Writing from Reality 05-People who inspire our Characters Part 02

A continuation of the WRITING FROM REALITY line of posts.

And a Direct Continuation of the 

CHARACTER INSPIRATION post from SEPTEMBER 14 2025.

So sit back, grab a bag of LAYS potato chips, and read along.

Our Blue-Skinned Hero's direct inspiration from a childhood Friend

(Plus, an extra out of my own amusement):

Yes. *HONK HONK*

Mosquito “Skeeter” Valentine from both Nickelodeon and Disney’s DOUG is based on a real person….

Sans the Cyan Skin-tone or Honking Noises

"What Honking Noise? *HONK HONK*"

Jim Jinkins’ high school friend TOMMY ROBERTS was the basis for all things SKEETER.

Tommy Roberts, The Original SKEETER VALENTINE.

How so?

Mostly the support for Doug as well as shared interests.

And of course, JIM's superhero persona called SUPER CLOD which would provide the inspiration for the QUAILMAN Character on the show.

All while TOMMY was the one videotaping Jim with BELL & HOWELL Cameras.

One thing however is that JIM's High School friend TOMMY is White

While people associate SKEETER as AFRICAN-AMERICAN despite the CYAN Skin tone.

And just for amusement, I think I know where Voice Actor FRED NEWMAN got the inspiration for SKEETER's Mouth Sounds throughout DOUG between 1991 to 1999.

He must have been inspired by LARVELL JONES the sound effects Cadet from the POLICE ACADEMY movies of the 80s.

As Portrayed by MICHAEL WINSLOW.

Better known to us SPACEBALLS fans as the RADAR TECHNICIAN

Don't worry.

Neither characters have lost the Bleeps, the Sweeps, and the Creeps.

Two Girls equals ONE HOT MAYONNAISE GIRL:

It’s tough to imagine but DOUG’s girlfriend Patricia “Patti” Mayonnaise was actually a combination of two girls that Jim knew throughout his teen hood.

Yes, I'm using Disney era PATTI MAYONNAISE 

but thank NEMATODES I'm using this flashback screenshot 

with her original longer haircut.

That VHS tape however might be a bit anachronistic for Jim's Childhood though.

Patti's personality as well as the entire character was based on PAM MAYO…. 

Who I think is JIM’s high school sweetheart that he unfortunately could not establish an everlasting relationship with before he met his future wife LISA.

The original PATTI MAYONNAISE.

aka PAMELA "PAM "MAYO

As where the name Patti came from?

That was based on another girl that JIM knew who actually went by the name of Patty.

My guess is that the personality of this other Patty became either BEEBE BLUFF or CONNIE BENGE before her weight loss in the summer of 1996.

Beebe Bluff & the original THICC Connie Benge

Circa 1993

(Aka. Bluffington Elementary Class of 1995-1996)

I’ll let you all be the judge of that in the comments on who this other Patty became.

Although the PAM MAYO photo has very short hair which would predict PATTI's Disney Series haircut,

I still stand by my preference of Patti's Longer Haircut used throughout the Nick Series and a few flashbacks from the Disney Series.

Besides, who wants a shorter haircut that's also reminiscent of Patti's voice actress 

CONSTANCE SHULMAN?

Our Lean, Mean, & Green Bully-Wannabe and his inspiration:

I’ve already said this before back in my March 18 2025 Clash Post where I pit Roger Klotz against Nelson Muntz but...

ROGER is indeed based on someone who used to pick on Jim Jinkins.

"As in some ACROSS-THE-STREET Neighbor. 

Not some guy who used to live in a Trailer Park who mooched off the Land-Owner

before a RICH PURPLE BLOWHARD made me R.I.C.K.H-RICH."

And yes, This Neighbor of JIM's was really named ROGER.

(Sans the Klotz name which was culled from another Neighborhood Family next-door to him)

The original ROGER KLOTZ

Go read my ROGER VS NELSON CLASH post and scroll until you see the above yearbook photo of the original Roger Klotz.(Jim's High School, not the Nicktoon Character.)

There, you will learn a surprising end of chapter story related to this guy who became the inspiration for our green friend here.

The obvious origins of THE SIMPSONS Family Names:

It's all been confirmed for many years that THE SIMPSONS FAMILY are based on MATT GROENING's family members growing up.

Homer Jay Simpson is based on MATT’s father HOMER GROENING….

In name only as unlike the Cartoon Homer, real-life Homer was a competent breadwinner and a filmmaker to boot.

Marjorie Bouvier “Marge” Simpson is based on….. MATT’s mother. 

Again, in name only but the interesting thing is that Marge was chosen because Matt’s mother was actually named MARGERET but he chose MARGE because he felt the name MARJORIE sounded funnier.

Both Lisa and Maggie Simpson were based on MATT’s two sisters who not only shared the same face but also bore the namesake of our cartoon sisters too.

Sans the personality.

Now as for Bart, he’s an interesting take.

He’s clearly based on MATT himself but he admitted that if he named the kid MATT, the naming scheme would have been too obvious so he instead decided to add a bit of his older brother MARK and call the kid BART.

Not only because the longer BARTHOLOMEW would be funny but also because it’s an anagram of the word BRAT which fits Bart’s personality very well.

Even if it was only for one joke which was all the way back in Season 1.

A Comic Book that not only mocked Corporate Culture but was based on the creator's own experience with said corporate offices:

How many times have you seen a movie, tv show, or comic book series that have mocked workplaces that the series creators have previously worked on?

DILBERT is one of those comic books that is CRITICAL of OFFICE CULTURE

About a good 10 years before both the UPN Tv Series 

& a good 10 years before MIKE JUDGE's OFFICE SPACE.

Maybe that's because like a lot of us, SCOTT ADAMS has been in workplace culture stemming from his former employment at CROCKER NATIONAL BANK, & PACIFIC BELL.

The Netflix Series was also a thinly veiled retelling of a writer's childhood:

At first when I heard about F IS FOR FAMILY, I thought it was one of those shows that was a TV-MA rated take on 1970s culture in animated form.

Turns out it’s more than that and rather it’s a fictitious take on BILL BURR’s childhood.

Look it up.

The Cul-de-sac Kids & the TORONTO Neighborhood Inspiration:

We know that the EDs of PEACH CREEK, WASHINGTON are based on not only DANNY ANTONUCCI's childhood but also on ANTONUCCI's two kids growing up.

But what about the other kids?

You know.... the Cul-de-sac kids.

Johnny, Plank, Nazz, Rolf, Kevin, Sarah, & Jimmy

It's pretty obvious that despite the fact that ED, EDD N EDDY is set in the USA, 

specifically the border between the WASHINGTON & BRITISH COLUMBIA,

The Cul-de-sac Kids are based on ANTONUCCI's friends from his Childhood days living in the Suburbs of TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA.

ROLF is based on ANTONUCCI himself as well as his Cousins.

Jimmy's based on one of ANTONUCCI's cousins who preferred to play with the girls which in turn inspired JIMMY's more feminine side.

Jonny & Plank were inspired by a friend of ANTONUCCI who was a loner who spent most of his time with this blanket.

Totally not referencing LINUS VAN PELT from PEANUTS since even LINUS has friends, despite the security blanket that he sometimes uses as a whip.

I don't know who in ANTONUCCI's childhood were the inspirations for SARAH, NAZZ, KEVIN, or even the KANKER SISTERs, so please don't ask unless you can provide your answer in the Comments.

Or if I get notified by ANTONUCCI himself on who these characters were based on.

Only then will I update this section of the Post.

The Concept that made GRAVITY FALLS work:

Names aside,

DIPPER and MABEL PINES are based on the adventures of Series Creator

ALEX HIRSCH & his sister ARIEL HIRSCH.

While obviously ALEX & ARIEL's childhood never revolved around conspiracies or monsters, their adventures have at least created the most critically acclaimed Disney TV Series of the 2010s.

Oh and I forgot to mention this:

GRUNKLE STAN is based on ALEX HIRSCH's grandfather.

Two MANLY characters from REN & STIMPY based on a father figure:

I’ve mentioned this before back in 2023 but I voluntarily truncated it back then. 

Here’s a semi-extended cut from that earlier post:

Both GEORGE LIQUOR

& ANTHONY’s DAD

are based on John Kricfalusi’s late father MICHAEL KRICFALUSI.

Two American Dads are inspired by this 

FACE OF CANADIAN MASCULINITY!!!

I’ve also mentioned(as was also mentioned by John K. On his blog) that MICHAEL was not 100% on board with his son becoming a cartoonist.

To MICHAEL, a REAL MAN should be into 

Carpentry, 

Hunting, 

Logging,

the Canadian Military, 

all that jazz!

Not making Cartoons regardless if it’s like that of Disney or Hanna-Barbera

Or if it’s satirical like a Political Cartoon

or even Comics like those of DON MARTIN.

Imagine growing up in a Nuclear Family of Four in Ontario, Canada and you have to put up with your Military Father who disliked your aspirations for Cartoons.

That’s MICHAEL KRICFALUSI for you.

And it’s not MICHAEL’s distaste for cartoons that’s befitting his personality but also his general obsession for FOLLOWING THE RULES!!!

John K. mentioned in a 2009 post about his father's authority that there were strict rules in the Kricfalusi house to follow.

Amongst those were things like EXACT UTENSILS FOR EACH FOOD GROUP!

Others included eating even the most DISGUSTING TO THE EYE meals like CREAMED CAULIFLOWER as well as FINISH EATING THE MEAT GRISTLES...

NO IFS-ANDS-OR-BUTS!!!

John K. assumes this must be because MICHAEL grew up during the GREAT DEPRESSION due to the father's 1929 birth.

(John K. is from 1955.)

And MICHAEL was not even the harshest DAD John K. knew imaginably.

Michael Kricfalusi's father(aka John K.'s Grandfather) was even more hard on his discipline.

AND THE GRANDFATHER WAS A PRIEST!!!!!!

Let that sink into your head.

The elder Kricfalusi(aka the Priest) is the one on the Left.

Grandma Kricfalusi is on the right.

Anyway, John K. based his George Liquor character on his father's Mannerisms regarding discipline and obsession with masculinity.

"Just what the hell kind of Sissy Things are they teaching them kids 

at them GODDAMN SCHOOLS!!!????"

But unlike John K. who would rather want to rebel against his father,

George Liquor's Nephew:

JIMMY THE IDIOT BOY 

would instead follow his Uncle's ideals despite his IQ.

As for ANTHONY's Father in A VISIT TO ANTHONY,

The mannerisms are there but so is the character's face.

Yup. That's right. ANTHONY's DAD's face is based on 

Michael Kricfalusi himself.

Right down to taking his shirt off during the Summer Season....

To which according to John K., was always a SCARY SIGHT to see because if he saw his Father going around SHIRTLESS, he knew he was in BIG TROUBLE. 

The only problem with ANTHONY'S FATHER was the performance of RANDY QUAID.

Unless the character was Rage Filled, especially during the fireplace scene above,

RANDY QUAID barely made sense of the the FATHER'S manliness during the more softer scenes where the character's rage is suppressed.

Oh and by the way, here's an irony:

BOTH GEORGE LIQUOR & the guy who inspired him MIKE KRICFALUSI, they're part of the conservative party but what's the irony?

JOHN K's favorite actor THE LATE KIRK DOUGLAS was a member of the Democratic Party.

And so is his son MICHEAL DOUGLAS.

Sorry but I don't have any of my own examples this time around.

Reason?

The one about LIZA LAM that I talked about on the previous post was the best one and any other inspiration will not top the aforementioned example.

I'll be sure to follow this post with a part 6 but I'm not sure if I'll make one for December. 

I might.

If not, then wait for January 2026 for the next WRITING FROM REALITY Post.

More proof that character Concept art is better than their final versions-FREE BIRDS

It was October or November 2013.

I was sometimes at Safeway in Broadway Street, near the SkyTrain.

or was it in SURREY, or NEW WESTMINSTER?

I might be misremembering things since I was focused on the 10th grade in High School....

Anyway, I often saw advertisements for this film called FREE BIRDS from REEL FX.

When the film released to theaters in around Thanksgiving 2013, 

The film did absolutely poorly and got negative reviews from critics alike.

And to tell you the truth, I don't blame them.

The premise was already stupid anyway.

Two Turkeys find a Time Machine, go back in time to Late-Colonial era AMERICA,

And put forth a plan to put a permanent end to TURKEYS FOR THANKSGIVING DINNER.

7 years later, during the COVID-19 LOCKDOWN,

I read and I was surprised to find out that JOHN K. actually did some concept art for the film.

2018 Allegations aside, The moment I saw the concept art, I felt:

"WHY DID REEL FX DITCH THE ART IN FAVOUR OF THE RIO AESTHETIC!?"

FREE BIRD's concept art looks 10x better than the final film.

And they even converted the prototype concept art into RIGGED 3D MODELS just to show that it could still work.

Of Course REEL FX mandated All-CGI

so the prototype Art had to be converted to 3D Models

just to prove it can work.

So what the hell happened there?

COMPANY POLITICS. THAT'S WHAT!!!

That and there's a rule that in order for a CGI movie to succeed but you're not with UNIVERSAL STUDIOS whether it's DREAMWORKS or ILLUMINATION,

Your film has to be in the DISNEY Mold for the CG Models

no-ifs-ands-or-buts.

This mentality reeks of the 90s when many animation studio decided mandate a requirement to design their characters in the DISNEY mold in a vain attempt to unseat the MOUSE HOUSE but it's that same mantra made those competitive films bomb in both the BOX OFFICE and with CRITICS.

So REEL FX probably decided to fire JOHN K. discard his designs

and went for these awful designs that looked like rejected characters from the RIO movie.

And the funny thing is that FREEBIRDS was susposed to premiere at NOVEMBER 2014 but then suddenly, 

MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN was moved to back to it's intended MARCH 2014 release

While I haven't seen both films in their original release,

MR PEABODY AND SHERMAN did better with critics and audiences so who am I to judge.

And I guess time has been a bit forgiving for this film when it comes to how I see people on Social Media nowadays being a bit forgiving to FREE BIRDS....

But hey, JOHN CARPENTER'S THE THING took a long time to finally get good reviews but his excuse was that competing with SPIELBERG'S E.T was poor timing on CARPENTER'S part in 1982.

Yes, I live in CANADA, in fact I still do,

And while I should have posted this on OCTOBER for my fellow Canadian readers,

Many of my readers are from the USA, and THANKSGIVING falls on NOVEMBER for them,

what with traditions, MACY'S PARADE, & of course for us consumers:

BLACK FRIDAY & CYBER MONDAY.

So that's why this Post is here on this day of November instead of OCTOBER.

Happy 20th Anniversary Xbox 360

To be honest, 

I'm not much of an Xbox Gamer.

I prefer PlayStation. Sorry but at least I admit it.

But I'm probably gonna get hounded if I don't give the PS Competitor it's birthday wishes.

But seeing as I did pay attention to the console and it's woes back in the mid to late 2000s as well as play on the various XBOXs owned by my friend, 

I'll give my own subjective view about the Console.

The XBOX 360.

Why is it so remembered by gamers?

Well it was the first entry to the 7th Generation of Video Game Consoles.

It was released on November 22 2005 so it had a head start compared to it's competitors as the PS3 was still in it's development phase though a controller prototype was unveiled.

and the Wii was still in active development back when it was still called REVOLUTION though we first got a glimpse of the Wii Remote back in E3 in May 2005.

But the XBOX 360 was a major deal back in 2005 because it was a glimpse at what today's modern Game Consoles can be capable of.

Not only was it a Console that plays games but it was also a Media Center device which not only plays games but also lets you browse the internet, Watch Videos through YouTube, Netflix, etc.

It also was a DVD Player too.(Though that would later be it's detriment.)

Even though not everyone had said TVs, the XBOX 360 was also the very first Game Console to use the 1080p HDTV standard for video... though that was for consoles released after 2007.

For many years until the beginning of the 2010s, this was the most common configuration for XBOX 360 owners

Eventually, people were able to realize the HDTV goodness of their XBOXs in the later years of the console's life.

Another thing that made the XBOX 360 so successful was the controller.

The aforementioned Xbox Game controller above is seen as a dramatic improvement over the previous two controllers from the Original Xbox.

The Duke Controller

The "S" Controller

Made for the HARDCORE GAMER in mind, 

The 360 Controller sought to combine the aspects of what made the PlayStation DualShock Controllers so good, 

And borrow from Nintendo's ANALOG TRIGGERS used in the GameCube,

Made for such a memorable controller,

That eventually PC Gaming made the XBOX Controllers the de facto Standard for Button Layouts to a point that many a third-party developer of PC Game Controllers also decide to borrow from the XBOX Controller in Controller design.

The XBOX 360 went through 3 different UIs in it's lifespan

First is Blades,

Second is NEW XBOX EXPERIENCE,

& Finally METRO 

I see people on the internet saying they prefer the original BLADES interface

but seeing as I never owned an XBOX, My preference is in a grey area.

And even when I did use my friend's XBOXs, by then, their 360s were already updated with the aforementioned later two versions.

Like I said, The XBOX 360 primarily uses DVD as it's Disc Medium.

So not only could you use the XBOX 360 as your DVD Player in the same vein as the PS2,

Original Xbox with the DVD Dongle,

and the Japan exclusive PANASONIC Q GameCube,

But the advantage of DVDs is that the XBOX can pack more info on the disc, especially with double the layers on the disc.

Though later on, XBOX took a gamble with HD-DVDs via an external player.

The 360 would later have it's share of additional accessories throughout it's lifespan.

Controller aside, there were things like:

A KEYBOARD for your controller

Steering Wheel & Pedals for your Racing Games

Flight Sticks for flying or fighter jet games

Headsets for trash talking to people ONLINE

The Infamous KINECT of all things

The list of Accessories is so large that listing them all in this blogpost would make long and dry.

 

Yes. Truly the XBOX 360 would have been the PERFECT CONSOLE for the gamer back in the mid-2000s.

And MICROSOFT would have gotten away with it if only if it weren't for those meddling kids at both SONY & NINTENDO pressuring the WINDOWS company to rush the release of their CONSOLE.

While the 2005 Launch of the XBOX was smooth sailing, it brought in a lot of problems.

And we can thank this RED LED PUKE below for reminding us of all the horrors that came about with this console.

The INFAMOUS RED RING OF DEATH was the BANE of every XBOX Owner's existence.

This thing lit up every time there's a problem with the console LEFT & RIGHT.

While I never owned an XBOX 360 during my childhood, I did hear about the RED RING fallout and Seen various YOUTUBE videos discussing the matter.

For example, There was this video made by TWEETERMAN287 that's long since removed where he fought with his XBOX 360 after it got the Red Ring of Death before he eventually sent it for repair.

So what was the cause of the RED RING OF DEATH?

Well we didn't know at the time due to issues like this often being kept in the dark from a lot of us but in the later years, we knew there was more to it than it met the eye.

We knew it was an OVERHEATING issue that caused the RED RING but what we didn't know until years later was that it was a RUSHED SOLDERING JOB regarding the GPU.

The XBOX 360's Graphics were supplied by the Canadian ATI TECHNOLOGIES who made the 500mhz ATI XENOS Chip that generated the game graphics for the console.

But the Ball Soldering of the XENOS chip as I mentioned was rushed to meet the November 2005 deadline and as a result, the overheating caused the Solder Joints on the XENOS Chip to somehow disconnect from the Substrate Imposer which caused all these issues during the Power Cycling of the Console.

And if you were to blame it on 2005 Era MICROSOFT? 

DON'T!!!

The blame is primarily on the EUROPEAN UNION

for forcing companies to follow strict guidelines on Electronic Manufacturing Regulations and MICROSOFT had to follow the rules or else they'd risk getting into a lot of trouble with the EU.

Many manufacturers hated these strict guidelines but there's nothing they could do to rectify that. 

Very similar to how manufacturers in the 70s, 80s, and 90s hated how the FCC had strict guidelines on RF emissions for video signals but in a more MODERN SENSE,

There were other Technical Problems with the Xbox 360 but we tend to focus only on the RED RING due to how prominent it was to our eyes.

Just imagine yourself in 2005.

You spend about US$300 or US$400 on this Console only for it to fail on you in less than a year.

Until we knew the truth in 2021 when the XBOX History documentary was released, a lot of us gamers were absolutely FURIOUS about this.

This problem could be viewed as MUCH WORSE than the...

The Lion King Storybook/COMPAQ PRESARIO WinG API Debacle of December 1994.

And back then, many gamers were rage filled & Arrogant

(And we still are today)

Here's the typical Gamer of 2005 reacting to these problems.

"FUCKERS!!!!

I ASKED FOR THE PERFECT GAME CONSOLE

AND NOW I'M READING ABOUT ALL THIS RED RING OF DEATH BULLSHIT!?

THIS IS TRASH!!!!! "

I just used that image of an Angry Earthbound Fan and typed that exaggerated dialogue just as an example of how demanding of PERFECTION us gamers are when it comes to console or computer manufacturing.

We don't care if the product needs refinement.

All we cared about is PERFECTION.

Also, the exaggerated dialogue from the above image was inspired by the clips used in the Documentary featuring Gamers RAGING over the Technical Problems.

Also my PERFECTION remarks were inspired by clips of SNOOP DOGG claiming the XBOX was less than perfect.... at least from the Documentary's perspective.

Anyway, RED RING OF DEATH was crass to all of us gamers to the point that we had to look at the different motherboard revisions and hope that it's not the affect ones and unfortunately, many people who had their share of wonderful memories of the XBOX 360 often had the revisions before the JASPER BOARD revisions.

And newer PRE-2010 revisions could either be the JASPER or ELPIS revisions.

Like I said. I never owned an Xbox 360 in any form whatsoever as I had just my Nintendo Wii & my MDG HORIZON  Windows XP PC as my gaming fixes from between 2005 to 2011.

Though my father did own an XBOX 360 Slim at one point but he never let me play with it.

I wonder why?

As controversial as I may say this, I'm glad I didn't have a 360 as I was between 7 to 15 during the console's peak years and I can imagine how furious my mother would have been if she spent like $300 only for it to Red Ring on me.

DOUBLY SO IF IT WAS IN 2008 DUE TO THE RECESSION OF THAT YEAR.

At least I had contact with a few of my friends who actually owned XBOX 360s that they let me play with though my memory is a bit fuzzy on what games I played on.

The last time I could remember using their 360 was using it to watch FUTURAMA on Netflix.

So yeah.

While I had much less experience with the XBOX 360 what with not owning one during my school years as well as being glad I didn't own one due to the hardware issues that would have pissed off my mother at the time due to Finances,

I understand the impact that the XBOX 360 had to offer as it was the first of it's kind in terms of HD Gaming as well as a Media Center for your TV before PlayStation played Catch Up until their highly successful PS4 in 2013

and before Apple made their TV Boxes or ROKU made STANDALONE devices for Media Centers.

(Notice I didn't mention Chromecast or Amazon Fire Tvs?)

As for the 2021 XBOX Documentary, 

POWER ON: THE STORY OF XBOX is still available as highlighted next to this paragraph.

I highly recommend you check it out because it not only highlights the impact the XBOX brand has had to us gamers but it also is very informative about the Red Ring Controversy.