Gumbly is a fake Simpsons character used in a long-running photoshop hoax where users insert a bulbous yellow figure into show stills and invent episodes around him.

Where did Gumbly come from?

The illustration is a repurposed Japanese imageboard character called Yakiu no Oniichan from 2010, first pasted into a Simpsons image on 2channel in October 2015 and later rebranded as Gumbly by a 4chan /x/ user on January 29, 2021.

What does Gumbly mean?

Gumbly is a nonsense name coined by Twitter user @SimianJimmy in January 2021 for the fake Simpsons character; in May 2022 the same image got a second name, Graggle Simpson, from a Facebook Mandela Effect joke.

How do you use Gumbly?

Users typically photoshop the character into real Simpsons screencaps and caption them with fake episode summaries, invented emotional moments, or Mandela Effect framings.

Is Gumbly still popular?

The meme peaked in two waves, the 2021 Gumbly tweets and the 2022 Graggle Simpson posts that pulled tens of thousands of likes, and it is still referenced as a go-to example of a fake-canon Simpsons joke.

Gumbly

2021hoax / photoshop memesemi-active

Published October 9, 2026

Gumbly, also known as Graggle Simpson, is an internet hoax claiming The Simpsons quietly added a bulbous yellow character to recent seasons. The joke started on Twitter in January 2021, then exploded again in May 2022 when a Facebook post reframed the same image as a Mandela Effect, kicking off one of the strangest fake-canon memes of the year.

simpsons hoax memes character design memes 4chan memes collaborative fiction memes

Overview

Gumbly / Graggle Simpson works by pasting a lumpy yellow humanoid with a vacant stare into legitimate Simpsons screencaps, then inventing episode summaries, emotional beats, or childhood memories tied to him1. The gag is that no such character exists, but the posts are written with total sincerity, as if the audience should obviously remember him from a late-season finale or a Milhouse-related subplot4.

Two flavors of the joke run in parallel. The 2021 Gumbly variant leans into fake fandom discourse, with users ranking him among their favorites or describing episodes that were never written9. The 2022 Graggle Simpson variant frames the exact same character as a Mandela Effect, with posters insisting an entire universe forgot him2. The design, borrowed from a Japanese imageboard mascot, is grotesque enough to make the premise feel plausibly off-brand for recent Simpsons seasons.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

4chan / Twitter (2021 hoax), Facebook (2022 Graggle revival)

Date

2021

The underlying illustration predates the meme by over a decade. The character, originally known as Yakiu no Oniichan (Baseball Bro), circulated on the Japanese 2channel Nan-J boards from December 2010 onward6. On October 3, 2015, an anonymous 2channel user on the /livejupiter/ board pasted him into a Simpson family portrait, producing the base image that would later be reused6.

The Gumbly identity emerged on January 29, 2021, when a 4chan /x/ poster shared the image with a fabricated backstory claiming Matt Groening designed the character as an embarrassing self-insert the writers refused to use, warning readers never to mention 'Weird Matt' or 'Yellow Matt' to him3. Later that same day, Twitter user @SimianJimmy posted a doctored cast photo captioned about a 'hideous new character called Gumbly' and demanded the show be canceled, in a tweet that was later deleted1.

How It Spread

After @SimianJimmy's deleted tweet, the joke spread quickly across Twitter in late January 2021. User @RayDibb added Gumbly to an older Simpsons scene and pulled over 4,400 likes8, while @tonyjcelano ran the same gag the same day4. User @_Naryas pushed into fake-lore territory with a tweet ranking Gumbly among their top five characters and calling him a better father to Lisa than Homer, picking up more than 2,100 likes9. @WaterBottleFann followed up with a tweet recalling a fabricated episode where Gumbly broke Milhouse's leg11.

The meme went dormant until May 22, 2022, when Facebook user Yeliab Ressap reposted the original 2015 image with the caption 'NEW MANDELA EFFECT JUST DROPPED, THIS UNIVERSE DOESN'T HAVE GRAGGLE SIMPSON,' racking up roughly 1,700 shares in nine days2. The Instagram page mymoistmemes screenshotted the post on May 24, pulling about 10,400 likes10, and Twitter user @poloo098 posted another screenshot on May 27 that reached roughly 78,900 likes in four days5.

The Graggle framing stuck. On May 28, 2022, @CalmDownLevelUp posted a thread of Simpsons screencaps relabeled as Graggle sightings7, and @TheFunkyStudios tied the two eras together with a tweet pointing out that Graggle Simpson was just Gumbly with a new name12.

Timeline

2010-12

Yakiu no Oniichan, the base illustration, first appears on 2channel's Nan-J boards.

2015-10-03

An anonymous 2channel /livejupiter/ user pastes the character into a Simpson family portrait.

2021-01-29

A 4chan /x/ user posts the image with a fake backstory about a Matt Groening self-insert; @SimianJimmy posts the first viral Gumbly tweet the same day.

2021-01-30

@RayDibb, @tonyjcelano, @_Naryas, and @WaterBottleFann flood Twitter with photoshops and fake Gumbly lore.

2022-05-22

Facebook user Yeliab Ressap reframes the image as a Mandela Effect under the name Graggle Simpson.

2022-05-27

Twitter user @poloo098 shares a screenshot of the Facebook post that reaches around 78,900 likes.

2022-05-28

@TheFunkyStudios points out that Graggle Simpson is just the 2021 Gumbly character renamed.

How to Use This Meme

The typical format takes a real Simpsons screencap, drops Gumbly into the frame via photoshop, and pairs it with a straight-faced caption treating him as canon. Common conventions include fake episode recaps, invented emotional moments ('more of a father to Lisa than Homer'), or Mandela Effect framings insisting the audience's universe is the broken one.