released by McFarlane Toys.
[edit] Poochie
When network executives decided that The Itchy and Scratchy Show needed an "update" to keep the interest of its audience, they devised Poochie, a cartoon dog "with an attitude". After widespread auditions, Homer was chosen to provide Poochie's voice. The character debuted to an unreceptive audience following a massive publicity campaign; he only served to interfere with the well-oiled machine of hyperviolent slapstick that Itchy and Scratchy had perfected over the years. When dissatisfied viewers flooded the network with letters crying for Poochie's immediate removal, if not death, the executives quickly decided to get rid of the character. Homer begged for another chance, insisting that Poochie would grow on the audience; this argument held little weight until the actress who performed voices for both Itchy and Scratchy declared her support for Poochie as well. Homer was shocked, however, when the next cartoon aired: it contained a hastily-animated, retroscripted segment stating that Poochie had decided to return to his "home planet", and that he died when his spaceship crashed.
He has since been seen once in a cameo at a funeral in an Itchy & Scratchy cartoon featured in Little Big Mom. Also in "Treehouse of Horror IX", he skateboards in the road and gets run over by Scratchy. He also continues to be released in Itchy & Scratchy related merchandise. A matrix Poochie als appears in Kill Gil Vols. 1 & 2 during the Krusty on ice show and a Poochie balloon appears in the cartoon in Funeral for a Fiend.
Poochie reappears in The Simpsons Game as a boss on the Grand Theft Scratchy level.
[edit] One-time fictional characters
[edit] Amendment To Be
Sings a right-wing parody of the 70s Schoolhouse Rock educational song "I'm Just A Bill" in "The Day the Violence Died". He is voiced by Jack Sheldon, the original voice of the Schoolhouse Rock shorts.
[edit] Dash Dingo
Dash Dingo is an obvious parody of a popular videogame character named Crash Bandicoot. Dash Dingo has an Australian accent and wears stereotypical clothes. He appears in "Lisa Gets an "A"". In "Lard of the Dance", Dash Dingo appeared as the mascot for a store named Dingo Junction.
[edit] Death
In the 'Reaper Madness' segment of "Treehouse of Horror XIV", Death comes for Bart. After a comical around-the-house chase (Yakety Sax is played as background music), Homer kills Death (in revenge for "Snowball I and JFK") with a bowling ball. After dumping the bones in the trash, Homer tries on Death's robe. The flesh of his arm quickly rots away as he realises that he has become the new Grim Reaper. Homer soon becomes used to being Death and having a skeletal appendage that, when touching people, kills them. He is sent to claim the life of Jasper, one of the residents at the Springfield Retirement Castle. When he sees that Homer has filled the position, the old man inquires, "Where's the regular guy? Where's Doug?" Homer informs Jasper that he has taken over for him, to which Jasper wistfully replies "Aw, I liked Doug." Homer then kills him.
[edit] Funzo
Funzo was the toy released by the "Kids First" toy company in Grift of the Magi. It is an obivious parody of Furby including spouting cute phrases and coming in various colors. But many people do not know that the toy was programmed to destroy other toys that kids got for Christmas which then had Homer go to people's houses taking their Funzo toys while dressed as Santa Claus while Bart and Lisa sang carols to the families as a distraction. At the end Gary Coleman destroyed all the Funzo toys by fire, revealing a "Terminator"-style endoskeleton. A Funzo ad then appears in Funeral for a Fiend and also one appears on Bart's shelf in Treehouse of Horror XVIII. The clip of Homer stealing the Funzo toys also appeared in Gump Roast.
[edit] Lisa Lionheart
Lisa Lionheart is a doll created by Lisa Simpson and Stacy Lovell. It was designed as competition for the Malibu Stacy line of dolls. When it was first released, all the young girls, as well as Waylon Smithers, were after it, but were literally intercepted in the store before they could reach the display of dolls by a cart of Talking Malibu Stacy dolls with new hats, leading to the complete failure of Lisa Lionheart.
Later, the Lisa Lionheart doll appears in the video game The Simpsons Hit & Run as a collector card in level 3.
[edit] Mr. Sparkle
Mr. Sparkle (ミスタースパーコル Misutā Supākoru?) is a Japanese dishwashing detergent mascot who bears a strong resemblance to Homer Simpson that "banished dirt to the land of wind and ghosts." Voiced by Sab Shimono in "In Marge We Trust". Homer spends the majority of the episode thinking his likeness was being used without his permission until a video from Mr. Sparkle's parent company explains it came from combining a cartoon fish (Matsumoto Fishworks) and a light bulb (Tamarabuchi Heavy Manufacturing Concern). To sum up the explanation provided by the video, Bart says to Homer, "There's your answer, fishbulb." Mr. Sparkle appears in The Simpsons Game speaking English and is voiced by Hank Azaria. His advertisement also reappears in Funeral for a Fiend.
[edit] Worker and Parasite
Worker and Parasite are a cartoon cat and mouse, vaguely similar to Itchy and Scratchy, who appear during the episode "Krusty Gets Kancelled". When Itchy and Scratchy move to the Gabbo show, which competes briefly with the Krusty the Clown show, Krusty is forced to air a popular Russian cartoon called Worker and Parasite as a replacement. He introduces them as "Eastern Europe's favorite cat and mouse team". The cartoon begins with an introduction in foreign words. The cartoon then rolls and they hop around insanely and speak an unintelligible language. They eventually jump into a furnace and are heard muttering what sounds like "so much fire!" The end credits simply read "Endut Hoch Hech!" When it finishes, a completely dumbfounded Krusty exclaims, "What the hell was that?"
[edit] Angelica Button
The Angelica Button series parodies the Harry Potter. The books were written by T.R. Francis. It has been mentioned in two episodes.
[edit] Titles
Three titles of the books have been released in two episodes of The Simpsons.
- Angelica Button and The Dragon King’s Trundle Bed
- Angelica Button and the Teacup of Terror
- Angelica Button and the Deadly Denouncement
[edit] Characters
- Angelica Button
- Minister of Niceness Lord Evilton
- Professor Skizzletwitch
- Maluicious Krubb
- Headmaster Greystash
