'The Simpsons' Predicted The Downfall Of Toys 'R' Us

Perhaps one day we’ll find a real crystal ball in the writing room of “The Simpsons.”

Until then, we’ll just have to marvel at the prescience of the long-running cartoon series.

In the latest soothsaying credited to the show, news outlets are pointing out  that a 2004 episode foretold the liquidation of Toys “R” Us  announced in real life last week.

In a clip from the installment, above, some Springfield citizens set out to obliterate child-friendliness, breaking a ball pit and tearing down a statue of the animated characters Itchy and Scratchy.

But in perhaps the most subversive act of all, they turn around the backward “R” in the toy chain’s logo to make it face correctly and kids react in horror.

Granted, the scene doesn’t actually spell out that Toys “R” Us would close hundreds of stores in the year 2018. The chain, unable to compete with the likes of Amazon and Walmart, announced last week it would begin liquidating U.S. outlets. (The toy store’s founder died Thursday at age 94, to make the situation even sadder.)

But the old “Simpson’s” episode does seem to foreshadow the depressing events a bit, no?

“The Simpsons” has built its future-seeing rep in part for conceiving of Donald Trump as president  16 years before he was actually elected, featuring Lady Gaga in a performance eerily similar to her Super Bowl concert five years later, and prophesying that the U.S. would win gold in curling at the Winter Olympics.

Now we await the next vision from “The Simpsons” oracle.