Despite the fact that The Simpsons was based around one single family, the ever-expanding universe has given us some fantastic supporting characters and obscure, one-shot episodes. We've scoured through the best episodes of The Simpsons and come back with a frankly huge list of our favourite obscure characters. Continuing our series of features, it's Springfield's Forgotten Heroes: Part 2...
5. HANS MOLEMAN
Hans Moleman is the perfect non-sequitur character, turning up in totally random situations and delivering absolutely classic one-liners. "I need the biggest sea-bell you have. No, that's too big." It's hard to know exactly what they were thinking when they created Hans Moleman - is he half man, half mole? Is he actually 31 year old? How did he survive that exploding car when Otto drove him off the road? Ah, who cares.
4. MILHOUSE VAN HOUTEN
If Bart was effortlessly cool, there had to be a foil for him. Someone who was painfully uncool. That someone was Milhouse. Bespectacled, nerdy and a terrible name to boot. The son of divorced parents and with a wide range of problems - anger issues, myopia, infatuation - Milhouse was everything Bart wasn't. "But my Mom says I'm cool..."
3. RAINIER WOLFCASTLE / McBAIN
Rainier Wolfcastle is, of course, an analogous version of Arnold Schwarzenegger. But perhaps more than that, Wolfcastle was everything The Simpsons writers wanted to say about Hollywood. He's loud, brash, alien and has absolutely no deeper meaning or integrity. How does he sleep at night? On top of a pile of money with many beautiful ladies.
2. JASPER
That's a paddlin'.
1. KANG & KODOS
A regular feature in the Hallowe'en Specials, Kang & Kodos even featured in the very first season, all the way back in 1991. Their most well-known episode was the Bill Clinton / Bob Dole Election segment of one of the Treehouse of Horror specials. Kang and Kodos took the form of Bill Clinton and Bob Dole, culminating in this clever little scene about the two-party system in US politics.