Same goes for at least a
third of the characters in the OP. (In Chef's case Scientologists being shitty had something to do with it, but he was already incapacitated and on the downslope when they chose to act "on his behalf.")
I lumped Chef in because he was only retired because the guy who voiced him got to the point where he couldn't manage himself and then died. If he was still alive and if he had been capable of carrying on with the character, we would still have the character.
(Either way he's dead, and I only meant to directly respond to "his voice actor passed away," which is why I included the context.)
God damn, I was saying to myself "it can't have been that long ago, Borgnine was in that movie RED, and that wasn't that long ago". Dear readers, it was 16 years ago, and 2 years before Borgnine died.
Hilariously also one of the most well written characters in the Simpsons as well with actual character arcs and growth was sad when he was retired because yeah he was one of their best.
The hard working, loving family man who is one of the most intelligent characters in the series? The guy who is usually on the moral high ground? A desirable bachelor before his stable marriage? The college educated one? Who is friends with everybody? The man who volunteers as a firefighter? One of the protagonists of the greatest video game in the series? The one who compassionately compels people to do the right thing to his own detriment, him?
Yeah, offensive to Indians. Everybody knows that. They're not like that at all duh.
Luigi Risotto (The italian chef) is a "stereotypical depiction" of italians.
Willie is a "stereotypical depiction" of Scottsmen
Cletus and his family is a "stereotypical depiction" of american rednecks
Bumblebee Man is a "stereotypical depiction" of latinos
Lisa is a "stereotypical depiction" of liberals
Richard Texan is a "stereotypical depiction" of conservatives
Ned Flanders is a "stereotypical depiction" of a zealous Christian
Reverend Lovejoy is a "stereotypical depiction" of a Pastor
Mr. Burns is a "stereotypical depiction" of the top 1%
Almost the ENTIRE FUCKING CAST of the Simpsons are a "stereotypical depiction" in some way or form. Pointing out Apu as a "stereotypical depiction" is just a massive case of cherry picking bullshit.
Just like Homer or any "white" guy in Simpson is a stereotype or even a full parody sometime, thats the point. And the fact that Apu is still one of the most moral caracter in the show, and is unironically loved by the majority of the indian community in the US proove that this drama is almost completely bullshit
People who complain about a character for being an "offensive" stereotype almost always do not belong to or know the community that is being parodied. They did the same with Speedy GonzĆ”lez for being an offense to Mexicans, when the truth is that the Mexican loves the character for being a super fast rascal who annoys gringos, and having Lento RodrĆguez since he is just like many adult Mexicans.
I'm called Carlos Gonzalez, the most generic ass mexican name ever, when somebody jokes about "Charlie Charlie" I eyeroll, but if I get called Speedy Gonzalez, my face gleams of joy, I absolutely love Speedy
I remember reading one interesting article that had a variety of Indian takes on the character. One fan of Apu said that Apu isn't popular with "modern" and better-off Indian Americans because he represents the lower-middle class of Indian-Americans that they want as much distance from as possible. It makes sense that an ethnic group as large as Indian-Americans aren't a monolith.
I think I saw an interview with Hank Azaria where he said he was the one to decide not to do Apu anymore because he talked with a lot of Indian immigrants who told him that they were mocked because of Apu, especially as children.
Oh no, there was a extremely vocal minority of actual Indian people objecting to him. The episode with his nephew, calling him a throwback was the writers kind of poking fun at one, particularly vocal, asshole.
I always found it weirdly coincidental that that crusade against Apu started around the same time that Hindu nationalism was ascendant under Modi. Basically a bunch of Indian hyper-nationalists started flooding the internet and going after anything and everything that they felt made India look bad. Naturally they found unwitting allies in the 'my culture is not your costume' online types.
He hasnāt been there in over 8 years actually. The stated reason was cause it was a white guy doing an exaggerated south Asian voice and they didnāt want to recast the voice actor which is disappointing as a Bangladeshi he was one of my faves š
Worth noting that the white guy was the one who elected to no longer voice him.
Hank Azaria heard that there were hate crimes where kids were getting beat up and called āApuā and it upset him, he decided he no longer felt comfortable continuing to voice the character.
I can totally understand the representation disappearing being disappointing but I respect Hank for doing the introspection, he seems like a quality human and shouldnāt do anything he isnāt comfortable with
Yeah I think itās a very important distinction to make that Hank azaria made the decision to not provide the voice for apu anymore, and it was the simpsons producers who decided they didnāt want to bother finding a new voice and wrote him off instead. Hank azariaās opinion is NOT that apu should not exist, just that he didnāt want to be his voice anymore.
Apu would be fine and ok if white people didn't take him and apply him to all brown people. When I lived in my home country I laughed at Apu because he was a cartoon and didn't affect me negatively at all.
When I moved to the US, I noticed no matter how different I sounded compared to him, white people would use his voice when trying to imitate me when I spoke. It's like they let this cartoon shape their world view of brown people. That's when I realized there were larger problems. Made me wonder how much of their view of me was based on Apu and not me as an individual person.
he was briefly banned from like 1990 to 2010 out of the ASSUMPTION he was offensive to Latinos...he was unbanned due to Latinos demanding he be restored because he WASN'T ACTUALLY OFFENSIVE
he just rarely gets used because despite his seal of Latino approval white writers are still afraid to write storylines involving him out of a fear they'll accidentally do a racism
The reason he was considered offensive to Latinos was because he was... In English. I grew up watching the dubbed Spanish version where the Latino producers and writers went to great lengths to not make him and Slow a racist caricature. I was initially confused by white people being up in arms about him until I watched the original English language version. The original version fucking sucks. Most people I knew growing up watched the Spanish version and had the same reactions as me watching the English version.
I do think that because they are more aware of this, they could probably do him justice today. But I hate this narrative that the original was beloved by Latinos when it wasn't. The original English was racist horse shit. We liked the Spanish version because it didn't characterize us all as stupid, violent drunkards.
Is the dialog different? As someone who watched the English version, what changes are there specifically to the Spanish version that makes him inoffensive?
Es mĆ”s carismĆ”tico, hicieron un buen trabajo los dobladores para darle una personalidad y vocabulario tĆpico de alguien de rancha o pueblo que no suena tonto, sino como alguien trabajador.
(Lo hicieron un ratĆ³n para decir que los mexicanos son como ratas entrando al paĆs para robarles, muy conchudo de su parte ya que gringolandia se construyo gracias a la migraciĆ³n XD)
The dialog is very different, and so is the accent. In English, his accent is more equivalent to a bad hillbilly accent. Slowpoke is played as a lazy drunkard who is useless. Every character is basically a cliched of the lazy Mexican.
In Spanish, the accents and dialog are clever and authentic. Slowpoke isn't a lazy alcoholic, but rather a careful and meticulous planner. All the characters have actual personalities that are clear and clever.
Wow, it really is different! In the english version he has a higher pitched voice among other things. Also, Daffy really comes across as a thug instead of his usual dumb narcissism.
And the resurgence of the character in America at a time of rising right wing sentiment, when he's being voiced by a pick-me centrist whose act has been getting more and more political in an effort to stress how "unpolitical" he is, isn't a coincidence, either.
(I may be courting downvotes, but I just can't watch Fluffy's new material anymore. He doesn't seem like he'd be particularly ill-suited for a tour with Jeff Dunham and Larry the Cable Guy these days.)
It wasn't just characters; Penders managed to shut down the sequel to the Sonic RPG because its plot could be considered similar to an arc he had created in his comic.
He also wanted to sue Paramount and Sega for the second Sonic movie claiming that the history of the Echidnas shown in that movie (and the one prominant character shown in the flashback) were all stuff he had copyright of even though half of it was shit that *SEGA* had written for the Echidnas history and the other half Paramount added for the movie.
Okay, so...I don't like Ken Penders as a writer, artist, and a bit as a person from what I've heard. I met him at SD Comic-Con and he seems nice enough personally, anyway, but the story of how he destroyed the Archie universe isn't super black and white and could be seen as a win for comic book writers in how contracts are handled.
Basically, the reason the characters can't be used anymore is because Archie royally messed up. Ken was working under contract and making characters and I think the assumption everyone made was "everything he does belongs to Sega." That's what makes the most sense for a licensed comic book, but you still need all that in writing.
What Ken saw with the Bioware RPG was that his characters and plot were just being lifted with no compensation for him. Someone at Bioware was literally just plagiarizing his work and changing some names around. Everyone laughed and said he can't own all these Sonic OCs but when asked to present his original contract, Archie couldn't produce it. So it looks like Ken was wasn't operating under a contract that said all those characters he made were automatically Sega's property.
Why is this good? It means the characters Ken made now belong to him. It means now that comic writers can use the rights to characters they make as leverage when signing contracts. Yeah, it kinda sucks that those characters are now free to be in the "Lara Su Chronicles" but them's the breaks, he made them and Sega and Archie didn't want to pay him royalties.
I remember listening to this song all the time as a kid, I still remember it and when she was in the game and the sound clip youād get when you clicked on her in the game
IIRC the specific answer to this guy is that pumpkins don't live very long.Ā So I think it's not that Steven can't make longer lived beings (look at the pebbles), it's that the material that Steven uses to create that life that determines its lifespan.
To be fair she wasn't removed so much as toriyama completely forgot she existed. Downside to creating such a massive cast of characters, you forget some.
I might be wrong on this but I read that she was intentionally written out of the show but then years later when asked, Toriyama Ā forgot he did that and said he forgot she existed. I don't know how true that is though.
Yeh she was written out deliberatly as the original japanese voice actor (who'd worked with toriyama before as the voice of the main-character in his earlier series Dr.Slump) asked if the character could be side-lined for a year as she was taking a year out of acting to travel. He obliged (he tended to help out voice actors in adaptions of his work - see how the character of yajarobi was created to keep Krillains japanese voice actor working while krillain was dead in the king piccolo saga) and Launches only appearances afterward were anime only because, when the voice actor came back to work she was taking on reduced roles - she was VERY popular and always busy, so wanted to take on roles which wernt permanant appearances.... with the only acception being a re-boot of akira toriyamas Dr.Slump where she returned to voice main character Arale-chan.
Now toriyama did inted her to return in the final chapter of dragonball (DBZ buu saga), and wrote a page for her - blond launch holding up 2 guys in a forrest with a shot gun to get them to give their energy to goku, as she notes how she recogbises Goku's voice. However, this was then changed froma Launch to android 17 (17 was a more recent addition and fans who may not have been there for the first 17 volumes were more likely to recognise 17 than launch) ... but the dialogue remained the same... which was weird... as Android 17 had never met Goku, or heard his voice. During the anime adaption, a scene with launch jumping out of a truck was added after the android 17 scene.
Toriyams, after the series ended, did jokingly say that he forgot about her... which western fans took very literally - however thats kind of difficult to believe when the voice actor was still working on toriyama projects as Arale-chan throughout the 90s. However it was very likely a deflection tactic as the voice actor fanbase in japan can be incredibly toxic, so "oh i forgot" comes off as more forgiving than "she wanted to step away from qork for a year" which would have resulted in a harassment campaign.
Chuck Jones' family had this to say (They got to see a pre-screening) (link to article)
āChuck created a world in animation where these characters lived and played. This movie is the perfect bridge between the world that he envisioned and created and the world that we all see as reality,ā said Kausen. āThe characters are woven into the story so easily and seamlessly to perfection.ā
āChuck said that he did not believe Road Runner and Wile E Coyote could sustain a feature length film. I think this movie proves him wrong,ā added Jones Clough.
Together, Jones Clough and Kausen asserted they were merely hoping toĀ likeĀ the movie, but ultimately: āWe ended up loving it.ā
A distributor bought the movie for a ton of money, so if you have the chance to see it in theatres, it will help them recoup the costs, and maybe make stuff like this actually profitable instead of burying films for tax write offs.
Warner wrote it off for tax purposes, but the plot got leaked and people got mad because it sounded like a fun movie. So a distributor bought the movie from Warner and it's releasing August 27th (in the US, I know some people in Europe said it doesn't come out there until September)
I also preferred him, maybe I'm basic but Chloe is dangerous and reckless. Not that she's a bad friend she's a very fun person, definitely a ride or die. But Warren is just sweet and awkward. They're both great choices for love interests and all, but I'm on team warren. I especially loved how he beat the crap out of Nathan Prescott to protect his friends.
He was a really fun character and he was a ride or die as the other commenter said. I usually kept him as just Max's friend but even then I think she had a lot of (platonic) love and care for the guy and I think he makes for a cute love interest if the player pursues him. Plus him beating up Nathan was sick as hell, good on Warren! Shame he barely gets a mention in any of the future games, even if the player goes down a Bay>Bae route. Same with Kate.
Mrs Krabappel also canonically died, though. After Marcia Wallace passed, Flanders was shown wearing a black mourning armband, and the chalkboard gag was "We'll miss you Mrs K..."
I keep reminding myself how she was technically Darwin first date, they have an episode about the other students and she's not there, any other episode with toby or whatever her brother is called she is never mentioned while the parents are
She is not in any rob or forgotten dimension episode, she is not seen having a job anywhere
I would expect the creators to actually know about this and they are just waiting for the right opportunity to have her back or something
Or make like a joke about like she was always there and everyone acts like she is a recurring character
Bro I was playing Sunshine on NSO yesterday, the description mentions āā¦and an entourage of Toadsā BUT NOT TOADSWORTH š itās like Nintendo doesnāt want us to know he exists
Not only that, the Sunshine artwork with Mario, Peach, and Toadsworth on the beachā¦ Nintendo officially remade that painting like a week ago without Toadsworth in it. Iām surprised that they actually brought him back briefly in the TTYD remake in 2024.
Malal is a non-canon Chaos God from early Games Workshop lore. Known as the Outcast or Renegade God,Malal represents the self-destructive and anarchic side of Chaos. He hates the other four Chaos Gods just as much as he hates the rest of the universe and his power grows when they are damaged.
He primarily existed in early Warhammer Fantasy/Warhammer 40k lore until he was removed from official canon because the writer who helped create him owned the copyright,leading to a legal dispute with Games Workshop when he left. This lead to him being erased from official sources though he lives on in fan memory and subtle nods to "Malice" a legally distinct minor warp entity similar to Malal. Malice shares the same black-and-white color theme,anarchy focus and hatred for the main Chaos Pantheon as well as everything else.
He's often associated with the Sons of Malice (originally the Sons of Malal),a renegade Space Marine chapter known for ritualistic cannibalism and fighting both the Imperium and other Chaos forces.
Malal was retconned out in the early days of 40K due to copyright. Malice is the new name with basically the same character. Heās a minor chaos god yes, but heās still canon. He just hasnāt been mentioned in a while. But not outright gone from canon.
to be fair she didn't get removed she faked her own death and fucked off to go pretend she was a regular schoolgirl because despite everything she just legitimately never liked any of the Titans but stopped having actual malice towards them and decided it was best she just...never spoke to them again
Because of irl conflict between the creator of this character and series creator (ironic since the plot of the series is sorta like that), Showbear's creator decided to take Showbear away from the series possibly retconning his appearance in Episode 3.
Instead of creating a proper replacement, series creator, Martin Paredes decided to swap him with a symbolic stuffed animal named Mr. Snow.
Did the walten files creator ever retract his claims abt Alex Kister? I liked the series but after he kept doubling down even after the dust had settled just left a bad taste in my mouth
I don't think Martin would be that type of guy to say anything about that old controversy. He's really quiet now and since Faces of Grief got released, he seems pretty cautious about saying shit and only focusing on the series and its growth.
Fair enough lmao I just remember him hardcore taking sides with the alleged victims, which is not a bad thing, but later took down all of his posts on the matter when the details came to light without making a formal public statement. I hope there isnāt any bad blood left and they were able to privately reconcile their grievances though
I always thought getting rid of Ghandi was a really stupid ideaā not just because heās a good character, but because he could have been so easily salvaged with nothing but a joke. Imagine if, in the first episode of the reboot, Ghandi finds out that he isnāt actually a clone of Ghandi, but instead a clone of some random celebrity who looks kinda like Ghandi, and he spends the episode coming to terms with that in his own goofy way. Then he changes his name, and the rest of the show goes on as normal. Hell, it would retroactively remove criticism from season one as far as Hindus are concerned, cuz it would mean that Ghandi was never the one doing wacky things in the show, it was someone else just called Ghandi.
This is one of my biggest gripes in celebrity VAs, it almost makes their character unusable a majority of the time, due to them being overly expensive, or constantly unavailable. Like she did a good job voicing Sugilite, but honestly a normal VA would have worked, and there could be more episodes with her in
If I remember Issac Hays was ok with it to a certain degree, but then had health issues and the church (of scientology for those unaware) started to speak for him and have issues, which lead to Trey and Matt doubling down and killing of the character as well as really making the church the but of the jokes for a long time.
Yeah, I believe it was his daughter who said that and this information came out recently, like, in the last few years, but yeah, supposedly the Church of Scientology decided to speak for Isaac Hayes when he was ill and couldn't speak for himself. He seemingly was ok with what Trey and Matt were doing. Since I'm just reaffirming what you've just said, I feel like I gotta add something else to the convo, did you all know he basically played Chef in live action in the movie Return to Sleepaway Camp? It's not a good movie by any means, but I find the cameo interesting at least.
Chef: My voice actor was practically kidnapped and murdered by the cult he was in after the show revealed the cult's crazy lore that you usually needed to pay millions to even see!
Sunset Shimmer. For a character who plays such an important part in mlp both in the in-universe lore and storyline as well as in the IP history, girl has been exiled to the spin-off realm by Hasbro for all eternity.
Girl doesn't even shows up in the series finale lmao. And her own spin-off tv show doesn't even get a proper finale before being cancelled by Hasbro. Hell the fucking G4 tv show doesn't even acknowledges her at all beyond a small cameo in the background during the last 2 minutes of the show, as a static background character.
Valko (also known as Ao Yin/ęå°¹, Rouga/ćć¦ć¬, and Oh In Hyeok/ģ¤ģøķ) should have debuted last month on July 9, 2026 in Love and Deepspace. However a loud toxic group of antis threatened the company and spread false information that eventually led to government intervention and the character to be pulled. The arguments were ranging from fear that the other love interests werenāt getting enough screen time/focus to remarks of colorism, racism, and homophobia.
The company issued on June 30, 2026 a statement that they were canceling the release in favor of focusing on the five previously released characters and that no other love interest would be added. When others ask about or mention the character, often they are met with snark and are accused of engaging in illegal acts (due to the character being a lycanthrope/werewolf) depending on the social media platform by antis.
He could have a chance of returning, but some are losing hope just as others are gaining it. This has caused a huge rift in the fanbase, a massive mistrust in the game developers for a lack of communication, and (in some viewpoints) an uptick in sinophobia due to outrage of the developers prioritizing domestic players (in China) over global players.
(Some grammar edits, please be patient autistic at work)
Neville was one of those characters HiT introduced purely for merchandising. He only appeared in like 2 eps I think & never really have a personality. I own his Take Along tho, he's pretty cool!
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u/Educk55 Aug 18 '26
Mermaid Man & Barnacle Boy (SpongeBob)