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Description
Drawing in this style is a lot more difficult than I had previously assumed... I always figured that it's solidarity of design would make it simple, but because a character practically has to follow a strict format to still be considered the same character, you *have* to know what you're doing. Damn you, Groening!

I've had a fascination with these guys for about eight months, now... I didn't know what it was that grabbed my attention, so my urge to draw or really think much about them didn't surface until now, after being blindsighted with the reasons behind my curiosity.

I was sort of bothered at first that I noticed and paid more attention to weird behavior amongst the three of them, until it occurred to me that it was okay for a guy with an anxiety problem and a mental disability to be physically clingy to his brother... suffice to say, I'm in love with the mental and emotional abuse they endure from their mother, and in turn, the complexes they each develop from it.

Even though these characters have next to no air-time and minimal dialogue, you can absorb a lot of their personality simply through their (probably unintentional) character design. For instance, their physique sort of clarifies their personalities, in a way... Walt is the first born, holds the most responsibility, has more trust in and from Mom, so it would seem safe to say that he has the least amount of stressors in his life... coincidence that he has the healthiest physical appearance? Probably.

Larry and Igner are both obviously overweight compared to Walt (who by contrast seems to not only be thin, but very well built) and their anorexic mother and both have bad posture... so even if Igner's stupidity and Larry's anxiety problems were never acknowledged, you would only have to look at them to be able to tell they weren't as healthy or as happy. The contrast in their facial structure and eye shape is another giveaway...

One of the most compelling and important scenes that explained and actually acknowledged their sibling bond didn't even make it into the final cut of the episode... the cut scene from the episode Futurestock (which you can only see on the DVD) shows a very brief, yet very important aspect of their relationship... but watching it at full speed doesn't really clarify much. You have to pause it and watch the short scene frame-by-frame in order to see every little motion the director decided to throw in there, then cut out. It really doesn't matter in retrospect, as their relationship is hardly mentioned at all throughout the rest of the series (including the movie that featured them as more than accessory background characters, in Bender's Game), and I doubt anyone on earth even NOTICED this aside from me...

I've looked all over the internet for some sort of confirmation that what I've noticed has any merit, but so far, I can't find more than a hand-full of people who can even differentiate the three of them. It's just one of those beautiful, subtle and under-appreciated facets of character design that nobody will focus any attention on...

...except for ME! Walt may be level-headed and well-respected in Mom's eyes, but he's got an Oedipus complex that's hard to go unnoticed. Larry is unbearably anxious and approval-seeking, and has an inferiority complex that's abundantly apparent from the very beginning. And even though Igner is the typical mindless third wheel whose character has little value until the very end of the series (the whole bastard son thing), it's interesting to imagine how a lifetime of physical and emotional neglect and abuse has influenced the relationship between these guys.

I'm not sure how many people view them solely as comic relief... being a parody of The Three Stooges has it's own comical value for the show but I tend to look past it... it sort of annoys me, if anything. But Walt being voiced by Maurice Lamarche sort of helps distract me from that.

Little fruit tarts...

Description
Drawing in this style is a lot more difficult than I had previously assumed... I always figured that it's solidarity of design would make it simple, but because a character practically has to follow a strict format to still be considered the same character, you *have* to know what you're doing. Damn you, Groening!

I've had a fascination with these guys for about eight months, now... I didn't know what it was that grabbed my attention, so my urge to draw or really think much about them didn't surface until now, after being blindsighted with the reasons behind my curiosity.

I was sort of bothered at first that I noticed and paid more attention to weird behavior amongst the three of them, until it occurred to me that it was okay for a guy with an anxiety problem and a mental disability to be physically clingy to his brother... suffice to say, I'm in love with the mental and emotional abuse they endure from their mother, and in turn, the complexes they each develop from it.

Even though these characters have next to no air-time and minimal dialogue, you can absorb a lot of their personality simply through their (probably unintentional) character design. For instance, their physique sort of clarifies their personalities, in a way... Walt is the first born, holds the most responsibility, has more trust in and from Mom, so it would seem safe to say that he has the least amount of stressors in his life... coincidence that he has the healthiest physical appearance? Probably.

Larry and Igner are both obviously overweight compared to Walt (who by contrast seems to not only be thin, but very well built) and their anorexic mother and both have bad posture... so even if Igner's stupidity and Larry's anxiety problems were never acknowledged, you would only have to look at them to be able to tell they weren't as healthy or as happy. The contrast in their facial structure and eye shape is another giveaway...

One of the most compelling and important scenes that explained and actually acknowledged their sibling bond didn't even make it into the final cut of the episode... the cut scene from the episode Futurestock (which you can only see on the DVD) shows a very brief, yet very important aspect of their relationship... but watching it at full speed doesn't really clarify much. You have to pause it and watch the short scene frame-by-frame in order to see every little motion the director decided to throw in there, then cut out. It really doesn't matter in retrospect, as their relationship is hardly mentioned at all throughout the rest of the series (including the movie that featured them as more than accessory background characters, in Bender's Game), and I doubt anyone on earth even NOTICED this aside from me...

I've looked all over the internet for some sort of confirmation that what I've noticed has any merit, but so far, I can't find more than a hand-full of people who can even differentiate the three of them. It's just one of those beautiful, subtle and under-appreciated facets of character design that nobody will focus any attention on...

...except for ME! Walt may be level-headed and well-respected in Mom's eyes, but he's got an Oedipus complex that's hard to go unnoticed. Larry is unbearably anxious and approval-seeking, and has an inferiority complex that's abundantly apparent from the very beginning. And even though Igner is the typical mindless third wheel whose character has little value until the very end of the series (the whole bastard son thing), it's interesting to imagine how a lifetime of physical and emotional neglect and abuse has influenced the relationship between these guys.

I'm not sure how many people view them solely as comic relief... being a parody of The Three Stooges has it's own comical value for the show but I tend to look past it... it sort of annoys me, if anything. But Walt being voiced by Maurice Lamarche sort of helps distract me from that.

Little fruit tarts...