Bart, is he a pointless character now?

I didn't know Bart had a point in the first place! He has always been pointless to me. Anyhow, a real answer would be that since he has appeared in episodes for 20 years the well may have run dry with him and his character.
 
Absolutely. Some of my favorites:

* What a day, eh Milhouse? The sun is out, birds are singing, bees are trying to have sex with them... as is my understanding.

* (Writing on blackboard) Pork is not a verb.

* Lisa: Hmm. Pablo Neruda said, "Laughter is the language of the soul."
Bart: I am familiar with the works of Pablo Neruda.

* Lisa: (After Homer has prevented the power plant from exploding) I think its ironic that dad saved the day while a slimmer man would have fallen to his doom.
Bart: And I think its ironic that for once dad's butt prevented the release of toxic gas...
Marge: Bart!

* There's no such thing as a soul. Its just something they made up to scare kids, like the boogeyman or Michael Jackson.

* Bart: What the hell is this? ("watching "Amendment to Be")
Lisa: Its one of those campy 70's throwbacks that appeals to Generation X-ers.
Bart: We need another Vietnam to thin out their ranks a little!

* He's going to kill Rod and Todd too. That's horrible! ...in principle.

* Lisa: But why did you take the blame?
Bart: I didn't want you to wreck your life. You got the brains and the talent to go as far as you want. And when you do, I'll be right there... to borrow money.
 
It seems to me that when the show first started out, Bart was conceived as being the central charachter of the ensemble, like Goliath on Gargoyles, or the Captain on any Star Trek Show.

Whether by accident or design the writers gradually started gravitating towards Homer and he became the main charachter, demoting Bart to suppurting cast member. Plus, even when part does got a lot of focus in an episode, nine times out of ten, it deals with his realationship with Homer

One easily sees this reflected in the merchandise; back in the early 90s Bart got his face plastered on t-shirts, posters and any thing else Fox could hock. By contrast, look at most Simpsons merchandise made in the past decade and we can see that it tends to be rather Homer-centric.

Basically Homer is the Fonzie of The Simpsons, a secondary character, who's unforseen popularity caused him to eclipse the rest of the cast.
 
Yeah, that one is pretty lulzy. I for one love the Pablo Neruda one, which doesn't translate to well into written form, since you really need to hear the utterly dry sarcasm in Barts voice when he says it in order truely appreciate the joke.

And i also love how in the first 8 seasons, Bart was consistenly the character who got to break up otherwise dramatic or emotinal moments with some insult or funny remark. Like when Marge thinks Homer is having an affair with a singer whom he is the manager to, and so when Homer has dressed up and is about to go see the singer, Marge rounds up the children and says something like "you have a family that loves you Homer, please remember that when you leave tonight...". Homer leaves without saying anything, and after a moment of sad silence, Bart goes "As much as i hate that man right now, i can't help but love that suit..."

Little "comic relief" bits during otherwise dramatic moments like that are nowadays always reserved for Homer...:sad:
 
I agree with you. I remenber a lot of Bart Simpson items when I was a kid, and he was everywhere you could turn to. With his "Eat my shorts" and "Cowabunga!" and his "Don't have a cow, Man"

For what I read once he was supposed to be the next "Dennis the menace" and for awhile he was.. he used to be a menace, the kid you could say: "He's going to Jail at 13" but around Season 3-4. he was a bit more "Normal"
 
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