#simpson the cat

[mistergaspertoons]

Simpson the cat from sonic the comic

[bottleboxdraws]

doodle requests from discord <3

[samobservessonic]

StC Post-Mortems: Simpson the Cat

By popular demand one person asking, Simpson is getting his own Post-Mortem. As the stand-out member of Captain Plunder’s crew, I reckon he deserves it. Like, I love Filch, but there really isn’t that much to say about the guy outside of him being Plunder’s second-in-command who’s a ghost, but with Simpson, I feel like there’s enough to talk about the character on his own merits

How it started

We saw this already in Plunder’s post, but Simpson was something of a late addition to the crew - a fellow prisoner who helped break Plunder out of jail and then joined him for the rest of his adventures. We never find out why Simpson was arrested in the first place, but he does mark the beginning of Plunder’s stories moving away from being tied to the Sonic cast to become more of their own thing

From a real world perspective, when Simpson was introduced, he bore such a close resemblance to his inspirations of Felix the Cat and Stimpy (yes, from Ren and Stimpy) that the editor at the time, Richard Burton, even contacted Kitching to make sure that the character hadn’t been ripped off from other sources. ALSO, his name comes from O.J. Simpson and not, like I thought as a kid, from The Simpsons “on account of him being cartoony”

How it went

…I really couldn’t do this post without using that image at least once now, could I?

Simpson became the comic relief that stopped Plunder’s crew from becoming too serious. Their disdain for him was evident throughout and there were very few instances of Simpson appearing where someone wasn’t annoyed by him, but it really worked. Simpson allowed the team to use more visual gags via his leaning on the fourth wall, as well as occasionally being the explanation as to why Plunder’s ventures did or didn’t work out

How it ended

You can choose to decide for yourselves how Plunder reacted to having a coconut dropped on his head, but something tells me that Simpson would be fine. His luck’s better than Plunders is, anyway

Were there any unused future plans from the StC writers?

I wasn’t able to find anything on either the Sonic or StC wikis about future plans for Simpson outside of Captain Plunder, and with Kitching’s Yahoo group now being defunct, there wasn’t anything to look into there, either. Unless anyone knows something I don’t, I just assume there weren’t any specific plans for him

What would I personally have liked to see next for him if StC continued?

I would say that he keeps appearing as part of Plunder’s crew in any future adventures, like that unwritten Ebony story, but that’s the boring answer. For something a little more fun…

…team him up with Big the Cat. Yes, Big the Cat did appear as a cameo towards the end of the series and Kitching has even said that he’d have been interested to develop the character had the series not been cancelled. I just think it’d be funny to team up these two characters with opposite personalities - Simpson being over-the-top about everything, while Big takes everything in his stride. Also, they’re both beings with god-like skills and strength, so it’d be funny to see them have a big anime fight for no reason at all Outside of that, I think Simpson could benefit from interacting with any of the other Sonic characters. Beyond appearing in one Knuckles story, Simpson being from the era where Plunder was his own thing prevented him seeing the other game characters. I don’t have any other examples, but I think you could pull a name out of a hat and whoever you get it’d be possible to make a fun story where they’re stuck dealing with Simpson Lastly, this one isn't mine, but I have to shout-out Okida's fancomic, Sonic the Continuation, in which it turned out that Simpson was actually a Tantaror pretending to be a cartoon cat for his own amusement. That's pretty much the Simpson headcanon for me and will always have a special place in my heart

What if he was in other Sonic media?

Preboot Archie:

Have him kill maim bonk over the head with a mallet ...replace Al and Cal in the pre-boot Archie Sonic. My word, I just hate these two. Even Ian Flynn, who can generally always change my mind on early Archie characters who I feel “Meh” about, couldn’t win me over on Al and Cal. I was just waiting for Scourge to inevitably betray them in that one arc, so I wouldn’t have to look at them any more

The thing is, Al and Cal fill the same niche as Simpson, but probably by virtue of being an anthro cat, Simpson just looks more like he belongs in a Sonic comic. Even if he is basically Felix the Cat. Also, there’s only one of Simpson, so we don’t have to deal with boring stories where Al and Cal are talking about crap for ages and then fighting each other in their robot forms

What I’d give to have the Scourge: Lock Down arc from Sonic Universe, but instead of Al and Cal, Scourge meets Simpson in zone jail instead. Simpson is exactly the sort of character who’d be in zone jail. Hell, he was even in jail during his first appearance. I just think he’d be a funnier character to play against Scourge. Also, when the inevitable betrayal happens, I’d at least feel a bit sorry for him

AoStH:

By contrast to that, I’d like to see Simpson being a fish out of water in the AoStH universe. Or rather, a fish too much in water, in that all the other fish are the same as him. We see Simpson in StC as standing out because he’s so different from the other characters in the stories he appears in, but how would he deal with being put in a universe where everyone runs on cartoon logic? Would he continue to be unflappable and perhaps feel like he’s found his people or else would he feel put out that no one reacts to him the way his “friends” on Plunder’s crew do? This one is admittedly more of a crossover idea, taking the established StC Simpson and putting him in the AoStH world, than it is coming up with an AoStH take on Simpson, but that’s just how I’d like to see it

[magicvicky1]

Its been a while since I posted any Sonic related content here…So I might as well post this old Simpson the Cat drawing xd I really don’t know how is it possible that Simpson is such an underrated character from STC- I mean, he’s literally Felix the cat! What more could you ask?!

[sonicrarepairs]

Sonic Rarepair #83: Simpson the Cat x Blaze the Cat

Reason: pirate cats

Suggested by @charlesinator

[disabled-battlekukku]

Help, I think I have a vision

Do you see my vision, or am I actually going crazy

Also, I swear this is the last time I'll send you an ask (probably)

teehee too lazy to paint today ^-^

[mauricehawkman]

Simpson the cat from stc🔫

this Guy is super cool, I was not aware of his existence thank you :D

[santinoainthere]

cool weird mutant sharks? Yeah man, i'm sold, what's next?

[emioliravioli]

For your sonic emojis, I give you my favorite obscure sonic character, Simpson the cat!

Also, for a sequel to that sonic backpack, this shadow backpack thing that looks like shadow in a baby harness

Btw, I can give you more refs for Simpson, if you need them, he's pretty obscure

read up a little on him and he's so cartoony i love it!

had to make multiple for his object-making power (if thats what its called?)

shadow looks so happy!

also, a few years ago, there was a weird trend at my school where people would only use these kinds of backpacks lol. idk how it started, but one day a bunch of people showed up with these and it was honestly kinda hilarious

(almost forgot about this until i saw that picture lol)

[sebasdougley]

I drew Simpson the Cat, a character from a Sonic comic

The second image is the reference of the character

[ana-the-light-fury]

Here you go, @charlesinator! Simpson the Cat:

He looks like something seven year old me would draw lol.

[fyeahsonicthehedgehog]

[sensory0verlord]

redraw of an old drawing!

Old Drawing!

[samobservessonic]

StC Post-Mortems: Captain Plunder

Captain Plunder and his cast of support characters - including many enemies, two regular crew members and a whole host of disposable extra crew members - may have suddenly disappeared from StC as of issue 108, but they still enjoyed a lengthy career in the comic before that. So it’s time to take a look at what was, what might have been and my admittedly far too long list of fan ideas I’d have liked to have seen from him (I like Captain Plunder, okay?) as I examine him for today’s StC Post-Mortem

How it started

This is Richard Elson’s original design for Captain Plunder, which seems to have stayed mostly the same when he appears in the comic. It’s interesting to see notes such as “gorilla type features with tusks”. I’ve never put much thought into what “animal” Plunder was based on, since I guess I generally think of him as being more human-like, but seeing gorilla, I can see that. That makes sense to me

Captain Plunder’s actual first appearance was in the main story of issue 23, where he’s presented as a villain who’s kidnapped Amy Rose (not long after her own first appearance), but ends up being talked around to being somewhat on the heroes side - even if he did have his fingers crossed behind his back when he made a deal with them

At the time, there weren’t many other villains outside of Robotnik and the few that there were tended to be one-off characters who worked for Robotnik anyway. So when Plunder appeared to buffer the rogue’s gallery, it was a welcome addition

How it went

With lots of silly pirate adventures fighting against everyone! After his first appearance, Plunder was a somewhat regular guest in the comic, sometimes working with Sonic and sometimes against him, but always for his own gain. He generally didn’t work with Robotnik, so at least he had that going for him

Of the crew members shown above, only Filch - the lizard ghost who Plunder shot dead for taking the last biscuit -  would remain constant from the start to finish of the series as Plunder’s loyal second-in-command, with the background fodder of crew members being cycled in and out on every adventure. There was a professor guy for one story that Plunder made a big deal of, but then he was gone without a word about him in the next story

The only other notable character to join Plunder’s crew was fan fave Simpson the Cat, a forth-wall-breaking rubber hose character who Plunder met in prison and, upon helping him to escape, would become the only other permanent member of Plunder’s crew

This would also mark the beginning of Plunder’s solo stories. For his early appearances, Plunder would always be escorted by a Sonic character, but it was clear that the team wanted to focus on telling stories about Plunder himself. With his new own series being introduced as a backup story in an issue that also featured Plunder in the main Sonic story, it was a good way to get the kids who came for Sonic onboard with these extra pirate adventures

How it ended

Exactly like that. In the conclusion to a six-part Captain Plunder solo story called the Spice Maidens, we see the crew marooned on what appears to be a desert island, after their ship was blasted out of the sky by yet another old enemy who Plunder wronged

To top it all off, Plunder was still cursed with bad luck at this point. I remember as a kid that I’d sometimes wonder what became of Captain Plunder and if we’d ever see him again. Maybe I should’ve written into the comic to say that I missed his stories

Were there any unused future plans from the StC writers?

Wait, so we were going to get a Plunder and Ebony story? That would’ve been the coolest thing ever! Two of my favourite StC exclusives in the same story? Damn, we truly live in a cruel timeline that this didn’t come to pass. I do wonder what what Kitching meant by the curse being “something far more significant” as well

What would I personally have liked to see next for him if StC continued?

Are you kidding me? I cannot come up with something better than Plunder seeking help from Ebony to get his curse lifted. Just throw Super Sonic into that story as well and it’ be perfect

What if he was in other Sonic media?

I have a bunch of different ideas for stuff I’d have liked to have seen from Plunder in a fantasy scenario where he could’ve appeared in other Sonic media:

Classic Sonic Games:

By “Classic Sonic” I mean the current version of it that’s still getting new games and comics and stuff. Captain Plunder was introduced to us as a pirate from the Mystic Cave Zone and if he was in the games (or the IDW Classic Sonic comics), I’d like to see them focus on that. Give him a cool boss fight. Make him a regional boss for that zone. The sort of character where Sonic knows that if he goes to that zone, he’s going to have to deal with Plunder. Honestly, the Mystic Cave Zone theme is already like Captain Plunder’s theme in my head, so that’s the association I have with it

You could potentially use the same idea to make him something like an Egg Boss for the Mystic Cave Zone in a Post-Reboot Archie Sonic setting, but I just don’t really like the idea of him working for Eggman. He’s better as a separate problem who can be swayed either way

Modern Sonic Games:

“We already have pirates on Blaze’s world” …Cool! Add more pirates!

The Sol Dimension is still largely unexplored by the franchise, but we know there’s a lot of sea-faring, so we can assume there’s more than one group of pirates. So, have Plunder be another problem for Blaze to deal with who’s either from the Sol Dimension itself or else a dimension traveller using that starpost of his who crops up every now and then to cause trouble

Alternatively, have him be a zeti. This is where I hold my hand up and admit that I haven’t played Lost World, it’s in my Steam backlog but it came out during an era where I wasn’t that into Sonic outside of the comics. So I don’t have a lot to say about this idea. In general, Plunder is a character who I don’t think needs to be “Sonic-ified” because I think his unique design already makes him stand out as a villain in the Sonic line-up, but if he does have to get a Sonic-y makeover, then instead of making him something like a walrus or gorilla, why not use him to expand upon an area of the series that SEGA keeps calling back on (at least, they invite Zavok over for sports sometimes) but hasn’t explored much? Adding pirates to the zeti mix just sounds fun to me

Sonic Underground:

I maintain that you could wholesale put the entirety of the StC exclusive characters into Underground without having to change a thing. I mean, this guy exists in Underground for crying out loud! Plunder wouldn’t even by the most unusual sea-faring character Sonic's seen over there

Skies of Arcadia:

I also have a couple of non-Sonic suggestions and this is my first “hear me out”. Captain Plunder is a sky pirate. SEGA already has a game about sky pirates. You know who’s favourite game is Skies of Arcadia and has also worked collaboratively with Nigel Kitching in the recent past? Ian Flynn. What I’m saying is that Plunder could totally work in this world. Let Kitching (& Dobbyn) handle the Plunder parts and let Ian handle the Skies of Arcadia parts and I’m sure they could make a fun crossover of it Captain Plunder, No Strings Attached:

My final suggestion and probably my greatest wish for the character is that Captain Plunder could’ve existed outside of Sonic Yeah, I know I went hard on wanting to include all of the Plunder stories in my blogging because he’s part of Sonic’s world, but mostly it was just because I like them! Team Nigel clearly had stories they wanted to tell about this character outside of Sonic, they were always very quick to ditch the Sonic elements in the Plunder stories up until they could finally tell a few stories that were purely Captain Plunder stories, so I want to let them cook. The reason I know about this character is because of Sonic, sure, but now that I do know about him, it’s a shame that he’s tied to Sonic when this could’ve been a wholly original series. And yeah, we’ve seen guys use the Sonic brand to tell stories about their own stuff before - look at Archie Knuckles or the Paramount Knuckles series - but Captain Plunder is one time where I’m like “Actually, this slaps and I would love to have more!” It makes me regret that after StC finished, I didn’t think to look into other stuff these creators worked on. Hell, I could still do that right now, but I’m gonna get this blog finished first

So yeah, my final answer is that I think there’s lots of ways you could fit Plunder into the Sonic brand that I have fun thinking about, but ultimately I’d want to keep Plunder as he is… just without the Sonic strings attached

[charlesinator]

yo, blaze and/capain plunder fans, i need some ideas for interactions and situations with blaze and captain plunder and his crew? i need it for... reasons...

[mr-e-gallery]

Edmond Simpson "X-Ray Cat" (04-25)