0352 - The Devil

Hmm, this might be a tricky one to define.

This is the first appearance of "Devil Classic", as I am going to call him. He appears a few times very early on, in the "Do The Batman" video, or three episodes from now in "Homer vs. Lisa and the Eighth Commandment":

As far as the show is concerned at this point, this is Satan, Lucifer, The Devil, The Big Guy...um...Downstairs, even as far as 1994 when he gets his own trading card:

If the show had been a flash-in-the-pan success, this would have remained the only version of The Devil that appeared in the show, and that would be that. But then The Simpsons did the very rude thing of existing another 30+ years, and needed to redefine the concept of Satan beyond this scrawny little Shearer-voiced dude.

I think the last "regular" appearance of Devil Classic is in season 5's "Rosebud":

before he is redefined twice just one episode later - both in a painting as a Flanders - in "Treehouse of Horror IV":

Obviously Devil Classic doesn't really fit into the story they're telling here, so The Devil is redefined for the sake of this episode. This seemingly gives them permission to ignore Devil Classic completely, and in future appearances he is altered to a scarier design, mostly in Treehouse of Horror episodes:

Although even then this newer design is somewhat inconsistent, as another design is used in season 17's "The Monkey Suit":

(Yes, this is an actor in an educational video, not literal Satan. Let's not complicate things further.)

So past season 5, Devil Classic is most dead and buried...until season 28's "Friends and Family", where he suddenly pops up with a completely different voice:

And, oddly, as the album art for season 34:

Devil Classic is therefore in some sort of limbo, which is ironic. He appears when the creators remember this version. Perhaps his shifting appearance is the greatest trick he ever pulled.

This does complicate things for out little project here so I'm going to go with my gut and do what feels right: Character #0352 is The Devil, and any future appearances of him will still be known as this character and not new versions - EXCEPT for Devil Flanders, who is enough of a presence in his own right to count as a separate character when we get to him.

Except...didn't I already cover Flanders? Oh, I'm so confused...

This post is part of my "Every Simpsons Character Ever" series. For a list of my rules in this project, click here.