Gumbly / Graggle Simpson

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About

Gumbly or Graggle Simpson refers to an internet hoax that The Simpsons added a new character named "Gumbly" to the show in the latest seasons. The hoax was perpetuated by users photoshopping the character into various Simpsons scenes and recalling non-existent scenes with Gumbly. In 2022, Gumbly was referred to as Graggle Simpson within memes on Reddit and Twitter, similar to conspiracy theories regarding The Mandela Effect.

Origin

On October 3rd, 2015, an anonymous 2channel user posted the first available version of Gumbly, adding the character into a photo of the Simpson family in the /livejupiter/ board (shown below).^[1]

At the time, the character was known as "Yakiu no Oniichan" (Japanese: やきうのお兄ちゃん OR 野球のお兄ちゃん, lit. "Baseball Bro")^[2], a caricatured character of the board users nicknamed "Nan-J min"(なんJ民). The character dates back to December 2010.^[3]^[4]

Spread

On January 29th, 2021, an anonymous 4chan ^[5] user posted the earliest known variant of the character "Gumbly" in the /x/ imageboard (shown below). They wrote that series creator Matt Groening created the character because he wanted to insert himself into the series. "Matt Groening had this self insert character," the 4chan user wrote. "He kept trying to shoehorn into the show. Believe it or not, that is how Matt Groening sees himself. He wanted him to be good friends with Bart and replace Millhouse. The writers and the studio were concerned about how this would alter the show. And the design was too creepy […] Matt Groening is very embarrassed about this character. If you ever see him do not bring up 'Weird Matt' or 'Yellow Matt.'"

On January 29th, 2021, Twitter^[6] user @SimianJimmy posted a doctored image of The Simpsons cast with a new character they'd created named "Gumbly" included. They wrote, "Watched a new episode of The Simpsons for the first time in 5 years and I guess they added this hideous new character called Gumbly to the family? What in the fuck is this shit, please just cancel the show already" (shown below). The tweet was later deleted.

Over the following few days, other users got in on the joke by photoshopping Gumbly into other Simpsons stills and recalling non-existent scenes with the character. For example, user @RayDibb^[7] posted a still of an old Simpsons scene with Gumbly in it, gaining over 180 retweets and 4,400 likes (shown below, left). User @tonyjcelano^[8] made a similar joke, gaining over 90 retweets and 1,500 likes (shown below, right).

Others began developing false lore about the character in the show. For example, user @_Naryas^[9] joked, "I used to dislike Gumbly, but after the season finale he became one of my 5 favorite characters. Not to spoil that incredibly emotional moment, but Gumbly is more of a father to Lisa than Homer ever were," gaining over 2,100 likes (shown below, left). User @waterbottlefann^[10] recalled an episode where Gumbly broke Milhouse's leg, gaining over 380 likes (shown below, right).

Graggle Simpson

On May 22nd, 2022, Facebook^[11] user Yeliab Ressap made a post that included the original Gumbly photo, captioning it, "NEW MANDELA EFFECT JUST DROPPED – THIS UNIVERSE DOESN'T HAVE GRAGGLE SIMPSON." Over the course of nine days, the post received over 500 reactions and roughly 1,700 shares (shown below).

On May 24th, 2022, the Instagram^[12] page mymoistmemes posted a screenshot of Yeliab Ressap's Facebook post, earning roughly 10,400 likes in seven days. On May 27th, 2022, Twitter^[13] user poloo098 also posted a screenshot, earning roughly 78,900 likes in four days.

Inspired by poloo098's tweet, many Twitter users started sharing The Simpsons screencaps showing Gumbly but associating them under the new name of Graggle. For instance, on May 28th, 2022, Twitter^[14] user CalmDownLevelUp posted a tweet with screencaps that earned roughly 3,400 likes in three days (shown below, left). Also on May 28th, Twitter^[15] user TheFunkyStudios joked about how Graggle Simpson was really just "Gumbly," earning roughly 1,100 likes in three days (shown below, right).