The Simpsons vs. Arthur
is a story by Cartoonofan, featuring a Crossover between The Simpsons and Arthur. A new nuclear power plant is built in Elwood City and Homer is chosen to head it up, so the family moves there; Hilarity Ensues. Most of the story deals with the Simpson family's reaction to new neighbors who happen to be Funny Animals while the people of Elwood City (specifically, the Read family) deal with the crudeness of their new neighbors. Along the way, Lisa befriends her new classmates and discovers a secret about the plant.
Due to its' popularity, the author followed it up with The Simpsons Trial and Tribulations, which takes place 5 years in the future. This time, the cast of Arthur visits Springfield, freaking out the residents and running afoul of The Mafia.
The Simpsons vs. Arthur provides examples of:
- A-Cup Angst: In one of the post-chapter segments, Bart mocks Sue Ellen for this, saying she's "flatter than the American Midwest." This leads to the beatdown, mentioned above.
- Author Appeal: Sue Ellen & Lisa being tied up in the power plant is absolutely not because of this.
- Bound and Gagged: Lisa & Sue Ellen end up tied up near the end of the story.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Every chapter ends with Bart & Arthur having a conversation about something, then telling the audience to "read & review."
- Also, Arthur addresses the readers at the beginning, before Bart interrupts him.
- Brick Joke: Lisa worries about inviting Sue Ellen over to her house, and imagines Homer giving her a ball of yarn to play with, and commenting "she thinks she's people!" Later after Homer rescues both girls from the power plant Sue Ellen says she'll do anything to thank him; Homer promptly gives her a ball of yarn, which she kicks around like a soccer ball, causing him to reply with the above quote.
- Cannot Spit It Out: Sue Ellen is like this in regard to her feelings for Arthur. she gets better however, by the end.
- Cats Are Mean: Pal of course thinks this, so he's a bit shocked upon meeting Snowball II.
- Continuity Nod:
- The story is obviously set after The Simpsons Movie, with Lisa mentioning leaving Colin behind, Santa's Little Helper referencing the disappearance of Plopper, and Bart mentioning having a dome put over the town. This comes more into play in the sequel (see below).
- The "She thinks she's people!" line mentioned above in Brick Joke was previously used in both "Bart Gets an Elephant" and "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song".
- Despair Event Horizon: Sue Ellen has one after Mr. Burns leaves her and Lisa tied up in the power plant.
- Evil Plan: Burns' scheme; building a power plant in an out-of-the-way burg like Elwood City, cutting costs on construction to pocket the money for himself, then hiring an idiot (i.e. Homer) to run it, so when it blows up, he'll be blamed.
- Fauxreigner: In an attempt to not embarrass Lisa with his actions, Homer affects a British accent when he meets Sue Ellen. Unfortunately, this only embarrasses Lisa further.Sue Ellen: I didn't know your dad was British.Lisa: (snidely) He's not.
- Funny Animal: The people of Springfield see the Elwood City cast as real animals, and they are disturbed by them.
- Hot Skitty-on-Wailord Action: After the barflys discuss the possible origins of the Elwood City denizens, Moe says he wouldn't mind having sex with a rabbit woman, "because, you know."
- Imagine Spot: Though a staple of Arthur, actually used by Lisa when worrying what would happen if she invited Sue Ellen over.
- Insane Troll Logic: When telling Homer to be on his best behavior when Sue Ellen comes over, Marge says he shouldn't mention any of his "theories.""You mean like the one about how al-Queda was responsible for The Sopranos finale?"
- Karma Houdini: Burns gets away with his plan basically destroying Elwood City with a nuclear explosion by blaming the whole idea on Sen. Larry Craig note
- Lampshade Hanging: Lots, especially from the Simpsons crew regarding the people of Elwood City.
- Another example is when Lisa & Sue Ellen check out the Elwood nuclear plant, and the guard lets them pass without any ID or anything.
- Last-Second Word Swap: Sue Ellen does this when she and Lisa are tied up in the power plant after learning Mr. Burns' scheme.:"You're lucky, you've had several boyfriends. I've never even kissed Ar...any boy."
- Obligatory Swearing: Bart, natch
- Oh, Crap!: Bart's reaction when Sue Ellen, in one of the after chapter segments, tired of his constant comments, reminds him that she knows karate.
- Running Gag: Buster thinking the Simpson kids (specifically, Bart) are aliens.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: When asked about his job at the plant, Homer mentions about how he can do whatever he wants, including nap all day and eat doughnuts. After realizing that he said that to the Read family, he quickly adds "uh, not that I do that, of course."
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: One of the first things Bart does upon coming to Lakewood Elementary is try to find a "new Milhouse"; he ends up picking George.
- Also, the Simpson house in Elwood City is an exact replica of their old one from Springfield (except with no beer in the fridge, as Homer finds out).
- Take That!: After Homer breaks his British accent, he says that he had to watch lots of episodes of Doctor Who to perfect it. "Man does that show suck!"
- Totally Radical: In one of the post-chapter segments, Arthur tries to use some incredibly lame slang to prove to Bart that he's cool.Bart: Never do that again.
- Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Smithers asks Mr. Burns a question similar to this after he ties up Lisa & Sue Ellen in the power plant. Burns says he doesn't like to do major acts of evil until after supper.
The Simpsons Trial and Tribulations provides examples of:
- Author Appeal: The whole scene in the Legitimate Businessman's Social Club with the tied up Lindsay Naegle & Cookie Kwan serves no purpose other than this.
- Batman Gambit: Bart deliberately goads Jimbo and his pals to chase after him, so he can lead them to where Lisa is, then convince Sue Ellen they want to beat up Arthur so she'll use her karate skills on them.
- Bound and Gagged: The aforementioned Lindsay & Cookie end up tied up by Fat Tony and his crew as part of his latest scheme.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Arthur & Bart once again address the audience at the end of every chapter, save the last one.
- Call-Back: At the end of the previous story, Lisa & Sue Ellen promise to keep in touch by mail. At the beginning of this one, Sue Ellen tells Arthur about the message she got from Lisa, and Arthur asks if they still keep in touch. (They do, but by e-mail now, as Homer complained about the high price of stamps).
- Also, on the way to Springfield, Sue Ellen tells the others not to ask Colin if his dad is Bono. Buster then wonders if they can ask if his dad is Angus Young.
- When Arthur & crew meet the older Maggie, she doesn't remember much about Elwood City except "talking to some baby."
- Character Filibuster: Comic Book Guy talks about the Watchmen movie and how Hollywood has never made a faithful adaption of any of Alan Moore's works.
- Chekhov's Skill: Early in the story, Sue Ellen mentions her martial arts training allows her to take down both armed & unarmed assailants. Later, she uses her martial arts to take out Legs & Johnny Tightlips when they have guns trained on them.
- Comically Missing the Point: After Jimbo and his crew confront them, Lisa mentions that violence has never solved anything "haven't you learned anything from the Middle East conflict?" Jimbo replies that he learned what Hamas was.
- Continuity Nod:
- Lisa mentions how Jebediah Springfield turned out to be a pirate, while Sue Ellen mentions Jacob Katzellenbogen and the musical they did about him in "Elwood City Turns 100."
- When Krusty offers Francine the chance to be on his show, it mentions that she remembers her time on ''The Magic Toolbox''
- Bart convinces Fat Tony to let him go by reminding him of the time he mixed drinks for him, or when he and Homer took over for him when he was injured.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Sue Ellen vs. Jimbo and his pals; she easily takes down Jimbo & Dolph, so Kearney decides to leave to pick up his son.
- Dude, Not Funny!: Sideshow Mel tells Krusty that his making a joke about Nick Jonas' diabetes is why the Jonas Brothers no longer want to appear on his show.
- Flat Character: Lampshaded with Lewis, where Bart explains he's been trying out different personality types, since he doesn't really have one (that week, he's a rapper).
- Girl on Girl Is Hot: Invoked by Bart, when he films Lisa & Sue Ellen hugging.
- Hypocritical Humor: After Francine drives off Sherri & Terri, she mentions that her dad taught her not to use violence but, that if they come back, "I'll sock 'em!"
- I Kiss Your Hand: Colin does this to Sue Ellen, much to a jealous Arthur's displeasure.
- I Resemble That Remark!: Milhouse asks Bart how he could be friends with Arthur, what with that huge nose, and stupid glasses, before realizing that easily describes himself.
- Instant Humiliation Just Add Youtube: Apparently, a video Bart made of Milhouse falling down the stairs has over 250,000 hits on his website.
- Lame Comeback: After Jimbo and crew insult Arthur and his friends, he replies by saying that they're ugly. (Jimbo replies with "that sucked butt").
- Lampshade Hanging: It wouldn't be The Simpsons without it.
- Noodle Incident: Apparently, the zoo stopped dealing with the Springfield Mafia after they delivered them two "polar bears" (actually normal bears in white paint).
- No, You: At least two examples.Kearney: Yeah, what city do you come from, Lamesylvania?Alan: That doesn't make any sense.Dolph: Your face doesn't make sense.
- And later, when Lisa and the girls encounter Sherri & Terri;
Terri: I guess it's so tough for Lisa to make friends, that she has to hang out with zoo animals.Lisa: That doesn't make any sense.Sherri: Neither do your friends. - Not So Stoic: Sue Ellen tells her friends not to worry and that they'll escape from the mob. However, as she thinks about the fact that they have guns and have used them before, she suddenly breaks down and urges Arthur to hold her.Francine: When Sue Ellen loses it, that means we're totally boned.
- Plot Hole: At the Simpsons home, Francine complains about having to sleep in the basement with Plopper, despite the previous story establishing that the Simpsons no longer had him anymore.
Word of God is that the author didn't notice this until someone pointed it out to him in a review, and he didn't feel like fixing it. - Plot-Relevant Age-Up: This story takes place five years after the original, so all the kids are teenagers now.
- Self-Deprecation: When Lisa is commenting on all the different personalities they have in Springfield, she says that some of them are stereotypes and others may not make sense.
- Take That!: Against VH1 and their habit of giving every washed-up celebrity a reality show.
- The Springfield mafia claim they're the reason behind the success of Taylor Swift.
- Turned On Their Masters: Frink claims this will eventually happen to the super soldiers he's developing.
- What The Hell Bart?: Lisa asks this after Bart lets the Springfield Mafia keep the Elwood city kids in exchange for letting him and Lisa go. Turns out it was all part of Bart's plan to rescue them.
