THIS GOES ALONG WITH MY THEORY ABOUT NED BEING ACTUALLY A SATANIST! Suuure he keeps putting on the act that he's a humble Christian man, BUT there are a few clues to contradict that! 1. He was the football coach in "Bart the Star" and yet he gave his two sons football uniforms that combines to 666?! 2. He admitted that he allowed his children to buy candy to that had the cartoon DEVIL on the box. How does that correlate with all his other moments of being an overly paranoid Christian?! You expect me to believe that!? 3. NED BEING LEFTHANDED. You've heard how people who uses left hands are deemed EVIL 4. Treehouse of Horror 4 was meant to be used as a warning! "It's always the one you least suspect" 5. Maggie was influenced by the Flanders in when they were her temporary parents and yet she spun her head around like she was possessed! And it's NOT a THOH. Coincidence? I think not! *We're through the looking glass here, people-* -Or maybe I have too much spare time on my hands-
@@CMW1995 don't forget ned shows the behavior of a psychopath when Homer throws soda at him and when he literally goes off on everyone who tried to help and then pretended to act normal when being evaluated at a asylum. NED IS NOT THE D EVIL HE'S A FULLBLOWN PSYCHOPATH
Watching the Simpsons as a kid, I honestly always assumed Rod and Todd were homeschooled, both because of the whole "you almost never see them interacting with the other kids at Springfield Elementary" thing, and from personal bias because we grew up with neighbors who we always jokingly referred to as the Flanders because they were both very nice and Super-Christian, and they home-schooled their kids.
My assumption was that their mom was homeschooling them and Ned put them in a private christian school when she died, I can't ever remember seeing them at Bart and Lisa's school
Speaking of how isolated rod and Todd are from the other kids.... there’s the season 12 episode ‘skinner’s sense of snow’ in which the kids are snowed into the school, whilst Homer and Ned attempt to save the kids from the outside. What’s weird is that whilst Ned has a major role in the episode, his sons are barely seen in the episode at all, despite being snowed in with all the other children.
I do remember rod and todd getting into the car at the end of the episode. If they hadn't shown up, I would have thought Homer just took Ned's car and Ned was just dragged along for the ride. Also i loved how Ned pointed out that Homer used to be Mr.Plow and he forgot.
Tsuki Condor now I'm picturing a mario bros rom hack that features rod and Todd dressed as the mario bros. somebody should make this happen. Where my rom hack people at???
I knew Rod Flanders personally. He was my supervisor at work. We called him Rod &Todd. He always giggled, and said, " I don't like The Simpsons. They're a bad influence."
being a younger sibling myself, I always assumed Rod was the older/taller one and Todd the younger/shorter one. just because it's "Rod and Todd", not "Todd and Rod", so the older one is mentioned first
Well, there could be an exception to this rule. like my younger sister, Mahnoor and me, Eshal they would call us "Eshal and Mahnoor" and also "Mahnoor and Eshal" both of them work alright.
hey jim i was watching an older Simpsons episode at the gym earlier and thought that if you need a video idea, a Simpsons histories or even a Simpsons mysteries on Dr. Nick would make a great video to do next
@@ZhangtheGreat I go by their hair. Patty has round hair that makes her look like a "P", whereas Selma's hair is more in the shape of an "S" on its side.
"I got the joy joy joy joy down in my heart , down in my heart to staay and if the devil doesn't like it he can sit on a tack! Ouch, sit on a tack ouch!"
Speaking about Rod and Todd's sexuality reminded me of an old Simpson's Comic issue. It was a flash forward issue, don't really remember the plot, but in it Rod and Todd had grown up to be cross-dressing singers at a night club
The way I differentiate the two has always been that Rod is tall like a long rod, and Todd is small like a toddler. "Long Rod" and "The Toddler" you might call them.
You know how if you say a word long enough, it loses all meaning? That's what see this much condensed footage of Rod and Todd feels like. They were already barely characters, but now they just seem even more generic to me.
My theory is that Ned is moulding Rod to be the next Springfield Pastor or take some higher role in their church or school, so he has to give more stricter attention, while Tod is more laid back and has more opportunity to be a kid. Yes, he'll participate in his family's church dealings, but he's not strictly bound to them like Rod is.
I've been watching the Simpsons for literally as long as I can remember, but I've never made an attempt to figure out which one's which. I have no intention of remembering it now.
I guessed it right because intuitively, I would've said that Todd was the tall one, and I figured that because apparently so many people get it wrong (or at least TheRealJims did) it would actually be the unintuitive option.
I can't believe this video got to 200k views. Almost didn't even make this video because I thought no one really cared about Rod and Todd (or their differences). I will never understand why the RU-vid algorithm latches onto the things it does.
I don't know why people get them mixed up. When people list siblings like "Rod and Todd", they almost always list the eldest first. Rod is the taller of the two because he's older. They are never referred to as "Todd and Rod".
I've always liked Todd more too, but maybe that's just because he was the focus a little more. I especially like that apparently he and Bart are close enough friends that they can see into each other's bedroom windows and Todd casually greets him "Hi Bart!" (even if that is a throwaway joke that doesn't make sense with the geography of their houses).
My favorite Rod and Todd moment was when Flanders was talking about not believing in vaccinations. Then you see one of the boys sick and shivering and reaching up while saying "mommy?"
It was always clear who was Rod and who was Todd, based off of appearances. Also, it could just be me, but it felt like Flanders (especially Rod & Todd) got weirder and weirder after Maude's death. Like some of Ned's most exaggerated "nagging Christian man" scenes were in later seasons, as well as Rod & Todd appearing more and more sheltered & out of touch with the real world. Perhaps that's just me. Also, Simpsons Histories on Inanimate Carbon Rod when???
They did get kind of weird in the later seasons. Like playing games where they freeze in place for a long time or playing with pretend presents. It's hard to tell since they were always kind of weird, but they did seem a little more space-y in the later years.
I guess it's that before Maude died they were largely a well knit family that Homer envied, those weak spots existed here and there but a wife/mother to unite them all prevented that vulnerability showing too often besides minor comic relief, while as mentioned in the video, we get more moments of proper limelight with the boys and Marge or Edna trying to bond with them after that tragedy, so those quirks work as a conflict to that.
There is an episode where I think Ned is watching tv shows and marking down if there is anything offensive. Rod and Todd walk in and look concerned. One of them comments along the lines of "we think you need a new mommy."
Its funny how an episode put out last sunday finally answers the difference: Todd actually has doubts about God and feels deep sorrow a lot, also he apparently has superhuman hearing.
I am absolutely speechless. I have listened to supposed "Simpsons Fans" podcasts, fans that project their intellect of the show beyond fanaticism, and they couldn't build a video like this. Bravo my friend. Again you prove why your channel is tops when I look for Simpson's fan videos. By the way, great gag in the middle of the video!
57 Year Old James Bond you’re thinking of the baby shower for Maggie, which was only 2 years before she moved there. My guess is she’s some kind of time traveler
I remember an episode where marge met up with ruth and she was a bodybuilder who was in prison. I guess she got arrested for the high speed chase she was in.
Don't forget, this is the episode where a photo of Maggie is on the wall before Maggie is even born... Ruth Powers must be time travelling with Maggie hahaha 🤣
I always thought Rod was about 12 just because he's pretty lanky, like he's on the cusp of an adolescent growth spurt, but it's hard to tell their ages because they both ACT younger than Bart and Lisa.
There was also that time where Lenny spent an entire summer carving Mount Carl for him. And then after showing it to Carl, they never spoke about it afterwards. I think Lenny scared Carl away.
Rod and Todd would make for a good treehouse of horror mini short where them being secluded from other kids would eventually lead them to go crazy. Something about the overly quiet reserved ones going psycho is a played out cliche but would work well with them.
I can't help but notice in earlier seasons they were more pale than a lot of other characters. They were literally sheltered, in that they must have stayed inside way more than everyone else.
No mention on how ‘Rock Bottom’ had to make the correction “The older Flanders boy is Todd, not Rod”? I think the real mystery is why ‘Rock Bottom’ was reporting on the Flanders in the first place. Either way, something doesn’t line up if you’re now saying Rod is the elder, I mean all the rest of the ‘Rock Bottom’ corrections were accurate: Styrofoam isn’t made from kittens, salt water doesn’t chase the thirsties away, and I did slow it down to read them all so yes I do not have a life.
It is kinda weird how little Rod and Todd are in the show despite living next to the Simpson's and Ned being such a major character. Dead Putting Society is probably the most either of them are in an episode and that is like in the first 20 episodes. Also with Lemon of Troy and Skinner's Sense of Snow it really feels like they were involved just so Ned can come get them later in the episode with Homer.
You're giving us a lot of credit knowing the differences between those characters. I still need to write on my hand Lenny = White and Carl = Black to tell the difference.
It could also be that the game is very vanilla and boring as it was based off of Mystery Date, which was an actual board game by Milton Bradley in the 1960s. I like to think Josh Weinstein also took a jab at Mystery Date with Bart's boredom at playing the game the family is playing while Lisa gets to go off and have fun, saying that Mystery Date was "a very disappointing game to play as a little boy"
Love your videos but one thing I want to point out. Early on the Flanders family seemed to represent the "grass is greener" on the otherside. Rather than be a cautionary tale (which is what it evolved too) we always see Flanders having a great successful life. The leftorium episode breaks away from this, but as we see in earlier episodes Homer is quite jealous of Flander's success with everything. Only really after the death of Maude do we see Rod and Todd get much more sheltered...possibly because of Ned's overprotection?
The beauty of earlier Simpsons is that none, literally none, of these continuity issues mattered. It was only as the show dragged on with the characters not aging but the continuity clearly changing that any of these issues emerged. Basically when the show become worse I started getting hung up on details. It's weird to me when you compare things that happened in season 29 with something like Bart Sells His Soul as they're practically different shows.
These characters are definitely odd. Despite appearing quite often, I feel there isn't much in them. They feel like empty characters at times, although they're not unlikable or anything. Btw, I do like the Mario and Luigi comparison. My favorite gaming franchise and one of my favorite cartoons in one video!
It's a fair point to make, I have to look up which one is Rod and which one is Todd. They ARE very similar in personality, and I think the show tends to emphasize how sheltered they are due to how Ned (and Maude before she died) raised them than creating any distinguishing characteristics between them, other than that one of them is technically older than the other.
Something to note about Rod being introverted is in season 5 episode Homer Loves Flanders, when the Flanders and the Simpsons go on their trip and Homer plays his rap tape, Rod is sat in the boat by himself while everyone else is in the car
You just reminded me of why I checked out during season 17, that is one of the GOOD episodes! I had these two completely backwards, so thanks for this well researched video.
Thanks for these videos! I've been watching the simpsons for as long as I can remember and it's nice watching these types of theory videos on my favourite childhood show. ❤️
Rod and Todd are, in my opinion, a representation of kids who have overprotective parents and how their parent's overprotectiveness has an impact on the way their child grows up. Like literally in every episode the Flanders appear Rod and Todd experience relentless sheltering by their parents from nearly everything that doesn't connect to religion or any other pious things that their family enjoys. As a result, they have strange personalities.
The reason I think I always remembered (or more accurately guessed correctly) was that a rod is something that is tall and thin, and if also inanimate and made of carbon, a true American hero
I wish the later seasons of Simpsons did what the later seasons of Arthur did and explore side characters, their personalities, families, traits and thought just as much, if not more than the main character. I would love to see episodes exploring Rod and Todd's character. The fact that Todd actually does something really cool and brave in that Season 17 episode really makes me want to watch it now.
I wish the later seasons of The Simpsons did what Arthur did and disappeared rather than keep going and sucking lol. The Simpsons is the Slayer of network television.
This channel is... Quality... Well I actually learning english and your channel is awesome....... Love your reflexions about the characters and situations
Nice video, but you forgot one thing. At the end of Homer Badman one of the Rock Bottom corections said: "The older Flanders boy is Todd, not Rod". I'm not sure if this actually says something, but it's worth mentioning in my opinion.
Awesome video, it would be cool if you could do an episode covering Kearney Zzyzwicz - he's a character whose canonical age has jumped wildly throughout the entirety of the series, but with a pretty large amount of scenes with him present (he kind of seems like an ageless being, based on the many references and the ages of him having a child and the times he doesn't and etc. from various episodes his age ranges from like 10-40)
What a trip. Radiowar - Intoxica is one of my most popular uploads on RU-vid so to just randomly hear it on a Simpson's episode was unexpected. Good content, though, man. Been binge watching these after work the last week.
You are an inspiration sir. I have aspirations of creating a channel where i talk about south park and its all from watching your channel for the last year
For years you have been doing this, and you still don’t have 1 million subs!!! Why?!!! Your like the only RU-vidr I get excited to see your pop up in my inbox
I know they're basically disappeared from the show over the past few years, but I'd like to see one done for Nelson's bully friends. Not Jimbo, Dolph, and Kearney, the much shorter guys who were really just background characters (not sure they even have names). They were part of the plot in Bart the General, I believe, when Bart was fighting against Nelson's continued bullying.
2:19 it was alway hilarious to me that the hyper- religious Rodd &Todd Flanders, when standing side by side in their football uniforms spell out 66-6. Back when the Simpsons had gags all over in every episode.
As someone who grew up going to private school and having a deeply religious family they always struck me as the cookie cutter sheltered Christian kiddos. Ik that's what the show was going for but I had classes with kids like them and when we all got to highschool and they were still incredibly sheltered their entire world was shattered by the reality of real life. It was scary how oblivious kids were to things because of their families. I think one kid wasn't allowed to watch any movies rated above G until she was like..17. She got kn trouble once for going to a sleepover where they watched a PG movie
