Various international home video releases of Smurfs (1981), each with front cover art based on one of the episodes.
Episodes depicted in order: "Grandpa's Nemesis," "Shutterbug Smurfs," "Archives of Evil," "Big Shot Smurfs," "Forget Me Not Smurfs," "Baby's Enchanted Didey," "Babes in Wartland," "The Masked Pie Smurfer," and "Land of Lost and Found."
why do u ship handy&clumsy? (i hope thats not a rude question i didnt mean it to be)
That's not rude! As long as it's not code for 'I'm passive aggressively judging you through the screen' lmao. I love talking about the origins for my ships! :3
But anyway if you want a post where I wrote an analysis about the canon relationship I did just that for someone a while ago!
As for me personally? Aha. Well, funnily enough it started out as a joke. Kinda. My original dynamic was actually teetered towards Clumsy having a bit of a one sided obsession/crush on Handy, mainly based on OGSDA. It was more of a guilt ship at that time, as I was in the middle of liking ClumsyStorm and HandyxMarina. Well my best friend actually picked up on it after I did a small doodle of them - she shipped Brumsy but didn't really like Brainy as an individual character so near-instantly dropped it in favour of fixer-uppers. Her fanart then pulled me away from 'haha guilt ship!' to 'oh my god I love them so much I wanna chuck clumsystorm away'. Dropping HandyxMarina wasn't really an issue because I kind of figured they wouldn't be able to last forever anyway :c Dropping Clumsystorm was harder because I had NG for it (the twins) that I didn't want to chuck but was willing to. In the end the whole step-parent thing worked out so much better!
But that's more like, the actual backstory to introducing it into my AU XD As for the actual reasons, I think the dynamic they have across media is both hilarious and sweet, and the whole opposites thing they have going on is good inspo to me! I really like that the running joke of Clumsy wanting to help Handy is kept consistent even from the magic flute movie!
My personal fave which Kitty showed me, the french vers
"When the Handy Smurf builds anything he is always helped by Clumsy Smurf"
And honestly that theme stands! With the exception of the other movies where Handy does frick all. It happens in the smurf village app too! Which isn't really canon media or anything I just think it's funny how they're still a secondary duo in that.
Clumsy just likes helping out <3 One of my fave lines is from the wishing tree one when he's getting rocks for a chimney and says 'Handy sure is gonna be proud of me!' that's so cute!! He's trying sdjfk
And you know what? He messes it up. Often. Like, all the time. But as Handy himself says, he keeps him employed! And fixing things is his job - tbh it doesn't really matter what these two do they're gonna be a constant presence in each other's life, so it's probably a good job they're friends. On that note, I've seen people say that Handy is mean to him but tbh I just .. don't agree. Objectively, I don't. Thing is, Clumsy annoys everyone, everyone is annoyed with him at times, Papa and Smurfette included. Handy only seems disproportionally upset with him because of how often Clumsy screws stuff up, and he only screws stuff up because Handy agrees to let him help out in the first place. One of my comfort eps being The Comet Is Coming for that very reason - they're gonna spend what they think is their last day alive together, that's not really the mark of two characters with hard feelings.
But wait! There's more! See, on that topic of niceness, unlike plenty of the others, Handy is a consistent apologiser.
He DOES own up to any unfair treatments. He DOES make sure Clumsy is ok and tries to make amends for situations where he was the one putting Clumsy in danger, as well as being grateful for favours in return, such as being saved from the monster.
And that might sound like simple decency but these are Smurfs, the little shits never apologise to each other /j. No but in all seriousness the dynamic is actually amongst some of the more well balanced of the characters, it's just not as easy to see collectively I suppose. And they have less than good moments, usually caused by mass hysteria (The Masked Pie Smurfer, The Golden Smurf Award etc) but that's not really something I can put a mark against since Clumsy arguably has even worse moments with Brainy, who he's supposed to have a better relationship with (The Comet Is Coming, The Smurfy Verdict). I think that kind of nullifies any they said/they did arguments, cause every character has bad moments.
And on that topic, as the shippER and not the characters, I have to approach things from an outside perspective as well as in inside one. Using Brumsy as my example because of it's obviousness. From a character point of view? Yah, it's practically canon in the og show lol. But from an outside viewer on the individual aspects well, I kind of see it where Brainy is someone that wants his ego stroked. Clumsy is happy to do so, but he's not really getting anything in return? Like objectively, they'd be happy together because Brainy would have a constant ego boost and Clumsy puts up with that but that makes me as an outsider feel bad for Clumsy. I love Brainy too but I think he needs his ego QUASHING not encouraging. Which is why I tend to prefer ships where Brainy has a bit more of a rivalry with them, I think if Brainy can actually learn to respect someone else by his own choice he's gonna be a much more well rounded individual. I want Clumsy to have someone that's not gonna try and use him and his never-dying loyalty to big themselves up. Handy fits the bill because Clumsy is, if anything, a detriment to him XD Again, that's an outsiders personal opinion looking in! It has no bearing on my actual views of Brumsy, which I think is cute and my friends draw cute fanart of it :)
Sooo yeah XD Some pretty basic thoughts, I just think they r neat!! Outside of my AU(s) I get so happy when they interact, even when it's not totally positive, though of course I always prefer those when they are- it's just a funky lil' rarepair for me, honestly I'm really really close to calling it my OTP at the moment haha
There are some continuity errors on Clumsy Smurf's character. In "The Box of Dirty Tricks", after he was pelted with smurfberries, he reacts in anger and proceeds to join the food fight. But in "The Masked Pie Smurfer", after being splattered with a cream pie, he doesn't react with anger and is left in confusion.
Clumsy Smurf of all Smurfs is usually tolerable and sweet, but there were some out-of-character moments in the earlier episodes such as "Smurf Me No Flowers", where he is annoyed with Brainy Smurf (even though they're supposed to be best friends no matter what).
i nominate clumsy luck (the entire episode) and the “sometimes i’d like to tell clumsy he has two left feet and is totally good for nothing” scene in the masked pie smurfer for the most poorly-written/uncharacteristically cruel brainy moments of the earlier seasons
as much as i don't like brainy's part in it, the scene in masked pie smurfer where brainy & co are talking trash about each other in their own heads is so funny to me especially because.. brainy and smurfette consider pretty good reasons to not be a huge jerk to one of their friends (ruining the friendship, hurting feelings), but handy is essentially like "i'd tell jokey i think his jokes are as funny as a rock in your sock, but that'd give him ideas >:/" it's a great joke and i can absolutely never get over how obviously Not Friends those two are
@smurfoo As if I could ever say no to a request like that 😏
About those 2 pennies;
So like, even getting my bias out of the way I do think it’s somewhat overlooked as a general dynamic, and it’s understandable in the sense that Brainy&Clumsy / Hefty&Handy are the much stronger friends with more specific episodes and that’s great too!! I just like looking at the less obvious as well. And it’s there, both in the comics and the cartoon, if Clumsy isn’t with Brainy and not part of a group then he’s usually helping Handy;
And so on and so forth, etc, etc. Which wouldn’t be noticeable on it’s own except for two key things; 1) Handy very rarely accepts help otherwise unless it’s a big project, if he does it’s more of a one off, definitely none that are as consistent and 2) the words ‘handy’ and ‘clumsy’ are antonyms;
There is literally no worse Smurf in the village to be an assistant. Taking on anyone else would probably be better. This might be played up for the giggles in that case but it is interesting that it’s so consistent when looking at it from a character analysis perspective. And that’s where my original post came from - that Handy is surprisingly klutzy for a repair guy, which means that, at least to some extent, there’s an element of familiarity there. Whatever he is, Handy’s no hypocrite.
On the topic of the helper dynamic I’m just gonna bring up the two episodes that probably showcase the two sides of the coin best; One Good Smurf Deserves Another, and The Comet Is Coming.
OGSDA seems to get a lot of flack for people calling Handy mean in the episode but honestly I have to argue that it’s ... actually not true? I get where they’re coming from but I have several rebuttals to make to the original points I’ve seen brought up multiple times.
P: Handy should have just told Clumsy he didn’t want help outright >:/
R: He DID. Several times. He told him right at the start it was no issue and that Clumsy didn’t owe him anything. Clumsy hung around anyway and Handy just kinda let it happen since he didn't’ want to hurt his feelings
P: Handy put Clumsy’s life in danger >:/
R: No, he didn’t. Papa Smurf did if anything. Handy tried asking nicely and letting him help. The whole log and river thing were both Papa’s plans, and in fact when Clumsy was put in danger Handy abandoned his original goals both times to help him out
P: Handy was mean and yelled >:/
R: Again. Bless Clumsy's little heart to the moon and back but he did kinda squash everyone, after already causing a hectic morning. And, unlike in some other episodes with other characters, Handy does relent and by the end is genuine in his thanks for Clumsy for saving him from the monster.
As for TCIC, that’s literally in my top 3 favourite episodes and the way they interact is a HUGE part of it. I just, I just like it ok, it’s wholesome and positive :)
And I just think kinda shows more why Handy does let him help out despite Clumsy’s ability to break things and that’s it - they just genuinely get along!! Handy lets him help because he knows it makes Clumsy happy, and gets choked up at the end over Clumsy’s optimism. It’s kind of hard to hate Clumsy, he’s a fandom favourite for a reason but Handy is usually one of the main ones looking out for him :) He’s the first to agree with Smurfette in Clumsy Luck that they should focus on Clumsy’s memory, and the first in Secret Of The Village Well to suggest they find a penny to get him his wish and cheer him up, and also gently refuses to rubberise his shoes in Bouncing Smurfs because he thinks he might hurt himself (but ALSO offers to let Clumsy try an alternative)
Basically, what I’m saying is: I think these two have good canonical dynamic vibes!!! And I do get that Handy can be a bit short w/ him sometimes, but like, so can everyone in the village?? I can’t fault an individual for a collected response. The worst times are part of mass hysteria (he does yell at him during the masked pie smurfer incident when everyone was mad at each other anyway, he does throw stuff during the golden smurf award when so was everyone else and he does get caught up in the smurfic games w/ Hefty. He also argues during the village spat in dr evil and mr nice, but this is resolved on screen as he apologies for not forgiving him, which is good communication :D) On the other hand, Hefty literally tries to punch him over a misunderstanding in Nobody Smurf and Brainy locks him in jail after bribing Greedy, I don’t personally see Handy being a bit snappy sometimes when Clumsy breaks his stuff on the same wavelength but I digress
So at the end of the day, sure it doesn’t have the same depth as say, Clumsy does with Brainy in The Darkness Monster but I firmly believe it’s MUCH better than people give it credit for and am more than willing to die on this hill to say they have a vry good dynamic overall as a sort of friends/sometimes-apprentice :)