Mr. Landlord

"I was just wondering if you wanted to HANG out with me and smoke weed and fill our bellies with DIET soda and play Burnout: Revenge for the PS2." - Mr. Landlord's request.

Mr. Landlord is the primary antagonist in the Smiling Friends episode A Allan Adventure. He's the deranged landlord and arch-nemesis of Allan Red, obsessively determined to hang out, smoke weed, drink diet soda, and play Burnout: Revenge on the PS2 with him. This obsession drives him to concoct a plan to sabotage Allan's mission to retrieve a box of paper clips.

Appearance[]

Mr. Landlord is a humanoid critter with pale blue skin, a frail, slender, and skeletal build, and two large eyes positioned at the top of his head. His eyes are mismatched—one green and the other pink—with slightly reddened scleras. He has three thin hairs on the back of his head, along with prominent gums and yellowed teeth.

While he is usually unclothed, by the end of the episode, he dons a brown trench coat over a suicide vest.

After reviving in the morgue, his skin grows even paler, developing small bumps and warts across his body.

Personality[]

Mr. Landlord is wildly eccentric and unhinged, even by the standards of Smiling Friends. His interests are oddly specific, such as smoking weed, drinking diet soda, and playing Burnout: Revenge on the PS2 with Allan. His fixation on Allan becomes extremely obsessive, as he invests $750,000 and over eight months into a callous and convoluted plan to force Allan to hang out with him, which causes mass destruction and numerous deaths, and was also just plain ridiculous, progressing from a helicopter battle, a Bigfoot encounter, and finally, a squabble with CGI skeleton pirates. He's so committed to this goal of his that he even threatens to blow up the entire apartment complex, including himself, if Allan refuses.

When Allan finally agrees, Mr. Landlord proves unbearable during their gaming session, acting immature and obnoxious. He trash-talks incessantly and repeatedly crashes into Allan's car in the game, accusing him of not trying. After Allan foils his plan, Mr. Landlord dramatically attempts seppuku, believing he's brought shame to his ancestors, revealing his warped sense of honor and disgrace. Despite this, he somehow survives by coming back to life at the morgue, determined that Allan will eventually spend time with him again, again showing his obsessive persistence.

Ironically, Mr. Landlord overlooks the fact that he could have easily arranged to hang out with Allan through his job as a Smiling Friend, and his elaborate scheme was entirely unnecessary—Allan would have come to his apartment without the over-the-top setup, either on his own time or by looking at the note he would have retrieved regardless. However, despite his insanity and the uselessness of his plan, Mr. Landlord was at least clever enough to create an entire adventure for Allan that worked as designed.

He also has an odd way of speaking, randomly shouting certain words, and exhibits strange behaviors like scurrying around the apartment complex and contorting his face and body in unsettling ways.

Biography[]

As Allan begins his morning routine, Mr. Landlord shows up at his door, inviting him to hang out, suggesting they smoke weed, drink diet soda, and play Burnout: Revenge on the PS2. Allan declines, saying he has to head to work, to which Mr. Landlord responds, "Suit yourself."

At work, Allan is given the simple task of picking up a box of paperclips for the office. However, every store in the city is sold out, except for one with a single box remaining. Along the way, the paperclips are stolen multiple times—first by DJ Spit, leading to an aerial battle with the US military, then by Bigfoot, and finally by a gang of skeleton pirates, whom Allan chases after on sea before their ship is swallowed by a leviathan. When Allan finally recovers the box, he finds it empty, except for a note directing him back to his apartment complex.

When Allan returns home, he's confronted by Mr. Landlord, who reveals he orchestrated Allan's entire day. He spent $750,000 and over eight months planning the elaborate scheme, monopolizing on paperclips, hiring actors and using animatronics—all to make Allan hang out with him. Allan threatens to knock Mr. Landlord out to retrieve the paperclips, but Mr. Landlord reveals he’s wearing a suicide vest and threatens to blow up the city if Allan doesn’t comply.

As they play Burnout: Revenge, Mr. Landlord taunts Allan, calling him terrible at the game. However, Allan manages to use one of the paperclips to disable the vest. With his plan foiled, Mr. Landlord dramatically stabs himself with a katana from the wall in an act of suicide.

In the post-credits scene, Mr. Landlord revives in the morgue and begins plotting once again how to force Allan to spend time with him.

Trivia[]

Mr. Landlord was initially set to be Pim's landlord and was meant to briefly appear in the Season 1 episode "Shrimp's Odyssey," but he was ultimately cut for time.
- The concept art also implies that in his initial characterization, he had been an NYC lawyer during the 80s, and also that he likes to drink tea.

External Links[]

Mr. Landlord on the Smiling Friends Wiki