With technology comes change. With change comes fear. Technology can also do great and wonderful things, though. Things that are full of joy and wonder and purpose. We’d like to think those are the emotions that were going through the head of a Reddit user who happens to have a knack for 3D printing. This magnificent human being has crafted a beautiful ode to The Simpsons that is as practical as it is marvelous.
The Creation
Imagine you want to watch The Simpsons. Now, imagine you want to watch it on a replica of the TV that the titular family owns? Reddit user adrury did just that, but took it a step further. Using a combination of a Raspberry Pi unit and a 3D printer, adrury managed to construct a special version of that television set. Instead of functioning like an actual TV, the miniature set only plays episodes from the first 11 seasons of The Simpsons. They’ve set the television up so that you can change channels to see different episodes at random.
The Bonus Feature
As an additional little treat, and a nod to a “Treehouse of Horror” episode, the set also has a “good/evil” switch. If the toggle on the back is switched to “evil,” the television displays an emulator menu screen. From there, it allows you to select and play The Simpsons arcade game. Naturally, this isn’t exactly a “legal” way to play the game, but outside of emulation, you won’t really have a chance. The Simpsons game was released by Konami in arcades in 1991. Even though it got some awful home computer ports around that time, it only ever got one official console release. It was digital only for the Xbox 360 and PS3 and did not stick around long due to licensing issues. All that is to say, if you want to play it, you might want to consider looking into a setup like this. And if you do it this way, it’ll be incredibly aesthetically pleasing.
Unfortunately, adrury has not made his 3D printing schematics available for others yet. Maybe they’ll make them public at some point. Or maybe he’ll pull a Mr. Burns and try to blot out the sun. The second option probably isn’t going to happen.
We can respect the desire to have a one-of-a-kind replica all to yourself. It truly is an awesome piece of nostalgia, and we also respect the decision to go into the very early double-digit seasons. You did okily-dokily in our books, adrury!
