WMG / The Simpsons

---

Simpson family theories

The Simpson family's money problems or lack there of

The reason that for the last ten seasons or so it always seems like the Simpsons have enough money, despite always being nearly broke in the early years of the show is that Mister Burns has been paying off Homer, as the nuclear plant's safety inspector, to overlook the many appalling safety violations that could shut the plant down. Homer being who he is doesn't realize what the payola is for and thinks it's for being a good nuclear guy. Mister Burns doesn't realize that Homer's laxness at enforcing safety regs is due to stupidity and laziness rather than a desire to play ball and keeps the payola coming.

• Alternatively the Simpsons have plenty of money. Being THE safety inspector for a nuclear power plant he could easily pull 6 figures. Their money problems come from ALL of the foolish things that Homer spends money on. For example, Homer bought $1100 of Itchy and Scratchy money- and suddenly (even with his salary) it is too hard to pay the electric bill!
  • A little from Column A and a little from Column B. Or alternately:

The Simpson Gene does not make Simpson Males stupid

We have seen from both Homer and Bart occasional flashes of brilliance through the rapid acquisition of skills and displays of talent that run contrary to their claimed stupidity. Also, we see that Abraham Simpson had been a small unit commander who was successful in leading his unit through some of the hardest fighting of the European theater in WW2 without any recorded cases of fatalities in his unit and in his post-war civilian life he had been president of the Gay Lesbian Alliance for some reason. The real fault of the Simpson Y chromosome is not because it causes the Simpson males to become stupid but rather it causes them to become extremely impulsive resulting in them prone in making bad decisions without forethinking

Homer and Burns are secretly in cahoots.

Mr Burns and Homer are secretly in cahoots. Burns is bribing Homer, as the nuclear plant's safety inspector, to overlook the many appalling safety violations that could shut the plant down. Homer accepts the extra cash and forges documents that give a clean safety bill and destroys documents that point out any safety violations. That's the reason why Homer is so lax at enforcing safety regs; it's not due to stupidity and laziness, he just doesn't care, because if any important accident happens, he knows that he can just push a button to stop it and will alter the documents to say that everything was fine.

• If Matt Groening, Al Jean and James L. Brooks all denied this to my face, I would still suspect it.
• All the toxic runoff and radiation from the near misses will add up over the years; what if that's what caused the extreme exacerbation of the Springfieldians' flaws?

Homer and Krusty are secret half-brothers.

Originally their look-alike appearance was meant to be part of a plot they were the same character, but that was dropped early on. We know Grandpa Simpson has at least two illegitimate children, and while Krusty is clearly older he's usually meant to be in his 50s-early 60s (it's unclear). Abraham Simpson is 83, so timing-wise it might just work. Perhaps back in his youth Grandpa Really Gets Around, and Rabbi Krustofsky's wife had an affair with him. It might be partly why they had trouble getting along with Krusty wanted to be a clown; he inherited Simpson wackiness. Also, he suspected he wasn't really his son. The Simpson gene of being stupid is present in Krusty, specifically in the form of his Conspicuous Consumption and poor business strategies.

Marge and Homer could be siblings.

When Marge's mother and Homer's father met in an episode, their attraction is immediate and they start dating, as if they not only knew each other but had a romantic history. This means Marge and Homer could be half-siblings... which explains the family's yellow skin and numerous cracks about their family inbreeding.

• Then how do you explain everyone in Springfield, and the entire world (except people of non-Caucasian origin) being yellow-skinned (ironically the Asians, once derogatorily referred to as 'yellow people', are white)?
  • Actually, not all Asians are depicted with pale skin.

Bart practices Obfuscating Stupidity

Whenever he's tasked with something other than school work, he tends to show intelligence and aptitude. But the minute he's in a school setting, he's shown to be a straight F student, dumber than a sack of hammers. Bart just hates school, and it's easier for him to get away with his behaviour if everyone thinks he's stupid, when in fact he simply can't be bothered with it.

• Canon: there's a difference between "stupid" and "underachiever". Hmmm...wasn't it the line "Underachiever and Proud of It" which provoked Bush père into making the show a Moral Guardian target, albeit not quite in such a Windmill Crusader fashion as Quayle's attack on Murphy Brown?
  • Lisa "proved" Bart is less intelligent than a hamster. Does it matter, though, whether this happened before or after the show Jumped the Shark?
    • He's spent too much time pretending to be stupid.

The Simpson Gene skipped a generation with Bart.

Not only does he still have hair in all of the potential futures shown, but let's not forget the many Hidden Depths he's shown to have through the course of the series—how many polyglots his age do you know?

Bart Simpson really loves cross-dressing.

Bart seems to get a lot of enjoyment out of wearing girl's clothes:

• In "Lisa The Beauty Queen" he shows Lisa how to walk in high heels. He is good at it, implying that he has worn them before several times.
• In "I Love Lisa" when Ralph invites Lisa to a Krusty the Clown concert, Bart offers to attend in her place, cross-dressed as her.
• In "Marge In Chains" he fantasizes about disguising himself as a woman in order to get Marge out of jail.
• In "Two Dozen and One Greyhounds" Bart's socks get eaten by his dog's newborn children. Thus, he is forced to wear Lisa's fancy girl socks to school. However, he also chooses to wear one of her skirts as well, even though he doesn't have to.
• In "Homer's Phobia" Bart wears a large women's wig while dancing in one scene.
• In "Brother's Little Helper" Bart steals and wears a girl's cheerleader outfit for fun.
• In "Grift Of The Magi" Bart and Milhouse both try on Marge's dresses and wear wigs. Bart is reluctant to at first, but after Milhouse says "Scared you'll like it?" he admits that he does like it.

Bart is The Antichrist

At the end of Gone Maggie Gone, he does end up turning everything into a living hell.

Lisa is actually Al Gore

Environmental obsession, everyone?

• Her talk in the movie was called An Irritating Truth.

Abe and Mona Simpson were already related before marriage.

Similar to the previous WMG. This is the only way to fit 'The Color Yellow' into the (admittedly feeble) continuity. Abe was descended from Virgil and Mabel, while Mona was descended from Eliza's part of the family after Hiram remarried.

• If so, this means Lisa is related to Milhouse from both her paternal grandparents.

Lester and Eliza are descended from Eliza Simpson.

This explains why they look so much like Bart and Lisa. Presumably, their entire family consists of Simpsons lookalikes.

Lester and Eliza's father is Guy Incognito (Homer's lookalike)

Guy Incognito is Homer's half-brother

We know Abe has at least two illegitimate children. Guy has a vaguely British accent, and Abe fathered a child while stationed in Britain during World War II.

Ling Bouvier in "Changing of the Guardian" was suddenly made a toddler by the same person or force who made Gary Andrews into a rat.

The Simpson family themselves are marionettes, with each performed personally by Matt Groening

• Seeing as how Conflict Ball, heartwarming moments, and character development episodes have no long-term effect on them, and how they can mingle so well with almost every celebrity-of-the-week.

The Simpsons Gene does not actually make the Simpsons dumber.

In "The City of New York VS Homer Simpson", Homer attempts to figure out how long 9:00am to 5:00pm is using denominators. Maybe this isn't because he doesn't know how to solve time: it's because he doesn't remember how to.The gene kicking in at 8 even makes sense. This is around the age, give or take, that children begin to find new ways of solving problems. Homer and Bart (and the rest of the Simpsons males) understand all of these methods: they just don't know which to use.

Lisa won't ever graduate from higher education

Every time she gets into or is offered a chance to go to a private school she ends up back in Springfield Elementary. The only time she is shown with a diploma it is rolled up in her hand so it may just be a gift from the family (or her trying to pass it off as real to her family). The school she went to in that episode was also a private school which again she has a bad track record of staying in.

Homer is actually bisexual, but his marriage to Marge and lingering homophobia stops him from fully realizing a homosexual relationship.

He can't be gay because he's clearly attracted to Marge and he thought that Mindy woman was hot. But then again, he also called Ned Flanders sexy, so if he really is attracted to both men and women, he's bisexual. Several times now Homer has been drawn in by the looks of other men, gushing over them and engaging in romantic and perverted activities with them. He's been Mistaken for Gay hundreds of times, and he's even been able to engage in relationships with other men such as Chief Wiggum, Fat Tony and Barney Gumble that border on(And have been portrayed as/joked about) being romantic and sexual in nature. When he questions if Marge is truly his soul mate, he suspects Barney right out the gate of being his true soul mate. Although Homer's come to terms with his homophobia when it comes to other people, he's still afraid of being gay himself, which causes him to become absolutely frightened and run away when his homoerotic interactions are brought to his attention. When he's allowed to develop a homosexual relationship on his own terms without anyone pointing it out to him however, he falls into the role quite easily without any protest. It's his love for and marriage to Marge that keeps him from fully acting on his desires and even then he has a hard time coming back around to her sometimes.

• Supporting this is that Lisa has been shown to date both women and men in the future, it is possible she inherited her sexuality from her dad. To show this wasn't a one episode joke, there was a storyline that introduced a young girl, Taffy, that started dating Milhouse only to brake up with him once she sees that Lisa has been stacking them, Lisa when asked about her behaviour by Milhouse, said she didn't know then kisses him.
  • He seems pretty lax as of later episodes. I'd say by now, he's open about it and willing to experiment if Marge ever lets.

Abbie, Homer's suspected half-sister, is a transwoman.

That's why she exhibits the traditional male Simpsons gene and otherwise looks like a female Homer. When we see that woman that looks like Homer in Brother From the Same Planet, we are in fact looking at Abbie. Her mother is just really open-minded, so doesn't make any mention of this.

Homer will die in a glorious manner

Homer, despite his flaws, has done many awesome things in his life: gone into space, win a Grammy, stopped a nuclear blast with his enormous ass. If he should die, it must be on one final adventure.

Homer's Jerkass behavior is due to guilt over Frank Grimes

In the early Simpsons, you could call Homer a slob, a bad dad, and a bum, but you could never call him heartless. He clearly had empathy for the people around him. Why else would he take a second job and buy Lisa a pony so she would talk to him again? Why else would he dig like crazy to get his son Bart out of a well, despite him pulling a despicable prank? Why would he save the business of a neighbor he frequently bemoans? Because he did honestly care about the feelings of those around him. Then comes Frank Grimes, a man who rejects Homer for his very existence. Homer felt bad about what he did to Grimes, and tried to make it up to him, and when that only angered Grimes, he tried to change his work ethic. When Grimes blew up and killed himself, Homer felt terrible about how his efforts to help Grimes ended up blowing up in his face, so he stopped caring about people in his guilt.

The Simpson Gene doesn't lead to stupidity - it causes bad luck

The three main male Simpsons aren't necessarily stupid - Grandpa Abe is just really old and senile, but he's shown to be a competent soldier during his war flashbacks (despite Mr. Burns preventing him from killing Hitler). Homer was a genius before the crayon incident, and Bart is a classic case of Book Dumb. Seems like the characters' failures are caused by something else - even Herb, Homer's successful brother, has a habit of repeatedly losing his fortune despite his brilliance.

Mona and Abe are distant cousins.

Explaining the discrepancy between the "The Simpsons Uncensored Family Album" and "The Color Yellow." We don't know anything about Mother Simpson asides from the name of her parents, so it's possible. While Grandpa is descended from Virgil's son Abraham, Mona comes from Mabel's original child, Eliza; Mona and Abe are half-third cousins. All Abraham has do to is claim he's a full third cousin to hide he's 1/16th black (like changing Abraham to "Howland") and they'll be fine(no-one's gonna care if you share the same great-great grandparent).

Jacqueline Bouvier is... Jacqueline Bouvier.

In another universe (ours), she was a socialite who married President Kennedy and then Ari Onassis. In this universe, she lost her money and all of her friends went insane (she knew Zelda Fitzgerald, Frances Farmer and Sylvia Plath), so she ended up marrying a young man who was so enamored of her that he changed his name to match hers, rather than vice versa.

Princess Kashmir/Shauna Tifton and Herb's mother Gaby are related.

They look very similar, except for their different hair colors. Princess Kashmir may be dyeing her hair for her act.

Marge is closeted bisexual.

She may have noticed when she was younger, but was afraid to act on them, let alone admit it to herself. She was in denial about Patty's sexuality because she was afraid for her sister, and is envious of how easy Patty came to terms with her sexuality. She suppressed her own bisexuality when she married Homer (at least, he's the one man she truly loves and she does find other men attractive), but her bisexuality began to resurface many years later. The first time being when Belle touched her hand (noticed how uneasy Marge looked◊). Since then, being near attractive women makes her uncomfortable (like the lady who pressed her breasts against Marge's window and Lady Gaga coming onto her).

Marge has been Mistaken for Prostitute on a regular basis.

The episode "Mobile Homer" wasn’t the first time, and certainly wasn't the last. I mean, she regularly wears a strapless dress and has her hair in an extravagant beehive do. It certainly does attract a lot of admirers (Moe, for instance). It may also be one of the reasons why she doesn't have any friends.

Marge buys Lisa's dress from the Little Hooker department in Costington's.

Lisa seems a little too young to wear a strapless dress, yet Marge buys them because they're similar to the dress she used to wear herself as a kid. The female clerk was too eager to show the clothesline because she thought Lisa was a "pretty blonde party-girl" with her red dress and pearls. Also, Lisa is aware her dress is "mighty short", because it was made to show off her legs more, but also more prone to panty shots.

The reason Marge sent Bart to Moe's after he played a prank call on Moe is to have the two meet face-to-face

At some point, she started to have suspicions on why the phone bills have been dramatically increased. Overhearing Bart prank calling Moe regarding Bea O'Problem has proven her point. Therefore, she ordered him to go to Moe's in order to arrange a meeting between them under the ruse that she needs him to bring his father home. Also, she doesn't chew out Bart for taking too long after he went there as if she knew he finally met Moe years after.

Marge wants Lisa to follow in her footsteps as a homemaker.

She not only doesn't like jazz either, but doesn't want Lisa to become a famous jazz musician. While Marge herself has tried to make something of herself when she was younger, she's also afraid to take risks and finds comfort as a stay-at-home housewife. She based her life on the philosophy of the Malibu Stacy dolls ("Now let's forget our troubles with a bowl of strawberry ice cream"). She tries to get Lisa to see that being a homemaker isn't that bad. Also related to the theory above, Marge has a part in preventing Lisa from getting a higher education.

There'll be an episode where Marge starts gambling again and uses Lisa to help her win.

The moment in "The Old Man and the Key" hinted a possible episode idea.

Lisa: Grampa and Bart must be in that theater.
Marge: (grabs Lisa's arm) Bet you they're not, three to one.
Lisa: Mom, you're hurting me.

Bart is strawberry blond.

In one episode he has been shown to have natural red hair. He said he dyed it blond. Even when he was little it was blond. So he probably has very dark strawberry blond. Ignore the impossibilities of this theory. The Simpsons isn't sensible.

• I'd call that hair color either yellow or Venetian Blond, which is a dyed hair color but can be a variant of strawberry blond in a cartoony universe.

If Bart had Tried to get his revenge on Don Brodka,

It would have backfired on Bart. Don would have beaten Bart up, and had him ended up in court. Bart would have ended up in court and be found guilty for not only shoplifting at Try-and-Save, but for attempted murder as well. Don Brodka would have convinced Judge Roy Snyder to sentence Bart Simpson either to life in the adult prison, deported to another country, or worse (sentence to death). Afterwards, Don Brodka would have sent the Simpsons family away forever.

• Alternatively, Bart would halved either shoot up Try-and-Save or bombed it killing hundreds of people (including children) for his revenge. But Don would have survived and not only would he stopped Bart, but would beat him up senslessly for committing high treason and terrorism. Don would have bart sentence to death to the electric chair. Afterwards, he would have beaten up Marge for poor parenting, and still went the Simpsons away for good. Don would have been celebrated as a hero of America, and Bart would have been known as the traitor who ruined Christmas.
  • Kinda dark, isn't it?

Homer Dies All The Time Ever

Whenever some event happens that should logically result in Homer's death, he does in fact die, and the rest of the episode takes place in a new reality created by his brain, which he is then brought back to life in. Because Homer would have remained dead in the time it takes his brain to create a new reality, brain cells start dying, making him stupider. Every continuity error or instance of Flanderization is a result of Homer's decaying mind not able to completely recreate the previous reality. The series will end when the last of his brain cells finally die.

• That would explain how someone as stupid as Homer could be a nuclear engineer- he used to be smart (even with the crayon in his brain).
  • Alternatively: Homer is suffering the same fate as the Bikura in the Hyperion Cantos—at some point he ran across the Shrike which implanted a cruciform in him which guaranteed a sort of immortality and, like the Bikura, each regeneration diminishes his intelligence

Homer is a literal example of quantum immortality

Every time Homer does something stupid that should result in his death or maiming the show switches to an alternate reality where he somehow survives. With time Homer, who started off with sub-par intelligence, comes to ignore everyone around him who warns him about danger because they've been wrong literally every time in the past. Hence his Flanderization as the series has progressed.

• With some adjustments this could explain why there's so little change in the town and why all the characters become more and more extremely caricatured with time - the idea behind quantum suicide is applied not just to death but also to major negative consequences to all actions for most of the town's inhabitants most of the time. Because none of the town's natives ever suffer any real negative reinforcement due to their actions, they never learn to temper their behaviour to make themselves more acceptable to the world at large.

Homer really did sleep with Mindy, he just imagined she was Marge

"Marge" is wearing the exact same dress and it's in the exact same hotel room. Homer just imagines she was Marge to relive his guilt.

Bart had a crush on Mrs. Krabappel.

He's enemies with her on school related manners. However, when it's other issues, like her dating woes, Bart was always the one to either give her helpful advice or simply listen to her problems. She even at one point depressingly remarked that Bart is the closest thing to a man in her life in Bart The Lover.

Grandpa Simpson was making up the story of the Simpsons being descendants of black people.

He just made all that up to make Lisa feel better. Seriously, he even says so himself that most of his stories are total bull. He's a doddering, senile old man.

Homer is a pyrokinetic, and doesn't know it.

Remember that episode where he somehow sets breakfast cereal on fire? Or that episode where he lightly strokes a Christmas tree and it bursts into flames? Or that episode where he and a bunch of his drunk buddies drive carelessly in his car in the school, causing a soccer goal to explode for no apparent reason? Rule of funny aside, this is the best possible explanation.

• Homer isn't just a pyrokinetic, but can manipulate any kind of radiation. This would explain why in "Homer Goes To College", he causes a radioactive meltdown without any nuclear material.

The whole series is just Lisa making RPF of her childhood

I may like the "Armin Tamzarian" idea all I want, but I also like my old headcanon about this story: in-universe it's just Lisa writing RPF fanfiction about her principal. Heck, if you said that "The Simpsons" is just Lisa writing RPF fanfiction about her childhood, it wouldn't be far from the Doylist truth. Maybe the 1000th episode is a more realistic looking adult Lisa finishing to write the 999th episode and sending the 999 episodes to Fox to become a TV series. It turns out that although Maggie didn't exist (and possibly neither did the pets) Homer, Marge, and Bart had pretty much the same personalities as the show. And for the others:

- Homer's boss wasn't a supervillain, just a regular rich guy with more than one Smithers-like lackey.

- Homer went to more than one bar with his friends. Moe is just a caricature. Bart never actually prank called the same place twice. Lenny, Carl, and Barney are just workplace friends of Homer that he tends to hang out with a lot in several bars and discoteques and whatever.

- Bart and Lisa never really did meet the school staff in their free time. They were never more than acquaintances to them, although Bart did get taken to the principal's office a lot, said principal was just a principal to them, just as entrenched in their lives as any other principal was to the kids they were a principal of. Lisa probably never even saw his (her?) face in person.

- Milhouse is Lisa's husband, who actually she met when they were both adults. He's actually the one who made Itchy & Scratchy. They do indeed have Zia van Houten together, and she does indeed look just like Lisa.

- The Flanders were a mishmash of various religious/dowdy elderly couples in Lisa's various places she lived in.

- Homer's dad Abraham was indeed the grandparent that Lisa and Bart saw of the most, and he was just like in the show, but Penelope "Mona" Olsen wasn't actually a runaway hippie, she was a regular motherly woman that died of cancer when Bart and Lisa were little.

- Patty and Selma are just like in the show but actually the reason why they were single is that they happened to never have found true love until they were middle-aged. Patty was either aroace or lesbian and never married, while Selma got married as an elder and adopted Ling, who was closer in age to Zia than to Lisa.

- Herschel Krustowski, Robert Terwiliger, and Melvin Van Horne just were and are Lisa's and Bart's favorite celebrities. Lisa and Bart never met them in person.

- Pretty much all the other characters are just amalgamates of people in Lisa's life.

- Season 1 is loosely based on real events. The rest are the fruit of Lisa's imagination. They did accidentally get a dog as a Christmas present, Bart did cheat by copying a classmate, Homer did get fired and return to then have a new promotion, they did go to a picnic at Homer's boss' place, Bart did rally his classmates - including the one he did copy from - against a bully, Lisa did get inspired to play sax by Bleeding Gums Murphy (but never met him in person), they did go camping on a RV, Bart did try to steal the statue of the town founder, Homer did buy Marge a bowling ball as a birthday gift, Bart did buy a camera and snap pictures of strip clubs, Bart and Lisa were sent to France as an exchange program, Bob Terwiliger did actually steal stuff pretending to be Herschel Krustowski and it went as a famous parodied celebrity event but nobody Lisa knew was there and it happened in another town, and Marge did call a radio terapist for her marriage to Homer and have Bart and Lisa babysat by someone.

- Season 2 is literally full of RPF plots.

- Season 3 is when Lisa decided to tackle real life issues.

- Season 4 is when Lisa tried to do dramatic.

- Season 5 is when Lisa tried to flesh out the side characters and make episodes about them. Hence why the 100th episode is all about Skinner. Lisa is trying to make him into a sort-of 5th main character of the RPF thing.

- Season 6/7 is pretty much still full of RPF plots.

- Season 8 is also full of RPF plots.

- Season 9 is also trying to tackle real life issues.

- Season 10 became more comedic.

Most of the episodes are true events. But "Principal and the Pauper" was a RPF fic by Lisa Simpson about Seymour.

This is why it is mostly ignored except for one time where Lisa calls him Principal Tamzarian.

It's all in Marge's head

In the episode "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge" everything that happens after Marge is admitted into the insane asylum (and every episode since) is just a deluded fantasy in Marge's mind. The way she effortlessly escapes the asylum; the way the Krusty the Clown show goes from being a children's show to a late-night talk show that talks exclusively about her; and especially the moment that Becky just happens to admit to plotting all the things Marge expected her to (before disappearing from existence).

Grandpa Simpson once had feelings for Mr. Burns' mother.

In "New Kid on the Block", Grandpa Simpson reveals he fell for "the oldest woman", who was 120. Later on, it would be revealed that Mr Burns' mother is still alive, at the staggering old age of 122. Two years ago Abraham fell for Mr. Burns' mom, who ended up with the Guinness Book of World Records (the actual record holder, Jeanne Calment, was 117 when this episode aired). Mr. Burns didn't know this though, since he and his mom don't have much contact.

Bart will get a bear at some point.

Remember 'They'll Never Stop the Simpsons'? "Marge becomes a robot" was done as a cutaway gag in "The Heartbroke Kid", "how bout a crazy wedding" happened in 'Rome-old and Juli-eh'... it's only a matter of time before he gets that bear.

• Didnt Lisa have a bear in 18x2 Jazzy and the Pussycats?
• Bart already has a bear and it's living in the basement.
  They keep it locked up so that he won't kill again.

The Simpson family are cosmic horrors.

They just have no clue about it. First off is Abraham Simpson, whose Lovecraftian Superpower allows him and Mr Burns to remain the same age during WWII, despite Comic-Book Time making them younger and younger during then. Homer Simpson, being his son, is next. He has the capabilities of surviving every injury thrown at him, however this causes stupidity. As mentioned above, Lisa and Bart have a Status Quo Is God effect. All members of the Simpson family have the inherent ability to randomly alter history during their lifespans. All Simpsons have this ability, originating from their common Eldritch Abomination ancestor, Jebediah Simpson.

Lisa became a Buddhist because Richard Gere, a famous celebrity, did

She didn't need to convert to another religion; she only had to change to another church or parish. Lisa is prone to jump on trendy intellectual bandwagons - think how she embraced vegetarianism - and it's no stretch to assume she became a Buddhist because it was a trend among the Hollywood elite prior to Scientology.

• She wouldn't go for Scientology because she probably accesses 4chan. A lot.
  • I feel the need to note Lisa became a vegetarian because eating animals (and dissecting them) became disturbing to her. The fact she was shunned by pretty much everyone shows she didn't do it because it was trendy.
  • If there's any subgroup more hated than vegetarians, it's children more intelligent than the average adult. Bear that in mind, when reading these sorts of comments.

Homer is Obfuscating Stupidity.

He never had Moe put the crayon back in his brain - he worried that he would have died and left his family in despair. This would account for several outbursts of higher intelligence (such as having a high grasp on the concept of a think tank, sarcastically pointing out little-known facts about European history); his masquerade is slipping.

The gradual Flanderization of Homer Simpson is a result of countless head trauma incidents.

The first time we saw Homer suffer major injuries was falling off the gorge in "Bart the Daredevil". Before that, Homer was less stupid and more somewhat clueless and bumbling, and significantly less violent. However that and a number of blows to the head have led to Homer getting "stupider every year"(as for why the gorge didn't just leave him brain-dead, thank his natural resistance to head-blows). With every blow to the head, Homer becomes less aware of the risks that he's taking, which just creates the lovable buffoon we see him as. The reason why he becomes more of a Jerkass is a result of both lashing out at the world and because of Bart. Had Bart not decided to try and jump off the gorge, Homer wouldn't have fallen off it. Thus Homer strangles Bart primarily out of anger for the head blow that's started his downwards spiral, even when he isn't aware of this. The Multiple-Choice Past? Its Homer remembering it incorrectly, and his family humouring him-they happened much differently, or not at all. The Negative Continuity of all this? Unreliable Narrator in full effect-Grandpa Simpson is senile and the other male Simpsons are stupid for a multitude of other reasons, and/or the Simpsons Gene doesn't cause such a severe effect. The "crayon in brain" may have just screwed up his sinuses. Of course, the crayon and Simpsons Gene may have caused a lot of damage, but Homer was initially super-intelligent and it took all this to bring him down.

Marge is a robot

Just humor me here...
She is extremely strong, and when she's revealed to be left-handed, you notice how her right hand has slightly above average coordination, while her left is extremely skilled. She rarely (if ever?) is out of breath. She is usually the Only Sane Person, but is occasionally over-organized, for instance her obsession with cleaning before the cleaners arrived. Maybe her suburban existence is Marge in hiding. Hell, she could be an escaped Stepford Wife. Or a forgotten Cylon.

Homer's Flanderization is the result of head injury.

When Homer crashed down the Springfield Chasm, he suffered brain damage that is causing him to be more of a Jerkass, and more injuries make him even less intelligent. Marge puts up with him because he's become mentally ill, which is why he gets away with a lot.

Maggie grows up to be a either a Little Miss Badass or an Badass Normal superheroine

Already she has shown proficiency with firearms, and she is barely past one, She easily knocked Homer out with a mallet, and you know how hard it is to take down Homer, and multiple times she awesomely saved members of her family from trouble. so imagine Maggie as a teenager or as an adult.

The finale episode will have Bart leaving school

Homer can actually read perfect French.

It is the author of the BBQ’s instructions that can’t write in French.“Le grille – WHAT THE HELL IS THAT‼”It’s ‘la grille’ – it’s feminine – minus five.

The "fair weather" assessment of Lisa's "friends" is actually backwards

While a lot of episodes about Lisa having no friends tends to try and paint Lisa's occasional buddies (Janey, Sherri, Terri, Allison, ect) in a bad light there's something to consider. While the fact that she'll make a friend and then suddenly never see them again half the time can be chalked up to guest stars, there's a few things to suggest Lisa doesn't give the other girls any better treatment. Main thing that triggered this thought was Sherri and Terri in "Mypods and Boomsticks" complaining about how Lisa's ignoring them, her supposed "best friends" while they do immediately declare they hate Lisa so they might just be flighty, it does bring some suspicious points. After all, Lisa became "Best friends" with Allison Taylor in the latter's episode and even when she got a speaking role again in "Lard of the Dance" Lisa didn't directly talk to her at all focusing on the new kid, Alex, instead. Then there's Sherri and Terri being oddly friendly to Lisa in "The Last of the Red Hot Mamas" only to be blown off and ditched without so much as a "see ya" or letting Lisa sit between them in "The Mook, The Chef, The Wife and Her Homer" only for Lisa to just sit there acting above it all. This and the fact that Lisa will sometimes be hanging out with the girls one moment and acting like she doesn't know them the next paint Lisa herself as the negligent friend, by the time we get to episodes like "The Doh-cial Network" and "Father knows worst" the girls (even Allison) have gotten sick of Lisa messing them about. Interestingly, in "The Doh-cial Network" is Sherri and Terri's attitude to Lisa, while they typically mock and tease people with a gleeful smile while reserving the coldness for behind people's backs, in that episode they act openly cold and even get mad at Lisa for asking if she can hang out with them.

• I wouldn't be surprised if Lisa's preachy tendencies wouldn't also have to do with it. A lot of characters have already expressed annoyance with how Lisa will go off into a tirade about her beliefs. I wouldn't be surprised if her friends often just ditch her when she starts bringing up social/moral/political issues they don't understand when they just want to have fun and be kids.

Bart secretly has a crush on Krabappel

He passed the fourth grade, despite that he still stays in school. She always turns to him whenever she has an emotional problem and he is happy to help her out. She even remarked in one episode that Bart is the closest thing to a man in her life. Last but not least, in one of the fortune telling episodes where Bart is a teen she tries unsuccessfully to seduce him while being Homer's wingman.

• I can't remember what episode this was in, but in one when Bart was daydreaming about getting high grades, he smacks her butt to thank her for giving him a good grade.

Homer Simpson is immortal, or at the very least has superhuman endurance.

Think about it: not only has he gotten over injuries that would maim or kill an average human being, but he has actually "died" on rare occasion (for example, his heart stopping in "Homer's Triple Bypass", causing his spirit to leave his body but later to return to it for cake). Despite a horrendous diet, he's only overweight. He even was punished by eating toxic nuclear waste and it didn't seem to affect him at all. My guess is that Homer Simpson somehow gained immortality, or at least an enormous Healing Factor from all the radioactivity he deals with. Hey, it mutated Lego Land, so mutating Homer isn't too much of a stress.

Lisa's eating disorder will return in a future episode and seriously debilitate her.

Being the outcast + the constant pressure on herself to make perfect grades + dealing with her ever-slipping-deeper-into-insanity family...what the heck else COULD happen?

Lisa is a powerful reality warper who has the whole town under her thumb.

Which explains why all the recent episodes give her the most focus, and she is able to get away with some incredibly dickish things (IE: Million Dollar Abie.)

Bart will grow up to be the next Steve Irwin.

He doesn’t fit into the normal working world - he goofs off in school, he antagonizes authority figures, he’s had several wild animals as pets (Stampy, Furious D, Lou the Cow) and he was wonderful to all of them. He’s also a natural born showman, so a career that blends his love of animals, entertainment and avoiding the meat-grinder that is the working world runs parallel to none other than the Crocodile Hunter himself.

The Simpson Gene isn't stupidity, it's ego.

One consistency even with the smarter members of the Simpson family is that they are very flawed individuals who struggle to accept their shortcomings. Herb lost his company with bad decisions and blamed Homer. Lisa makes multiple bad decisions throughout the show, but blames her family and surroundings. Even Homer's brief recovery of intellect led him to make a big oversight that cost most of the plant their jobs, leading him to favour turning dumb again so he could remain oblivious to his failings. All of them are one-track focused and stubborn, convinced they have good ideas and ignoring long-term details, and then refusing to accept their mistakes when things go wrong. It's questionable whether the gene even exists and wasn't simply mental gymnastics from one of family members having a bad day like Lisa had. It's the ultimate excuse, that circumstances are out of their control, a consistent outlook for nearly every Simpson.

Other character-related theories

Nelson Muntz is a Powerful Psychic

Or at least a powerful telepath. His influence covers the entire town. This is how he's able to laugh at the misfortune of other people he can't even see, and call them on the phone so they can hear him laugh. One episode even has him Astral Projecting! The only things holding him back from making good use of his power are his crippling Parental Abandonment Issues and his being a card-carrying bully.

• He can even dominate the minds of others over long distances too, judging by "Homerpalooza".
• He also once beat up a ghost. While the commentary talks about the power of Nelson.

Number One from the Stonecutters is Sideshow Bob!

They have very similar facial features. And the fact that No. One has normal feet is easily explained: I'm sure that in one episode, Bob was able to fold his feet under themselves, to create the illusion of normal sized ones.

• Bob has never been shown to be able to do this.
  • He did that in "The Bob Next Door. That's how he was able to trick Bart into getting in the car with him.

Bart's Preschool Teacher was eventually fired

How's that for Laser-Guided Karma?

Seymour Skinner/Armin Tamzarian, Gary Chalmers, and Sergeamt Skinner are kind of mythological characters/avatars of them.

More specifically: Seymour/Armin is Loki, Gary is Odin, and the Sergeant is Thor. Odin was likely originally a man from our Azerbaijan that came to Scandinavia around year 700, meaning that the potentiel Chalmeria◊ would propably be bigger than in the map and stretch from Azerbaijan to Scandinavia. The name "Armin Tamzarian" is named after Armenia, likely implying that Azerbaijan and Armenia are in fact sibling countries in a way and should become best friends again as their history is so heavily tied, in fact Azerbaijan's original antiquity name, Caucasian Albania (AHL-bah-niah, not ahl-BEH-niah), comes from the Armenian word for Amiable. Armenian mythology is also related to Nordic mythology due to the languages being related.

Armin Tamzarian was born out of an affair between Sheldon Skinner and a hooker from Capital City

Alright, before you start running to my door with pitchforks and torches, watch Curse of the Flying Hellfish again, do you see how similar Sheldon Skinner looks to Armin Tamzarian? So here we go, at some point before joining the Flying Hellfish, Sheldon Skinner had spent some time in Capital City and had an affair with a prostitute, this resulted in the conceiving of Armin Tamzarian, which would technically make both Tamzarian and the real Seymour Skinner half-brothers.

• This actually would make that episode a lot less ridiculous. Just a little bit.
• Here's a variation: Armin Tamzarian and Seymour Skinner are brothers. Seymour is a lot older than Armin, which makes sense considering that Agnes was married to Sheldon back in the thirties (she is referred to as Agnes Skinner in a newsreel gag). So she gave birth to Seymour, raised him until he joined the army, then got pregnant with Armin. That's when Agnes became an Olympic pole-vaulter. Armin was the one who cost her a gold medal, and since she's a terrible mother, she gave him up for adoption in Capital City (Sheldon might have already died by then). It was the angst of knowing he was abandoned by his birth mother that led Armin to a life of delinquency. Once Skinner died, Armin's decision to impersonate him was just an attempt to get closer to his biological mother. Agnes was aware of who he was, too, and her mixed feelings for her son were what led her to allow him to keep up the façade, and to berate him at every possible opportunity. That also takes Comic-Book Time into consideration.

Millhouse's mother Luanne is his father Kirk's doppelganger from Shelbyville

She mentions she was born in Shelbyville, and several other characters had counterparts.

Moe is an alien

He is from a planet where there are only two countries, and those two countries are at war with each other. One of the has the endonym "Armenia" (unlike our Armenia which is named Hayastan) and the other of them has the endonym "Monster". Moe was born from drunken sex between someone from the Armenia country and someone from the Monster country. Because of the war, Moe's mom had to send him to Earth.

Moe is Polish

His nationality is unclear on the show, but come on. Szyslak sounds distinctly Polish, and certainly not like it could be from any other country that Moe is implied to come from.

The Blue-Haired Lawyer is a wizard

Would explain why he seems to appear out of nowhere in some of his appearances, he apparates

• A Wizard Did It

Nelson Muntz grew up, built a time machine, and came back as Barney Gumble.

Just look at the two next to each other; the resemblance is uncanny.

• Alternatively, Barney Gumble is Muntz' real father and no one (including both of them) knows it.
  • Jossed, Mr. Muntz made an appearance in last season.
    • Maybe that wasn't the real Mr. Muntz. It could have just been a drunk hobo who was extremely suggestible. There's no proof that they're related except for his backstory that could have easily been fabricated.
    • Or his mother cheated on him with Barney, as she's implied to be rather promiscuous.
    • Barney was shown to be a sperm donor in an early episode, with several women having kids resembling him.
• Nelson is Barney and Moe's Kid from the Future.

Alternatively, Barney is another relative of Nelson.

Nelson's father looks a lot like an older Barney Gumble. They're half-brothers; Eddie Muntz from her marriage with the Judge, and Barney Gumble from her marriage with the veteran Arnie. By extension, that makes him the half-uncle of Nelson Muntz. They don't mention it in-show because Eddie is embarrassed of his boozing sibling, and doesn't let him have contact with the family.

Ralph Wiggum had a severe mental injury

Because he wasn't always that stupid.

• In the episode "Moms I'd Like to Forget", Chief Wiggum is shown dropping a baby Ralph at a Fourth of July fireworks show.

Ralph Wiggum is a complete idiot because he is part pig

Word of Dante has said that Chief Wiggum is 'from the shallow end of the gene pool', explaining his pig-like nose, and that of his wife. Ralph inherited both the nose and the shallowness.

• Alternatively, Chief Wiggum and his wife are too much physically similar. Incest?

"Eddie" and "Lou" are titles, not names

I got the idea from this quote:

Wiggum: And Eddie, you're promoted to Lou.

Eddie: Nice. And, uh, who's gonna be Eddie?

Wiggum: We don't need an Eddie.

Mr. Burns has some form of epilepsy.

In "Monty Can't Buy Me Love," he is literally blinded from the camera flashes, and has a minor freak-out due to being disoriented and startled. In "American History X-Cellent," a camera flash literally and figuratively knocks him out. And in "Homer the Smithers," he physically recoils in pain at the bright light from his desk lamp and asks that it be turned off. Mr. Burns has some minor form of photosensitive epilepsy which causes him to go blind/faint at extremely bright light. This may be the reason why he reacts so badly to camera flashes, and why his office is typically shown with low lighting.

• More or less confirmed in the tie-in book "C. Montgomery Burns' Handbook of World Domination." The fact that Burns is susceptible to epileptic seizures is mentioned:

"No animation in your Power Point presentations, please. It confuses Mr. Burns and has also been known to give him bouts of epilepsy if the transitions are too fast."

"Mr Snrub" is an Identical Stranger, not a Paper-Thin Disguise.

Given Homer has an exact double with a mustache and many Shelbyville inhabitants look like their Springfield counterparts, it's not impossible that Mr Snrub is a real person who happens to think the Nuclear Power Plant is a good thing. Smithers is just being a good samaritan and protecting him.

Mr. Burns really did make a Deal with the Devil.

Him getting a long life from Satan wasn't just a gag, but it's an explanation for some of his Ambiguously Human nature. He Was Once a Man, but made a ritual that let him summon the devil and gain immortality. However that deal came with a price-Satan would revoke his immortality if he ever tries to repent, which is why he's living on The Power of Hate and dies if he's consistently nice. It's also the reason behind his Cartoonish Supervillainy, instead of usually corporate villainy. Also he becomes increasingly feeble because he didn't specifically ask the Devil to have a youthful body. Grandpa Simpson was somehow part of the same deal but got Satan to let him live long no strings attached. Which is why he is still a grizzled World War II veteran despite having to be 90s minimum by now.

Mr. Burns knows that Smithers is in love with him.

In several scenes, Smithers is clearly flirting with Mr. Burns, and Burns' reaction usually seems to be to smile or laugh uncomfortably and almost immediately change the subject. So why does Burns never directly confront Smithers about it? Because he simply doesn't feel the same way, and values Smithers' friendship too much to outright reject him/hurt his feelings. Burns isn't as oblivious to Smithers' crush on him as he appears; he knows what's going on but he just dances around the subject to avoid either of them feeling awkward around each other.

Smithers was discharged from the navy for having an illness- not for being gay.

In the episode where Smithers is drawing a portrait of Mr. Burns and the two of them talk briefly about Smithers' time in the navy, Smithers mentions that he was discharged. The obvious joke is that Smithers was discharged for being gay. But given that in the show's early days Smithers mostly kept his sexual orientation on the down-low, there's a more likely reason for him being discharged: a medical condition. In Midnight RX he's shown to be afflicted with hyperthyroidism, and that if he goes too long without taking his medication, he will die. It's possible that his onset of hyperthyroidism actually started when he was in the navy, and he was discharged for the sake of his health.

Herb is affected by the Simpsons gene.

Instead of obvious stupidity like Homer, it affects him in making stupid decisions like picking someone with no experience to help him compete with the Japanese car manufactures. He can come off as smart, but he and Homer are not so different in the end. Powell Motors also proves to be a case of Incompetence, Inc.. The difference between them is that Herb isn't lazy and can compensate for his lack of intelligence.

Barney Gumble is Nelson's real dad.

They resemble each other, and Nelson's mom is a Single Mom Stripper. Officially he has a father, but he could just be a Parental Substitute or adoptive parent and the fact they look alike is coincidental/intentional so Nelson assumes he's his real dad. Barney actually fathered Nelson Muntz in a drunken liaison, which Mrs Muntz is aware of but wants Nelson to think his dad is half-way responsible. Nelson either doesn't know, or knows he was fathered by Barney but considers Eddie Muntz his dad where it counts. Barney is probably completely unaware of the one night stand, and is probably too much of a mess to give decent child support even if he did know.

The real reason why Mr. Burns is immortal

Considering that he's immortal, pure evil, and implied to be thousands of years old, there's more to Mr. Burns than it seems. He's actually an Eldritch Abomination created at the beginning of the universe, or even came from another, who's pretty much a living devil. His goal? To destroy planets by living around the dumbest people on them and pretend to be one of them, and do wicked things to insure he's hated (and keep him alive) while polluting these planets. He'll flee when all life on them dies, and repeat elsewhere. And his ultimate goal? To overthrow God and destroy reality in general.

There will eventually be an episode that shows Bart first meeting Jenda.

Currently, Jenda stands out as a recurring character that has only appeared in "future" episodes; all of her appearances based on her relationship with Bart. Their first meeting could either take place in the present (10 year old Bart) or with Bart in the future recalling the memory.

Abe Simpson knew about Mona's affair.

He suspected Homer was not his biological son and that's why he was so emotionally distant. As Abe's dementia progressed, he forgot about the reason for his resentment and disappointment towards Homer until Mason Fairbanks came back into the picture.

Superdude the gerbil really shot Mr. Burns.

Don't believe me? Open your eyes to the truth!

• Or, Superdude set the wheels of motion of Mr. Burns being shot by being a Magnificent Bastard.

Principal Skinner's Freudian Slip about "his beloved smother" represented his deep seated desire to kill her

He wasn't saying it because she was smothering him, he was saying it because he wants to smother her.

• Pretty much proven in the episode where Brad Goodman, the pop psychologist, visits Springfield. When asked to confront a stuffed doll stand-in of his mother, Principal Skinner ends up beating the tar out of it.
  • Skinner didn't just beat the doll up. Just before Goodman interrupted him, he was busy ripping the doll's stuffing out with his teeth.
• And in the episode were Lisa enters the Sundance movie festival we learn Skinner has written a screen play called "killing Seymour's Mother".
• Don't forget the carnival game when she nags him about failing and he starts trying to win the knife.

Ned Flanders will end up with Selma Bouvier.

After the deaths of both of his wives, it seems entirely possible that Ned might end up back in the dating world once again and with Selma, no less. Selma has had her share of failed marriages, so maybe things might work out better between her and Ned, making him part of the Simpsons extended family.

• Season 29 episode "Flanders Ladder" made a joke that he did eventually marry both Patty and Selma at some point in the future.

Laura Powers was originally supposed to reappear in "Selma’s Choice".

Her Skybox trading card says that her greatest thrill was riding the Shriek-o-Lator at Duff Gardens, an event never seen or mentioned on the show.

Presumably, while Bart and Lisa were running around the park, he would bump into Laura, who would then mention that she had just ridden the Shriek-o-Lator. Bart, in an attempt to impress her, would attempt to ride it himself, despite being too short, and ending up getting stuck when the ride breaks down. Presumably, she was written out of the final episode because Sara Gilbert was unavailable/unwilling to reprise her role.

Moe actually did recognize Bart when he came to get Homer in "Burns Verkaufen Der Kraftwerk"

He didn't do anything to Bart for one of the following reasons:

• He wasn't willing to harm someone that young.
• He was afraid that Homer would get his beer from somewhere else if he harmed and/or yelled at Bart.

Why after episode "Bye Bye Nerdie" we never again saw Dr. Hibbert's baby son.

SIDS death aka crib death or ,since he was a toddler, a sickness that killed him.Kind of explains why three seasons later Hibbert's room has a view to a children cemetery.

Guy Incognito was actually Krusty in disguise

Homer and Krusty have all of the same physical characteristics.

Ned Flanders will also be retired

I mean, think about it - he's married to Edna, and they can't retire her and not him without it seeming weird.

• Jossed. Edna Krabappel died sometime during The Man Who Grew Too Much in a case of The Character Died with Him.

Predictions on who is going to be Killed Off for Real.

• Sidshow Bob; being Bart's Arch-Enemy, and Word of God says the actor of the character being killed off is an Emmy winner, and Sideshow Bob's voice actor is an Emmy winner, wouldn't be surprised if he was killed in a Final Battle Scenario with Bart.
  • Probably not Sideshow Bob, since he's now part of the Universal Studios Simpsons attraction. It would be odd to have him killed off so shortly after his inclusion. My guess is Krusty's dad - not big enough for the show to lose anything, and his death could be milked for emotional sympathy.
  • Word of God is that Edna wasn't the one to be killed off, and they planned to feature her and Ned's wedding life in the future. So that leaves 14 people left.
    • Also,Kelsey Grammer has revealed that Sideshow Bob is not the one who dies. The proof is here.
    • And Hank Azaria has recently confirmed that none of his characters will die. So we're now down to 10 characters to choose from.
    • Now we're down to Krusty, Krusty's father (Rabbi Krustofsky), Sideshow Mel, Groundskeeper Willie, Grampa Simpson, and Barney Gumble.
    • It was Krusty's father.

A high voice is a genetic trait in the Flanders family.

Rod and Todd both have high-pitched voices and Ned's voice, while you can tell he's a man, is pretty high as far as male voices go (he also sings in a falsetto voice and Screams Like a Little Girl) and when he was a kid, he sounded kind of like his sons do now (but a bit more Southern). Maybe it's genetic.

Allison from "Lisa's Rival" and Laura from "New Kid on the Block" are half-sisters.

The two look a like, despite Laura being a teenager. They face the same facial structures, hair, and eye shape. Laura's dad is said to be a deadbeat and probably slept around, or Allison was put up for adoption.

The Flanderization of the characters is explainable.

• Trope Namer Ned Flanders already has a discussed (if canonically implied) Freudian Excuse-the breakdown during "Hurricane Neddy" and Maude being killed in a freak clothing accident. Due to the therapy when he was a kid, Ned psychologically can't express normal rage. Instead, he takes out his frustration on being an irritating religious fundamentalist (which is also a coping mechanism for grief in general). Given what we saw in "Days of Future Passed", this is going to go just as well as before.
• Homer Simpson's intelligence has dropped due to the number of head injuries he's suffered, starting from falling off Springfield Gorge. The crayon in his skull? That's the reason he had dim moments to begin with, and if it were removed then Homer could've been a genius. Throttling his son? Said son almost got him killed, so no wonder Homer's an Angry Dad. The Jerkass qualities come from a deadly combination of alcohol and the general suckiness of his life. This is also why he eats even more-it's a coping mechanism.
• Marge has become an extreme Moral Guardian as a result of her family falling apart. When you have a 'smrt' husband, Dennis the Menace for a son and Springfield as a whole, you would become less tolerant rather quickly.
• Bart's quasi-sociopathic tendencies are a consequence of all the abuse he's suffered. His dad has little self-control yet gets away with it, so Bart thinks the same can apply to him. His teachers care less and less about their role, so why should he listen to them? Stupidity ensues.
• Lisa's Holier Than Thou attitude is a result of starting as the Only Sane Man in her family, and as the series progressed, Springfield. Being intelligent compared to the surrounding people? That's textbook fuel for a Narcissist.
• Patty and Selma were always dicks, but their psychotic attempts to remove Homer from the occasion are the result of thinking he deserves it at this point.
• Due to Comic-Book Time, Grandpa is getting older and older to still be a Flying Hellfish. This would add even more senility. Being in a poor nursing home where your family rarely visits must've done wonders for his sanity.
• Due to running out of money numerous times, Moe has been forced to some rather illegal and risque tactics to keep his business going, teaching him the cut-throat tactics need to stay in buisness. The reason why Moe has moments of humanity (usually when not doing his job) is the same reason criminal buisnessmen do-they're amoral out of a necessity for the job, so they can be nice when it doesn't contradict with that.
• Mr. Burns was merely a wealthy curmudgeon until he was shot. Aside from the casino incident, the shooting marked his increased regression into the past and separation from reality. PTSD, anyone?
• Continuity itself has been Flanderized, because its been told by the characters! When do you see a flashback that's not told or hinted by them?

Dr. Nick couldn't fully afford medical school, that's why he is a quack.

Self-explanation. Also it is hinted that he is in fact an illegal immigrant and he doesn't actually come across as a wealthy person.

Why Mr. Burns dream in Rosebud episode about his childhood is drastically different than what we see in the later episodes?

Firstly, it's a dream. Secondly, since his parents didn't actually care about him, his subconscious is just making it up in dreams that there was love and affection towards him.

Mr. Burns is afflicted with aplastic anemia.

Mr. Burns has been consistently shown to have some serious health issues, including several tell-tale symptoms of anemia; ie, weakness, needing frequent blood transfusions, an emaciated frame, general pronounced frailty, et cetera. So what exactly is wrong with him? Aplastic anemia- a severe form of anemia often caused by exposure to nuclear radiation, the same disease that killed Marie Curie. Aplastic anemia results in the body not being able to produce red blood cells, which is what almost killed him in the episode "Blood Feud." Given that Mr. Burns was working around radiation during a time where its effects on the human body weren't fully understood, it's extremely likely that he contracted the disease at some point in his long career.

Moe knows Bart is pranking him, and has known for a long time.

He's met Bart a number of times, and Homer is a frequent customer. Moe's shown to have a soft spot for children and he's come to be fond of Bart's baby sister, so he just plays along and acts pissed off because he knows Bart'll enjoy it. It's not like he's all that respected in the first place so while he gets laughed at it's no real skin off his back. Given Moe used to be one of The Little Rascals and was a bit of a rapscallion at Bart's age, he may even appreciate a good crank call. The real reason he doesn't recognize Bart in the prank caller when he went to his tavern is because revealing anything would ruin the joke.

There are multiple Hans Molemen.

Hans Moleman seemingly has the ability to come back to life even after suffering serious if not deadly injuries such as being set on fire or having his brain drilled. But in "Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder" it's revealed that Hans is the leader of the mole people, this means he doesn't "come back to life" he just gets replaced by another Moleman.

Burns' mother gave him up for adoption, then took him back

Burns' mother got pregnant out of wedlock, probably at a young age, since Mr. Burns himself is so old, and she's still alive, so he was put up for adoption. As seen in the episode "Rosebud", his adoptive parents were kind and loving, but his mother, now married to the much-older Colonel burns, paid them off to get the kid back. That explains why they look so similar, and how his father could've been old enough to be a slaveowner.

Krusty's death would have horrific consequences

In "Marge Vs. The Monorail", Krusty is getting ready to jump out of the directionless monorail, when Leonard Nimoy saves him. Had Krusty jumped, he'd have died. Without Krusty to keep his childlike innocence alive, Bart would've become evil and, possibly taking advantage of Lisa's presidency, destroyed the world. Spock managed to go back to the past and prevent this Bad Future, taking advantage of the fact that he looks like an actor of the time. That's why he says "My job here is done" and teleports away, once the monorail is stopped.

The Burns family fortune was originally in steel manufacturing

In 'Last Exit To Springfield', we see a flashback to Burns with his grandfather at his "atom mill". It is likely that the atom mill was formerly a steel mill. We see men using sledgehammers and anvils, and there is apparently an abandoned coke oven. Steel was a huge industry in the 19th century "robber baron" era, which is certainly the era seen in the flashback. It is likely that the Burns family made their fortune in steel and later expanded into energy production- which became the nuclear power plant by at least the 1960s. The "atom mill" seen in this episode is a silly joke, but gives a realistic clue into the history of how the Burns dynasty began.

Lyle Lanley is a Serial Killer.

He shows himself not just amoral, but sadistic given his drawings of the "suckers". While the money is one thing, like H.H Holmes he's using his constructions to get people intentionally killed for his sick kicks. Making his eventual beatdown even more karmic.

The North Haverbrook people bribed the airline to make a stop there so they could get at Lyle Langley.

It would explain how they knew when he was arriving and which seat he was on.

Barney Gumble is related to Otto the Bus Driver

The two kind of look alike in the face. The two are both addicts of some type, meaning it's genetic. Barney could very well be a maternal uncle.

Flanders has become both more religious and less likeable due to changes in attitude towards religion.

When the Simpsons first came out, Flanders' base concept was "better American than Homer", which is why he was both a more sincere Christian and a nicer guy all around. At the time, America had a pretty strong tendency to associate "adherence to Christian faith" with "moral superiority". However, as time has gone by, Christianity and religiosity have stopped being quite as synonymous with being a good person as they were. Combine this with the creator's own antitheistic tendencies (as evidenced somewhat in Futurama) Flanders being so religious has stopped being a reason as to why he's a good guy and more a way for him to be not so different to Homer.

They're going to kill off Edna Krabappel

In the most respectful way, of course. Unlike what they did with Maude, it would be a more realistic and respectable end. It would feature Ned coming to terms with the death of another wife, the impact of the kids, and how he'll pick up the pieces. Or, alternately, the episode will be Bart-centric as we see him cope with Krabappel's death, possibly being the last person to speak to her before her death, with it ending with Bart accepting her death and saying that he will never forget her.

As for causes of death:

• Brain Aneurysm: Appropriately sudden and would fit the Darker and Edgier tone most tropers seem to be looking for.
• Breast Cancer: Since Maria Wallace fought breast cancer and became an activist for the subject.
• Car Accident: Would be sudden and lead to plotlines about Ned coming to terms with the fact her death was an accident.
• Childbirth: Someone to represent the love Ned and Edna had together, add storylines about Ned raising a baby, or give Maggie another friend.
• Heart Attack: The easiest way to kill her.
• Terminal illness: Gives the death some drama and will cause a complete Tear Jerker ending.
  • Or quite alternately, the Flanders family will simply leave Springfield.
• Or Homer, at an outside sports game, wants a t-shirt, the girl with the t-shirt cannon shoots one at him but he ducks and the shirt hits Edna and she falls to her death.
  • The Holidays of Future Past episode confirms this if that episode is canon. Ha, canon.

Squeaky Voiced Teen is not a real teen

He is shown to be operating the train during Marge and Homer's first anniversary-he is a teenager at this point-in the episode "Dangers on a Train." Ten years later, he would be in his twenties, at least. He may just have a squeaky voice and have adult acne...

• If you take supplementary info like Tapped Out, he can do quests designated for children and teens.
• The teen on that episode could just be a different but identical teen

Seymour/Armin is the reincarnation/human incarnation of Hayk and thus, the rightful heir to the throne of Armenia

Krusty married Princess Penelope.

He mentioned being married in the newest season. Why not?

Kearney's son is adopted.

In one episode, Kearney refers to himself as "a teenager, and the parent of a teenager". At most, that gives him and his son the ages of nineteen and thirteen - six years apart. Rule of Funny aside, it's pretty much impossible for him to have a biological son that young: logically, his son would have to be adopted, or else a stepson.

• We've seen he has a biological son. He ended up marrying a much older woman so he can better raise his son, and she herself had a son.
• Kearney and Otto Mann are both 26 years old.

Kirk and Luanne Van Houten (Milhouse's parents) are first cousins about a dozen generations removed.

Anyone can see that they look almost identical, even without eyeglasses. Plus, it's been established that Luanne was born in Shelbyville, and Shelbyville was established by a settler partner of Jebediah Springfield's who wanted to legalize incest. The Van Houtens are one of the original Shelbyville settler families who later repudiated incest; they consciously split the family up in about 1890, with different relatives relocating to different communities, so they wouldn't be tempted to "experiment" anymore. Kirk's great-grandparents moved to Springfield and renamed themselves "Van Houten"; they never told any of their descendants about their shameful past, which is why Kirk believes that he and his wife have roots in separate towns. The fact that Luanne looks so much like him never made him suspicious because Kirk is mildly mentally retarded and as a child was told by his mother that "every boy wants a girl who reminds him of his mother" - and Kirk took it literally.

• In a new episode someone taunts Bart and Lisa for bickering like they are together, and both of them act appropriatly disgusted, in Lisa's words "He's my brother!". But Milhouse then says "But I thought my parents were siblings?". Bart once asked them if they were related but they denied it.
  • I don't think that Shelbyville was founded by a guy who was ACTUALLY an incest advocate, just that Grandpa was telling the story, and he was biased towards Springfield. If you watch the episode, a lot of things he said about Shelbyville were very odd, ever for The Simpsons Universe. That said, I agree with you that Milhouse's parents actually are closely related.

• Seems confirmed; in "Let's Go Fly a Coot", Milhouse reveals his parents are first cousins, and has an interest in his own cousin. Luanne has an Italian mother, Nana Sophie, and her last name is Mussolini. So I'm assuming she's the immigrant sister of Kirk's father.

Milhouse is in love with Bart.

We know that Milhouse has been madly infatuated with Lisa for years on the show, right? But in "Double, Double Boy in Trouble", he falls in love with Bart's fake sister Quenley immediately after he sees her and with nary a thought to Lisa. When Bart points this out, Milhouse confidently answers, "Yeah, but that [with Lisa] was never gonna happen." What's really going on is that Milhouse is actually in love with Bart, but being only a ten-year-old boy he can't cope with the emotional strain of realizing that he's gay (remember how the school psychiatrist had him classified as "flamboyantly homosexual"?) so he transfers his feelings to the nearest thing he can ever have to Bart — Bart's sister. It doesn't matter who she actually is, Milhouse will always have unrequited feelings for some female relative of his best friend because she represents the person he can never have.

• B: Do you think my mom is cool? M: No, I think she's HOT! Hmmm... perhaps.
• In "Large Marge", when Milhouse sleeps over at the Simpsons' place, he tried to tell Bart why he was crying at recess. But Bart, probably realizing that Milhouse's gay, cuts him off by watching TV.

Ralph Wiggum is smarter than he appears.

In fact, he's above-average in intelligence. One episode, where he was a presidential candidate (don't ask) and the left- and right-wings were hounding him to be on their side, Lisa tries to comfort him. She said that he shouldn't let them use him. Ralph says, "well maybe I want to use them." He then tells her (in a childish way) how he would improve the country.If the comics are to be believed (and they're probably not), Ralph was shown to have an eidetic memory. Lisa took advantage of this and helped him get a B+ on a history test. (He would've gotten a better mark if he didn't write about Lincoln's head melting.) Perhaps he is smart, but lacks the confidence to display it.

• His mother did describe him as "Smart in a way we haven't figured out yet." for whatever that's worth.

They'll bring back Troy McClure and Lionel Hutz

Even though they retired Lunchlady Doris due to Doris Grau's death, they've brought her back voiced by Tress MacNeille. If they bring Lionel Hutz and Troy McClure, they'll be voiced by Billy West. Phil Hartman was supposed to voice Zapp Brannigan until his death and Billy West took over.

• I doubt they'd bring back Hutz at the very least; his role is already covered by Gill, who's a lot more popular than him.

Ned Flanders is secretly Bill Gates in disguise

Look at a picture of both of them. The only difference is that Ned Flanders has a Stalin moustache and yellow skin. He is hiding out in Springfield, disguised as a fanatical Christian family man to throw any suspicious people off. He's doing this because an angry mob is after him because of his company's perceived poor customer service.

Ralph Wiggum isn't stupid, he just has severe mental health disorders.

Earlier episodes such as This little Wiggy show Ralph as being more strange and immature for his age than stupid, and also imply he has an incredibly overactive imgination and possibly is schizophrenic (he imagined an elf telling him to burn things at one point).

Ralph's increasing stupidity over the seasons isn't to do with Flanderization, it's that his mental health is worsening as he grows older, not allowing him to function properly.

A Gypsy cursed Jebadiah Springfield.

I always theorized that sometimes in the past, Jebadiah Springfield (under his original name Hans Sprungfeld the Pirate) must've angered a Gypsy who put him under the curse of "You will be founder of a town of idiots and fools" and so years later he did and this can explain why 90% of Springfield's citizens are total idiots, how Lisa and a handful of others escaped this curse is beyond me.

Flander's bad luck from "When Flanders Failed" never went away.

In a very Fridge Horror way, Flanders' life has become increasingly worse since then. Instead of Homer fixing the problem, it only made it slightly better. Homer's wish caused the hurricane to destroy Flanders' house and make him go mad, get married to a Vegas hooker, get Maude accidentally killed, have his Bible-based park get closed down, have said hooker return for a short while and undoubtedly confuse his kids, have trouble finding another lover, his Flanderization of getting angrier in each season, and so on. Most of the above events, by the way, were mostly caused by Homer. Homer inadvertently caused misery for the rest of Flanders' life (or at least until it's fixed).

Mr. Burns is undead.

In the early seasons, he seemed pretty normal for his age. But now,he's a pathetically weak old man, incapable of simple tasks. The reasons for this is simple-Mr Burns isn't actually alive. At some point, he ended up dying, but he made a Deal with the Devil so he'd stay alive. The result is a body only able to function due to the powers of Satan. Any character incosistencies are the result of having a dead brain. The reason Burns harvests organs is to find a way of being truly alive.

W and S "clue" was actually Mr. Burns subconsciously calling for Smithers

He was reaching out for the only person who would help him.

Nelson and Lisa Simpson still have feelings for each other, or in the future will have a romance.

Nelson always shows his "good side" when with Lisa, and the new episode Loan-a-Lisa they hold hands (for *support*) and rollerskate together. Their past relationship is one of the few things referenced often. Some of the writers have admitted to liking the pairing as well.

• This is practically confirmed in "Barthood"

Troy McClure and Lionel Hutz will make one final appearance at the very last episode of the Simpsons, just so the fans can see them one last time before the show's ultimate conclusion

• They may or may not be voiced by Billy West, using his Zapp Brannigan voice. Also, in a Pet the Dog gesture, Troy starred in several more good movies and Hutz became a better lawyer.

Having eyebrows is extremely recessive gene trait in Simpsonverse.

For example, look at the Hibbert family and the Smithers family:

• Julius has eyebrows but Bernice lacks them and as a result none of their five (if we count the oneshot teenaged daughter and the toddler son) children has eyebrows.
• Smithers Sr. and his wife both have thick eyebrows and so has their son Waylon Jr.

Commander Flanders, mentioned in "Curse of the Flying Hellfish", was Ned's uncle.

It seems unlikely that a military commander would go on to become a beatnik, so he was instead an example of Sibling Yin-Yang with Ned's father.

Sideshow Bob's family.

Since it was a bit jarring how Bob's wife and son were never brought up again, and the episode "Bobby, It's Cold Outside" had him hooking up with a woman who lives next door to him, there's actually a very logical explanation for that: after the events of "Funeral for a Fiend", he and Francesca were forced by the courts to divorce and then she and Gino were deported back to Italy.

"The Principal And The Pauper" was a mass hallucination experienced by the people of Springfield.

It's established that Shelbyville has spiked Springfield's water supply to the point where Springfielders hallucinate from it. Enough of the toxins may have accumulated for pretty much everybody in Springfield to have a shared hallucination that Principal Skinner's real name was "Armin Tamzarian" and that another person was the "real" Seymour Skinner, although that second Skinner never truly existed. Incidents like these have occurred in recorded history, and this hallucination is just another example. It explains why the real Principal Skinner was able to still have all those flashbacks to Vietnam and his previous time in the army, since they all really happened. It also explains why the U.S. Army never flagged him as "Armin Tamzarian" when he re-enlisted in "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Badass Song", since he was the real Skinner all along and he matched everything the Army had in his personnel file.

Why does no one seem to age? / Where the hell is Springfield? / Other continuity and world-related theories

The reason for everything in The Simpsons being far removed from what it was before was all because of Mr. Burns.

Mr Burns has to be killed off for good in order for everyone to age, based off of 1990 season 1 premiere established backstories and everything to become good again. Because Mr Burns living longer and longer is messing up the real progression of things. Because he is the embodiment of evil and puts up a facade of a generous old man who loves Springfield to cover up the fact that he trapped Springfield in a time warp, where he gets to be powerful forever and everyone else is stuck as they are and they can only deal with whatever this old superhuman creature decides to do their universe nothing more, nothing less. And the only way for them to be freed is Mr Burns being destroyed. The flash forward episodes of everyone being older and things being different is Mr Burns tormenting the residents, saying "this reality is what you'll never get to experience". Mr Smithers is going along with it out of love for him, not because he endorses what he's doing at all.

The reason no one seems to age is because the entire Simpsons universe had occurred within the span of just a few years.

Any mention of more time passing is just a case of Unreliable Narrator... Plus our narrator happens to be Maggie Simpson, of all people...

The reason none ever ages was because the entire Simpsons universe... was set in an old game of The Sims.

Basically the town of Springfield was always inside an old game file of the original The Sims game, which is mainly why the children never aged since they were created and Homer is always going to work at the same power-plant... On that same note, Mr Burns may have gotten his trillions when he used the Rosebud cheat trillions of times.

We see Springfield through the eyes of Maggie Simpson

• The residents do not get old. Why would a baby have a sense of time?
• Why would a baby care about living in a specific state?
• The Flanderization is Maggie recognizing patterns in behavior.
• While Maggie is a smart child, her near-superhuman portrayal of her as a genius is... well, not very modest.
  • She has a little sister's hero-worship of her sister; when she was declared more intelligent than Lisa, she almost immediately retconned it.
  • This could also explain Lisa's status as a near-Mary Sue. Maggie is just thinking very highly of her (we're all guilty of thinking our heroes are close to perfection sometimes....)
• Every important event focuses around the Simpson family. Because it should.
• Matt Groening has said that Marge's hair represents a small child's perspective of a normal hairstyle.
• The art gets more refined every year because her eyesight is improving as the months go by.
  • It would be an Ugly Cute, funny, exaggerated version of the world anyway.
• The Halloween episodes are when she's having nightmares.

Bart and Lisa are at the centre of a Status Quo Is God effect

Okay, this takes a fair bit of explaining.

Bart and Lisa are at the centre of a Status Quo Is God phenomenon, which explains why Status Quo Is God in this show. The rest of the cast is affected to a degree directly proportionate to how often they interact with Bart or Lisa, with twice the effect for any incident if it's with both at the same time.

Homer, for example, spends a large amount of time in proximity to Bart and Lisa both and interacts with them on a far greater scale than anyone else in the series; thus, nearly EVERYTHING that happens to him is neatly resolved at the end of the episode or snapped back by the next one. Sideshow Bob spends very little time near them, as he's in prison most of the time for trying to kill Bart; when he IS trying to kill Bart, he seems to be prone to the same kind of mistakes each time (that is, letting his ego get in the way).

Apu has just enough contact with Bart and Lisa to be a recurrer, but little more. When he interacts with them, the status quo is restored promptly (such as the episode where he gets fired from the Kwik-E-Mart). But the longer he stays away from them, the more his personal story develops: he gets married, has octuplets, etc etc... and at least some of this is Take Our Word for It.

• Makes sense. Maude Flanders had less contact with them than her family and she eventually died for reals. Frank Grimes had no contact with them and didn't even survive past the end of his 1st episode.
  • Also, Selma has an adopted daughter. We barely see her or have her mentioned. This could be because she semi-frequently visits the Simpsons, and thus her adoption is retgoned most of the time.

• Bart and Lisa are cosmic horrors warping reality to get a status quo effect.

• Maggie is still a baby when Apu's children are fighting to go to toddler preschool and she's technically younger than them...
  • Younger or older?

Each season of The Simpsons exists in a parallel universe, completely separate from one another.

This would explain why time never passes, no matter how long the show has been on and no matter how much time passes during each individual episode. There have been over 400 episodes to date, and yet the characters never age. Even if each episode represented one day, at least one year should have passed in their timeline; and the episode with the Itchy and Scratchy movie spans about eight months.

Also, this theory would explain the contradictory origins of each of the characters, such as the numerous accounts of how Homer and Marge met, whether they met during the 1970s, 1980s, or 1990s. And then there's the matter of why Homer is stupid - whether it's because of a gene that makes all male Simpsons become stupid as they get older, or if Homer was once a genius and a crayon that he shoved up his nose as a child made him stupid.

Each season is its own timeline, excepting Seasons 6 and 7, which are directly connected by a two-part episode and so are only one timeline. Any time an episode references events from an earlier season, they acknowledge those events as happening in Broad Strokes. When Homer asks, "Marge, what were your gambling debts last year?" he is referencing a gambling problem that Marge had; but in the reality of that episode, it might have been dealt with differently, and the characters would have been one year younger.

• A larger theory of this would be the first ten seasons are a different Springfield, sort of like Earths 1 and 2.
• Alternatively, each time an episode contradicts a previous episode we start viewing a new Springfield that doesn't have the contradicted episode in its continuity.
  • Jossed in the Season 6 episode Sideshow Bob Roberts (1994) where Lisa mentions previous events from the season 1 episode Krusty Gets Busted (1990) and actually mentions those events happening in 1990. If they were mentioning a present year in this episode, it would probably have been 1994.
    • Medium Awareness explains everything. While they don't have the outright curb-stomp of the fourth wall like Family Guy, The Simpsons are aware they're in a show, which is where the Lampshade Hanging comes from(besides Rule of Funny). Lisa is referring to Sideshow Bob being arrested in real time. That, and its possible previous non-contradictory events happened relatively recently(1993 in this example) in-universe.
• Alternatively, it's not the broadcast seasons that have their own timelines, but the production seasons. Even though the second part of "Who Shot Mr. Burns" aired in season 7, both episodes were produced as part of season 6.

Time passes in a different way, and people don't get older that easily on Simpsons.

They're probably living on a time where years aren't really that much compared to days, and thus, a school "year" could take a while to pass; also, they probably live a lifespan of 300~350 of our years, explaining how they don't get old. Any references to age told by them were according to our notion of years, and vague idea of apparent age in characters; Abe Simpson might look 80 years old, but he's probably around 275 of our years.

The entire series exists in a warped reality.

The earliest sign? During the episode where Bart becomes a scout he points out the inaccurate tenting technique used in an Itchy and Scratchy episode, where Lisa points out that cartoons don't have to be realistic. At which point Homer walks by the living room window even though he's sitting behind them on the couch. This is how we know that no matter what happens in continuity, it won't be constant! The Simpsons live in a world where physics do not exist!

The entire city of Springfield changes its location every week.

It has the power to travel to any place in the USA, much like the mansion in Popotan can in Japan. Also, like in Popotan, the residents never age. The only major difference is that it doesn't jump forward in time when it moves.

Springfield is in a parallel universe

Why else do you think we can never find it?

Homer has powers of similar magnitude to Haruhi Suzumiya

Like all the other Haruhi Suzumiya WMGs on this page, it explains the Status Quo Is God and all of Homer's abilities.

Homer may or may not realize that he has these powers. If not, his powers are whimsical. If he DOES know, then he is playing with everyone and generally using Obfuscating Stupidity. Think about it: all of the times he has died and come back to life, his vast number of jobs, his whimsical abilities, his constantly losing money, the number of things that have no longer taken place as soon as he forgets about them, and his losing and regaining his job so often. Several times, he has changed the past to accommodate himself (the barbershop quartet, the grunge band, his and Marge's several first meetings...).

Bart and Lisa may or may not have powers. Maggie, in accordance to the WMG above, may have inherited his powers and become Haruhi Suzumiya.

Also take note that the person he married is one of the most normal people in the show, aside from any abilities he may have given her. Marge could be Homer's Kyon. The Treehouse of Horror segments could be Homer or Maggie's stress relievers where they kill themselves and anybody else that annoys them.

Also, Springfield is nearly permanently enclosed in Closed Space. The surroundings vary by state, proximity to the ocean, desert, forests and mountains depending on how Homer feels. As a side note, Homer's way of instantly traveling is to say "Well, here we are at the...!"

Homer is aware of the show's Status Quo Is God / Negative Continuity issues and uses it to his advantage

This is why he lives so far beyond his means: he knows that by next week it won't matter.

• Awesome!
• Also a play on how people will do this in real life (credit card debt, etc), and sometimes, sometimes, get away with it.

Homer Simpson is in his own Truman Show

And he's gone insane from decades of it. This is why Homer can get away with anything. His entire reality is geared around keeping him safe and the status quo the same. Maude Flanders cracked under the pressure and left years ago. And this is why Marge keeps returning to him; her real relatives need the money.

• One of the comic stories did have TV producers setting up a Truman Show around Homer. It ended once he found out and agreed to keep it going - and tried to be funny, which ended up backfiring horribly.

"Behind The Laughter" provides an in-universe explanation for everything

The show declining in quality over the years? That's Homer's Executive Meddling. Flanders becoming increasingly unlikable? Homer doesn't like the real guy who he's based on, so he made him less sympathetic. The characters never aging? Gary Coleman syndrome: they're a lot older than they appear.

• "How could I get all three required drops of [anti-growth hormone] into her cereal?" Answer: he wouldn't; he spiked the water supply.

An Eldritch Abomination has taken root in Springfield.

This thing also has reality warping abilities that prevent time from moving forward as part of its goals. Only time is moving forward at the same time it isn't. This is what allows Springfielders to acknowledge past events despite never aging. The mass Flanderization is a side effect of people reliving existence continuously while moving forward. The one thing it has problems dealing with is death, thus why dead characters tend to remain dead.

• This could be a plot idea for a Treehouse of Horror episode.

The reason no one ages is because the show follows Comic-Book Time, simple as that.

The reason no one ever ages in this (or almost every cartoon) is due to cartoons living in an alternate universe

We'll use the Springfield Universe in this case. One Springfieldian year (as in 1 year for their species, like dog years) is MUCH longer than ours (as far as I can tell it's over 20 years), but 1 calendar year is still 365 days. That is why Abe and Mr. Burns are both WWI and WWII Vets when the last WWI Vet is almost dead (if not already).

Springfield exists on a floating continent somewhere above the U.S.

Take into mind that such contains not only Springfield, but at least Shelbyville and Capitol City as well. It's obviously a large enough landmass that it can have its own highways, airports, and so forth, but small enough that the garbage of other cities can cause the end of "Trash of the Titans" - incidentally, a part of the continent must be uninhabitable due to it. It stays high enough that it can appear to border Nevada, Ohio, Maine, and Kentucky from the vantage point of the highest mountains, but can come low enough to enable the Simpsons rapid transit via car or train to places like New York or Florida. Incidentally, in-universe people don't seem to care, have become used to it, or perhaps convince themselves that Springfield doesn't actually exist.

"Miracle on Evergreen Terrace" is the final episode out-of-order.

Somebody (I forget who) made this suggestion on the DVD commentary for the episode.

There is little to no continuity due to time travel.

Professor Frink has already invented a time machine, and his messing around leads to Flanderization and no continuity. This is also why Springfield can't be found; Frink's time-traveling is changing where Jebediah settled in America and sometimes where buildings were put.

• Not just that, but he's basically screwed over the time stream. That's why no-one ages, even if a measurable amount of time passes. The rest of the planet (aside from Shelbyville) is unaffected for the most part. Due to the Timey-Wimey Ball, they retain some memories of previous episodes.
  • I'm going to go even further and say that it will eventually result in a city-wide Time Crash where what little continuity and causality there is goes flying out the window. And this will be the Wham Episode of the series, if they wish to end Status Quo Is God.

Springfield is trapped in a Time Loop.

We know it isn't as simple as Negative Continuity, because they refer to previous events. The reason for this is because Springfield (and Shelbyville) is stuck in a time loop, where every year it resets at most two years. However, there's a certain extent of Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory, so each version of the year is different from the last. Certain events, such as Maude's death, are constants that can't be negated. Different origin stories are the result of conflicting memories, which causes Flanderization. The rest of the planet is immune from this, hence why it hasn't stayed 1990. This is likely due to the above theory of Frink messing around with time travel, creating the Time Loop. Whenever Negative Continuity is averted, its because the Time Loop is an imperfect one-some events remain, but the timeline is struggling to make sense of them. That, and some events are likely to repeat each time loop.

• It's possible that time froze in 1991 or 1992. Lisa turns 8 and stays 8 in that episode. According to the Simpsons Wiki, Lisa was born on May 9th and Bart was born on April 1st. "Stark Raving Dad" was a holdover episode from Season 2, meaning that it probably would have aired in May. "Radio Bart" would have to take place on 4/1/92 for this theory to work, but it's possible that time froze in between Bart's 11th (or 10th?) birthday and Lisa's 9th birthday. Other birthday episodes like "The Dad Who Knew Too Little" would all have to take place on their respective days, but it all fits when you think about it. Of course, for any part of either of these theories to work, "That 90's Show" has to be considered non-canon.

The Simpsons takes place in The Sims 1 universe

That's why they never age, and why Homer can quit and get his job back so easily.

Every Three Seasons of the Simpsons represent one year in Springfield, and all of the characters are actually slightly older than the perspective of the show admits

In Season Three, Bart and Lisa turned 10 and 8 respectively. At that point the show was in its third season. Since there have been 24 seasons, if the show operated on a three season per year timetable, and Bart and Lisa started out as 9 and 7 respectively than at the current time Bart would be 16 and Lisa would be 14. There have been complaints that Lisa's activism and persona don't work if she's still 8, but if she's really 14 her persona may make more sense. As to why there still in a public school run by "Seymour Skinner" Springfield is a terrible town that Houses it's entire public school program within the confines of what was once simply Springfield Elementary back when the Simpson family first welcomed Santa's Little Helper into their midst. All of the direct mentions of age are part of some kind of skewed perspective, exactly who's skewed perspective it is that makes us think Bart is still ten in universe is open to interpretation. But it might be the parents in the family, unwilling to admit their children are growing up. The main problem with this theory is of course Maggie, though of course, the skewed perspective might be at work there too. Perhaps Maggie is actually seven, and Homer and Marge continue to see her as a baby because they won't accept their children gradually growing up. Given Maggie's demonstrated intelligence, I can't think of another explanation for her behavior according to this theory. I'll admit this is a entirely unlikely theory, but if the show may actually be a matter of alternate universes or Truman Show shenanigans, is a show with the false perspective impossible?

Bart and Lisa wished for everyone in Springfield and Shelbyville to stop aging so they could be kids forever on December 24, 1990

The second when it struck midnight and 1991 began, everyone in Springfield and Shelbyville ceased to get any older. This explains why no one ever ages, and nobody seems to notice this in over 22 years.

Additionally, it also affects the other people's memories and when they happened (such as the births of Bart and Lisa) and sense of time passing. When Homer recalled various times when he was injured from about 15 years back, he thought it all happened in a week. However, Bart and Lisa are still aware of time passing, which has been shown sometimes such as Lisa mentioning earlier events that happened in 1990 while still being the same age in 1994 and when Bart thinks that he's not a kid anymore after he loses his last baby tooth (and this happened when he should be 24 and when Lisa should be 22).

Springfield has been moved more than once

In the 200th episode, Springfield is moved building by building due to the trash pile up. It's possible that the town gets moved due to disasters quite often, possibly from state to state. If it's a different state, it's one that includes a Shelbyville, and Capital City is what they say to the audience to keep us guessing. That also explains why Springfield's geography changes, why it's said to "border" four different states that are geographically far away from each other, why people in Springfield have accents from all over the country, and why new parts of the city such as Little Seattle and the Russian district appear out of nowhere. This explains why some characters' living situations change in some episodes.

This actually happens again in the 500th episode.

Springfield is its own micronation.

Hence why it can't be found: Springfield isn't in any state, but a micronation under the control of the United States government. Springfield is considered American partly for convenience and partly because its technically "in" the United States. Springfield is likely where the micronation was founded, and due to it becoming a crapsack city they changed the capital to Capitol City. Shelbyville and Ogdenville are also part of this. "West Springfield" is just a name for a desert that borders Springfield. Going by the Fan Nickname, the name of the micronation is Takota. Where it's situated, though, remains a mystery.

Springfield is in its own pocket dimension, which can be accessed through various points in normal-universe America.

Basically another way of solving all the geographical anomalies like the fact it borders states with no fixed boundary, why "West Springfield" is three times the size of Texas, and basically no-one knows precisely where it is.

The reason that Springfield is in an unknown state is because of Tapped Out

Homer blew up the town multiple times, landing in a different state every time. This explains how some buildings can be next to different buildings, like how the Simpsons house was once close to a prison so Homer can make a joke about a prison.

Springfield is built on a deposit of Folsense Gas

• Everyone ages in the show, but they don't think of themselves as aging, and hallucinate that they are the same age as they were decades ago. Hence why nobody ages despite Bill Clinton being President in one episode and Apple product expies existing in others. Homer is actually quite old, and slowly becoming senile, which is why he is slowly growing less intelligent. Bart and Lisa are teenagers, which is why Bart has become more rebellious and why Lisa has turned into a Soapbox Sadie. Maggie is actually as old as Bart and Lisa appear to be, which is why she is intelligent.

The characters never age because the length of each episode in human years is only the timespan of the events that happen in it

Let me explain. If an episode is set over the course of one week, it's one week in the life of The Simpsons. The family never has any boring off-screen adventures because when episodes air they usually take place months earlier. The characters are aging, but the reason that none of the characters are 25 years older is that the show's timeline is out of order. The show does have continuity, but some episodes that air in 2014 can take place in 2013 without being a future episode. The "Time Loop" WMG matches up nicely with this in that the rest of the world is aging normally, or the show just takes place in an alternate universe 20 Minutes into the Future which is exactly the same as real life except that technology advances very quickly. If you pretend that each episode only takes place over one day, than 557 episodes = 557 days after the events of "Simpsons Roasting On An Open Fire". Lisa would be about 11 or 12 and Bart would be 13 or 14. What about school years? Simple. Any episodes where the school isn't mentioned are presumed to take place over the summer. The pieces of the puzzle slowly start to fall together when you think of the many plot holes which could actually be open doors for theories instead.

Everyone in Springfield has the same eating disorder and nobody ages because they don't have the proper nutrition

There was just a throwaway line in "Moe Goes From Rags To Riches" which made me think of this.

The Nuclear Power Plant ended up creating a Fountain of Youth.

The nuclear run-off has already done a number of crazy things, like creating Blinky or making tomacco. The reason why nobody has aged is because the radioactive waste has polluted the water and somehow managed to prevent aging. This also serves as a handy explanation for why everyone outside of Springfield ages normally-every other country refuses to accept the toxic waters. Whenever someone in Springfield seems to age, it's because they're drinking less of the polluted water. So what's with the contradictory flashbacks? That's the negative consequence of the power plant-it may stop their aging, but it also causes mass stupidity and memory problems.

The Trickster from Supernatural created The Simpsons universe.

Sometime during his tenure as The Trickster, he grew bored and created an entire city of idiots. The continuity snarl is due to him being able to reset time, which also explains why the Simpsons haven't aged in the 25 years the show was on air. He could just be having them relive the same year, again and again and again.

The real reason why Springfield doesn't age is that Mr. Popo won't let them

The Hyperbolic Time Chamber runs on chronotons, Mr Popo uses these chronotons to stop the characters from aging by creating an inverse time field. To keep people from knowing about this, Mr Popo alters the characters memories so that it appears to them that the timeline flows normally, except he allows events like death to still occur just for fun and to keep the illusion. To keep others from finding Springfield he moves it constantly and/or keeps it in a separate dimension (similar to in the Harry Potter universe). Just when they start aging, he resets the year just to keep them the same age.

Every single episode of the show is set in an alternate timeline created by Homer's memory

The show actually once had perfect continuity. Homer jumping between memories in "Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind" screwed up time (because he was basically time-traveling inside his head in that episode...) and created a bunch of alternate timelines, therefore screwing up the continuity. The episodes WE see are the result of Homer messing with the continuity.

The Simpsons' USA is a little more northern than our own.

Numerous times its suggested that Springfield exists in a fictional state, North Takoma. Presumably, there is a South Takoma. However, there are still fifty states, so how could it fit? Notice how in all the episode, we have not gotten one reference to Arkansas and Oklahoma in any canonical episode. In this universe, the region of Arkansas and Oklahoma aren't US States, but either independent countries or belong to another. In this universe, the southern-most part of Canada's British Columbia/New Brunswick (since Springfield is consistently a town bordering the ocean) became part of America, as the small twin states of Takoma.

The shows floating timeline is a result of Mr. Burns Deal with the Devil

A combination of several theories in the folder. Mr. Burns wanted immortality, so he made a deal with the devil were the devil makes him immortal in exchange that Burns causes as much evil as possible for Springfield. OF course, the Devil being the devil, the deal had a catch, EVERYONE in Springfield will stop ageing, but the rest of the world, and the years will keep changing.

Springfield's state is really...

...the State of Existence.

• I thought it was in the State of Confusion.

Crossover theories

Number One from the Stonecutters is Director Bullock from American Dad

Being head of a massive and powerful secret society would explain how he got to be Deputy Director in the CIA. Both are secretive organizations which he runs like frat houses. Also, they have suspiciously similar voices...

The Simpsons and the town of Springfield are sentient simulations involved in a "Dark City" experiment

The Simpsons and their fellow Springfieldians think they are regular people living in a regular town, but in reality they are computer simulations being run by a bored group of aliens in a Dark City type of simulation. The reason why Status Quo is God is because they usually set back events, memories, and the progression of time at the end of each "arc" (represented as episodes). Just for kicks, though, they'll often leave some hint or memory of what came before, enough for that memory to have an effect on the personality of the character, but not enough for them to put two-and-two together. That's why their personalities tend towards Flanderization over time - the repeated simulations are reinforcing certain traits, until

• Flanders becomes Flanders,
• Lisa the smart schoolgirl becomes a tree-hugging, vegetarian liberal,
• Bart the troublemaker and slow kid becomes a prankster of legendary and ludicrous capabilities,
• Homer the slightly stupid but generally sympathetic working-class protagonist becomes incredibly childish and awful, among others.

Springfield and everything associated with it is a fantasy world created by Haruhi Suzumiya.

Think about it. It would explain so many things. Nobody seems to know what state it's in. There's the constant Flanderization and idiocy of so many of its residents. Most of them are yellow, and all of them have four fingers. The Status Quo Is God. The whole messy Separate Simpsons Geography Thing.

• Why Haruhi Suzumiya in particular?
  1. She's exactly the sort of person who would do such a thing.
  2. Why the hell not?
• Springfield's universe might be a universe she discarded before arriving at her current one, which she was subconsciously kind enough to leave intact. Well, as intact as it gets, anyway.
  • She's Flanders. There's no other person she could be.
    • Look below.

The city of Springfield was built by Bloody Stupid Johnson.

This explains the rapidly shifting geography and impossibility to locate.

The Flanderization is all due to the machinations of the Cult of Skaro

Alright, this might need some explanation, the characters of The Simpsons' universe, along with Family Guy and South Park are being manipulated by the Cult of Skaro, who are making the characters behave in a way they wouldn't do normally, allowing the characters to help them proceed to their ultimate goal; reality itself being conquered. They are using different tactics with each universe; with this one, Sec, realising that he can't simply use stupidity to his advantage, is being cleverer and more manipulative, using each of the characters' flaws to his advantage (e.g. Homer's gullible tendencies, depression and worry that he amounts to nothing and Marge's worry about the safety of her family). Bart and Lisa? Deliberately working with Sec and are currently manipulating others into helping them. In Bart's case, it's because he simply signed up For the Lulz. In Lisa's case, it's because she genuinely believes (or knows) that working with Sec will make her universe, as well as others, a better place, making her a Well-Intentioned Extremist who believes Utopia Justifies the Means.

Springfield is a Traction City

This would answer the the age-old question: Why is Springfield a coastal city one day and landlocked the next? Simple: between the episodes, the citizens simply put the city on wheels and move to another location. The reason being time in the past, the Mayor of Springfield (possibly as a misinterpretation of orders during the Vietnam War) literally mobilized the city. However, instead of practicing Municipal Darwinism, they simply go along trading with the locals.

The Simpsons is in the same universe as Neon Genesis Evangelion

Proof—This girl is a dead ringer for Rei Ayanami, possibly a spare clone that slipped the net. She's also as talkative as the "real" Rei (that is, she doesn't talk at all). This reader is not sure what the implications of this are, but they are unfortunate.

• This may explain why nobody ages-Springfield got an early Near-Third Impact.

Motherly love is outlawed in the future (from "Simpsorama") because Mom copyrighted it as a marketing ploy to sell her robots/make the robots feel extra loved by her specially.

In the (non-canon) "Simpsorama" episode, Springfield is a suburb located in or near New York City.

In 21st century Springfield, there's a Panucci's Pizza restaurant (with a cameo from Seymour the dog). In 31st century New New York City, the monsters that were inadvertently created by Bart and Milhouse are seen destroying this area.

There will eventually be a Simpsons/South Park crossover episode

Based on the success of the Simpson Guy and Simpsorama, and the fact that the two shows have always referenced one another for years. Cartman and Bart will have a rivalry and Lisa could bond with Kyle or Stan. Garrison could be a foil for both Skinner and Smithers. Have the off-the-walls extravagant stories of both towns slightly rub-off one another. The only tricky thing to properly do would be the animation and join the different art styles, but I'm sure something interesting will be done for it.

Springfield is under the effects of the Dragon Break

Anybody familiar with The Elder Scrolls would know of an event where time becomes nonlinear and incredibly messed up where two contradictory events are simultaneously true (which is why the episodes keep flip-flopping between Lisa having friends or not or why Homer has so many jobs but end up back in the Nuclear Power Plant). The Break happened around the late 80s when the show started so anything before that will always be true (Homer and Marge's teenage years will always be the 70s, Skinner served in Vietnam, etc).

The show will eventually get a full Bob's Burgers crossover episode

Like the Couch Gag from "My Way or the Highway to Heaven", only now it's a full episode. In search of the perfect burger, Homer drags the Simpson family to Seymour's Bay where they meet and befriend the Belchers. Homer and Bob hang out as fathers, Marge and Linda do mom stuff with Maggie, Lisa and Tina bond over their mutual awkwardness, and Bart performs pranks with Gene and Louise.

Everything will soon hit the fan

Alright, this might need some explanation, possible crossovers between The Simpsons, Family Guy (with possibly American Dad thrown in the mix) and/or South Park will, probably, be Crisis Crossovers with one underlying threat continuing through seasons of both shows, with special comic one-shot tie-ins.

As for possible threats:

• Precursors: Possibly reptillian humanoids or highly-evolved apes. These precursors could emerge in one of two ways:
  • A genetic plague, possibly embedded in human mtDNA (due to experiments conducted on the mitochondrial Eve) emerges and begins making humans extinct. A character ends up sent back in time 102,000 years to a time when Paleolithic humans were locked in a battle for the future of the planet with these precursor creatures, one of whom plans to defeat the humans with the plague that will ensure his (or her) race's dominance over Earth. The character (or characters) find the mitochondrial Eve (possibly with the help of a Token Good Teammate precursor) and save her from the virus, thus ensuring the survival of the human race 102,000 years hence.
  • The precursors are discovered cryogenically frozen and hold the secret numeric codes to the Bible that foretell the end of civilization. It would be revealed that there is a code inscribed in the Bible that predicts all historical events. The precursors were there at the beginning and influenced human religion over thousands of years, putting the code in to either foreshadow their return or ensure their discovery so they can emerge again.
• Transformers: The Transformers came to Earth for some reason and are currently infiltrating Springfield, Quahog and South Park simultaneously. Something will happen to make them reveal themselves, with some characters (i.e. the Simpson family, Stan, Kyle) siding with the Autobots and others (e.g. Sideshow Bob, Stewie, Cartman) with the Decepticons. The story will end with Stan Smith talking to Avery Bullock over the phone about the Autobot/Decepticon battle and (possibly) the events of the one-shots. Bullock will say something like "Well, it's time to fight fire with fire" and the camera pans up to reveal deactivated Transformers (possibly beast-formers like the Dinobots, Maximals or Predacons or Seekers e.g. Jetfire, Ransack). This will set up a sequel.
  • There was already a "Treehouse of Horror" episode which features expies of the Transformers.
• Kaiju: A Godzilla crossover in which giant monsters (initially Godzilla, Rodan and Anguirus, with possibly others appearing later on)begin appearing and wreaking havoc across Earth. It will focus on characters who survived the destruction that the monsters initially created and their struggle to live amongst these giants.
  • Not out of the question in the comics, but there's one problem in regards to TV: Simpsons Guy, the crossover between Family Guy and The Simpsons is a bit of a Broken Base; if the humor in Family Guy potentially leaking through to The Simpsons is divisive, the brand of humor from South Park possibly doing the same would be From Bad to Worse.

The Simpsons is a Future Imperfect or otherwise unreliable retelling of Family Guy

... because it would be the ultimate subversion of It's Been Done.

• Mind... needs... birth control.

Hans Moleman is a Promethean.

Everyone hates him for no reason whatsoever, he's rather hideous (so that just rules out Galateans), and he's literally died and come back to life several times.

Other potential anime-themed possibilities

We have already had a Death Note parody, An Anime Among Us, and Smithers dressed up as Captain Harlock in the Futurama Crossover Comic so these are some other thoughts that I got Treehouse of Horror or otherwise.

• Black Butler-Smithers being in the role of Sebastian.

Springfield is sitting on a giant deposit of Folsense Gas

The main characters of the show never age, but time seems to pass (Bill Clinton appearing in an older episode but things like iPads (or "Mypads", appearing in later episodes). This could be explained as Comic-Book Time, but you have to admit, the symptoms of Folsense Gas are there. Perhaps Mr. Burns discovered the gas first, which is why he seems to be immortal even though he is ridiculously fragile and dependant on Smithers. That's why Homer is getting dumber and dumber (He's actually sixty, and is going senile like his father) and Lisa is becoming increasingly intelligent (She's in her twenties, and should be going to university), among other things. The reason Springfield isn't in any state is because it has been isolated from society (because of the gas) to the point where it could be in ANY state. The events of the movie weren't just caused by overpolluting, the EPA wanted to isolate Springfield because of the dangerous gas that permeated the town, which hadn't been studied enough to be considered safe. People in Shelbyville don't look like people from Springfield, they too are affected by the gas, and the people from Springfield expect the town to look similar to theirs, so it does.

Meta-theories

Betting Pool for future events that may have been predicted by the Simpsons:

• Cars with no wheels:
• VR food:
• The first US President of foreign descent:
• A merger between ABC and other news networks:
• The revival of the Soviet Union:
• Big Ben going digital:
• Large-scale environmental disaster:

The Simpsons Movie, as well as the Christmas Episode "Holidays of Future Passed" are the true series finales.

In the movie Homer messes up big time to the point where he almost destroys Springfield, the town wants him dead, Bart finds a new father figure, and Marge tapes over their wedding video. In the end, he saves the day, Bart and Homer finally bond, Homer learns that other people are more important than him, a minor character is Killed Off for Real, and Lisa meets her first real boyfriend so far. Unlike other future episodes, Holiday of Future Passed isn't told by a fortune teller or a look into the future. The main plot is set up by Bart and Lisa whining about having to get their Christmas pictures taken, then fast forward. Unlike other flashfowards, this one seems to be canon.

• Like SpongeBob SquarePants's Big Damn Movie, no matter how many episodes continue to get made, these are the true finales.
• Jossed at least for the movie part. Some characters like Spider-Pig and the Inuit Shaman are seen again. And in the episode "The Fool Monty", when Mr. Burns tries to cover all of Springfield under a giant dome, he is informed that this has been done before, proving that this episode is set after the movie. Willie also has a sign mentioning the dome in "The Kid is All Right."
• "Holidays of Future Passed" was meant to be the series finale in case it didn't make it to Season 24, so the latter is highly plausible.
• Not anymore! They made yet another flash forward that takes place after Holidays. This time it's called "Barthood".

A second movie will be made after the show finally ends to give the series one, big, final sendoff.

And it will be the only thing that could possibly make sense: Sideshow Bob joins with and/or tricks Mr. Burns in aiding him in assembling a group of people who the Simpson Family has made enemies of.

• Frank Grimes Jr.! Russ Cargill! The unibrow baby! And, in the final act, Kang and Kodos!
  • Even better, if the group resembles the Legion of Doom featured on South Park. Then they can do the classic "Simpsons did it!" joke.
• And then, the Simpsons also get help from everyone they became allies with during the ensuing final battle. Think of all those Springfieldians that are not evil per se (such as Chief Wiggum, who can be a hypocrite but is never really evil, if you don't count The Boys of Bummer; or even Skinner, who's not evil either, but appears antagonistic because he's the school's principal and Bart is a troublemaker), and all those one-time characters (every character that appeared for an episode, or sometimes twice or three times, like Lurleen Lumpkin), all helping the Simpsons.
  • Bonus points if the aliens do come into play and double-cross Burns, Sideshow Bob, and the other villains, and things suddenly get serious. Very serious.
    • More bonus points if Russ Cargill also double-crosses the other villains and commits one of the biggest Anti-Moral Event Horizons in ''The Simpsons history to prove/remind the characters and audience that despite all of his Disproportionate Retribution, he is still a genuine hero at heart and he only does bad deeds to benefit ''and'' protect the environment.
• So basically, like Ragnarok but in Springfield and with marginally fewer monsters and no Loki (unless we count Bart...)
• Or maybe it could go down like this: The allies put up a fight but are overpowered by the enemies of the Simpsons and just as things look like they’re about to fall apart for the family, out of nowhere comes arguably the most powerful ally the Simpsons ever made - Hank Scorpio! Him and his army obliterate the enemies, but Scorpio (being Scorpio) wants more power, so takes over Springfield and basically turns it into another Cypress Creek, then opens a new branch of the Globex Corporation and gives Homer the management job he had back in “You Only Move Twice”. This way, it ends with Homer finally getting to have the job he felt he was good at without having to leave Springfield. I know that’s a bit out there storyline-wise but it would be a great way to end off the show to have Springfield become a paradise like Cypress Creek after everything it’s been through, I feel.
  • Tying into this, we might as well throw in:
    • Bart graduating from Springfield Elementary with passing/good grades (maybe perhaps this starts the film off).
    • Homer winning Employee of the Month for general job performance (as opposed to saving the plant, which is what he's actually won the award for).
    • Principal Skinner changes his name to his real name.
    • And various other changes from the Status Quo.

An ancient prophecy states that Rupert Murdoch's media empire will only last as long as The Simpsons keeps airing new episodes

This explains the show's unprecedented longevity on a network with a cancel-happy reputation.

• Oh God, it's the Winchester Mansion of television shows!

The finale will see the Newbery-tastic death of Santa's Little Helper

Since the first episode of the show proper to air was Little Santa's arrival at the Simpson household, the finale will kill him off, to serve as a book-end.

"Bart Gets an F" Is the final episode

The episode in general is a Tear Jerker in and of itself, and shows that Bart doesn't like being called an "Underachiever and proud of it", and genuiely lacks he intelligence to succeed in school; The episode has little laughs and is mostly played for drama, and it can work as a grand finale for a series, with Bart miraclously passing the test. And because it's very difficult to arrange the episodes in a coherent chronological order, given tha after this episode Bart is still in 4th grade, so it's very likely that all this time, we have already seen the final episode and they never informed us.

At some point after the 30th Season, The Simpsons will move over to ABC

Disney now owns the show, after all.

• Problem is that the franchise is too heavily linked to Fox. Reruns airing on ABC? Sure. Switching over to ABC entirely? Very unlikely.
• What about Freeform? Family Guy airs there, as will Bob's Burgers starting in fall 2019, and they're both FOX shows.

The series will end with 1000 episodes

Meaning the show will end at its 45th season in 2034.

• That seems like the approximate year the main stars might get too old to work. It's depressing to think about but it's inevitable.

The series won't have a proper finale

• Between the declining ratings, increasing age of the voice actors and the producers seeming to have no plan to end the show, it seems far more likely that either Disney will cancel the show without letting the creative team know because they don't think it's worth spending any more money to produce and/or one of the major voice actors will either die/otherwise become unable to work mid-production, making the creative team unable to do a proper Grand Finale without that actor.

After the finale's end credits, Fox will show a short of The Simpsons family sing "My Way".

Marge will sing the first verse, with the line "and so I face the final curtain" referencing the earlier Treehouse of Horror openingsHomer will sing the second verse. Regrets, he's had a few.Lisa will sing the first part of the first chorus and then Marge and Homer will chime in.Bart will sing the third and final verse, with the line "If find it all so amusing" alluding to his prankster personality, and because he is the most popular character.Then they all sing the second chorus, and after that, it will show us the family living room. The family run to the couch and...nothing happens. They've earned their happy ending.It then pans out to show Matt Groening having drawn the final frame, before saying "Yes, I did it my way." before turning off the desk light next to him. Then a Thank You message will pop up thanking the audience for watching this whole time.

The show isn't as good because Homer knows he's in a cartoon and can therefore do what he wants

We know the show isn't as good as the Golden Era, and lots of people point to Homer's increasingly Jerkass behaviour. But why would he care less and less about his actions? Because he knows he faces almost no repercussions for his actions.
In "Homer the Heretic", Homer meets God, God tells him the meaning of life. And this is when God tells him that he lives in a cartoon. Homer begins to use this knowledge to his advantage. This power can't undo any death, which is why his old mum stays dead shortly after passing away in the episode Mona Leaves-a. Other changes stay because A) he doesn't care, such as Luann splitting up with Kirk, B) or Homer doesn't mind, such as Lisa's vegetarianism.

• Wait, are you saying that Homer now controls the universe?!

The show's seemingly never-ending run is really Springtime for Hitler by Matt Groening.

Think about it: by the time Season 9 was coming to a close, Groening decided he had enough. He felt the show had a nice run and that it was time to move on. Unfortunately, the show was still a cash cow and Groening knew damn well that the cash-mongering executives at FOX wouldn't can the show just yet. So what better way to abandon your fanbase than to make your show Jump the Shark? Going into season 10, Groening did everything he could to make the show as bad as possible (the jerkassination of Homer, Flanderization, crappy jokes, the works). This plan would've worked...if the show still didn't get substantial ratings. Groening now suffers the consequences and has been forced to create 10+ seasons (and counting!) ever since, thanks to Fox. When will Groening's ingenious plan finally work? Only time will tell...

• Not unprecedented; Springtime For Hitler was a hit.

The final episode will make it clear we'll never see the Simpsons again

While at the same time making a point of all the many secondary characters Springfield still has to offer for potential new stories. Of course, a spin-off series will follow and receive very mixed reviews.

• They already kind of did that in "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase". But because Status Quo Is God, the Simpsons came back.

The last season will involve revoking the Status Quo Is God.

It's only fitting that, if it's the end, they might as well do something they've never done before (and they've done a lot). Examples of what they could do can be posted below, as well as a scenario.

• Abe Simpson's death. Considering Homer's "daddy issues", it would be quite interesting to see what emotions he might go through, and how the family will react to one another. I see it as this: the family ends up forgetting/ignoring a routine visit to the retirement place, unaware that Abe suffered a heart attack due to Jasper cutting in line to his meds. As Abe spends his last days in a hospital bed, there will be massive tension between Homer and Abe. Homer will end up using this time to call the old man out for his poor and abusive parenting skills, and letting this contribute to the way he is. Marge and the kids will call Homer out, but Homer will stand by his words. Pissed off, he'll leave the family to "think about things". At Moe's bar, he'll start talking about it. Moe, being the Jerk with a Heart of Gold we love, will point out that he's being a Jerkass, and should really think if Abe deserved those words. Homer will think about it, and then realise that, while mean, Abe really tried to/does love his son, and is much like himself in that regard. Cue Homer bawling his eyes out, feeling that his dad will die with sadness and hate for what he said. Surprisingly, Grandpa appears in the bar, apologizing for what he's done. Homer will smile hard, saying "it's okay dad, you don't need to apologize." They'll have a last beer together, and Abe will die in peace, with a grin on his face. Commence crying.
  • Season 24 has thus far had two Grandpa centric episodes that show him in a more positive light. This could very well happen.
• Lisa and Bart finally moving up a year and how they cope with that. Likewise, Maggie could start talking, but her speech could remain not heard by the viewer (similar to episodes set in the future).

Certain episodes aren't canon, and certain are.

To reiterate, here's a guide:

• Any episode referred to in a future episode is likely canon. Any episode important to the Simpsons mythos is definitely canon.
• Any episode with mention of the year is non-canon. The exception being episodes which are essential to the mythos: in this case, they may be canon, but mention of the year is not.
• The maximum duration of the canon is about 2 years, based on Maggie being a baby. Any episode where Springfield Elementary is included logically takes place during her 1st year.
• The series is in an Anachronism Stew.
• "The Principal and the Pauper" certainly isn't.

Tress MacNeille will voice Bart's new teacher

She voiced every other divisive character on the show, and the series is starting to see the end, if its lifespan is as good as the longevity of its core voice actors.

Doing DVD commentaries for older seasons inspired the writers and show runners to remember what made the show work in the first place.

This explains a lot of the callbacks in later seasons, the uptick in quality in recent seasons after long ago Jumping the Shark, and return appearances of long-forgotten characters. If you listen to the commentaries, they repeatedly talk about how they haven't used such-and-such for a long time, and sit watching and laughing at things they had done years ago and had forgotten about.

---

Miscellaneous/unsorted theories (please sort them into folders):

Treehouse of Horror episodes always take place in many Alternate Universes

This theory was finally proven in the episode called Treehouse of Horror XXV

Celebrity Guest Stars show up in Springfield due to it being in another universe

One thing that supports this is that no one knows where Springfield is in the USA, Springfield (and surrounding towns) is in a parallel universe and celebrities are somehow zapped through a wormhole or a tear in reality and become yellow with 4 finger and forget everything from their universe after leaving Springfield, they just lose their memories of what just happened when they come back.

The series The Simpsons is attempting to bring about the end of the world.

In a few years, the show will have used 30-40% of all celebrities in existence. On December 12, 2012, an episode will air featuring Summer Glau, Drew Carey and Kevin Bacon. This will cause the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon to compress and eventually collapse in on itself, taking the rest of the world with it.

• Or Homer will reveal that he was a sparkling vampire that used a really strong sunscreen to not sparkle, all the time. Or both.
  • As an oblique reference to this, the writers decided to name the detergent "Mr. Sparkle".
  • Jossed, it's already past December 12, 2012 and that hasn't happened yet.
    • Key word is "attempt."

The show was originally supposed to take place during The '60s.

The early Tracey Ullman shorts seem kind of... retro, even for the 80s. In some shorts, their TV looks like it was made in the 50s, and it comes complete with a rabbit-ears antenna. Matt Groening has said that Marge's hair was inspired by the "beehive" hairstyle that was popular at the time. It could be possible that the entire show began as a nostalgic look at Matt's childhood.

They are all suffering from jaundice.

• And this proves it.
  • That video also proves that Homer is Bill from King of the Hill's twin.
• Futurama proves that a strain of body-encompassing jaundice does indeed exist◊, and The Simpsons is simply placed in a world where everyone suffers from it.
  • Jossed in New Kid on the Block, where Bart is seen taking a bath and says "Sometimes a guy just likes his skin to look its yellowest."

Some day in the future, The Simpsons will be the longest running TV series in human history

Well ... does anybody doubt it?

• Sesame Street would have to be canceled first; they've been going for over 40 seasons.
• As would Doctor Who. Including both the old and the new series they've done 31 seasons, and they're about to start the 32nd.
  • If we threw Doctor Who in there, we'd also have to throw Super Sentai into the mix, which is currently on its 39th continuous season^note and if you include the first 2 shows, that brings it to 41.
• If we're including all genres and all timeslots, we'd have to get rid of The Tonight Show too, and then The Simpsons would have to last another 35 years, which is still over twice how long it's been on now. Good luck.
• Considering how most people think the series has decayed over time, I really hope this isn't the case.
• Meet the Press is the longest-running TV show in broadcasting history. It premiered in 1947. The Simpsons will never beat it.

Moleman is Kenny McCormick's grandfather of Kenny in about 60/70 years

This would explain how many times he's died.

• Alternatively, the Cthulhu cultists were at least 26 years early in their actions.
• Moleman once said that he was 34 years old. The reason he looks so old is a result he's slowly mutating into a proper Cthulhu spawn. It would explain why reality hates him.

Randall from Recess is Moe Syzslak as a child.

His status carried on through his childhood and he eventually decided to open a bar.

• Jossed in episodes where we see Moe as a kid, such as "The Way We Weren't" and "Springfield Up".
  • He could be an impostor a la Armin/Seymour.

A future Treehouse of Horror episode will feature a Soul Eater parody.

Okay, the likelyhood is very low, but how kickass would that be?

The Simpsons are not related to Virgil at all.

The only reason Grandpa brought it up is because Lisa was upset. Along with the fact that it wasn't written in the cookbook with the other story about Eliza and Virgil, and that Homer looks just like Hiram, and it was just said by Grandpa to cheer up his granddaughter.

• That's what the WMG above you says.
  • This also means that The Simpsons are not 1/64 black.

The A Plot of "Flaming Moe" was partially based on my Fan Fic Day Under The Sun

Plot gets kicked off by Mr. Burns and Smithers having some sort of squabble? Check. Smithers gets Moe to help him get what he wants from Mr. Burns? Check. Moe/Smithers Ship Tease despite Moe being fully aware that he is straight due to feeling down? Checkity check. I wrote it two seasons ago, plenty of time for them to find it.^note Yes, this is a joke.

Springfield technically has a one-child policy

Except that you're allowed to apply for an exemption. The pattern of acceptance for such means it's more like a 'Stop having kids once you get a healthy girl' policy. Hence:

• Sheri and Terri are only children because they're both girls and at least one of them is healthy.
• The Octuplets aren't getting any more siblings (whether their parents want them to or not) because they're not all boys and at least one girl is healthy.
• The Flanders got their first boy, applied for permission to have a second child. When that child was another boy, they decided God didn't want them to have a daughter and gave up.
• The Simpsons' first child (Bart) was a boy. Their second child was sickly at birth (Lisa) hence why their application to have a third child (Maggie) was granted. Lisa got better, but after they were given permission to have Maggie.
• Lots of parents seem to have older sisters so this policy was introduced shortly before Bart et al's generation.
• Cletus is a special case. He gets away with it under the 'Cultural Exemption Act' i.e. he's treated as a 'farmer' in relation to the real China's policy for equality reasons.
  • Except Bart, Lisa and Maggie were all accidents. And Lisa seemed healthy when we saw her as a baby/toddler.

"Bart vs. Lisa vs. the Third Grade" isn't too memorable to some people.

The episode, at one point, implies Springfield to be in Illinois, and yet most fans still don't know Where the Hell Is Springfield?. Now the only reason why nobody else knows where Springfield is (as of 2002, the airdate of that episode) is because they barely or not at all remember that episode.

Jasper Beardley is Otto Mann's maternal grandfather

or possibly uncle.

• Otto could even be Jasper's illegitimate son.

Selma Bouvier only marries characters voiced by recurring guest stars

That's why she married Sideshow Bob (voiced by Kelsey Grammer), Lionel Hutz (voiced by Phil Hartman), Troy McClure (also voiced by Hartman), and Disco Stu (originally voiced by Hartman). Her next husband will either be Fat Tony (voiced by Joe Mantegna) or if she possesses any of her twin sister's lesbian tendencies, Lindsey Naegle or Cookie Kwan (both voiced by Tress MacNeille).

• Actually, I just found out that Selma recently married Abraham Simpson (voiced by regular Dan Castellaneta), but since that episode (and the one where she married Disco Stu) took place after the series jumped the shark, those two marriages are non-canon.
• Whoa! You're right! She does marry Fat Tony in the next episode!

In the episode where Sideshow Bob tries to kill Selma, Homer was in on the plan

The reason for this is because he hated Selma. Whose idea was it to go for a walk when Selma is watching Mcguyver? Homer's. The reason Bob needed Homer to say this idea is because if the idea came from someone else, and Marge could witness it, then Bob would look less suspicious for leaving the room at that exact time. When Bart tries to explain that Sideshow Bob is going to kill Selma, Homer doesn't really not understand what Bart is saying, Homer is just stalling for time.

Regarding Krusty is only illiterate when it comes to English

Krusty is illiterate in the first few seasons. His family is Jewish and he probably is bilingual in English and Yiddish or Hebrew. He can speak English but can only read the other language. It's possible his grandparents from Eastern Europe lived with him as a kid and didn't speak English. The cue cards on his show were also in another language. He then didn't learn to read and write English til he was an adult.

• He probably reads Hebrew or Arabic just fine, based on "Today I am a Clown" since he went through with his Aliyah with nary a hitch, based on the amount of prep he had.
• Alternative theory: he isn't illiterate; just quite nearsighted and too vain to wear glasses. Krusty is seen to have trouble in reading a page of text that may have been in very tiny print—something that causes many, This Troper included, no end of trouble. Cue cards are printed in quite large letters, easy to see from at least ten feet away, and scripts can be often quite simple. If you're a performer and your writers have worked a long time with you and understand your penchant for, say, ad-libs and broad physical comedy. Krusty's been at this for decades; he's got his routines down to a science.

Ned and Edna won't stay together.

Seriously, Status Quo Is God. They'll either sabotage the vote or break them up two seasons later.

• Pretty much confirmed by how The Character Died With Her - Edna is to be written out of the show completely due to voice actress Marcia Wallace's death.

Moe Syzslak is the trapped soul of a dead man, forced to atone for his sins before being allowed passage into the next life.

• (His visibility to others may be explained by his bizarre ventures into variations of Voodoo.) Think about the extremity of Moe's morality. Either he is a greedy, self-serving, two-faced little rat (Insurance fraud, death threats) or practically Jesus (reading books to sick children and the poor, saving people from burning cars and forests, personally throwing care packages to those in impoverished nations). Clearly, these good deeds are attempts to cleanse his soul at a quicker pace. His presence as a supernatural being would explain his aversion to holy water, and the fact that his countless suicide attempts never work is probably the effect of his inability to die.
  • Then perhaps in the opening of "Treehouse of Horror V", when we see Moe opened his eyes after being hanged, he's actually being possessed by someone else.

There is a subconscious Reality Warper in the Simpson family, but it's Marge, not Homer

I noticed that Marge has a trouble accepting her kids growing up as well as change in general, so would subconsciously create a world where kids never age and Status Quo Is God, and I think the reasons for there being a reality warper in the core family have been stated above.

In the Simpsons universe Whites and Asians' places in history were inverted

Hence why the white cast are yellow and the Asian characters look white

This series takes place about 1,000 years ago

See an episode that says humans will get more fingers due to evolution.

• JOSSED FOR LIFE! Various episodes actually do mention the present year being the same year that the episode aired in.

The next Treehouse of Horror episode will contain a segment that is a Shout-Out to Higurashi: When They Cry.

• While Homer is in Springfield he notices a murder in Springfield that happened twenty years ago. He asks his father Abe about it, and Abe will appear with cat eyes saying that nothing happened. Bart then sneaks up, and cuts Homer's arm with a ratchet, and Homer strangles him. Soon, Springfield is destroyed, and time seems to repeat itself.

The "Frank Nelson Type" or as Homer calls him "That Jerk That Goes Ye-e-e-es?" is stalking Homer.

It could explain why is it when Homer goes to a store, he keeps seeing this guy. It can be assumed that in order to get closer to Homer he must have different jobs depending on Homer's location, especially Costington's. it's obvious because he seems so happy to see Homer and Homer is the only Simpson who mostly interacts with this guy so therefore this guy is gay for Homer... but not for Moleman!

The man from the gas company in "That 90's Show" was a disgraced Ass. Prof. August

His nose is different, but he could've had reconstructive surgery after his department head hit him in the face. He was fired shortly after his PHD (pound head down). He now works at the gas company because he couldn't find another job, and he gained weight over the years. The gas man even starts to tell a story about how he once loved and lost. He doesn't recognize Homer and Marge because it's been so long and Marge is now married.

The writer(s) of "Boys of Bummer" and "Million Dollar Abie" has/have/had serious issues

Obviously.

Astrid from "Mom and Pop Art" is Astrid from White Oleander grown up

It would explain her preference for outsider art.

Weller is her middle name or whatever.

The most unlikely of characters will call the whole town of Springfield out.

We all know how horrible the Townspeople can be ever since Boys Of Bummer, how about someone like Ralph or even Sideshow Bob of all people give Springfield "The Reason You Suck" Speech. The latter may however may just gloat on how he and the whole town are not so different and compliments them.

• The town will likely not care or tell them to shut up.

Sideshow Bob's final appearance will involve him becoming insane and animal-like in appearance.

All of his pasts attempts to kill Bart finally take a toll on his mind and he becomes very insane and will try to forcefully murder Bart instead of putting him in a death trap such as trying to burn him alive.

Rod and Todd will actually turn up as background characters among the kids at Springfield Elementary.

Their mom stayed dead, the Leftorium is still open and Ned and Edna are still married so apparently major changes in the Flanders' lives stick.

• They were shown at the school in earlier episodes, and Todd went with the other boys in the class to Shelbyville to save the lemon tree.

A future season will invoke South Park's "You're Getting Old" to explain all of Homer's shenanigans.

Mindy Simmons from "The Last Temptation of Homer" is the daughter or niece of Bea Simmons from "Old Money".

In season 5 Homer is temped by a new coworker Mindy Simmons. A couple seasons earlier Bea Simmons is Grampa's love interest. Since they share a last name and are attracted to Simpson males of their generation, it is possible they may be related.

Bart still resents Skinner for the events of "The Crepes of Wrath"

In that episode, Skinner tricked Bart, Homer and Marge into agreeing to send Bart to a wineyard where he was treated like a slave. There's no indication that Skinner didn't know that the vineyard that he was sending Bart to wasn't as great as he made it out to be - one of the owners of it says at the end, "This is what we get for participating in the student exchange program!" - and even if he didn't know, Bart had no idea of this. Even if Bart DID do something wrong with his prank at the beginning, what Skinner did qualifies as Disproportionate Retribution. Thus, Bart became very, very angry at Skinner and future pranks on Skinner are in revenge for the events of that episode. This doesn't make him justified (since, you know, two wrongs don't make him a right), but still...

In the Simpson's universe, Springfeld is in its OWN state.

Think about it. It's often near oceans, mountains, old growth forests, deserts and so on. The town has more schools, hospitals, companies, and such things that most STATES would like to have in those sorts of numbers. Plus, Lisa points out that the West Springfeld oil wells area is three times the size of Texas, thus meaning that Springfeld must be in its own state. Said state is the largest of them all, being even biggger than whole countries. The Earth here is much larger then ours to explain the extra room in North America, thus explaining why people like Comic Book Guy haven't just died by now and why the Simpson's plane is attacked by Godzilla and the like at the end of the episode in Japan, since by the laws of physics, the weight of the creatures would squash their insides like Homer sitting on a ripe mango. And why the US maps look the same? Well, I guess the Simpsons like messing with people on a large scale.

• Jossed in "Bart vs. Lisa vs. the Third Grade", which implies Springfield's state to be Illinois.
  • This also josses the other WMGs of why Springfield "can never be found".
    • Springfield's location on the map changes from time to time. Sometimes it's in the Rockies, sometimes it's in the Midwest, in one episode it's in Louisiana.

The answer to the kid's questions at the end of "Homer's Barbershop Quartet".

Remeber the questions the kids had for Homer at the end of the episode?

Lisa: How come we never heard about this until today?
Bart: Yeah, and what happened to the money you made?
Lisa: Why haven't you hung up your gold records?
Bart: Since when could you write a song?

They are all easy to answer. One, they're kids. The episode told us that the story took place when the kids were fairly young, so it's only natural that it's not an easy thing to remember off hand. Not to mention that TV has kind of messed up the kids' ability to recall stuff, especially Bart. Two, the money was burned off the same way the Simpsons usally burn off cash: Homer falling for scams, blowing it away on stuff like beer, going towards taxes, and stuff like that. Any of that money that is left, Marge must have put in a bank account that Homer can't access. Three, knowing that kids will be kids and would end up breaking it, Homer put the gold records in the attic where Bart wouldn't try and smash it with a hammer or something. Plus, he probably doesn't want people constantly asking about it where telling the story becomes a chore. Four, one hit wonders happen all the time: Disco Duck, Mambo Number 5, Whoomp There It Is, the list goes on. Plus, they wouldn't have even had a hit song in the first place if the "Baby on Board" sticker had not inspired Homer to write the song. Talent can sometimes be very inconsistent that way.

• However, Homer has written good songs when motivated (for example, the hit song he wrote about hating Flanders).
• While "That 90's Show" is the most contentious episode, it did show Homer being a singer before marrying Marge.

All episodes take place in an alternate timeline due to Homer's actions in Time and Punishment (Treehouse of Horror V)

The lack of continuity between episodes and Springfield's inconsistent geography could be explained this way.

• Jossed in Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind.

The Treehouse of Horror episodes are all nightmares/dreams the Simpsons are having.

Because the characters that get killed, transformed and eaten always appear fine in the later episodes, so all the Treehouse of Horror episodes are just dreams, nightmares the Simpsons are having.

There will be an episode plot revolving around an Angry Birds-like smartphone game.

Several years after the popularity was actually news.

• Mr. Burns does have a game called "Angry Burns" on his MyPad. It wouldn't surprise me if that was the focus of the episode.
• There is also one in the episode "A Tree Grows in Springfield", where Homer is playing a driving simulator on his MyPad where the driver plays a role reversal: The pigs were the birds, and the birds (probably chickens?) were the pigs.

In 2-3 years, there will be a Treehouse of Horror episode parodying The Hunger Games.

In typical new Simpsons fashion, it comes in a few years, long after it was new and relevant.

• Confirmed by the first segment of "Treehouse of Horror XXVII" ("Dry Hard"), aired in 2016.

Bart never really sold his soul to Milhouse

That was just a piece of paper with the words "Bart Simpson's Soul" written on it, and the whole business with Bart thinking he really did sell his soul was all in his head.

There is no God in the Simpsons universe, just Matt Groening disguised as him with Harry Shearer throwing his voice

• Would a real God have let Springfield get away with their All of the Other Reindeer Jerkass treatment towards the Simpson family for as long as they have. Even Lovejoy would have been punished by now.

The source of the Springfield Mystery Spot is the reason for any paranormal activity in Springfield (outside of the THOH episodes)

The reason is that the Springfield Mystery Spot is a Weirdness Magnet for any type of paranormal activity

Many of the background children at Springfield Elementary are just puppets or robots that Skinner and Groundskeeper Willie stuff back into the storage closet at the end of the day

• 500 Keys foreshadows this somewhat.
  • The only actual students are Bart, Lisa, Todd, Nelson, Milhouse, Martin, Sherri, Terri, and Ralph. Kearney, Jimbo, and Dolph are paid by Seymour to bully the kids. There is also an high(middle?) school, but the only people frequenting it are Rod, Jimbo, Dolph, the squeaky voiced teen, Shauna Chalmers, and Laura Powers.

Ms. Hoover does not know ANY of her students names, aside from Lisa and Ralph, nor would she remember long enough to care

• If her idea of a lesson plan and her class schedule is a complete joke, who knows what her roster looks like.

The Simpsons is Matt Groening's answer to Jim Henson's The Muppet Show, with his own cast of characters and selection of celebrities-of-the-week.

• The year Henson died is the same year Groening entered the 90's with the full series of The Simpsons.
• Springfieldians tend to barge into other peoples affairs and gawk about it.
• Both the Muppets and Springfieldians give celebrities more respect than they deserve.

The Simpsons show ages like a human being

• Age/Season 0: just starting
• Age/Season 1-4: innocent and pure
• Age/Season 5-11: just learning and free caring
• Age/Season 12-17: a bit juvenile and awkward
• Age/Season 18-25+: more into political and topical humor mixed with toilet humor

The Simpsons staff's hypocrisy will be revealed eventually

.When a voice actor dies/retires, their characters are retired/written off out of "respect". Once enough voice actors have left the series (from Azaria's Apu to Castellaneta's Homer), they will start replacing them with new voice actors just to keep the show alive.

• With Harry Shearer having left the show following the end of Season 26, we may be finding out if this WMG is true sooner rather than later.
• And he's back. So this WMG is back to square 1.

The opening for "Brick Like Me"...

...will be completely LEGO-fied... except for the actual Couch Gag, because Midnight Towboy already did have a LEGO Couch Gag. That's something that the animators haven't done before — a special opening sequence with a couch gag that can be used in any episode.

The bear at the beginning of "Much Apu About Nothing" is the same one from "Call of the Simpsons".

In COTS, the family goes camping and Maggie wanders off to a cave where she befriends some bears. The bear we see could be the one Maggie gave a pacifier to, and she was looking for her "cub."

A cataclysm in the Season 27 premiere will kill off all the Harry Shearer-voiced characters

With Shearer having left the show following the end of Season 26, it would be nearly impossible to find another voice actor talented enough to cover the vocal diversity he provided during his twenty-six year tenure on the show. It'd probably be better to just kill off Flanders, Burns, Smithers, Skinner, Lenny, Lovejoy, Brockman, etc. and have several episode plots kick off from there (Homer being forced to admit that he really did like Flanders and grieving over losing a good friend and neighbor; Carl taking over as the new head of SNPP while trying to cope with losing Lenny; Arnie Pie finally getting his wish of taking Brockman's role as Channel 6's chief anchorman; Springfield Elementary looking for a new principal to replace Skinner, etc.)

• Jossed by Shearer returning to the show.

"The Others" from "Treehouse of Horror XXV" is a canonical Distant Finale.

This shot from "Adventures in Baby-Getting" canonizes the fact that the Simpsons from The Tracey Ullman Show are dead and buried below the Simpsons' house. Sometime after the final episode of the show, the Ullman Simpsons will start haunting them, the Modern Simpsons will end up dying, and the CGI Simpsons will move into their home, just like Treehouse of Horror XXV foretells.

The reason why future episodes are non-canon is how they're delivered.

The first three future episodes are predictions given to the main characters, and as it turns out Screw Destiny is in effect. The first prediction was about Lisa and Hugh's relationship, which turned out badly. As such Lisa swears never to let herself meet him. This chain of events either lead to Bart become more of a drop-out or possibly him just losing his demolition career, and Lisa taking a career in politics that make her become President. When she sees how that turns out, she decides she doesn't want to run in politics at all. Eventually Professor Frink shows them the future, though Bart is less successful at averting his relationship with Jenda.

They'll introduce a character of the day with Homer in a future episode

One of the future episodes is called "Lisa has a crush on Homer", and the only way they wouldn't have to deal with Parental Incest would be if they had another character named Homer.

• It's a girl with the surname Homer. They did say she was going to be in a lesbian relationship. But it's likely just about her having crushes on people with Homer's personality traits.
  • Turns out it's just a nickname. The episode is named "Daddicus Finch", meaning that it's a calque of the plot of To Kill A Mocking Bird.

The series takes place in an alternate universe where Neanderthals survived and thrived

No one really knows how Homo Neanderthalensis went extinct in our reality. But in The Simpsons Homo Sapinens were either hunted or breeded out of existence. History since then progressed at a rate fairly consistent with what we know it as, though with slight odd deviations. Celebrity guests like George Bush or Lady Gaga are presented here as their alternate-reality Neanderthal versions. This helps explain the pigmentation of the caucasian race in this reality, while the skin colors of the other races line up fairly well with our reality. Most viewers will also agree that the average IQ, at least in Springfield, most likely is lower than than anything consistent with Homo Sapiens as a species. Dr. Hibbert and Comic Book Guy are both Mensa members in the show, while compared to modern Homo Sapiens they seem fairly stupid or average at best. If you look at the builds of many characters, the overbites, noses, limb width and eyes also line up better with Neanderthals. If you look at characters in particular like Homer, Nelson Muntz, Bleeding Gums Murphy, the Wiggums, and Barney, their realistic equivalents would be very apelike. Only through the relative low intelligence of the human species could huge misjudgments like the Power Plant's insane ecological destruction and Homer becoming an astronaut be allowed to take place.

The actual Series Finale.

Watch the ending of "At Long Last Leave". They're still there.

A multiverse exist in this show.

The Treehouse of Horrors specials are proof of this. They are all canon, but happened in different universes. Each Halloween special takes place in a different world.

• Also, fan-made content based around the Simpsons series was counted as part of the fanon universe, but was part of the multiverse.

The entire Simpsons series were merely just videos made by the Radioactive Man editor.

So the entire Simpsons series, including the non-canon episodes, the Treehouse of Horror specials, etc., were just videos made by the Radioactive Man editor from the season 7 episode "Radioactive Man", who showed the videos to his team. Indeed, the universe outside of the Simpsons' was one that was almost identical to real life, where the Simpsons were just fictional cartoon characters (except for Moe Szyslak), and unlike what happened in the Radioactive Man episode, he didn't get fired, but instead his videos were approved.

• Like the end of the Dark Simpsons' Seamless Cut videos, these were just videos another editor with the same appearance showed to the team. Since those videos were in Negative Continuity, all of the Dark Simpsons videos were just the editor's videos. The director was then fired because those videos (and the shorter, Darker and Edgier retellings of the episodes of the series with Finagle's Law Exaggerated and Surprisingly Realistic Outcome applied) were too much for FOX's standards. As a result, those videos were instead posted on YouTube unofficially by himself. Also, all this entire process was once observed by the former American president George W. Bush.
  • Except for the minisode "Homer Can't Let Her Go"^note where Homer has to deal with the death of his wife Marge and then the loss of his children (except for Maggie), which was taken down on its original upload, some on the comment section joked that the takedown by Disney has make the minisode "canon"... It doesn't help that The Stinger has a person who looks like Homer complaining about a director's cut, which reveals that the minisode was just the video the viewer is watching on television.

Rape does not exist in the Simpsons' universe, or works very differently.

When Ruth takes Marge to a biker bar, the bikers who hit on Marge politely back off as soon as she says no, and the ones who kidnap her in a later episode just treat her as a Team Mom, specifically telling her they don't want to have sex with her. Hence why it was such a huge town scandal when Homer was assumed to have grabbed a girl's butt, which in real life, sadly, no one would care about.

The last episode will show Ozzie Smith's escape from Springfield's Mystery Spot

In "Marge Vs The Monorail", Lyle's plane was redirected to North Haverbrook on purpose

As soon as Springfield learned that Lyle had conned them, someone phoned the plane's pilot and North Haverbrook and arranged for their "chance" reunion to happen. Alternatively...

The pilot of Lyle's plane was either from North Haverbrook or related to someone who is

Once he found out Lyle was on the plane, he arranged for the "unexpected stop" and contacted North Haverbrook so they could get their revenge.

Abe told his "I tied an onion to my belt" story because he wanted the strike to succeed

• Abe knew Homer was leading the strike so Lisa could get better braces from the reinstated dental plan, so he told Mr. Burns his story that went nowhere in order to prevent himself from being hired as a strikebreaker. Adding on to this is Abe's established distaste for Mr. Burns, so he could have also done it out of spite.

Burning Down the Mouse: How did it end?

• Scenario 1: Somebody (probably Disgruntled Goat) comes in and puts out the fuse, saving Itchy. They escape. The nukes go off anyway when some random animal comes to inspect and makes the foolish choice to light a cigarette. The explosions catch up with the taxi Scratchy is riding in, causing him to burn up while Itchy laughs from a safe distance.
• Scenario 2: Itchy does indeed get blown up in the most gruesome way possible, while Scratchy gets the last laugh from a safe distance.
• Scenario 3: Itchy gets blown up, but the explosions catch up with Scratchy and burn him up as well.

What happened to Allison after "Lisa's Rival"?

Her father was likely appalled that a student like Ralph won the diorama contest and pulled Allison back into homeschooling. Homeschoolers often go to school to take important government mandated tests so that could explain Allison's few appearances in later episodes.

Lisa and Allison's Friendship

This episode ended with Lisa and Allison becoming friends (or even best friends), but later we doesn't see them interacting until Lard of the Dance, where Allison was still friendly with Lisa. In latter episodes Allison not just don't interact with Lisa anymore, but she is often seen mocking her and laughing at Lisa's misfortunes. There are some possibilities about what happened to their friendship:

• Lisa, even admitting to having learned the lesson of not feeling bad about being intellectually outmatched by someone, in future episodes she still gets jealous when someone is better than her in something she does, so probably her ego could have still interfered with her friendship with Allison, ending with the two girls distancing.
• In future episodes, Allison would lose her intelligence and abilities and become just another girl, causing in both Lisa and Allison to lose interest in their friendship.
• Allison, after watching Lisa's treatment for being an intellectual, chose a less intelligent profile so she would not be bullied, sacrificing her friendship with Lisa in the process.

The Simpsons staff knows that nobody likes Replacement Scrappies.

One of the major complaints of Dr. Hibbert's voice actor change from Harry Shearer to Kevin Michael Richardson was that given his questionable character origins (Bill Cosby) they should have instead write the character off and make a new black doctor into series. But the writers know how well the fanbase would take such a drastic change, so they just changed the voice actor and called it a day.

The show will never, ever be cancelled

• The show is now so old that it's featured guest voices that weren't even alive during the show's glory days. At this point even the idea of a quality decline is quaint.
• The only possible reason for cancellation is the death of a core cast member, and even then they would probably just recast.

The "Crepes of Wrath" episode happened in the events of "Homer's Night Out

Bart orders a spy camera that takes about 6 months to arrive. In the "Crepes of Wrath," Bart is in France for 3 months. The scene in which the mail carrier finally arrives with Bart's camera takes place after Bart's visit to France.

The raffle Mr. Burns won in "The Twisted World of Marge Simpson" wasn't rigged

Mr. Burns bought that car himself, and wanted to show it off to all of Springfield out of selfish glee by paying the stadium to pretend he won it off a raffle. Since he has a 0% Approval Rating, nobody was fooled. Poor Marge fell prey to one of Mr. Burns' selfish acts once again.

Roy died on the way to his new apartment.

It would explain why he never appeared again...

Maggie will be Homer and Marge's kid in "Not It".

Maggie was absent from the episode (as she have nobody to swap her personality with). Still, Marge is widowed at the end of the episode and the misunderstanding about the author of the love poem was cleared. She and Homer are consequently seen holding hands in the end. It can be supposed that Marge will remarry Homer, and Maggie will be their only child, with Bert and Lizzie as her half siblings.

Jebediah Springfield is NOT Hans Sprungfeld

In the episode The Simpsons S 7 E 16 Lisa The Iconoclast, Lisa discovers that Jebediah Springfield, founder of the town, was really Hans Sprungfeld, notorious pirate. She finds out from a confession found in a fife in an old Springfield Museum, that was made from part of the famous George Washington painting, then clinches it by discovering Hans Sprungfeld's silver tongue... That was also found in the old Springfield Museum. Isn't it interesting how everything pointing out that Springfield was Sprungfeld is found in the Museum with no evidence outside of it? Oh sure, the curator said he stole the tongue off of Springfield's corpse before anyone else saw it, but if you watch the episode it would be impossible for him to snatch it with no one knowing. Come to think of it, the curator may be the only one working at the Museum but surely he's handled and examined that fife countless times, he should've seen the confession well before Lisa did. And wait, he's the one that leaves the exhibit open that allows Lisa a chance to look and mess with it in the first place. And the confession, if it did come from the legitimate George Washington painting, would not have been able to fit perfectly into the recreation painting on the wall (as it would've been full and probably smaller then the actual painting). Lastly, its weird how he would hide the tongue in plain sight in his museum instead of hiding it somewhere more conspicuously...

What am I getting at? Not only is Jebediah Springfield not Hans Sprungfeld, but that the Museum Curator faked everything. Why? He was bored at his lonely, low-level job, stuck in a (then) backwater town with some no-name nobody revolutionary that only that town cares about. What better way to gain fame, notoriety and a way to improve his standing in the historic research community then to turn this nobody into one of the worst Pirates that ever plagued America? He couldn't come out with it directly because it would look too weird for him to have found this evidence, so he was waiting for someone else to discover everything in his museum so he could capitalize off of it after, and that someone just so happened to be Lisa... Until she got cold feet and decided not to come forward with 'the truth'. Now he's just biding his time for the next weird person to come along, see either the confession or the silver tongue he's hidden back in plain sight in his museum, and then when they come forward he'll be on the front and center of this new 'truth' that will make him rich and famous (at least in his mind).

---