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* LethalChef: In addition to not being very bright Homer can't cook for crap either. Marge remembers in one episode that the last time Homer tried to cook her anything the fish he served turned out to be still alive and the lobsters pinched him when he tried to cook them. And then of course their was the time he acted as Mr Burns assistant and not only smashed his fist into a microwave in an attempt to cook some food, instead of just opening the microwave door and putting the food inside, but he also somehow set a bowl of cereal on fire.
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** In general Homer's mood can fluctuate from being sad and depressed, to angry, to joyfully happy at the drop of a hat with little to no provocation.
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* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Not that often but it happens DependingOnTheWriter. Probably a plot point in "Homer the Great" when he complains about people who don't like him and the "No Homers Club". Sometimes he's shunned by his drinking buddies for little to no reason ("Fear of Flying", "Don't Fear the Roofer") which will be forgotten in the next episode. Also played with, while his "friends" have no problem hanging out with him most of the time, if Homer is in trouble, they [[FairWeatherFriend would turn against him at the drop of a hat]], like in "Homer Badman".
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* ActionDad: Homer is a surprisingly competent street-fighter whose combination of strength, low-cunning and explosive-anger allows him to pound better trained opponents into the ground on ''multiple'' occasions; '''especially''' those who threaten his family. The fact his is not averse to using improvised weapons and dirty tricks makes him even more formidable when he does put his mind to it.
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* ActionDad: Homer is a surprisingly competent street-fighter whose combination of strength, low-cunning and explosive-anger allows him to pound better trained opponents into the ground on ''multiple'' occasions; '''especially''' those who threaten his family. The fact his is not averse to using improvised weapons and dirty tricks (such as using a cinder block as an EpicFlail, which he dubs "The Defender") makes him even more formidable when he does put his mind to it.
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* AbusiveParents: He loves his children dearly but is absolutely terrible at parenting.
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* AbusiveParents: {{Abusive Parent|s}}: He loves his children dearly but is absolutely terrible at parenting.
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* ActionDad: Homer is a surprisingly competent street-fighter whose combination of strength, low-cunning and explosive-anger allows him to pound better trained opponents into the ground on ''multiple'' occasions; '''especially''' those who threaten his family. The fact his is not averse to using improvised weapons and dirty tricks makes him even more formidable when he does put his mind to it.
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* YoungerThanTheyLook: In the earlier seasons, he was only 34 years old, despite easily passing for a man in his late forties at least. Later seasons aged him up to 40 because the writers couldn't imagine being older than Homer.
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* YoungerThanTheyLook: In the earlier seasons, he was only 34 years old, despite easily passing for a man in his late forties at least. Later seasons aged him up to 40 because the writers couldn't imagine being older than Homer. An amnesiac Marge actually believed he was her uncle given how damaged he looks.
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--> Debut on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': ''"Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire"''
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--> Debut on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': ''"Simpsons ''"[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS1E1SimpsonsRoastingOnAnOpenFire Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire"''
Fire]]"''
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** Deep Space Homer showed Homer in astronaut training, performing several cartwheels in rapid succession as if he were some sort of human tire. That is, of course, until he runs into the wall.
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** Deep "Deep Space Homer Homer" showed Homer in astronaut training, performing several cartwheels in rapid succession as if he were some sort of human tire. That is, of course, until he runs into the wall.
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* AnimalMotifs: Homer is associated with apes and monkeys so often, Marge [[spoiler:invokes this in "The Monkey Suit" to help Lisa win her case on human evolution]]. He is also associated with pigs which is mainly demonstrated through dream sequences & fantasies. In The Simpsons Game, Homer can summon a flying pig as a finishing move in the "Big Super Happy Fun Fun Game" level.
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* AnimalMotifs: Homer is associated with apes and monkeys so often, Marge [[spoiler:invokes this in "The Monkey Suit" to help Lisa win her case on human evolution]]. He is also associated with pigs which is mainly demonstrated through dream sequences & fantasies. In The ''The Simpsons Game, Game'', Homer can summon a flying pig as a finishing move in the "Big Super Happy Fun Fun Game" level.
** His character varies with the plot's demands. He has been a well-meaning moron with selective common sense, so bored with life that he embraces any crazy idea he hears, and deliberately self-centered because he feels the rest of the world owes him. He's even lampshaded this:
--> "Because that's the kind of guy I am this week!"
** His physical prowess is another aspect of his character that varies. In some episodes, he's so weak that his punches can't kill a fly, and leave him completely exhausted. In other episodes, he's strong enough to use a motorcycle ''[[RuleOfFunny like a sword]]'' without breaking a sweat.
--> "Because that's the kind of guy I am this week!"
** His physical prowess is another aspect of his character that varies. In some episodes, he's so weak that his punches can't kill a fly, and leave him completely exhausted. In other episodes, he's strong enough to use a motorcycle ''[[RuleOfFunny like a sword]]'' without breaking a sweat.
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** His fighting ability ranges from "pathetic" to "a force of nature".
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* AbandonedCatchphrase: He used to say "Let's All Go Out For Some Frosty Chocolate Milkshakes" during the Tracey Ullman Shorts.
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* AbandonedCatchphrase: He used to say "Let's All Go Out For Some Frosty Chocolate Milkshakes" during [[Series/TheTraceyUllmanShow the Tracey Ullman Shorts.Shorts]].
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You can't say he was a Karma Houdini in those episodes and then go on to list the karmic punishment he gets. The trope doesn't work that way.
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* KarmaHoudini: Downplayed. He rarely receive a punishment when he strangles Bart, even for the smallest things. Other examples for this could be "Homer Badman" and "[[MoralEventHorizon Homer Simpson in: Kidney Troubles]]". However he spent weeks falsely harrassed for being a sex offender in the former and lost one of his kidneys and ended up brutally hospitalized in the latter. Even if he isn't directly punished for some of his wrongdoings, karma often catches up with him some other way. Bart also gives what he takes (and also is only occasionally punished for it)as shown in the "Italian Bob" where he counters the usual strangling by smashing Homer's head repeatedly with a car door.
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* KarmaHoudini: Downplayed. He rarely receive receives a punishment when he strangles Bart, even for the smallest things. Other examples for this could be "Homer Badman" and "[[MoralEventHorizon Homer Simpson in: Kidney Troubles]]". However he spent weeks falsely harrassed for being a sex offender in the former and lost one of his kidneys and ended up brutally hospitalized in the latter. Even if he isn't directly punished for some of his wrongdoings, karma often catches up with him some other way. Bart also gives what he takes (and also is only occasionally punished for it)as shown in the "Italian Bob" where he counters the usual strangling by smashing Homer's head repeatedly with a car door.things.
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deleted without explanation
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* KarmaHoudini: He rarely receives a punishment when he strangles Bart, even for the smallest things.
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* KarmaHoudini: Downplayed. He rarely receives receive a punishment when he strangles Bart, even for the smallest things. Other examples for this could be "Homer Badman" and "[[MoralEventHorizon Homer Simpson in: Kidney Troubles]]". However he spent weeks falsely harrassed for being a sex offender in the former and lost one of his kidneys and ended up brutally hospitalized in the latter. Even if he isn't directly punished for some of his wrongdoings, karma often catches up with him some other way. Bart also gives what he takes (and also is only occasionally punished for it)as shown in the "Italian Bob" where he counters the usual strangling by smashing Homer's head repeatedly with a car door.
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Do Not Pothole the Trope Name
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* [[AbusiveParents Abusive Parent]]: He loves his children dearly but is absolutely terrible at parenting.
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* [[AbusiveParents Abusive Parent]]: AbusiveParents: He loves his children dearly but is absolutely terrible at parenting.
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* AbusiveParents: He loves his children dearly but is absolutely terrible at parenting.
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* AbusiveParents: [[AbusiveParents Abusive Parent]]: He loves his children dearly but is absolutely terrible at parenting.
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[[center: [- [[Characters/TheSimpsons Main Character Index]] | [[Characters/TheSimpsonsTheSimpsonFamily Simpson Family]] |[[Characters/TheSimpsonsElementarySchool Springfield Elementary School]] | [[Characters/TheSimpsonsGovernmentJudgesLawyersPoliceCriminals Government, Judges and Lawyers, Police and Criminals]] | [[Characters/TheSimpsonsNuclearPowerPlantShopkeepers Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, Springfield Shopkeepers]] | [[Characters/TheSimpsonsChurchDoctorsCelebrities First Church of Springfield, Doctors, Celebrities]] | [[Characters/TheSimpsonsFriendsNeighborsFamilies Friends and Neighbors, Families]] |[[Characters/TheSimpsonsOtherRecurringCharacters Other Recurring Characters]] | [[Characters/TheItchyAndScratchyShow Itchy & Scratchy Characters]] | [[Characters/TheSimpsonsOneTimeCharacters One-time Characters]]]]-]
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[[center: [- [[Characters/TheSimpsons Main Character Index]] | [[Characters/TheSimpsonsTheSimpsonFamily Simpson Family]] |[[Characters/TheSimpsonsElementarySchool | [[Characters/TheSimpsonsElementarySchool Springfield Elementary School]] | [[Characters/TheSimpsonsGovernmentJudgesLawyersPoliceCriminals Government, Judges and Lawyers, Police and Criminals]] | [[Characters/TheSimpsonsNuclearPowerPlantShopkeepers Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, Springfield Shopkeepers]] | [[Characters/TheSimpsonsChurchDoctorsCelebrities First Church of Springfield, Doctors, Celebrities]] | [[Characters/TheSimpsonsFriendsNeighborsFamilies Friends and Neighbors, Families]] |[[Characters/TheSimpsonsOtherRecurringCharacters Other Recurring Characters]] | [[Characters/TheItchyAndScratchyShow Itchy & Scratchy Characters]] | [[Characters/TheSimpsonsOneTimeCharacters One-time Characters]]]]-]
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* YoungerThanTheyLook: In the earlier seasons, he was only 34 years old, despite easily passing for a man in his late forties at least. Later seasons aged him up to 38 because the writers couldn't imagine being older than Homer.
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* YoungerThanTheyLook: In the earlier seasons, he was only 34 years old, despite easily passing for a man in his late forties at least. Later seasons aged him up to 38 40 because the writers couldn't imagine being older than Homer.
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* KarmaHoudini: Downplayed. He rarely receive a punishment when he strangles Bart, even for the smallest things. Other examples for this could be "Homer Badman" and "[[MoralEventHorizon Homer Simpson in: Kidney Troubles]]". However he spent weeks falsely harrassed for being a sex offender in the former and lost one of his kidneys and ended up brutally hospitalized in the latter. Even if he isn't directly punished for some of his wrongdoings, karma often catches up with him some other way. Bart also gives what he takes (and also is only occasionally punished for it)as shown in the "Italian Bob" where he counters the usual strangling by smashing Homer's head repeatedly with a car door.
to:
* KarmaHoudini: Downplayed. He rarely receive receives a punishment when he strangles Bart, even for the smallest things. Other examples for this could be "Homer Badman" and "[[MoralEventHorizon Homer Simpson in: Kidney Troubles]]". However he spent weeks falsely harrassed for being a sex offender in the former and lost one of his kidneys and ended up brutally hospitalized in the latter. Even if he isn't directly punished for some of his wrongdoings, karma often catches up with him some other way. Bart also gives what he takes (and also is only occasionally punished for it)as shown in the "Italian Bob" where he counters the usual strangling by smashing Homer's head repeatedly with a car door.
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* TheAntiNihilist: Homer openly admits that he hates his life from time to time, he also speaks pessimistically about life and regards death as a sweet release in "Brick Like Me". However in spite of his ButtMonkey status, he keeps going and remains hopeful that things will turn around for him. The only time he truly abandoned hope was when his hive smoker was stolen (he had that much despair that he refused to get drunk).
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* TheAntiNihilist: Homer openly admits that he hates his life from time to time, he also speaks pessimistically about life and regards death as a sweet release in "Brick Like Me". However in spite of his ButtMonkey status, he keeps going and remains hopeful that things will turn around for him. The only time he truly abandoned hope was when his hive smoker was stolen (he had that much despair stolen, in which he was so depressed that he refused to get drunk).drunk.
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* TheAntiNihilist: Homer openly admits that he hates his life from time to time, he also speaks pessimistically about life and regards death as a sweet release in "Brick Like Me". However in spite of his ButtMonkey status, he keeps going and remains hopeful that things will turn around for him. The only time he truly abandoned hope was when his hive smoker was stolen (he had that much despair that refused to get drunk).
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* TheAntiNihilist: Homer openly admits that he hates his life from time to time, he also speaks pessimistically about life and regards death as a sweet release in "Brick Like Me". However in spite of his ButtMonkey status, he keeps going and remains hopeful that things will turn around for him. The only time he truly abandoned hope was when his hive smoker was stolen (he had that much despair that he refused to get drunk).
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* TheAntiNihilist: Homer openly admits that he hates his life from time to time, he also speaks pessimistically about life and regards death as a sweet release in "Brick Like Me". However in spite of his ButtMonkey status, he keeps going and remains hopeful that things will turn around for him. The only time he truly abandoned hope was when his hive smoker was stolen (he had that much despair that refused to get drunk).
-->'''Homer:''' Everything good that comes into our lives, the universe takes away. So from now on I'm just gonna lie here and never care again.
-->'''Homer:''' Everything good that comes into our lives, the universe takes away. So from now on I'm just gonna lie here and never care again.
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* MadeOfIron: One of Homer's more consistent traits is that he can take a beating. In "The Homer They Fall" Dr. Hibbert explains to Homer that he has an extra-thick layer of fluid around his brain, making him very resistant to head injuries. He also traveled with a freak show for a while because of his ability to survive being shot in the stomach by a canon. And he more-or-less has survived working at a blatantly unsafe power plant, and no less than four heart attacks.
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* MadeOfIron: One of Homer's more consistent traits is that he can take a beating. In "The Homer They Fall" Dr. Hibbert explains to Homer that he has an extra-thick layer of fluid around his brain, making him very resistant to head injuries. He also traveled with a freak show for a while because of his ability to survive being shot in the stomach by a canon.cannon. And he more-or-less has survived working at a blatantly unsafe power plant, and no less than four heart attacks.
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* ParentalNeglect: Homer has such little interactions with Maggie that he forgets that she exists.
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** One flashback shows him to be a very talented gymnast in high school (until his dad distracted him and made him trip on his own feet). It should be noted that he had a much more athletic build back then, though. So him being a good gymnast is less surprising.
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** One flashback shows him to be a very talented gymnast in high school (until his dad distracted him and made him trip on his own feet). It should be noted that [[FormerlyFit he had a much more athletic build back then, then]], though. So him being a good gymnast is less surprising.
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* AnimalMotifs: Homer is associated with apes and monkeys so often, Marge [[spoiler:invokes this in "The Monkey Suit" to help Lisa win her case on human evolution]].
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* AnimalMotifs: Homer is associated with apes and monkeys so often, Marge [[spoiler:invokes this in "The Monkey Suit" to help Lisa win her case on human evolution]]. He is also associated with pigs which is mainly demonstrated through dream sequences & fantasies. In The Simpsons Game, Homer can summon a flying pig as a finishing move in the "Big Super Happy Fun Fun Game" level.
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* ChickMagnet: As an adult, Homer has attracted a shocking number of beautiful women, with Mindy Simmons and Lurleen Lumpkin being some of the more prominent examples. However, by his own admission, he was rejected by most women before he met Marge.
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* ChickMagnet: As an adult, Homer has attracted a shocking number of beautiful women, with Mindy Simmons and Lurleen Lumpkin being some of the more prominent examples. It's become a plot point on several episodes, ones that focus on Homer and Marge's marriage. However, by his own admission, he was rejected by most women before he met Marge.
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* HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood: Homer did not have the happiest upbringing, to put it mildly.
-->'''Grampa:''' (''in flashback'') Homer, you're dumb as a mule and twice as ugly. If a strange man offers you a ride, I say take it!
-->'''Grampa:''' (''in flashback'') Homer, you're dumb as a mule and twice as ugly. If a strange man offers you a ride, I say take it!
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* CuttingTheKnot: Homer comes up with this a few times, most notably to save his children. When Bart was trapped down a well, Homer is the one who comes up with the obvious idea of grabbing a shovel and simply ''digging'' Bart out. When Lisa's automatic self-tapping shoes went crazy, everyone in the audience panicked except for Homer, who simply tripped Lisa and took her off her feet.
--> Lisa: Whew! Thanks, Dad!
--> Homer: I didn't think, I just acted.
--> Lisa: Whew! Thanks, Dad!
--> Homer: I didn't think, I just acted.
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----
[[header:Homer Jay Simpson]]
[[header:Homer Jay Simpson]]
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[[center: [- [[Characters/TheSimpsons Main Character Index]] | [[Characters/TheSimpsonsTheSimpsonFamily Simpson Family]] | '''Homer Simpson''' | [[Characters/TheSimpsonsElementarySchool Springfield Elementary School]] | [[Characters/TheSimpsonsGovernmentJudgesLawyersPoliceCriminals Government, Judges and Lawyers, Police and Criminals]] | [[Characters/TheSimpsonsNuclearPowerPlantShopkeepers Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, Springfield Shopkeepers]] | [[Characters/TheSimpsonsChurchDoctorsCelebrities First Church of Springfield, Doctors, Celebrities]] | [[Characters/TheSimpsonsFriendsNeighborsFamilies Friends and Neighbors, Families]] |[[Characters/TheSimpsonsOtherRecurringCharacters Other Recurring Characters]] | [[Characters/TheItchyAndScratchyShow Itchy & Scratchy Characters]] |
[[Characters/TheSimpsonsOneTimeCharacters One-time Characters]]]]-]
[[Characters/TheSimpsonsOneTimeCharacters One-time Characters]]]]-]
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[[center: [- [[Characters/TheSimpsons Main Character Index]] | [[Characters/TheSimpsonsTheSimpsonFamily Simpson Family]] | '''Homer Simpson''' | [[Characters/TheSimpsonsElementarySchool |[[Characters/TheSimpsonsElementarySchool Springfield Elementary School]] | [[Characters/TheSimpsonsGovernmentJudgesLawyersPoliceCriminals Government, Judges and Lawyers, Police and Criminals]] | [[Characters/TheSimpsonsNuclearPowerPlantShopkeepers Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, Springfield Shopkeepers]] | [[Characters/TheSimpsonsChurchDoctorsCelebrities First Church of Springfield, Doctors, Celebrities]] | [[Characters/TheSimpsonsFriendsNeighborsFamilies Friends and Neighbors, Families]] |[[Characters/TheSimpsonsOtherRecurringCharacters Other Recurring Characters]] | [[Characters/TheItchyAndScratchyShow Itchy & Scratchy Characters]] |
| [[Characters/TheSimpsonsOneTimeCharacters One-time Characters]]]]-]
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[[center: [- [[Characters/TheSimpsons Main Character Index]] | [[Characters/TheSimpsonsTheSimpsonFamily Simpson Family]] | '''Homer Simpson''' | [[Characters/TheSimpsonsElementarySchool Springfield Elementary School]] | [[Characters/TheSimpsonsGovernmentJudgesLawyersPoliceCriminals Government, Judges and Lawyers, Police and Criminals]] | [[Characters/TheSimpsonsNuclearPowerPlantShopkeepers Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, Springfield Shopkeepers]] | [[Characters/TheSimpsonsChurchDoctorsCelebrities First Church of Springfield, Doctors, Celebrities]] | [[Characters/TheSimpsonsFriendsNeighborsFamilies Friends and Neighbors, Families]] |[[Characters/TheSimpsonsOtherRecurringCharacters Other Recurring Characters]] | [[Characters/TheItchyAndScratchyShow Itchy & Scratchy Characters]] |
[[Characters/TheSimpsonsOneTimeCharacters One-time Characters]]]]-]
[[Characters/TheSimpsonsOneTimeCharacters One-time Characters]]]]-]
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[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:A-E]]
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[[/folder]]
[[folder:F-K]]
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[[folder:L-Q]]
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* YoungerThanTheyLook: In the earlier seasons, he was only 34 years old, despite easily passing for a man in his late forties at least. Later seasons aged him up to 38 because the writers couldn't imagine being older than Homer.
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* YoungerThanTheyLook: In the earlier seasons, he was only 34 years old, despite easily passing for a man in his late forties at least. Later seasons aged him up to 38 because the writers couldn't imagine being older than Homer.Homer.
[[/folder]]
[[/folder]]
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[[quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/homer_1042.jpg]]
->"Lord help me, I'm just not that bright."
--> Debut: ''"Good Night"''
--> Debut on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': ''"Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire"''
The father, the dope, and more or less the main character of the show. Homer is overweight, almost completely bald, and rather selfish, short-tempered and stupid, but is a good person at heart and has a bright outlook on life. Voiced by Creator/DanCastellaneta.
* AbandonedCatchphrase: He used to say "Let's All Go Out For Some Frosty Chocolate Milkshakes" during the Tracey Ullman Shorts.
* AbusiveParents: He loves his children dearly but is absolutely terrible at parenting.
** Despite his [[AlcoholicParent reckless drinking problem]] and [[MoodSwinger mood issues,]] he's less so than [[WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy Peter Griffin]], but it still counts, given how strangling Bart and his {{jerkass}} behavior sometimes becomes a threat to his children's lives. And then there's the original shorts, where he's almost as bad as Peter.
** His own father, Abe, was just as bad, if not worse than Homer, at being a father, so perhaps that explains Homer's lack of parental skills.
** We're lead to believe that his mother was also this in "There's No Disgrace Like Home" where he mentions that she once said he was a big disappointment. [[{{Retcon}} This was the only time she was stated to be like this]] though, [[CharacterizationMarchesOn as for the rest of the series we see that she was a kind, loving mother]], [[ParentsAsPeople though one who began neglecting him in pursuit of activism a bit later on.]]
* {{Acrofatic}}:
** In "Sex, Pies, and Idiot Scrapes," he does complex acrobatics to escape Ned. This is rather odd, since Homer has often been shown out of breath from even the simplest movements (like running only a few feet in "The Springfield Connection" and "New Kids on the Blecch").
** One flashback shows him to be a very talented gymnast in high school (until his dad distracted him and made him trip on his own feet). It should be noted that he had a much more athletic build back then, though. So him being a good gymnast is less surprising.
** Deep Space Homer showed Homer in astronaut training, performing several cartwheels in rapid succession as if he were some sort of human tire. That is, of course, until he runs into the wall.
** He performed ninja-like feats of acrobatics while practicing killing snakes for Whacking Day.
** In "Simple Simpson" when Homer (as the Pie Man) escapes the police doing some very complex acrobatics.
** In "E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)" he performs a standing backflip while franticly searching for the "invisible crops" in the fields of his family's farm.
* {{Adorkable}}: At times, due to his lovable goofiness.
* TheAlcoholic: The ''[[TropeCodifier all-time champion of this]]'', but not before Barney Gumble, who is the very definition of drunk.
-->'''Homer:''' And I'll get to get drunk on a Tuesday.
-->'''Marge:''' Today's Tuesday and you've had six beers!
-->'''Homer:''' But I'm not ''drunk''.
* AlcoholicParent: To the point that one of the contact numbers at Springfield Elementary is at Moe's Tavern.
* AlcoholInducedIdiocy: Actually manages to act dumber after sometimes drinking a few too many. In "Boys Meet Curl" Marge says when he is quoting Henry V that this is what Homer sounds like when he is sober.
* AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents: His dad harps about his embarrassing childhood and his mom is a double agent who's always leaving clues only he can understand. Homer himself is this to Bart and Lisa.
* AmbiguouslyBi: His love for Marge is obvious, and he's shown attraction to other women on occasion. He's also the TropeNamer for StupidSexyFlanders, has kissed a man and ''may'' have enjoyed it more than kissing Marge, complimented a naked hobo on his physique, and mourns [[spoiler: Fat Tony]] like a dead lover, among other examples. Although he identifies as straight and his attraction to women is serious while his feelings for other men is PlayedForLaughs. He becomes incredibly uncomfortable whenever the topic of homosexuality is brought up and doesn't seem to understand it. His attraction to other men might actually stem from an attraction to himself because his ego compels him believe that he is the greatest person in the world and he sometimes daydreams about flirting to himself.
* AnimalMotifs: Homer is associated with apes and monkeys so often, Marge [[spoiler:invokes this in "The Monkey Suit" to help Lisa win her case on human evolution]].
* {{Angrish}}: Frequently lapses into this, whether he is justified or not.
* AntiHero: Manages to be a combination of both a ClassicalAntiHero and an UnscrupulousHero.
* AntiRoleModel: Homer is well aware that he is a terrible role model and he lampshades it frequently.
-->'''Homer''': Look, if it were up to me, I'd be harassing [those manatees] with you. If anything, I'd be the guy who took it too far...
* AtomicFBomb: Let (a censored) one loose in "Who Shot Mr. Burns"; basically, Homer got a tip on how to get Mr. Burns to remember his name by sending him a box of chocolates with his photo in it (well, he and his wife and kids). The ensuing thank-you card has Burns thanking everyone ''except'' Homer (his face was obscured by an uneaten piece of chocolate and the box thrown out). Boy, does Homer get pissed...
-->'''Homer''': ''(slowly lowering the letter, shaking with unabashed anger)'' [[TranquilFury Kids... do step outside for a second]]...\\
''(Bart and Lisa gawk at their father and go running out of the room)''\\
'''Homer''': '''''F--'''(SmashCut to an overview of the street, a ScareChord, birds flying away in fear, and the entire neighborhood stopping in its tracks to look in the direction of the Simpson house)''\\
'''Ned''': Dear Lord, that was the loudest profanity I've ever heard!
* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: My God! There are times when you can already hear Homer uttering that EXACT phrase.
* AwesomeMcCoolname: He once legally changed his name to Max Power after a TV show used his name for a bumbling sidekick. [[LineOfSightName He got the name off a hairdryer.]]
* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: At his best. Despite his abusiveness towards his son, the two of them have, at times, shown that they do love each other. He has these moments with Grampa, Lisa, Marge and Maggie as well.
* AxCrazy: Sometimes when he gets really mad, but this is mostly seen in the Treehouse of Horror segments.
* BaldOfAwesome: Well, not entirely bald. He still has three hairs left.
* BaldOfEvil: On his worst days.
* BerserkButton: Several. He's also known for his temper, after all.
** On Bart's worst days, the very mention of him can be one for Homer. When Homer got institutionalized thanks in part to Bart, Homer was diagnosed with severe anger issues. Then Marge suggested maybe they shouldn't mention Bart. The nurse was... ''alarmed.''
-->''You mean there really ''is'' a Bart?! Good lord!''
* BigEater: He's also the king of this trope, to the point that he's an ExtremeOmnivore (he's eaten things considered highly inedible, such as the plastic bride and groom wedding cake decoration, dishwashing soap, ''hot wax'' from a candle …)
* BigFun: He sees himself as this.
-->'''Homer:''' Marge, the boy was wearing a Hawaiian shirt.\\
'''Marge:''' So? \\
'''Homer:''' There's only two kind of guys who wear those shirts: gay guys and big, fat party animals. And Bart doesn't look like a big, fat party animal to me...\\
'''Marge:''' So, if you wore a Hawaiian shirt, it wouldn't be gay? \\
'''Homer:''' Right. Thank you.
* TheBigGuy: While his weight is frequently brought up, Homer is also a pretty tall guy, and possesses a larger than life personality fitting this trope. He's also shown to be quite the fighter on occasion.
* BoisterousBruiser: He is more Falstaff than Falstaff.
* BookDumb: Homer is not known for reading, outright failing in one episode to list any kind of book he can read at all, but he still retains an amazing breadth of knowledge, including at least some awareness of the works of Walt Whitman, how to brew several varieties of beer, and at least some knowledge of the laws of thermodynamics, despite not knowing who Isaac Newton is.
* BornLucky: While he's guaranteed to be the butt of plenty of jokes in any given episode, Homer tends to win contests, meet celebrities and survive near death situations far more than any person should. He's also married to Marge, a woman who is willing to overlook his many, many ''[[RuleOfThree many]]'' flaws and see the good in him. The episode "Homer's Enemy" is about Frank Grimes, a hard working but BornUnlucky employee, who hates how someone as lazy and inept as Homer manages to be that lucky.
* BreakoutCharacter: While Homer was always prominent, Bart was initially treated as the show's protagonist. After the initial wave of "Bart Simpson mania", however, Homer became the most popular character, and the show came to focus more and more on him as a result.
* BrilliantButLazy: Even when showing signs of high-level intelligence, Homer is averse to hard work. He seems to be aware of this; in the episode where he formed the mentioned security company and became Chief of Police, his efforts to take down the mob made him the target of an attempt on his life. He bemoaned before confronting them "I finally found a job where I wasn't lazy, stupid or corrupt, and now I'm gonna get killed for it!"
* BuffetBuffoonery: In "New Kid on the Block", Homer eats for several hours at the all-you-can-eat buffet at the The Frying Dutchman before being thrown out. He then successfully sues the restaurant for false advertisement and gets to eat there for free in exchange for the Sea Captain marketing him as Bottomless Pete: Nature's Cruelest Mistake.
* BumblingDad: He provides the page image.
-->'''Mr. Bergstrom''': Lisa, your homework is always so neat. How can I put this? Does your father help you with it?\\
'''Lisa''': No. Homework's not my father's specialty.\\
'''Mr. Bergstrom''': Well there's no shame in it, I mean, my dad--\\
'''Lisa''': Not mine.\\
'''Mr. Bergstrom''': You didn't let me finish--\\
'''Lisa''': Unless the next word was "burped", you didn't have to.
* ButtMonkey: Even with all his {{jerkass}} tendencies, you do feel sympathy for what he goes through at times.
* CannotTellAJoke: Homer fails at humorous limericks. He tries to disprove this by saying "There once was a man from, I think it was Nantucket. And anyway, he had this interesting characteristic …" At this point he can't remember the rest, and Lenny and Carl just snicker at him.
* CaptainObvious: Has a tendency to state the obvious (in a usually comical way), like in this lovely jewel from the May 6, 2012 episode:
-->'''Marge''': [[MamaBear HOMER...]] [[WomanScorned SIMPSON.]]\\
'''Homer''': [[FearIsTheAppropriateResponse AAAAH!]] [[CaptainObvious THE WOMAN I LOVE!]]
* CatchPhrase:
-->"''D'OH!!!!''"\\
"Woo-hoo!"\\
"Why, you little…!!!"\\
"Mmm, [[MadLibsCatchPhrase [insert food here]]]…"\\
"''[[ScreamsLikeALittleGirl AAAH!!]]''"\\
"Bo-ring!"\\
"The Simpsons are going to [[MadLibsCatchPhrase [insert location here]]]!"
* CallingTheOldManOut: In "Mona Leaves-a," he does this to Mona, chewing her out for abandoning him and repeatedly choosing her various agendas and GranolaGirl lifestyle over her own son. [[PartingWordsRegret It's the last thing he ever says to her]].
* CharlieBrownBaldness: He has only two little hairs on his head left as he tore it off twice when he found out Marge was pregnant.
* CharacterDevelopment:
** While he does get progressively ''dumber'' as the years go on, he also seems to become more accepting of others.
** A good example is "Homer's Phobia" where after initially rejecting his friendship with John because of John's homosexuality, Homer eventually overcomes his prejudice (despite that season two's "Simpson and Delilah" didn't show him being prejudiced against his gay male secretary Karl. In fact, he was oblivious to Karl's sexuality until he got kissed, and even then, he didn't react the way a homophobe would if that happened to him). Indeed in later episodes, he has absolutely ''no'' problem befriending members of the gay community and actually is ''more'' supportive of Patty (despite that he hates her and Selma because they don't care much for him marrying their sister), when she comes out as a lesbian, than Marge is.
** Later episodes have also frequently Deconstructed his stupidity, sometimes conveying him more as a tall order CloudCuckooLander than specifically dumb, and within his own deranged nature, can actually have impressive random displays of insight.
* CharacterizationMarchesOn: The first season's "There's No Disgrace Like Home" is an extremely odd episode to watch, especially for those who have never seen the show in its early days. In it, Homer is embarrassed by his family's boorish behavior, including Marge getting drunk at his boss's party, and takes them to family therapy. If this was written after the first season, the roles would undoubtedly be reversed.
* TheChewToy: He is constantly hurt for the sake of funny. Lampshaded in a special episode that shows a series of clips of Homer getting hurt. Even in the opening, most of the couch gags (especially in later seasons) end with him being killed, maimed, or humiliated.
* ChickMagnet: As an adult, Homer has attracted a shocking number of beautiful women, with Mindy Simmons and Lurleen Lumpkin being some of the more prominent examples. However, by his own admission, he was rejected by most women before he met Marge.
* ChildhoodBrainDamage: One episode reveals that Homer is an idiot because [[PowerLimiter he stuck a crayon up his nose as a child and got it jammed into his brain]]. In "Itchy and Scratchy: The Movie", he told Bart when he was a kid he wanted a bike but his dad wouldn't let him. So he tries holding his breath so his dad would give in. But he passed out and had to be rushed to the hospital, where the doctors say he has suffered brain damage.
-->'''Bart:''' Dad, what's the point of this story?\\
'''Homer:''' I like stories.
* ChronicHeroSyndrome: For all his flaws, he's the most loyal friend you can have, as he'll always help his friends with their problems. Hell, you don't even have to be a close friend of him to get his help, he'll surely help you even if he only met you just some moments ago. Even his enemies, like Mr. Burns or Selma, might get his aid if he's on a good mood.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Especially in the later seasons. Perhaps most notoriously in The Simpsons Movie where he's imagining a cymbal-banging monkey... and THAT tells him to pay attention to what Marge is saying.
* CluelessChickMagnet: As the series went on he had a lot of women falling for him either due to new gained fame or talent or just his good traits, while he will be as clueless as ever.
* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Falls victim to this a lot.
* ConjunctionInterruption: A RunningGag is Homer's arrogance to anyone correcting him or even vaguely giving him an order or suggestion, leading him to quickly brush them off. This at one point escalated to him ''snapping at a judge to shut up'' just so he could have the last word.
* ConvenienceStoreGiftShopping: Homer has a very bad habit of doing this sort of thing. It was justified in the episode ''Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire'', since Marge blew the saved Christmas present money on getting Bart's incomplete tattoo removed and Mr. Burns announced that none of the workers are getting Christmas bonuses this year.
* CourtMartialed: In "Simpson Tide" when Homer joins the Navy Reserves, gets put in charge of a sub and sails to Russia, after he gets stopped he is court-martialled. But all of his judges admit to other crimes (or at least investigations) so they're not currently qualified to judge him.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Homer may be a lazy idiot most of the time, but he can pull off surprising feats of badassery when called upon. Especially if [[PapaWolf his children are involved]]. On the intelligence front, when properly motivated or passionate about something, he can be very efficient: across various episodes he's become a top employee for Globex, started a very successful home security business, and was able to trick Mr. Burns into making him CEO of the power plant, which he did in revenge for his rather comprehensive safety report being ignored.
* DependingOnTheWriter:
** Pretty much his entire character hinges on what's funniest. Some episodes portray him as a well-meaning simpleton whose a danger to everyone around him, others have him be a grumbling JerkWithAHeartOfGold, while others make him an unrepentant {{Jerkass}}.
** His fighting ability ranges from "pathetic" to "a force of nature".
** His level of attractiveness in-universe fluctuates from "[[IWasQuiteALooker hunk gone to seed]]" to "shaved gorilla".
** Of course, his intelligence ranges from merely stupid to TooDumbToLive. In some rare cases he can even be [[SimpleMindedWisdom deceptively lucid]] and even be an OnlySaneMan of sorts.
* DepravedKidsShowHost: In "Children of a Lesser Clod".
-->'''Homer''': If you're happy and you know it, [[InnocentSwearing say a swear!]]\\
'''Nelson''': Boobs!\\
'''Milhouse''': Heinie!\\
'''Ralph''': [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Mitten!]]
* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: Homer's constantly changing whatever his life's dream is, and while it's almost always played for laughs it is out of a genuine concern that he's a failure.
* DirtyCoward: Undoubtedly, during the "Jerkass Homer'' years. Subverted, earlier and later. Even then he still had a lot of bravado at times.
* {{Dismotivation}}: The show has repeatedly shown Homer's job isn't actually that difficult. A chicken or a brick on a rope could do his job just as easily, but all Homer does is sleep and goof about all day. There are more than a few given reasons; Homer feels overworked, he's got no idea what his job is, and Mr. Burns goes out of his way to make the plant dehumanizing (complete with a large demotivational plaque, to "break what's left of [Homer's] spirit").
* DisproportionateRetribution: Strangling his son is a great example. Homer frequently unleashes this on others, due to him being [[HairTriggerTemper easily provoked]]. He also goes as far as suing the owners of the local seafood restaurant because he gets thrown out of the "all-you-can-eat" area.
* TheDitz: Not that bright at all, and one of Western Animation's most iconic {{Fat Idiot}}s and {{Idiot Hero}}es.
* ExtremeOmnivore: He'll ingest anything from fancy bathroom soaps ("The Front") to plastic lobsters to a ten-pound bag of flour ("New Kid on the Block") to dishwashing liquid ("Marge Gets a Job") to ''radioactive waste'' ("E-I-E-I-[Annoyed Grunt]" and "Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder"), and on two separate occasions, has eaten live fish, and a live seal.
* EveryoneHasStandards:
** A lot of people end up doing this to him, even the NRA at one point as they said his RecklessGunUsage was dangerous and gave them a bad name.
** For Homer himself, despite his contempt for Flanders, he has often shown horror or sadness when something ''truly'' awful happens to him. When his wife tragically died, Homer at least ''tried'' to be a shoulder to cry on.
* FamilyMan: Despite his flaws, he still tries to keep his family together as best as he could.
* FamousLastWords: Parodied in "Days of Future Future", where his last words before his death was, "All that's left are clever last words."
* FanDisservice: Whenever he appears naked outside.
* FatBastard: Homer's gluttony, depending on the episode, can be taken to extremes. This can range from Homer eating to the point of being bloated and watching his belly bulge out and obscure his view of his feet, to Homer deliberately gaining weight to push past 300 pounds so that he could avoid ''fifteen minutes' worth of exercise'' at work and do his job at home. He was a bastard, in particular, in the Ullman shorts.
* FatComicRelief: A combination of FatIdiot FatSlob BigEater BumblingDad, who serves as the comic relief within his family and his workplace.
* FatIdiot: Possibly the TropeCodifier. Homer's main defining traits are "overweight and stupid".
* FatSlob: He's fat, lazy, eats like a pig and is and gets drunk often.
* FirstNameBasis: His son Bart often calls him Homer instead of Dad, probably just to mock or annoy him, and even refers to his parents as "Mom and Homer" (although he also calls him Dad at times, depending on the situation).
* FlatEarthAtheist: Particularly in later seasons. In earlier seasons he was simply not that enthusiastic a church-goer and practitioner, but he still could be seen praying at odd occasions (and apparently even pays up to $15 for a Bible just to read it by himself which may or may not be the one he hides his flask in). In later seasons, he's outright decrying God's existence despite the fact that he's arguably met God more than once (and if that didn't count, then the sheer fact that he and his family are alive and well after everything they've been through proves SOMETHING out the realm of nature is hiding in the Simpson house). Then again he also claimed his God is better than native or protestant (he was practicing Catholicism at the time) and in "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore" he seems to believe He wrote the Da Vinci Code so it's more of a RuleOfFunny.
* FleetingPassionateHobbies: Has a tendency to get a new "lifelong dream" as the plot needs him to.
* TheFool: In the episode "Homer Defined," Homer's accidental prevention of a meltdown at the nuclear plant inspires the phrase "to pull a Homer," meaning "to succeed despite idiocy."
* FormerlyFit: Used to be quite trim in his youth.
* FreudianExcuse: [[DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou His mother left him as a kid]], and his [[ShellShockedVeteran father]] didn't know how to raise him. It's also implied that his abuse of Bart was stemmed from being abused by his own father. Furthermore, his dad's blunt lack of faith in him resulting in Homer not being able to achieve his full potential. He also is a glutton due to mental scars caused by finding [[spoiler:Waylon Smithers Sr.'s corpse]] though it's mentioned that this was also from trying to fill the hole in his heart left by his mom. That and according to Moe, also alcohol.
* FriendlyEnemy: With Selma due to CharacterDevelopment. See Patty and Selma's section for more details. The more recent seasons of the show have Homer and Flanders butt heads a lot more often due to the show's Flanderization.
* FunctionalAddict: DependingOnTheWriter.
* GeniusDitz: When properly motivated, Homer is incredibly intelligent. Across various episodes, he speaks several languages, is a Grammy-Award-winning songwriter and musician, a skilled poker player, a master marksman, and may know a bit of astrophysics. He's also juggled many, many careers with varying degrees of success, manipulated Mr. Burns into making him [=CEO=] of the power plant, and formed a security company so successful and efficient that Quimby appointed him chief of police and fired Wiggum.
* GoalInLife: A RunningGag in the early seasons was for Homer to say that doing something related to the plot of the episode was his lifelong dream (be a Monorail conductor/manage a beautiful country singer/be a blackjack dealer), Marge would then point out that Homer already had a lifelong dream, which he has already achieved (run out on a baseball field during a game/eat the world's biggest hoagie/appear on "The Gong Show").
* HairTriggerTemper: One episode even has Bart make an internet cartoon about it. He later tries to bottle up his anger only for it to backfire.
* HappilyMarried: While he and Marge have had plenty of marital problems, their deep love for each other is always able to overcome them. In fact, the sole consistent aspect of each future shown in the various FlashForward episodes is that Homer and Marge will remain married and happy together till the end of their lives.
* HasAType: Blue hair, while he still loves Marge even after she shows her hair turned grey, he admits that he prefers when she dyes it.
* HiddenDepths: He's generally shown to be something of a RenaissanceMan despite his low intellect. It's suggested that Lisa and Bart inherited their musical ability and {{Omniglot}}-level talent for learning languages respectively from him.
* HighSchoolSweethearts: He and Marge began dating in high school, and while they've had a handful of falling outs across their relationship, they always inevitably end up back together.
* HotBlooded: Especially when he's angry.
* {{Hypocrite}}: An example, when he gets angry at his father in "Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy"
-->'''Homer''': He said I was an accident...he didn't want to have me.
-->'''Marge''': You didn't want to have Bart.
-->'''Homer''': I know, but you're never supposed to tell the child.
-->'''Marge''': You tell Bart all the time! You told him this morning.
-->'''Homer''': But when I do it, it's cute.
* ICouldaBeenAContender: Homer admired UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy and dreamed of being president one day during his childhood (until his dad told him that the U.S. was specifically made so that way idiots like Homer couldn't be President). As a middle-aged man, he remarks the constant discouragement and contempt he received from his father turned him into a deadbeat.
* IdiotHero: One of Western Animation's most iconic examples.
* IdiotHoudini: He at first showed reasonably poor judgment, but repeated encounters have gradually turned him into this trope. However this is also downplayed, because Homer is also one of the show's prime Butt Monkeys. He can get away with his stupidity, but only when the plot calls for it, other times fate punishes him dearly such as in The Simpsons Movie, where his actions got the town domed in and everyone goes up to his house with Torches and Pitchforks and his family leave him, only for him to Idiot Houdini his way outta that one as well.
* InformedDeformity:
** He is considered extremely fat and unfit. Actually he is only 239 pounds (which has been his weight ever since the water slide incident on "Brush of Greatness"), and tall to start (the season nine episode "Dumbbell Indemnity" had him at 6 feet even according to his mugshot photo).
** [[WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy Peter Griffin's]] got him beat. Even in the same universe, so do Comic Book Guy, Chief Wiggum ([[HypocriticalHumor who actually had the nerve to call Homer fat]]), Mayor Quimby, and the Mexican Bumblebee Man (who is pretty much Mayor Quimby with tan skin and a Spanish accent), for starters.
** He is also said to be diabetic (from when he drank too many Starbucks Frappuccinos during his stint as lead singer of the band, Sadgasm. Marge thought Homer was a heroin addict, but those needles he had were for insulin), but we never visibly see him suffer any diabetic symptoms (though the show does seem to imply that someone can become diabetic if they eat too much sugary foods, like when Carl became a diabetic from eating Grandma Plopwell's Sugar-Packed Pudding).
** By all the information given on his body, to say nothing of all the injuries he's taken over the years, Homer should by all rights be a physical wreck. He's overweight, a drunkard, a former smoker, constantly exposed to a high amount of radiation, enough that his bloodstream is fluorescent, had several heart attacks, and is some instances so out of shape even running a few feet has his scarcely able to breath. He sure doesn't show it. He lampshades at one point that future Homer is gonna have a bad time when it starts catching up to him.
** You can't really tell when he has his shirt on, but Homer's man-boobs must be a sight to behold. It has been referenced several times that he wears a sports bra (Days of Wine and D'oh'ses, Marge Gamer, and Stop, or my Dog Will Shoot)that Marge has been saving up for his breast reduction surgery (Yokel Chords) and that after starving himself, he's down to a b-cup (Hungry, Hungry Homer).
* InformedFlaw: His IQ is 55 (then became 105 when he got the crayon out of his head), meaning that, much like Peter Griffin on ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', he's legally classified as being intellectually disabled. As a child he was smart as a monkey, then became dumb as a chimp, either from drinking at a young age ("Lisa's Sax" showed that he and Barney drank when they were kids and caused a tricycle wreck), the crayon that got lodged in his head, or the Simpson gene (which makes all male Simpsons stupid, while their female counterparts stay smart, though that leaves the question of how Homer's half-brother, Herb, became rich and successful if he's considered half-Simpson).
* InnerMonologue: Homer converses with his brain often, turning monologues into full-on conversations. Interestingly enough, his ''brain'' has to act as the sensible one of the two.
-->'''Brain''': What the hell are you doing?
-->'''Homer''': Don't yell at me, brain! [[PottyFailure This]] happened on your watch! You have two jobs: thinking and bladder control!
-->'''Brain''': I'm doing the best with what I got. All you feed me is reality shows!
* InnocentlyInsensitive: Homer would never ''intentionally'' do anything to hurt Marge's feelings. Key word "intentionally". He routinely does just because he doesn't realise that's what he's doing.
* ItsAllAboutMe: Zigzagged. Homer endlessly causes chaos as a result of his selfishness, though he also has several unbelievable displays of self sacrifice and compassion. One episode had him walk out on a favor for Marge to buy a lottery ticket. When he actually wins however, his first instinct is to spend it all on his family. He even volunteered becoming a circus act instead of the octuplet in a situation where snakes are biting him.
* ITasteDelicious: In "Treehouse of Horror IV" and "XV".
* ItsTheBestWhateverEver: His opinion on the Thanksgiving depicted in "Behind the Laughter" (held during a feud between the family). "I mean, emotionally, it was terrible, but the turkey was so moist!"
* IWasQuiteALooker: He was slim, trim, clean shaven and had a full head of hair back in high school, all of which made him much more conventionally attractive than he is now.
* JackOfAllTrades: He has done so many things over the years, there's no way he '''can't''' be a Jack of All Trades.
* JadedWashout: Homer has plenty to regret in life, but is usually just too light-hearted to let it get him down. He always admits at the end that he also has a lot to be proud of.
* {{Jerkass}}: The TropeNamer! He was in small doses during the early years (seasons 1 to 8)[[note]]Homer's main schtick was being a BumblingDad and an idiot in modern society, so the Jerkass deal didn't get played around with a lot -- and when it did, the writers at least had Homer realize the error of his ways, like when Homer was kicked out of the house for blabbing Marge's secrets to his "How to Maintain a Successful Marriage" class, which is more than what can be said for what Mike Scully did to him[[/note]]; became a major one in the Mike Scully years (season 9 to 12); in the Al Jean years, it depends on who's writing the episode (seasons 13 to present). He can also be quite nasty and abusive in the Tracey Ullman shorts.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold:
** Homer has always had moments of being a horrible person and being extremely caring. In later seasons, he recreates his first date with Marge so she'll fall for him all over again, repeatedly turns down sex so he can read to Lisa, gets very involved in making Bart a good student and making Lisa popular, lives in a terribly cramped apartment by himself so his kids can go to a good school, and on and on. There's just a strong bias against the later seasons, whether people watch the episodes or not.
** The movie shows this in spades and they went through numerous rewrites in order to portray Homer as sympathetic, but also make him such a selfish jackass that when Marge decides to leave him, he realizes to his horror that he has definitely gone too far. It ends up causing him to immediately snap out of his bravado and vow to save the town, despite the odds, because he ''needs'' to do it in order to win his family back. Homer even admits that he honestly ''can't'' live without them.
* KarmaHoudini: Downplayed. He rarely receive a punishment when he strangles Bart, even for the smallest things. Other examples for this could be "Homer Badman" and "[[MoralEventHorizon Homer Simpson in: Kidney Troubles]]". However he spent weeks falsely harrassed for being a sex offender in the former and lost one of his kidneys and ended up brutally hospitalized in the latter. Even if he isn't directly punished for some of his wrongdoings, karma often catches up with him some other way. Bart also gives what he takes (and also is only occasionally punished for it)as shown in the "Italian Bob" where he counters the usual strangling by smashing Homer's head repeatedly with a car door.
* KavorkaMan: While the show goes to great lengths to explain why Marge loves him, and frequently shows their marital problems, several other women have instantly been attracted to him for no apparent reason. Of course, his actual level of attractiveness [[DependingOnTheWriter does tend to zigzag]] between "hunk gone to seed" and "shaved gorilla" from episode to episode.
* LackOfEmpathy: At his worst.
* LargeHam: Don't try to deny it!
--> "BERSERK IS RIIIIIIIGHT!!!"
** Mmm, large ham.
* LazyHusband: Most of the time, though he'll get his act together when needed.
* LethallyStupid: He almost causes a catastrophe of nuclear proprotions several times thtoughout the show. On one occasion, he manages to cause a nuclear meltdown in a simulator truck that ''didn't even have any nuclear material''.
* LoserProtagonist: To the very deepest degree. Bald, out of shape, constantly drinking at Moe's, works at a nuclear factory for [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Mr. Burns]], a world-case dope (and when [[FlowersForAlgernonSyndrome he briefly changed that]], [[IntelligenceEqualsIsolation he so alienated all but one of his family and friends]] that he [[StatusQuoIsGod was forced to re-cause brain damage]]), ''incredibly'' clumsy, a bad luck magnet, lacks common sense, the ButtMonkey, has to deal with Ned Flanders as his neighbor [[spoiler:and the permanent effect of [[KilledOffForReal accidentally killing his wife, Maude]]]], he's the subject of ridicule, especially with Marge's sisters, throttles his son Bart at the drop of a hat, and on top of all that, his father and mother have split up and he's suffered through it all his life. Even worse yet, [[spoiler: when he reunites with his mother, she dies.]] The good news is, Marge loves him deeply and the two manage to resolve their arguments no matter what the case.
* LostFoodGrievance: A particular BerserkButton among many, to say the least.
* MadeOfIron: One of Homer's more consistent traits is that he can take a beating. In "The Homer They Fall" Dr. Hibbert explains to Homer that he has an extra-thick layer of fluid around his brain, making him very resistant to head injuries. He also traveled with a freak show for a while because of his ability to survive being shot in the stomach by a canon. And he more-or-less has survived working at a blatantly unsafe power plant, and no less than four heart attacks.
* MadLibsCatchPhrase: "Mmmm, [blank]." (usually a food item or an adjective for a food item)
* MagneticHero: On far too many occasions to list, Homer's displayed a tendency to convince people to go along with his ideas, regardless of how dangerous or insane they might be.
* ManChild: The most immature in the family, even more so than his son Bart.
* MangledCatchPhrase: When auditioning for Mr. Burns' movie: "''Exactly.'' Heh, heh... D'oh!"
* ManipulativeBastard: During the Jerkass Homer years.
* MoodSwinger: Parodied in one episode. Homer takes sleeping pills to sleep well through the night and Lisa reads off the side-effects, one which is Mood Swings. Cue Homer repeatedly saying "Mood Swings" in various moods.
** Another example is when Homer ends up trapped in his car after driving into the edge of a cliff after Bart outruns him one too many times. Bart then reluctantly comes to his rescue. The following exchange occurs:
-->'''Homer:''' Boy, push down on the bumper! Then I can back the car up and save myself!\\
'''Bart:''' Hmm. If I save you, what are you gonna do to me?\\
'''Homer:''' Shower you with love, because this experience has taught me just how precious you are.\\
''(Bart pushes down on the rear car bumper, Homer suddenly goes berserk)''\\
'''Homer:''' ''I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOUR WHOLE FAMILY!!!''\\
''(Bart lifts the car up and glowers at him)''\\
'''Homer:''' ''(calmly)'' Kidding! I'm kidding. We can do that, we have a special friendship.\\
''(Bart pushes the car down again and Homer immediately goes back into rage mode; he continues to slip back and forth between anger and tranquility as Bart simultaneously lifts and pushes the car)''\\
'''Homer:''' I'm gonna ''DOUBLE-KILL YOU!'' THEN I'M GONNA BURY YOU IN A SHALLOW GRAVE! THEN I'LL DIG YOU UP AND KILL YOU AGAIN--''THAT'S'' THE BEAUTY OF A SHALLOW GRAVE! ''(car up)'' You sweet little angel, Oh, I'm ''(car down)'' GONNA RIP YOUR HEAD OFF, AND SPIT ''(car up)'' down your adorable little neck, because I ''(car down)'' WANNA SMASH YOUR LITTLE STUPID HEAD! ''(car up)'' Oh, but I love you, we'll go on a fishing trip. ''(car down)'' BUT FIRST I'M GONNA PUT YOU IN A SAWMILL, THEN PUNCH YOUR LITTLE FACE OUT! THAT'S WHAT I'M GONNA DO!
* MotherFBomb: In "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson", he mutters one while trying to gnaw the boot off of his car, a ThrowItIn by Dan Castellaneta.
* MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily: Tracey Ullman era.
* MrImagination: He had several fantasies that would figure out his real life problems. It included life under the sea, the robbing of Kwik-E-Mart or living in a chocolate land. A lots of them are listed under trope IfIWereARichMan.
* MultipleChoicePast: How did he lose his hair? Early episodes give several reasons;
** Military experimentation he volunteered for just to get out of visiting Patty and Selma.
** Ripping his hair out whenever he learnt Marge was pregnant.
** Male Pattern Baldness.
** Stress, caused by The Boy (when Bart's at Kamp Krusty, Homer regrows one hair. It promptly falls out when he sees Bart is the ringleader of the camp revolt).
* NakedPeopleAreFunny: Is naked in several scenes, and it's all played for laughs.
* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: When he tries to do right it's usually gonna end up with him in pain or trouble, he even lampshaded when Fat Tony put a hit on him for stopping his racket and the town left him alone to fend for himself.
* NoIndoorVoice: Hoo boy is he a loudmouth.
--> "HEAR YE, HEAR HE! THE HOMER BROADCASTING SYSTEM IS ON THE AIR! ALL HOLLERING, ALL THE TIME!"
--> "I DON'T HAVE AN INSIDE VOICE!"
--> "LOOK HOW LOUD I HAVE TO YELL!"
--> "WILL YOU TWO SHUT UP?! PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO SLEEP!"
--> "MILHOUSE! TELL BART TO COME HOME!"
* ObfuscatingStupidity: Subverted in an episode when Homer is playing poker with Lenny, Carl and Moe at Lenny's house. He draws four cards and curses his bad hand, before poorly trying to bluff the other players. Lenny and Carl fold, but Moe knows that Homer is bluffing and calls. Homer then reveals that he has a straight flush, and Moe becomes so frustrated at Homer beating him that he ends up choking on his own rage. It looks as though Homer cleverly tricked Moe into playing the hand, but the next morning he tells the family that he didn't even realize he was winning.
* ObsessedWithFood
* {{Omniglot}}: Has spoken German (he can sing "99 Luftballoons" in its original German language and knows German verb conjugations), Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, a little bit of French (describes "Trash Night" as "La Nuit des Poubelles"), and [[SpeaksFluentAnimal penguin]].
-->"I can understand food talk in any language."
* OnlyInItForTheMoney: Pretty much the only reason Homer sticks around at the Power Plant at all (when he's actually there) is to earn enough money to provide for his family, and Maggie in particular.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: See TranquilFury. If the jovial, slow-witted LargeHam is staring you down with shrunken irises and speaking in a straight, menacing baritone, you've crossed a '''MAJOR''' line.
* PapaWolf:
** Call him what you want, Homer still cares about his kids. Willing to become a helicopter parent for them, steal chocolate eggs for his baby daughter, return to his lousy job just to make his baby daughter's dreams come true, throw a pie at a guy mocking [[GranolaGirl Lisa]].
** In regards to Lisa, he is such a Papa Wolf that he'll even defend her honor against Marge. A notable of this was in the episode "$pringfield (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling)," when, thanks to Marge's gambling addiction, she forgot to help Lisa with her costume (Florida) for a school play despite promising to do so. Suffice to say, Homer was quite angered, to the extent that he drove over to the casino, located Marge, and then started shouting at her in nonsense before he shouts that he's angry because Marge broke a promise she made to her daughter.
** [[AbusiveParents Bart, whom he strangulates regularly as a running gag, however, is comparatively shit outta luck.]] Even then, Homer spearheaded an effort to dig Bart out after Bart fell down a well, took some nasty physical punishment while disguised to be a battle-robot that Bart controlled, and forced crooked T-shirt manufacturer Goose Gladwell, who cheated Bart out of the ideas he'd come up with for T-shirt slogans, by threatening Goose with a ''portable nuclear fission reactor'' that he made himself for Lisa's science fair project until Goose paid Bart the money he deserved.
** It should be noted however, that while he'll strangle Bart, who more than likely has it coming, if somebody '''else''' so much as even looks at Bart the wrong way, then they're gonna suffer his wrath.
-->'''Homer:''' Why don't you [jailed delinquents] pick on someone bigger than you who has this? (draws a gun)
* ParentalFavoritism: Homer makes it very clear his favorite child is Lisa. He thinks of Bart as the bane of existence and often forgets Maggie even exists.
* ParentsAsPeople: Homer often has realizations that he is a terrible parent, but is usually too bogged down by his own stupidity to do anything about it.
* PartingWordsRegret: In the episode "Mona Leaves-a," Homer blows up on his mother Mona, [[CallingTheOldManOut chewing her out for never being there for him and constantly putting her various agendas ahead of her own son]]. Later that night, Homer calms down and makes her an apology card... only to find that she died sometime during the night.
* PermaStubble:
** His beard muzzle/mouth. In the early episodes, it always grew back three seconds after he shaved it off. In his teen years, he didn't have it, and it's not really explained at what age Homer got it (it can be implied that it was around the time he got out of high school and was still dating Marge).
** His stubble is so permanent that when he grows a goatee he doesn't just shave one from his existing facial hair but grows one through it.
** The gag about his stubble growing back was revisited in Season 27's "Teenage Mutant Milk-caused Hurdles", where he learns that he's been using his razor with the plastic case still over the blade. He gives himself a proper shave and discovers that he has a manly chin underneath. He tries to show this to Marge (who was helping Lisa with her acne problem), only for the stubble to grow back just as Marge turns to look.
* PhraseCatcher: Overlaps with MadLibsCatchPhrase in this exchange between Mr. Burns and Smithers.
--> "Smithers! who is that [insult involving AntiquatedLinguistics]?\\
"That's Homer Simpson, sir, one of your [condescending noun] from Sector 7-G."\\
"Simpson, eh?"
* TheProtagonist: While the members of the Simpson family all get their time in the spotlight, Homer will pretty much always be involved in the main plot of an episode regardless of whether or not he's the focus of it. He's also generally front and center in promotional art and advertisements. He was not always this, however, as earlier seasons tended to focus primarily on Bart.
* PsychopathicManchild: Again, DependingOnTheWriter.
* RealMenWearPink: He drives a [[color:pink:pink]] Sedan, and played tea party with Lisa to cheer her up. This didn't work out so well when Homer was forced to wear a pink T-shirt to work (which was the result of Bart putting his lucky red cap in the wash with the white clothes) and (thanks to that and letting Bart fill out his psychiatric evaluation form) ended up in a mental hospital.
* RecklessGunUsage: While he is sometimes portrayed as a crack shot, other times (well, mostly) he'll fit this trope instead, which is why Marge has a tendency to confiscate and bury them immediately. An example is when he buys a handgun and uses it for the most menial of tasks, such as getting something down from a cupboard instead of simply fetching a chair; later in the same episode, he freaks out the NRA of all people as they say [[EveryoneHasStandards he's completely nuts]]. On one occasion, he fired a handgun at his chest while he was wearing body armour, which left him going between grunts of pain and surprised giggles; everybody else is cowering behind cover and most of the glass cases have been shattered.
* RenamedTheSame: Learning his true middle name is "Jay", instead of just "J".
* RunningGag: In the early seasons Homer would often mention that some event in the episode is his lifelong dream and Marge would remind him that his lifelong dream had already been fulfilled and it'd be different everytime with an example of what it was.
* SadClown: He had a rough childhood, is seen as a loser by friends and family alike and is generally unhappy with his life. This is either ignored or played for laughs, but it ''is'' occasionally used for drama.
** Homer's attempted suicide at least three times in the show's run, and once described Bart as "like me, before the weight of the world crushed my spirit."
* ScreamsLikeALittleGirl: A high-pitched, grating "AHHH!".
* SelectiveEnforcement: In the Tracey Ullman shorts and early series episodes, Lisa was just as bratty and dysfunctional as Bart, though Homer tended to only target Bart for discipline. This was excused by the creative team, they were apparently a lot more uneasy when offered gags with Homer strangling and comically abusing Lisa compared to Bart.
* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: Manly Man to Ned Flanders' Sensitive Guy.
* SiblingYinYang: With his brother Herb.
* SimpleMindedWisdom: Within the show's long run, Homer, within all his moronic behaviour, has displayed rather palpable showings of obscure intellect or clarity. He can even give fatherly advice to Bart every now and then.
* SimpletonVoice: He has a funny goofy voice. WordOfGod has it Creator/DanCastellaneta tried to mimic Creator/WalterMatthau's voice in the first season, but he couldn't get the inflection quite right, so he modified it from the second season onward.
* SingleTargetSexuality: DependingOnTheWriter. Sometimes he only has eyes for Marge and doesn't realize when beautiful women are hitting on him. Other times he has shown attraction to other women ([[AmbiguouslyBi or even men on occasion]]).
* TheSociopath: At his worst, when he gets [[UnstoppableRage well and truly angry]], he's largely this, especially during Mike Scully's years as showrunner. Even when Al Jean took over, Homer occasionally shows shades of this, depending on the episode.
* SpotlightStealingSquad: The show's early seasons had a balanced focus between the main members of the family, but Homer eventually took over as the main focus due to his wild antics.
* StoneWall: He isn't physically fit, and his fighting ability fluctuates depending on the episode, but his damage resistance is always shown to be extremely high.
* StoutStrength: He isn't physically fit and he ''hates'' working out (he doesn't even know how to pronounce the word "gym"), but he's one of the physically strongest characters.
* StrongAsTheyNeedToBe: A non-super variant; Homer's athletic ability depends on what the writers need for that episode. In "The Homer They Fall," when Homer is training to be a boxer, one of his punches can't even kill a fly that lands on Moe's training glove, and he's often shown out of breath after the smallest amount of physical activity. However, {{Acrofatic}} and StoutStrength are also on his trope list.
* SuperSerum: Beer has this effect on him in at least one episode.
* SweetTooth: He sure loves donuts.
* TakingAdvantageOfGenerosity: Especially when borrowing stuff from Flanders.
* ThisLoserIsYou: A textbook example.
* TookALevelInDumbass: Homer started out stupid, but not really more so than anyone else. WordOfGod admitted that he was made stupider with each passing season to try to outdo what came before and remain fresh. (This trend ended at the start of Season 13, where the writers made a conscious effort to make him smarter.)
* TookALevelInJerkass: The Mike Scully era turned up his stupidity and callousness UpToEleven. This was toned down when Al Jean took over.
* TookALevelInKindness: In season 1 he was angry and grumpy all the time but becomes sweeter after season 2, though his angry personality still sometimes surfaces up (usually whenever Bart makes him mad). When the show's {{Flanderization}} kicked in, he TookALevelInJerkass, especially in the Mike Scully years. Now, DependingOnTheWriter, he occasionally snaps back to being nice, then back to a jerk, and so on.
* ToxicFriendInfluence: A literal example as he was the one who introduced his friend Barney Gumble to beer right before the SAT exam and made him into an alcoholic.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Early episodes, it was pork chops and doughnuts. Later episodes, it was just doughnuts, though Homer's appetite doesn't discriminate (see ExtremeOmnivore).
* TranquilFury: On [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness very rare occasions]], Homer's normally LargeHam, PlayedForLaughs HairTriggerTemper will be replaced with this and when it happens, you better do like Bart and Lisa did in "Who Shot Mr. Burns" and ''run like hell.''
* UglyGuyHotWife: Ugly Guy to Marge's Hot Wife, though Marge's attractiveness has been played up over time. However, Homer has usually been shown to have been far more attractive in his younger years when he first started dating Marge, downplaying this slightly.
* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: Homer is selfish, short-tempered and can sometimes be abusive towards his wife and children, and his reckless stupidity causes many of the problems on the show.
* UsedToBeASweetKid: While he can definitely be a good guy nowadays, he was an absolute sweetheart as a kid before getting beaten down by his abusive father.
* VitriolicBestBuds: With Flanders. Homer may openly claim he hates Flanders, the amount of times that Homer has helped him out of the fire and vice-versa, makes it clear they really are the only people in Springfield who can count on the other for support.
* VocalEvolution: Started off with a much deeper, Walter Matthau-esque voice, which got higher and faster towards season 3, and it's essentially stayed that way since.
* WellDoneSonGuy: While he definitely neglects Grandpa, it's implied that it's due to his own neglect as a child. Occasionally Homer demonstrates he really ''does'' want his father's approval and one occasion when Grandpa angrily called him "an accident", Homer kicked him out of the car, left him in the middle of nowhere, then completely stopped speaking to him for several weeks.
* WeUsedToBeFriends: With [[WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy Peter Griffin]]. During [[Recap/FamilyGuyS13E1TheSimpsonsGuy the Griffins' visit to Springfield]], Homer and Peter became best friends, only to end up falling out when Duff successfully sued Pawtucket Patriot Ale for intellectual theft and patent infringement. In the end, they admit they respect each other, yet agree to stay away from each other.
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: It's been shown multiple times that Homer has Arachnophobia which is a fear of arachnids (mainly spiders). This is best shown in the episode sweet homediddly-dum-doodily where he panics when a spider appears next to his keys, another example would be in Treehouse of Horror XXII where he panics when he realises that the spider Halloween decoration was a real black widow spider and panics again when a second spider appears later in the episode. The final example would be in Mobile Homer where he's unsettled by the sight of a spider when he's asked by Marge to kill the spiders in the garage and gets into a frenzy when more spiders attack him.
* WouldHurtAChild: He has no problem throttling Bart, even when he was a baby. He also sucker punched a baby dolphin, albeit for biting Lisa after she [[UngratefulBastard took a can ring]] [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished off its nose]].
* WrongGenreSavvy: In the episode "Homer Goes to College," Homer is convinced his college experience will be exactly like the [[WackyFratboyHijinx party atmosphere]] college is often depicted as in [[Film/AnimalHouse movies]], not realizing he's in a satire that thoroughly subverts the trope.
* YoungerThanTheyLook: In the earlier seasons, he was only 34 years old, despite easily passing for a man in his late forties at least. Later seasons aged him up to 38 because the writers couldn't imagine being older than Homer.
->"Lord help me, I'm just not that bright."
--> Debut: ''"Good Night"''
--> Debut on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': ''"Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire"''
The father, the dope, and more or less the main character of the show. Homer is overweight, almost completely bald, and rather selfish, short-tempered and stupid, but is a good person at heart and has a bright outlook on life. Voiced by Creator/DanCastellaneta.
* AbandonedCatchphrase: He used to say "Let's All Go Out For Some Frosty Chocolate Milkshakes" during the Tracey Ullman Shorts.
* AbusiveParents: He loves his children dearly but is absolutely terrible at parenting.
** Despite his [[AlcoholicParent reckless drinking problem]] and [[MoodSwinger mood issues,]] he's less so than [[WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy Peter Griffin]], but it still counts, given how strangling Bart and his {{jerkass}} behavior sometimes becomes a threat to his children's lives. And then there's the original shorts, where he's almost as bad as Peter.
** His own father, Abe, was just as bad, if not worse than Homer, at being a father, so perhaps that explains Homer's lack of parental skills.
** We're lead to believe that his mother was also this in "There's No Disgrace Like Home" where he mentions that she once said he was a big disappointment. [[{{Retcon}} This was the only time she was stated to be like this]] though, [[CharacterizationMarchesOn as for the rest of the series we see that she was a kind, loving mother]], [[ParentsAsPeople though one who began neglecting him in pursuit of activism a bit later on.]]
* {{Acrofatic}}:
** In "Sex, Pies, and Idiot Scrapes," he does complex acrobatics to escape Ned. This is rather odd, since Homer has often been shown out of breath from even the simplest movements (like running only a few feet in "The Springfield Connection" and "New Kids on the Blecch").
** One flashback shows him to be a very talented gymnast in high school (until his dad distracted him and made him trip on his own feet). It should be noted that he had a much more athletic build back then, though. So him being a good gymnast is less surprising.
** Deep Space Homer showed Homer in astronaut training, performing several cartwheels in rapid succession as if he were some sort of human tire. That is, of course, until he runs into the wall.
** He performed ninja-like feats of acrobatics while practicing killing snakes for Whacking Day.
** In "Simple Simpson" when Homer (as the Pie Man) escapes the police doing some very complex acrobatics.
** In "E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)" he performs a standing backflip while franticly searching for the "invisible crops" in the fields of his family's farm.
* {{Adorkable}}: At times, due to his lovable goofiness.
* TheAlcoholic: The ''[[TropeCodifier all-time champion of this]]'', but not before Barney Gumble, who is the very definition of drunk.
-->'''Homer:''' And I'll get to get drunk on a Tuesday.
-->'''Marge:''' Today's Tuesday and you've had six beers!
-->'''Homer:''' But I'm not ''drunk''.
* AlcoholicParent: To the point that one of the contact numbers at Springfield Elementary is at Moe's Tavern.
* AlcoholInducedIdiocy: Actually manages to act dumber after sometimes drinking a few too many. In "Boys Meet Curl" Marge says when he is quoting Henry V that this is what Homer sounds like when he is sober.
* AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents: His dad harps about his embarrassing childhood and his mom is a double agent who's always leaving clues only he can understand. Homer himself is this to Bart and Lisa.
* AmbiguouslyBi: His love for Marge is obvious, and he's shown attraction to other women on occasion. He's also the TropeNamer for StupidSexyFlanders, has kissed a man and ''may'' have enjoyed it more than kissing Marge, complimented a naked hobo on his physique, and mourns [[spoiler: Fat Tony]] like a dead lover, among other examples. Although he identifies as straight and his attraction to women is serious while his feelings for other men is PlayedForLaughs. He becomes incredibly uncomfortable whenever the topic of homosexuality is brought up and doesn't seem to understand it. His attraction to other men might actually stem from an attraction to himself because his ego compels him believe that he is the greatest person in the world and he sometimes daydreams about flirting to himself.
* AnimalMotifs: Homer is associated with apes and monkeys so often, Marge [[spoiler:invokes this in "The Monkey Suit" to help Lisa win her case on human evolution]].
* {{Angrish}}: Frequently lapses into this, whether he is justified or not.
* AntiHero: Manages to be a combination of both a ClassicalAntiHero and an UnscrupulousHero.
* AntiRoleModel: Homer is well aware that he is a terrible role model and he lampshades it frequently.
-->'''Homer''': Look, if it were up to me, I'd be harassing [those manatees] with you. If anything, I'd be the guy who took it too far...
* AtomicFBomb: Let (a censored) one loose in "Who Shot Mr. Burns"; basically, Homer got a tip on how to get Mr. Burns to remember his name by sending him a box of chocolates with his photo in it (well, he and his wife and kids). The ensuing thank-you card has Burns thanking everyone ''except'' Homer (his face was obscured by an uneaten piece of chocolate and the box thrown out). Boy, does Homer get pissed...
-->'''Homer''': ''(slowly lowering the letter, shaking with unabashed anger)'' [[TranquilFury Kids... do step outside for a second]]...\\
''(Bart and Lisa gawk at their father and go running out of the room)''\\
'''Homer''': '''''F--'''(SmashCut to an overview of the street, a ScareChord, birds flying away in fear, and the entire neighborhood stopping in its tracks to look in the direction of the Simpson house)''\\
'''Ned''': Dear Lord, that was the loudest profanity I've ever heard!
* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: My God! There are times when you can already hear Homer uttering that EXACT phrase.
* AwesomeMcCoolname: He once legally changed his name to Max Power after a TV show used his name for a bumbling sidekick. [[LineOfSightName He got the name off a hairdryer.]]
* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: At his best. Despite his abusiveness towards his son, the two of them have, at times, shown that they do love each other. He has these moments with Grampa, Lisa, Marge and Maggie as well.
* AxCrazy: Sometimes when he gets really mad, but this is mostly seen in the Treehouse of Horror segments.
* BaldOfAwesome: Well, not entirely bald. He still has three hairs left.
* BaldOfEvil: On his worst days.
* BerserkButton: Several. He's also known for his temper, after all.
** On Bart's worst days, the very mention of him can be one for Homer. When Homer got institutionalized thanks in part to Bart, Homer was diagnosed with severe anger issues. Then Marge suggested maybe they shouldn't mention Bart. The nurse was... ''alarmed.''
-->''You mean there really ''is'' a Bart?! Good lord!''
* BigEater: He's also the king of this trope, to the point that he's an ExtremeOmnivore (he's eaten things considered highly inedible, such as the plastic bride and groom wedding cake decoration, dishwashing soap, ''hot wax'' from a candle …)
* BigFun: He sees himself as this.
-->'''Homer:''' Marge, the boy was wearing a Hawaiian shirt.\\
'''Marge:''' So? \\
'''Homer:''' There's only two kind of guys who wear those shirts: gay guys and big, fat party animals. And Bart doesn't look like a big, fat party animal to me...\\
'''Marge:''' So, if you wore a Hawaiian shirt, it wouldn't be gay? \\
'''Homer:''' Right. Thank you.
* TheBigGuy: While his weight is frequently brought up, Homer is also a pretty tall guy, and possesses a larger than life personality fitting this trope. He's also shown to be quite the fighter on occasion.
* BoisterousBruiser: He is more Falstaff than Falstaff.
* BookDumb: Homer is not known for reading, outright failing in one episode to list any kind of book he can read at all, but he still retains an amazing breadth of knowledge, including at least some awareness of the works of Walt Whitman, how to brew several varieties of beer, and at least some knowledge of the laws of thermodynamics, despite not knowing who Isaac Newton is.
* BornLucky: While he's guaranteed to be the butt of plenty of jokes in any given episode, Homer tends to win contests, meet celebrities and survive near death situations far more than any person should. He's also married to Marge, a woman who is willing to overlook his many, many ''[[RuleOfThree many]]'' flaws and see the good in him. The episode "Homer's Enemy" is about Frank Grimes, a hard working but BornUnlucky employee, who hates how someone as lazy and inept as Homer manages to be that lucky.
* BreakoutCharacter: While Homer was always prominent, Bart was initially treated as the show's protagonist. After the initial wave of "Bart Simpson mania", however, Homer became the most popular character, and the show came to focus more and more on him as a result.
* BrilliantButLazy: Even when showing signs of high-level intelligence, Homer is averse to hard work. He seems to be aware of this; in the episode where he formed the mentioned security company and became Chief of Police, his efforts to take down the mob made him the target of an attempt on his life. He bemoaned before confronting them "I finally found a job where I wasn't lazy, stupid or corrupt, and now I'm gonna get killed for it!"
* BuffetBuffoonery: In "New Kid on the Block", Homer eats for several hours at the all-you-can-eat buffet at the The Frying Dutchman before being thrown out. He then successfully sues the restaurant for false advertisement and gets to eat there for free in exchange for the Sea Captain marketing him as Bottomless Pete: Nature's Cruelest Mistake.
* BumblingDad: He provides the page image.
-->'''Mr. Bergstrom''': Lisa, your homework is always so neat. How can I put this? Does your father help you with it?\\
'''Lisa''': No. Homework's not my father's specialty.\\
'''Mr. Bergstrom''': Well there's no shame in it, I mean, my dad--\\
'''Lisa''': Not mine.\\
'''Mr. Bergstrom''': You didn't let me finish--\\
'''Lisa''': Unless the next word was "burped", you didn't have to.
* ButtMonkey: Even with all his {{jerkass}} tendencies, you do feel sympathy for what he goes through at times.
* CannotTellAJoke: Homer fails at humorous limericks. He tries to disprove this by saying "There once was a man from, I think it was Nantucket. And anyway, he had this interesting characteristic …" At this point he can't remember the rest, and Lenny and Carl just snicker at him.
* CaptainObvious: Has a tendency to state the obvious (in a usually comical way), like in this lovely jewel from the May 6, 2012 episode:
-->'''Marge''': [[MamaBear HOMER...]] [[WomanScorned SIMPSON.]]\\
'''Homer''': [[FearIsTheAppropriateResponse AAAAH!]] [[CaptainObvious THE WOMAN I LOVE!]]
* CatchPhrase:
-->"''D'OH!!!!''"\\
"Woo-hoo!"\\
"Why, you little…!!!"\\
"Mmm, [[MadLibsCatchPhrase [insert food here]]]…"\\
"''[[ScreamsLikeALittleGirl AAAH!!]]''"\\
"Bo-ring!"\\
"The Simpsons are going to [[MadLibsCatchPhrase [insert location here]]]!"
* CallingTheOldManOut: In "Mona Leaves-a," he does this to Mona, chewing her out for abandoning him and repeatedly choosing her various agendas and GranolaGirl lifestyle over her own son. [[PartingWordsRegret It's the last thing he ever says to her]].
* CharlieBrownBaldness: He has only two little hairs on his head left as he tore it off twice when he found out Marge was pregnant.
* CharacterDevelopment:
** While he does get progressively ''dumber'' as the years go on, he also seems to become more accepting of others.
** A good example is "Homer's Phobia" where after initially rejecting his friendship with John because of John's homosexuality, Homer eventually overcomes his prejudice (despite that season two's "Simpson and Delilah" didn't show him being prejudiced against his gay male secretary Karl. In fact, he was oblivious to Karl's sexuality until he got kissed, and even then, he didn't react the way a homophobe would if that happened to him). Indeed in later episodes, he has absolutely ''no'' problem befriending members of the gay community and actually is ''more'' supportive of Patty (despite that he hates her and Selma because they don't care much for him marrying their sister), when she comes out as a lesbian, than Marge is.
** Later episodes have also frequently Deconstructed his stupidity, sometimes conveying him more as a tall order CloudCuckooLander than specifically dumb, and within his own deranged nature, can actually have impressive random displays of insight.
* CharacterizationMarchesOn: The first season's "There's No Disgrace Like Home" is an extremely odd episode to watch, especially for those who have never seen the show in its early days. In it, Homer is embarrassed by his family's boorish behavior, including Marge getting drunk at his boss's party, and takes them to family therapy. If this was written after the first season, the roles would undoubtedly be reversed.
* TheChewToy: He is constantly hurt for the sake of funny. Lampshaded in a special episode that shows a series of clips of Homer getting hurt. Even in the opening, most of the couch gags (especially in later seasons) end with him being killed, maimed, or humiliated.
* ChickMagnet: As an adult, Homer has attracted a shocking number of beautiful women, with Mindy Simmons and Lurleen Lumpkin being some of the more prominent examples. However, by his own admission, he was rejected by most women before he met Marge.
* ChildhoodBrainDamage: One episode reveals that Homer is an idiot because [[PowerLimiter he stuck a crayon up his nose as a child and got it jammed into his brain]]. In "Itchy and Scratchy: The Movie", he told Bart when he was a kid he wanted a bike but his dad wouldn't let him. So he tries holding his breath so his dad would give in. But he passed out and had to be rushed to the hospital, where the doctors say he has suffered brain damage.
-->'''Bart:''' Dad, what's the point of this story?\\
'''Homer:''' I like stories.
* ChronicHeroSyndrome: For all his flaws, he's the most loyal friend you can have, as he'll always help his friends with their problems. Hell, you don't even have to be a close friend of him to get his help, he'll surely help you even if he only met you just some moments ago. Even his enemies, like Mr. Burns or Selma, might get his aid if he's on a good mood.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Especially in the later seasons. Perhaps most notoriously in The Simpsons Movie where he's imagining a cymbal-banging monkey... and THAT tells him to pay attention to what Marge is saying.
* CluelessChickMagnet: As the series went on he had a lot of women falling for him either due to new gained fame or talent or just his good traits, while he will be as clueless as ever.
* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Falls victim to this a lot.
* ConjunctionInterruption: A RunningGag is Homer's arrogance to anyone correcting him or even vaguely giving him an order or suggestion, leading him to quickly brush them off. This at one point escalated to him ''snapping at a judge to shut up'' just so he could have the last word.
* ConvenienceStoreGiftShopping: Homer has a very bad habit of doing this sort of thing. It was justified in the episode ''Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire'', since Marge blew the saved Christmas present money on getting Bart's incomplete tattoo removed and Mr. Burns announced that none of the workers are getting Christmas bonuses this year.
* CourtMartialed: In "Simpson Tide" when Homer joins the Navy Reserves, gets put in charge of a sub and sails to Russia, after he gets stopped he is court-martialled. But all of his judges admit to other crimes (or at least investigations) so they're not currently qualified to judge him.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Homer may be a lazy idiot most of the time, but he can pull off surprising feats of badassery when called upon. Especially if [[PapaWolf his children are involved]]. On the intelligence front, when properly motivated or passionate about something, he can be very efficient: across various episodes he's become a top employee for Globex, started a very successful home security business, and was able to trick Mr. Burns into making him CEO of the power plant, which he did in revenge for his rather comprehensive safety report being ignored.
* DependingOnTheWriter:
** Pretty much his entire character hinges on what's funniest. Some episodes portray him as a well-meaning simpleton whose a danger to everyone around him, others have him be a grumbling JerkWithAHeartOfGold, while others make him an unrepentant {{Jerkass}}.
** His fighting ability ranges from "pathetic" to "a force of nature".
** His level of attractiveness in-universe fluctuates from "[[IWasQuiteALooker hunk gone to seed]]" to "shaved gorilla".
** Of course, his intelligence ranges from merely stupid to TooDumbToLive. In some rare cases he can even be [[SimpleMindedWisdom deceptively lucid]] and even be an OnlySaneMan of sorts.
* DepravedKidsShowHost: In "Children of a Lesser Clod".
-->'''Homer''': If you're happy and you know it, [[InnocentSwearing say a swear!]]\\
'''Nelson''': Boobs!\\
'''Milhouse''': Heinie!\\
'''Ralph''': [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Mitten!]]
* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: Homer's constantly changing whatever his life's dream is, and while it's almost always played for laughs it is out of a genuine concern that he's a failure.
* DirtyCoward: Undoubtedly, during the "Jerkass Homer'' years. Subverted, earlier and later. Even then he still had a lot of bravado at times.
* {{Dismotivation}}: The show has repeatedly shown Homer's job isn't actually that difficult. A chicken or a brick on a rope could do his job just as easily, but all Homer does is sleep and goof about all day. There are more than a few given reasons; Homer feels overworked, he's got no idea what his job is, and Mr. Burns goes out of his way to make the plant dehumanizing (complete with a large demotivational plaque, to "break what's left of [Homer's] spirit").
* DisproportionateRetribution: Strangling his son is a great example. Homer frequently unleashes this on others, due to him being [[HairTriggerTemper easily provoked]]. He also goes as far as suing the owners of the local seafood restaurant because he gets thrown out of the "all-you-can-eat" area.
* TheDitz: Not that bright at all, and one of Western Animation's most iconic {{Fat Idiot}}s and {{Idiot Hero}}es.
* ExtremeOmnivore: He'll ingest anything from fancy bathroom soaps ("The Front") to plastic lobsters to a ten-pound bag of flour ("New Kid on the Block") to dishwashing liquid ("Marge Gets a Job") to ''radioactive waste'' ("E-I-E-I-[Annoyed Grunt]" and "Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder"), and on two separate occasions, has eaten live fish, and a live seal.
* EveryoneHasStandards:
** A lot of people end up doing this to him, even the NRA at one point as they said his RecklessGunUsage was dangerous and gave them a bad name.
** For Homer himself, despite his contempt for Flanders, he has often shown horror or sadness when something ''truly'' awful happens to him. When his wife tragically died, Homer at least ''tried'' to be a shoulder to cry on.
* FamilyMan: Despite his flaws, he still tries to keep his family together as best as he could.
* FamousLastWords: Parodied in "Days of Future Future", where his last words before his death was, "All that's left are clever last words."
* FanDisservice: Whenever he appears naked outside.
* FatBastard: Homer's gluttony, depending on the episode, can be taken to extremes. This can range from Homer eating to the point of being bloated and watching his belly bulge out and obscure his view of his feet, to Homer deliberately gaining weight to push past 300 pounds so that he could avoid ''fifteen minutes' worth of exercise'' at work and do his job at home. He was a bastard, in particular, in the Ullman shorts.
* FatComicRelief: A combination of FatIdiot FatSlob BigEater BumblingDad, who serves as the comic relief within his family and his workplace.
* FatIdiot: Possibly the TropeCodifier. Homer's main defining traits are "overweight and stupid".
* FatSlob: He's fat, lazy, eats like a pig and is and gets drunk often.
* FirstNameBasis: His son Bart often calls him Homer instead of Dad, probably just to mock or annoy him, and even refers to his parents as "Mom and Homer" (although he also calls him Dad at times, depending on the situation).
* FlatEarthAtheist: Particularly in later seasons. In earlier seasons he was simply not that enthusiastic a church-goer and practitioner, but he still could be seen praying at odd occasions (and apparently even pays up to $15 for a Bible just to read it by himself which may or may not be the one he hides his flask in). In later seasons, he's outright decrying God's existence despite the fact that he's arguably met God more than once (and if that didn't count, then the sheer fact that he and his family are alive and well after everything they've been through proves SOMETHING out the realm of nature is hiding in the Simpson house). Then again he also claimed his God is better than native or protestant (he was practicing Catholicism at the time) and in "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore" he seems to believe He wrote the Da Vinci Code so it's more of a RuleOfFunny.
* FleetingPassionateHobbies: Has a tendency to get a new "lifelong dream" as the plot needs him to.
* TheFool: In the episode "Homer Defined," Homer's accidental prevention of a meltdown at the nuclear plant inspires the phrase "to pull a Homer," meaning "to succeed despite idiocy."
* FormerlyFit: Used to be quite trim in his youth.
* FreudianExcuse: [[DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou His mother left him as a kid]], and his [[ShellShockedVeteran father]] didn't know how to raise him. It's also implied that his abuse of Bart was stemmed from being abused by his own father. Furthermore, his dad's blunt lack of faith in him resulting in Homer not being able to achieve his full potential. He also is a glutton due to mental scars caused by finding [[spoiler:Waylon Smithers Sr.'s corpse]] though it's mentioned that this was also from trying to fill the hole in his heart left by his mom. That and according to Moe, also alcohol.
* FriendlyEnemy: With Selma due to CharacterDevelopment. See Patty and Selma's section for more details. The more recent seasons of the show have Homer and Flanders butt heads a lot more often due to the show's Flanderization.
* FunctionalAddict: DependingOnTheWriter.
* GeniusDitz: When properly motivated, Homer is incredibly intelligent. Across various episodes, he speaks several languages, is a Grammy-Award-winning songwriter and musician, a skilled poker player, a master marksman, and may know a bit of astrophysics. He's also juggled many, many careers with varying degrees of success, manipulated Mr. Burns into making him [=CEO=] of the power plant, and formed a security company so successful and efficient that Quimby appointed him chief of police and fired Wiggum.
* GoalInLife: A RunningGag in the early seasons was for Homer to say that doing something related to the plot of the episode was his lifelong dream (be a Monorail conductor/manage a beautiful country singer/be a blackjack dealer), Marge would then point out that Homer already had a lifelong dream, which he has already achieved (run out on a baseball field during a game/eat the world's biggest hoagie/appear on "The Gong Show").
* HairTriggerTemper: One episode even has Bart make an internet cartoon about it. He later tries to bottle up his anger only for it to backfire.
* HappilyMarried: While he and Marge have had plenty of marital problems, their deep love for each other is always able to overcome them. In fact, the sole consistent aspect of each future shown in the various FlashForward episodes is that Homer and Marge will remain married and happy together till the end of their lives.
* HasAType: Blue hair, while he still loves Marge even after she shows her hair turned grey, he admits that he prefers when she dyes it.
* HiddenDepths: He's generally shown to be something of a RenaissanceMan despite his low intellect. It's suggested that Lisa and Bart inherited their musical ability and {{Omniglot}}-level talent for learning languages respectively from him.
* HighSchoolSweethearts: He and Marge began dating in high school, and while they've had a handful of falling outs across their relationship, they always inevitably end up back together.
* HotBlooded: Especially when he's angry.
* {{Hypocrite}}: An example, when he gets angry at his father in "Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy"
-->'''Homer''': He said I was an accident...he didn't want to have me.
-->'''Marge''': You didn't want to have Bart.
-->'''Homer''': I know, but you're never supposed to tell the child.
-->'''Marge''': You tell Bart all the time! You told him this morning.
-->'''Homer''': But when I do it, it's cute.
* ICouldaBeenAContender: Homer admired UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy and dreamed of being president one day during his childhood (until his dad told him that the U.S. was specifically made so that way idiots like Homer couldn't be President). As a middle-aged man, he remarks the constant discouragement and contempt he received from his father turned him into a deadbeat.
* IdiotHero: One of Western Animation's most iconic examples.
* IdiotHoudini: He at first showed reasonably poor judgment, but repeated encounters have gradually turned him into this trope. However this is also downplayed, because Homer is also one of the show's prime Butt Monkeys. He can get away with his stupidity, but only when the plot calls for it, other times fate punishes him dearly such as in The Simpsons Movie, where his actions got the town domed in and everyone goes up to his house with Torches and Pitchforks and his family leave him, only for him to Idiot Houdini his way outta that one as well.
* InformedDeformity:
** He is considered extremely fat and unfit. Actually he is only 239 pounds (which has been his weight ever since the water slide incident on "Brush of Greatness"), and tall to start (the season nine episode "Dumbbell Indemnity" had him at 6 feet even according to his mugshot photo).
** [[WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy Peter Griffin's]] got him beat. Even in the same universe, so do Comic Book Guy, Chief Wiggum ([[HypocriticalHumor who actually had the nerve to call Homer fat]]), Mayor Quimby, and the Mexican Bumblebee Man (who is pretty much Mayor Quimby with tan skin and a Spanish accent), for starters.
** He is also said to be diabetic (from when he drank too many Starbucks Frappuccinos during his stint as lead singer of the band, Sadgasm. Marge thought Homer was a heroin addict, but those needles he had were for insulin), but we never visibly see him suffer any diabetic symptoms (though the show does seem to imply that someone can become diabetic if they eat too much sugary foods, like when Carl became a diabetic from eating Grandma Plopwell's Sugar-Packed Pudding).
** By all the information given on his body, to say nothing of all the injuries he's taken over the years, Homer should by all rights be a physical wreck. He's overweight, a drunkard, a former smoker, constantly exposed to a high amount of radiation, enough that his bloodstream is fluorescent, had several heart attacks, and is some instances so out of shape even running a few feet has his scarcely able to breath. He sure doesn't show it. He lampshades at one point that future Homer is gonna have a bad time when it starts catching up to him.
** You can't really tell when he has his shirt on, but Homer's man-boobs must be a sight to behold. It has been referenced several times that he wears a sports bra (Days of Wine and D'oh'ses, Marge Gamer, and Stop, or my Dog Will Shoot)that Marge has been saving up for his breast reduction surgery (Yokel Chords) and that after starving himself, he's down to a b-cup (Hungry, Hungry Homer).
* InformedFlaw: His IQ is 55 (then became 105 when he got the crayon out of his head), meaning that, much like Peter Griffin on ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', he's legally classified as being intellectually disabled. As a child he was smart as a monkey, then became dumb as a chimp, either from drinking at a young age ("Lisa's Sax" showed that he and Barney drank when they were kids and caused a tricycle wreck), the crayon that got lodged in his head, or the Simpson gene (which makes all male Simpsons stupid, while their female counterparts stay smart, though that leaves the question of how Homer's half-brother, Herb, became rich and successful if he's considered half-Simpson).
* InnerMonologue: Homer converses with his brain often, turning monologues into full-on conversations. Interestingly enough, his ''brain'' has to act as the sensible one of the two.
-->'''Brain''': What the hell are you doing?
-->'''Homer''': Don't yell at me, brain! [[PottyFailure This]] happened on your watch! You have two jobs: thinking and bladder control!
-->'''Brain''': I'm doing the best with what I got. All you feed me is reality shows!
* InnocentlyInsensitive: Homer would never ''intentionally'' do anything to hurt Marge's feelings. Key word "intentionally". He routinely does just because he doesn't realise that's what he's doing.
* ItsAllAboutMe: Zigzagged. Homer endlessly causes chaos as a result of his selfishness, though he also has several unbelievable displays of self sacrifice and compassion. One episode had him walk out on a favor for Marge to buy a lottery ticket. When he actually wins however, his first instinct is to spend it all on his family. He even volunteered becoming a circus act instead of the octuplet in a situation where snakes are biting him.
* ITasteDelicious: In "Treehouse of Horror IV" and "XV".
* ItsTheBestWhateverEver: His opinion on the Thanksgiving depicted in "Behind the Laughter" (held during a feud between the family). "I mean, emotionally, it was terrible, but the turkey was so moist!"
* IWasQuiteALooker: He was slim, trim, clean shaven and had a full head of hair back in high school, all of which made him much more conventionally attractive than he is now.
* JackOfAllTrades: He has done so many things over the years, there's no way he '''can't''' be a Jack of All Trades.
* JadedWashout: Homer has plenty to regret in life, but is usually just too light-hearted to let it get him down. He always admits at the end that he also has a lot to be proud of.
* {{Jerkass}}: The TropeNamer! He was in small doses during the early years (seasons 1 to 8)[[note]]Homer's main schtick was being a BumblingDad and an idiot in modern society, so the Jerkass deal didn't get played around with a lot -- and when it did, the writers at least had Homer realize the error of his ways, like when Homer was kicked out of the house for blabbing Marge's secrets to his "How to Maintain a Successful Marriage" class, which is more than what can be said for what Mike Scully did to him[[/note]]; became a major one in the Mike Scully years (season 9 to 12); in the Al Jean years, it depends on who's writing the episode (seasons 13 to present). He can also be quite nasty and abusive in the Tracey Ullman shorts.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold:
** Homer has always had moments of being a horrible person and being extremely caring. In later seasons, he recreates his first date with Marge so she'll fall for him all over again, repeatedly turns down sex so he can read to Lisa, gets very involved in making Bart a good student and making Lisa popular, lives in a terribly cramped apartment by himself so his kids can go to a good school, and on and on. There's just a strong bias against the later seasons, whether people watch the episodes or not.
** The movie shows this in spades and they went through numerous rewrites in order to portray Homer as sympathetic, but also make him such a selfish jackass that when Marge decides to leave him, he realizes to his horror that he has definitely gone too far. It ends up causing him to immediately snap out of his bravado and vow to save the town, despite the odds, because he ''needs'' to do it in order to win his family back. Homer even admits that he honestly ''can't'' live without them.
* KarmaHoudini: Downplayed. He rarely receive a punishment when he strangles Bart, even for the smallest things. Other examples for this could be "Homer Badman" and "[[MoralEventHorizon Homer Simpson in: Kidney Troubles]]". However he spent weeks falsely harrassed for being a sex offender in the former and lost one of his kidneys and ended up brutally hospitalized in the latter. Even if he isn't directly punished for some of his wrongdoings, karma often catches up with him some other way. Bart also gives what he takes (and also is only occasionally punished for it)as shown in the "Italian Bob" where he counters the usual strangling by smashing Homer's head repeatedly with a car door.
* KavorkaMan: While the show goes to great lengths to explain why Marge loves him, and frequently shows their marital problems, several other women have instantly been attracted to him for no apparent reason. Of course, his actual level of attractiveness [[DependingOnTheWriter does tend to zigzag]] between "hunk gone to seed" and "shaved gorilla" from episode to episode.
* LackOfEmpathy: At his worst.
* LargeHam: Don't try to deny it!
--> "BERSERK IS RIIIIIIIGHT!!!"
** Mmm, large ham.
* LazyHusband: Most of the time, though he'll get his act together when needed.
* LethallyStupid: He almost causes a catastrophe of nuclear proprotions several times thtoughout the show. On one occasion, he manages to cause a nuclear meltdown in a simulator truck that ''didn't even have any nuclear material''.
* LoserProtagonist: To the very deepest degree. Bald, out of shape, constantly drinking at Moe's, works at a nuclear factory for [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Mr. Burns]], a world-case dope (and when [[FlowersForAlgernonSyndrome he briefly changed that]], [[IntelligenceEqualsIsolation he so alienated all but one of his family and friends]] that he [[StatusQuoIsGod was forced to re-cause brain damage]]), ''incredibly'' clumsy, a bad luck magnet, lacks common sense, the ButtMonkey, has to deal with Ned Flanders as his neighbor [[spoiler:and the permanent effect of [[KilledOffForReal accidentally killing his wife, Maude]]]], he's the subject of ridicule, especially with Marge's sisters, throttles his son Bart at the drop of a hat, and on top of all that, his father and mother have split up and he's suffered through it all his life. Even worse yet, [[spoiler: when he reunites with his mother, she dies.]] The good news is, Marge loves him deeply and the two manage to resolve their arguments no matter what the case.
* LostFoodGrievance: A particular BerserkButton among many, to say the least.
* MadeOfIron: One of Homer's more consistent traits is that he can take a beating. In "The Homer They Fall" Dr. Hibbert explains to Homer that he has an extra-thick layer of fluid around his brain, making him very resistant to head injuries. He also traveled with a freak show for a while because of his ability to survive being shot in the stomach by a canon. And he more-or-less has survived working at a blatantly unsafe power plant, and no less than four heart attacks.
* MadLibsCatchPhrase: "Mmmm, [blank]." (usually a food item or an adjective for a food item)
* MagneticHero: On far too many occasions to list, Homer's displayed a tendency to convince people to go along with his ideas, regardless of how dangerous or insane they might be.
* ManChild: The most immature in the family, even more so than his son Bart.
* MangledCatchPhrase: When auditioning for Mr. Burns' movie: "''Exactly.'' Heh, heh... D'oh!"
* ManipulativeBastard: During the Jerkass Homer years.
* MoodSwinger: Parodied in one episode. Homer takes sleeping pills to sleep well through the night and Lisa reads off the side-effects, one which is Mood Swings. Cue Homer repeatedly saying "Mood Swings" in various moods.
** Another example is when Homer ends up trapped in his car after driving into the edge of a cliff after Bart outruns him one too many times. Bart then reluctantly comes to his rescue. The following exchange occurs:
-->'''Homer:''' Boy, push down on the bumper! Then I can back the car up and save myself!\\
'''Bart:''' Hmm. If I save you, what are you gonna do to me?\\
'''Homer:''' Shower you with love, because this experience has taught me just how precious you are.\\
''(Bart pushes down on the rear car bumper, Homer suddenly goes berserk)''\\
'''Homer:''' ''I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOUR WHOLE FAMILY!!!''\\
''(Bart lifts the car up and glowers at him)''\\
'''Homer:''' ''(calmly)'' Kidding! I'm kidding. We can do that, we have a special friendship.\\
''(Bart pushes the car down again and Homer immediately goes back into rage mode; he continues to slip back and forth between anger and tranquility as Bart simultaneously lifts and pushes the car)''\\
'''Homer:''' I'm gonna ''DOUBLE-KILL YOU!'' THEN I'M GONNA BURY YOU IN A SHALLOW GRAVE! THEN I'LL DIG YOU UP AND KILL YOU AGAIN--''THAT'S'' THE BEAUTY OF A SHALLOW GRAVE! ''(car up)'' You sweet little angel, Oh, I'm ''(car down)'' GONNA RIP YOUR HEAD OFF, AND SPIT ''(car up)'' down your adorable little neck, because I ''(car down)'' WANNA SMASH YOUR LITTLE STUPID HEAD! ''(car up)'' Oh, but I love you, we'll go on a fishing trip. ''(car down)'' BUT FIRST I'M GONNA PUT YOU IN A SAWMILL, THEN PUNCH YOUR LITTLE FACE OUT! THAT'S WHAT I'M GONNA DO!
* MotherFBomb: In "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson", he mutters one while trying to gnaw the boot off of his car, a ThrowItIn by Dan Castellaneta.
* MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily: Tracey Ullman era.
* MrImagination: He had several fantasies that would figure out his real life problems. It included life under the sea, the robbing of Kwik-E-Mart or living in a chocolate land. A lots of them are listed under trope IfIWereARichMan.
* MultipleChoicePast: How did he lose his hair? Early episodes give several reasons;
** Military experimentation he volunteered for just to get out of visiting Patty and Selma.
** Ripping his hair out whenever he learnt Marge was pregnant.
** Male Pattern Baldness.
** Stress, caused by The Boy (when Bart's at Kamp Krusty, Homer regrows one hair. It promptly falls out when he sees Bart is the ringleader of the camp revolt).
* NakedPeopleAreFunny: Is naked in several scenes, and it's all played for laughs.
* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: When he tries to do right it's usually gonna end up with him in pain or trouble, he even lampshaded when Fat Tony put a hit on him for stopping his racket and the town left him alone to fend for himself.
* NoIndoorVoice: Hoo boy is he a loudmouth.
--> "HEAR YE, HEAR HE! THE HOMER BROADCASTING SYSTEM IS ON THE AIR! ALL HOLLERING, ALL THE TIME!"
--> "I DON'T HAVE AN INSIDE VOICE!"
--> "LOOK HOW LOUD I HAVE TO YELL!"
--> "WILL YOU TWO SHUT UP?! PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO SLEEP!"
--> "MILHOUSE! TELL BART TO COME HOME!"
* ObfuscatingStupidity: Subverted in an episode when Homer is playing poker with Lenny, Carl and Moe at Lenny's house. He draws four cards and curses his bad hand, before poorly trying to bluff the other players. Lenny and Carl fold, but Moe knows that Homer is bluffing and calls. Homer then reveals that he has a straight flush, and Moe becomes so frustrated at Homer beating him that he ends up choking on his own rage. It looks as though Homer cleverly tricked Moe into playing the hand, but the next morning he tells the family that he didn't even realize he was winning.
* ObsessedWithFood
* {{Omniglot}}: Has spoken German (he can sing "99 Luftballoons" in its original German language and knows German verb conjugations), Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, a little bit of French (describes "Trash Night" as "La Nuit des Poubelles"), and [[SpeaksFluentAnimal penguin]].
-->"I can understand food talk in any language."
* OnlyInItForTheMoney: Pretty much the only reason Homer sticks around at the Power Plant at all (when he's actually there) is to earn enough money to provide for his family, and Maggie in particular.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: See TranquilFury. If the jovial, slow-witted LargeHam is staring you down with shrunken irises and speaking in a straight, menacing baritone, you've crossed a '''MAJOR''' line.
* PapaWolf:
** Call him what you want, Homer still cares about his kids. Willing to become a helicopter parent for them, steal chocolate eggs for his baby daughter, return to his lousy job just to make his baby daughter's dreams come true, throw a pie at a guy mocking [[GranolaGirl Lisa]].
** In regards to Lisa, he is such a Papa Wolf that he'll even defend her honor against Marge. A notable of this was in the episode "$pringfield (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling)," when, thanks to Marge's gambling addiction, she forgot to help Lisa with her costume (Florida) for a school play despite promising to do so. Suffice to say, Homer was quite angered, to the extent that he drove over to the casino, located Marge, and then started shouting at her in nonsense before he shouts that he's angry because Marge broke a promise she made to her daughter.
** [[AbusiveParents Bart, whom he strangulates regularly as a running gag, however, is comparatively shit outta luck.]] Even then, Homer spearheaded an effort to dig Bart out after Bart fell down a well, took some nasty physical punishment while disguised to be a battle-robot that Bart controlled, and forced crooked T-shirt manufacturer Goose Gladwell, who cheated Bart out of the ideas he'd come up with for T-shirt slogans, by threatening Goose with a ''portable nuclear fission reactor'' that he made himself for Lisa's science fair project until Goose paid Bart the money he deserved.
** It should be noted however, that while he'll strangle Bart, who more than likely has it coming, if somebody '''else''' so much as even looks at Bart the wrong way, then they're gonna suffer his wrath.
-->'''Homer:''' Why don't you [jailed delinquents] pick on someone bigger than you who has this? (draws a gun)
* ParentalFavoritism: Homer makes it very clear his favorite child is Lisa. He thinks of Bart as the bane of existence and often forgets Maggie even exists.
* ParentsAsPeople: Homer often has realizations that he is a terrible parent, but is usually too bogged down by his own stupidity to do anything about it.
* PartingWordsRegret: In the episode "Mona Leaves-a," Homer blows up on his mother Mona, [[CallingTheOldManOut chewing her out for never being there for him and constantly putting her various agendas ahead of her own son]]. Later that night, Homer calms down and makes her an apology card... only to find that she died sometime during the night.
* PermaStubble:
** His beard muzzle/mouth. In the early episodes, it always grew back three seconds after he shaved it off. In his teen years, he didn't have it, and it's not really explained at what age Homer got it (it can be implied that it was around the time he got out of high school and was still dating Marge).
** His stubble is so permanent that when he grows a goatee he doesn't just shave one from his existing facial hair but grows one through it.
** The gag about his stubble growing back was revisited in Season 27's "Teenage Mutant Milk-caused Hurdles", where he learns that he's been using his razor with the plastic case still over the blade. He gives himself a proper shave and discovers that he has a manly chin underneath. He tries to show this to Marge (who was helping Lisa with her acne problem), only for the stubble to grow back just as Marge turns to look.
* PhraseCatcher: Overlaps with MadLibsCatchPhrase in this exchange between Mr. Burns and Smithers.
--> "Smithers! who is that [insult involving AntiquatedLinguistics]?\\
"That's Homer Simpson, sir, one of your [condescending noun] from Sector 7-G."\\
"Simpson, eh?"
* TheProtagonist: While the members of the Simpson family all get their time in the spotlight, Homer will pretty much always be involved in the main plot of an episode regardless of whether or not he's the focus of it. He's also generally front and center in promotional art and advertisements. He was not always this, however, as earlier seasons tended to focus primarily on Bart.
* PsychopathicManchild: Again, DependingOnTheWriter.
* RealMenWearPink: He drives a [[color:pink:pink]] Sedan, and played tea party with Lisa to cheer her up. This didn't work out so well when Homer was forced to wear a pink T-shirt to work (which was the result of Bart putting his lucky red cap in the wash with the white clothes) and (thanks to that and letting Bart fill out his psychiatric evaluation form) ended up in a mental hospital.
* RecklessGunUsage: While he is sometimes portrayed as a crack shot, other times (well, mostly) he'll fit this trope instead, which is why Marge has a tendency to confiscate and bury them immediately. An example is when he buys a handgun and uses it for the most menial of tasks, such as getting something down from a cupboard instead of simply fetching a chair; later in the same episode, he freaks out the NRA of all people as they say [[EveryoneHasStandards he's completely nuts]]. On one occasion, he fired a handgun at his chest while he was wearing body armour, which left him going between grunts of pain and surprised giggles; everybody else is cowering behind cover and most of the glass cases have been shattered.
* RenamedTheSame: Learning his true middle name is "Jay", instead of just "J".
* RunningGag: In the early seasons Homer would often mention that some event in the episode is his lifelong dream and Marge would remind him that his lifelong dream had already been fulfilled and it'd be different everytime with an example of what it was.
* SadClown: He had a rough childhood, is seen as a loser by friends and family alike and is generally unhappy with his life. This is either ignored or played for laughs, but it ''is'' occasionally used for drama.
** Homer's attempted suicide at least three times in the show's run, and once described Bart as "like me, before the weight of the world crushed my spirit."
* ScreamsLikeALittleGirl: A high-pitched, grating "AHHH!".
* SelectiveEnforcement: In the Tracey Ullman shorts and early series episodes, Lisa was just as bratty and dysfunctional as Bart, though Homer tended to only target Bart for discipline. This was excused by the creative team, they were apparently a lot more uneasy when offered gags with Homer strangling and comically abusing Lisa compared to Bart.
* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: Manly Man to Ned Flanders' Sensitive Guy.
* SiblingYinYang: With his brother Herb.
* SimpleMindedWisdom: Within the show's long run, Homer, within all his moronic behaviour, has displayed rather palpable showings of obscure intellect or clarity. He can even give fatherly advice to Bart every now and then.
* SimpletonVoice: He has a funny goofy voice. WordOfGod has it Creator/DanCastellaneta tried to mimic Creator/WalterMatthau's voice in the first season, but he couldn't get the inflection quite right, so he modified it from the second season onward.
* SingleTargetSexuality: DependingOnTheWriter. Sometimes he only has eyes for Marge and doesn't realize when beautiful women are hitting on him. Other times he has shown attraction to other women ([[AmbiguouslyBi or even men on occasion]]).
* TheSociopath: At his worst, when he gets [[UnstoppableRage well and truly angry]], he's largely this, especially during Mike Scully's years as showrunner. Even when Al Jean took over, Homer occasionally shows shades of this, depending on the episode.
* SpotlightStealingSquad: The show's early seasons had a balanced focus between the main members of the family, but Homer eventually took over as the main focus due to his wild antics.
* StoneWall: He isn't physically fit, and his fighting ability fluctuates depending on the episode, but his damage resistance is always shown to be extremely high.
* StoutStrength: He isn't physically fit and he ''hates'' working out (he doesn't even know how to pronounce the word "gym"), but he's one of the physically strongest characters.
* StrongAsTheyNeedToBe: A non-super variant; Homer's athletic ability depends on what the writers need for that episode. In "The Homer They Fall," when Homer is training to be a boxer, one of his punches can't even kill a fly that lands on Moe's training glove, and he's often shown out of breath after the smallest amount of physical activity. However, {{Acrofatic}} and StoutStrength are also on his trope list.
* SuperSerum: Beer has this effect on him in at least one episode.
* SweetTooth: He sure loves donuts.
* TakingAdvantageOfGenerosity: Especially when borrowing stuff from Flanders.
* ThisLoserIsYou: A textbook example.
* TookALevelInDumbass: Homer started out stupid, but not really more so than anyone else. WordOfGod admitted that he was made stupider with each passing season to try to outdo what came before and remain fresh. (This trend ended at the start of Season 13, where the writers made a conscious effort to make him smarter.)
* TookALevelInJerkass: The Mike Scully era turned up his stupidity and callousness UpToEleven. This was toned down when Al Jean took over.
* TookALevelInKindness: In season 1 he was angry and grumpy all the time but becomes sweeter after season 2, though his angry personality still sometimes surfaces up (usually whenever Bart makes him mad). When the show's {{Flanderization}} kicked in, he TookALevelInJerkass, especially in the Mike Scully years. Now, DependingOnTheWriter, he occasionally snaps back to being nice, then back to a jerk, and so on.
* ToxicFriendInfluence: A literal example as he was the one who introduced his friend Barney Gumble to beer right before the SAT exam and made him into an alcoholic.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Early episodes, it was pork chops and doughnuts. Later episodes, it was just doughnuts, though Homer's appetite doesn't discriminate (see ExtremeOmnivore).
* TranquilFury: On [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness very rare occasions]], Homer's normally LargeHam, PlayedForLaughs HairTriggerTemper will be replaced with this and when it happens, you better do like Bart and Lisa did in "Who Shot Mr. Burns" and ''run like hell.''
* UglyGuyHotWife: Ugly Guy to Marge's Hot Wife, though Marge's attractiveness has been played up over time. However, Homer has usually been shown to have been far more attractive in his younger years when he first started dating Marge, downplaying this slightly.
* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: Homer is selfish, short-tempered and can sometimes be abusive towards his wife and children, and his reckless stupidity causes many of the problems on the show.
* UsedToBeASweetKid: While he can definitely be a good guy nowadays, he was an absolute sweetheart as a kid before getting beaten down by his abusive father.
* VitriolicBestBuds: With Flanders. Homer may openly claim he hates Flanders, the amount of times that Homer has helped him out of the fire and vice-versa, makes it clear they really are the only people in Springfield who can count on the other for support.
* VocalEvolution: Started off with a much deeper, Walter Matthau-esque voice, which got higher and faster towards season 3, and it's essentially stayed that way since.
* WellDoneSonGuy: While he definitely neglects Grandpa, it's implied that it's due to his own neglect as a child. Occasionally Homer demonstrates he really ''does'' want his father's approval and one occasion when Grandpa angrily called him "an accident", Homer kicked him out of the car, left him in the middle of nowhere, then completely stopped speaking to him for several weeks.
* WeUsedToBeFriends: With [[WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy Peter Griffin]]. During [[Recap/FamilyGuyS13E1TheSimpsonsGuy the Griffins' visit to Springfield]], Homer and Peter became best friends, only to end up falling out when Duff successfully sued Pawtucket Patriot Ale for intellectual theft and patent infringement. In the end, they admit they respect each other, yet agree to stay away from each other.
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: It's been shown multiple times that Homer has Arachnophobia which is a fear of arachnids (mainly spiders). This is best shown in the episode sweet homediddly-dum-doodily where he panics when a spider appears next to his keys, another example would be in Treehouse of Horror XXII where he panics when he realises that the spider Halloween decoration was a real black widow spider and panics again when a second spider appears later in the episode. The final example would be in Mobile Homer where he's unsettled by the sight of a spider when he's asked by Marge to kill the spiders in the garage and gets into a frenzy when more spiders attack him.
* WouldHurtAChild: He has no problem throttling Bart, even when he was a baby. He also sucker punched a baby dolphin, albeit for biting Lisa after she [[UngratefulBastard took a can ring]] [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished off its nose]].
* WrongGenreSavvy: In the episode "Homer Goes to College," Homer is convinced his college experience will be exactly like the [[WackyFratboyHijinx party atmosphere]] college is often depicted as in [[Film/AnimalHouse movies]], not realizing he's in a satire that thoroughly subverts the trope.
* YoungerThanTheyLook: In the earlier seasons, he was only 34 years old, despite easily passing for a man in his late forties at least. Later seasons aged him up to 38 because the writers couldn't imagine being older than Homer.
