History Main / OurFounder

[[folder:Comics]]

* Jubilation T. Cornpone in ''LilAbner'' (and in [[{{Theater}} the musical]]).

* In {{The Film of the Book}} ''[[TheLordOfTheRings The Two Towers]]'', there is a statue of Helm Hammerhand in Helm's Deep, though it is not named in the dialogue. It may be mentioned in the director's commentary, though.
** They don't directly name the statue, but his horn is explicitly named at least once.

* ''{{Bill And Teds Excellent Adventure}}''. There's a statue of Bill and Ted in TheFuture! In this case, they're not the actual ''founders'' of the future community. It was just totally enlightened by their radical "Be excellent to each other / Party on, dudes" philosophy.

* The novel ''[[WhoCensoredRogerRabbit Who Plugged Roger Rabbit?]]'' has the ''Toontown Telltale'' headquarters, where a popular checkout-line tabloid is printed. The columns at the door are carved to resemble the paper's four Toon founders: Sleazy, Slimey, Dreck, and Profane. Let that be an indication of the contents of the paper.

* ''{{Discworld}}'':
** Alberto Malich, founder of Unseen University. When Malich returned from [[TheGrimReaper Death's country]] in ''Discworld/{{Mort}}'' and destroyed his statue they believed the statue had come to life. When Malich went back the wizards recommended that the replacement statue be constructed in a very secure dungeon.

* Our Munsell in ''{{Shades of Grey}}''.

* In the radio version only of ''[[TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'', the 15-mile-high statue of Arthur Dent on the planet Brontitall. (He didn't found the society there, but he inadvertantly inspired them to alter their entire way of life.)

* ''{{GURPS}} IOU'' has a statue in the middle of the "Pent" marked "Our Founder". Said statue is humanoid shaped, but worn down with age, and has hints of tentacles on the face. Oh, and testing showed it to be older than the universe.

* ''{{Sonic the Hedgehog}}''

* ''{{The Fairly OddParents}}'': Dale Dimm, the [[strike:mythical]] founder of Dimmsdale.
* ''AvatarTheLastAirbender'', episode "Avatar Day", has a statue of Chen the Great/the Conquerer, although that also doubles as a memorial, as it's [[spoiler:almost]] on the spot he died.
** Avatar Kyoshi also had one in her hometown- interestingly, as she was the one who killed the aforementioned Chen, creating Kyoshi Island in the process.

* The city wherein ''[[FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends]]'' is set has [[NotSoImaginaryFriend Elwood P. Dowd]], in a subtle and clever nod to [[ImaginaryFriend the premise of the show]]. Of course, Foster's Home itself has a bust of Madam Foster, which Bloo promptly... [[IncrediblyLamePun busts.]]

* In one episode of ''{{Disney/Aladdin}}'', there is a celebration devoted to the founder of Agrabah, but no actual statue. It would have been {{Did Not Do the Research}} if there was one, of course, but that's hardly new for ''Aladdin'', so we'll put it down as coincidental accuracy.

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->''The plaque for Burbank was filed in May first, 1887, by Dave Burbank, a dentist from the East Coast who got a wild hair up his ass one day and said, "I'm gonna go west and form a town," and indeed he did! End of story! That's it, that's all that happened... Burbank was all like, "Hey do you mind if I, uh, form a town here?" "Sure, go ahead!" The end!''
-->-- '''Patton Oswalt'''

* Whenever [[TheMeanBrit Mad Mod]] shows up in an episode of the ''TeenTitans'' animated series, you can be sure his likeness will soon get plastered over almost everything: busts, portraits, statues, posters, ''et cetera''. He himself often (inexplicably) [[ArtShift metamorphoses into strange alternate (and usually British pop culture-themed) designs]], such as the Blue Meanie from ''The Yellow Submarine'' and God from ''{{Monty Python and the Holy Grail}}''. This counts as Our Founder because one time he used a grand-scale hypnotic trick to reclaim America in the name of Jolly Old England, proclaiming himself its first King.

* Subverted in DianaWynneJones' ''[[DarkLordOfDerkholm Year of the Griffin]]'', the statue of the wizard Policanth actually turns out to ''be'' Policanth, who apparently turned himself into a statue as part of a prophecy, to be revived in the titular Year of the Griffin.

* ''{{Discworld}}''
* Alberto Malich, founder of Unseen University. When Malich returned from [[TheGrimReaper Death's country]] in ''Discworld/{{Mort}}'' and destroyed his statue they believed the statue had come to life. When Malich went back the wizards recommended that the replacement statue be constructed in a very secure dungeon.

* At the end of ''[[LuckyLuke La Ballade des Dalton]]'', a statue of the late Henry Dalton is seen next to the orphanage that was built thanks to his money. More specificaly, it's a statue of Henry Dalton on a horse and ''about to be hanged''.

* ''{{The Order of the Stick}}''

* The city wherein ''[[FostersHome ForImaginaryFriends Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends]]'' is set has [[NotSoImaginaryFriend Elwood P. Dowd]], in a subtle and clever nod to [[ImaginaryFriend the premise of the show]]. Of course, Foster's Home itself has a bust of Madam Foster, which Bloo promptly... [[IncrediblyLamePun busts.]]

** Avatar Kyoshi also had one in her hometown- interestingly, as she was the one who killed the aforemention Chen, creating Kyoshi Island in the process.

* Jubilation T. Cornpone in ''[=~Li'l Abner~=]'' (and in [[{{Theater}} the musical]]).

* In the radio version only of ''[=~The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy~=]'', the 15-mile-high statue of Arthur Dent on the planet Brontitall. (He didn't found the society there, but he inadvertantly inspired them to alter their entire way of life.)

* ''[=~Avatar: The Last Airbender~=]'' episode "Avatar Day" has a statue of Chen the Great/the Conquerer, although that also doubles as a memorial, as it's [[spoiler:almost]] on the spot he died.

* The city wherein ''[=~Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends~=]'' is set has [[NotSoImaginaryFriend Elwood P. Dowd]], in a subtle and clever nod to [[ImaginaryFriend the premise of the show]]. Of course, Foster's Home itself has a bust of Madam Foster, which Bloo promptly... [[IncrediblyLamePun busts.]]

* Similar to the ''{{Bill and Teds Excellent Adventure}}'' example, ''HiHiPuffyAmiYumi'' has an episode in which the girls are whisked away to the year 3000 and discover that all of society is now founded on their music. There is a skyscraper-sized statue of them in the futuristic city, featuring both of them [[BackToBackBadasses back-to-back]] in a signature pose.

** What else? How about an egg cell? Or zygote?

* At the end of ''[[LuckyLuke La Ballade des Dalton]]'', a statue of the late Henty Dalton is seen next to the orphanage that was built thanks to his money. More specificaly, it's a statue of Henry Dalton on a horse and ''about to be hanged''.

--->'''Theodin:''' The Horn of Helm Hammerhand shall sound in the deep, one last time!

* Alberto Malich, founder of Unseen University in the ''{{Discworld}}'' novels. When Malich returned from [[TheGrimReaper Death's country]] in ''Discworld/{{Mort}}'' and destroyed his statue they believed the statue had come to life . When Malich went back the wizards recommended that the replacement statue be constructed in a very secure dungeon.
** In ''Discworld/InterestingTimes'', Rincewind finds a statue of One Sun Mirror, founder of the Agatean Empire, on a pedestal of gold in a lake of quicksilver beneath a huge artificial hill built by the Forbidden City. He notes the inscription on it, which simply says "One Sun Mirror". The implication being that no one standing there could fail to know who that was.

* Must surely be part of [[SonicTheHedgehog Dr. Eggman's]] plans for [[{{Egopolis}} the Eggman Empire]].

--->'''Sonic''': I'll never understand Eggman's tastes.

* Redcloak from ''{{The Order of the Stick}}'' has his statue in Azure City. It says "[[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0660.html Our Leader]]", though he didn't found the city; just conquered it.

* ''TheSimpsons'': Jebediah Obadiah Zachariah Jebidiah Springfield (Hans Sprongfeld), whose statue embiggens Springfield's main square.

* In one episode of ''{{Disney/Aladdin}}'', there is a celebration devoted to the founder of Agrabah, but no actual statue. It would have been DidNotDoTheResearch if there was one, of course, but that's hardly new for ''Aladdin'', so we'll put it down as coincidental accuracy.

* Since the marketing campaign that reintroduced "Jack", the Jack in the Box clown, as "CEO" of Jack in the Box, all Jack in the Box locations have prominently displayed a ornately framed portrait of Jack, with the inscription, "Our Founder" at the bottom.

* In ''ChronoTrigger'', Medina Village was founded by Ozzie after Magus lost the Fiend-Human War in 600 AD. His descendent is the town's mayor, and after you defeat Magus, they dance around Ozzie's statue (because Magus is no longer quite so inspiring). Defeat ''Ozzie'', however, and all of this vanishes - the fiends, without anyone to stir up antihuman resentment, founded the town themselves, and Ozzie's descendant is now a janitor.

* Redcloak from ''{{The Order of the Stick}}'' has his statue in Azure City. It says "[[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0660.html Our Leader]]", though, as he didn't found the city, just conquered it.

** Everyone on Earth looks down on Philadelphia, he's nothing special.

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[[folder:Films -- Live Action]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* Dudes! You forgot about ''[[BillAndTedsExcellentAdventure Bill and Ted]]''! There's totally a statue of them in TheFuture! In this case, they're not, like, the actual ''founders'' of the future community. It was just totally enlightened by their radical "Be excellent to each other / Party on, dudes" philosophy.

* That famous statue in Disneyland of WaltDisney and Mickey Mouse.

* Apparently every town and city in Britain was founded by either Empress Victoria, Emperor Edward VII, or both.

** Harvard famously has the Statue of Three Lie which reads: "John Harvard, Founder, 1638" ([[spoiler:the statue isn't of John Harvard, John Harvard was a contributor not the founder, Harvard was founded in 1636]])

* Duckberg, home of Donald and [[McDuck Scrooge McDuck]], has one.

* A statue of Stanley Steamer in ''{{Cars}}''.
** Subverted, as the "statue" is probably the body of Stanley, [[NightmareFuel Covered in bronze]]

* Can also be found at colleges in Real Life and fiction. There's a statue of the founder of the college in ''AnimalHouse'', complete with super-bland quote/motto "Knowledge Is Good".

* ''HarryPotter'', specifically the [[HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix fifth]] and [[HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince sixth]] books, reference a statue placed in the underground Ministry of Magic featuring a classic long-bearded pointy-hat'd wizard, a witch, a goblin, a centaur, and an elf. Whether or not he's actually the founder (quite possibly [[KingArthur Merlin]]) is not mentioned, but it's likely.

** The change is reflected by the attitude of the townsfolk and the background music. Prior to defeating Ozzie, the townsfolk are hostile to outsiders, the music is dark and foreboding and creepy chanting fills the main square. After kicking Ozzie's ass, the townsfolk are friendly and the music is cheerful and upbeat sans chanting.

** The change is reflected by the attitude of the townsfolk and the background music. Prior to defeating Ozzie, the townsfolk are hostile to outsiders, the music is dark and foreboding and creepy chanting fills the main square. Afterward kicking Ozzie's ass, the townsfolk are friendly and the music is cheerful and upbeat sans chanting.

* Cornelius Coot, the founder of Duckburg, Donald Duck and entourage's duck-inhabited home town, in the CarlBarks-penned issues of Walt Disney Comics. One instance had [[McDuck Uncle Scrooge McDuck]] and a foreign Raj competing to build the biggest one; it got to the point where you couldn't see the statues in their entirety from within the town borders.