This program unpacks Playstation 3 Theme files (.p3t) so that you can touch-up an existing theme to your likings or use a certain wallpaper from it (as many themes have multiple). But remember, if you use content from another theme and release it, be sure to give credit!
Download p3textractor.zip from above. Extract the files to a folder with a program such as WinZip or WinRAR. Now there are multiple ways to extract the theme.
The first way is to simply open the p3t file with p3textractor.exe. If you don’t know how to do this, right click the p3t file and select Open With. Alternatively, open the p3t file and it will ask you to select a program to open with. Click Browse and find p3textractor.exe from where you previously extracted it to. It will open CMD and extract the theme to extracted.[filename]. After that, all you need to do for any future p3t files is open them and it will extract.
The second way is very simple. Just drag the p3t file to p3textractor.exe. It will open CMD and extract the theme to extracted.[filename].
For the third way, first put the p3t file you want to extract into the same folder as p3textractor.exe. Open CMD and browse to the folder with p3extractor.exe. Enter the following: p3textractor filename.p3t [destination path]Replace filename with the name of the p3t file, and replace [destination path] with the name of the folder you want the files to be extracted to. A destination path is not required. By default it will extract to extracted.filename.
This program unpacks Playstation 3 Theme files (.p3t) so that you can touch-up an existing theme to your likings or use a certain wallpaper from it (as many themes have multiple). But remember, if you use content from another theme and release it, be sure to give credit!
Download p3textractor.zip from above. Extract the files to a folder with a program such as WinZip or WinRAR. Now there are multiple ways to extract the theme.
The first way is to simply open the p3t file with p3textractor.exe. If you don’t know how to do this, right click the p3t file and select Open With. Alternatively, open the p3t file and it will ask you to select a program to open with. Click Browse and find p3textractor.exe from where you previously extracted it to. It will open CMD and extract the theme to extracted.[filename]. After that, all you need to do for any future p3t files is open them and it will extract.
The second way is very simple. Just drag the p3t file to p3textractor.exe. It will open CMD and extract the theme to extracted.[filename].
For the third way, first put the p3t file you want to extract into the same folder as p3textractor.exe. Open CMD and browse to the folder with p3extractor.exe. Enter the following: p3textractor filename.p3t [destination path]Replace filename with the name of the p3t file, and replace [destination path] with the name of the folder you want the files to be extracted to. A destination path is not required. By default it will extract to extracted.filename.
This program unpacks Playstation 3 Theme files (.p3t) so that you can touch-up an existing theme to your likings or use a certain wallpaper from it (as many themes have multiple). But remember, if you use content from another theme and release it, be sure to give credit!
Download p3textractor.zip from above. Extract the files to a folder with a program such as WinZip or WinRAR. Now there are multiple ways to extract the theme.
The first way is to simply open the p3t file with p3textractor.exe. If you don’t know how to do this, right click the p3t file and select Open With. Alternatively, open the p3t file and it will ask you to select a program to open with. Click Browse and find p3textractor.exe from where you previously extracted it to. It will open CMD and extract the theme to extracted.[filename]. After that, all you need to do for any future p3t files is open them and it will extract.
The second way is very simple. Just drag the p3t file to p3textractor.exe. It will open CMD and extract the theme to extracted.[filename].
For the third way, first put the p3t file you want to extract into the same folder as p3textractor.exe. Open CMD and browse to the folder with p3extractor.exe. Enter the following: p3textractor filename.p3t [destination path]Replace filename with the name of the p3t file, and replace [destination path] with the name of the folder you want the files to be extracted to. A destination path is not required. By default it will extract to extracted.filename.
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Hello Kitty (Japanese: ハロー・キティ, Hepburn: Harō Kiti),[6] also known by her real name Kitty White (キティ・ホワイト, Kiti Howaito),[5] is a fictional character created by Yuko Shimizu, currently designed by Yuko Yamaguchi, and owned by the Japanese company Sanrio.[7][8][9] Sanrio depicts Hello Kitty as a British anthropomorphized white cat with a red bow and no visible mouth.[10][11] According to her backstory, she lives in a London suburb with her family, and is close to her twin sister Mimmy, who is depicted with a yellow bow.[5][12]
Hello Kitty was created in 1974 and the first item, a vinyl coin purse, was introduced in 1975.[13][14] Originally, Hello Kitty was only marketed towards pre-teenage girls, but beginning in the 1990s, the brand found commercial success among teenage and adult consumers as well.[15] Hello Kitty's popularity also grew with the emergence of kawaii (cute) culture.[16] The brand went into decline in Japan after the 1990s, but continued to grow in the international market.[17] By 2010 the character was worth $5 billion a year and The New York Times called her a "global marketing phenomenon."[17] She did about $8 billion at retail in 2013.[18]
UNICEF has appointed Hello Kitty children's ambassador and the Japanese government appointed her ambassador of tourism.[15] There are Sanrio theme parks based on Hello Kitty: Harmonyland in Hiji, Ōita, Japan,[19]Sanrio Puroland in Tama New Town, Tokyo, Japan, and Hello Kitty Shanghai Times in Shanghai, China.[20] The Hello Kitty media franchise has grown to include a number of animated series targeted towards children, as well as several comics, animated films, video games, books, music albums and other media productions. A variety of products have featured the character over the years, like school supplies, clothing, accessories, and toys, along with other items. In 2008, there were over 50,000 different Hello Kitty branded products.[15]
Yuko Shimizu was the original designer of Hello Kitty.
In 1962, Shintaro Tsuji, founder of Sanrio, began selling rubber sandals with flowers painted on them.[21] Tsuji noted the profits gained by adding a cute design to the shoes and hired cartoonists to design cute characters for his merchandise.[21] Hello Kitty was designed by Yuko Shimizu and was added to the lineup of early Sanrio characters in 1974.[8]
Hello Kitty was initially known only as "the white kitten with no name" (名前のない白い子猫).[11] Shimizu got the name Kitty from Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass; during a scene early in the book, Alice plays with a cat she calls Kitty.[22] Sanrio's motto is "social communication," and Tsuji wanted the brand name to reflect that by including a greeting. He first considered "Hi Kitty" before finally settling on "Hello Kitty," her current name.[23] Sanrio decided to make Hello Kitty British because foreign countries, in particular Britain, were trendy in Japan at the time of Hello Kitty's creation. Sanrio already had several characters set in the US, and it wanted Hello Kitty to be different.[9][15]
In 1976 Setsuko Yonekubo temporarily took over as lead designer for Hello Kitty, after Shimizu left Sanrio. In 1980 Yuko Yamaguchi became lead designer and has remained in charge since.[24] Yamaguchi has said that fashion, movies, and TV inspire her in creating new designs. New series involving Hello Kitty with different themed designs are released regularly, following current trends.[9][17]
Spokespeople for Sanrio have said that Hello Kitty has no mouth, as they want people to "project their feelings onto the character" and "be happy or sad together with Hello Kitty."[9][25] Another explanation Sanrio has given for Hello Kitty's lack of a mouth is that she "speaks from the heart. She's Sanrio's ambassador to the world and isn't bound to any particular language."[15] However, Yuko Yamaguchi has also said that "Kitty has a mouth" that is "hidden in the fur".[26] Representatives for Sanrio have said that they see Hello Kitty as a symbol of friendship, which they hope she will foster between people across the world.[9] There has been speculation that Hello Kitty has her origins in Maneki Neko, a traditional Japanese cat figurine. The name "Hello Kitty" is a back-translation of Maneki Neko, meaning "beckoning cat" in English. Despite this, no definitive statement supports that speculation.[27] Hello Kitty has also instead been put forth as an early example of mukokuseki, a Japanese term meaning "stateless" or "nationless" in reference to characters lacking any identifiable national background.[28]
Hello Kitty first appeared on a vinyl coin purse sold in Japan in 1975.[13][14]
The character's first appearance on an item was in March 1975 on a vinyl coin purse sold in Japan, where she was pictured sitting between a bottle of milk and a goldfish bowl.[13][14][29] She first appeared in the United States in 1976 when Sanrio opened a Gift Gate store in San Jose, California.[30][31]
Hello Kitty sold well immediately after her 1975 launch, and Sanrio's sales increased sevenfold.[17] Due to Japan's growing economy, many Japanese children could afford to buy Hello Kitty products.[32] Her popularity also grew with the emergence of kawaii culture, which embraces cuteness.[16]
UNICEF named Hello Kitty as children's ambassador to the United States in 1983, children's ambassador in Japan in 1994, and gave her the title of UNICEF Special Friend of Children in 2004, a title unique to her.[33][34][35]
Originally, Hello Kitty was only marketed towards a child and preteen audience. In the 1990s, the target market for Hello Kitty was broadened to include teenagers and adults as a retro brand.[9][15] Marketing to those who could not get Hello Kitty merchandise as children, and those who fondly remember items they had, Sanrio began selling Hello Kitty branded products such as purses and laptops.[9][15][17] The 1994–1996 Face series was the first to be designed specifically for mature consumers.[9]
The Hello Kitty brand rose to greater prominence internationally during the late 1990s. At that time, several celebrities, such as Mariah Carey, had adopted Hello Kitty as a fashion statement.[15] New products featuring the character were made available in a large variety of American department stores.
Hello Kitty's popularity in Japan peaked in the late 1990s when she was the country's top-grossing character. In 2002, Hello Kitty lost her place as the top-grossing character in Japan in the Character Databank popularity chart. In a 2010 survey, she was in third place behind Anpanman and Pikachu from Pokémon.[17] In 2010, The New York Times attributed the character's relative decline in Japan to her biography not being "compelling enough to draw many fans." The newspaper later wrote that analysts called the characterization "weak,"[17] and that Hello Kitty not having a mouth has dampened her success as an animated TV character.[17] According to Character Databank, Hello Kitty was the third highest-grossing character in Japan as of 2013.[36] In 2019 and 2020, Character Databank ranked her fifth, and as of 2021 she was out of the top five.[37][38][39]
Overseas, her global popularity has increased over the years.[17] According to Sanrio, Hello Kitty was appearing on 12,000 new products each year as of 1999.[23] Beginning in 2007, following trends in Japan, Sanrio began using darker designs for Hello Kitty with more black and less pink and pulled away from kawaii styles.[17] By 2008, Hello Kitty was responsible for half of Sanrio's $1 billion net income, and there were over 50,000 different Hello Kitty branded products in more than 60 countries.[15] By 2010 the character was worth $5 billion a year and The New York Times called her a "global marketing phenomenon".[17] Worldwide annual sales reached $8 billion in 2013.[18]
In July 2008, the Dutch artist Dick Bruna, creator of Miffy, alleged that Hello Kitty is a copy of Miffy, being rendered in a similar style. He stated disapprovingly in an interview for the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph: "That" [...] "is a copy [of Miffy], I think. I don't like that at all. I always think, 'No, don't do that. Try to make something that you think of yourself'."[40] Mercis, the firm that managed copyrights for Bruna, took Sanrio to court over their Hello Kitty-associated character Cathy, a rabbit which made her first appearance in 1976 and which Mercis argued infringed the copyright for Miffy. A court in Amsterdam ruled in favour of Mercis in November 2010 and ordered Sanrio to stop the production and sale of merchandise featuring Cathy in the Benelux countries. However, in June 2011, the two companies announced that they had reached a settlement agreement to end their legal dispute. Sanrio stopped using the Cathy character, and the two firms jointly donated €150,000 for reconstruction after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.[41]
As of 2014, 90% of the profits from Hello Kitty came from licensing of products for the international market.[42] She has been particularly popular in other Asian countries for decades, such as in China, where her cultural impact is comparable to that of Barbie in the Western world.[43] In 2008, Japan named Hello Kitty the ambassador of Japanese tourism in both China and Hong Kong, marking the first time Japan's tourism ministry had appointed a fictional character to the role.[44] Sharon Kinsella, a lecturer at Oxford University on Japanese sociology, called the selection of Hello Kitty "a bit farcical ... as if a dumbed-down cultural icon ... can somehow do something significant to alter the gnarly and difficult state of China–Japan relations."[15]
In the United States, Hello Kitty is recognized by more than 80% of young adults in the 18–23 age group, as of 2016[update].[45] In 2014 a four-day convention, Hello Kitty Con in Los Angeles, attracted over 25,000 visitors. The convention was held in celebration of Hello Kitty's 40th anniversary.[46] Sanrio's Puroland Tokyo theme park also held a celebration spanning several days in November 2014.[47]
Hello Kitty is a gijinka, an anthropomorphism or personification of a Japanese Bobtail cat.[48][11][49] Official character profiles list her full name as Kitty White (キティ・ホワイト, Kiti Howaito), born in the suburbs of London, England, on November 1. Her height is described as five apples and her weight as three apples. She is portrayed as a bright and kind-hearted girl, very close to her twin sister Mimmy. She is good at baking cookies and loves her mama's homemade apple pie. She likes to play the piano and collect cute things, and her favorite subjects in school are English, music, and art.[5][50][12]
Hello Kitty is portrayed with a large family with the surname White. Her twin sister Mimmy is described as "shy and very girly," interested in sewing and dreaming of marriage. While Hello Kitty wears a red bow on her left ear, Mimmy wears a yellow one on her right. Their papa George is described as dependable, humorous but also absent-minded. Their mama Mary is portrayed as a good cook who loves doing housework. Grandpa Anthony likes to tell stories and grandma Margaret likes sewing.[50][12] In addition to family, Hello Kitty is also depicted with several animal friends, including the mice Joey and Judy, the bears Tippy and Thomas, the raccoon Tracy and the squirrel Rorry.[51]
Aside from the core Hello Kitty characters, several spinoff characters have been created: Hello Kitty's boyfriend Dear Daniel in 1999, Charmmy Kitty, Hello Kitty's pet cat, and Sugar, her pet hamster, both in 2004, and her superhero alter-ego Ichigoman in 2011.[29][52]
SFGATE said in 2004 that in light of the level of success of Hello Kitty, her fictional biography "seems almost too modest – or irrelevant" and "doesn't seem to have played much of a part" in the success.[16]
In 2014 an anthropologist was told by Sanrio that Kitty White was not simply a cat (i.e. "depicted on all fours"), describing her as a little English girl called Kitty White, from outside London.[10] Following reports that interpreted this to mean she was human, a Sanrio PR representative said that the organization had "never said she was a human", explaining anthropomorphization by comparing the character to Mickey Mouse: "No one would mistake the Disney character for a human–but at the same time he's not quite a mouse. Just like Hello Kitty isn't a human, she's not quite a cat either."[48] Sanrio stated further, "Hello Kitty was done in the motif of a cat. It's going too far to say that Hello Kitty is not a cat."[11]
There have been several different animated series starring Hello Kitty. The first was Hello Kitty's Furry Tale Theater, an animated television series with 13 22-minute episodes that premiered in 1987.[53] The next, an OVA titled Hello Kitty and Friends, spanned 30 entries originally released in Japan between 1989 and 1994. Hello Kitty's Paradise came out in 1999 and was 16 episodes long. Hello Kitty's Stump Village came out in 2005, and The Adventures of Hello Kitty & Friends came out in 2008 and has aired 52 episodes. A crossover series under the name Kiss Hello Kitty (that paired animated versions of the members of the rock band KISS with Hello Kitty) was announced in March 2013. Produced by Gene Simmons, this show was supposed to air on The Hub Network (now Discovery Family),[54] but it never came to fruition.
Hello Kitty's Paradise [ja] was a long-running live-action children's program that aired on TXN from January 1999 to March 2011. It was the longest-running weekly kids' television program in the network's history. In January 2011, the show's creators mutually agreed to end the series after twelve seasons, with the final episode being broadcast on 29 March 2011.
In August 2018, Sanrio began streaming a CGI animated series on YouTube. It features Hello Kitty talking to the camera about her life in the style of vlogging YouTubers.[55][56]
Sanrio began streaming the newest 2D animated Hello Kitty series Hello Kitty and Friends Supercute Adventures on YouTube on 26 October 2020.[57]
Hello Kitty had two Japanese comic series serialized in Ribon, a shōjo manga magazine - Hello Kitty Doki (ran from May 2007 to April 2008)[58] and Hello Kitty Peace (released in June 2008).[59]
In March 2016, Sanrio launched a webcomic featuring Hello Kitty as a strawberry-themed superhero called Ichigoman (ichigo meaning strawberry). The webcomic is created by Toshiki Inoue and Shakua Sinkai and updates once a month.[60] Ichigoman first appeared in 2011 in an exhibition with Yuko Yamaguchi's art.[52]
Hello Kitty has her own branded album, Hello World, featuring Hello Kitty-inspired songs performed by a collection of artists including Keke Palmer, Cori Yarckin, and Ainjel Emme under Hello Kitty's Lakeshore Records record label.[61] Hello Kitty was also chosen by AH Software to be the basis of the new Vocaloid Nekomura Iroha (猫村いろは, Nekomura Iroha)[62] to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Sanrio.[63]
Musician Yoshiki unveiled the Hello Kitty theme song "Hello Hello" in November 2014 at the first Hello Kitty Con. Yoshiki, who was the first celebrity to have his own Hello Kitty doll, "Yoshikitty," was approached by Yamaguchi to compose the song seven years prior.[64]
There are numerous Hello Kitty games starting with the release of the first title for Famicom in 1992; however, the majority of these games were never released outside of Japan. Hello Kitty also has made cameo appearances in games featuring other Sanrio characters, such as the Keroppi game, Kero Kero Keroppi no Bōken Nikki: Nemureru Mori no Keroleen. Special-edition consoles such as the Hello Kitty Dreamcast, Hello Kitty Game Boy Pocket, and Hello Kitty Crystal Xbox have also been released exclusively in Japan.
Hello Kitty Daily (2008, Nintendo DS): a PDA application featuring a diary, calendar, alarm clock, money managing system and school planner[70]
Hello Kitty Online (2009, PC): an online MMORPG developed by Sanrio Digital and Typhoon Games. The game allows players to create and customize characters, then use them to battle monsters, socialize with one another, mine for ore, do domestic chores like farming or cooking, and participate in quests.
Hello Kitty Parachute Paradise (2009, iPhone/iPod Touch): an iPhone game with tilt-based controls[71]
Apron of Magic (2010, Arcade, iOS, Nintendo 3DS): An Arcade Card Game developed by Examu to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Sanrio. The game features Hello Kitty and other notable Sanrio Characters.[72]
Hello Kitty Seasons (2010, Wii): A game in which the playable character is appointed as Deputy Mayor to help Sanrio Town.
Transformers is a media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Takara Tomy. It primarily follows the heroic Autobots and the villainous Decepticons, two alien robot factions at war that can transform into other forms, such as vehicles and animals. The franchise encompasses toys, animation, comic books, video games and films. As of 2011, it generated more than ¥2 trillion ($25 billion) in revenue,[1] making it one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time.
The franchise began in 1984 with the Transformers toy line, comprising transforming mecha toys from Takara's Diaclone and Micro Change toylines rebranded for Western markets.[2] The term "Generation 1" covers both the animated television series The Transformers and the comic book series of the same name, which are further divided into Japanese, British and Canadian spin-offs, respectively. Sequels followed, such as the Generation 2 comic book and Beast Wars TV series, which became its own mini-universe. Generation 1 characters have been rebooted multiple times in the 21st century in comics from Dreamwave Productions (starting 2001), IDW Publishing (starting in 2005 and again in 2019), and Skybound Entertainment (beginning in 2023). There have been other incarnations of the story based on different toy lines during and after the 20th century. The first was the Robots in Disguise series, followed by three shows (Armada, Energon, and Cybertron) that constitute a single universe called the "Unicron Trilogy".
A live-action film series started in 2007, again distinct from previous incarnations, while the Transformers: Animated series merged concepts from the G1 continuity, the 2007 live-action film and the "Unicron Trilogy". For most of the 2010s, in an attempt to mitigate the wave of reboots, the "Aligned Continuity" was established. In 2018, Transformers: Cyberverse debuted, once again, distinct from the previous incarnations.
Classic Transformers franchise logo used until 2014Spider-Man battles Megatron on the cover of The Transformers #3.
Generation One is a retroactive term for the Transformers characters that appeared between 1984 and 1993. The Transformers began with the 1980s Japanese toy lines Micro Change and Diaclone. They presented robots able to transform into everyday vehicles, electronic items or weapons. Hasbro bought the Micro Change and Diaclone toys, and partnered with Takara.[4]Marvel Comics was hired by Hasbro to create the backstory; editor-in-chief Jim Shooter wrote an overall story, and gave the task of creating the characters to writer Dennis O'Neil.[5] Unhappy with O'Neil's work (although O'Neil created the name "Optimus Prime"), Shooter chose Bob Budiansky to create the characters.[6]
The Transformersmecha were largely designed by Shōji Kawamori, the creator of the Japanese mecha anime franchise Macross (which was adapted into the Robotech franchise in North America).[7] Kawamori came up with the idea of transforming mechs while working on the Diaclone and Macross franchises in the early 1980s (such as the VF-1 Valkyrie in Macross and Robotech), with his Diaclone mechs later providing the basis for Transformers.[8]
The primary concept of Generation One is that the heroic Optimus Prime, the villainous Megatron, and their finest soldiers crash-land on prehistoric Earth in the Ark and the Nemesis before awakening in 1985, Cybertron hurtling through the Neutral zone as an effect of the war. The Marvel comic was originally part of the main Marvel Universe, with appearances from Spider-Man and Nick Fury, plus some cameos,[9] as well as a visit to the Savage Land.[10]
The Transformers TV series began around the same time. Produced by Sunbow Productions and Marvel Productions, later Hasbro Productions, from the start it contradicted Budiansky's backstories. The TV series shows the Autobots looking for new energy sources, and crash landing as the Decepticons attack.[11] Marvel interpreted the Autobots as destroying a rogue asteroid approaching Cybertron.[12]Shockwave is loyal to Megatron on the TV series, keeping Cybertron in a stalemate during his absence,[13] but in the comic book, he attempts to take command of the Decepticons.[14] The TV series would also differ wildly from the origins Budiansky had created for the Dinobots,[15][16] the Decepticon turned Autobot Jetfire[17] (known as Skyfire on TV[18]), the Constructicons (who combine to form Devastator),[19][20] and Omega Supreme.[19][21] The Marvel comic establishes early on that Prime wields the Creation Matrix, which gives life to machines. In the second season, the two-part episode The Key to Vector Sigma introduced the ancient Vector Sigma computer, which served the same original purpose as the Creation Matrix (giving life to Transformers), and its guardian Alpha Trion.
In 1986, the cartoon became the film The Transformers: The Movie, which is set in the year 2005. It introduced the Matrix as the "Autobot Matrix of Leadership", as a fatally wounded Prime gives it to Ultra Magnus; however, as Prime dies he drops the matrix, which is then caught by Hot Rod who subsequently becomes Rodimus Prime later on in the film. Unicron, a Transformer who devours planets, fears its power and re-creates a heavily damaged Megatron as Galvatron, as well as Bombshell or Skywarp becoming Cyclonus, Thundercracker becoming Scourge and two other Insecticons becoming Scourge's huntsmen, the Sweeps. Eventually, Rodimus Prime takes out the Matrix and destroys Unicron.[22] In the United Kingdom, the weekly comic book interspliced original material to keep up with U.S. reprints,[23] and The Movie provided much new material. Writer Simon Furman proceeded to expand the continuity with movie spin-offs involving the time travelling Galvatron.[24][25] The Movie also featured guest voices from Leonard Nimoy as Galvatron, Scatman Crothers as Jazz, Casey Kasem as Cliffjumper, Orson Welles as Unicron and Eric Idle as the leader of the Junkions (Wreck-Gar, though unnamed in the movie). The Transformers theme tune for the film was performed by Lion with "Weird Al" Yankovic adding a song to the soundtrack.
The third season followed up The Movie, with the revelation of the Quintessons having used Cybertron as a factory. Their robots rebel, and in time the workers become the Autobots and the soldiers become the Decepticons. (Note: This appears to contradict background presented in the first two seasons of the series.) It is the Autobots who develop transformation.[26] Due to popular demand,[27] Optimus Prime is resurrected at the conclusion of the third season,[28] and the series ended with a three-episode story arc. However, the Japanese broadcast of the series was supplemented with a newly produced OVA, Scramble City, before creating entirely new series to continue the storyline, ignoring the 1987 end of the American series. The extended Japanese run consisted of The Headmasters, Super-God Masterforce, Victory and Zone, then in illustrated magazine form as Battlestars: Return of Convoy and Operation: Combination. Just as the TV series was wrapping up, Marvel continued to expand its continuity. It follows The Movie's example by killing Prime[29] and Megatron,[30] albeit in the present day. Dinobot leader Grimlock takes over as Autobot leader.[31] There was a G.I. Joe crossover[32] and the limited series The Transformers: Headmasters, which further expanded the scope to the planet Nebulon.[33] It led on to the main title resurrecting Prime as a Powermaster.[34]
In the United Kingdom, the mythology continued to grow. Primus is introduced as the creator of the Transformers, to serve his material body that is planet Cybertron and fight his nemesis Unicron.[35] Female Autobot Arcee also appeared, despite the comic book stating the Transformers had no concept of gender, with her backstory of being built by the Autobots to quell human accusations of sexism.[36]Soundwave, Megatron's second-in-command, also breaks the fourth wall in the letters page, criticising the cartoon continuity as an inaccurate representation of history.[37] The UK also had a crossover in Action Force, the UK counterpart to G.I. Joe.[38] The comic book features a resurrected Megatron,[39] whom Furman retconned to be a clone[40] when he took over the U.S. comic book, which depicted Megatron as still dead.[41] The U.S. comic would last for 80 issues until 1991,[42] and the UK comic lasted 332 issues and several annuals, until it was replaced as Dreamwave Productions, later in the 20th-Century.
In 2009, Shout! Factory released the entire G1 series in a 16-DVD box set called the Matrix of Leadership Edition.[43] They also released the same content as individual seasons.[44]
It was five issues[45] of the G.I. Joe comic in 1993 that would springboard a return for Marvel's Transformers, with the new twelve-issue series Transformers: Generation 2, to market a new toy line.
This story reveals that the Transformers originally breed asexually, though it is stopped by Primus because it produced the evil Swarm.[46] A new empire, neither Autobot nor Decepticon, is bringing it back, however. Though the year-long arc wrapped itself up with an alliance between Optimus Prime and Megatron, the final panel introduces the Liege Maximo, ancestor of the Decepticons.[47] This minor cliffhanger was not resolved until 2001 and 2002's Transforce convention when writer Simon Furman concluded his story in the exclusive novella Alignment.[48]
The story focuses on a small group of Maximals (the new Autobots), led by Optimus Primal, and Predacons, led by Megatron, 300 years after the "Great War". After a dangerous pursuit through transwarp space, both the Maximal and Predacon factions end up crash landing on a primitive, uncivilized planet similar to Earth, but with two moons and a dangerous level of Energon (which is later revealed to be prehistoric Earth with an artificial second moon, taking place sometime during the 4 million year period in which the Autobots and Decepticons were in suspended animation from the first episode of the original Transformers cartoon), which forces them to take organic beast forms in order to function without going into stasis lock.[49] After writing this first episode, Bob Forward and Larry DiTillio learned of the G1 Transformers and began to use elements of it as a historical backstory to their scripts,[50] establishing Beast Wars as a part of the Generation 1 universe through numerous callbacks to both the cartoon and the Marvel comic. By the end of the first season, the second moon and the Energon are revealed to have been constructed by a mysterious alien race known as the Vok.
The destruction of the second moon releases mysterious energies that make some of the characters "transmetal" and the planet is revealed to be prehistoric Earth, leading to the discovery of the Ark. Megatron attempts to kill the original Optimus Prime,[51] but at the beginning of the third season, Primal manages to preserve his spark. In the two-season follow-up series, Beast Machines, Cybertron is revealed to have organic origins, which Megatron attempts to stamp out.
After the first season of Beast Wars (comprising 26 episodes) aired in Japan, the Japanese were faced with a problem. The second Canadian season was only 13 episodes long, not enough to warrant airing on Japanese TV. While they waited for the third Canadian season to be completed (thereby making 26 episodes in total when added to season 2), they produced two exclusive cel-animated series of their own, Beast Wars II (also called Beast Wars Second) and Beast Wars Neo, to fill in the gap. Dreamwave retroactively revealed Beast Wars to be the future of their G1 universe,[52] and the 2006 IDW comic book Beast Wars: The Gathering eventually confirmed the Japanese series to be canon[53] within a story set during Season 3.[54]
Beast Wars contained elements from both the G1 cartoon series and comics. Attributes taken from the cartoon include Transformers that were female, the appearance of Starscream (who mentions being killed off by Galvatron in The Transformers: The Movie), and appearances of the Plasma Energy Chamber and Key to Vector Sigma. The naming of the Transformer ship, the Ark (and reference to 1984, the year the Transformers on board are revived), the character Ravage being shown as intelligent, and Cybertron having an organic core are elements taken from the comics.
In 2011, Shout! Factory released the complete series of Beast Wars on DVD.[55]
In 2001, Dreamwave Productions began a new universe of annual comics adapted from Marvel, but also included elements of the animated. The Dreamwave stories followe the concept of the Autobots defeating the Decepticons on Earth, but their 1997 return journey to Cybertron on the Ark II[56] is destroyed by Shockwave, now ruler of the planet.[57] The story follows on from there and was told in two six-issue limited series, then a ten-issue ongoing series. The series also adds extra complexities such as not all Transformers believing in the existence of Primus,[58] corruption in the Cybertronian government that first led Megatron to begin his war,[59] and Earth having an unknown relevance to Cybertron.[57][60]
Three Transformers: The War Within limited series were also published. These are set at the beginning of the Great War, and identify Prime as once being a clerk named Optronix.[61]Beast Wars was also retroactively stated as the future of this continuity, with the profile series More than Meets the Eye showing the PredaconMegatron looking at historical files detailing Dreamwave's characters and taking his name from the original Megatron.[52] In 2004, this real life universe also inspired three novels[62] and a Dorling Kindersley guide, which focused on Dreamwave as the "true" continuity when discussing in-universe elements of the characters. In a new twist, Primus and Unicron are siblings, formerly a being known as the One. Transformers: Micromasters, set after the Ark's disappearance, was also published. The real life universe was disrupted when Dreamwave went bankrupt in 2005.[63] This left the Generation One story hanging and the third volume of The War Within half finished. Plans for a comic book set between Beast Wars and Beast Machines were also left unrealized.[64]
Throughout the years, the G1 characters have also starred in crossovers with fellow Hasbro property G.I. Joe, but whereas those crossovers published by Marvel were in continuity with their larger storyline, those released by Dreamwave and G.I. Joe publisher Devil's Due Publishing occupy their own separate real life universes. In Devil's Due, the terrorist organization Cobra is responsible for finding and reactivating the Transformers. Dreamwave's version reimagines the familiar G1 and G.I. Joe characters in a World War II setting, and a second limited series was released set in the present day, though Dreamwave's bankruptcy meant it was cancelled after a single issue. Devil's Due had Cobra re-engineer the Transformers to turn into familiar Cobra vehicles, and released further mini-series that sent the characters travelling through time, battling Serpentor and being faced with the combined menace of Cobra-La and Unicron. During this time, Cobra teams up with the Decepticons. IDW Publishing has expressed interest in their own crossover.[65]
The following year, IDW Publishingrebooted the G1 series from scratch within various limited series and one shots. This allowed long-time writer of Marvel and Dreamwave comics, Simon Furman to create his own universe without continuity hindrance, similar to Ultimate Marvel. This new continuity originally consisted of a comic book series titled The Transformers with a companion series known as The Transformers: Spotlight. The main series was broken up into several story arcs. Eventually, with IDW Publishing losing sales, the series was given a soft reboot. Beginning with All Hail Megatron, the series was set in a new direction, discarding the miniseries and Spotlight format with ongoing comics. By 2012 the series had split into three ongoing series; The Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye, The Transformers: Robots in Disguise (which later changed in 2015 to "The Transformers") and The Transformers: Till All Are One. In 2022, it was announced that IDW lost the publishing rights to Transformers.[66]
In January 2006, the Hasbro Transformers Collectors' Club comic wrote a story based on the Transformers Classics toy line, set in the Marvel Comics universe, but excluding the Generation 2 comic. Fifteen years after Megatron crash-lands in the Ark with Ratchet, the war continues with the characters in their Classics bodies.[67]
IDW Publishing introduced The Transformers: Evolutions in 2006, a collection of mini-series that re-imagine and reinterpret the G1 characters in various ways. To date, only one miniseries has been published, Hearts of Steel, placing the characters in an Industrial Revolution-era setting. The series was delayed as Hasbro did not want to confuse newcomers with too many fictional universes before the release of the live-action film.[68]
Transformers: Kiss Players (トランスフォーマー キスぷれ, Toransufōmā Kisu Pure), shortened to Kiss Players (キスぷれ, Kisu Pure), is a Japanese Transformers franchise which began in 2006 to 2007 as was helmed by artist and writer Yuki Ohshima. By virtue of being the only Transformers toyline and fiction released in Japan by Takara between the conclusion of Cybertron and the live-acti
Homer Jay Simpson is the protagonist of the American animated sitcom The Simpsons.[1] He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared, along with the rest of the Simpsons, in The Tracey Ullman Showshort "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Homer was created by the cartoonist Matt Groening while he was waiting in the lobby of producer James L. Brooks's office. Groening had been called to pitch a series of shorts based on his comic strip Life in Hell but instead created a new set of characters. He named the character after his father, Homer Groening. After appearing for three seasons on The Tracey Ullman Show, the Simpsons received their own series on Fox, which debuted on December 17, 1989.
Homer is the patriarch of the Simpson family. He and his wife Marge have three children: Bart, Lisa and Maggie. As the family's provider, he works at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant as a safety inspector. Homer embodies many American working class stereotypes: he is obese, balding, immature, outspoken, aggressive, lazy, ignorant, unprofessional, and fond of beer, junk food, and television. However, he is fundamentally a good man and is staunchly protective of his family, especially when they need him the most. Despite the suburban blue-collar routine of his life, he has had several remarkable experiences, including going to space, climbing the tallest mountain in Springfield by himself, fighting former President George H. W. Bush, and winning a Grammy Award as a member of a barbershop quartet.
In the shorts and earlier episodes, Castellaneta voiced Homer with a loose impression of Walter Matthau; however, during the second and third seasons of the half-hour show, Homer's voice evolved to become more robust, to allow the expression of a fuller range of emotions. He has appeared in other media relating to The Simpsons—including video games, The Simpsons Movie, The Simpsons Ride, commercials, and comic books—and inspired an entire line of merchandise. His signature catchphrase, the annoyed grunt "D'oh!", has been included in The New Oxford Dictionary of English since 1998 and the Oxford English Dictionary since 2001.
Homer is one of the most influential characters in the history of television and is widely considered an American cultural icon. The British newspaper The Sunday Times described him as "the greatest comic creation of [modern] time". He was named the greatest character of the last 20 years in 2010 by Entertainment Weekly and the second-greatest cartoon character by TV Guide (behind Bugs Bunny), and was voted the greatest television character of all time by Channel 4 viewers. Castellaneta has won four Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance and a special-achievement Annie Award. In 2000, Homer and his family were awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Homer Jay Simpson is the bumbling husband of Marge, and father to Bart, Lisa and Maggie Simpson.[2] He is the son of Mona and Abraham "Grampa" Simpson. Homer held over 188 different jobs in the first 400 episodes of The Simpsons.[3] In most episodes, he works as the nuclear safety inspector at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant (in Sector 7-G), a position which he has held since "Homer's Odyssey", the third episode of the series, despite the fact that he is totally unsuitable for it.[4] At the nuclear plant, Homer is often ignored and completely forgotten by his boss Mr. Burns, and he constantly falls asleep and neglects his duties. Matt Groening has stated that he decided to have Homer work at the power plant because of the potential for Homer to wreak severe havoc.[5] Each of his other jobs has lasted only one episode. In the first half of the series, the writers developed an explanation about how he got fired from the plant and was then rehired in every episode. In later episodes, he often began a new job on impulse, without any mention of his regular employment.[6]
The Simpsons uses a floating timeline in which the characters never physically age, and, as such, the show is generally assumed to be always set in the current year. Nevertheless, in several episodes, events in Homer's life have been linked to specific time periods.[2] "Mother Simpson" (season seven, 1995) depicts Homer's mother, Mona, as a radical who went into hiding in 1969 following a run-in with the law;[7] "The Way We Was" (season two, 1991) shows Homer falling in love with Marge Bouvier as a senior at Springfield High School in 1974;[8] and "I Married Marge" (season three, 1991) implies that Marge became pregnant with Bart in 1980.[9] However, the episode "That '90s Show" (season 19, 2008) contradicted much of this backstory, portraying Homer and Marge as a twentysomething childless couple in the early 1990s.[10] The episode "Do Pizza Bots Dream of Electric Guitars" (season 32, 2021) further contradicts this backstory, putting Homer's adolescence in the 1990s. Showrunner Matt Selman has explained that no version was the "official continuity." and that "they all kind of happened in their imaginary world, you know, and people can choose to love whichever version they love."[11]
Naming the characters after members of his own family, Groening named Homer after his father, who himself had been named after the ancient Greek poet of the same name.[19][20][21] Very little else of Homer's character was based on him, and to prove that the meaning behind Homer's name was not significant, Groening later named his own son Homer.[22][23] According to Groening, "Homer originated with my goal to both amuse my real father, and just annoy him a little bit. My father was an athletic, creative, intelligent filmmaker and writer, and the only thing he had in common with Homer was a love of donuts."[24] Although Groening has stated in several interviews that Homer was named after his father, he also claimed in several 1990 interviews that a character called precisely Homer Simpson in the 1939 Nathanael West novel The Day of the Locust as well as in the eponymous 1975 movie, was the inspiration.[2][25][26] In 2012 he clarified, "I took that name from a minor character in the novel The Day of the Locust... Since Homer was my father's name, and I thought Simpson was a funny name in that it had the word “simp” in it, which is short for “simpleton”—I just went with it."[27] Homer's middle initial "J", which stands for "Jay",[28][29] is a "tribute" to animated characters such as Bullwinkle J. Moose and Rocket J. Squirrel from The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, who got their middle initial from Jay Ward.[30]
Homer made his debut with the rest of the Simpson family on April 19, 1987, in The Tracey Ullman Showshort "Good Night".[31] In 1989, the shorts were adapted into The Simpsons, a half-hour series airing on the Fox Broadcasting Company. Homer and the Simpson family remained the main characters on this new show.[32]
As currently depicted in the series, Homer's everyday clothing consists of a white shirt with short sleeves and open collar, blue pants, and gray shoes. He is overweight and bald, except for a fringe of hair around the back and sides of his head and two curling hairs on top, and his face always sports a growth of beard stubble that instantly regrows whenever he shaves.
Homer's design has been revised several times over the course of the series. Left to right: Homer as he appeared in "Good Night" (1987), "Bathtime" (1989), and "Bart the Genius" (1990).
The entire Simpson family was designed so that they would be recognizable in silhouette.[33] The family was crudely drawn because Groening had submitted basic sketches to the animators, assuming they would clean them up; instead, they just traced over his drawings.[19] By coincidence or not, Homer's look bears a resemblance to the cartoon character Adamsson, created by Swedish cartoonist Oscar Jacobsson in 1920.[34] Homer's physical features are generally not used in other characters; for example, in the later seasons, no characters other than Homer, Grampa Simpson, Lenny Leonard, and Krusty the Clown have a similar beard line.[35] When Groening originally designed Homer, he put his initials into the character's hairline and ear: the hairline resembled an 'M', and the right ear resembled a 'G'. Groening decided that this would be too distracting and redesigned the ear to look normal. However, he still draws the ear as a 'G' when he draws pictures of Homer for fans.[36] The basic shape of Homer's head is described by director Mark Kirkland as a tube-shaped coffee can with a salad bowl on top.[37] During the shorts, the animators experimented with the way Homer would move his mouth when talking. At one point, his mouth would stretch out back "beyond his beardline"; but this was dropped when it got "out of control."[38] In some early episodes, Homer's hair was rounded rather than sharply pointed because animation director Wes Archer felt it should look disheveled. Homer's hair evolved to be consistently pointed.[39] During the first three seasons, Homer's design for some close-up shots included small lines which were meant to be eyebrows. Groening strongly disliked them and they were eventually dropped.[39]
In the season seven (1995) episode "Treehouse of Horror VI", Homer was computer-animated into a three-dimensional character for the first time for the "Homer3" segment of the episode. The computer animation directors at Pacific Data Images worked hard not to "reinvent the character".[40] In the final minute of the segment, the 3D Homer ends up in a real world, live-action Los Angeles. The scene was directed by David Mirkin and was the first time a Simpsons character had been in the real world in the series.[40] Because "Lisa's Wedding" (season six, 1995) is set fifteen years in the future, Homer's design was altered to make him older in the episode. He is heavier; one of the hairs on top of his head was removed; and an extra line was placed under the eye. A similar design has been used in subsequent flashforwards.[41]
"I was trying to find something I was more comfortable with that had more power to it, so I had to drop the voice down. ... People will say to me, 'Boy, I'm glad they replaced the guy that was there that first season.' That was me!"
Homer's voice is performed by Dan Castellaneta, who voices numerous other characters, including Grampa Simpson, Krusty the Clown, Barney Gumble, Groundskeeper Willie, Mayor Quimby and Hans Moleman. Castellaneta had been part of the regular cast of The Tracey Ullman Show and had previously done some voice-over work in Chicago alongside his wife Deb Lacusta. Voices were needed for the Simpsons shorts, so the producers decided to ask Castellaneta and fellow cast member Julie Kavner to voice Homer and Marge rather than hire more actors.[42][43] In the shorts and first season of the half-hour show, Homer's voice is different from the majority of the series. The voice began as a loose impression of Walter Matthau, but Castellaneta could not "get enough power behind that voice",[43] or sustain his Matthau impression for the nine- to ten-hour-long recording sessions, and had to find something easier.[3] During the second and third seasons of the half-hour show, Castellaneta "dropped the voice down"[42] and developed it as more versatile and humorous, allowing Homer a fuller range of emotions.[44]
Castellaneta's normal speaking voice does not bear any resemblance to Homer's.[45] To perform Homer's voice, Castellaneta lowers his chin to his chest[43] and is said to "let his I.Q. go".[46] While in this state, he has ad-libbed several of Homer's least intelligent comments,[46] such as the line "S-M-R-T; I mean, S-M-A-R-T!" from "Homer Goes to College" (season five, 1993) which was a genuine mistake made by Castellaneta during recording.[47] Castellaneta likes to stay in character during recording sessions,[48] and he tries to visualize a scene so that he can give the proper voice to it.[49] Despite Homer's fame, Castellaneta claims he is rarely recognized in public, "except, maybe, by a die-hard fan".[48]
"Homer's Barbershop Quartet" (season five, 1993) is the only episode where Homer's voice was provided by someone other than Castellaneta. The episode features Homer forming a barbershop quartet called The Be Sharps; and, at some points, his singing voice is provided by a member of The Dapper Dans.[50] The Dapper Dans had recorded the singing parts for all four members of The Be Sharps. Their singing was intermixed with the normal voice actors' voices, often with a regular voice actor singing the melody and the Dapper Dans providing backup.[51]
Until 1998, Castellaneta was paid $30,000 per episode. During a pay dispute in 1998, Fox threatened to replace the six main voice actors with new actors, going as far as preparing for casting of new voices.[52] However, the dispute was soon resolved and he received $125,000 per episode until 2004 when the voice actors demanded that they be paid $360,000 an episode.[52] The issue was resolved a month later,[53] and Castellaneta earned $250,000 per episode.[54] After salary re-negotiations in 2008, the voice actors receive approximately $400,000 per episode.[55] Three years later, with Fox threatening to cancel the series unless production costs were cut, Castellaneta and the other cast members accepted a 30 percent pay cut, down to just over $300,000 per episode.[56]
Executive producer Al Jean notes that in The Simpsons' writing room, "everyone loves writing for Homer", and many of his adventures are based on experiences of the writers.[57] In the early seasons of the show, Bart was the main focus. But, around the fourth season, Homer became more of the focus. According to Matt Groening, this was because "With Homer, there's just a wider range of jokes you can do. And there are far more drastic consequences to Homer's stupidity. There's only so far you can go with a juvenile delinquent. We wanted Bart to do anything up to the point of him being tried in court as a dad. But Homer is a dad, and his boneheaded-ness is funnier. [...] Homer is launching himself headfirst into every single impulsive thought that occurs to him."[24]
Homer's behavior has changed a number of times through the run of the series. He was originally "very angry" and oppressive toward Bart, but these characteristics were toned down somewhat as his persona was further explored.[58] In early seasons, Homer appeared concerned that his family was going to make him look bad; however, in later episodes he was less anxious about how he was perceived by others.[59] In the first several years, Homer was often portrayed as dumb yet well-meaning, but during Mike Scully's tenure as executive producer (seasons nine, 1997 to twelve, 2001), he became more of "a boorish, self-aggrandizing oaf".[60] Chris Suellentrop of Slate wrote, "under Scully's tenure, The Simpsons became, well, a cartoon. ... Episodes that once would have ended with Homer and Marge bicycling into the sunset... now end with Homer blowing a tranquilizer dart into Marge's neck."[61] Fans have dubbed this incarnation of the character "Jerkass Homer".[62][63][64] At voice recording sessions, Castellaneta has rejected material written in the script that portrayed Homer as being too mean. He believes that Homer is "boorish and unthinking, but he'd never be mean on purpose."[65] When editing The Simpsons Movie, several scenes were changed to make Homer more sympathetic.[66]
The writers have depicted Homer with a declining intelligence over the years; they explain this was not done intentionally, but it was necessary to top previous jokes.[67] For example, in "When You Dish Upon a Star", (season 10, 1998) the writers included a scene where Homer admits that he cannot read. The writers debated including this plot twist because it would contradict previous scenes in which Homer does read, but eventually they decided to keep the joke because they found it humorous. The writers often debate how far to go in portraying Homer's stupidity; one suggested rule is that "he can never forget his own name".[68]
The comic efficacy of Homer's personality lies in his frequent bouts of bumbling stupidity, laziness and his explosive anger. He has a low intelligence level and is described by director David Silverman as "creatively brilliant in his stupidity".[69] Homer also shows immense apathy towards work, is overweight, and "is devoted to his stomach".[69] His short attention span is evidenced by his impulsive decisions to engage in various hobbies and enterprises, only to "change ... his mind when things go badly".[69] Homer often spends his evenings drinking Duff Beer at Moe's Tavern, and was shown in the episode "Duffless" (season four, 1993) as a full-blown alcoholic.[15] He is very envious of his neighbors, Ned Flanders and his family, and is easily enraged by Bart. Homer will often strangle Bart on impulse upon Bart angering him (and can also be seen saying one of his catchphrases, "Why you little—!") in a cartoonish manner. The first instance of Homer strangling Bart was in the short "Family Portrait". According to Groening, the rule was that Homer could only strangle Bart impulsively, never with premeditation,[70] because doing so "seems sadistic. If we keep it that he's ruled by his impulses, then he can easily switch impulses. So, even though he impulsively wants to strangle Bart, he also gives up fairly easily."[24] Another of the original ideas entertained by Groening was that Homer would "always get his comeuppance or Bart had to strangle him back", but this was dropped.[71] Homer shows no compunction about expressing his rage, and does not attempt to hide his actions from people outside the family.[69] In "McMansion & Wife", Homer stated that he no longer strangles Bart, as "times have changed." However, the series' executive producers later clarified that Homer Simpson still strangles Bart, writing "Homer Simpson was unavailable for comment as he was busy strangling Bart".[72]
The first sketch of Homer strangling Bart, drawn in 1988
Homer has complex relationships with his family. As previously noted, he and Bart are the most at odds; but the two commonly share adventures and are sometimes allies, with some episodes (particularly in later seasons) showing that the pair have a strange respect for each other's cunning. Homer and Lisa have opposite personalities and he usually overlooks Lisa's talents, but when made aware of his neglect, does everything he can to help her. The show also occasionally implies Homer forgets he has a third child, Maggie; while the episode "And Maggie Makes Three" suggests she is the chief reason Homer took and remains at his regular job (season six, 1995). While Homer's thoughtless antics often upset his family, he on many occasions has also revealed himself to be a caring and loving father and husband: in "Lisa the Beauty Queen", (season four, 1992) he sold his cherished ride on the Duff blimp and used the money to enter Lisa in a beauty pageant so she could feel better about herself;[12] in "Rosebud", (season five, 1993) he gave up his chance at wealth to allow Maggie to keep a cherished teddy bear;[73] in "Radio Bart", (season three, 1992) he spearheads an attempt to dig Bart out after he had fallen down a well;[74] in "A Milhouse Divided", (season eight, 1996) he arranges a surprise second wedding with Marge to make up for their unsatisfactory first ceremony;[75] and despite a poor relationship with his father Abraham "Grampa" Simpson, whom he placed in a nursing home as soon as he could[76] while the Simpson family often do their best to avoid unnecessary contact with Grampa, Homer has shown feelings of love for his father from time to time.[77]
Homer is "a (happy) slave to his various appetites".[78] He has an apparently vacuous mind, but occasionally exhibits a surprising depth of knowledge about various subjects, such as the composition of the Supreme Court of the United States,[79]Inca mythology,[80]bankruptcy law,[81] and cell biology.[82] Homer's brief periods of intelligence are overshadowed, however, by much longer and consistent periods of ignorance, forgetfulness, and stupidity. Homer has a low IQ of 55, which would actually make him unable to speak or perform basic tasks, and has variously been attributed to the hereditary "Simpson Gene" (which eventually causes every male member of the family to become incredibly stupid),[83] his alcohol problem, exposure to radioactive waste, repetitive cranial trauma,[84] and a crayon lodged in the frontal lobe of his brain.[85] In the 2001 episode "HOMR", Homer has the crayon removed, boosting his IQ to 105; although he bonds with Lisa, his newfound capacity for understanding and reason makes him unhappy, and he has the crayon reinserted.[85] Homer often debates with his own mind, expressed in voiceover. His mind has a tendency to offer dubious advice, which occasionally helps him make the right decision, but often fails spectacularly. His mind has even become completely frustrated and, through sound effects, walked out on Homer.[86] These exchanges were often introduced because they filled time and were easy for the animators to work on.[87] They were phased out after the producers "used every possible permutation".[87]
Producer Mike Reiss said Homer was his favorite Simpsons character to write: "Homer's just a comedy writer's dream. He has everything wrong with him, every comedy trope. He's fat and bald and stupid and lazy and angry and an alcoholic. I'm pretty sure he embodies all seven deadly sins." John Swartzwelder, who wrote 60 episodes, said he wrote Homer as if he were "a big talking dog ... One moment he's the saddest man in the world, because he's just lost his job, or dropped his sandwich, or accidentally killed his family. Then, the next moment, he's the happiest man in the world, because he's just found a penny — maybe under one of his dead family members ... If you write him as a dog you'll never go wrong."[88] Reiss felt this was insightful, saying: "Homer is just pure emotion, no long-term memory, everything is instant gratification. And, you know, has good dog qualities, too. I think, loyalty, friendliness, and just kind of continuous optimism."[89]
In 2000, Homer, along with the rest of the Simpson family, were awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Homer's influence on comedy and culture has been significant. In 2010, Entertainment Weekly named Homer "the greatest character of the last 20 years".[90]
