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‘The Simpsons’: 52-Year-Old Michael Baxter Gets Back Tattoo Of 203 Characters

By Jonathan Franks
Published on: 05:18 PST, Dec 4, 2014

Michael Baxter wants to get his name in the book of Guinness World Records for his massive back tattoo honoring The Simpsons.

Daily Mail reports that the 52-year-old grandfather has approximately 203 characters from the long-running animated television series all featured within the same artistic tattoo.

Baxter has spent close to AU $12,000 (more than $10,000 USD) over the past year on his permanent tribute to the animated town of Springfield.

The prison officer and longtime fan of The Simpsons claims that he had to endure a painful total 130 hours over the course of an entire year under the needle just to have the colorful and detailed tattoo completed.

Even though his favorite character is Homer, Michael Baxter wanted to make room for the other main characters of the Simpsons home – including Marge, Bart, Maggie and Lisa.

The development of the tattoo just expanded from there, making plenty of room for popular supporting characters from the series – including Principal Skinner, Ned Flanders, the Comic Book Guy, Sideshow Bob and so many others.

Michael Baxter
Michael Baxter and his massive ‘Simpsons’ tattoo

In addition to actual characters from the show, Michael Baxter’s tattoo includes familiar locations and scenes from Springfield as well. for instance, the couch scene shown in the opening credits is featured within the artwork as well as Moe’s Tavern.

In an interview, Michael Baxter had a chance to open up and talk about exactly why he decided to get The Simpsons back tattoo in the first place.

“I wanted to get something which was unique, which nobody else had or would even think of getting. I’m a huge fan of the show. I love the tattoo, and I know lots of other people, including any grandchildren, do too… Guinness have accepted my application, but I have a lot of paperwork to fill out.”

Michael Baxter hopes to be recognized as a new Guinness World Record holder on December 17 along with the series’ 25th anniversary.

In order to walk away with the record, Baxter has to dethrone Lee Weir from New Zealand. Lee Weir was able to set the record for having the most tattoos of the same cartoon character since he has 41 Homer Simpson tattoos on his left arm.

Even though Michael Baxter’s tattoo features a vast number of multiple characters from The Simpsons, he still qualifies to make a claim for the same record since all of the characters come from the same series.

[Image Credit: What Culture and Daily Mail]

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