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CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS 101: A FULL LESSON ON THE SERIES AS A WHOLE AND THE IDENTITY IMPLICATIONS IT PRESENTS

for @basilthesnakingthing's own enjoyment

quick disclaimer that I have not read the books in a few years, but I did rewatch the film this morning and as I write this, the Netflix TV series is playing in the background. my knowledge is not perfect and I may have a few details off, but this has been written to the best of my ability.

basic knowledge about the series:

cu was originally a series of twelve epic novels written by Dav Pilkey. it centres around two American fourth grade boys, George Beard (the kid on the left with the tie and the flat top) and Harold Hutchins (the kid on the right with the t-shirt and the bad haircut. remember that now).

the two of them have been best friends forever and create many comics in George's tree house in their spare time, the most relevant of these comics being of Captain Underpants, a superhero whom they invented because so many superheroes look like they're flying around in their underwear. he's faster than a speeding waistband, more powerful than boxer shorts, and able to leap tall buildings without getting a wedgie, (yes this is a quote from the actual series) and has the catchphrase "Tra-La-La". like his name suggests, he wears underwear, and in addition to that, a red cape with polka dots. he is also bald.

the boys' main concern in life is their school principal, Mr Benjamin Krupp (egg /aff). Mr Krupp is a grouchy toupee-wearing child-hating curmudgeon (who, at least in the film, literally lives on Curmudgeon Boulevard). Mr Krupp's mission in life is to make his students, especially George and Harold, as miserable as possible.

the series of events that leads to the main plot differs between the books and the film (with the origin skipped altogether in the tv series), but the basic gist is that the boys end up in a situation where they are at the complete mercy of Mr Krupp, and they are not happy. this is where the 3D Hypno Ring comes in. the 3D Hypno Ring, in the book, was manufactured by Li'l Wiseguy Novelty Company and acquired by George through online order; in the film, it was acquired by George as a toy from a cereal box. either way, it is in George's possession, and as a last-ditch attempt at stopping Mr Krupp, the boys hypnotise him into thinking he is, in fact, Captain Underpants.

the swap between Mr Krupp and Captain Underpants is triggered by two separate events: in order to turn Krupp into Cap, one must snap their fingers. so, literally any time Krupp hears finger-snapping, he turns into Cap. in order to turn Cap into Krupp, he needs his head to get wet. it's not fully clear how wet his head needs to be in order to swap back, but if Krupp's head is wet without a way to dry it, he cannot be turned into Cap, as the water counteracts the snapping. in the same vein, if Krupp cannot hear the snap, he cannot be turned into Cap.

Cap, although he means well, is not exactly the most intelligent of people, and usually ends up causing more trouble than he causes. we love him for this. although he starts out a normal man with normal man abilities, he does eventually gain superpowers. in the third book, he drinks alien extra-strength super power juice, which gives him superhuman strength, durability and flight abilities. in the film, he falls into a giant radioactive toilet and acquires powers from the horrible toxic waste within - these powers are the same as in the books, but with the addition of unlimited underwear. the show, once again, does not show this origin, however, it's implied that the Cap of this timeline also drank alien superpower juice.

the books and show usually go on with a base plotline of George and Harold make a comic, and somehow (usually due to some sort of prank they pull, often with the aid of one of Melvin's inventions), the monstrous, potty-humour themed villain of the comic comes to life. Jerome Horowitz Elementary will never know a day of peace again.

and yeah, there you have the basic gist of Captain Underpants lore! I've skipped out on many other characters and plot points that aren't too relevant to what I want to talk about, so I'll just move on now.

KRUPP, CAP, AND MY THOUGHTS:

so, Krupp and Cap are the same person. neither of them know this, of course; Krupp, whenever he hears the snapping of fingers, essentially blacks out until he comes to, all wet and in his underwear. he is not having a fun time of it, as his memory is basically Swiss Cheese and odd things keep happening at his school, which he continuously misses. his swap back from Cap to Krupp is usually accompanied by dialogue such as "where am I?! what's going on?! where are my pants?!" etc., etc. he doesn't even know that 'Captain Underpants' exists in real life. meanwhile Cap doesn't really know Krupp exists either. in the film, he believes that 'Principal Krupp' is his alter ego, a secret identity of sorts who isn't actually real. in all of the media, though, he doesn't really question what happens between fights or even acknowledge his gaps in memory - he sort of just jumps into whatever situation he finds awakens to without really needing to orientate himself.

of course, all three sets of media are geared towards a rather young audience, so we don't really see any exploration of the consequences of Krupp and Cap technically being the same person within canon. well, that's what fanon is for!

I like to think that Krupp notices the missing time and starts worrying. I love the angst potential of not knowing what he's lost, not understanding why so many things happen at the school he runs that he just... never sees. do you know how much property damage is done to that place, and he has no idea what caused it? it's such a good way to both look at how Krupp sees himself, how he acts outside of tormenting children, what he cares about, and y'know. putting the egg through the ol' ringer (if you can't tell, Krupp is my favourite character). in canon, he already expresses distress about the lost time, even if it's just for a few moments per book/episode.

Cap, meanwhile, lives his life like it's a comic book, because in his mind, life is kind of a comic book to him. he's a superhero! he fights crime! he saves the day! anything between that is just filler, and who pays attention to filler anyway?

of course, the identity issues would probably truly come to a head whenever the two find out about each other. once again, this sort of thing never happens in canon, but it's been explored plenty in the fandom! my personal favourite example of this is the @cu-stickynotes-au, which I highly recommend checking out.

also, bringing George and Harold back into this (as I ought to, they are the protagonists), the fact that two ten-year-old boys LITERALLY MIND-CONTROLLED THEIR PRINCIPAL IN ORDER TO HAVE NO CONSEQUENCES TO THEIR ACTIONS IS INSANE. yes, they are both children and they don't fully understand the scope of their actions, but also. holy what. I just think it's so interesting to have this man whose life has been permanently altered and who is also two men in one body with serious identity issues oncoming, and it's all because of these two random children. that is insane.

when considering Krupp and Cap as a unit, the main question I often ponder is this: are Krupp and Cap the same person? bodily, yes. but mentally? eh, who knows? in my mind, 'Captain Underpants' is still technically a two-dimensional character made by ten-year-old boys. however, Cap is now a three-dimensional person. I think at least subconsciously, he's definitely influenced by Krupp, and vice versa. Krupp and Cap are very much opposites: Mean Ol' Principal Krupp, who hates children and anything fun, who is grounded in pessimism and reality, and Captain Underpants, who loves children, adores potty humour and laughter, and who is not only an optimist, but is fully the opposite of grounded. he can literally fly! whether they're the same person is ambiguous to me, but I like to think that there's some mental connection. plus, if you want to pull in some real world facts about hypnosis - it doesn't really work unless your at least partially open to suggestion (at least I think, I'm admittedly not at all knowledgeable in hypnosis). so there's my thoughts on that question.

this post took me five episodes of the CU Netflix series to write. that is insane. I could probably expand more upon these thoughts, but frankly, I'm really tired and I don't feel like it right now. I would rather continue watching fun little show. also, sorry if some of this doesn't make sense, I read the books in English, watched the show in French, and have seen the film in both, so I had to do some mental translation for a few of these sentences. hope this helped explain the pattern between my interests through my life, Basil!