Richie Rich Is Casper
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About
Richie Rich Is Casper is a long-running fan theory that the cartoon and comic book character "Casper the Friendly Ghost" is the ghost of comic book character Richie Rich.
Origin
On May 9th, 1991, an episode of the animated sitcom The Simpsons entitled "Three Men and a Comic Book" aired in the United States. In the episode, the characters Bart and Lisa Simpson compare issues of the comic books Richie Rich and Casper the Friendly Ghost and comment on the visual similarities of the titular characters. They say:[1]
Lisa: If we don't get to the convention soon, all the good comics will be gone!
Bart: Ah, what do you care about good comics? All you ever buy is Casper the Wimpy Ghost.
Lisa: I think it's sad that you equate friendliness with wimpiness, and I hope it'll keep you from ever achieving true popularity.
Bart: Well, you know what I think? I think Casper is the ghost of Richie Rich. (shows comics of Casper & Richie Rich)
Lisa: Hey, they do look alike!
Bart: Wonder how Richie died.
Lisa: Perhaps he realized how hollow the pursuit of money really is and took his own life.
Spread
In May 2009, Totally Looks Like published a side-by-side photograph of the two of the two characters (shown below).[4]
On June 23rd, 2013, Tumblr [2] user gosimpsonic posted screenshots from The Simpsons episode. Within five years, the post (shown below) received more than 750,000 notes.
On December 11th, 2013, Redditor [3] pasteeater6669 posted about the Tumblr post in the /r/FanTheories subreddit. The post received more than 2,100 points (92% upvoted) and 60 comments.
On January 8th, 2016, YouTuber published a video laying out the conspiracy theory about how Richie Rich became Casper. The post (shown below) received more than 329,000 views in two years.
Two years later, on March 26th, 2018, Twitter [5] user @CharlesPulliam tweeted a photo of the two characters with the caption, "Casper the Ghost is a cautionary tale about how Richie Rich's parents killed him for the insurance money." The post (shown below) received more than 32,000 retweets and 81,000 likes in three days.
The following day, Twitter[6] published a Moments page about the reaction to the tweet.
External References
[1] Wikia – Three Men and a Comic Book/Quotes
[2] Tumblr (via Wayback Machine) – gosimpsonic's Post
[3] Reddit – Casper/Richie Rich fan theory from The Simpsons
[4] Improbable Island – So, Casper is Richie Rich's ghost.
[5] Twitter – @CharlesPulliam's Post
[6] Twitter – The theory of Richie Rich turning into Casper is still floating around
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