Moe’s Ark – WDTCF – The Character Gumbo Addition

I give up.  When I started to do a Where Did That Come From post for some of the main characters we win or can buy in this event, I realized quickly that EA and the Writers are REALLY reaching into their huge grab bag of random characters to come up with the offerings for “Moe’s Ark.”  People keep asking why it’s named that. I suspect now that it has to do with the “Two of Everything” concept.

And I get it. We have more than 600 different episodes from which to pull…so why not just close your eyes and reach into the bag, and see if you can make it work with the Event Theme (that someone most likely came up with while doing the same sort of word game).

And not to take away from the overall outcome, like a good Gumbo, it’s not so much that all of the parts actually make sense, its how you use them.  But, trying to make some connections to the episodes and the title?  Uhm…not so much.

Let’s break down where some of the Primary Prize Characters came from.  But, I’m warning you…if you are looking for “Moe” or “Ark” or even “Zoo” in the titles…you are going to be confused.
 And yes…I am going to do some “Spoilage” here...as most of this is posted in another place, who also supposedly signed an NDA saying he wouldn’t. But, I digress…

Some of this you knew…some you won’t…but just know that they are all in this update, at some point. I won’t go into details…except to tell you (like we did with Sarah Wiggum) that they are coming. OK? Ok.

Larry Kidkill – Springfield Zoo Entrance.- “Eight Misbehaven” (S11E7) 

Brittany Brockman – Act 1 Prize – “Lisa VS Malibu Stacey” (S5E14)

T-Rex Act 2 Prize- “The Day the Earth Stood Cool” (S24E7) 

Teenage Homer – Act 3 Prize.- “The Way We Was” (S2E12)

Azzlan Unlocks with Serfsons House – Premium – “The Serfsons” (S29E1)

Kitenge – Unlocks with African Tree Resort – Premium “Simpson Safari” (S12E17)

Joan Bushwell – Unlocks with Chimp Refuge- Premium – “Simpson Safari”(S12E17)

Allison Taylor – Unlocks with Taylor House- Premum – “Lisa’s Rival” (S6E2)

Knifey Spooney – Unlocks with Crocky Waters -Premium – “Bart-vs- Australia” (S6E16)

Sarah Wiggum – Unlocks with Springfield Aquarium- Premium – Actually in LOADS of episodes…so it’s about damn time we saw her! BUT…none of the episodes mentioned above. Pass the Gumbo please…

There will also be a chance to get “Yo Yo”
which is some sort of giant Kangaroo character who unlocks with the “Worm Train” when Act III really goes off of the rails (if worm trains had rails). But, I won’t even begin to try to tie that one together…or maybe I will, to make my point.

Look, I know it seems like I am being unduly hard on “the creators” for this event. But, HolyFreakinShirt! Would it be so hard to actually do a major event that is actually pulled from one, or even just two similar episodes???

Not here folks. Not even close.

Eight Misbehavin’? According to the WIKI “”Apu’s wife Manjula gives birth to octuplets. Everyone in Springfield soon pitches in to help, until a couple in Shelbyville gives birth to nine, causing everyone to forget about Apu and Manjula.”  Ironically…this is the most “Zoo-Centric” of the episodes, as Larry Kidkill places Apu’s octuplets into the zoo, and gives them a show “Octopia.”  Is any of this in the event?  Nope. Except for Larry.

Lisa VS Maibu Stacey has absolutely nothing to do with the zoo…or animals…or well much of anything, except for Malibu Stacey and Lisa. Fail.

The Way We Was? Has about as much to do with a zoo, or the ark, or anything related to either, as Homer does coming back from the past, to become another “Time/Space Offender” in our Springfields. Bah. Silly. Out of place. ONE line in the game dialogue tries to pull it together and make sense. I won’t spoil it…as the concept itself is enough of a spoiler.

Let’s see…we all know that the Serfsons was a parody of “Game of Thrones” and Azzlan was just a side joke to make fun of Christianity. The only tie-in to the Ark or a Zoo?  He’s a lion. Get it? Azzlan is a lion (when he isn’t being symbolic Jesus). So, we’ll make him part of the zoo. Ugh.  Please. time for the rapture.  I loved this episode. It could have been an entire event on its own. But, nope…

Lisa’s Rival has nothing to do with Zoos, Arks, or Animals…and I mean nothing. How/Why? is all that comes to mind. Don’t get it. But, I guess we were due for Allison Taylor. After all…we finally have Sarah…right?

Bart -vs- Australia seems like it could have some real “Zoo-Centric” stuff. But, mostly not. It is mostly about Bart defiling Australia…and then bringing in an invasive Frog, which spreads throughout the land.  AHA!!!!!!!!!  Finally a tie-in to the event…kinda.

Simposon’s Safari- is finally an episode that makes sense for this event, and brings us a couple of characters that also bring some of the best content/decorations.  According to the WIKI, “In a frantic search for food Homer finds a box of thirty-year-old animal crackers, which contains a gold giraffe – which means he has just won an African safari.“

The plot could actually have been a better event than this zoo/ark business. After winning the trip, and then meeting their tour guide, Kitange, “They then find their way to Joan Bushwell’s Chimp Refuge where they seek Dr. Bushwell’s help. At the Chimp Refuge, the poachers attack. The Simpsons help Dr. Bushwell to fend them off, until Lisa found out that they were with Greenpeace. Greenpeace explained that they were trying to save the chimps because Dr. Bushwell was running a diamond mine, with the chimps as slaves. Dr. Bushwell gets erratic and slightly crazy and offers the Simpsons diamonds in exchange for their silence on the matter. The Simpsons accept and go home with a lot of diamonds. On the plane, they notice another billboard, this one showing that Kitenge had now become president.”  Like I said…. it makes as much sense as this event.

But………the BIG MYSTERY of “what in the hell is a Worm Train?” was solved when I re-watched “The Day the Earth Stood Cool” where we are introduced to the “coolest family in Springfield” (transplants from hipster capital of the world, Portland, Oregon), who have a pet Armadillo (which appears in our petting zoo) and a weird little son named T-Rex, who should be in a zoo, who show’s Lisa a video on his iPad, which depicts the Worm Train and Yo Yo…the flying Kangaroo…for exactly 5 seconds.

Again…the writers have decided that making sense of one or two episodes just isn’t as fun as Random Character Gumbo…and we are offered characters from a flash by on an iPad inside of a One-Off Character’s house (the Hipsters leave by the end of the episode).

Gumbo.  I’ll just say it here. Without crayfish and shrimp…it’s mostly just potato soup. And frankly…this thing just barely holds together as a base for the parts. While sometimes, throwing together a bunch of stuff in a pot and cooking it up and calling it something special works…usually, it just looks and tastes like a mess.

WDTCF??? Pffffftttt…. You don’t have time.

But, we got Sarah!  Woot Woot!  She’s Ralphie’s Mom! She makes sense!

Even if she was 300 donuts (which may add to her shape) and has nothing to do with a zoo…and ark…or monkeys.