Ned Flanders (seasons 11b-31)

Ned Flanders is a recurring character from the long-running American animated sitcom The Simpsons. He has been badly butchered in seasons 11-12 and 16-31.

Why He Used To Suck

 * 1) He originally just enjoyed going to church, but then he went to being obsessively religious and becoming a Moral Guardian.
 * 2) Not only Ned is obsessively religious and takes his religion way too seriously, he lashes out at and hate anybody who doesn't support Christianity. For example, he once lashed at Apu for his Hinduism.
 * 3) Due to the death of his wives (Maude and Edna) he started to make a punching bag to make jokes about loneliness, depression and melancholy, which instead of serving as a starting point for the development of the character, they use it as a trope of a tragic figure.
 * 4) After Maude's death, he acquired all the characteristics of his wife becoming an extremist religious fanatic, at the same time his role in The Simpsons has changed completely, from being the voice of reason or Homer's friend-rival to being relegated only to make religious jokes or to have a role only related to religion.
 * 5) Ned Flanders mainly bothers his neighbor, Homer Simpson and his son Bart constantly.
 * 6) He is an unlikable character to the point he has a trope named after him.
 * 7) On more than one occasion, he hints that he gets to do at a certain point bisexual by being attracted to many women in the city, but at the same time he feels sickly attracted to his own children like Reverend Lovejoy.
 * 8) He once tried to baptize Bart and Lisa without their parents' permission. (albeit, Ned thought their parents were gone or missing.)
 * 9) The attitude or personality that he has with his children instead of being paternal becomes submissive or pedophile.
 * 10) He's become a short tempered jerk who lashes out at anyone who bothers him in the slightest, it got to the point where he assaulted Homer because he was spending a lot of time with his parents.
 * 11) He has acquired a psychopathic position by wanting to hate his parents to death.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) In more recent episodes he seems to have gained more tolerance to other religions and homosexuality, as long as the people in question are good-natured.
 * 2) He managed to recover from his flanderization twice, the first time was during Seasons 13-15, and the second time is his current one since Season 32.
 * 3) When loses his wife, Maude. Most fans may feel pit at him.

Trivia

 * He is the trope namer of Flanderization, a common term for taking a minor action/trait of the character and obsessively exaggerating it to the point where it becomes the character's main personality.

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