Poder Politico

About

Poder Politico or Homer Simpson "Political Power" is a series of memes, including video edits and image macros, based on a Spanish clip from The Simpsons season eight episode 12 in which Mr. Burns asks Homer Simpson (who are both stuck in a cabin) what type of power he has, to which Homer responds, "poder politico," meaning, "political power," followed by the ghosts of various politicians and rulers appearing behind him. The original meme was posted to Reddit in February 2023 with the first video edit being posted to YouTube in September 2023, redrawing the scene in the style of an Undertale fight, set to the unfinished song "GOD (An Engineer Gaming Megalo)" by Benjamin Cumson Bohner. It was popularized on TikTok in December 2023 and January 2024.

Origin

In the February 2nd, 1997, episode of The Simpsons, titled "Mountain of Madness," Homer and Mr. Burns get stuck in a log cabin due to an avalanche.^[1] At one point, both the men are sitting across from each other as they lose their sanity, each believing that the other is going to turn on them. Burns says he will kill Homer, who asks, "You and what army?" followed by an army of transparent snowmen appearing behind Burns. Homer, scared, says, "Stay back, I have powers. Political powers!" followed by an army of ghost politicians and rulers, including Abe Lincoln, Gandhi and a pharaoh appearing behind him with weapons (shown below).

On February 16th, 2021, X^[2] user @out_chile posted an image macro using the scene that gained around 100 likes in three years. On February 21st, 2023, Redditor u/SnooSeagulls1047 posted a screenshot of a now-deleted X post to /r/196^[3] captioning the image of Homer in front of the army with "Undertale fangame of Sans in the genocide route," garnering over 1,600 upvotes in 11 months (shown below). A version of the same meme was reposted to /r/Undertale^[4] that month, garnering over 2,100 upvotes in the same span of time.

Spread

On August 29th, 2023, YouTuber^[5] •FrankitøLQ4001• posted a video consisting of the "genocide route" meme over an unfinished Undertale fan song by SoundCloud^[6] user Benjamin Cumson Bohner titled, "WHAT IS THE NAME OF THIS MEGALOVANIA PLZ," garnering over 900,000 views in five months (shown below, left).

On September 19th, YouTuber^[6] Aarón 16kf4 posted a video editing the Spanish version of the "Mountain of Madness" scene set to the same song, in which the art style changes to that of an Undertale battle as Homer summons the politicians, garnering over 399,000 views in four months (shown below, right). On October 7th, the original meme was reposted to /r/Undertale^[7] again, garnering over 4,000 upvotes in three months.

The meme became increasingly popularized on TikTok throughout November and December 2023, leading into January 2024. On December 22nd, 2023, TikToker^[8] @hollowscraps posted an edit that gained over 294,000 views in a month. On January 4th, 2024, YouTuber^[9] bodoque posted an edit of the meme adding a "game over" screen to the latter half, garnering over 160,000 views in a week (shown below).

On January 6th, 2024, TikToker^[10] @dampax_official02 posted a video redrawing each scene of the meme, garnering over 920,000 views in five days (shown below, left). On January 7th, TikToker^[11] @el_alfreddo_dampax posted a video recreating the meme with plush toys, garnering over 400,000 views in four days (shown below, right).

On the same day, X^[12] user @Dorenian_ posted a redraw of the scene featuring a variety of characters enjoyed by the furry community, garnering over 500 likes in four days.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References